152b. Friedrich Schlegel to Wilhelm Schlegel in Hannover: late July 1795 [*]
[late July 1795]
[Lengthy and detailed enumeration of Friedrich’s financial situation and debts. . . .]
A sacred debt — — 30 Thaler
Karoline will give you details concerning this latter debt, and will relate to you that with it an oppressive stone would be taken from my breast, and why I have not yet been able to pay it. [1] . . .
Notes
[*] Walzel, 227; KFSA 23:240. – That Wilhelm was still in Hannover emerges from Friedrich’s remark later in this letter, “When you get to Braunschweig, you will be doing me a great favor if you will give some attention to Herr Kruse, or explicitly thank him again in my name . . . ” Moreover, in his next letter (31 July 1795 [letter 152c]) Friedrich explicitly states that Wilhelm was “almost certainly already in Braunschweig.” Back.
[1] Although this particular debt is unidentified, Friedrich had been accumulating debt since mid-1792 (not least because of a disastrous love affair in Leipzig), when he first asked Wilhelm for financial assistance, and such requests increasingly constitute not only a refrain in his correspondence with Wilhelm even till the end of his life, but also a frequent enough topic in Caroline’s letters. Back.
Translation © 2011 Doug Stott