his leads me to hope that you will not refuse
my present request, to lend my wife 150 florins. This letter must
be your security, and would be valid in any court. I will repay the
interest of the money with a thousand thanks on my return.

I am, etc.,

HAYDN.

...I believe you received my letter the very same day that I was reading
your cruel reproach that Haydn was capable of forgetting his friend and
benefactress. Oh! how often do I long to be beside you at the piano,
even for a quarter of an hour, and then to have some good German soup.
But we cannot have everything in this world. May God only vouchsafe to
grant me the health that I have hitherto enjoyed, and may I preserve it
by good conduct and out of gratitude to the Almighty! That you are well
is to me the most delightful of all news. May Providence long watch
over you! I hope to see you in the course of six months, when I shall,
indeed, have much to tell you. Good-night! it is time to go to bed; it
is half-past eleven o'clock. One thing more. To insure the safety of the
money, Herr Hamberger, a good friend of mine, a man of tall stature, our
landlord, will bring you this letter himself, and you can with impunity
entrust him with the money; but I beg you will take a receipt both from
him and from my wife.

Among other things, Herr v. Kees writes to me that he should like to
know my position in London, as there are so many different reports about
me in Vienna. From my youth upwards I have been exposed to envy, so it
does not surprise me when any attempt is made wholly to crush my poor
talents; but the Almighty above is my support. My wife wrote to me that
Mozart depreciates me very much, but this I will never believe. If true,
I forgive him. There is no doubt that I find many who are envious of me
in London also, and I know them almost all. Most of them are Italians.
But they can do me no harm, for my credit with this nation has been
firmly established far too many years. Rest assured that, if I had not
met with a kind reception, I would long since have gone back to Vienna.
I am beloved and esteemed by everyone, except, indeed, professors [of
music]. As for my remuneration, Mozart can apply to Count Fries for
information, in whose hands I placed 500 pounds, and 1000 guilders in
those of my Prince, making together nearly 6000 florins. I daily thank
my Creator for this boon, and I have good hope that I may bring home a
couple of thousands besides, notwithstandin