I write to Mimi and make my inquiry! R. writes most kindly to Herr Niemann, and to his nephew Clemens, who has announced the birth of a son, humourously and good-naturedly touching upon young Fritz’s [1] silence. – In the evening he remarks: “I am a compound of sorrow, concern, vexation, and germinating resolutions”. A delivery of the Orbis Pictus [2] brings once more before him the horror of Nature, of the eternal devouring; how could one ever find consolation in its contemplation, only through the Saviour: turn away, subdue the will. Utter embitterment against Goethe’s “triflings”.
[1] Fritz Brockhaus, son of Ottilie and Hermann B.
[2] A children’s textbook with illustrations, written by the educator John Amos Comenius and published in 1658.
Revised English translation by Jo Cousins.