Sunday, April 3:
R. had a restless night, read much Gob., and has to take medicine in the morning. We do not go out; I spend most of my time with Fidi, pleased by his patience and amiability. Letters from Lusch and Countess La Tour enliven our coffee time.
Speaking of Count G.'s book, R. observed that one becomes conscious of his immaturity, and really people should not write long books; he would find it difficult to make up his mind to read Grote's history, but he would reread O. Muller’s work on the Dorians at once. In the evening we read E. v. Weber's lecture on the Boers. The book about races is discussed at the same time, and it is very stimulating.
At the conclusion, when we are quite alone, R. and I discuss the staging of Parsifal. In the morning R. had counted up how many English governments he had already lived through, and he talked of Canning's head, which as a child he had seen on pipes with the inscription