Narrative and Miscellaneous PapersDe Quincey, Thomas
General
Narrative and Miscellaneous Papers
De Quincey, Thomas
English essays; English fiction
Having mentioned his servants, I shall here take occasion to give some
account of his man-servant Lampe. It was a great misfortune for Kant, in
his old age and infirmities, that this man also became old, and subject
to a different sort of infirmities. This Lampe had originally served in
the Prussian army; on quitting which he entered the service of Kant. In
this situation he had lived about forty years; and, though always dull
and stupid, had, in the early part of this period, discharged his
duties with tolerable fidelity. But latterly, presuming upon his own
indispensableness, from his perfect knowledge of all the domestic
arrangements, and upon his master's weakness, he had fallen into
great irregularities and neglect of his duties. Kant had been obliged,
therefore, of late, to threaten repeatedly that he would discharge him.
I, who knew that Kant, though one of the kindest-hearted men, was also
one of the firmest, foresaw that this discharge, once given, would be
irrevocable: for the word of Kant was as sacred as other men's oaths.
Consequently, upon every opportunity, I remonstrated with Lampe on the
folly of his conduct, and his wife joined me on these occasions. Indeed,
it was high time that a change should be made in some quarter; for it
now became dangerous to leave Kant, who was constantly falling from
weakness, to the care of an old ruffian, who was himself apt to fall
from intoxication. The fact was, that from the moment I undertook the
management of Kant's affairs, Lampe saw there was an end to his old
system of abusing his master's confidence in pecuniary affairs, and the
other advantages which he took of his helpless situation. This made
him desperate, and he behaved worse and worse; until one morning,
in January, 1802, Kant told me, that, humiliating as he felt such a
confession, the fact was, that Lampe had just treated him in a way which
he was ashamed to repeat. I was too much shocked to distress him by
inquiring into the particulars. But the result was, that Kant now
insisted, temperately but firmly, on Lampe's dismissal. Accordingly, a
new servant, of the name of Kaufmann, was immediately engaged; and on
the next day Lampe was discharged with a handsome pension for life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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