Most Highly Esteemed Lieutenant General!
If you no longer require the manuscript of the pianoforte sonata, please lend it to me, for the Archduke Rudolph had it from me some time ago and now wants to leave it again. In any case it seems that my Lieutenant General does not yet feel inclined to take the field with it – Let me add that this m[anuscri]pt will again be at your service at any time – my most excellent L[ieutenant] G[eneral].
Your most devoted
Ludwig van Beethoven