And now it seemed best for Felix to travel and see something of other countries.  He had long wished to visit England, and the present seemed a favorable time, as his friends there assured him of a warm welcome.  The pleasure he felt on reaching London was increased by the enthusiastic greeting he received at the hands of the musical public.  He first appeared at a Philharmonic concert on May 25, when his Symphony in C minor was played.  The next day he wrote to Fanny:  “The success of the concert last night was beyond all I had ever dreamed.  It began with my Symphony.  I was led to the desk and received an immense applause.  The Adagio was encored, but I went on; the Scherzo was so vigorously applauded that I had to repeat it.  After the Finale there was lots more applause, while I was thanking the orchestra and shaking hands, till I left the room.”

A continual round of functions interspersed with concerts at which he played or conducted, filled the young composer’s time.  The overture to “Midsummer Night’s Dream” was played several times and always received with enthusiasm.  On one occasion a friend was so careless as to leave the manuscript in a hackney coach on his way home and it was lost.  “Never mind, I will write another,” said Mendelssohn, which he was able to do, without making a single error.

When the London season closed, Mendelssohn and his friend Klingemann went up to Scotland, where he was deeply impressed with the varied beauty of the scenery.  Perhaps the Hebrides enthralled him most, with their lonely grandeur.  His impressions have been preserved in the Overture to “Fingal’s Cave,” while from the whole trip he gained inspiration for the Scottish Symphony.

On his return to London and before he could set out for Berlin, Felix injured his knee, which laid him up for several weeks, and prevented his presence at the home marriage of his sister Fanny, to William Hensel, the young painter.  This was a keen disappointment to all, but Fanny was not to be separated from her family, as on Mendelssohn’s return, he found the young couple had taken up their residence in the Gartenhaus.

Mendelssohn had been greatly pleased with his London visit, and though the grand tour he had planned was really only begun, he felt a strong desire to return to England.  However, other countries had to be visited first.  The following May he started south, bound for Vienna, Florence and Rome.  His way led through Wiemar and gave opportunity for a last visit to Goethe.  They passed a number of days in sympathetic companionship.  The poet always wanted music, but did not seem to care for Beethoven’s compositions, which he said did not touch him at all, though he felt they were great, astonishing.