Although I had firmly agreed with R. that we should not speak of unpleasant matters — that we should either combat them or endure them, but converse only of what is fair — I nevertheless came to inform him of Mimi’s letter. He thereupon drafts a letter to Prince Bismarck, a copy of which I send to Bucher. All that is sombre and harsh may be borne in love! — In the evening, however, I am tormented by a violent headache. — We read Goethe’s “Geheimnisse”[1] and some lovely poems from the Chinese–German annual.[2]
[1] A fragment; belonging to the category of epic poems.
[2] “Chinese, On Art and Antiquity”. Volume Six, First Issue. 1827; from “Poems of One Hundred Beautiful Women”.
Revised English translation by Jo Cousins.