e correspondence
to them alone, he profited by his stay in Paris to procure for them the
thousand agreeable surprises given by the novelties, the bagatelles, the
little gifts which charm through their beauty, or attract as being
the first seen of their kind. He sought for all that he had reason to
believe would please his friends in Warsaw, adding constant presents to
his many letters. It was his wish that his gifts should be preserved,
that through the memories linked with them he might be often remembered
by those to whom they were sent. He attached the greatest importance,
on his side, to all the evidences of their affection for him. To receive
news or some mark of their remembrance, was always a festival for him.
He never shared this pleasure with any one, but it was plainly visible
in his conduct. He took the greatest care of every thing that came from
his distant friends, the least of their gifts was precious to him, he
never allowed others to make use of them, indeed he was visibly uneasy
if they touched them.

Material elegance was as natural to him as mental; this was evinced
in the objects with which he surrounded himself, as well as in the
aristocratic grace of his manners. He was passionately fond of flowers.
Without aiming at the brilliant luxury with which, at that epoch, some
of the celebrities in Paris decorated their apartments, he knew how to
keep upon this point, as well as in his style of dress, the instinctive
line of perfect propriety.

Not wishing the course of his life, his thoughts, his time, to be
associated or shackled in any way by the pursuits of others, he
preferred the society of ladies, as less apt to force him into
subsequent relations. He willingly spent whole evenings in playing blind
man's buff with the young people, telling them little stories to make
them break into the silvery laughs of youth, sweeter than the song of
the nightingale. He was fond of a life in the country, or the life of
the chateau. He was ingenious in varying its amusements, in multiplying
its enjoyments. He also loved to compose there. Many of his best works
written in such moments, perhaps embalm and hallow the memories of his
happiest days.

CHAPTER VI.

Birth and Early Life of Chopin--National Artists--Chopin embodies in
himself the poetic sense of his whole nation--Opinion of Beethoven.

CHOPIN was born in 1810, at Zelazowa-Wola, near Warsaw. Unlike most
other children, he could not, during his