May 24—Theatre, Mannheim —Lear—performance began at 6 Sharp. Never understood a word—Gr grumbling—by & by terrific & perfectly natural peal of thunder & vivid lightning. Gr— “Thank heaven it thunders in English, anyway.”

At home—Sat 3 hours & never understood a word but the Thunder & lightning.” [MTNJ 2: 85]

May 30: I will say this much for Lohengrin on my own account: it accomplished for me what no circumstance or combination of circumstances has ever been been able to do before, since I first saw the light of this world: it gave me a headache.

In midst of it John who had not moved or spoken from the beginning, but looked the picture of patient suffering, was asked how he was getting along. He said in a tremulous voice that he had not had such a good time since he had his teeth fixed.

See Bædeker The Rhine from Rotterdam to Constance, 1873 page 182