Saturday, May 10:
R. writes to Councilor D[ufHipp], and in his letter also points out that the lavishly advertised benefit performance for Bayreuth brought in 300 thalers.
I spend the morning with Lulu, who has a slight rash. In the afternoon, along with Prof. Ott, I selected the players for the tableaux vivants - a wretched impression of the whole pack, depravity and stupidity on every face! My good professor leaves the whole examination to me, but afterward admires my ability to deal with people!
I am feeling apprehensive about the whole thing; the vanity of the principal figures must now be taken into account - the sensitivity of my nephew, to whom I was obliged to write that the amateurs would have difficulty in getting used to him, after having studied with Zumpe! God knows - and on top of all this trouble, a heavy heart!
In the evening, Grimm’s German language. R. says of Richter that he has need of “some distracting activity.”