Sunday, June 4:
Copy of the pantomime from Rienzi. R. receives a very nice letter from Heidelberg, someone putting himself forward as a patron. Also one from Herr Furstner in Berlin; he had to pay the Paris publisher 1,400 francs for the three songs, whereas R. could get only 500 francs from the Paris publisher. R. very indignant.
Stayed indoors on account of the persistent bad weather. In the evening Frederick the Great by Carlyle. Over supper we discussed our indispensables and classified them thus: Homer, Aeschylus and Sophocles, the Symposium, Don Quixote, the whole of Shakespeare, and Goethe’s Faust.
Monday, June 5: Weather still not good; work with the children, letters to the publisher Durand. Went out in the afternoon; read in the newspapers of the celebrations of R.’s birthday in Munich, where his bust was wreathed in flowers amid endless rejoicing. Then of Hans’s intention of traveling to America. Dismal feelings; will his children see him before he goes, or indeed ever again?
Heavy evening sunk in my thoughts, “the sword within my heart, speechless with bitter smart.” How do I come by all my happiness? Praying and supplicating I lay myself down to rest.