instruments alone. Great composers occasionally honoured their
patrons and friends with the serenade; and composers who hoped to
be great found it advantageous as a means of gaining a hearing
for their works. It proved of some real service to Haydn later
on, but in the meantime it does not appear to have swelled his
lean purse. With all his industry he fell into the direst straits
now and again, and was more than once driven into wild projects
by sheer stress of hunger.

Joins a Pilgrim Party

One curious story is told of a journey to Mariazell, in Styria.
This picturesquely-situated village has been for many years the
most frequented shrine in Austria. To-day it is said to be visited
by something like 100,000 pilgrims every year. The object of
adoration is the miraculous image of the Madonna and Child,
twenty inches high, carved in lime-wood, which was presented to
the Mother Church of Mariazell in 1157 by a Benedictine priest.
Haydn was a devout Catholic, and not improbably knew all about
Mariazell and its Madonna. At any rate, he joined a company of
pilgrims, and on arrival presented himself to the local
choirmaster for admission, showing the official some of his
compositions, and telling of his eight years' training at St
Stephen's. The choirmaster was not impressed. "I have had enough
of lazy rascals from Vienna," said he. "Be off!" But Haydn, after
coming so far, was not to be dismissed so unceremoniously. He
smuggled himself into the choir, pleaded with the solo singer of
the day to be allowed to act as his deputy, and, when this was
refused, snatched the music from the singer's hand, and took up
the solo at the right moment with such success that "all the