' Schwabe offered to become
responsible for the payment of the bearers, if they were dismissed.
At length the Oberconsistorialrath inquired who the gentlemen were
who had agreed to bear the coffin. Schwabe was obliged to
acknowledge that he could not at that moment mention a single name;
but he was ready to guarantee his Hochwurde that in an hour or two
he would bring him the list. On this his Hochwurde consented to
countermand the bearers.
"Schwabe now rushed from house to house, obtaining a ready assent
from all whom he found at home. But as some were out, he sent round
a circular, begging those who would come to place a mark against
their names. He requested them to meet at his lodgings 'at half-
past twelve o'clock that night; a light would be placed in the
window to guide those who were not acquainted with the house; they
would be kind enough to be dressed in black; but mourning-hats,
crapes and mantles he had already provided.' Late in the evening he
placed the list in Gunther's hands. Several appeared to whom he had
not applied; in all about twenty.
"Between midnight and one in the morning the little band proceeded
to Schiller's house. The coffin was carried down stairs and placed
on the shoulders of the friends in waiting. No one else was to be
seen before the house or in the streets. It was a moonlight night
in May, but clouds were up.
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