[E] That Beethoven’s genius had at an early date impressed itself on the minds of Americans, was commented on by Margaret Fuller in 1841.  She says: 

“It is observable as an earnest of the great future which opens for this country, that such a genius (Beethoven) is so easily and so much appreciated here, by those who have not gone through the steps that prepared the way for him in Europe.  He is felt because he expressed in full tones the thoughts that lie at the heart of our own existence, though we have not found means to stammer them as yet.”

Meanwhile Ries, in London, was making active propaganda for him, with the result that an offer had come to him from Charles Neate asking him to come to London with a symphony and a concerto for the Philharmonic Society.  Neate was a great admirer of Beethoven.  He had spent eight months in Vienna some years previously, and the two became good friends during this sojourn.  Three hundred guineas, and a benefit concert in which five hundred pounds more was to be guaranteed him, was the inducement held out for coming.  This large sum tempted him strongly, placing him, so to speak, between two fires.  The character of his nephew was such that he could not be left behind, while his education would be interrupted if he took him along.  His entries in his journal show with what dread and apprehension he faced the ordeal of going among strangers.  The project never would have been considered but for his desire to provide for Karl’s future.  The journey was never undertaken, but the project was never abandoned.  It occupied his thoughts even in his last illness.

The scores of the Mass and Symphony were sold to Messrs. Schott of Mayence, one thousand florins having been obtained for the Mass, and six hundred for the Symphony.  This put him in easy circumstances for a while, although the money question was a source of anxiety to him, more or less, for the remainder of his life.  The ten thousand florins invested in Bank of Austria shares in 1815 was almost intact.  He had drawn on it once or twice when matters had come to an extremity with him, but to touch it in any other case seemed to him like betraying a trust, since it had been set aside as a provision for his nephew.  Just before the testimonial concert, he was at times absolutely without funds, his housekeeper being occasionally required to advance money from her savings to tide him over until a windfall should happen.  The proceeds from the seven subscriptions to the Mass in D, amounting to three hundred and fifty ducats (about eight hundred dollars) helped him out to some extent, and something must have been coming in all the while from his previous publications.  With good management there would have been sufficient for a man of his simple requirements, but in nothing was he so deficient as in business ability, or the faculty of looking after his worldly concerns.  He was probably cheated right and left in his household matters.