The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-03-15

Says 'T have faithfully observed what made
my rule and what | solemnly promised you;
to weaken my feelings by dihusiug them.
The following will suffice tOshow how Schiller
put this theory of diffusion INTO practice.
At Mannheim, Margaret Schwan is the real,
the undisputed queen Of his heart; az the
same time he begins an intimacy WIN Ohar-
lotte Won Kalb, the beautiful ana accom-
plished Titanide, with the large eyes and
heart. attracting the poet towards her with all
the fiery ardor of her tormented soul; IN the
spring Of the same year he goes to Frankfort
with IfHand to witness the representation Oh
Ftesco. and loses his heart to the esteemed
actress Sophia Albrecht. And on January 10
of the next year, while at Mannheim, ne
escorts the gifted and charming actress
Catharine Baumann home, and presses MS
miniature into her hands. But wnat, per
haps, must appear even more strange Is, that
not one of these numerous intimacies pro-
duced a lyric bud, such as burst with such
richness and fragrance from Goethes heart;
not one of them awakened as much as song
in the poets breast
We ann mn our remarks by saying that it
was not deep necessity OF the heart which
determined Schiller to ask for Margarets
hand, but rather the longing for an existence
free from cares. On the arrival OF Scnwan 8
answer Schiller's highest wish had already
been oratifed. Koerner' 8 friendship afforded
him freedom from want and the pres
sure of circumstances which had SO early
damned the fire of the youthful poets soul.
OF returning to medicine (Which in no event
was so seriously intended) he would think no
longer now, but atlthe same time the beautiful
dream of a union with Margaret dissolved
before his eyes. In the rural secluslon OF
the village of Gohlis he sought to overcome
the grief with which these disappointed hopes
filled him.
The gloomy reflections of those days gave
rise to that much admired poem "Reslgna-
ton, ," in which the poet forcibly carries out
the idea that the hope of reward in another
world is but a fond delusion, as hope, equally
with endowment, contains its own reward.
Schiller himself studiously avoided ever
alluding to the occasion OF the poem,
which, moreover, he desired should not be
regarded as his own confession of faith, but
merely as an outburst of passion; wherefore
if Schwan his intimate friend, declares en-
phatically that it alludes to his relations
with his daughter Margaret, we have the
less reason to question this assertion as
nothing is opposed to such supposition,
neither the time at which the touching
verses were written, nor the passionate ex-
element of those days, in which Schiller
grew more and more dissatisfied with the
theatre, with Dalberg, and with the actors;
in which Madame Won Kalbs passion dis
quieted instead of cheering him, whilst his
pecuniary embarrassment became daily
more troublesome, and the homage which
Margaret's beauty and accomplishments re-
eeived from every side filed him with all the
pangs of jealousy.
Nevertheless, Schiller always held the
Schwan family in affectionate remembrance.
When Schwan was on his way to Leipsic with
his two daughters the following year, Schiller
met them at Meissen, and accompanied them
to their destination, as also to Dresden,
evincing the most cordial friendship. AS
late as the I'd of May, 1888, he writes to
Schwan:-' -'Believe me that your memory
will ever be indehbly impressed upon my
the common method of personal intercourse
and letters of assurance. At Wielands they
often speak of your eldest daughter; during
her stay of few days there she won the affec-
tion and esteem of all the family. So L still
continue to be trife remembered by her
Really, it makes me blush to think how little
deserve this for my long silence" To Mar
garet herself Schiller never wrote The poets
silence, for whom she preserved warm affec-
ton, weighed heavily upon her soul. Once
more she met him at Heidelberg while on his
journey to Suabia with his young wife-a
meeting by which both were most deeply
affected and Charlotte Won Lengefeld found
her former rival very amiable. Thus far ex-
tend my sources regarding Schiller's relations
to Margaret Schwan.
All of Schillers biographers agree in stating
that Margaret died at the age of thirty nine,
in childbirth. This statement also is incorrect.
Margaret was never married. On the twenty
seventh of January, 1895, she was laid by her
mothers side in the grave, aged not more
than twenty-nine years.