He
had coaxing, coquettish ways, playful ways that cost him nothing
when in good spirits. So he was "more loved than loving." This is
another trait of the man, which, allied with his fastidiousness
and spiritual brusquerie, made him difficult to decipher. The
loss of Sand completed his misery and we find him in poor health
when he arrived in London, for the second and last time, April
21, 1848.
Mr. A. J. Hipkins is the chief authority on the details of
Chopin's visit to England. To this amiable gentleman and learned
writer on pianos, Franz Hueffer, Joseph Bennett and Niecks are
indebted for the most of their facts. From them the curious may
learn all there is to learn. The story is not especially
noteworthy, being in the main a record of ill-health,
complainings, lamentations and not one signal artistic success.
War was declared upon Chopin by a part of the musical world. The
criticism was compounded of pure malice and stupidity. Chopin was
angered but little for he was too sick to care now. He went to an
evening party but missed the Macready dinner where he was to have
met Thackeray, Berlioz, Mrs.
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