But, joking apart, dear Mrs. Moscheles, and you, my dear friend, should
you still be in Hamburg, and these lines reach you there, then do not
break our hearts by passing us by. Had I but known a little sooner when
I should be here again, I should have written ere this; but we returned
only four days ago from Switzerland and the South of Germany. Everything
was uncertain, as it is still. However, here we are, and shall certainly
remain for the next fortnight, so I say again, Come! If I could only
send you a starling trained to say, Come! Come! True, my dear Moscheles,
I should have nothing newer to show you in the way of compositions than
the Song without Words in A major, which you had to hear but too often
last spring. What with eating, drinking, walking, sketching, enjoying
myself, and not caring for the morrow, I have not been able to write
anything new. You, I am sure, will have all the more new and interesting
things to show me. But even supposing we made no music at all, how
delightful would it be to spend
[Illustration: 26. MENDELSSOHN.