h
the result that an offer had come to him from Charles Neate asking him
to come to London with a symphony and a concerto for the Philharmonic
Society. Neate was a great admirer of Beethoven. He had spent eight
months in Vienna some years previously, and the two became good friends
during this sojourn. Three hundred guineas, and a benefit concert in
which five hundred pounds more was to be guaranteed him, was the
inducement held out for coming. This large sum tempted him strongly,
placing him, so to speak, between two fires. The character of his nephew
was such that he could not be left behind, while his education would be
interrupted if he took him along. His entries in his journal show with
what dread and apprehension he faced the ordeal of going among
strangers. The project never would have been considered but for his
desire to provide for Karl's future. The journey was never undertaken,
but the project was never abandoned. It occupied his thoughts even in
his last illness.

The scores of the Mass and Symphony were sold to Messrs. Schott of
Mayence, one thousand florins having been obtained for the Mass, and six
hundred for the Symphony. This put him in easy circumstances for a
while, although the money question was a source of anxiety to him, more
or less, for the remainder of his life. The ten thousand florins
invested in Bank of Austria shares in 1815 was almost intact. He had
drawn on it once or twice when matters had come to an extremity with
him, but to touch it in any other case seemed to him like betraying a
trust, since it had been set aside as a provision for his nephew. Just
before the testimonial concert, he was at times absolutely without
funds, his housekeeper being occasionally required to advance money from
her savings to tide him over until a windfall should happen. The
proceeds from the seven subscriptions to the Mass in D, amounting to
three hundred and fifty ducats (about eight hundred dollars) helped him
out to some extent, and something must have been coming in all the while
from his previous publications. With good management there would have
been sufficient for a man of his simple requirements, but in nothing was
he so deficient as in business ability, or the faculty of looking after
his worldly concerns. He was probably cheated right and left in his
household matters.

CHAPTER XVI

THE DAY'S TRIALS

Those who are furthest removed from us really believe that we are
consti