Beethoven sends Kanka a receipt for the part of the annuity owed to him by Prince Kinsky's heirs and asks him to draw the money from the Prince's finance office in his name.
He promises to send a copy of op. 97 as soon as it has been published, as well as "several other of my naughty children". Finally he tells him that he has become his nephew Karl's guardian. He complains that with the guardianship he has "also been able to compose the second part of the Zaüberflöte [Magic Flute], because I am also dealing with a Queen of the Night". (In many letters Beethoven called Johanna van Beethoven, the child's mother whom he despised and loathed, "Queen of the Night".)
