position of an employee in the library. In spite of his long
service there and his great learning, he had to see really
ignorant men promoted over his head. I discovered afterwards that
the real reason lay in his unbusinesslike methods, and the
effeminacy consequent on the delicate way in which he had been
nurtured in early life, which made him incapable of developing the
energy necessary for his work. On a miserable pittance of fifteen
hundred francs a year, he led a weary existence, full of anxiety.
With nothing in view but a lonely old age, and the probability of
dying in a hospital, it seemed as if our society put new life
into him; for though we were poverty-stricken, we looked forward
boldly and hopefully to the future. My vivacity and invincible
energy filled him with hopes of my success, and from this time
forward he took a most tender and unselfish part in furthering my
interests. Although he was a contributor to the Gazette Musicale,
edited by Moritz Schlesinger, he had never succeeded in making
his influence felt there in the slightest degree. He had none of
the versatility of a journalist, and the editors entrusted him
with little besides the preparation of bibliographical notes.
Oddly enough, it was with this unworldly and least resourceful of
men that I had to discuss my plan for the conquest of Paris, that
is, of musical Paris, which is made up of all the most
questionable characters imaginable. The result was practically
always the same; we merely encouraged each other in the hope that
some unforeseen stroke of luck would help my cause.

To assist us in these discussions Anders called in his friend and
housemate Lehrs, a philologist, my acquaintance with whom was
soon to develop into one of the most beautiful friendships of my
life. Lehrs was the younger brother of a famous scholar at