There is plainly an enormous admixture of fiction here; but equally plainly the basis of the story is the Laussot episode. Had there really been an affair of the kind narrated by Praeger, in which Wagner had shone so brilliantly, we may be sure we should have been told all about it in Mein Leben. It looks as if Wagner had been indiscreetly confidential to Praeger, and had told the story with embellishments, or that Praeger had heard it from another source—perhaps someone in Minna's entourage—and the story had been decorated and transformed in its transit from one mouth to another. The novellettish touch about telegraphing for the husband, however, is more likely to have come from the Wagnerian side than from that of the "opposition." Whatever may be the explanation, however, the fact remains that Praeger, whom it has become the fashion to despise as a mere Munchausen, did actually know of a "Bordeaux episode" of some sort; and that though he had hold of the wrong end of the stick, that there was a stick of some sort has now been proved by Wagner himself.
[107] From his childhood he was extremely susceptible to women. His heart, he tells us, used to "beat wildly" at the touch of the contents of his sisters' theatrical wardrobe (Mein Leben, p. 21).
[108] Autobiographische Skizze, in G.S., i. 10.
[109] In the first edition (1852) there came after this a passage in which Wagner more than hints at sexual escapades in his youth. He deleted the passage from the second edition (1872), as also the following words after "moral bigotry of our social system"; namely,—"as what people call unfortunately to-be-tolerated vice." See Mr. Ellis's translation of the Prose Works, i. 396.
[110] Eine Mittheilung an meine Freunde, in G.S., iv. 253.
[111] Eine Mittheilung an meine Freunde, in G.S., iv. 256.
[112] Eine Mittheilung an meine Freunde, in G.S., iv. 256.
[113] Mein Leben, p. 109.
[114] Mein Leben, p. 110.
[115] He had been so certain in advance of the liveliness of the party that he had warned the landlord of possible damage to his furniture, for which he would be compensated.