Dear Friend!
You invite me to take steps against the town gossip that is so extraordinarily busy with my affairs now. Jean Paul once fell in with Goethe and they both began to talk of the shameless and malicious rumours which at various times had been broadcast about them; Jean Paul declared he would never do anything to stop such gossip, or at least not until he was accused of stealing silver spoons; Goethe said that even then he would do nothing. Although unfortunately I cannot compare myself in any way with a man like Goethe, I nevertheless may follow him in meeting with only the most absolute contempt a disgusting sort of town talk which, the higher it mounts in its stupidity, the sooner it must sink back again upon its lack of foundation. After what you told me yesterday, it truly seems to me that no further limit is to be reached, and we may take it that, unless people want to make believe that I've shot or drowned myself, this town tittle-tattle must soon have reached its very end. As it is, I'm quite touched at the discovery of the tireless interest paid to my humble person, especially when it's a matter of inventions, exaggerations, and broadcast rumours which under certain circumstances might indeed do me harm. If you think it would be to my advantage to make these sentiments known to my friends, you are at liberty at your pleasure to have these lines printed in the Anzeiger.
Your
R. W.
Source: The Letters of Richard Wagner to Anton Pusinelli, trans. and ed. Elbert Lenrow (Alfred A. Knopf, 1932), No. 3