he disturbed state of Europe
after the outbreak of the July revolution in Paris had also something to
do with this interminable procrastination. Passports could only be had
for Prussia and Austria, and even for these countries not by everyone.
In France the excitement had not yet subsided, in Italy it was nearing
the boiling point. Nor were Vienna, whither Chopin intended to go first,
and the Tyrol, through which he would have to pass on his way to Milan,
altogether quiet. Chopin's father himself, therefore, wished the journey
to be postponed for a short time. Nevertheless, our friend writes
on September 22 that he will start in a few weeks: his first goal is
Vienna, where, he says, they still remember him, and where he will forge
the iron as long as it is hot. But now to the climax of Chopin's amorous
fever.

I regret very much [he writes on September 22, 1830] that I
must write to you when, as to-day, I am unable to collect my
thoughts. When I reflect on myself I get into a sad mood, and
am in danger of losing my reason. When I am lost in my
thoughts--which is often the case with me--horses could
trample upon me, and yesterday this nearly happened in the
street without my noticing it. Struck in the church by a
glance of my ideal, I ran in a moment of pleasant stupor into
the street, and it was not till about a quarter of an hour
afterwards that I regained my full consciousness; I am
sometimes so mad that I am frightened at myself.

The melancholy cast of the letters cited in this chapter must not lead
us to think that despondence was the invariable state of Chopin's mind.
It is more probable that when his heart was saddest he was most disposed
to write to his friend his confessions and complaints, as by this means
he was enabled to relieve himself to some extent of the burden that
oppressed him. At any rate, the agitations of love did not prevent him
from cultivating his art, for even at the time when he felt the
tyranny of the passion most potently, he mentions having composed "some
insignificant pieces," as he modestly expresses himself, meaning, no
doubt, "short pieces." Meanwhile Chopin had also finished a
composition which by no means belongs to the category of "insignificant
pieces"--namely, the Concerto in E minor, the completion of which he
announces on August 21, 1830. A critical examination of this and other
works will be found in a special chapter, at present I shall speak