he never taught more than five hours a day, and lived
every year for several months in the country. And then there is one
other point to be taken into consideration: he often gave his lessons
gratis. From Madame Rubio I learned that on one occasion when she had
placed the money for a series of lessons on the mantel-piece, the master
declined to take any of it, with the exception of a 20-franc piece, for
which sum he put her name down on a subscription list for poor Poles.
Lindsay Sloper, too, told me that Chopin declined payment for the
lessons he gave him.

Chopin's business experiences were not, for the most part, of a pleasant
nature; this is shown as much by the facts he mentions in his letters
as by the distrust with which he speaks of the publishers. Here are some
more particulars on the same subject. Gutmann says that Chopin on
his return from Majorca asked Schlesinger for better terms. But the
publisher, whilst professing the highest opinion of the composer's
merit, regretted that the sale of the compositions was not such as to
allow him to pay more than he had hitherto done. [FOOTNOTE: Chopin's
letters show that Gutmann's statement is correct. Troupenas was Chopin's
publisher for some time after his return from Majorca.] Stephen Heller
remembered hearing that Breitkopf and Hartel, of Leipzig, wrote to their
Paris agent informing him that they would go on publishing Chopin's
compositions, although, considering their by no means large sale, the
terms at which they got them were too high. Ed. Wolff related to me that
one day he drove with his countryman to the publisher Troupenas, to whom
Chopin wished to sell his Sonata (probably the one in B flat minor).
When after his negotiations with the publisher Chopin was seated again
in the carriage, he said in Polish: "The pig, he offered me 200
francs for my Sonata!" Chopin's relations with England were even less
satisfactory. At a concert at which Filtsch played, Chopin introduced
Stephen Heller to Wessel or to a representative ofthat firm, but
afterwards remarked: "You won't find them pleasant to deal with."
Chopin at any rate did not find them pleasant to deal with. Hearing that
Gutmann was going to London he asked his pupil to call at Wessel's and
try to renew the contract which had expired. The publisher on being
applied to answered that not only would he not renew the contract, but
that he would not even print Chopin's compositions if he got them for
nothing. Amon