"My emotion," he says, "was so great
that two or three times I was compelled to retire from the
room to recover myself. I have heard all the best and most
celebrated stars of the musical firmament, but never one has
left such an impress on my mind."
Chopin played October 4 in Edinburgh, and returned to London in
November after various visits. We read of a Polish ball and
concert at which he played, but the affair was not a success. He
left England in January 1849 and heartily glad he was to go. "Do
you see the cattle in this meadow?" he asked, en route for Paris:
"Ca a plus d'intelligence que des Anglais," which was not nice of
him. Perhaps M. Niedzwiecki, to whom he made the remark took as
earnest a pure bit of nonsense, and perhaps--! He certainly
disliked England and the English.
Now the curtain prepares to fall on the last dreary finale of
Chopin's life, a life not for a moment heroic, yet lived
according to his lights and free from the sordid and the soil of
vulgarity. Jules Janin said: "He lived ten miraculous years with
a breath ready to fly away," and we know that his servant Daniel
had always to carry him to bed.
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