in no hurry. Throughout May, accounts came to him from London of the success of I puritani and the failure of a revival of Norma (due to the poor performances by both the Adalgisa and Pollione), although later reports of Giulietta Grisi's Norma—in contrast to those of Pasta—were not good either, and Bellini was pleased that it was not Grisi who gave the opera in Paris. Over the summer, Bellini's general mood was reported to be "dark": discussion with the Opéra could not proceed until a new director was appointed; "he writes long letters, crowded with projects, ideas, reveries that the hand seems to have trouble restraining"; and, as Weintock concludes, all of these things seem to "inescapably suggest a man deeply disturbed physically, psychologically, or both". At one of the literary gatherings which Bellini attended earlier in the year, Bellini met the writer Heinrich Heine. Both men then attended a dinner that summer, at which the writer is reported to have remarked: You are a genius, Bellini, but you will pay for your great gift with a premature death. All the great geniuses died very young, like Raphael and like Mozart. The rather superstitious Bellini was horrified. Also, Heine's literary portrait of Bellini, which became part of his unfinished novel Florentinische Nächte (Florentine Nights) published in 1837, emphasized the less-appealing aspects of the composer's personality, summing up a description of him as "a sigh in dancing pumps". In his last-known letter to Filippo Santocanale Bellini wrote on 16 August, followed by one to Florimo on 2 September. In the latter, he mentions that "for three days I've been slightly disturbed by a diarrhea, but I am better now, and think that it is over." Final illness and death It was clear from Bellini's reaction to Heine's remarks that he did not like Heine. Attempting to reconcile the two men, Madame Joubert, who had attended the summer event, invited both to dinner, along with her friend the Princess Belgiojoso. Bellini failed to appear, instead he sent a note stating that he was too ill. Weinstock reports that the princess sent Doctor Luigi Montallegri to Puteaux. Over a few days, he reported to Carlo Severini of the Théatre-Italien with four notes, the first (on 20 September) stated "no appreciable improvement". On the following day, Montallegri reported a slight improvement, and on 22nd, the doctor stated that he "hopes to declare him