before the Duke came.)



AT HOME AND ABROAD



163. "I assure you that without travel we (at least men of the
arts and sciences) are miserable creatures. A man of mediocre
talent will remain mediocre whether he travel or not; but a man
of superior talent (which I can not deny I am, without doing
wrong) deteriorates if he remains continually in one place."

(Paris, September 11, 1778, to his father, who had secured an
appointment for him at Salzburg which he was loath to accept. He
asked that the Archbishop permit him to travel once in two years.
He feared that he "would find no congenial society" in Salzburg,
where, moreover, music did not stand in large appreciation.
Mozart's subsequent experiences were of the most pitiable
character.)

164. "Write me, how is Mr. Canary? Does he still sing? Does he
still pipe? Do you know why I am thinking of the canary? Because
there is one in our anteroom that makes the same little sounds as
ours."

(Naples, May 19, 1770, to his sister. Mozart was very fond of
animals. In a letter from Vienna to his sister on August 21,
1773, he writes: "How is Miss Bimbes? Please present all manner