ent without drawing upon himself the
accusation of supercilious hauteur? Moreover, as Chopin was strong
enough to frequent fashionable salons, he cannot have been altogether
unable to hold intercourse with his brother-artists. And, lastly, who
are the pianist friends that were as devotedly attached to him as the
most romantic of his aristocratic worshippers? The fact that Chopin
became subsequently less social and more reticent than he had been
in his early Paris days, confined himself to a very limited number of
friends and families, and had relations of an intimate nature with only
a very few musicians, cannot, therefore, be attributable to ill-health
alone, although that too had, no doubt, something to do with it,
directly or indirectly. In short, the allegation that Chopin was
"spoiled by the caprice of society," as the above-quoted correspondent
puts it, is not only probable, but even very likely. Fastidious by
nature and education, he became more so, partly in consequence of his
growing physical weakness, and still more through the influence of the
society with which, in the exercise of his profession and otherwise,
he was in constant contact. His pupils and many of his other admirers,
mostly of the female sex and the aristocratic class, accustomed him
to adulation and adoration to such an extent as to make these to be
regarded by him as necessaries of life. Some excerpts from Liszt's book,
which I shall quote here in the form of aphorisms, will help to bring
Chopin, in his social aspect, clearly before the reader's eyes:--

As he did not confound his time, thought, and ways with those
of anyone, the society of women was often more convenient to
him in that it involved fewer subsequent relations.

He carried into society the uniformity of temper of people
whom no annoyance troubles because they expect no interest.

His conversation dwelt little on stirring subjects. He glided
over them; as he was not at all lavish of his time, the talk
was easily absorbed by the details of the day.

He loved the unimportant talk [les causeries sans portee] of
people whom he esteemed; he delighted in the childish
pleasures of young people. He passed readily whole evenings in
playing blind-man's-buff with young girls, in telling them
amusing or funny little stories, in making them laugh the mad
laughter of youth, which it gives even more pleasure to hear
than the singing of the warbler. [FOOTNOTE: T