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But London made up for it all by the flattering way in which it
received the visitor. People of the highest rank called on him;
ambassadors left cards; the leading musical societies vied with
each other in their zeal to do him honour. Even the poetasters
began to twang their lyres in his praise. Thus Burney, who had
been for some time in correspondence with him, saluted him with
an effusion, of which it will suffice to quote the following
lines:
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Welcome, great master! to our favoured isle,
Already partial to thy name and style;
Long may thy fountain of invention run
In streams as rapid as it first begun;
While skill for each fantastic whim provides,
And certain science ev'ry current guides!
Oh, may thy days, from human suff'rings, free,
Be blest with glory and felicity,
With full fruition, to a distant hour,
Of all thy magic and creative pow'r!
Blest in thyself, with rectitude of mind,
And blessing, with thy talents, all mankind!
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Like "the man Sterne" after the publication of Tristram Shandy,
he was soon deep in social engagements for weeks ahead. "I could
dine out every day," he informs his friends in Germany. Shortly
after his arrival he was conducted by the Academy of Ancient
Music into a "very handsome room" adjoining the Freemasons' Hall,
and placed at a table where covers were laid for 200. "It was
proposed that I should take a seat near the top, but as it so
happened that I had dined out that very day, and ate more than
usual, I declined the honour, excusing myself under the pretext
of not being very well; but in spite of this, I could not get off
drinking the health, in Burgundy, of the harmonious gentlemen
present. All responded to it, but at last allowed me to go home."
This sort of thing strangely contrasted with the quiet, drowsy
life of Esterhaz; and although Haydn evidently felt flattered by
so much attention, he often expressed a wish that he might escape
in order to have more peace for work.
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