How
can Amenda think that I could ever forget him - because I am not
writing to him or have not written? -- As if people's remembrance
of one another could be kept alive only in that way!
A thousand
times there occurs to my mind the best of all human beings whom
I have ever met. Why, certainly, of the three people who have
possessed all my affection and one of whom is still living [footnote:
"… Lorenz von Breuning who had died in April, 1798,
and to his elder brother Stephan who returned to Vienna in the
spring of 1801"], you are the third - My memory of you can
never die - You will soon receive a long letter from me about
my present circumstances and everything connected with me which
can interest you.
All good
wishes, dear, dear, kind, noble friend, ever preserve for me your
affection and your friendship, just as I shall
remain to all eternity your friend
Beethoven