refused him entrance, and thus neglected possible help or at least an amelioration of his condition.” Probably the evil was of such a nature that, with all the resources of our present medical science, it could hardly have been impeded, much less arrested. This is poor consolation, but the best we have. The sufferer now resigned himself to his fate. On a page of twenty-one leaves of sketches to the Rasoumowsky Quartets, Op. 59, stands written in pencil--if correctly deciphered--these words from his hand: Even as you have plunged into the whirlpool of society, you will find it possible to compose ~operas~ in spite of social obstacles. Let your deafness no longer remain a secret--not even in art! FOOTNOTES: [39] See the “Grenzboten,” April 3, 1857. [40] ~Young Wilding~: “Oh how they [the women] melt at the Gothic names of General Swapinbach, Count Rousoumoffsky, Prince Montecuculi and Marshal Fustinburgh.” (“The Liar.”) [41] In June, 1906, Dr. Kalischer published two short notes written by Beethoven to Bigot. They are without date. The first explains Beethoven’s departure from Bigot’s house on the occasion of a visit as due to a sudden attack of fever; the second, accompanying some music, reads as follows: “I intended to visit you last night, but recalled in time that you are not at home on Saturdays--and I discover that I must ~visit you very often~ or ~not at all~--I do not yet know which shall be my choice, but I almost believe the latter--because by so doing I shall evade all compulsion of having to come to you.” [42] Here Dr. Riemann has introduced into the text: “The serious interest which Beethoven felt for Therese could be questioned or ignored by the biographers so long as certain letters of Gleichenstein were accepted as belonging to the year 1807, which we must certainly now assign to the spring of 1810, a time when Therese had passed her 18th year and may have been 20 since (if the record of her age at her death is correct) she may have been born in 1791, so that, in view moreover of the Italian origin of her family, it was scarcely apposite to speak of her as ‘half a child’ in 1810.” [43] ~Quid licet Jovi non licet bovi~; the maxim ought to be repeated every time this familiar story is told. Moreover, those who repeat Beethoven’s remark oftenest always omit a very significant word in it: “Und so erlaube ich sie!” i. e., “When used in the manner illustrated in the measure in question, I allow them.” Beethoven gave no general license. [44] Seyfried’s memory has here in part played him false. [45] Another slight mistake. Schindler was in possession of Beethoven’s glasses and they were by no means “very strong.” [46] One of Beethoven’s puns, the point of which is lost in the translation: “Schönere ~Noten~ brächten mich schwerlich aus den ~Nöthen~.” Chapter VI