I have at least the honor of sitting above the cooks. Well, I
simply think I am at Salzburg. At dinner a great many coarse and
silly jokes are cracked, but not at me, because I do not speak a
word unless of necessity and then always with the utmost
seriousness. As soon as I have dined I go my way."

(Vienna, March 17, 1781, to his father. The Archbishop was
visiting Vienna and had brought with him his best musicians whom,
however, he treated shabbily. At length the rupture came; Mozart
was dismissed--literally with a kick.)

133. "Believe me, best of fathers, that I must summon all my
manhood to write to you what reason commands. God knows how hard
it is for me to leave you; but if beggary were my lot I would no
longer serve such a master; for that I shall never forget as long
as I live,--and I beg of you, I beg of you for the sake of
everything in the world, encourage me in my determination instead
of trying to dissuade me. That would unfit me for what I must do.
For it is my desire and hope to win honor, fame and money, and I
hope to be of greater service to you in Vienna than in Salzburg."

(Vienna, May 12, 1781, to his father.)

134. "I did not know that I was a valet de chambre, and that
broke my neck. I ought to have wasted a few hours every forenoon
in the antechamber. I was often told that I should let myself be
seen, but I could not recall that this was my duty and came
punctually only when the Archbishop summoned me."

(Vienna, May 12, 1781.)