yours in the field in which now yours is superior."

(Mannheim, February 28, 1778, to his father.)

155. "Believe me, I do not love idleness, but work. True it was
difficult in Salzburg and cost me an effort and I could scarcely
persuade myself. Why? Because I was not happy there. You must
admit that, for me at least, there was not a pennyworth of
entertainment in Salzburg. I do not want to associate with many
and of the majority of the rest I am not fond. There is no
encouragement for my talent! If I play, or one of my compositions
is performed, the audience might as well consist of tables and
chairs....In Salzburg I sigh for a hundred amusements, and here
for not one; to live in Vienna is amusement enough."

(Vienna, May 26, 1781, to his father, who was concerned as to the
progress making in Vienna.)

156. "I beg of you, best and dearest of fathers, do not write me
any more letters of this kind,--I conjure you, for they serve no
other purpose than to heat my head and disturb my heart and mood.
And I, who must compose continually, need a clear head and quiet
mood."

(Vienna, June 9, 1781, to his father, who had reproached him
because of his rupture with the Archbishop.)

157. "If there ever was a time when I was not thinking about
marriage it is now. I wish for nothing less than a rich wife, and
if I could make my fortune by marriage now I should perforce have