It was in the year of our Lord 1815 that I first heard the name Börne. I was with my late father at the Frankfurt fair, where he had taken me in order that I might look around the world some; he said it would be educational. A great spectacle presented itself to me there. In the so-called sheds beyond the Zeil, I saw wax figures, wild animals, extraordinary works of art and nature. My father also showed me the big stores, both Christian and Jewish, where one buys goods ten percent below the manufacturing price and is still cheated. He also let me see the town hall, the Römer, where the German emperors were bought, ten percent below the manufacturing price. We have finally run out of that product. Once my father took me into the reading room of one of the Δ or lodges, where he often supped, drank coffee, played cards, and carried out other Masonic rituals. While I was engrossed in reading newspapers, a young man sitting next to me whispered softly into my ear:

“That is Doctor Börne, who writes against the actors!”

When I looked up I saw a man who, looking for a journal, walked up and down in the room several times and soon went out the door again. Though he stayed only briefly, the whole essence of the man nevertheless remained in my memory and even today I could portray him with absolute accuracy.