His father is not well, and he wants to spend the last period of his life with him. He was looking forward to seeing her on Sunday, but would rather go back to Vienna with his father.
Lieber Nagy,[a] Mein armer alter Vater hat sich weniger wohl befunden, und heute früh entschloßen nach Wien zurückzureisen. Ich freute mich sehr den künftigen Sontag, das heißt, morgen, in Zinkendorf mit Dir zuzubringen, da ich aber die letzte Lebens-Epoche meines guten Vaters – mit ihm vereinigt zubringen will, so gehe ich auch in diesem Augenblick nach der Hauptstadt. –
Ich rechne auf ein andersmal dich bei mir zu begrüßen Leb wohl
Széchényi
Samstag früh Oedenburg[b]
[a] Pál Felsőbüki Nagy (1777–1857), politician, friend of Széchenyi, later a member of the board of directors of the Magyar Tudós Társaság
[b] On one side of the envelope it says that the letter was forwarded by Kalivoda (Széchenyi’s Czech-born forester) at 7 p.m., on the other side it says that it was forwarded at 7 p.m. on the 18th. Given that Széchenyi was in Cenk in early November 1819, where he had invited Nagy Pál, the letter was written at this time. 18 November 1819 was Thursday, and 18 December 1819 was Saturday.
Recommended reference:
István Széchenyi to Pál Felsőbüki Nagy, Cenk, 18 December 1819. Edited and annotated by Szilvia Czinege. Published in Correspondence of István Széchenyi. Digital edition. Edited by Szilvia Czinege and Zoltán Fónagy. https://szechenyilevelezes.abtk.hu/ Abbreviation for further references: SzIL-Digit.