City, Nevada, where he received that discipline and facility in writing which he has turned to such good account. He next entered on a wider field of enterprise, as editor and part proprietor of the "Daily Express," Buffalo, New York, a position he has since retained. It is since his connection with this paper that he has made the name of "Mark Twain" a household word, and some of the brightest small sketches he has written appeared for the first time in that journal. He has written, since 1866, several books, and published some collections of sketches, all of which have been remarkably successful, and have made the author independent of the world. "The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and other Sketches by John Paul," was published abroad in 1867 by Routledge, and was followed by the " Innocents Abroad," (Hartford, 1869,) both of which were surprisingly successful.

We will make no attempt to analyze the quality of his wit and humor. It owes something, doubtless, to the manner in which it is employed, and some of the humorist's strongest sketches may be suspected of a lack of originality, or at least of ingenious change or small adaptations.

Some talk was created at the time of his connection with the "Galaxy." It was thought that he did not equal his former efforts in his articles for that magazine. It is, perhaps, true, though the articles contained much that was sparkling and original. One trouble was, however, with the public-they expected too muchand had formed little idea of the difficulty of making "a few pages of wit," to be ready always at a certain day. Much shorter sketches than these presented would have been better.

Our humorist was married about two years since to an estimable lady of Buffalo, and has settled into a model pater familias. It is likely that he begins to think himself an old man already, which is natural enough when we consider that at the age of only thirty-six, he has made a reputation which is higher and wider than most men, even humorists, attain at sixty.

Some cynical people say that he has not said so good a thing since he made his last joke of his bachelor life. His father-inlaw had secretly furnished a house for the young pair. When Mark was led into and had looked upon its splendor his single remark was, "Well, isn't this a first-class sell!"

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN.

UDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN was born at Bonn, December 16th, 1770. He was the second of four children, and exhibited, at a very early age, proofs of great musical talent. At eleven years of age he is spoken of by a competent critic, in a periodical of the time, as playing at sight all the difficult and most incomprehensible plays of Sebastian Bach. He had also, at that age, already published three sonatas for the piano, and a number of pieces for the harpsichord, of which he was master. At this period the elector died, and was succeeded by Maximillian Francis, who was passionately fond of music. His bosom friend was the young Count Waldstein, a practical musician, and familiar with the works of the best masters. The Count discovered the promise of the boy, became his protector, and had him appointed assistant court organist, and afterwards sent him to Vienna to study with Mozart, from whence he returned to take the position of chief organist. Again his kind patron returned him to Vienna at his own expense, and maintained him through five years of study and practice. He was now twenty-two years of age, handsome as an artist's dream; polished, easy, graceful, learned in the ways of the best society; with a force, fire and originality of conception and a delicate yet brilliant execution in which he had scarcely a rival-surely but one-Wolfe, who was unsurpassed on the piano. His compositions took the world by storm. Whether in heavy thunders, like the tramping of armed legions, they swept in volumes of oppressive weight through the dim old aisles of the mightiest cathedrals of Europe; or whether in whispers low and deft as those of twilight's softest breeze, they crept through nave and corridor, rising with the perfumed breath of incense burning upon holy altars, and thrilling and vibrating through the rich and dusky gloom, men listened with solemn awe, and the swift pulse wildly leaping, caught from the heart a subdued and measured beat, and women wept with mournful pleasure

that was almost pain. But the life of the young musician was al、 ready overshadowed with an impending calamity, and his soul grew sick with an unutterable dread, for the brilliant triumphs which the future offered were but mockery; since he, of all the world would soon know no more the ravishing strains his own genius created, and his masterpieces of composition would be but signs whose exquisite expression he would never hear.

He had been conscious for some time that his hearing was becoming dull; that he was gradually but surely losing it. It is needless to say he was in despair. Every means which human skill could devise had been brought to bear upon the case in vain. It was far past the help of surgery, and grim and helpless he awaited the coming of the inevitable doom. His sensitive nature shrank from the society, sympathy and fellowship of men, and when only thirty years old he retired from the company which he had adorned, and of which he was the idol, and became a recluse. Henceforth every composition of his was tinged with the melancholy that had taken possession of his spirit, and the depression was so great that he seriously meditated suicide as the only way to rid himself of an existence which had grown hateful to him. Only love for his mission stayed his hand. Only the wistful longing to give to the world the darling creation of his brain-only the memory of what he had done in the past, and the knowledge that his powers had not yet reached their prime, prevented him from closing the door, of time and stepping out into the darkness of an unknown future. The pensive tone which had always marked his productions grew heavier as he advanced in years, and in some of his latest works is so strong as to possess a curious fascination.

He was all his life a republican in principle, though circumstances prevented the frequent expression of such sentiments; and the aspirations, hopes, triumphs, the grief, woe, despair of the nations were themes for his muse.

Some appreciative critic, says: "The orchestral words of Beethoven are the musical record of the great ideas of his time in the form and likeness they assumed in his mind. Haydn and Mozart perfected instrumental music in its form. Beethoven touched it and it became a living soul." He died March 26, 1827.

MOZART.

OHANN CHRYSOSTOMUS WOLFGANG GOTTLIEB
Mozart was born in Salzburg, Jan. 26, 1756. His father

was a bookbinder, but having both taste and talent for music, studied at Salzburg and became one of the prince-archbishop's musicians. The young Mozart was born and bred in an atmosphere that was redolent with music, where, from matins to vespers, the sweet strains rang and vibrated, and thrilled every passer-by as if the gates of Heaven had been left ajar, and seraphic strains floated through. At the age of three years he began to show signs of that remarkable talent which made his name immortal, and his compositions, even yet, are the masterpieces of musical works. At four years of age he played upon the harpsichord quite a number of pieces, and at five he made his first attempt at composition; while he was bright and quick at all his other studies, music was his favorite and in this he excelled. When seven years of age his family removed from Germany, and the boy and his sister played in all the principal cities of Europe, where they excited the greatest wonder and astonishment. In the fall of the same season he played upon the grand organ before the entire court of Versailles. Here he published his two first compositions, and the fame of the infant prodigy was the one great sensation of the times. From there he went to England, where he composed six sonatas, which were, by special request of Her Majesty, dedicated to the Queen. In Holland, when not more than eight years of age, he composed a symphony for a full orchestra. In 1769, when entering upon his teens, he was appointed concert master to the Archbishop of Salzburg. Everywhere he was met with the greatest enthusiasm. In 1771 he composed the first opera for the carnival, and heard for the first time the celebrated "Miserere." It may not be generally known that the reproduction of this piece was forbidden, that it could not be copied or published in any form or manner on pain of excommunication.

Mozart was in Rome during Passion Week, and going home from mass, immediately produced from memory, the intricate and marvelous "Miserere." Good Friday he again listened to it,

corrected any mistakes he might have made, and then took Rome by storm by singing it in a manner equal to those who had given it years of practice. It had never been written before, and it was thought that notes could never be made to express it; the surprise and admiration of professional singers was unbounded. The Pope was enraptured with him, and bestowed upon him the order of the Golden Spur, and at Bologna he was elected a member of the Philharmonic Society, an honor rarely conferred even upon the greatest singers. His position was now that of first singer in Europe, or rather first musician, for he was unexcelled either in vocal or instrumental music. His mother's death, which occurred in Paris, in 1777, occasioned his return to Salzburg, from whence he again made a tour to Europe, and then entered the service of the Emperor at Vienna, where he remained during the rest of his life. At the early age of thirty-five, when his already ripening honors were falling fast around him, death came suddenly, and the hand and brain wrought no more on earth the melodies that were fit for the lips of seraphs. His Requiem is perhaps his masterpiece, if we can choose, where all are so perfect.