on these
heroes; for later Richard had a fair amount of fighting to do with
them, and in the end it was he more than any other one man who broke
their power for ever by appealing to the great public. This attitude
is due to Richard's preaching and example; and he learnt it from Uncle
Adolph. In one other respect Adolph's influence was good: he opened
out to Richard's vision immense fields of literature that the
youngster had never heard of. I have previously mentioned that all the
culture of the Geyer family came through the theatre. To this Richard
added a small school-acquaintance with the classics; and now came
Adolph to show him a huge, truly vital literature--poetry and prose
dealing with the life of our own epoch. Adolph wrote reminding him of
how finely Weber Had cultivated himself, of his breadth, of his
outlook on history and mankind. It is evident that Adolph, seeing the
irresistible bent of the Wagners towards the theatre, and fearing that
Richard might in time learn to be content with a life of ignorant
theatre tittle-tattle, did his best to save him, not so much by
warning him against the theatre--which he certainly knew to be
useless--as by showing how many great and interesting things the world
holds. The preaching did not fall on deaf ears; and Richard always
declared that in this regard he was incalculably indebted to his
uncle. One of Richard's most strongly marked characteristics was the
tenacity with which he held any idea that once entered his mind; and
it is worthy of note that about this period he read E.T.A. Hoffmann's
collected fantasies and Tieck's _Tannhaeuser_. From the first he
unmistakably got the minstrels' contest in his own _Tannhaeuser_; from
the second, Tannhaeuser's coming home after being cursed by the Pope.

So things went on. Richard's mother, Richard, Louise, Ottilie and
Caecilie formed the household; Uncle Adolph and Aunt Sophie lived not
far off; and they had plenty of friends. They lived at first in the
Pichhof outside the Halle gate and later removed into the town.
Richard wandered about the city, seeking the scenes of his babyhood;
and his mother pointed out to him the spot where she saw Napoleon
rush off, without his hat, to make his: escape after the battle of
liberation, while Richard was in his cradle. The Rannstadt gate, where
his grandfather spent his life collecting dues, was still standing,
though it was soon to vanish; and the house of the Red and White Lion
on the