Of the many thousands of German musicians who, since the days of Handel, have made their home in England, Charles Hall['e] was, from many points of view, the most interesting personality. He was a man of culture, and his varied experiences in many countries, which he sometimes would describe delightfully to a circle of friends, naturally added to the interest that his charm of manner, and known greatness as a musician, always inspired. When he left his native town of Hagen, in Westphalia, in 1836, for that, in those days, Mecca of musicians, Paris, he must have felt supreme confidence in his powers, although only seventeen years of age, knowing that he would find there rivals as formidable as Chopin, Liszt and Thalberg. This did not deter him. He had been used to playing in public from infancy, had known nothing but success; his pianoforte playing as a child still had evoked the wondering praise of no less a man than Spohr, and, probably, knowing that his style was so essentially different from that of these great artists, he determined to make the daring venture. He made it successfully. He was received with great kindness by every one, but especially by Cherubini. This great musician, who was then head of the Conservatoire, took the greatest interest in the young German pianist, whom he constantly invited to his house, and never seemed to tire of hearing him play the Beethoven sonatas which, strange as it sounds now, he was hearing, as Sir Charles Hall['e] told me many years afterwards, for the first time. Indeed, I have often heard Sir Charles speak of the astonishing ignorance of German music, even that of Beethoven, which existed in France at that time. It proved to be, however, a fortunate thing for him, since, as soon as he had established his chamber concerts with the express intention of introducing the best of German classics of this description, he not only quickly gained a client[e']le of cultured amateurs, but they speedily became a rendezvous of the most celebrated musicians in Paris. The success of these concerts continued to increase until 1848, when the revolution forced him to seek shelter for his wife and children in England. The years that Sir Charles Hall['e] spent in Paris were memorable ones in his life. Not only did he enjoy the friendship of Chopin, Georges Sand, Listz, Thalberg, and others of great fame, but there, too, he met Richard Wagner who was, at the time in poverty, ekeing out an existence, by means of drudgery that is painful to think of. Among the many friendships that Sir Charles made there was one, in particular, that he greatly prized, and which was destined to last a life-time--that of Stephen Heller, perhaps the most popular writer for the piano known to lady amateur pianists, at least of the past generation.