as in the fairy overture. The short finale, in A major, is in kindred melody and rhythm with the first _Allegro_, but with a bold and swaggering carelessness of movement, as of a party breaking up and marching off from a glorious carouse, to the tune (at least its spirit) of "We won't go home till morning!" After the immortal nine of Beethoven, there is no Symphony more perfect in form than this, of charm more enduring, although we have the great one of the "heavenly length" in C by Schubert, and such noble ones by Schumann. But Mendelssohn has the advantage over Schumann in point of instrumentation and of general clearness (the importance of clearness was a mooted point between the two friends and mutual admirers). Even more enjoyable in some respects is the "Italian" Symphony in A. It was written earlier than the so-called third, the "Scotch," and is commonly numbered the fourth. Both were well advanced before he left Rome. Its movements are finely contrasted. After the fresh, sunshiny, buoyant _Allegro_, calling up the blue, blue sky and boundless green of Italy,--brought out all the more vividly by the pensive Mendelssohnian subjectivity of the low-running _staccato_ of the violins which sets in right after the announcement of the bright first theme,--how impressive is the sombre, solemn, antique-sounding, steady chant of reeds in the _Andante_, with the soft, warm gush of mingling flutes above! It is like passing from Italian noon-day into the rich gloom of some old church. The tranquil, blissful melody of the _Minuet_ flows on in limpid, peaceful beauty; and the mellow horn Trio makes a delicious episode. In the _Saltarello_ we feel the rush and whirl of Carnival, not without a dash of Mendelssohnian melancholy. The passage from that into the yet wilder _Tarantella_, with its whirling triplets, indicates the very _abandon_ and delirium of excitement, whereas the former, by the hitch in the alternate triplet, denotes a dance in which the dancer still keeps some control upon himself. [Illustration: MENDELSSOHN. Painted by Th. Hildebrand. Engraved by E. Eichens. This portrait was probably made in 1835, Mendelssohn being at that time in his twenty-sixth year.]