as he could not deny, in a manner intoxicated.  But a really refreshing sense of freedom and spontaneity pervaded everything, and the unceremonious evenings at my house in particular were really remarkably free and easy.  On these occasions the Princess, with Polish patriarchal friendliness, would help the mistress of the house in serving.  Once, after we had had some music, I had to give the substance of my two newly conceived poems, Tristan und Isolde and Die Sieger, to a group which, half sitting, half lying before me, was certainly not without charm.

The crown of our festivities was, however, Liszt’s birthday, on the 22nd October, which the Princess celebrated with due pomp at her own house.  Every one who was some one at Zurich was there.  A poem by Hoffmann von Fallersleben was telegraphed from Weimar, and at the Princess’s request was solemnly read aloud by Herwegh in a strangely altered voice.  I then gave a performance, with Frau Heim, of the first act, and a scene from the second, of the Walkure, Liszt accompanying.  I was able to obtain a favourable idea of the effect of our performance by the wish expressed by Dr. Wille to hear these things badly done, so that he could form a correct judgment, as he feared he might be seduced by the excellence of our execution.  Besides these, Liszt’s Symphonic Poems were played on two grand pianos.  At the feast, a dispute arose about Heinrich Heine, with respect to whom Liszt made all sorts of insidious remarks.  Frau Wesendonck responded by asking if he did not think Heine’s name as a poet would, nevertheless, be inscribed in the temple of immortality.

‘Yes, but in mud,’ answered Liszt quickly, creating, as may be conceived, a great sensation.

Unfortunately, our circle was soon to suffer a great loss by Liszt’s illness—­a skin eruption—­which confined him to his bed for a considerable period.  As soon as he was a little better, we quickly went to the piano again to try over by ourselves my two finished scores of Rheingold and the Walkure.  Princess Marie listened carefully, and was even able to make intelligent suggestions in connection with a few difficult passages in the poem.

Princess Caroline, too, seemed to set extraordinary store on being quite clear as to the actual intrigue concerning the fate of the gods in my Nibelungen.  She took me in hand one day, quite like one of the Zurich professors, en particulier, to clear up this point to her satisfaction.  I must confess it was irrefutably brought home to me that she was anxious to understand the most delicate and mysterious features of the intrigue, though in rather too precise and matter-of-fact a spirit.  In the end I felt as though I had explained a French society play to her.  Her high spirits in all such things were as marked as the curious amiability of her nature in other respects; for when I one day explained to her, in illustration of the first of these two qualities, that four weeks of uninterrupted companionship with her would have