Worked with the children. Spoke with R. about an ultramontane prophecy which foretells a great fire at the theatre [1] following the first performance. In the evening, Mr Unger came with Mr Rubinstein; the former was hoarse, yet sang some parts from “Loge” with a pleasant voice, but … Much pleasure reading Lichtenberg; R. continues on with Görres; the notion of man as the image of the cross pleases both him and me. The Pope, he says, is the realisation of the Jewish ideal of the Messiah.
[1] Enclosed, two pages from a periodical: a loose leaf taken from a clerical magazine, pages 7 and 8, containing prophecies for various lands:
“Many afflictions, which the faithful Christian regards as a salutary rod of God’s chastisement, shall befall Bavaria. Perils of fire and water shall loom. Hailstorms shall lay waste the harvest across wide stretches of land, and roaring floods shall destroy many meadows and fields.
But a most dreadful misfortune shall occur in a city. There, a great pavilion shall be erected, into which countless onlookers shall stream from near and far. Music, song, and glittering, vain splendor shall there bewitch the senses. Yet one day, by unhappy chance, a fire shall break out — at a time when the hall is filled with thousands. With terrible swiftness the flames shall spread. Terror shall seize all. Where but a minute before sinful song and sound had echoed, there shall now rise, as in hell itself, the desperate cries of the damned. Hundreds shall be crushed and burned, so that the following day, the foot of him who walks across the smoldering rubble shall step with each pace upon half-charred corpses.
The cry of horror at this terrible calamity shall ring out across the whole world and awaken bitter tears in most lands, even beyond the seas.
But on the spot where the ill-fated pavilion once stood, no more shall sinful pleasures of the world be pursued. Instead, in memory of the poor souls, a temple consecrated to Heaven shall be raised.”
Revised English translation by Jo Cousins.