Most honored Friend!
I beg to send you—in a copy which is unfortunately defective—two memoirs which I have written—as a kind of most confidential communication—for the King of Bavaria. If you don't mind, I ask you to read them in detail. In this way you could accomplish something that nobody but you could be called upon to do. In a few days I hope to be in Vienna for a day and to see you then for an extensive talk. I'll send ahead my treatises. About them as well as about my journey to Vienna I beg you to be absolutely silent. Until I have the pleasure of seeing you—
With best regards, faithfully yours,
Richard Wagner
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner: The Burrell Collection, ed. John N. Burk (Macmillan, 1950), No. 288