• 139. Caroline to Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter in Gotha: Leipzig, 4 February [1794]
Leipzig, 4 February [1794] [1]
|317| Who knows! This letter will probably arrive before me, the result being that my dear friends in the G— household will not have gone to bed yet when late in the evening on 8 February I take the liberty of driving up and stopping at their house. [2] May I then find the doors open and your hearts inclined toward me.
Adieu till then.
Notes
[1] Concerning Caroline’s move from Lucka to Leipzig, see Friedrich Schlegel to Wilhelm Schlegel on 17 November 1793 (letter 136.4). It is not known with whom Caroline stayed in Leipzig; presumably with the family of Georg Joachim Göschen.
After putting her newborn son in foster care, Caroline and Auguste left Lucka and initially returned to Leipzig before journeying on to Gotha to stay with the Gotters (direct postal route between Leipzig and Gotha in 1795; Post Karte Durch ganz Deutschland, ed. J. Walch [Augsburg 1795]):
[2] Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki, Schnell und ungleich ist die Fahrt, die uns durch das Leben träget (1778); Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum; Museums./Signatur DChodowiecki AB 3.252:
This letter documents at least the approximate chronology of Caroline’s departure from Leipzig (and Lucka); she and Auguste arrived in Gotha on 8 February 1794 (see her letter to Friedrich Ludwig Wilhelm Meyer on 20 February 1794 [letter 140]). It is, however, still unclear exactly when she moved from Lucka to Leipzig. Back.
Translation © 2011 Doug Stott