CHAPTER IV. THE FIRST OPERA IN VIENNA. THE approaching marriage of the Archduchess Maria Josepha with King Ferdinand of Naples furnished Leopold Mozart with a pretext for repairing to Vienna with his whole family; this he did in the beginning of September, 1767, with every expectation that the public of that brilliant capital would recognise the progress made by Wolfgang since their former visit.[1] They travelled quickly; were invited to dine with the Bishop at Lambach; and at the Monastery of Mölk, where Wolfgang tried the organ, his playing was at once recognised by the organist. Misfortune awaited them at Vienna. The charming and universally beloved Princess Josepha fell ill of the small-pox, which carried her off in less than a month. This, of course, put a stop to any appearance at court, or at the houses of the nobility. Leopold Mozart had been advised when in Paris to follow the example of the Duke of Orleans, who had set the fashion {THE FIRST OPERA IN VIENNA.} (64) of inoculation with his own children in 1756, and to "graft the small-pox" in his little boy. "But I prefer," he wrote (February 22, 1764), "to leave it all in God's hands; let Him, in His divine mercy, dispose as He will of the life of this wonder of nature." Now, however, he took instant flight to Olmütz with his children, but they did not escape; first Wolfgang sickened, then Marianne. Count Leopold Anton von Podstatzky, Dean of Olmütz and Canon of Salzburg (which would account for his acquaintance with Mozart), out of compassion to the distracted father, took the whole family into his house, making light of the risk of infection. In the deanery, well cared for, and skilfully doctored, the children passed through all stages of the disease, which, with Wolfgang at least, was so severe, that he lay blind for nine days. "Again is the saying proved true," writes L. Mozart: "In Te Domine speravi, non confundar in æternum." "What extraordinary and unexpected good fortune it was that Count P. should have been willing to receive a child with the small-pox! I cannot tell you with what kindness and goodness we were treated; who else would have received a family under such circumstances, and that from an impulse of pure humanity? This good deed shall redound to the honour of the Count in the biography of our little one which I intend to publish some day, for I consider that it is the commencement of a new epoch in his life."