(To Zmeskall—December 16.)
Here dear Z. you will receive my friendly dedication[169] which I hope will be a precious souvenir of our long-continued friendship and be accepted as a proof of my respect and not as the end of a long-spun thread (for you belong to my earliest friends in Vienna). Farewell—Abstain from the decayed fortresses, the attack exhausts more than those on the well preserved.
As ever,
Your friend,
Beethoven.
N.B. If you have a moment’s time please tell me how much a livery will cost now (without cloak) with hat and boot money.
The most extraordinary changes have taken place, the man, thank God, has gone to the devil, but on the other hand the wife seems disposed to attach herself all the more closely.
(To Sir George Smart, dictated to Häring.)
Vienna, December 16, 1816.—1055 Sailerstätte, 3d Floor.
My dear Sir:
You honor me with so many encomiums and compliments that I ought to blush, tho’ I confess they are highly flattering to me and I thank you most heartily for the part you take in my affairs. They have rather gone a little back through the strange situation in which our lost—but happily recovered—friend Mr. Neate found himself entangled. Your kind letter of 31 October, explained a great deal and to some satisfaction and I take the liberty to enclose an answer to Mr. Neate, of whom I also received a letter, with my entreaties to assist him in all his undertakings in my behalf.