Note 103 — Chapter XVIII · WILLIAM TELL.

It is a curious fact that Schiller made Franz, the hero of his “Robbers,” say, “In order to become a finished rascal one must have a certain national bent; he must live in a certain climate and breathe a certain rascally atmosphere; so I advise you to go into the Grisons, for that is, in these days, the Athens of pickpockets.” Schiller was obliged to apologize, the Council of the Leagues threatening to withhold the money they had promised to lend the Duke of Wurtemberg if the offending poet was not punished; he also received an order “never to write more of the same.”