• 88. Caroline to Philipp Michaelis in Marburg: Göttingen, autumn 1788
[Göttingen, autumn 1788]
[Beginning of the letter is missing.]
|174| I wish to God all this had not happened, or that I had been healthy enough to view it from the proper perspective; how much distress would that have spared me!
My father finds things quite lonely since you both left us, [1] and I do not think he would handle it well at all if he no longer had me and the children [2] — it will possibly be the only thing that cheers him up this winter, since his lecture courses will presumably not come about at all. I find that indescribably sad — he is suffering greatly from it — it hurts him, and now he has not the slightest variation in his work. What a miserable life scholars lead — oh, endeavor to the very end of your days to maintain a sense for the wide open world, for that is our ultimate happiness.
Otherwise you will both mercilessly commentate and sneer at me, your sister — I have absolutely no doubt about it and refuse to worry about it if only Fritz will not think I am being too ungrateful toward his beneficence. [3] [Practical matters.]
My children are doing quite well. The operation seems |175| to be doing Auguste a lot of good. [4] Madam Schlözer has a son who weighs a net 11 ℔ [5] and about whom old S[chlözer] is crowing like a rooster. [6]
I believe Tatter also wants to write you. [Practical matters.]
Adieu, my dear, good boy.
Yours
Notes
[1] Although the “incident” to which Caroline is referring is not otherwise explained, her reference here is presumably to Philipp and Fritz Michaelis, though in his undated letter to Caroline in 1788 (letter 87), the latter remarked that he would in fact likely not be going to Göttingen in August. Back.
[2] Namely, Auguste and Therese Böhmer ([1] frontispiece to anonymous, Der Greis, vol. 4, rev. ed. [Frankfurt 1785]; [2] (Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki, “Wie gesegnet ist ein gutes Beispiel, das man seinen Kindern gibt!,” Leipziger Taschenbuch für Frauenzimmer zum Nutzen und Vergnügen auf das Jahr 1791; Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum; Museums./Signatur DBerger WB 3.8; also Inhaltsverzeichnis deutscher Almanache, Theodor Springmann Stiftung):
[3] Caroline may be alluding to her initially having declined Fritz Michaelis’s offer to come live with him in Marburg; see her indecision in her letter to Philipp Michaelis on 25 October 1788 (letter 86) and her reasoning for moving to Marburg after all in her letter to Luise Gotter on 8 March 1789 (letter 91). Back.
[4] This intriguing but unidentified operation is not mentioned elsewhere.
Otherwise Auguste was now three years old (Göttingischer Taschen-Calender für das Jahr 1802):
[5] Caroline uses the German pound sign here rather than a letter abbreviation. Back.
[6] Among August Ludwig Schlözer’s five sons, two died in infancy: Georg (1778–79) and the one to which Caroline is here referring, August, who would die in 1791. Back.
Translation © 2011 Doug Stott