Tuesday, September 3:
Nice letter from the King; R. working (bist du Erlöser). In the morning he showed me a page of musical notes: “My catch from yesterday,” he said. At lunch conversation about the Austrian advance into Bosnia, which seems like rashness on Andrassy’s part. Malwida tells us that almost everywhere a general conflagration is expected as a result of the Congress decisions! Long letter of advice to Loulou!
We take a pleasant walk to Birken; a conversation about the mountains reminds R. of Hoffmann’s story Die Bergwerke von Falun, and in his wonderful way he reads us this work, the poetical conception of which he finds superb; some weaknesses of style are in our opinion far outweighed by the beauty of its design. R. feels it must have been influenced by Tieck’s Der Runenberg.