If any persons, exclusive of those I have named, wish to see my nephew, I
will give them a letter to you, when you will be so obliging as to admit
them; for the distance to your house is considerable, and those who go
there can only do so to oblige me, as, for example, the bandage-maker, &c.,
&c.

My nephew must never leave your house without a written permission from me.
From this you will at once plainly perceive your line of conduct towards
Carl's mother. I must impress on you the necessity of these rules
(proceeding from the magistrates and myself) being strictly enforced. You,
dear sir, are too little experienced in these circumstances, however
obvious your other merits are to me, to act on your own judgment in the
matter, as you have hitherto done. Credulity can in the present instance
only lead to embarrassment, the result of which might prove injurious to
you rather than beneficial, and this I wish to avoid for the sake of your
own credit.

I hear that my nephew requires, or at all events wishes to have, a variety
of things from me; he has only to apply to myself. Be so good as to forward
all his letters through Herr Steiner & Co., Pater Noster Gässel, auf'm
Graben.

Your obedient

BEETHOVEN,

_Sole guardian of my nephew Carl Van Beethoven._

N.B. Any outlay will be at once repaid.