Sunday, March 24:
Fidi touches us with his good behavior. Today I took away his usual egg on account of his fatness; he sees it still on the plate and says nothing!
Letters from Lenbach, Schäfer, etc. They are giving amateur performances in Munich for the benefit of Bayreuth. Herr Jacques Offenbach is being banished by the French as a German, a quid pro quo about which whole books could be written, says R. Recently he spoke about the fire at the library in Alexandria: “There, according to all accounts, the universal spirit had established a place of eternal enlightenment, everything collected, put in order; culture seemed assured, and a Turkish empire destroys it all.”
Family lunch. To end the day, a discussion on death, which will not divide us. R. says he recently imagined himself dying in my arms, but the thought of my grief worried him. He tells me about a curious and complicated dream, with musical tributes being paid, George Sand as audience, a coach which got away from him, and he says one should always note down one’s dreams at once.
In the evening read Prof. N.’s third lecture.
Sad discussion with R. concerning the children.