meine Zeitung_. In 1801 he paid another visit
to Paris, also in a political capacity, when he carefully studied
Napoleon's policy, and treasured up many hints which were useful to him
in his literary undertakings. He still, however, devoted most of his
attention to his own business, and, for many years, made all the entries
into the ledger with his own hand. He relieved the tedium of almost
ceaseless toil by pleasant intercourse with literary men. With Schiller,
Huber, and Gottlieb Konrad Pfeffel (1736-1809) he was on terms of the
warmest friendship; and he was also intimate with Herder, Schelling,
Fichte, Richter, Voss, Hebel, Tieck, Therese Huber, Matthisson, the
brothers Humboldt, Johann Muller, Spittler and others, whose works he
published in whole or in part. In the correspondence of Alexander von
Humboldt with Varnhagen von Ense we see the familiar relations in which
the former stood to the Cotta family. In 1795 he published the
_Politischen Annalen_ and the _Jahrbucher der Baukunde_, and in 1798 the
_Damenalmanach_, along with some works of less importance. In 1807 he
issued the _Morgenblatt_, to which Schorn's _Kunstblatt_ and Menzel's
_Literaturblatt_ were afterwards added. In 1810 he removed to Stuttgart;
and from that time till his death he was loaded with honours. State
affairs and an honourable commission from the German booksellers took
him to the Vienna congress; and in 1815 he was deputy-elect at the
Wurttemberg diet. In 1819 he became representative of the nobility; then
he succeeded to the offices of member of committee and (1824)
vice-president of the Wurttemberg second chamber. He was also appointed
Prussian _Geheimrat_, and knight of the order of the Wurttemberg crown;
King William I. of Wurttemberg having already revived the ancient
nobility in his family by granting him the patent of Freiherr (Baron)
Cotta von Cottendorf. Meanwhile such publications as the _Polytechnische
Journal_, the _Hesperus_, the _Wurttembergische Jahrbucher_, the
_Hertha_, the _Ausland_, and the _Inland_ issued from the press. In
1828-1829 appeared the famous correspondence between Schiller and
Goethe. Cotta was an unfailing friend of young struggling men of talent.
In addition to his high standing as a publisher, he was a man of great
practical energy, which flowed into various fields of activity. He was a
scientific agriculturist, and promoted many reforms in farming. He was
the first Wurttemberg landholder to abolish serfdo