148a. Friedrich Schlegel to Wilhelm Schlegel in Amsterdam: Dresden, 27 October 1794 [*]
[Dresden] 27 October 1794
Dearest Wilhelm, all our hopes have come to nothing; [1] I will leave it to Karoline and my sister to write you about it more detail, since during the next few days I myself will be writing to Karoline in greater detail about the further course of things. Nor is it impossible only for the moment, but rather forever. Karoline was hoping it might perhaps yet be possible out in the countryside at Easter, under a different name. But such would be impossible to keep concealed, and then there would be quite ill consequences. The ministers have made such unequivocal declarations that they would be contradicting themselves should they not then pursue Karoline with the utmost zeal. [2]
You can be assured I left no stone unturned, with regard to neither zeal nor prudence. I must extol the same with respect to Charlotte. I cannot tell you how pleased I myself was with this plan, a plan so propitious for me as well.
I really would like for you to inform me soon about whatever you now decide. If your plans remain with Holland, which can only come about in the spring, then I can accompany her. Or can you not choose a locale that does not put you far from Gotha? e.g., Jena? [3] There you would find a friend in Humbold[t], [4] and for your own plans the place would similarly not be ill suited at all. Would you not be a contributor to the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung? [5] — In Jena you would easily find contacts and opportunities for other scholarly projects as well. —
I would like to put yet another question to you, and ask that you entrust at least some information to me concerning it: Are the difficulties insuperable that prevent Karoline or you from bearing the same name? Karoline’s political situation would thereby be wholly altered. Along with a new name, she would also take on a new identity. [6] . . .
Notes
[*] Sources: Walzel, 189–90; KFSA 23:208. Back.
[1] Plans to have Caroline live in or near Dresden. Back.
[2] Unlike the decree from Göttingen (letter/document 146), nothing specific is known about the declarations in Dresden, though they presumably derived from the same political considerations Friedrich had been mentioning since Caroline left Lucka. Concerning her reputation at the time, see her letter to Friedrich Ludwig Wilhelm Meyer on 7 June 1794 (letter 145), note 13. Back.
[3] Jena is located 65 km east of Gotha and 150 km west of Dresden, where Friedrich himself was living; Gotha is similarly 45 km west of Weimar (the latter 20 km west of Jena), which Friedrich will also suggest to Wilhelm on 18 November 1794 (letter 148b) (Post Karte Durch ganz Deutschland, ed. J. Walch [Augsburg 1795]; Rudolf Koch and Fritz Kredel, Deutschland und angrenzende Gebiete [Leipzig 1937]):
[4] In February 1794 Wilhelm von Humboldt had moved his family to Jena, where he was extremely close to Schiller and would remain till July 1795, returning again in November 1796 and remaining till April 1797. Back.
[5] Wilhelm’s plans were generally to become a professional writer, critic, and scholar (Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki, “Der Schriftsteller,” Illustrationen zu Erasmus’ Lob der Narrheit in sechs Abteilungen [1780]; Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum; Museums./Signatur DChodowiecki WB 3.32):
[6] Although much of what Friedrich points out in this letter beginning with the mention of Jena did indeed eventually come to pass, Caroline was never entirely able to escape her Mainz past. Back.
Translation © 2011 Doug Stott