Wednesday, November 28:
Alas, a very bad night again! And today is an anniversary for us, which I planned to celebrate!
The music box gives R. pleasure. He says, “Oh, it is better now than it was then! We shall be the decoy birds, the Timoleons, who make others see what happiness is possible on this earth, but a happiness such as ours will not occur again.”
R. shows the box to the children, plays with it at lunch, and delights in the sparkling gems. Then he says to me, “This is how we and our children will one day twinkle in the sky, like these flower gems on this box.” Mild, unpleasant weather, which does not agree with R. He thanks Herr Hug for sending the manuscript.
In the evening the second and third acts of Henry VI, Part II, most moving of tragedies! When one thinks what the hacks do with such works in order to make them “human,” like Herr Dingelstedt, or “stage-worthy,” like others, one might well ask oneself for what purpose such eternal works have been created!