took me in hand, and succeeded well.  In an adjoining room were musicians and actors, among them Ponchard, Le-vasseur, Dugazon, Panseron, Mlle, de Munck, and Mme. Livere, of the Theatre Francais.  The most interesting of their performances, which I attended merely as a listener, was a vocal quartet by Cherubini, performed under his direction.  Later in the evening, the whole party armed itself with larger or smaller ‘mirlitons’ (reed-pipe whistles), and on these small monotonous instruments, sometimes made of sugar, they played, after the fashion of Russian horn music, the overture to ‘Demophon,’ two frying-pans representing the drums.”  On the 27th of March this “mirliton” concert was repeated at Ciceri’s, and on this occasion Cherubini took an active part.  Moscheles relates:  “Horace Vernet entertained us with his ventriloquizing powers, M. Salmon with his imitation of a horn, and Dugazon actually with a ‘mirliton’ solo.  Lafont and I represented the classical music, which, after all, held, its own.”  It was hard to tear himself from these gayeties; but he had not visited London, and he was anxious to make himself known at a musical capital inferior to none in Europe.  He little thought that in London he was destined to find his second home.  He plunged into the gayeties and enjoyments of the English capital with no less zest than he had already experienced in Paris.  He found such great players as J. B. Cramer, Ferdinand Ries, Kalkbrenner, and Clementi in the field; but our young artist did not altogether lose by comparison.  Among other distinguished musicians, Moscheles also met Kiesewetter, the violinist, the great singers Mara and Catalani, and Dragonetti, the greatest of double-bass players.  Dragonetti was a most eccentric man, and of him Moscheles says:  “In his salon in Liecester Square he has collected a large number of various kinds of dolls, among them a negress.  When visitors are announced, he politely receives them, and says that this or that young lady will make room for them; he also asks his intimate acquaintances whether his favorite dolls look better or worse since their last visit, and similar absurdities.  He is a terrible snuff-taker, helping himself out of a gigantic snuff-box, and he has an immense and varied collection of snuff-boxes.  The most curious part of him is his language, a regular jargon, in which there is a mixture of his native Bergamese, bad French, and still worse English.”

During the several months of this first English visit Moscheles made many acquaintances which were destined to ripen into solid friendships, and gave many concerts in which the most distinguished artists, vocal and instrumental, participated.  Altogether, he appears to have been delighted with the London art and social world little less than he had been with that of Paris.  He returned, however, to the latter city in August, and again became a prominent figure in the most fashionable and admired concerts.  During this visit to Paris