Farewell!  Au revoir very soon.

Your

Richard.

252.

Dearest Richard,

At Weymar I cannot raise ten thalers just at present, but I have written at once to Vienna, and in a week’s time the sum of a thousand francs, named by you, will be handed to you by my son-in-law, M. Emile Ollivier (avocat au barreau et depute de la ville de Paris).  Call on him at the end of next week.  He lives rue St. Guillaume, No. 29, Faubourg St. Germain.

If it is of use to you to have some conversation with me, I will come to Strassburg for one day, although I find it difficult to leave Weymar at the present moment.

The Princess has had an excellent idea, of which you will hear more before long.  She will write to you as soon as she has had an answer with regard to it.

God be with you!

F. L.

Friday, January 15th, 1858.

Your telegram, arrived a day before your letter which I received last night.  Let me have your address; poste restante is not safe.

253.

Dearest Franz,

Tired to death and worn out, I write only to tell you that I have arrived at Paris, and that my address is Grand Hotel du Louvre (No. 364).

In a modest room on the third floor, overlooking the inner courts, I found at last the quiet position which is necessary to me.

I expect help from you.  My difficulty is great.  In a few days I shall write more calmly.

Your

R. W.

254.

Grand hotel du Louvre, No. 364, Paris.

You dear, splendid man!  How can I be unhappy, when I have attained the supreme happiness of possessing such a friend, of participating in such love?  Oh, my Franz! could we but live always together!  Or is the song to be right after all:  “Es ist bestimmt in Gottes Rath, dass von dem liebsten was man hat, muss scheiden?”

Farewell; tomorrow I shall write about other things.  A thousand greetings!

Your

R. W.

255.

Yet another friend, dearest Franz, has a kind fate vouchsafed to me.  I was permitted to feel the delight of becoming acquainted with such a poet as Calderon in my mature stage of life.  He has accompanied me here and I have just finished reading “Apollo and Klymene,” with its continuation “Phaeton.”  Has Calderon ever been near to you?  I can unfortunately approach him through a translation only on account of my great want of gift for languages (as for music).  However, Schlegel, Gries, who has translated the more important pieces, Malsburg, and Martin (in the Brockhaus edition) have done much towards disclosing the spirit and even the indescribable subtlety of the poet to us.  I am almost inclined to place Calderon on a solitary height.  Through him I have discovered the significance of the Spanish character—­an