[Illustration: THE "SCHWARZ-SPANIER" HOUSE, IN VIENNA, IN WHICH BEETHOVEN DIED.
When he arrived at Vienna in December, 1826, he went immediately to bed in his lodgings in the Schwarzspanierhaus. He had dismissed rudely two eminent physicians who had treated him for a former illness, and they would not now attend him. His nephew, who was charged with the errand of finding a doctor, played billiards and forgot the condition of his uncle, so that two days went by without medical assistance. Finally Dr. Andreas Wawruch was told by a billiard-marker of the suffering of the sick man. He went to him and dosed him with decoctions. In a few days the patient was worse, in spite of the great array of empty bottles of medicine. Dropsy declared itself. He was tapped by Dr. Seibert, and during one of the operations he said, "I would rather see the water flow from my belly than from my pen." Schindler and Breuning came to his bedside, and with them young Gerhard Breuning, the son of Stephen. This lad now dwelled in the house with Beethoven as his constant companion. Dr. Malfatti was persuaded to forget his quarrels with the composer, and he consented to act in consultation with Dr. Wawruch. Beethoven saw his old friend gladly; but he would turn his back to Wawruch with the remark, "Oh, the ass!" Malfatti administered iced punch; for a short time the patient seemed stronger, and he talked of the 10th symphony. But in February, 1827, he was tapped for the fourth time; his aristocratic friends were forgetful of him, and even the Archduke Rudolph did not interest himself by cheap inquiry. In this same month Beethoven wrote to Moscheles and Sir George Smart telling them of his strait, and begging them to arrange for a concert for his benefit. All this time he had the seven bank shares of one thousand florins each that were found with the two mysterious love letters in a secret drawer of his writing desk, the day after his death; these shares he held for his scape-grace nephew, whom he made his sole heir, although by a codicil the capital was placed beyond his nephew's control. The Philharmonic Society promptly sent through Moscheles £100 on account of the future concert, and promised more if it were necessary. Unable to compose, Beethoven tried to read Sir Walter Scott's "Kenilworth," but he threw it aside and said, "The man writes only for money." He saw "the divine fire" in some of Schubert's songs. He wrote many letters, he arranged certain dedications of his works, and he found pleasure in a lithograph of Haydn's birthplace, and in a set of Handel's compositions in forty volumes, which had been given him. The Rhine wine that he had asked of Schott came too late. Hummel called on him in March and introduced his pupil Ferdinand Hiller. On the 19th of this month Beethoven felt the end, and he said to Breuning and Schindler, "_Plaudite, amici, comoedia finita est_." On the 23d he made with his own hand the codicil above mentioned. Several people called, among them Schubert, who saw him but could not speak with him. The last Sacraments of the Roman Catholic church were administered to the dying man the 24th. Then Beethoven wrestled with death until a quarter to six on the evening of the 26th, when he gave up the ghost. His sufferings were atrocious; the final agony was terrible. Just as he was delivered from his earthly ills a tempest, a great storm of hail and snow, burst over the roofs of Vienna. There was a dazzling flash of lightning; and the roaring thunder roused Beethoven. He pulled himself up in his bed, shook his fist at the sky, and fell back dead. Anselm Hüttenbrenner and the wife of Johann Beethoven were by his side.