not swerve a hair's breadth from it; impossible."

(Vienna, May 19, 1781.)

138. "Salzburg is nothing now to me except it offer an
opportunity to give the Count a kick...even if it were in the
public street. I desire no satisfaction from the Archbishop, for
he is not in a position to offer me the kind that I want and must
have. Within a day or two I shall write to the Count telling him
what he can confidently expect to receive from me the first time
I meet him, be it where it may, except a place that commands my
respect."

(Vienna, June 13, 1781, to his father. Count Arco's offence has
been mentioned. On June 16 Mozart wrote: "The hungry ass shall
not escape my chastisement if I have to wait twenty years; for as
soon as I see him he shall come in contact with my foot, unless I
should be so unfortunate as to see him in the sanctuary." [The
reader will probably guess that the translator is resorting to
euphemisms in rendering Mozart's language. H.E.K.])

139. "It is the heart that confers the patent of nobility on man;
and although I am no count I probably have more honor within me
than many a count. Menial or count, whoever insults me is a cur.
I shall begin by representing to him, with complete gravity, how
badly he did his business, but at the end I shall have to assure
him in writing that he is to expect a kick...and a box on the
ear from me; for if a man insults me I have got to be revenged,
and if I give him no more than he gave me, it is mere retaliation
and not punishment. Besides I should thus put myself on a level