• 24. Caroline to Luise Gotter in Gotha: Göttingen, 13 July 1781
Göttingen, 13 July 1781
|47| [1] . . . A bit of news that will doubtless amuse you but in which you must not try to find the reason for my present disposition — because it really is not the reason — is that I have completely broken free of my passion. Utter uncertainty concerning the fate of its object, a fate that is utterly inexplicable and obscure to us all, is the real reason for my decision. He is perhaps dead, perhaps unworthy, perhaps extremely unhappy — and for me in any case lost. Time is weakening his memory in my heart, and it troubles me increasingly less. My inner trust in God calms me. — But I am very happy not to be in L—k’s place [2]. . . .
|48| Hockel seems genuinely to be intending to leave Göttingen, and indeed to do so in 14 days. I have been avenged on him, for he is being punished with the utmost contempt and widespread hatred. My sister will not be avenged until his own conscience awakens some day and the sheer weight of his malicious deeds crushes his soul. [3]
But I have not yet written you a single word about our dear and beloved bishop . . . He is as handsome as he is good, and as good as he is handsome, and is both perfectly. As soon as I saw and heard him, I was — as is my praiseworthy habit — utterly charmed; now I am merely ardently disposed toward him and hope with all my heart that he may remain as uncorrupted as he is now . . .
Our theater group will remain until Michaelmas and is occasionally giving quite fine performances. Although Madam Abt would prompt your husband’s approval, tell him there is otherwise not a single one among them who could even utter “I am still Essex!” (in the tragedy Graf Essex). [4] —
Your husband has probably already heard about the fate of the Harburg Meyer, who lost his entire fortune and out of despair became an actor in St. Petersburg and who is now being quoted in all the newspapers. [5] . . .
Notes
[1] Erich Schmidt (1913), 1:677, relates that at the beginning of the letter, Caroline offers a lengthy expression of sympathy at the death of Luise Gotter’s mother. Back.
[2] Erich Schmidt (1913), 1:677, relates that in the deleted material, Caroline alleges that Link’s silence was prompted by the severe hypochondria of his friend Böhmer (though Schmidt does not specify which son in the Böhmer family is meant). Back.
[3] Concerning Pedro Hockel’s affair with Lotte Michaelis, see Caroline’s letter to Luise Gotter on 12 January 1781 (letter 21), note 7 (Berlinischer Damen Kalender auf das Jahr 1803 and auf das Jahr 1802; Inhaltsverzeichnis deutscher Almanache, Theodor Springmann Stiftung):
Concerning his decision to leave Göttingen and his subsequent fate, see the final section her letter to Luise Gotter on 22 December 1781 (letter 29), with note 5. Back.
[4] Graf von Essex. Ein Trauerspiel in fünf Akten in Johann Gottfried Dyk’s adaptation (Frankfurt, Leipzig 1777; 1780; 1786) of the tragedy by John Banks, The Unhappy Favorite; or, the Earl of Essex. A Tragedy (London 1682). Here the title vignette to Dyk’s adaptation (1780):
Caroline is referring to act 2, scenes 7–8, in which Essex, the victim of palace intrigues orchestrated by Burleigh and others, is interrupted in conversation with his friend Southampton by Burleigh himself and a palace officer; the overall scene attests Essex’s pluck (here in Dyk’s 3rd ed. 1786):
Southampton. Ha! here comes Burleigh himself.
Essex. No doubt followed by my ruin.
Scene 8
The preceding. Burleigh. An officer.Burleigh. Earl of Essex, the queen, she who always mitigates the most severe justice with gracious compassion, struck down everything that was registered against you in parliament and herewith merely divests you of your honorific positions, of the governorship of Ireland, the status of marshal, the office of equerry, the high command on land and sea, and dominion over Essex, Hereford, and Westmoreland.
Essex. A great deal in one stroke, indeed! But take it. I am still Essex! — What else?
Burleigh. It is also her gracious will that you immediately remove and not leave your house without the explicit order of the queen.
Essex. And is that now enough?
Burleigh. This officer here will accompany you to confiscate the commander’s staff.
Essex. Ha! but that will yet require my consideration.
Burleigh. As you wish, Mylord! But deign in any event at least to provide an answer I can deliver to the queen. She awaits me.
Essex. And do you promise to deliver such faithfully?
Burleigh. Word for word.
Essex. Well, upright man! then tell your ruler that betrayal is besieging her throne; warn the queen of her most wicked enemy — Burleigh!
The impetuous and confident element in Essex’s personality that has drawn Caroline’s attention comes to similarly trenchant expression in act 3 of the original English version in a startling encounter with the queen herself (text: John Bankes, The Unhappy Favourite, or, The Earl of Essex: a Tragedy Acted at the Theatre Royal By their Majesty’s Servants [London 1682]; illustration: Otto Kammel, Geschichte der Neueren Zeit, part 1, Illustrierte Weltgeschichte für das Volk 5, ed. Otto von Colin and F. Wilhelm. Held, 2nd ed. [Leipzig, Berlin 1882], 570):
Ess[ex]. I throw ’em [my offices] at your [the queen’s] Feet. [Layes his Generals Staff down.
Now Banish him that Planted strength about you,
Cover’d this Island with my spreading Lawrels,
Whilest your safe Subjects slept beneath their shade.
Give ’em to Courtiers, Sycophants and Cowards
That sell the Land for Peace and Childrens Portions,
Whilest I retreat to Africk in some Desart,
Sleep in a Den and Heard with Valiant Brutes,
And serve the King of Beasts, there’s more Reward,
More Justice there than in all Christian Courts:
The Lion spar’d the Man that freed him from
The Toll, but Englands Queen abhors her Essex.[Earl of] South[ampton] My Lord —
Ess. [Aside.] Ah what will be th’Event of this!
Queen. Audacious Traytor.
Ess. Ha!
South. My Lord, My Lord, recall your Temper.
Ess. You said that I was bold, but now who blames
My Rage? Had I been ruff as Stormes and Tempests,
Rash as Cethegus, mad as Ajax was,
Yet this has rammed more Powder in my Breast,
And blown a Magazine of Fury up —
A Traytor! Yes for serving you so well;
For making England like the Roman Empire
In Great Augustus‘s Time, renounc’d in Peace
At home, and War abroad; Enriching you
With spoils both of the Wealthy Sea and Land,
More than your Thames does bring you in an Age,
And setting up your Fame to such a height
That it appears the Column of the World;
For tumbling down the proud Rebellious Earles,
Northumberland and Westermland, which caus’d
The cutting both their Heads off with an Axe
That sav’d the Crown on yours — This Essex did,
And I’ll remove the Traytor from your sight.Queen. Stay Sir, take your Reward along with you — [Offers to go]
[the Queen comes up to him and gives him a Box on the Ear.]
Ess. Ha! Furies, Death and Hell! a Blow!
Has Essex had a Blow! — Hold, stop my Arme [Layes hand on his Sword.]
Some God — Who is’t has giv’n it me? The Queen!
South. What do you mean my Lord!
Queen. Unhand the Villain —
Durst the vile Slave attempt to Murder me!Ess. No, Y’are my Queen, that Charmes me, but by all
The subtilty, and Woman in your Sex
I Swear, that had you been a Man you durst not,
Nay, your bold Father Harry durst not this
Have done —
Banks’s piece was the first treatment of the material for the English stage and was discussed in Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s Hamburgische Dramaturgie, then reworked in 1778 after the translation Die Gunst der Fürsten. Trauerspiel nach [John] Banks, [Henry] Brooke, [Henry] Jones, und [James] Ralph (initially: Vienna 1773) (each of these four authors had published a play on the Essex material in England). It then appeared in Christian Heinrich Schmid, Englisches Theater, vol. 5:1 (Danzig, Leipzig 1773). Dyk’s adaptation became the regnant translation in the 1780s; Heinrich Laube, Dramatische Werke, vol. 8, Graf Essex, 2nd ed. (Leipzig 1867), xxix–xxxii, discusses the various English and German adaptations. Back.
[5] The news about Friedrich Ludwig Wilhelm Meyer is incorrect. Back.
Translation © 2011 Doug Stott