found that I never prayed so fervently, confessed and
communicated so devoutly, as when I was at her side;--and her
experience was the same. In a word we were made for each other,
and God, who ordains all things and consequently has ordained
this, will not desert us. We both thank you obediently for your
paternal blessing."

(Vienna, August 17, 1782.)

254. "I have made it a habit in all things to imagine the worst.
Inasmuch as, strictly speaking, death is the real aim of our
life, I have for the past few years made myself acquainted with
this true, best friend of mankind, so that the vision not only
has no terror for me but much that is quieting and comforting.
And I thank my God that He gave me the happiness and the
opportunity (you understand me) to learn to know Him as the key
to true blessedness."

(Vienna, April 4, 1787, to his father, who died on the 28th of
the following month. One of the few passages in Mozart's letters
in which there are suggestions of the teachings of Freemasonry.
In 1785 he had persuaded his father to join the order, with the
result that new warmth was restored to the relationship which had
cooled somewhat after Mozart's marriage.)

255. "To me that again is art twaddle! There may be something
true in it for you enlightened Protestants, as you call
yourselves, when you have your religion in your heads; I can not
tell. But you do not feel what 'Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata
mundi' and such things mean. But when one, like I, has been