the severe illness he had recently had,
looked normally well and happy, and was as childish in his interests as
if he had not become a public idol.

It is said that at that time, so glad was he to be at home again, that
he rode merrily around the room on his father's stick, as he had done
three years before, and played with his favourite cat just as he used
to do, the cat having been well cared for in the absence of the family,
by a friend.

During their tour Wolfgang had created for himself an imaginary
kingdom, which he called Ruecken. This country was to be inhabited
entirely by children, and he was to be the king. His idea of the place
was so distinct that a friend had to draw him a map of the cities in
it, to which he gave names, and his friends were completely fascinated
to hear him talk of his droll conceits, when he was not holding them
spell-bound by the magic of his music.

And now as soon as they were settled down again in their home, Leopold
Mozart began to instruct Wolfgang seriously in counterpoint, that he
might be thoroughly fitted for his life-work, and then as his
precocious childhood begins to merge into young boyhood, we find him
working indefatigably, working with fingers and with brain, every
faculty alert, to conquer technique and achieve perfection in his art.

In the summer of 1767, when Mozart was eleven, they started on a new
tour, for which the little prodigy composed four pianoforte concerti,
which were interesting on account of certain harmonic effects produced
in them, but that second tour, was not a fortunate one, for during it,
both Nannerl and Wolfgang were stricken with small-pox, which took a
very violent form, and poor Wolfgang lay blind for nine days, and
convalescence was slow, and hard to bear. Again they visited Vienna,
but there they found things greatly changed, for while in former days,
music was always a feature of great social gatherings, now the only
pleasure seemed to be in balls, and there was absolutely no interest
shown in Mozart, the child prodigy. Also much jealousy was shown
towards the Mozarts by other musicians, and when Wolfgang set to work
on an opera, to be used with the text written for him by the Viennese
dramatic poet of the day, and had already completed a score of six
hundred and fourteen pages, it was said that Wolfgang had not written
it at all, that it was his father's composition. To contradict these
statements, in the presence of several prominent