Feb. 12, 1813.

YOUR HIGHNESS!--

You were so gracious as to declare with regard to the salary settled on me
by your deceased husband, that you saw the propriety of my receiving it in
Vienna currency, but that the authority of the court of law which has
assumed the guardianship of the estate must first be obtained. Under the
conviction that the authorities who represent their princely wards could
not fail to be influenced by the same motives that actuated the late Prince
in his conduct towards me, I think I am justified in expecting the
ratification of my claim from the aforesaid court, as I can prove, by the
testimony of well-known, respectable, and upright men, the promise and
intentions of H.H. in my behalf, which cannot fail to be binding on his
heirs and children. If, therefore, the proofs submitted should even be
found deficient in legal formality, I cannot doubt that this want will be
supplied by the noble mode of thinking of this illustrious house, and by
their own inclination to generous actions.

Possibly another question may at present arise from the condition of the
inheritance, which is no doubt heavily burdened, both owing to the
melancholy and sudden death of the late Prince, and by the state of the
times, which renders it equally just and indispensable to husband carefully
all possible resources. On this account it is far from my wish to claim
more than is absolutely necessary for my own livelihood, and grounded on
the contract itself,--the legality of such a claim on the heirs of the late
Prince not being in any way disputed.

I beg, then, that Y.H. will be pleased to direct the arrears of my salary,
due since the 1st September, 1811, calculated in Vienna currency, in
accordance with the scale of the contract, making in W.W. 1088 florins 42
kreuzers, to be paid, and _in the interim_, the question whether this
salary ought to be paid in Vienna currency can be deferred until the
affairs are settled, when the subject is again brought before the trustees,
and my claims admitted to be just by their consent and authority. The late
Prince having given me sixty ducats merely on account of my salary, which
was to be paid by agreement in Vienna currency, and as this agreement (as
every intelligent man will inform Y.H.) must be accepted to its full
extent, or at all events not cause me loss, it follows as a matter of
course that Y.H. will not object to my considering the sixty ducats as only
an instalment of t