ation reminds one of
the famous exclamation of the Emperor Titus:--

During the last week I have composed nothing worthy either of
God or of man. I run from Ananias to Caiaphas; to-night I
shall be at Madame Wizegerod's, from there I shall drive to a
musical soiree at Miss Kicka's. You know how pleasant it is
to be forced to improvise when one is tired! I have not often
such happy thoughts as come sometimes under my fingers when I
am with you. And then the miserable instruments!

In the same letter he relates that his parents are preparing a small
room for him:--

A staircase leads from the entrance directly into it; there I
shall have an old writing-desk, and this nook will be my
retreat.

This remark calls up a passage in a letter written two years later from
Vienna to his friend John Matuszynski:--

When your former colleagues, for instance, Rostkowski,
Schuch, Freyer, Kyjewski, Hube, &c., are holding merry
converse in my room, then think that I am laughing and
enjoying myself with you.

A charming little genre picture of Chopin's home-life is to be found in
one of his letters from Vienna (December 1, 1830) Having received news
from Warsaw, he writes:--

The joy was general, for Titus also had letters from home. I
thank Celinski lor the enclosed note; it brought vividly back
to me the time when I was still amongst you: it seemed to me
as if I were sitting at the piano and Celinski standing
opposite me looking at Mr. Zywny, who just then treated
Linowski to a pinch of snuff. Only Matuszynski was wanting to
make the group complete.

Several names in the above extract remind me that I ought to say a few
words about the young men with whom Chopin at that time associated. Many
of them were no doubt companions in the noblest sense of the word.
Of this class may have been Celinski, Hube, Eustachius Marylski, and
Francis Maciejowski (a nephew of the previously-mentioned Professor
Waclaw Maciejowski), who are more or less frequently mentioned in
Chopin's correspondence, but concerning whom I have no information to
give. I am as badly informed about Dziewanowski, whom a letter quoted
by Karasowski shows to have been a friend of Chopin's. Of two other
friends, Stanislas Kozmian and William Kolberg, we know at least that
the one was a few years ago still living at Posen and occupied the post
of President of the Society of the Friends of Science, and that