Page 16 (1/1)

Cellini spoke with enthusiasm, and his countenance seemed illumined by the eloquence that warmed his speech I listened with a sort of dreamy satisfaction; the visual sensation of utter rest that I always experienced in this man's presence was upon me, and I watched him with interest as he dreith quick and facile touch the outline of my features on his canvas

Gradually he becalanced at me from time to time, but did not speak, and his pencil worked rapidly I turned over the "Letters of a Dead Musician" with so reht; but what particularly impressed me as I read on, was the tone of absolute joy and contents over disappointed arets for the past, no coainst the brothers of his art; everything was treated from a lofty standpoint of splendid equality, save when the writer spoke of himself, and then he became the humblest of the humble, yet never abject, and always happy

"O Music!" he wrote, "Music, thou Sweetest Spirit of all that serve God, what have I done that thou shouldst so often visit me? It is not well, O thou Lofty and Divine One, that thou shouldst stoop so low as to console him who is the unworthiest of all thy servants For I am too feeble to tell the world how soft is the sound of thy rustling pinions, how tender is the sighing breath of thy lips, how beyond all things glorious is the vibration of thy lightest whisper! Remain aloft, thou Choicest Essence of the Creator's Voice, remain in that pure and cloudless ether, where alone thou art fitted to dwell My touch ht thee Suffice it to thy servant, O Beloved, to drealance as I finished reading these lines, I asked: "Did you know the author of this book, signor?"

"I knew hientlest souls that ever dwelt in human clay As ethereal in his music as John Keats in his poetry, he was one of those creatures born of dreams and rapture that rarely visit this planet Happy fellow! What a death was his!"

"How did he die?" I inquired

"He was playing the organ in one of the great churches of Roin A choir of finely trained voices sang to his accoina Coeli" Thein power and ht crash was heard; the organ ceased abruptly, the singers broke off The musician was dead He had fallen forward on the keys of the instrument, and when they raised hiel, so serene was its expression, so rapt was its smile No one could tell exactly the cause of his death--he had always been re and healthy Everyone said it was heart-disease--it is the usual reason assigned by medical savants for these sudden departures out of the world His loss was regretted by all, save myself and one other who loved him We rejoiced, and still do rejoice, at his release"