My Dear Fraulein
G[erhardi],
I
should be lying if I did not tell you that the verses you sent
me have caused me some embarrassment. It is a peculiar feeling
to see and to hear oneself praised and at the same time to realize
one's own inferiority as fully as I do. I always treat such occasions
as admonishments to strive towards the inaccessible goal which
art and nature have set us. - These verses are really beautiful
save for the sole fault that in regard to their subject they are
far from truthful, a fault which admittedly one is accustomed
to find in poets whose imagination induces them really to hear
and to see what they want to, even if the reality is sometimes
far beneath their ideal - You may well believe that I should like
to meet the poet or the poetess. And now I thank you too for the
kindness you are showing to
L.
v. Beethoven who admires you.