• 249. Caroline to Auguste in Dessau: Jena, Thursday, 17 October 1799
[Jena] Thursday, 17 October [1799]
|567| My dear Auguste, I received your sweet letter yesterday and can tell from it that you are a raging, impertinent little creature and that you also have a head cold. I hope Madam Tischbein managed to get out from under her excessive burden.
Actually I have less to say to you this time than you had to say to me in response to my last letter. [1] What a strange feeling you must have had! I |568| am hoping you voluntarily decided to do this, since otherwise you will probably have to do it involuntarily, [2] not that we are trying to force you, sweetheart, but rather chance — since the Hufelands, who are not yet in Berlin, are traveling not by way of Dessau at all but rather Leipzig, where he is anticipating meeting someone. [3]
My precious girl, your whole disposition is focused solely on amusement, and if that continues, nothing proper will ever become of you. [3a] It is not for your mommy alone that you are longing, though I do realize such is also the case and that we will both surely howl for joy when we see each other again.
But you need to be smart now and realize that you have not yet been able to do anything for your singing even though I was solemnly intent on precisely that happening when I permitted you to go to Dessau in the first place. [4] Should I be separating myself from you merely out of jest? As I already told you, you can perhaps be spared being at such a distance by Easter; when Charlotte is here, I really would like for you to be here as well. [5]
We have spoiled this little person. She wants to enjoy as if she could help others enjoy as well, though there has as yet been no talk of this at all. Your statements express this quite sufficiently. . . .
Sophie is sick. Madam Veit and Philipp send their regards, they are both good, but tell Madam Tischbein that she is a completely different beauté. [6]
I must close now so that this letter can still be off. Adieu, my child, my dear, dearest creature.
Notes
[1] Caroline’s last letter was likely that of 14 October 1799 (letter 248). Back.
[2] The reference is presumably to having Auguste remain longer in Dessau, something she initially was disinclined to do. See Caroline’s letter to her on 6 October 1799 (letter 247). Back.
[3] The reference here is not to the physician Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland, as Schmidt, (1913), 1:746 and the personal index 2:693, col. 2, suggests, where the four cites for Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland 1:566, 1:568, 1:569, 1:572 refer instead to Gottlieb Hufeland. See Caroline’s letter to Auguste on 6 October 1799 (letter 247), note 7, and Josef Körner, Krisenjahre, 3:64, who notes the incorrect attributions in Schmidt’s personal index.
In any event, the potential plan — which did not work out — was to have Auguste return to Jena with the Hufelands, who instead of traveling by way of Dessau took the route through Leipzig (Hufeland was presumably meeting someone at the book fair), as did Dorothea Veit on her journey from Berlin to Jena. As it was, Auguste returned with Wilhelm Schlegel on 26 November 1799. Back.
[3a] Dorothea Veit makes much the same point in her letter to Schleiermacher on 15 May 1800 (letter 259s) (“Das leichtsinnige Mädchen” [“The frivolous young girl”], Berlinischer Damen-Kalender auf das Gemein-Jahr 1809):
[4] Caroline mentions singing and music lessons for Auguste in several letters during several different periods; such instruction was common for both boys and girls, and was in fact almost obligatory for young women. Click on the following illustration to open a gallery on musical instruction during the period:
[5] Charlotte Ernst was tentatively planning a trip to Jena during the coming spring (1800), after which Caroline in her own turn would be planning to return with her to Dresden to spend the summer, presumably with Auguste; see Dorothea Veit’s letters to Schleiermacher on 14 February, 4 April, and ca. 25 April 1800 (letters 258m, 259c, 259k), and to Rahel Levin on 10 April and 28 April 1800 (letters 259d, 259l) (Rudolf Koch and Fritz Kredel, Deutschland und angrenzende Gebiete [Leipzig 1937]):
The trips never materialized; instead the spring brought about fundamental changes because of Caroline’s illness, the development of her relationship with Schelling, and increasing conflicts among those living at Leutragasse 5. Back.
[6] Fr., “beauty”; uncertain allusion. Back.
Translation © 2013 Doug Stott