I might almost sing, like
Hoffmann von Fallersleben,
"Hier sitz ich fest, ein Fels im Meer, Woran die Wellen toben; 's
geht drunter, dran and druber her - Ich bleibe fortan oben" -
["Here firm I sit, a rock sea-girt, On which the waves are
dashing, But I remain above, unhurt, Nor heed the waters'
lashing."]
if only there were more waves and less marsh! -
My travelling plans are still somewhat vacillating, because I
cannot yet decide whether I shall go to Hungary or not. In any
case I shall go and see R. Wagner, in the middle of September at
latest, at Zurich, where Stahr at present is with his wife (Fanny
Lewald). Stahr will shortly publish a new volume of Paris Letters
(about the Exhibition), and is translating Suetonius for the
Classical Library coming out at Stuttgart. He told me that there
is a passage in Suetonius which one can quite apply to the
baptism of the Prince Imperial in Paris! After this precedent,
why might not everything in the Horoe belg, and the Weymar Year-
Book be proved as referring to something?
Remember me most warmly to your dear Amphitrion, whom I
unfortunately did not manage to see again before her departure,
and, if the Mildes are in the same house as you, give them my
best greetings, woven into a toast.
