iem was sung for him at the
Karlskirche.

The magnificence of his funeral, when compared with his simple mode of
life, calls to mind the great contrasts which he was always producing in
his music. Equally great contrasts had always come up in his life.
Living in the proudest most exclusive and bigoted monarchy in Europe, at
a time when feudal authority had not yet been entirely abolished, he
held himself to be as good or better than Emperor or Cardinal. On
receiving a request one morning from the Empress of Austria to call on
her, he sent back word that he would be busy all that day, but would
endeavor to call on the following day. There is no record of his having
gone at all. His unjustifiable conduct toward the Imperial family, while
at Toeplitz with Goethe, has been touched on in a previous chapter.
Frimmel states that something similar occurred at Baden, but does not
give his authority. Beethoven arraigned the Judiciary, even when writing
conciliatory letters to the judges. In his letters to the different
magistrates during the litigation over his nephew, he is often satirical
and sarcastic in spite of himself. His criticisms of other judges, his
references to the manner in which justice is administered in Austria,
illustrate his temerity and independence. His scorn of the King of
Saxony, on account of being dilatory in paying the subscription for the
Grand Mass, was pronounced. He alludes to him as "the poor Dresdener" in
his letters, and he even went so far as to talk about suing him when the
payment was still longer withheld.[F] All this from a man who at times
did not have a decent coat to wear, or a second pair of shoes; who
sometimes accepted advances from his housekeeper for the necessaries of
life. His life was so simple and circumscribed that he never saw the
ocean, or a snow-covered mountain, although living within sight of the
foothills of the Alps. He never returned to his native city though
living not a great distance from it.

[F] Kalischer. _Neue Beethovenbriefe_. Berlin, 1902.

The immediate cause of death, as demonstrated by the post-mortem held
the day after his decease, was cirrhosis of the liver, the dropsy, of
which Schindler makes such frequent mention, being an outcome of, and
connected with, the liver trouble. The organ showed every indication of
chronic disease. It was greatly shrunken, its very texture being changed
into a hard substance. That alcoholism is the commonest cause of
cirrhos