"While Mme. Viardot was taking refuge in London, her house was the rendezvous of every talent; and I well remember one evening, when serious music had given way to fun, Saint-Saëns sitting at the pianoforte to improvise the 'rising of the sun in a mountainous country.' In the twinkling of an eye Manuel Garcia cut out a large halo from a newspaper, and was seen slowly emerging from behind a high-backed chair, his full face, with its paper decoration, disclosing itself at the top, as the last triumphant chord was struck. [Illustration: CHARLES HALLÉ AND MANUEL GARCIA PLAYING CHESS. (REPRODUCED FROM AN ORIGINAL SKETCH BY RICHARD DOYLE.)] "I recollect him also as the talented and patient teacher, always full of interest even in those whose efforts were feeble. To his musical talents was added the charm of courtly manner, never-failing wit, and love of fun. The last he gave a fresh proof of but two or three years ago, when in answer to the pleasure shown by some friend, who had not seen him for some little time, in meeting him again at a _soirée_, he replied with the characteristic foreign shrug of the shoulders, 'Que voulez-vous? Je suis trop occupé pour avoir le temps de mourir.'" Mme. Noufflard also tells how the maestro used to visit her parents at Greenhays in Manchester:-- "I was too young at the time to remember any details of those very interesting days; but my earliest recollections of Signor Garcia are those of the delight with which we children always greeted him, as he was ever ready to enter into our pursuits and to enjoy a romp. I remember, as quite a child, having undertaken to teach him German, and the solemnity with which he took his so-called lesson each day, although the teacher knew far less of the language than did the pupil. As we grew older he would often take us to his rooms near Manchester Square, and explain the invention and uses of his laryngoscope with as much care and precision as if we were the whole College of Surgeons listening to him." What need to recapitulate the events which followed on the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War? In less than three months Paris was besieged, a calamity followed in October by the pitiful surrender of Metz. With the January of 1871 came the capitulation of Paris, followed by the conclusion of peace in February, the revolt of the Commune, and the second siege of the capital in March. Señor Garcia must have been glad indeed that he had come to England nearly a quarter of a century before, and was thus able quietly to pursue his work as a teacher, instead of remaining in Paris to be upset once more, as he had been with the Revolution of '48. CHAPTER XVI. TWENTY YEARS OF MUSIC. (1853-1873.) At this point it may be of interest to recall the principal musical events which took place during the earlier years of Manuel Garcia's residence in London.