Saturday, April 17:
Bad weather still, but R. walks to the palm tree all the same, returns somewhat tired, and says, “Take cover, Richard, the world is cross with you.”
Joke about the “venerable poet-philosopher” of Dr. Förster’s lecture, whereas he would never give anybody the impression of being a venerable old man. Lunch with our friend Joukowsky. Very pleasant.
In the studio the singers Pepino and Alfonso and the violinist; R. launches into a veritable duet with Pepino, “Ciceronella teneva”, and the violinist also pleases us. R. exclaims, “If only these people could find a genius to make use of all their talents!”
Whist in the evening; afterward R. reads to me Renan’s Life of Jesus, Chapter XVII (?), “On the Final Establishment of the Doctrine of the Arrival of God’s Kingdom,” which makes a truly deep impression on both of us. R. says, “He loves Jesus, whereas Strauss does not.”