Kant: A Biography

A Palingenesis and Its Consequences 167

who could versify everything from electrical experiments to burials, is said

to have "barely escaped a drubbing by one of the insulted actors."^92

The literary circle was short-lived, broken up by an affair between Goe-

schen and Maria Charlotta. The two got entangled in a relationship, which

ultimately led to the divorce of the Jacobis. On September 17,1768, Hippel

wrote to Scheffner:

Next Monday Jacobi will be divorced from his wife The cause of the divorce is adul¬

tery She not only admits to it, but she proclaims that she committed it because she

wanted to get a divorce and be rid of such a "worthless fellow," as she says Her hope

is, without doubt, that Goeschen will marry her If Goeschen has given her hopes, he

is culpable, but if he really fulfills them, then I am at a lack for any word His reputa¬

tion is suffering terribly, and everyone - the Jacobi woman the most - says he will marry

her He, Jacobi, not only wanted to assume all the guilt, but he also, on his knees,

offered her the contract The Princess Jacobi has fallen The entire world despises

her^93

Not quite a year later, Goeschen and the divorced Maria Charlotta, the
fallen Princess, were making plans to get married. Hippel wrote: "The en¬
tire city is talking Goeschen will marry the Jacobi, only Kant and I do not
speak about it because he has not said a word to MS."^94 On the other hand,
there was quite a bit of talk about the roles of Kant and Hippel in this
affair. Some of the people in Königsberg seem to have found it difficult to
believe that these two men were entirely innocent. This gossip was not just
spoken but also committed to writing by members of the literary circle.
Enough talk, in any case, that Hippel could find:

Even this has to be tried to be m the mouths of the entire public The feeling of right¬
eousness must be enough for us here, but then it is enjoyable to see how people have
to stifle themselves when one meets them, and when they talk of such things The one
makes excuses, avoids one, another eats more than usual, and then must take medicine
the next day - Let us, my dear friend, overcome such things and endure a world which,
in one word, is not for us^95

Kant's experience was like that of Hippel - and perhaps worse. When

Goeschen and Maria Charlotta got married on October 23 1769, Hippel

attended the wedding, but Kant did not. In fact, he never visited the Goe-

schens as long as Jacobi was alive. As Hippel said:

You just wanted to have some news about Magister Kant? This is a comedy in five acts,

which I cannot possibly perform today Kant is a really good boy, and he is and will

remain my very good friend, but he said so many peculiar things about the present wife

of the master of the mint and the former Geheime Ratin to her husband, and he has been

so indignant about this marriage that he is careful not to show his face at her house^96