Tuesday, September 19:
As I am giving the two “big” girls their lessons, a carriage arrives, and there is our nephew Clemens, who is very welcome. Amiable lunch; I am beset on all sides.
In the afternoon drove to Marie Schleinitz’s. She, alarmed to the highest degree by R.’s intention to lay the foundation stone next month, says that most of the people intend to give their money only when 100,000 thalers have been subscribed, etc. I return home in melancholy spirits.
Family chat, with all the children present; suddenly a visit from Prince Georg. R.’s mood not exactly cordial. Then Marie Schleinitz and her cousin, Herr von Loen, a harmonious evening to which R. adds a touch of the sublime by playing us the Prelude to Act III of Tristan, after telling us which kind of death had previously attracted him, among other things, falling asleep in the snow. “But now,” he concludes, “I must go on living a very long time.”