in
his eyes than the chances and changes of external life. He constantly
gave lessons with regularity and assiduity; domestic and daily tasks,
they were given conscientiously and satisfactorily. As the devout in
prayer, so he poured out his soul in his compositions, expressing in
them those passions of the heart, those unexpressed sorrows, to which
the pious give vent in their communion with their Maker. What they never
say except upon their knees, he said in his palpitating compositions;
uttering in the language of the tones those mysteries of passion and of
grief which man has been permitted to understand without words, because
there are no words adequate for their expression.

The care taken by Chopin to avoid the zig-zags of life, to eliminate
from it all that was useless, to prevent its crumbling into masses
without form, has deprived his own course of incident. The vague lines
and indications surrounding his figure like misty clouds, disappear
under the touch which would strive to follow or trace their outlines. He
takes part in no actions, no drama, no entanglements, no denouements.
He exercised a decisive influence upon no human being. His will never
encroached upon the desires of another, he never constrained any
other spirit, or crashed it under the domination of his own, He never
tyrannized over another heart, he never placed a conquering hand upon
the destiny of another being. He sought nothing; he would have scorned
to have made any demands. Like Tasso, he might say:

Brama assai, poco spera, e nulla chiede. In compensation, he escaped
from all ties; from the affections which might have influenced him, or
led him into more tumultuous spheres. Ready to yield all, he never gave
himself. Perhaps he knew what exclusive devotion, what love without
limit he was worthy of inspiring, of understanding, of sharing! Like
other ardent and ambitions natures, he may have thought if love and
friendship are not all--they are nothing! Perhaps it would have been
more painful for him to have accepted a part, any thing less than
all, than to have relinquished all, and thus to have remained at least
faithful to his impossible Ideal! If these things have been so or not,
none ever knew, for he rarely spoke of love or friendship. He was not
exacting, like those whose high claims and just demands exceed all that
we possess to offer them. The most intimate of his acquaintances never
penetrated to that secluded fortress in which th