Monday, May 3:
Fine weather, a good night for R. I have some business to do with secondhand merchants in the morning. On my return I find him ruling lines and in good spirits. Final sitting for my picture.
In the evening R. reads to us the three main scenes of Measure for Measure; an indescribable impression, the noblest and artistically most perfect of works. R. and I in tears, justice and mercy in their fairest forms; the Duke’s transition to mildness, his unspoken love for Isabella (Isabella herself divine, as R. exclaims), the two scenes between Angelo and the virgin, the final scene, with its polyphonic construction: how to count up and point out all the many details which enchant and move one?
We can scarcely leave each other’s side.