Wednesday, July 27:
R. had a restless night, and his vexation with the climate is great. But he thinks with pleasure of yesterday afternoon. A letter from poor Nathalie gives rise to reflections on his past life. I tell him I am utterly convinced that few men, if any at all, would have seen and accepted this relationship as understandingly as he.
We resolve to help the poor woman as far as lies in our power, but we do not yet see exactly how. In the evening our friends Rub. and Htimp. come. R. is somewhat vexed by the latter’s lack of energy. I remind R. of the idea he expressed earlier in the day to read to us the scenes with the fairies and the artisans in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and to our delight he does so. The fairies are so touching, as if making their appearance for the last time; the quarrel between Titania and Oberon: “One ought to show that to those French gentlemen,” says R. “Has anything more delicate and refined ever been seen?”
Less and less, even in one’s thoughts, can one think kindly of the Mendelssohn music in connection with it. When I tell R. that I still recite the Lord’s Prayer, he says, “It is an appeasement of the Will.”