et and the one in F, opus 135, which rounds out
this wonderful series, were all but completed before leaving Vienna on
the visit to Johann. That there was some polishing still to be done on
the latter is apparent from the fact that it has the superscription in
the master's handwriting, "Gneixendorf am 30 Oktober 1826." The finale
has these curious sentences: "Der schwergefasste Entschluss. Muss es
sein? Es muss sein." Question and answer turn on the subject of paying
his room rent according to Schindler, the dialogue being a reminiscence
of previous times. Beethoven often made some discussion when his rent
was demanded, either from the desire to extract some sport from the
situation, or from fear of being cheated. It often had to be
demonstrated to him by the aid of an almanac that the time was up and
the money really due.

The only work begun and completed by the master while at Gneixendorf was
the new finale, which replaced the long fugue of the B flat Quartet. It
proved to be his last work. The series of unpleasant events referred to
in the last chapter ensued, and, without considering consequences, he
returned to Vienna.

It is not likely that Johann or his wife exerted themselves much to keep
him longer. They intended spending the winter in Vienna themselves, and
were probably relieved to have the visit ended so that they could make
their preparations for the journey. With his usual impatience, he must
needs take the first conveyance which was to be had. Johann had a closed
carriage, but would not let him have it, and the journey was made in a
light open wagon. December had arrived and the weather, which had been
fine all the fall, was now bad. He was insufficiently clothed for the
two days' drive in such weather. He contracted inflammation of the lungs
on the way, and reached his quarters in the house of the Black
Spaniards, a very sick man.

This house, his last earthly abiding-place, had been his home for the
past year. It was a disused monastery, which had been established in
1633 by the daughter of Philip III of Spain on taking up her residence
in Vienna after her marriage. The original building was destroyed in one
of the wars of that turbulent time, but was rebuilt at the end of the
seventeenth century. The building was demolished in 1904. It was
situated on the glacis, in a part of the city where Beethoven had lived
much of the time since coming to Vienna.

The fates seem to have been against him from t