In 1829 he was anxious to undertake a translation into English of
Kant's chief works. He wrote to the publishers, urging his claims,
saying "a century may pass before there shall again meet in the same
head so much Kantian philosophy with so much English, as happen to
dwell together in mine." The proposal came to nothing, and Kant's
_Critique_ had to wait for nearly ten years longer before it appeared
in an English form.
In 1831 the cholera broke out in Berlin, and Schopenhauer immediately
took to flight. Hegel was one of the victims of this outbreak. In one
of his later works, Schopenhauer describes how he had been moved to
leave Berlin, on the entry of the cholera, by means of a dream. He had
dreamed of a little schoolfellow and playmate, who died in childhood,
"It may have been," he says, "of hypothetical truth, a warning in
short, that if I had remained, I should have died of the cholera.
Immediately after my arrival in Frankfurt, I was the subject of a
perfectly distinct apparition, as I believe, of my parents, and
signifying that I should survive my mother, who was still alive; my
father, already deceased, carried a light in his hand." This is
significant, as showing Schopenhauer's belief in the supernatural, and
in mystical influences.
After leaving Berlin, Schopenhauer settled at Frankfurt, {31} and with
the exception of one year, which was spent at Mannheim, he lived there
until his death twenty-seven years later. For twenty years after
coming to Frankfurt he lived in entire isolation. Now and again, at
rare intervals, an article from his pen appeared, but this is the only
sign of life. We hear nothing of his personal life during this period.
Friends he seems to have had none, and all personal intercourse with
acquaintances invariably came to an abrupt end, owing to his intolerant
attitude towards those who dared to disagree with any of his views.