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.

Ever, with sincere esteem, your

L. V. BEETHOVEN.

184.

TO G. DEL RIO.

Mdme. A.G. is requested to order several pairs of good linen drawers for
Carl. I in