Note 191 — Chapter XVIII
Henry Edward Krehbiel translation
In one of the Conversation Books used by Beethoven in 1820, there occurs this remark in Beethoven’s handwriting: “... when it learned that my brother was not of the nobility. It is singular, so far as I know, that there is a hiatus here which ought to be filled, for my nature shows that I do not belong among these plebs”; and, in February, 1820, when Peters had observed his dissatisfaction: “The common citizen should be excluded from higher men, and I have gotten amongst them.” “In three weeks,” Peters wrote, he would have nothing to do with citizens and magistracy. He would yet be asked for assistance and receive the most favorable report concerning his appeal. Not long afterward the Appellate Court brought in its decision in his favor in the guardianship matter.