Wednesday, August 31:
Doctor says a battle is expected today or tomorrow between MacMahon and the Crown Prince, God be with our troops! Very nice and touching letter from R.’s sister Ottilie, who shows how unutterably she has been suffering with us. R. says she has inherited their mother’s truly pious nature. Loldi still very ill. I write to Claire and to Judith, God knows if the letters will get through! Go to meet R. on his walk.
In the evening he reads us Byron’s description of the capture of the fortress in Izmail; very remarkable and gripping; R. says, “He is the only true poet of this century who watched and described contemporary events; Goethe and Schiller turned their backs on them.”