un elephant qui aurait avale un
rossignol." One can easily imagine the surprise and disillusion of
the four pupils of Zimmermann--MM. Marmontel, Prudent, A. Petit, and
Chollet--who, provided with a letter of introduction by their master,
called on Field soon after his arrival in Paris and beheld the great
pianist--

in a room filled with tobacco smoke, sitting in an easy
chair, an enormous pipe in his mouth, surrounded by large and
small bottles of all sorts [entoure de chopes et bouteilles
de toutes provenances]. His rather large head, his highly-
coloured cheeks, his heavy features gave a Falstaff-like
appearance to his physiognomy.

Notwithstanding his tipsiness, he received the young gentlemen kindly,
and played to them two studies by Cramer and Clementi "with rare
perfection, admirable finish, marvellous agility, and exquisiteness
of touch." Many anecdotes might be told of Field's indolence and
nonchalance; for instance, how he often fell asleep while giving his
lessons, and on one occasion was asked whether he thought he was paid
twenty roubles for allowing himself to be played to sleep; or, how, when
his walking-stick had slipped out of his hand, he waited till some one
came and picked it up; or, how, on finding his dress-boots rather tight,
he put on slippers, and thus appeared in one of the first salons of
Paris and was led by the mistress of the house, the Duchess Decazes, to
the piano--but I have said enough of the artist who is so often named in
connection with Chopin.

From placid Field to volcanic Berlioz is an enormous distance, which,
however, we will clear at one leap, and do it too without hesitation or
difficulty. For is not leaping the mind's natural mode of locomotion,
and walking an artificially-acquired and rare accomplishment? Proceeding
step by step we move only with more or less awkwardness, but aided by
ever so slight an association of ideas we bound with the greatest ease
from any point to any other point of infinitude. Berlioz returned to
Paris in the latter part of 1832, and on the ninth of December of that
year gave a concert at which he produced among other works his "Episode
de la vie d'un artiste" (Part I.--"Symphonic fantastique," for the
second time; Part II--"Lelio, ou le retour a la vie," for the first
time), the subject of which is the history of his love for Miss
Smithson. Chopin, no doubt, made Berlioz's acquaintance through Liszt,
whose friendship with the