Truly, dear Richard, we belong together and must come together at last.  Cordial thanks for your kind letter, which in these dreary days has been a great and noble joy to me.  Amongst other things you have taken a fine and strikingly correct view of the totally passive attitude with regard to the reception and promulgation of my works which I shall observe for the future.  Other people have somewhat misunderstood my conduct.  What a blessing it is to be able to dispense with the explanation and discussion of certain things!

God bless you, dearest Richard; keep fresh and brave and upright.  Your

F. Liszt.

I shall write to X. today, and give him news of you. 310.

Paris, November 24th, 1860,

3, Rue D’AUMALE.

Dearest Franz,

Forgive me for writing but a few lines.  I have been severely ill these four weeks, and my recovery is scarcely noticeable.  I am still extremely weak.

I have an urgent request to make.  Fancy!  I do not possess a single copy of my poem of “The Ring of the Nibelung.”  I want to publish it, and do not know where to get a copy for the printer.  I remember that at the time I sent a great number of copies to Weimar, and there was such abundance there that (as I think Draseke told me) the book was to be had secondhand.  Be kind enough to get me one copy in consideration of my urgent need, and send it me as quickly as possible.  If there should not be a single possessor who could make up his mind to part with his copy in spite of the author’s great difficulty, I promise to restore to him the identical copy after the completion of the reprint.  I may therefore fairly ask even the most ardent admirer of my poem to make this sacrifice on my behalf.

Alas!  I begin to perspire, and can write no more.

Come to Paris as you promised, and make me happy!

Your

R.W.

311.

Dearest Richard,

I have managed to get a copy of your “Nibelungen.”  Counsellor Muller was kind enough to give me his for you; it was taken yesterday to Paris by the courier of the French Embassy here, together with the volume “Wagner und das Musik-Drama,” by Franz Muller, which has just been published.  You will receive the little parcel from Monsieur Leree, chef de bureau des departs au ministere des affaires etrangeres.  It is not customary for the ministry to transmit private messages, and you therefore must either call on M. Leree personally, or send him a few lines.

I was in bed a whole week at the same time as you.  There are moods and conditions in which we bear physical illness better than the uninterrupted sequence of every-day cares and tribulations.

When will the French edition of your three operatic poems appear, and what publisher undertakes the edition of the “Nibelungen?” Have you arranged with Schott about the publication of the full scores of “Rhinegold” and the “Valkyrie?” Send me word as to these three things.