The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-03-15
sCH1LLERS FIRST Lovr.
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was assembled Mt Mauuhem, in one of the
stately houses ON the Paradeplatz, a select
company, who listened with rapt attention
to a young man declaiming few scenes from
his latest drama, L0UisG MjHer. The youth
full poet. with the slightly inclined head
thoughtful brow, and lustrous eyes, revealing
a depth of thought and feeling, is Friedrich
Schiller. Near him we perceive the
gentleman of the house; that man
with the finely cut, intellectual features
is Schiller's faithful friend and the publisher
of his earliest writings, the bookseller and
court councillor, Christian Friedrich Schwan,
himself q meritorious author and highly
esteemed by Lessing and Wieland, by Herder
and Goethe. And of the two females, Just
developed into wonderful beauty, hanging
upon the poets words, one is Schwan's eldest
daughter, Anna Margaret, whose relations to
Schiller have thrown O ray of poetry upon
her name, the other is Margarets bosom
friend, the fascinating and talented actress,
Miss Ziegler, who wrought such deep impress
sions on every auditor by her impersonation
of Louisa" in Lore and Intrigue and
'Leonora" in FSescO, and of whom con-
temporary writes:-"Never again have 1
heard accents or melody of love as came from
her lips when enacting Fiescos consort"
Yonder fine figure of a somewhat aristocratic
bearing but with mild and pleasing express
sion of countenance, is the founder and di-
rector of the celebrated Mannheim Theatre,
Baron Wolfgang Herbert Won Dalberg; at
his side we notice one of the greatest of his
torians, August Wilhelm Iffland, renowned also
as q dramatic writer.
Our readers are acquainted with that ira
gical crisis in Schiller's life which removed
the former army physician from Stuttgard,
and bore him to the friendly city on the
banks of the Neckar.
In April, 1871, "The Robbers" had been
put into the printers hands. To secure for
the work wider circulation Schiller, before
the printing was completed wrote to Schwan,
transmitting to him at the same
time the first seven finished sheets. Full of
enthusiasm, as he himself expresses it in a
letter to Schiller, Schwan instantly fastened
to find Dalberg. and read the fragment aloud
to him. Dalberg now requested the poet to
adapt his piece for the Mannheim stage, and
it was thus, with various alterations, against
which Schiller vainly protested, performed at
Mannheim on the 18th of January, 1882, he
being present. At the second performance
(May 25) he had again travelled to Mannheim
without leave was arrested, and incurred the
displeasure of his sovereign. But the more
onerous his condition grew, the more his
spirit of liberty was aroused. While the
general interest was engaged by the festivities
preparing at Solitude (the kings pleasure
of Russia, Schiller had escaped unonserved
with his trusty friend, Streicher
We do not propose to describe Schiller's
third sojourn at Mannheim and Oggersheim,
the destitution with which he had to contend
there, and the crushing disappointm he
experienced from Dalberg. Among the few
who during that time stood steadfast by the
unfortunate poet was Schwan. Though Dal-
berg had rejected Fiesco as unavailable,
GaL oI,,,,. L..
took it's publication; the sum given for it suf-
feed to cover Schiller's boarding expenses,
and to defray the costs of the journey to
Bauerbach, near Miningen, where a noble
lady, the Baroness of Wolzogen, rendered to
the poet the quiet of secluded retreat.
There is little to aid us in discovering what
were Schillers relations to the Schwan family
during this period. But we may draw an in
ference from one of Schillers letters to
Schwan, dated Bauerbach, December 8, 1882,
in which he says:-SMy recent hasty and
clandestine departure prevented me from
bidding adieu to you, my dear friend. do
SO now, and offer you my sincerest thanks
for the tender interest you have taken
in my fate. The situation in which
1 then was afforded me abundant
opportunity to test the fidelity of my friends,
and unpleasant as were many of my expert
ences, yet I have been sufficiently recon-
pensed by the unfinching frmness with
which some few friends abode that test" We
are further enlightened by letter which
Schillers father on the same day addressed to
Schwan from Solitude, wherein this sentence
occurs:-'Your Honor has shown my son,
DIR. Schiller, such extraordinary friendship
that l consider it my bounden duty to offer
you my most cordial thanks, with the most
ardent wish and the humblest request that it
may please you to continue your valued
favor to that young man."
But Schiller was fated not to be absorbed
too long by poetical plans at Bauerbach, on
his Literary Wartburg." SIT was sirens
voice." writes Streicher, ''that called him
back to Mannheim, the coaxing, seductive
voice of Dalberg; and so, after residence of
seven months, he parted from his benefac-
tress." On the 2Sth of July, 1888, we again
meet with him at Mannheim, where he took
lodgings in pleasant dwelling situated near
the palace buildings. After Dalberg's house
he loved most to be at Schwan's. ''The ladies
here, he writes on the 18th of November to
the Baroness of Wolzogen, are not particu-
larly noticeable, Miss Schwan being about
the only one, an actress excepted Che refers
to Caroline Ziegler, whose untimely death
evoked general regret), who is an excellent
person. These and some others sometimes
cause me a pleasant hour; for 1 freely admit
that to associate with the fair sex is by no
means distateful to me-" Like a heavenly
vision the youthful, amiable, and intellec-
tual Margaret Schwan crossed the impressible
poets path and quickly supplanted the affec-
ton which had just begun to bud in his
breast for Charlotte Won Wolzogen.
Margaret Schwan, we are informed by
Madame Won Wolzogen, was then in her
seventeenth year, very beautiful girl, with