incur, and I will repay him here. If you think it
worth while to make the inquiry in person, and choose to make a journey
from Coblenz to Bonn, you have only to charge it all to me. I must,
however, warn you that I had an _elder brother_ whose name was also Ludwig,
with the second name of _Maria_, who died. In order to know my precise age,
the date of my birth must be first ascertained, this circumstance having
already led others into error, and caused me to be thought older than I
really am. Unluckily, I lived for some time without myself knowing my age
[see Nos. 26 and 51]. I had a book containing all family incidents, but it
has been lost, Heaven knows how! So pardon my urgently requesting you to
try to discover _Ludwig Maria's_ birth, as well as that of the present
Ludwig. The sooner you can send me the certificate of baptism the more
obliged shall I be.[1] I am told that you sing one of my songs in your
Freemason Lodge, probably the one in E major, which I have not myself got;
send it to me, and I promise to compensate you threefold and fourfold.[2]
Think of me with kindness, little as I apparently deserve it. Embrace your
dear wife and children, and all whom you love, in the name of your friend,

BEETHOVEN.

[Footnote 1: Wegeler says:--"I discovered the solution of the enigma (why
the baptismal certificate was so eagerly sought) from a letter written to
me three months afterwards by my brother-in-law, Stephan von Breuning, in
which he said: 'Beethoven tells me at least once a week that he means to
write to you; but I believe his _intended marriage is broken off_; he
therefore feels no ardent inclination to thank you for having procured his
baptismal certificate.'"]

[Footnote 2: Beethoven was mistaken; Wegeler had only supplied other music
to the words of Matthisson's _Opfer Lied_.]

65.

TO ZMESKALL.

July 9, 1810.

DEAR Z.,--

You are about to travel, and so am I on account of my health. In the mean
time all goes topsy-turvy with me. The _Herr_[1] wants to have me with him,
and Art is not less urgent in her claims. I am partly in Schoenbrunn and
partly here; every day assailed by messages from strangers and new
acquaintances, and even as regards art I am often driven nearly distracted
by my undeserved fame. Fortune seeks me, and for that very reason I almost
dread some new calamity. As for your "Iphigenie," the facts are these. I
have not seen it for the last two years and a half, and have no doubt le