hat your lessons should remain without
remuneration,--even those already given must be reckoned up and paid for;
only I beg you to have a little patience for a time, as nothing can be
_demanded_ from the widow, and I had and still have heavy expenses to
defray;--but I _borrow_ from you for the moment only. The boy is to be with
you to-day, and I shall come later.

Your friend,

BEETHOVEN.

[Footnote 1: Carl Czerny, the celebrated pianist and composer, for whom
Beethoven wrote a testimonial in 1805 (see No. 42). He gave lessons to
Beethoven's nephew in 1815, and naturally protested against any payment,
which gave rise to the expressions on the subject in many of his notes to
Czerny, of which there appear to be a great number.]

168.

TO CZERNY.[1]

Vienna, Feb. 12, 1816.

DEAR CZERNY,--

I cannot see you to-day, but I will call to-morrow being desirous to talk
to you. I spoke out so bluntly yesterday that I much regretted it
afterwards. But you must forgive this on the part of an author, who would
have preferred hearing his work as he wrote it, however charmingly you
played it. I will, however, _amply_ atone for this by the violoncello
Sonata.[2]

Rest assured that I cherish the greatest regard for you as an artist, and I
shall always endeavor to prove this.

Your true friend,

BEETHOVEN.

[Footnote 1: Czerny, in the _A.M. Zeitung_, 1845, relates:--"On one
occasion (in 1812), at Schuppanzigh's concert, when playing Beethoven's
quintet with wind-instruments, I took the liberty, in my youthful levity,
to make many alterations,--such as introducing difficulties into the
passages, making use of the upper octaves, &c., &c. Beethoven sternly and
deservedly reproached me for this, in the presence of Schuppanzigh, Linke,
and the other performers."]

[Footnote 2: Opera 69, which Czerny (see _A.M. Zeitung_) was to perform
with Linke the following week.]

169.

TO RIES,--LONDON.

Vienna, Feb. 28, 1816.

... For some time past I have been far from well; the loss of my brother
affected both my spirits and my works. Salomon's death grieves me much, as
he was an excellent man whom I have known from my childhood. You are his
executor by will, while I am the guardian of my late poor brother's child.
You can scarcely have had as much vexation from Salomon's death as I have
had from that of my brother!--but I have the sweet consolation of having
rescued a poor innocent child from the hands of an unworthy mother