Wednesday, October 8:
In spite of a violent headache, R. spoke at length with me early this morning about the German language, which in his opinion has not yet displayed all its riches, “for Lessing, finding it in the state it then was, constructed words based on foreign conceptions, which then dominated everything. It is fortunately true that these constructions were in the spirit of the German language, but the language has not yet undergone a development coming from its own roots.”
Yesterday we discussed the children’s financial situation after our death. According to the arrangements Voltz and Batz have made, Fidi can count on 6,000 florins annually, of which only 4,000 can be spent by him or on his behalf, so that, during the 30 years in which this pension will be paid to him, 2,000 florins can be put aside for him each year, and he will then have a capital of about 65,000 florins, counting the interest. His sisters will receive their provisions from the shares I have saved. We hope to have 20,000 francs for each of them. What Hans has saved will provide the dowries for the two elder girls, and my capital the dowries for the two younger ones. On top of that there is the house, though of course all of it only with God’s blessing!
R. is very unwell; he forces himself to work, which worries me, what with his headache, his sore foot, his abdominal troubles, and, on top of all those, his depression arising from our situation. The single purest joy is our Siegfried, a fay of cheerfulness.
Some days ago Lindner, the engraver, was here; he told us that R.’s picture had won him a prize at the exhibition in Vienna, and this had led to further orders. He would like to make another one.
In the evening I read Uhland, the two sagas of Harald Hyldetand and Starkad, and they moved us tremendously. The hero who is always marked out for victory, yet receives mortal wounds in every fight, reminds me of R.
Speaking of the ancient Germanic tribes, R. divides them into Franks and Saxons: these were certainly the main tribes, the first being rougher and more adventurous, the second regarding war more as a matter of defense and loyalty.
The morning brings me 100 thalers from our good Frl. Easier, then the gift of the first book of sketches for Götterdämmerung. For R. it brings a visit from the dean, who first of all reports that the Crown Prince spoke at length and significantly about R. with the mayor, calling him the first “to have represented the German ideal in art.” Then he announces the arrival of a Herr von Thon, with wife, who is a member of the Wagner Society in Regensburg and who is suggesting a banker who wishes to put money into our undertaking! This couple does in fact arrive during the afternoon. Baron von Thon is a delegate to the synod and a count on help?
A pitiful letter full of sentimentality from Frau Wille, making a veritable exhibition of her lack of participation; they prefer to remain in their flower meadows, etc. An equally pitiful one from Herr Zacharias: gout, lack of authority, all sorts of things serve him as an excuse for not calling the conference together.
Only a few of the patrons have replied to the invitation.
A fountain is splashing in our greenhouse, to celebrate the birthday of Cervantes, I say jokingly; and for that reason we read two of his interludes, “The Alert Sentry” and “The Magic Theater,” and amid all the humor, which reminds us of Shakespeare, think of the great writer and his sad, sad life.