“Then, oh! my weariness and troubles of all sorts!
“Nevertheless, there are compensations. Louis is doing well, though our long partings are hard to bear, for we love each other dearly.
“As for the musical world, the corruption in Paris is beyond belief, and I retire more and more into my shell.
“Beatrice is to be performed in Stuttgart, and I may go to conduct it. I am also asked to go to St Petersburg in March, but shall not do so unless they offer me a sum tempting enough to make me brave that horrible climate. Then I shall do it for Louis’ sake, for of what use are a few thousand francs more to me?
“I cannot imagine why some people have taken to flattering me so grossly. Their compliments are enough to scrape the paint off the walls, and I long to say to them:
“‘Monsieur, you forget that I am no longer a critic. I write no more for the papers.’
“The monotony of my life has been broken lately.
“Madame Erard, Madame Spontini and their niece begged me to read Othello to them. The door was rigorously closed to all comers, and I read the masterpiece through from beginning to end to my audience of six, who wept gloriously.
“Great heaven! What a revelation of the deepest depths of the human heart! That angel Desdemona, that noble fate-haunted Othello, that devil incarnate Iago! And to think that it was all written by a being like unto ourselves!
“It needs long, close study to put oneself in the point of view of the author, to follow the magnificent sweep of his mighty wings. And translators are such donkeys.