[Footnote: The compositions of Chopin were, even at that
time, known and very much liked in England. The most
distinguished virtuosi frequently executed them. In a
pamphlet published in London by Messrs. Wessel and
Stappletou, under the title of AN ESSAY ON THE WORKS OF F.
CHOPIN, we find some lines marked by just criticism. The
epigraph of this little pamphlet is ingeniously chosen, and
the two lines from Shelley could scarcely be better applied
than to Chopin:

"He was a mighty poet--and
A subtle-souled Psychologist."

The author of this pamphlet speaks with enthusiasm of the
"originative genius untrammeled by conventionalities,
unfettered by pedantry;... of the outpourings of an
unworldly and tristful soul--those musical floods of tears,
and gushes of pure joyfulness--those exquisite embodiments
of fugitive thoughts--those infinitesimal delicacies, which
give so much value to the lightest sketch of Chopin." The
English author again says: "One thing is certain, viz.: to
play with proper feeling and correct execution, the PRELUDES
and STUDIES of Chopin, is to be neither more nor less than a
finished pianist, and moreover to comprehend them
thoroughly, to give a life and tongue to their infinite and
most eloquent subtleties of expression, involves the
necessity of being in no less a degree a poet than a
pianist, a thinker than a musician. Commonplace is
instinctively avoided in all the works of Chopin; a stale
cadence or a trite progression, a humdrum subject or a
hackneyed sequence, a vulgar twist of the melody or a worn-
out passage, a meagre harmony or an unskillful counterpoint,
may in vain be looked for throughout the entire range of his
compositions; the prevailing characteristics of which, are,
a feeling as uncommon as beautiful, a treatment as original
as felicitous, a melody and a harmony as new, fresh,
vigorous, and striking, as they are utterly unexpected and
out of the common track. In taking up one of the works of
Chopin, you are entering, as it were, a fairyland, untrodden
by human footsteps, a path hitherto unfrequented but by the
great composer himself; and a faith, a devotion, a desire to
appreciate and a determination to understand are absolutely
necessary, to do it any thing like adequat