e entire orchestra; it is to accompany him through life--the
trumpets when he wishes to become famous, the flutes when he falls in
love, the cymbals when he grows a beard; the pianoforte explains itself,
and should people ever play him false, as will happen to the best of us,
there stand the kettle-drums and the big-drum in the background.

"Dear me! I am ever so happy when I think of your happiness, and of the
time when I shall have my full share of it. By the end of April, at the
latest, I intend to be in London, and then we will duly name the boy,
and introduce him to the world at large. It will be grand!"

In a later letter he announces himself as arriving in June, "ready to
act as a godfather, to play, conduct, and even to be a genius."

He came, and I was duly christened Felix Stone Moscheles in St. Pancras
Church. Barry Cornwall wrote some lines commemorative of the occasion.
Alluding to the date of my birth, he begins:--

1. (_February_).

Speak low! the days are dear,
Sing load! _A child is born!_
Music, the maid, is watching near,
To hide him in her bosom dear,
From sights and sounds forlorn.
Happy be his infant days!
Happy be his after ways!
Happy manhood! Happy age!
Happy all his pilgrimage.

2. (_June_).

Breathe soft! the days grow mild,
_The child hath gained a name!_
Now sweet maid, Music! whisper wild
Thy blessings on the new-named child,
And lead him straight to fame.
"_Felix_" should be "_happy_" ever,
And his life be like a river,
Sweetness, freshness, always bringing,
And ever, ever, ever singing!

Well, the "sweet maid, Music" never led the new-named one "straight to
fame," nor did the child ever get there by any circuitous route, but
Felix was certainly "happy ever."

In this, my case, there certainly must have been something in a name,
for my good godfather endowed me with my full share of happiness.

In later years Berlioz wrote that well-known line of Horace's in my
album:--

"Donec eris Felix, multos numerabis amicos."

(As long as you are happy you will number many friends.) And when I
reflect how much friendship I have enjoyed from the day of my
christening to the present hour, I feel certain that the name was of
good augury, and that Horace and Mendelssohn were right.

If the complete orchestra was the first godfa