144.

TO BARON VON PASQUALATI.

January, 1815.

MY ESTEEMED FRIEND,—­

I beg you will kindly send me by the bearer the proper form for the Kinsky receipt (but sealed) for 600 florins half-yearly from the month of April.  I intend to send the receipt forthwith to Dr. Kauka in Prague,[1] who on a former occasion procured the money for me so quickly.  I will deduct your debt from this, but if it be possible to get the money here before the remittance arrives from Prague, I will bring it at once to you myself.

I remain, with the most profound esteem,

Your sincere friend,

BEETHOVEN

[Footnote 1:  This man, now ninety-four years of age and quite blind, was at that time Beethoven’s counsel in Prague.  Pasqualati was that benefactor of Beethoven’s who always kept rooms for him in his house on the Moelker Bastei, and whose kind aid never deserted him to the close of his life.]

145.

TO HERR KAUKA.

Vienna, Feb. 24, 1815.

MY MUCH ESTEEMED K.,—­

I have repeatedly thanked you through Baron Pasqualati for your friendly exertions on my behalf, and I now beg to express one thousand thanks myself.  The intervention of the Archduke could not be very palatable to you, and perhaps has prejudiced you against me.  You had already done all that was possible when the Archduke interfered.  If this had been the case sooner, and we had not employed that one-sided, or many-sided, or weak-sided Dr. Wolf, then, according to the assurances of the Oberstburggraf himself, the affair might have had a still more favorable result.  I shall therefore ever and always be grateful to you for your services.  The Court now deduct the sixty ducats I mentioned of my own accord, and to which the late Prince never alluded either to his treasurer or any one else.  Where truth could injure me it has been accepted, so why reject it when it could have benefited me?  How unfair!  Baron Pasqualati requires information from you on various points.

I am again very tired to-day, having been obliged to discuss many things with poor P.; such matters exhaust me more than the greatest efforts in composition.  It is a new field, the soil of which I ought not to be required to till.  This painful business has cost me many tears and much sorrow.  The time draws near when Princess Kinsky must be written to.  Now I must conclude.  How rejoiced shall I be when I can write you the pure effusions of my heart once more; and this I mean to do as soon as I am extricated from all these troubles.  Pray accept again my heartfelt thanks for all that you have done for me, and continue your regard for

Your attached friend,

BEETHOVEN.

146.

TO THE ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH.

1815.