When I met thee in Dresden, at the side of the Countess Dorothea von Medem, thee, whom I had never seen, I recognized by the blue flame which trembled above thy head, and which was nothing else than the soul of thy teacher, Schrepfer, wrestling in anguish, which has remained with thee, and hopes for delivery from thee.

I greeted thee, therefore, not as a stranger but as a friend.

No one called thy name, and yet it was known to me.

I took thee by the hand, greeting thee.

Hans Rudolph von Bischofswerder, be welcome.