f nature, and that is still the best she could
be, never having been able to acquire any reasonable culture." With
Schiller's abode in Swabia, from August 1793 till May 1794, Nanette
grew still closer to his heart, and in his enlivening and inspiring
neighbourhood her spirit and character shot out so many rich blossoms,
that Schiller on quitting his Father's house felt justified in the
fairest hopes for the future.' Just before her visit to Jena, Schiller
Senior writes to his Son: "It is a great pity for Nanette that I
cannot give her a better education. She has sense and talent and the
best of hearts; much too of my dear Fritz's turn of mind, as he will
himself see, and be able to judge."[57]

[Footnote 57: _Saupe_, pp. 149-50.]

'For the rest, on what childlike confidential terms Schiller lived
with his Parents at this time, one may see by the following Letter, of
8th November 1793, from Ludwigsburg:

"Right sorry am I, dearest Parents, that I shall not be able
to celebrate my Birthday, 11th November, along with you. But
I see well that good Papa cannot rightly risk just now to
leave Solituede at all,--a visit from the Duke being expected
there every day. On the whole, it does not altogether depend
on the day on which one is to be merry with loved souls; and
every day on which I can be where my dear Parents are shall
be festal and welcome to me like a Birthday.

"About the precious little one here Mamma is not to be
uneasy." (Here follow some more precise details about the
health of this little Gold Son; omitted.) "Of watching and
nursing he has no lack; that you may believe; and he is
indeed, a little leanness excepted, very lively and has a
good appetite.

"I have been, since I made an excursion to Stuttgart,
tolerably well; and have employed this favourable time to get
a little forward in my various employments which have been
lying waste so long. For this whole week, I have been very
diligent, and getting on briskly. This is also the cause that
I have not written to you. I am always supremely happy when I
am busy and my labour speeds.

"For your so precious Portrait I thank you a thousand times,
dearest Father: yet glad as I am to possess this memorial of
you, much gladder still am I that Providence has granted me
to have you yourself, and to live in your neighbourhood. But