But I came hither solely with the design to
simplify my way of life, and to secure the independence through which
I could be enabled to remain true to myself. This bit of earth is our
own; here we can live, write, and think, as best pleases ourselves,
even though Zoilus himself were to be crowned the monarch of
literature. Nor is the solitude of such great importance; for a
stage-coach takes us speedily to Edinburgh, which we look upon as our
British Weimar. And have I not, too, at this moment piled up upon
the table of my little library a whole cart-load of French, German,
American, and English journals and periodicals--whatever may be their
worth? Of antiquarian studies, too, there is no lack. From some of
our heights I can descry, about a day's journey to the west, the hill
where Agricola and his Romans left a camp behind them. At the foot of
it I was born, and there both father and mother still live to love me.
And so one must let time work."
The above letter was printed by Goethe himself, in his Preface to
a German transition of Carlyle's "Life of Schiller," published at
Frankfort in 1830.
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