rried forward to raise him
up, on which he promptly said, "You are good; I will marry you." The
empress asked why he wished this, to which he answered, "Out of
gratitude; she was kind, while her sister took no notice of me" (she
had not come forward to help him). After returning to Salzburg,
Leopold Mozart, in the spring of 1763, took his children on a more
lengthy tour to Munich, Paris, London, and The Hague, and everywhere
their playing, especially Wolfgang's performances on the organ, which
he had now learned, were listened to with delight and astonishment. At
Heidelberg the priest of the Church of the Holy Ghost engraved on the
organ the boy's name and the date of his visit, in remembrance of
"this wonder of God," as he called the child. At London, old Mozart
says, they were received, on April 27th, by King George III. and Queen
Caroline, at the palace, and remained from six to nine o'clock. The
king placed before the boy compositions of Bach and Handel, all of
which he played at sight perfectly; he had also the honor of
accompanying the queen in a song. "On leaving the palace," the careful
father says, "we received a present of 24 guineas."

A great delight was now before him, for his father had resolved on a
journey to Italy, then far more than now the land of music. How much
this visit did for the young maestro it is impossible to say; he has
not, like Mendelssohn, left us an "Italian Symphony," recording the
impressions which that sunny spot of classic beauty had made upon him,
but there can be little doubt of the great influence it had on the
whole of his after-life. There are some significant words which he
wrote eight years later to his father from Paris: "You must faithfully
promise to let me see Italy again in order to refresh my life. I do
entreat of you to confer this happiness upon me." In Mantua, Milan,
Bologna (where he had the good fortune to meet the learned Padre
Martini, one of the soundest musicians of his age, and for whom he
ever afterward maintained a warm attachment), Florence, Rome, and
Naples, the young genius was received everywhere with enthusiasm by
the crowds who came to hear him. In Naples the superstitious people
believed that there was magic in his playing, and pointed to a ring on
his left hand as the cause of his wonderful dexterity; and it was only
when he had taken this off, and gone on playing just the same, that
they had to acknowledge it was simply the perfection of art.

The