But those were leisurely days, and it took Haydn two
and a half months to wind up his various affairs and say good-bye to his
friends. On August 15 he set off. He must have carried away pleasant
recollections. He had come to England with Salomon the first time, at
the end of 1790, to have a fling, and by the time the second trip was
over he must have felt that he had had one. It was assuredly a fling
such as few composers have had after a long, industrious and honourable
life's work. Not that his career was by any means finished. He had
nearly fourteen years of life before him, many of them active years. He
had made a fortune--"It is only in England," said he, "that such sums
can be earned by artists"; and now, when he returned to his native land,
he found his countrymen ready to treat him with all the respect, not to
say reverence and hero-worship, he had received in England.
One delightful little incident must be related before closing this
chapter, partly because of the prettiness of it, partly to show the
position he had now won in Austria. Soon after his return to Vienna, a
Count Herrach and some other friends took him to Rohrau, and showed him
there, on the banks of the Leitha, a monument with a bust of him. They
visited his birthplace, and Haydn went down on his knees and kissed the
threshold.
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