Most Beloved
Conte Di Musica!
May
your sleep do you good; and for today we wish you a good appetite
and a good digestion. That is all that a man needs to enable him
to live; and yet we must pay such a high price for all that. Yes,
dearest Conte, my intimate amico, times are bad, our exchequer
is completely empty, our revenues are coming in very slowly; and
we, most gracious Lord, are driven to condescend to ask you for
a loan of five gulden which we shall bestow upon you again in
a few days -- In regard to the instruments we charge you to make
the strictest examination, since if any deception whatsoever is
detected we intend to punish the criminal - All good wishes, most
beloved amico and Conte di Musica.
Your
deeply attached
L
v Bhvn
Issued from our composing
cabinet.
[Anderson
footnote: this last remark is heavily encircled]