h thousandfold love and blessings! Ah me! another such
Son there is not in the world!" Schiller, in his continual anxiety
about the dear Patient, had his chief solace in knowing her to be in
such tender hands; and he wrote at once, withal, to his Sister: "Thou
wilt permit me also that on my side I try to do something to lighten
these burdens for thee. I therefore make this agreement with my
Bookseller Cotta that he shall furnish my dear Mother with the
necessary money to make good, in a convenient way, the extra outlays
which her illness requires."

'Schiller's hope, supported by earlier experiences, that kind Nature
would again help his Mother, did not find fulfilment. On the contrary,
her case grew worse; she suffered for months the most violent pains;
and was visibly travelling towards Death. Two days before her
departure, she had the Medallion of her Son handed down to her from
the wall; and pressed it to her heart; and, with tears, thanked God,
who had given her such good children. On the 29th April 1802, she
passed away, in the 69th year of her age. Schiller, from the tenor of
the last news received, had given up all hope; and wrote, in
presentiment of the bitter loss, to his Sister Frankh at
Clever-Sulzbach:

"Thy last letter, dearest Sister, leaves me without hope of
our dear Mother. For a fortnight past I have looked with
terror for the tidings of her departure; and the fact that
thou hast not written in that time, is a ground of fear, not
of comfort. Alas! under her late circumstances, life was no
good to her more; a speedy and soft departure was the one
thing that could be wished and prayed for. But write me,
dear Sister, when thou hast recovered thyself a little from
these mournful days. Write me minutely of her condition and
her utterances in the last hours of her life. It comforts
and composes me to busy myself with her, and to keep the
dear image of my Mother living before me.

"And so they are both gone from us, our dear Parents; and we
Three alone remain. Let us be all the nearer to each other,
dear Sister; and believe always that thy Brother, though so
far away from thee and thy Sister, carries you both warmly
in his heart; and in all the accidents of this life will
eagerly meet you with his brotherly love.

"But I can write no more today. Write me a few words soon. I
embrace thee and thy dear Husb