e has himself described his mode
of composing--which was a process of accumulation, agglutination, and
crystallisation--in a letter to a friend. The constitution of the mind
determines the mode of working. Some qualities favour, others obstruct
the realisation of a first conception. Among the former are acuteness
and quickness of vision, the power of grasping complex subjects, and a
good memory. But however varied the mode of creation may be, an almost
unvarying characteristic of the production of really precious and
lasting artwork is ungrudging painstaking, such as we find described in
William Hunt's "Talks about Art":--"If you could see me dig and groan,
rub it out and start again, hate myself and feel dreadfully! The people
who do things easily, their things you look at easily, and give away
easily." Lastly and briefly, it is not the mode of working, but the
result of this working which demonstrates genius.

As Chopin disliked the pavilion in the Rue Pigalle, George Sand moved
with her household in 1842 to the quiet, aristocratic-looking Cite
(Court or Square) d'Orleans, where their friend Madame Marliani arranged
for them a vie de famille. To get to the Cite d'Orleans one has to pass
through two gateways--the first leads from the Rue Taitbout (close
to the Rue St. Lazare), into a small out-court with the lodge of the
principal concierge; the second, into the court itself. In the centre
is a grass plot with four flower-beds and a fountain; and between
this grass plot and the footpath which runs along the houses extends a
carriage drive. As to the houses which form the square, they are well
and handsomely built, the block opposite the entrance making even
some architectural pretensions. Madame Sand's, Madame Marliani's, and
Chopin's houses, which bore respectively the numbers 5, 4, and 3, were
situated on the right side, the last-mentioned being just in the first
right-hand corner on entering from the out-court. On account of the
predilection shown for it by artists and literary men as a place of
abode, the Court d'Orldans has not inaptly been called a little Athens.
Alexander Dumas was one of the many celebrities who lived there at one
time or other; and Chopin had for neighbours the famous singer Pauline
Viardot-Garcia, the distinguished pianoforte-professor Zimmermann, and
the sculptor Dantan, from whose famous gallery of caricatures, or rather
charges, the composer's portrait was not absent. Madame Marliani,
the