consent, he stated on the bills of
the concert that the work was _his property_. Indignant at this, I insisted
on his destroying these bills. He then stated that I had given it to him as
a friendly act, because he was going to London. To this I did not object,
believing that I had reserved the right to state the conditions on which
the work should be his own. I remember that when the bills were being
printed, I violently opposed them, but the time was too short, as I was
still writing the work. In all the fire of inspiration, and absorbed in my
composition, I scarcely thought at all on the subject. Immediately after
the first concert in the University Hall, I was told on all sides, and by
people on whom I could rely, that Maelzel had everywhere given out he had
paid me 400 gold ducats for the Symphony. I sent what follows to a
newspaper, but the editor would not insert it, as Maelzel stands well with
them all. As soon as the first concert was over, I repaid Maelzel his fifty
ducats, declaring that having discovered his real character, nothing should
ever induce me to travel with him; justly indignant that, without
consulting me, he had stated in the bills that all the arrangements for the
concert were most defective. His own despicable want of patriotism too is
proved by the following expressions: "I care nothing at all about L.; if it
is only said in London that people have paid ten gulden for admission here,
that is all I care about; the wounded are nothing to me." Moreover, I told
him that he might take the work to London on certain conditions, which I
would inform him of. He then asserted that it was a _friendly gift_, and
made use of this phrase in the newspapers after the second concert, without
giving me the most remote hint on the subject. As Maelzel is a rude,
churlish man, entirely devoid of education or cultivation, it is easy to
conceive the tenor of his conduct to me during this time, which still
further irritated me. Who could bear to be forced to bestow a _friendly
gift_ on such a man? I was offered an opportunity to send the work to the
Prince Regent, [afterwards George IV.] It was therefore quite impossible
for me to _give away the work unconditionally_.

He then called on a mutual friend to make proposals. He was told on what
day to return for an answer, but he never appeared, set off on his travels,
and performed the work in Munich. How did he obtain it? He could not
possibly _steal_ it; but Herr Maelz