270 Kant: A Biographysomewhat worried about the details and delays, he wrote to Johann Hein¬
rich Fetter, a contractor whom he had hired to supervise the renovations
for him:... you have accepted the supervision of my building, and you have thus taken a great
worry from me because I am entirely ignorant in such things. I have no doubt that the
master craftsmen, whom I have told to follow your instructions, will follow them with¬
out objections.
Apparently, the builders had given him bad advice. They had told him that
certain parts of the house could be renovated, which was impossible. They
had brought too many bricks. The date on which the renovations were to
be finished had to be pushed back. Kant asked Fetter to make sure that he
could move into his house on May 22, because he had to move out of his
old quarters by that time. Ordinary worries interfered with his work, and it
is perhaps no accident that he published only two short essays in 1784.
He was able to move in on May 22; and by July 7,1784, he had paid off
all the mortgages and encumbrances on the house. The house was now
truly his.^81 He asked that the insurance on the house be increased from
4,000 to 7,500 Guilders, which was what it had cost him. Still, not every¬
thing was in order. On July 9, 1784, Kant found it necessary to write to
Hippel about noise. This time it was not the crowing of a cock, but the
singing of prisoners.
You were so good to promise to act on the complaint of the residents of the street at
Schloßgarten in regard to the loud (stentorische) prayers of the hypocrites in the prison.
I do not believe that they have reason to complain about the presumed danger to the
salvation of their souls, if their voices are lowered so that they could hear themselves
even by closed windows... and without screaming with all their might then. They
could still receive the favorable judgment of the warden that they are god-fearing people.
This seems to be their real concern anyway. He will hear them, and they are really asked
only to discipline their voices to a degree that is sufficient for the pious citizens of our
city to feel saved in their houses. One word to the warden... will be enough to curb
this abuse and will help the person whose quiet state you have many times tried to help
so graciously...^82
Nothing more is heard from Kant about unruly singing of hymns after
this, but it appears that Kant never really obtained the peace and quiet he
had always sought for his work. Religious devotion would continue to nois¬
ily intrude into his daily business. Borowski reports that all he achieved
was that the windows were closed. The "nonsense" continued.^83
Nor was this the only problem. Kant also found it necessary to complain
about some of the boys who played in his street and threw stones over his