who had just arrived for a prolonged stay in Vienna, to which I fondly imagined she was prompted by some idea of helping me here also.  As she too was on friendly terms with Standhartner, she at once entered into consultation with him as to how I could be helped out of the critical situation in which I was once more placed by the expenses of my concerts.  She confessed to our mutual friend that she had no means at her disposal, and would only be able to meet our extraordinary expenditure by contracting fresh debts.  It was therefore necessary to secure wealthier patrons, among whom she mentioned Baroness von Stockhausen, the wife of the Hanoverian ambassador.  This lady, who was a great friend of Standhartner’s, was most kind to me, and won me the sympathy of Lady Bloomfield and her husband, the English ambassador.  A soiree was given in the house of the latter, and at Frau von Stockhausen’s there were also several evening assemblies.  One day Standhartner brought me a thousand marks as an instalment towards my expenses, saying that they came from an anonymous donor.  Meanwhile Mme. Kalergis had managed to procure two thousand marks, which were also placed at my disposal, through Standhartner, for further needs.  But all her efforts to interest the court on my behalf remained entirely fruitless, in spite of her intimacy with Countess Zamoiska; for unfortunately a member of that Konneritz family from Saxony, which was everywhere turning up for my discomfiture, had now appeared as ambassador here also.  He succeeded in suppressing any inclination the all-powerful Archduchess Sophie might have had towards me, by pretending that during his time I had burnt down the King of Saxony’s castle.

But my patroness, undaunted still, endeavoured to helpme in every conceivable way demanded by my necessities.  In order to gratify my most earnest longing for a peaceful home where I could stay for a while, she managed to secure the house of the English attache, a son of the famous Bulwer Lytton, who had been called away, but was keeping up his establishment for some time longer.  Thus through her I was introduced to this exceedingly amiable young man.  I dined with him one evening, together with Cornelius and Mme. Kalergis, and after dinner began to read them my Gotterdammerung.  I did not seem to have secured a very attentive audience, however, and when I noticed this I stopped and withdrew with Cornelius.  We found it very cold as we went home, and Bulwer’s rooms seem also to have been insufficiently heated, so that we took refuge in a restaurant to drink a glass of hot punch.  The incident has remained fixed in my memory because here for the first time I saw Cornelius in an ungovernably eccentric humour.  While we thus took our pleasure, Mine.  Kalergis used her influence—­so I was afterwards informed—­as an exceedingly powerful and irresistible female advocate to inspire Bulwer with a definite interest in my fate.  In this she so far succeeded, that he unconditionally placed his house at my disposal for nine mouths.  On considering the matter more deeply, however, I did not see what advantage this would be to me, seeing that I had no further prospect of earning any income in Vienna for my sustenance.