Note 15 — PART SECOND. [1783-1790.]
Reading edition
In vol. x. of the Vienna edition of Schiller are some ludicrous verses, almost his sole attempt in the way of drollery, bearing a title equivalent to this: 'To the Right Honourable the Board of Washers, the most humble Memorial of a downcast Tragic Poet, at Löschwitz;' of which Doering gives the following account. 'The first part of Don Carlos being already printed, by Göschen, in Leipzig, the poet, pressed for the remainder, felt himself obliged to stay behind from an excursion which the Körner family were making, in a fine autumn day. Unluckily, the lady of the house, thinking Schiller was to go along with them, had locked all her cupboards and the cellar. Schiller found himself without meat or drink, or even wood for fuel; still farther exasperated by the dabbling of some washer-maids beneath his window, he produced these lines.' The poem is of the kind which cannot be translated; the first three stanzas are as follows:
"Die Wäsche klatscht vor meiner Thür, Es plarrt die Küchenzofe, Und mich, mich fuhrt das Flügelthier Zu König Philips Hofe. Ich eile durch die Gallerie Mit schnellem Schritt, belausche Dort die Prinzessin Eboli Im süssen Liebesrausche. Schon ruft das schöne Weib: Triumph! Schon hör' ich—Tod und Hölle! Was hör' ich—einen nassen Strumpf Geworfen in die Welle."