t. Stephen, at Vienna, and she had afterward become one
of his pupils. For some unexplained reason,--let us hope it was not
because of the young composer's love,--she took to the veil, and
renounced the wickedness and the marriages of the world. The barber,
possibly hoping to lighten the suitor's disappointment, and very
probably wishing to have both daughters off his hands, promptly
suggested to the young lover that he take the elder sister instead.
Apparently realizing that marriage at best is but a lottery, Haydn
accepted the proposition.

The wedding took place at St. Stephen's, on November 26, 1760. Whether
Count Morzin would have made an exception in Haydn's case, and retained
him in spite of this event, there is no means of telling, for that
nobleman met with financial reverses, and was forced to give up his
musical establishment. Fortunately for the young genius, some of his
works had been heard and admired by the Prince Paul Esterhazy, who
showed his musical discernment by taking Haydn into his service and
becoming a lifelong patron of the composer.

There was little real affection between Haydn and his wife at the start
of their life journey together. He declared, however, that he really
began to have some feeling for her, and would have come to entertain
still warmer sentiments toward her if she had behaved at all reasonably.
But unfortunately, she did not seem to be capable of behaving
reasonably. The wives of great men are usually proud of the attainments
of their husbands, and take no pains to conceal this fact. But the
barber's daughter of Vienna was totally lacking in any real appreciation
of her gifted consort. As Haydn himself observed once, it would have
made no difference if he had been a shoemaker instead of an artist. She
used his manuscript scores as curl-papers and underlays for the family
pastry; she made continual use of the conjugal privilege of going
through his pockets and abstracting the cash; and once, when he was in
London, her calm selfishness rose to the point of asking him to buy a
certain house, which she admired, so that she might have a home provided
for her widowhood.

Through all his troubles, Haydn preserved a dignified silence about his
domestic unhappiness, and in his letters it is mentioned only twice. For
a long time he bore the trials patiently, but at length was forced to
give up the household and live apart from his domestic tormentor. The
woman who had hoped for a perm