Page:Selected letters of Mendelssohn 1894.djvu/18

4 ever since, and it has been a great pleasure to me thus coming to know her more intimately.

Ulrica I find even more winning and sweet than before. She has gained a seriousness that seems to pervade her whole being, and the depth and unfailing truth of her feeling make her one of the most beautiful spirits I have ever met with. The two boys, Walter and Wolff, are lively, industrious, and affectionate; it is delightful to hear them talking about “grandpapa’s Faust.” To come back to my narrative. I sent Zelter’s letter in to Goethe, who invited me to dinner. I found him outwardly unchanged, but at first somewhat silent and reserved; I fancy he must have wanted to observe me, but at the moment I felt disappointed, and thought to myself, “Now he is always like that.” But then by good fortune the conversation happened to turn on the Weimar “Women’s Association” and the Chaos, a fantastic newspaper, which circulates among the ladies, and to the staff of which I have just been promoted myself.

The old man all at once became jovial, and began to quiz the two ladies about their philanthropy and their intellect, also about the subscriptions and their visitation of the sick, which seemed particularly to move his wrath. He appealed to me to join him in a revolt against these things, and, when I would not, he returned to his former indifference, but at last he became more friendly and intimate than I had ever known him before. It was beyond everything! Talking about the “Robber’s Bride,” by Ries, he said it contained everything a writer nowadays wanted to