was the wisest act, as it was the happiest event, of
his life. Constance Weber was his guide--his monitress--his guardian
angel. She regulated his domestic establishment--managed his
affairs--was the cheerful companion of his happier hours--and his
never-failing consolation in sickness and despondency. He passionately
loved her, and evinced his feelings by the most tender and delicate
attentions."

It is remarkable that Mozart's attachment had at first been directed
to his wife's elder sister, and seemed to be returned on her part. But
after his absence in Paris, he was coldly received when they again
met, and, fortunately for himself, he transferred his affections to
Constance, who became his wife.

Rich as this union was in affection, and in all the happiness that
affection can bestow, it was soon checkered by distress and
difficulty. The health of the wife became precarious; and Mozart's
ignorance of the world, as well as his generous and joyous
disposition, joined to the precarious and varying amount of his
earnings, and the disappointment in his prospects of imperial favour,
involved him in debt, which, by overtaxing his mind and body, led to
the errors and excesses, such as they were, of his latter life, and
ultimately undermined his constitution, and brought him to an untimely
tomb.

The "res angusta domi" stimulated the composer's pen, and the rapidity
of his productions at this time is marvellous. The taste of Vienna,
however, was capricious; and cabals among singers and critics
succeeded in deadening the effect of his _Figaro_, when first brought
out, and in thoroughly disgusting Mozart with the Viennese opera. How
different the reception which it met from the true hearts and
well-attuned ears of the Bohemian audiences! It was in February 1787,
after parting with the Storaces, on their leaving for England, with a
hope that the mighty master would soon be allured to follow them, that
his Bohemian visit was paid.

"In the very same week that he parted from his English friends,
Mozart himself set out upon a journey to Prague, whither he had
been very cordially invited by a distinguished nobleman and
connoisseur, Count John Joseph Thun, who maintained in his service
an excellent private band. This was the first professional
expedition of any consequence in which he had engaged since his
settlement in Vienna; it was prosecuted under the most favourable
auspices, and with glowin