from Wuerttemberg.

In the days of German absolutism, this was a dangerous step to take.
Technically he would be a deserter. He had reason to fear that he would
not be allowed to make his way in the world by his own merit, unharmed
and unhelped, but would be dogged by the malice of a despot and perhaps
brought back to undergo the fate of Schubart. Worse still was the
possibility that his father might be made to suffer from the duke's
anger. Nevertheless he resolved to take the risk. He made known his
purpose to a very few friends, one of whom, Frau von Wolzogen, offered
him her house in Bauerbach, in the event of his sometime needing a quiet
refuge. Another friend, Andreas Streicher, nobly offered to share his
fortunes, Streicher, to whom we owe a classical account of this episode
in Schiller's life, was a young musician living with his mother in
Stuttgart. It had been planned that he should visit Hamburg in the near
future, but he now persuaded his mother to advance him the money that
was to have been devoted to his journey, in order that he might
accompany his beloved Schiller into exile. So the friends bided their
time and meanwhile 'Fiesco' made rapid progress.

The wished-for opportunity came on the 22nd of September. The court was
in a flutter over the visit of a Russian prince for whose reception
great preparations had been made. In the general excitement Schiller
counted upon getting away unobserved. So he bade a tearful farewell to
his mother and sisters, who knew of the secret that had been kept away
from the father for reasons of policy, and in the evening he drove out
of Stuttgart with his friend Streicher, giving to the guard the names of
Dr. Ritter and Dr. Wolf. The friends set their faces northward towards
Mannheim. As they passed the brilliantly illuminated Castle Solitude, so
Streicher relates, Schiller fell into a long revery. At last the