harpsichord; and the child would sometimes amuse himself for hours by discovering and playing thirds on that instrument. From this early indication of genius, his father was induced to teach him some short airs; and the scholar soon outstripped his hopes. Such, indeed, was his progress, that at the age of six years, he could compose little airs while he was playing, and which his father was always obliged to write down for him on paper. From that time his whole delight was in harmony; and none of his infant sports gave him any pleasure, unless it was contrived that music should make a part of them. con “His father, one day, entering the music room in company with a friend, found the boy, with a pen in his hand, busily employed. What are you about there?' Isaid his father. 1 am writing a certo for the harpsichord,' was the reply. 'Indeed! it must doubtless be something very fine; let me see it.'-'But, Sir, it is not finished.' The father took up the paper, and, at first, could discover nothing but a confusion of notes and spots of ink. The boy, not knowing how to handle a pen, had continually filled it too full, and dropped it on the paper, which he had wiped with his haud, and then written upon the blots. Old Mozart, on examining the work more closely, was enraptured with the performance. 'See,' said he to his friend, ‘how regular and accurate this is! but it is too difficult to be played.'- || 'It is a concerto,' exclaimed the boy, and must be practised till it can be executed : you shall hear,' He then began to play, but it was beyond his powers. "In the year 1762, his father took him and his sister to Munich, where he played a concerto before the Elector, to the astonishment and admiration of the whole court. He gave no less pleasure at Vienna, and the Emperor used frequently to call him the little sorcerer. “His father had only taught him the harpsichord: he taught himself to play on the violin. It ne day afforded his father an agreeable surprise, to hear the boy play the second violin in concert, and acquit himself to perfection. Genius can see no impediments: proud of his success, he soon afterwards undertook to play the principal part, and he executed it with great correctness. "Mozart's first great musical journey was made in the year 1763. Although at this time he was only seven years of age, he had become so celebrated, that his character spread through every part of Europe. He was heard in the chapel of the King of France at Versailles, the court being present. It was in Paris that the first compositions of this infant Orpheus were engraved and published. "From Paris he travelled to London; and in 1768 he returned to Vienna, and, at the request of Joseph the Second, composed La Finta Semplice, a comic opera, which was approved by Metastasio, but not per-' formed. "He arrived at Rome in the Passion week, and was present in the Papal chapel at the performance of the Miserere. This is known to be the ne plus ultra of vocal music: and it is strictly forbidden to give any one a copy of it. Mozart's ambition and having listened was powerfully excited; with the greatest attention to the performance, he went home, wrote the music from memory, and produced a copy which surprised all Rome. "He composed the opera of Mithridates, for Milan; at length, after an absence of fifteen months, he returned once more to Saltzburgh. "At the request of the Elector of Bavaria, he composed the opera of Idumenes, for the Carnival of 1781. He soon afterwards went again to Vienna, and, from his twenty-fifth year, continued to reside in that capital. The Emperor Joseph, who was desirous of improving the German opera, engaged Mozart to compose Dia. Ent. fahrung aus die Serail. the jealousy of the Italian company at Vienna. This excited "While Mozart was engaged in the composition of this opera, he married Miss Webber, a person of distinguished merit ; and to this incident it was, that the work was indebted for the character of tender- ' ness, and the expression of passionate softness, in which its chief beauties consist. It was received both at Vienna and Prague with the most rapturous applause. "All his celebrity had hitherto, how H2 ever, procured to Mozart no solid advantages; he enjoyed no place, and had no fixed income, but subsisted on the profits arising from his lessons, and from subscription concerts. The Marriage of Figaro, was then famous; it was transformed into an Italian opera, and the Emperor request ed that Mozart would set it to music. He did so, and it was every where received with unbounded applause. "This elegant and interesting musician died in the year 1791, just after he had received the brevet of chapel-master of the church of St. Stephen, at the early age of twenty-five years. Indefatigable to his latest moments, he composed his three finest works only a very short time before his death; these were the Zauber Floete, or Enchanted Flute; La Clemenza di Tito; and a Requiem; the latter of which he just lived to finish. "The circumstances attending the composition of the Requiem, are extremely interesting. A short time before Mozart's death, a stranger came to him and requested that he would compose, as speedily as possible, a Requiem for a Catholic Prince, who, perceiving himself on the verge of the grave, wished for such a piece to be performed before him, in order to soothe his mind, and familiarize it to the idea of approaching dissolution. Mozart undertook the work, and the stranger deposited with him four hundred ducats, though only two hundred were demanded. himself but that the Requiem upon which he was employed, was for his own death. His wife, unable by persuasion, to efface the impression, earnestly requested him to give her the score. When he appeared somewhat more tranquillized, she returned it to him to finish, but he soon relapsed into his former despondency. On the day of his death he asked for the Requiem, which was brought to his bed. Was I not right?' said he, when I declared that it was for myself I was composing this funeral piece!' And the tears bedewed his cheeks: it was his farewell to music. After his death we are informed that the stranger came for, and received the Requiem, and has not been heard of since. The widow, however, kept the score. "Mozart died loaded with debts; but his wife and children met with ample and honourable protection and support. The debts of Mozart, perhaps, had not been necessary; but he had too generous a disposition to be an economist, "The figure of this extraordinary man had in it nothing particularly striking. He was of a short stature; and, except his eyes, had no indications of peculiar genius. His look, when not seated at an instrument, was that of an absent man; but whenever he was performing, his whole physiognomy was changed; and his sentiments and feelings were expressed in every movement of his muscles. "The disposition of Mozart was naturally kind, gentle, and frank; and with his friends he had an air at once amiable, gay, and even free from the least tincture of pedantry." (To be concluded in our next.) THE DIVORCE.-A TALE. RELATED BY A MOTHER TO HER DAUGHTER. (Continued from Page 24.) THE house facing ours was occupied by a numerous, rich, and titled family, the eldest son of which had neglected nothing to attract my notice. The civilities that his mother had shown to mine spoke her anxiety of forming a connexion, which, however, Madame Depreval constantly avoided. I must candidly confess that I was sorry for it: although I refused taking the letters which the youth found means to have conveyed, notwithstanding I would leave my window whenever he appeared at his, he had so contrived as to leave me no doubts of his love for me, and his perseverance had added to the favourable opinion I had formed of him when first I had seen him. Certain it is that the idea of getting a hus- dame Depreval told me, that perhaps my band and of this young man had got into delicacy was carried too far; that my edumy head, and there still remained linked cation, personal attractions, and fortune, together. When I thought of the fortune secured me, in the presence of a husband, I was to be possessed of, I might have en- against all manner of painful obligations. tertained some hopes, if my birth, the secret We finally agreed that I should receive of my mother, had not at the same moment Mr. Dormeuil's visits without being preju humbled all my pretensions. My pride diced either way, since, at any rate, I revolted, and far from thinking it possible should be at liberty to decline him: it was for me to enter into a family that would || impossible for me to refuse such terms, and have considered it as bestowing on me a from that day Madame Dormeuil and her great favour to have adopted me, I determin- son became our constant visitors. ed accordingly to devote myself entirely to Madame Depreval, and to seek a refuge in a convent if I had the misfortune to lose her. After having fixed upon this resolution, I avoided even being perceived by him whom my imagination had selected. Far from regretting it, 1 only thought of him with sorrow; nay, in spite of myself, I was angry with him on account of the mortification I would have incurred if I had not had fortitude enough to overcome my affection for him. Similar dispositions were not favourable to the husband my mother offered me: however, I experienced not the least uneasiness on that score. I was not apprehensive she would force me to accept of him, although she had not assured me it was against her intention; and with the utmost indifference I beheld that day approach on which I was to be introduced to Monsieur Dormeuil. We had spent about an hour with his mother, when that gentleman made his appearance. He paid me too great attention to allow me an opportunity of scrutinizing him: his address, however, was very much in his favour; and most certainly, at the age of five-and-twenty, your father was the handsomest man that could be seen. The recollection of his being acquainted with my birth-the thought that he was to become my husband for the sake of my fortune only, or through mere commiseration, rendered me averse to the match; and when, on the following day, my mother asked me what I thought of him, I could not help answering that I should have liked him much better, if I had not known that he was my intended husband. We continued conversing together with the utmost and unrestrained candour. Ma No long time had elapsed before I discovered that I had inspired Mr. Dormeuil with sincere love. His attention to me displayed not the views of an interested man; he suffered so much from those ideas which suggested my reserve, that I was forced to upbraid myself for wronging him; and from the moment I was allowed to give credit to the sincerity of his sentiments, he gained an absolute sway over mine. But my coldness had made him timid; and as he did not conceal from me that he apprehended he was more indebted for the grant of my hand to the will of my mother than to my inclination towards him, I was at a loss to confess the impression he had really made on my heart. If at the beginning of our intercourse he had shown assurance, he certainly would never have been my husband; but now I nearly reproached him with not having enough; and I avoided returning a positive answer to my mother, not to let her know what Dormeuil was still ignorant of: I wished him to receive the intelligence from me alone. At this very period Madame Depreval was taken ill. The physicians who attended her made no secret of her dangerous condition; she herself had been sensible for seventeen years past that she was wasting by degrees. She had me called to her bed, and begged of me, as a particular favour, to procure her the satisfaction, prior to her leaving this world, to see me surrounded with protectors. I was over whelmed with grief. Although I had not loved Mr. Dormeuil, I would have accepted of him as a husband at that moment, in obedience to Madame Depreval's command. When he came in with his mother, I took him by the hand, led him into the drawing room, and there giving free course to my tears, I sat down by him, and addressed him as follows: over my departed mother? What then must be the power of that sentiment, since I ceased to think of every other object but "Sir, you are not ignorant of the mis- my husband! I lived for him alone; the fortunes that have preceded my birth. I past no longer existed, and the present was am threatened with the loss of a mother embellished by the anticipation of future whom I adore: the affection she bears me enjoyments. Six years had elapsed with requires that I should take a husband to the promptitude of a blissful day, and I protect me against the solitude that is ready should have had nothing to wish for if to surround me; and you are the protector || heaven had granted our earnest petition, that she has selected. Come, and receive and blessed us with a family of children. me from the hands of my mother; come, Could I foresee, alas! that the accomplishand take your oath never to forsake me. ment of that wish was to cost me so dear? To you alone, Dormeuil, I swear to be for But, no; undoubtedly the sunshine of my ever grateful. Love me as I do love you, || happiness was obscured for ever. The inand may I die before I regret the sacrifice || constancy natural to the heart of man I make to you of all my wishes and inclina-waited but for a pretence to be developed tions!" in the person of Dormeuil; for never will it be in my power to believe that a husband can cease loving her whom he has chosen for his companion at the moment when she is so fortunate as to add one link more to those ties which already bind them. Notwithstanding the calamities that have be sieged me, be you well convinced, my dear child, that I have not lamented your birth for one single moment. Had it not been for you, what should I have had left in this world after your father had forsaken me? He clasped me within his arms, and we both shed tears of sympathy. I remember to this day all that he said to me, all that he promised to perform: (he knows, alas! whether I have been deficient in fulfilling my engagements.) A full hour elapsed before we were sufficiently composed to return to my mother's bed. "Mother," said I, embracing her, "be you happy; the spouse whom you have chosen for me is also the elect of my heart." Both our parents blessed us. It was determined that our marriage should take place as soon as possible; and I obtained leave to continue with Madame Depreval so long as the care of her health should require my presence. When we went to church, my husband was still in mourning for his father, I therefore appeared in mourning myself: alas! I was not doomed to leave it off for a long time to come. The ceremony being over, I returned to my mother. Dormeuil used to come to attend to her, in company with me, every morning; at night he retired. Three weeks after I was taken to his home, Madame Depreval's sufferings were at an end. She had taken necessary precautions to secure to me her dwellinghouse and fortune; and the apartment in which I am now breathing my last is the same in which my mother died-less happy than I have been, less wretched than I now The first intelligence of my pregnancy occasioned great joy to my husband; he was enraptured nearly to distraction: for although a weak-minded man, which to every one besides myself might serve as an excuse for his behaviour, all his passions are violent in the extreme. He shewed me every attention, he endeavoured to read my thoughts in my looks; he had become my chief and most assiduous attendant, and apprehended, as it were, lest any one should come near me; he worshipped me as a deity-but withdrew from me by degrees, when, in consequence of my situation, his presence to me would have been most acceptable. Far from complaining, I did not even think of accusing him: although I laboured under almost continual pain (for nature not unfrequently makes us pay dear for the happiness of becoming mothers), I was the first to invite him to seek amusement. I did not wish him to partake of those sufferings which it was out of his power to alleviate; and I would have considered myself as unjust if I had required from Dormeuil similar attention to that which, however, || he first became acquainted with such I had had an opportunity of shewing him. During an illness that had made me tremble for his life, both by day and by night, I had constantly kept near him; and when he invited me to relax in my exertions, he was not aware that for those powers of mine I was indebted merely to my earnest desire || of watching over his recovery. He even ordered me to leave him, but I refused so|| doing: yet, when I requested of him to seek amusement, he embraced me, and obeyed the summons! Who could define the contradictions which love gives rise to in the human breast? The docility of Dormeuil afflicted me; and yet I should have felt more chagrin if I had seen him too uneasy about my health. During his absence I was at leisure to indulge my sufferings; but no sooner did he appear before me, than I not only disguised the tortures which he had not witnessed, but even affected in his pre- || sence perfect serenity. I found pleasure in deceiving him; yet my heart suggested, but too persuasively, that, had I been in his place, I could not have been so easily deluded. When you were born, my dear child, I still hesitated whether I should suckle you. Notwithstanding this state of uncertainty, I had neglected nothing to prevent your being a loser by taking the breast of a stranger: your nurse was stationed close to my bed; but when I pressed you within my arms, all irresolution ceased, and the stranger was immediately discharged. I must now inform you of what my observations had already suggested to me respecting the disposition of your father. I was too deeply interested to procure a thorough knowledge of him in whom all my expectations were united, and I loved him too much not to guess at what passed within him. When I had married Mr. Dormeuil he was twenty-five years of age, and the opulent circumstances which distinguished his paternal home allowed him to indulge in every kind of extravagance. Our morals are become so relaxed in the present time, that he was free from censure; and he might have been considered as a sage in comparison to the generality of young men: but, unfortunately for us both, women who make a trade of talent and beauty-with that sort of women, in short, whom men pretend they can love to adoration, without considering whether they are deserving of esteem, without even thinking that they are contemptible beings. Dormeuil, in his intercourse with them, contracted a habit of seeking only for what might prove agreeable and captivating in persons of our sex; and if he loved me for six years, it was only because during that period I appeared in his eyes the most beauteous and amiable of all women. I was so extremely happy then, that my sprightli ness and vivacity delighted him; and I was too young to mark out the difference be tween a wife and a mistress. Alas! I had never been but the mistress of my husband. It was at the period when my advanced pregnancy impaired my faculties, that I acquired this fatal conviction. Sufferings are not favourable to beauty, and generally occasion an alteration for the worse in our disposition: I was less handsome, neither was I so lively as usual, and Dormeuil consequently shewed himself less my lover. Was I free from pain for a couple of days, || he appeared more attentive to me; but if on the day following my features underwent a change, Dormeuil could scarcely conceal his returning coldness. He will not reproach me with accusing him; he himself has confessed to me subsequently, that, since he had been taught by adversity, he could not conceive wherefore love alone did not for ever prevail; but, with regard to himself, he never was sensible of love but as a passion or a whim. Men renounce happiness by too early launching in the pursuit of pleasure! I was only twenty-two when 1 felt the illusion of my felicity to vanish, and was reduced to have no other hope of retaining my husband but so long as I should possess my personal attractions: my serious cogitations had already divested me of one of my greatest charms in his opinion, namely, of that candour and sprightliness which no longer suited an uneasy spouse on the eve of her becoming a mother. This was the very time at which I questioned within myself whether I should suckle you. The austerity of a similar per |