really been in love with Lotte in particular so much as with an ideal of
domestic bliss.

Shortly before his departure from Bauerbach there had been some talk of
his accompanying Reinwald on a contemplated journey to Weimar, where he
might make the acquaintance of Karl August, Goethe and Wieland. In his
excellent little book upon Schiller, Streicher expresses regret that his
friend had not acted upon this suggestion instead of following the
'siren voice' that led to the Palatinate. But it is difficult to
sympathize with this regret. He was not yet ripe for the role that fate
held in store for him in Thueringen. His education was to proceed yet a
while longer by the process of flaying. He was to suffer and grow
strong; to battle further with the goblins of despair; to tread the
quicksands of adversity and fight his way through to a firm footing
among the sons of men. Who shall say that it was not better so?

The long-cherished hopes of a connection with the Mannheim theater were
destined this time to be fulfilled. In the course of a few weeks
Schiller entered into a contract which assured him, for a year at least,
a respectable status in society and opened a new chapter in his life.
Before we take up that chapter, however, it will be proper to consider
the new play which he had brought with him as a passport to Dalberg's
favor. Thus far he had called it by the name of its heroine, but when it
was put upon the stage it was rechristened, at the suggestion of the
actor Iffland, and has ever since been known as 'Cabal and Love'. The
revision which he had undertaken, after the reopening of correspondence
with Dalberg, was even now not quite finished; so that the final touches
had to be given at Mannheim. It is probable that the political satire,
which was based in part upon veritable history and contained transparent
allusions to well-known personages, was more or less toned down in