PART II.



On the 22d of December, 1777, Mozart's father wrote as follows to
Padre Martini in Bologna:--"My son has been now five years in the
service of our Prince, at a mere nominal salary, hoping that by
degrees his earnest endeavors and any talents he may possess,
combined with the utmost industry and most unremitting study,
would be rewarded; but in this hope we find ourselves deceived. I
forbear all allusion to our Prince's mode of thinking and acting;
but he was not ashamed to declare that my son knew nothing, and
that he ought to go to the musical training school in Naples to
learn music. And why did he say all this? In order to intimate
that a young man should not be so absurd as to believe that he
deserved a rather higher salary after such a decisive verdict had
issued from the lips of a prince. This has induced me to sanction
my son giving up his present situation. He therefore left
Salzburg on the 23d of September" [with his mother].



59.

Wasserburg, Sept. 23, 1777.

Mon Tres-Cher Pere,--