130a. Friedrich Schlegel to Caroline in Kronberg: Leipzig, early July 1793 [*]
[Leipzig, early July 1793]
I hope you will pardon me and not view it as importunacy that I address you directly, since the detour through Holland involves such a lengthy delay. [1]
My brother wrote me that you might be inclined to choose a place to stay in the area around Dresden, [2] in which case I offer you any and all services to the extent I am capable of rendering such; indeed, it will be a pleasure should you desire to give me instructions in that regard.
I am not at all familiar with whether one can find houses in the countryside around Dresden where one can comfortably pass the winter, though I do not really doubt it; in the summer such houses are frequently inhabited by families; as soon as I were to receive your instructions in this regard, I would look around to see where a comfortable lodging might be found. It would have to be a locale situated near Dresden, and I might know of one located hardly more than a half hour from Dresden itself, on the Elbe River, a place where in the summer several families have resided and where there must surely be some quite nice houses. [3]
To avoid the unnecessary delay of our writing back and forth, please allow me to pose a few questions to you. Would you be bringing your own furniture? If you were not so inclined, I might perhaps be able to secure for you a modest, quite reasonably priced ameublement [4] including the most necessary things, all of which is being sold even now; as soon as I were to receive news from you, I would inquire concerning the price.
Am I correct in assuming you already have beds of your own? Will you be bringing domestics, or would those have to be secured here, and if so, what sort would you be needing? Would you yourself be cooking, or would I need to inquire whether the locale had a tolerable publican? —
Again, let me apologize for inconveniencing you with so many perhaps superfluous questions; you can discern from them my eagerness be of service to you.
Let me otherwise add that I am anticipating with considerable interest making the acquaintance of someone who is so close a friend of my brother’s. I remain respectfully etc.
Notes
[*] Source: KFSA 23:109 (previously unpublished). Translation by permission of Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh GmbH & Co KG. Dating and annotations by Ernst Behler, KFSA 23:423, here adjusted to correspond to letter numbers in the present edition:
As can be discerned from the conclusion (“I remain respectfully etc.”), this letter is a draft, and one cannot be sure it was sent to Caroline Böhmer. Wilhelm Schlegel designated the manuscript as an “addendum to no. 9.”
The dating emerges from Friedrich’s letter to Wilhelm on 3 August 1793 [see letter 132a in present edition], in which Friedrich relates to his brother that he had made Caroline’s acquaintance at the house of a friend, the publisher Georg Joachim Göschen. This meeting took place on 2 August 1793, for on 2 August 1796 [letter 168 in present edition], Friedrich wrote to Caroline: “It was three years ago today that I first saw you.”
When this present letter was written, however, Friedrich had not yet made Caroline’s personal acquaintance. The exact dating of the letter can be further deduced from the fact that on 20 July 1793, Friedrich was at his parents’ home in Hannover, where he met with Wilhelm, who in mid-July had already brought Caroline from Frankfurt to Leipzig, where she initially found accommodations in Göschen’s house. Friedrich, however, was not present when Wilhelm and Caroline arrived in Leipzig, but rather in Hannover or on the way there.
This draft must thus have been composed during the first half of July 1793. Concerning further details, see Friedrich’s letter to Wilhelm on 3 August 1793 (letter 132a in present edition).
Wilhelm had come all the way from Amsterdam to pick up Caroline and Auguste (W. R. Shepherd, Historical Map of Central Europe about 1786 [1926]):
[1] That is, if Friedrich were to send it first to Wilhelm in Amsterdam, who would then have had to forward it on to Caroline. Back.
[2] Caroline would have to remain hidden with a false name because of her pregnancy, a situation considerably restricting her freedom of movement (see Caroline to Friedrich Wilhelm and Luise Gotter on 13 July 1793 [letter 131]). Friedrich himself was in Leipzig at the time, northwest of Dresden (Post Karte Durch ganz Deutschland, ed. J. Walch [Augsburg 1795]):
[3] Friedrich seems initially to have considered Pillnitz, a former suburb ca. 15 km downstream (on the Elbe River) from the center of Dresden where he himself liked to spend the summers and where the family of his sister Charlotte Ernst probably owned a summer home (Adam Friedrich Zuerner, Accurate geographische delineation der dioeces und des Ammtes Dresden [Amsterdam 1700–1799]):
For illustrations of Pillnitz, see Friedrich’s letter to Wilhelm on 9 May 1794 (letter 143d), note 9. Back.
[4] Fr., “furnishings, suite of furniture.” Back.
Translation © 2011 Doug Stott