grateful and sensitive heart, obedient to the promptings
of a love that never wavered in its steadfastness and devotion, could
bestow. No home life could have been happier, none more simple in its
give and take of affection, than that of Mendelssohn and his wife;
nothing transpired to destroy or even to obscure for a moment the halo
of romance which surrounded it from the beginning, and which rendered
it from first to last a marriage of love.

A picture of Mendelssohn at this period of his life shows us a short,
slightly-built figure, with the dark, Jewish type of face, high
forehead surmounted by thick, black, wavy hair, and dark brown eyes
full of fire and animation, which we have already described as
marking his appearance as a boy. The mouth was delicate and sensitive,
the corners frequently curved into a smile. The change of expression
in the eyes when playing, or stirred by any deep emotion, was most
striking; 'they would dilate and become nearly twice their ordinary
size, the brown pupil changing to a vivid black.' His lithe, muscular
frame showed expression in all its movements corresponding with the
actions of the mind; when he thoroughly agreed with a speaker he
nodded so vigorously as to bring the black curls down over his face;
his laughter was ringing and hearty, and merriment found added
expression in the doubling up of his body and the shaking of his hand.
His hands were small, with sensitive, tapering fingers, and when
playing the fingers acted as if endowed with separate life and
intelligence. There was no effeminacy connected with his lovable
nature; he was quick to resent meanness or deceit, or wrong-doing of
any kind. His anger was exceedingly sharp, and his manner of
expressing contempt an astonishing revelation to those who had failed
to grasp his character as a whole.

Despite his love of hard work no one more thoroughly enjoyed being
lazy when there was nothing to do. Sleep was his never-failing
resource when overtaxed--the power of compelling sound, refreshing
sleep at the moment when it was most needed was one of the most
remarkable traits of a temperament distinguished by its astonishing
activity. Yet it may be taken perhaps as a part of his orderly nature,
which in everything was governed by method. The completeness with
which he carried out every detail connected with his work or his
amusements excites our wonderment; the sense of neatness pervades the
whole--nothing is wanting. He wrote n