Best Friend,
Finest thanks! Just now we are burdened with the equipment of our house and approaching removal into it. My wife suffering from a very obstinate cold, and I — awaiting good times and putting up with bad. At the beginning of May I expect Richter, to help me for 4 months. He shall then have a look at your tenor as well.
For men I shan't lack, — of ladies I haven't many to boast. The summer will clear it all up: for the moment I still have something of the winter in my limbs!!
Heartiest greetings to you and our friends from
Yours sincerely
Richard Wagner.
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner to Emil Heckel, with a Brief History of the Bayreuth Festivals, trans. William Ashton Ellis (Grant Richards, 1899), No. 50