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Haydn remained with Spangler in that "ghastly garret" all through
the winter of 1749-1750. He has been commiserated on the garret--
needlessly, to be sure. Garrets are famous, in literary annals at
any rate; and is it not Leigh Hunt who reminds us that the top
story is healthier than the basement? The poor poet in Pope, who
lay high in Drury Lane, "lull'd by soft zephyrs through the
broken pane," found profit, doubtless, in his "neighbourhood with
the stars." However that may be, there, in Spangler's attic, was
Haydn enskied, eager for work--work of any kind, so long as it
had fellowship with music and brought him the bare means of
subsistence.
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"Scanning his whole horizon
In quest of what he could clap eyes on,"
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he sought any and every means of making money. He tried to get
teaching, with what success has not been recorded. He sang in
choirs, played at balls and weddings and baptisms, made
"arrangements" for anybody who would employ him, and in short
drudged very much as Wagner did at the outset of his tempestuous
career.
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