properly (his
application to the guardians having proved fruitless), no doubt prompted
him to have recourse to law.

None but those who are fully aware of my esteem for the deceased Prince can
tell how repugnant it is to my feelings to appear as a complainant against
my benefactor.

Under these circumstances I have recourse to a shorter path, in the
conviction that the guardians of the Prince's estate will be disposed to
mark their appreciation of art, and also their desire to fulfil the
engagements of the late Prince. According to the terms of the contract in
question, the Archduke Rudolph, Prince Lobkowitz, and Prince v. Kinsky
granted me these 4000 florins until I should obtain a situation of equal
value; and further, if by misfortune or old age I was prevented exercising
my art, these distinguished contracting parties secured this pension to me
for life, while I, in return, pledged myself not to leave Vienna.

This promise was generous, and equally generous was its fulfilment, for no
difficulty ever occurred, and I was in the peaceful enjoyment of my pension
till the Imperial Finance Patent appeared. The consequent alteration in the
currency made no difference in the payments of the Archduke Rudolph, for I
received his share in _Einloesung Schein_, as I had previously done in
bank-notes, without any reference to the new scale. The late illustrious
Prince v. Kinsky also at once assured me that his share (1800 florins)
should also be paid in _Einloesung Schein_. As however, he omitted giving
the order to his cashier, difficulties arose on the subject. Although my
circumstances are not brilliant, I would not have ventured to bring this
claim before the notice of the guardians of the estate, if respectable,
upright men had not received the same pledge from the late Prince's own
lips, namely, that he would pay my past as well as my future claims in
Vienna currency, which is proved by the papers B, C, D, appended to the
pleas. Under these circumstances I leave the guardians to judge whether,
after so implicitly relying on the promise of the deceased Prince, I have
not cause to complain of my delicacy being wounded by the objection
advanced by the curators to the witnesses, from their not having been
present together at the time the promise was made, which is most
distressing to my feelings.

In order to extricate myself from this most disagreeable lawsuit, I take
the liberty to give an assurance to the guardians that I