ndler were sitting down to dinner, a card was brought in

JOHANN VAN BEETHOVEN
_Gutsbesitzer_ (Landed proprietor).

Beethoven took the card and wrote on the back of it--

L. VAN BEETHOVEN
_Hirnbesitzer_ (Brain proprietor).

and sent it back to Johann. Cold-blooded, selfish, always ready to
profit by his talented brother, and never caring how he compromised him,
it was not to be expected that Johann would have the master's approval,
or that there could be any accord between them. In any encounter, the
composer generally managed to be master of the situation, through the
exercise of his wit, something which the duller Johann could neither
appreciate nor imitate. It may be said in passing, that the master
supplied the funds which enabled Johann to start in business. This was
in 1809. He made money rapidly in army contracts, a business for which
he was well qualified, and finally bought an estate and set up for a
landed proprietor.

Beethoven's waggishness was frequently vented on a young friend,
Zmeskall, who was court secretary. Zmeskall undertook the task of
keeping the master supplied with pens, which he cut from goose-quills.
Beethoven used up large quantities of them and was incessant in his
demands on him. A certain drollery characterizes all his letters to him.
He knew how to hit the vulnerable points in the other, and they were
often made the subject of attack. Zmeskall being a member of the
nobility, is often addressed by him, "Most high-born of men." He was
useful to Beethoven not alone on the subject of pens, but was appealed
to by him for advice and assistance on all sorts of matters. Zmeskall,
though a bachelor, lived in fine state, and maintained several servants.
He was thus in a position to procure the right sort of one for
Beethoven. Many of the letters are either on this theme or in regard to
securing him another lodging. Zmeskall is his resource in many of the
small matters of every-day life, perplexing to him, but simple enough to
the practical man. The master's helplessness is shown with pathos and
unconscious humor in the following note:

LIEBER ZMESKALL,--

Schicken sie mir doch ihrem spiegel, der naechts ihrem fenster haengt
auf ein paar stunden der meinige ist gebrochen, haben sie zugleich
die Guete haben wolten mir noch heute einen solchen zu kaufen so
erzeigten sie mir einen grossen Gefallen. Ihre Auslage sollen sie