was in order I should arrange, under these circumstances, for
three performances of _Siegfried_ in one week. After the third
the theatre would be pulled down, and my score burnt. To those
persons who had been pleased with the thing I should then say,
'Now do likewise.' But if they wanted to hear something new from
me, I should say, 'You get the money.' Well, do I seem quite mad
to you? It may be so, but I assure you to attain this end is the
hope of my life, the prospect which alone can tempt me to take
in hand a work of art. So--get me 10,000 thalers--that's all!"

His friends, I say, did their best; but Liszt, though his generosity
had no bounds, still clung to the odd idea that Wagner should do
something for himself; also he could not get it out of his head that
the something could only be done in Paris. So, in another of the Uhlig
letters, dated more than six months anterior to the above, we find him
writing, half wearily, half defiantly--

"I have never felt the consciousness of freedom so beneficent
as now, nor have I ever been so convinced that only a loving
communion with others procures freedom. If, through the
assistance of X., I should be enabled to look firmly at the
immediate future without any necessity to earn a living, those
years would be the most decisive of my life, and especially of
my artistic career; for now I could look at Paris with calmness
and dignity; whereas, before, the fear of being compelled by
outward necessity to make concessions, made every step which I
took for Paris a false one. Now it would stand otherwise.
Formerly it was thus: 'Disown thyself, become another, become
Parisian in order to win for yourself Paris.' Now I would say:
'Remain just as thou art, show to the Parisians what thou art
willing and able to produce from within, give them an idea of
it, and in order that they may comprehend thee, speak to them so
that they may understand thee; for thy aim is just this--to be
understood by them as that which thou art,' I hope you agree
with this.

"So on January 16, 1850, I go to Paris; a couple of overtures
will at once be put into practice; and I shall take my completed
opera scheme: it is _Wiland der Schmied_. First of all I attack
the five-act opera form, then the statute according to which in
every great opera there must be a special ballet. If I can o