, or letters of
assurance. So no more of this.

'The peace and calmness of existence which breathes
throughout your letter, gives me joy; I who am yet drifting
to and fro between wind and waves, am forced to envy you
that uniformity, that health of soul and body. To me also in
time it will be granted, as a recompense for labours I have
yet to undergo.

'I have now been in Weimar nearly three quarters of a year:
after finishing my _Carlos_, I at last accomplished this
long-projected journey. To speak honestly, I cannot say but
that I am exceedingly contented with the place; and my
reasons are not difficult to see.

'The utmost political tranquillity and freedom, a very
tolerable disposition in the people, little constraint in
social intercourse, a select circle of interesting persons
and thinking heads, the respect paid to literary diligence:
add to this the unexpensiveness to me of such a town as
Weimar. Why should I not be satisfied?

'With Wieland I am pretty intimate, and to him I must
attribute no small influence on my present happiness; for I
like him, and have reason to believe that he likes me in
return. My intercourse with Herder is more limited, though I
esteem him highly as a writer and a man. It is the caprice
of chance alone which causes this; for we opened our
acquaintance under happy enough omens. Besides, I have not
always time to act according to my likings. With Bode no one
can be very friendly. I know not whether you think here as I
do. Goethe is still but _expected_ out of Italy. The Duchess
Dowager is a lady of sense and talent, in whose society one
does not feel constrained.

'I thank you for your tidings of the fate of _Carlos_ on
your stage. To speak candidly, my hopes of its success on
any stage were not high; and I know my reasons. It is but
fair that the Goddess of the Theatre avenge herself on me,
for the little gallantry with which I was inspired in
writing. In the mean time, though _Carlos_ prove a never so
decided failure on the stage, I engage for it, our public
shall see it ten times acted, before they understand and
fully estimate the merit that should counterbalance its
defects. When one has seen the beauty of a work, and not
till then, I think one is entitled to pronounce on