Tuesday, July 12:
The weather is uncertain and I am unwell, all the same we decide to climb the Esel, after having read in the temple something from Schopenhauer (“A Man’s Place in the Estimation of Others”). I write my notes while still in the public room of the inn. Having arrived in storm and rain, I go to my bed feeling ill.
Wednesday, July 13: I spend the whole day in bed, most unwell. R. in his love and kindness reads to me; the second part of Dichterleben we find very gripping, the story of the marriage recalls R.’s marriage and seems entirely convincing, and in the figure of Southampton we rediscover the King of Bavaria.
A guide brings news that an ultimatum has been sent from Paris to the King of Prussia, saying he should forbid his relative to accept the crown, otherwise war! I am quite beside myself over this example of French insolence; this nation deserves a merciless chastisement.