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In the end he chose a different form than that of the Socratic dialogue for the literary presentation of his doctrine, but what he wrote subsequently was based partly at least upon conclusions that he had reached through his correspondence with Koerner; wherefore it will be well to look a little more closely, at this point, into his quarrel with the Koenigsberg philosophy.
He was heart and soul in the business of play-making, and looked forward to devoting the next six years of his life to that kind of work. To Koerner he did not confide his new plan at first, though he wrote of it often to Goethe. The removal to Weimar took place early in December, having been made possible by an increase of stipend amounting to two hundred thalers.
The local Goethe-cult, so he wrote to Koerner, was characterized by a proud, philosophic contempt of all speculation and investigation. This 'child-like simplicity of mind', this 'resigned surrender to the five senses', seemed to him a sort of affectation. Besides this he was irritated by Goethe's prosperity and lordly independence. At the same time he could not help admiring him as a poet.
Herewith, so far as Schiller was concerned, the 'Philosophic Letters' came to an end; but in the spring of 1788, Koerner surprised him with a letter by Raphael, which is, philosophically speaking, by far the best of the entire collection. But this book is not concerned with the writings of Koerner.
For the present, however, and for some time to come, he did not advance beyond very general planning. In the summer he spent several weeks with Koerner in Dresden, during which literary labor was suspended.
At that moment the great crisis suddenly took place. Before even the poets could predict the event, Germany cast off the yoke of Napoleon, and the German "Sturm and Freiheitslieder" of Theodor Koerner, Arndt, Schenkendorf, etc., chimed in like a fearfully beautiful Allegro with the Adagio of their predecessors.
And as for 'Don Carlos', the conception had so changed with the lapse of time that its author felt at a loss how to manage It. The play, with its wonderful pair of dreamers, was waiting for the inspiration of a real friendship at Dresden. Long before they met in the body Schiller and Koerner had given expression to their mutual trust in language of romantic enthusiasm.
Or was Margarete herself disinclined, piqued perhaps by Schiller's neglect of her, or by his passion for Charlotte von Kalb? Or did Schiller's own courage fail him after he had received a hint of favor? A letter to Koerner, written May 7, tells of pleasant news from Mannheim, and shortly afterward a rumor was in circulation that Schiller was about to marry a rich wife.
'Really, he wrote to Koerner in 1788, 'I find each day that I am pretty well suited to the business I am now carrying on. Perhaps there are better men, but where are they? In my hands history is becoming something in many respects different from what it has been. And so it really was.
"Give it me!" said I. She put it in my hand; I ran forward to the head of the stairs, which Koerner was just ascending, dashed the cake in his face, and then rushed back to my own room, whence neither threats nor coaxing availed to draw me forth for the rest of the day. I never saw Juliet again.
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