Did English, French, literature with Lusch, with much enjoyment; R. asks if I really believe that a child of this age can be interested in such things, though he remembers that when he was eight the poems “The Hostage” and “The Diver” had indeed made a tremendous impression on him. “The gigantic shadows of evening” had seemed to him the peak of all poetry.
Visit from friend Feustel, who has also heard from Frau v. Schleinitz; she is expecting 9 to 10,000 thalers from the lottery. Bismarck is now in Kissingen, our dean is going there to see him. An out-and-out plot by the Catholic party (Ultramontanen) seems to have failed in Munich. — The Germans’ good fortune in having legitimate princes. —
R. says at lunch that he would like to be spared to direct Fidi’s studies and to make a new start with him. In the evening Das Rheingold.
*Ballads by Friedrich Schiller.