blessings of her life. Nay, she entertains for her "dearest
Haydn" "the fondest and tenderest affection the human heart is
capable of." And so on.

An Innocent Amourette

One feels almost brutally rude in breaking in upon the privacy of
this little romance. No doubt the flirtation was inexcusable
enough on certain grounds. But taking the whole circumstances
into account--above all, the loveless, childless home of the
composer--the biographer is disposed to see in the episode merely
that human yearning after affection and sympathy which had been
denied to Haydn where he had most right to expect them. He
admitted that he was apt to be fascinated by pretty and amiable
women, and the woman to whom he had given his name was neither
pretty nor amiable. An ancient philosopher has said that a man
should never marry a plain woman, since his affections would
always be in danger of straying when he met a beauty. This
incident in Haydn's career would seem to support the
philosopher's contention. For the rest, it was probably harmless
enough, for there is nothing to show that the severer codes of
morality were infringed.

The biographers of Haydn have not succeeded in discovering how
the Schroeter amourette ended. The letters printed by Mr
Krehbiel are all confined to the year 1792, and mention is
nowhere made of any of later date. When Haydn returned to London
in 1794, he occupied rooms at No. 1 Bury Street, St James', and
Pohl suggests that he may have owed the more pleasant quarters to
his old admirer, who would naturally be anxious to have him as