two years before. The suggestion of the work is said to have come from
Count Bernadotte, the French Ambassador at Vienna, with whom Beethoven
was on terms of intimacy; but the man whom it was intended to honour
by its dedication was the General whose exploits had shaken the whole
of Europe--Napoleon Buonaparte. Beethoven had been greatly attracted
by Napoleon's character. He believed in him as the one man who was
capable of making his adopted country a pattern for the world, by
establishing a Republic on the principles laid down by Plato. But his
confidence in the unselfishness of Napoleon's aims was soon to receive
a rude shock. The fair copy of the symphony, with its dedicatory
inscription, had been completed, and was on the point of being
dispatched to Paris, when suddenly the news reached Vienna that the
hero's glorious entry into the French capital had culminated in his
allowing himself to be proclaimed Emperor. In a moment Beethoven's
worship was turned into hatred and contempt. He seized the manuscript,
tore the title-page to shreds, and flung the work itself to the other
end of the room. 'He designs to become a tyrant, like the rest,' he
exclaimed, with scornful bitterness; and it was a long time before he
could even be induced to look at the music again, or to consider the
question of its publication. Eventually, however, he consented to its
appearing under a new title, the 'Sinfonia Eroica,' by which it has
since been known to the world.

It is impossible within the limits of a short story-life to give even
a brief description of the composer's chief works, or to convey more
than an idea of how much work, despite his irregular habits, Beethoven
accomplished. His untiring industry in developing the rough jottings
which formed the foundations of his compositions has been mentioned;
but without following his life from year to year we can have only a
very imperfect conception of the actual amount of labour which was
involved in bringing to perfection the long list of works that we see
appended to the biographies of the composer. When we follow the story
of his life in detail, we are struck by the fact of his unceasing
toil. Nothing seems to have checked the constant flow of composition;
yet many causes were at work to hinder it, such as ill-health,
poverty, an ill-balanced temperament, and an oversensitiveness with
regard to the petty troubles arising out of his injudicious mode of
life. 'I live only in my music