Thursday, December 4:
R. had a curious, ghostly dream, in which the stairs suddenly vanished and he woke up calling “Minna.” Departure of friend Gersdorff. Very cold day, packing; letter from Dr. Schron asking whether we shall want stoves - so it is cold there, too! In the evening conversation with friend Wolz. and Stein. Once again much about socialism; R. recommends C. Frantz’s interpretation; then mathematics; the assertion that two parallel lines meet in infinity annoys R. just as much as the claim for a fourth dimension in space. He talks about K. Ritter’s book on tragedy, and then tells the whole story of the curious relationship between them, drawing the conclusion that the young man turned away from him in order to preserve his independence. News that a proposal has been made to the Duke of Cumberland to renounce his claims to H[anover] and Br[unswick], in return for which he will be given back his property! R. points out indignantly that nobody has castigated the unworthiness of this proposal.
(Wrote the last 3 days during R.’s illness, in consequence very inadequate.) [Added later: “Thursday the 4th, evening, R. plays to me a lovely theme from the period between Tristan and Meistersinger, containing both elements, yearning and happy.”]