"You say in your letter that ... you are now intending to become poetical (as you express it), but you need to live to be a hundred years old for it. If I now therefore ask you, _when_ you can send me a worked-out copy of our 'plan,' do not see in the question an _overbearing reminder_. I am just now in such good working trim, and I must work for the next few years with a will and get on. I have responsibilities now, and also a great longing for work, and I think I could write an oratorio within a year. My new Psalm,[4] which we tried for the first time the day before yesterday, and which pleases me more than any other church music of mine, proves to me that I am right; for I wrote five new numbers for it quite lately, which makes it sound now as I wanted it to sound. The opera libretto--if I get it--will not be ready before the middle of the summer. I should like to have a new oratorio for the Düsseldorf Festival in 1839 ... therefore, for all these reasons, I must ask you: _when_ could you send it (the 'sketch') to me? And if other occupations, or annoyance at my repeated requests, or any other reason, prevent you from complying with my wish, do please send me, by _return of post_, a copy of our 'sketch' of the oratorio, and tell me whether I am to leave you in peace about the matter, so that I know where I am. Only I must set to work soon; that you will understand." [Footnote 4: Probably "As the hart pants."] After one or two more letters had passed between Mendelssohn and Klingemann, the latter returned to the composer the "sketch" they had made together in London in the autumn of 1837, and henceforth "Elijah," except in a casual way, drops out of their correspondence. Mendelssohn then sought the aid of his intimate friend and the companion of his boyhood, the Rev. Julius Schubring, D.D., Rector of St. George's Church, Dessau--the same friend who has recorded some delightful reminiscences of the composer in his youthful days,[5] and who rendered him valuable service in the preparation of the "book" of "St. Paul." The interesting correspondence between Mendelssohn and Schubring on the subject of oratorio libretti has been published (in German), edited by Professor Dr. Julius Schubring, the son of Mendelssohn's clerical friend.[6] [Footnote 5: "Daheim" (Leipzig) for 1866, No. 26. English translation in _Musical World_, May 12 and 19, 1866.] [Footnote 6: The full title of the book is: "Briefwechsel zwischen Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy und Julius Schubring, zugleich ein Beitrag zur Geschichte und Theorie des Oratoriums. Herausgegeben von Prof. Dr. Jul. Schubring, Direktor des Katharineums zu Lübeck. Leipzig: Verlag von Duncker und Humblot. 1892."]