Schleiermacher to his Wife.
[CCCCXXXIII.] . . Saturday, 4th August, 1827.
My dear heart, your letter has been a great consolation to us all; for we have been sixteen days without news of you… . . Hildchen is as lively as a fish in the water, and went with me last night to see Iphigenia, and to hear Madame Schechner once more. Your old “house-cross” also is well again; and if I can only get a good sleep once in a way, I am all right.
The day that the B——‘s left with my second letter for you, old Jänicke was buried. I followed him to the grave, but I cannot say that I was much edified, for a certain pastor H——, who was called from Potsdam to deliver the funeral discourse, as if there was no one here worthy of the office, was affected, prolix, and dreadfully one-sided. From what he said, you would suppose that the deceased had been the only Christian preacher in Berlin, until eventually some others, who had learnt their lesson from him, had come to his assistance. What unnecessary trouble these good people give themselves to contract their hearts! On the other side, there is the philosophical Marheineke, who is proving himself still more narrow-hearted, and the affairs, which, I believe, I mentioned in my last, are still going on. Hitherto I have escaped pretty well from being personally mixed up in them, but this can hardly last. However, the result cannot in any case be such as to cause uneasiness.
My dear heart, though I was not exactly alarmed at your long silence, I am, nevertheless, quite another being since we received your letter… . . Last Thursday week the girls went with Nicolovius to Rust’s. I was very busy, and felt myself as forlorn as if my former days of bachelorhood had come back. However, I was forced to rouse myself and go to work, and soon the consciousness of my real condition returned, and with it a feeling of sincere thankfulness… . . I was obliged to break off suddenly, as is often the case now, so that I can only send you a short farewell. You very often send me no parting words at all, and thus it will be with my present letter also. I must keep all my tenderness in my heart, and see what I can make of it there.
[CCCCXXXIV.] 7th August.
Our letters are so constantly being conveyed without the mediation of the post, that I cannot help wishing that I had a great deal to tell you which the post ought not to know. But everything is going on so quietly, in the house and out of the house—the old well-being and the old woes—that I have nothing but what is consolatory to write. In regard to official matters, also, everything is as it was, only that I have learnt through a third party that the crown prince is said to have expressed himself very much pleased with my memorandum to the ministry. In the theological faculty a disagreeable affair has taken place between Marheineke and Neander, but it is too complicated for me to explain to you now. What will be the consequences, and how far I shall myself be drawn into it, I cannot as yet say. However, the general desire to patch up all evils as speedily as possible, will, I suppose, in this case also, be followed by the usual result.
Good-bye, dear heart. I am expecting the boys whom I am preparing for confirmation; after that, I am to accompany Twesten to the Solly collection; and later, I am to have a small gentleman’s party in honour of Twesten, who is to leave to-morrow or the day after.
[CCCCXXXV.] 12th August.
… . Just as I was writing the above, Eichhorn sent me the sad news of Canning’s death. No individual man in Europe is of equal importance at this moment, and for the present I can hardly think of anything else. A moment ago my thoughts were so entirely with you, and now sorrowful sympathy with the state of the world spreads them abroad. Well, God will provide! But what may be His will in this matter, it is very, very difficult to discern. How every old evil will again raise its head! How many backslidings, how many new struggles may be in preparation! … .
Strangers, who take up much of my time, are pouring in at present. The Twestens had not yet left, when the Swedish Count Schwerin arrived, and he is still here, and in consequence of his presence, the Schwerin from Putzar has been here a couple of days, so also a Swiss professor, who is to dine with me to-day in company with Pischon. Then there is a new American, who has brought a letter from Bancroft, and a young Scottish divine. But as the vacations are so near at hand, I suppose there will be no new work to do, at least not in connection with the university.