L. VAN BEETHOVEN.

182.

WRITTEN IN FRENCH TO MR. BIRCHALL,—­LONDON.

Vienne 22.  Juilliet, 1816.

MONSIEUR,—­

J’ai recu la declaration de propriete de mes Oeuvres entierement cede a Vous pour y adjoindre ma Signature.  Je suis tout a fait disposer a seconder vos voeux si tot, que cette affaire sera entierement en ordre, en egard de la petite somme de 10 # d’or la quelle me vient encore pour le fieux de la Copieture de poste de lettre etc. comme j’avois l’honneur de vous expliquier dans une note detaille sur ses objectes.  Je vous invite donc Monsieur de bien vouloir me remettre ces petits objects, pour me mettre dans l’etat de pouvoir vous envoyer le Document susdit.  Agrees Monsieur l’assurance de l’estime la plus parfait avec la quelle j’ai l’honneur de me dire

LOUIS VAN BEETHOVEN.

Copying . . . . 1. 10. 0. 
Postage to Amsterdam 1. 0. 0.
  ——­ Trio . . . 2. 10. —­
                     -----------
                     L5. 0. 0.

183.

TO G. DEL RIO.

July 28, 1816.

MY GOOD FRIEND,—­

Various circumstances compel me to take charge of Carl myself; with this view permit me to enclose you the amount due at the approaching quarter, at the expiry of which Carl is to leave you.  Do not, I beg, ascribe this to anything derogatory either to yourself or to your respected institution, but to other pressing motives connected with Carl’s welfare.  It is only an experiment, and when it is actually carried out I shall beg you to fortify me by your advice, and also to permit Carl sometimes to visit your institution.  I shall always feel the most sincere gratitude to you, and never can forget your solicitude, and the kind care of your excellent wife, which has fully equalled that of the best of mothers.  I would send you at least four times the sum I now do, if my position admitted of it; but at all events I shall avail myself at a future and, I hope, a brighter day, of every opportunity to acknowledge and to do justice to the foundation you have laid for the moral and physical good of my Carl.  With regard to the “Queen of the Night,” our system must continue the same; and as Carl is about to undergo an operation in your house which will cause him to feel indisposed, and consequently make him irritable and susceptible, you must be more careful than ever to prevent her having access to him; otherwise she might easily contrive to revive all those impressions in his mind which we are so anxious to avoid.  What confidence can be placed in any promise to reform on her part, the impertinent scrawl I enclose will best prove [in reference, no doubt, to an enclosed note].  I send it merely to show you how fully I am justified in the precautions I have already adopted with regard to her.  On this occasion, however, I did not answer like a Sarastro, but like a Sultan.  I would gladly spare you the anxiety of the operation on Carl, but as it must take place in your house, I beg you will inform me of the outlay caused by the affair, and the expenses consequent on it, which I will thankfully repay.  Now farewell!  Say all that is kind from me to your dear children and your excellent wife, to whose continued care I commend my Carl.  I leave Vienna to-morrow at five o’clock A.M., but shall frequently come in from Baden.