My worthy friend,
I sincerely regret having been misled by the heat of the moment into speaking out in public in defence of my recent article. I seem to have been dreadfully misunderstood, and there are many indications that certain people are making serious attempts to discredit me with the King. I hereby confer on you the office of true friendship: I would ask you to use the force of your personality - which is uncommonly suited to such matters - and your gift of words to intercede on my behalf at Court and with the King! Seek as far as it lies within the power of intellectual weapons and unsullied virtue to explain my good intentions to the parties concerned and restrain them if possible from taking steps which could be injurious not only to me (which I do not doubt) but very possibly to themselves as well.
What else can I say: I beg your help as a friend! You will not deny it to me!
Yours,
Richard Wagner.
Source: Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, trans. and ed. Stewart Spencer and Barry Millington (W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), No. 82