Transcriber's note: Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in theoriginal document have been preserved. Obvious typographical errorshave been corrected.
LETTERS
OF
FELIX MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY
FROM
ITALY AND SWITZERLAND.
TRANSLATED BY LADY WALLACE.
WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE
By JULIE DE MARGUERITTES.
BOSTON:
OLIVER DITSON — CO., 277 WASHINGTON STREET.
NEW YORK: C. H. DITSON — CO.
FELIX MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY.
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy was born atHamburg, on the third of February, 1809. The nameto which he was destined to add such lustre, wasalready high in the annals of fame. Moses Mendelssohn,his grandfather, a great Jewish philosopher,one of the most remarkable men of his time, was theauthor of profound Metaphysical works, written bothin German and Hebrew. To this great power ofintellect, Moses Mendelssohn added a purity anddignity of character worthy of the old stoics. Theepigraph on the bust of this ancestor of the composer,shows the esteem in which he was held by hiscontemporaries:
"Faithful to the religion of his fathers, as wiseas Socrates, like Socrates teaching the immortalityof the soul, and like Socrates leaving a name that isimmortal."
One of Moses Mendelssohn's daughters marriedFrederick Schlegel, and swerving from the religionin which both had been brought up, both becameRoman Catholics.
Joseph Mendelssohn, the eldest son of this greatold man, was also distinguished for his literary taste, IIand has left two excellent works of very differentcharacters, one on Dante, the other on the system ofa paper currency.
In conjunction with his brother, Abraham, hefounded the banking-house of Mendelssohn — Companyat Berlin, still flourishing under the managementof the sons of the original founders, thebrothers and cousins of Felix, the subject of thismemoir.
George Mendelssohn the son of Joseph, wasalso a distinguished political writer and Professorin the University at Bonn.
With such an array of intellectual ancestry, theMendelssohn of our day came into the world atHamburg, on the third of February,1809. He wasnamed Felix, and a more appropriate name couldnot have been found for him, for in character, circumstanceand endowment, he was supremely happy.Goethe, speaking of him, said "the boy was bornon a lucky day." His first piece of good fortune,was in having not only an excellent virtuous womanfor his mother, but a woman who, besides thesequalities, possessed extraordinary intellect and hadreceived an education that fitted her to be themother of children endowed as hers were. Sheprofessed the Lutheran creed, in which her childrenwere brought up. Being of a distinguished commercialfamily and an heiress, her husband added hername of Bartholdy to his own. Mme. MendelssohnBartholdy's other children were, Fanny her first-born,whose life is entirely interwoven with that of IIIher brother Felix, and Paul and Rebecca, born someyears later.
When yet a boy, Felix removed with his parentsto Berlin, probably at the time of the formation ofthe banking house. The Prussian capital has oftenclaimed the honor of being his birthplace, but thatdistinction really belongs to Hamburg.
His extraordinar