* * * * *
LEIPZIG, Aug. 8, 1840.
DEAR MRS. MOSCHELES,--Hurrah! I’m coming. I cannot give you a date; for
if I bring my wife[41] (as I hope and trust to do), I shall start in
about a fortnight, whereas, if I come alone, I shall be in London on the
8th of September, remain for the Festival, and return immediately after
it. In the latter case I should have to abandon the long-cherished plan
of introducing my wife to the country of my predilection and the dear
friends I have there.
I fully rely upon your remaining in England and going to Birmingham as
you promised. What a delightful trip we could make of it! What a
pleasure to see Moscheles again, and to hear him! And then, all his new
compositions which I shall really get to know and enjoy, whereas
hitherto I have had to be satisfied with a kind of a sort of a
description, or half a bar here and there doled out to me by some friend
just fresh from London. We’ll have a regular feast of music. I, for one,
am hungrier and thirstier for it than ever. And my godson, and the two
charming young ladies, now grown to the dignity of real “misses,”--I
shall have to renew my friendship with them, or rather take it up where
we left it; and possibly Emily may have some dim recollection of former
pianoforte lessons, and Serena of certain carnations. I shall expect my
godson to remember having met me at St. Pancras Church,[42] and to call
me by my name. Of myself I can only say, you will find me a hopeless
case. Whatever talent I might have shown for speaking the English
language or behaving like a gentleman, has been lost in the atmosphere
of German petty provincialism. In some things you will find me
unchanged, but won’t it annoy you all the more that I have not improved?
Well, all that crosses my mind occasionally; but then I console myself
with the thought that you will be pleased to see an old friend, whether
he is improved or not, cleverer or less clever, and will give him, as of
old, your friendship and your indulgence. How glad that friend, on _his_
part, is at the idea of soon finding himself in your family again, it
needs no words to assure you. May we meet in health and happiness, and
may you be as kindly disposed as ever to
Yours,