t woman I
ever saw" (ah! that inflammable heart), and the friendship with John
Hunter, the surgeon, and his wife. Mrs. Hunter wrote the words for most
of the twelve English canzonets. Mrs. Hodges composed, and some pieces
by her, copied in Haydn's hand, with a note by him, were found amongst
his papers.

He was now a wealthy man. He returned to Vienna by way of Bonn, where
Beethoven submitted a composition to him. As every one knows, Beethoven
soon followed him to Vienna, and took lessons, and complained that Haydn
took no pains with him. Now, Haydn was no pedant; with him the final
court of appeal was the ear. When the theorists said that the celebrated
false relations at the opening of Mozart's C major quartet were wrong,
Haydn was merely impatient; he said that if Mozart wrote them we might
depend upon it Mozart had an excellent reason for doing so. Probably he
did not want Beethoven to waste his time on piffling schoolboy
exercises. Anyhow, Beethoven always spoke of him with respect, and Haydn
said Beethoven's septet was sublime.

His stay in Vienna was not a long one. He again agreed with Salomon to
compose six new symphonies, and come to London to conduct them. On
January 17, 1794, he set out. Prince Anton was unwilling for him to
leave, and died three days afterwards. In many respects this visit was a
duplicate of the first. The symphonies he wrote were the "Military" in
G, and the D minor, both 1794; the E flat, apparently composed in 1793,
and the B flat, E flat, and D minor and major, all 1795. The last, one
of his finest, with certainly his finest introductory adagio, is
probably the last symphony he wrote. It is not only dated 1795, but has
the composer's note that it is the twelfth he wrote in England. As we
shall see, he directed his attention to another style of music on his
return to Vienna. Meantime, in London he was incessantly occupied, was
honoured by royalty and them that were great in the land, he amassed
money, and he saw much of his beloved Mrs. Schroeter. The King and Queen
asked him to spend the summer at Windsor, and to settle in England.
Haydn's reply was that he could not leave his prince. Prince Anton was
dead, but a new Nicolaus reigned in his stead, and Haydn obviously
regarded himself as a kind of family servant whose services pass to the
next heir. It was during this visit that he heard so much of Handel. We
must remember that at this time Handel was the musical god of England.
George