d if we were to compare his friendship
for any non-Polish gentleman or lady with that which he felt for the
Countess Delphine Potocka, to whom he dedicated two of his happiest
inspirations in two very different genres (the F minor Concerto, Op. 21,
and the D flat major Waltz, Op. 64, No. I), the result would be again in
favour of his compatriot. There were, indeed, some who thought that he
felt more than friendship for this lady; this, however, he energetically
denied.

[FOOTNOTE: Of this lady Kwiatkowski said that she took as much trouble
and pride in giving choice musical entertainments as other people did in
giving choice dinners. In Sowinski's Musiciens polonais we read that
she had a beautiful soprano voice and occupied the first place among the
amateur ladies of Paris. "A great friend of the illustrious Chopin, she
gave formerly splendid concerts at her house with the old company of
the Italians, which one shall see no more in Paris. To cite the names of
Rubini, Lablache, Tamburini, Malibran, Grisi, Persiani, is to give
the highest idea of Italian singing. The Countess Potocka sang herself
according to the method of the Italian masters."]

But although Chopin was more devoted and more happy in his Polish
friendships, he had beloved as well as loving friends of all
nationalities--Germans, English, and even Russians. That as a good
Pole he hated the Russians as a nation may be taken for granted. Of his
feelings and opinions with regard to his English friends and the English
in general, information will be forthcoming in a subsequent chapter.
The Germans Chopin disliked thoroughly, partly, no doubt, from political
reasons, partly perhaps on account of their inelegance and social
awkwardness. Still, of this nation were some of his best friends, among
them Hiller, Gutmann, Albrecht, and the Hanoverian ambassador Baron von
Stockhausen.

[FOOTNOTE: Gutmann, in speaking to me of his master's dislike,
positively ascribed it to the second of the above causes. In connection
with this we must, however, not forget that the Germans of to-day differ
from the Germans of fifty years ago as much socially as politically.
Nor have the social characters of their neighbours, the French and the
English, remained the same.]

Liszt has given a glowing description of an improvised soiree at
Chopin's lodgings in the Rue de la Chaussee d'Antin--that is, in the
years before the winter in Majorca. At this soiree, we are told, were
present