my tongue--_I taste death_; and who will
be near to support my Constance if you go away?"

"Suessmayer (an assistant) was standing by the bedside, and on the
counterpane lay the 'Requiem,' concerning which Mozart was still
speaking and giving directions. As he looked over its pages for
the last time, he said, with tears in his eyes, 'Did I not tell
you that I was writing this for myself?'"

It should be added that this "Suessmayer, who had obtained
possession of one transcript of the 'Requiem,' the other having
been delivered to the stranger immediately after Mozart's decease,
published the score some years afterwards, claiming to have
composed from the _Sanctus_ to the end. As there was no one to
contradict this extraordinary story, it found partial credit until
1839, when a full score of the 'Requiem' in Mozart's handwriting
was discovered."

We have now done. The life and character that we have been
considering, speak for themselves. Mozart is not perhaps the greatest
composer that ever lived, but Handel only is greater than he; and to
be second to Handel, seems now to us the highest conceivable praise.
Yet, in some departments, Mozart was even greater than his
predecessor. It is not our intention to characterise his excellences
as a composer. The millions of mankind that he has delighted in one
form or other, according to their opportunities and capacities, have
spoken his best panegyric in the involuntary accents of open and
enthusiastic admiration; and his name will for ever be sweet in the
ear of every one who has music in his soul.

Two remarks only we will make upon Mozart's taste and system as a
master. The first is, that he invariably considered and proclaimed,
that the great object of music was, not to astonish by its difficulty,
but to delight by its beauty. Some of his own compositions are
difficult as well as beautiful, and in some the beauty may be too
transcendental for senses less exalted than his own. But the
production of _pleasure_, in all its varied forms and degrees, was his
uniform aim and effort; and no master has been more successful. Our
next remark is, that, with all his genius, he was a laborious and
learned musician; and the monument to his own fame which he has
completed in his works, was built upon the most anxious, heartfelt,
and humble study of all the works of excellence that then existed, and
without knowing and understanding wh