Friday, October 22:
A good night. In the morning he expresses to me his utter antipathy toward Bismarck. He goes to his work, reads through the Ten Commandments, and tells me that he has invited the doctors who came out against vivisection to contribute to the Blätter. We drink my father's health and then take a gondola to Saint Mark's Square, where the children are given ice cream.
As we glide along, R. remarks that here in Venice the gracefulness of the architecture takes the place of flowers. In the evening Count Gobineau comes to visit us, undoubtedly an interesting and significant man; but the French language is causing R. increasing difficulties, not only speaking it, but also listening to it; he finds it "horribly hard."