Page:A French Volunteer of the War of Independence.djvu/166

142 brated Dr. Pinel and my former professor of mathematics were one and the same person.

Not wishing to make my living by it, I would not study mathematics all my life, and the days were long, especially to one who had vowed, as I have already said, not to gamble. I therefore resolved to learn the violin, and in my case, tastes soon become passions, and the dominant one for the time being drives out all the others. After glory had come mathematics, and after mathematics came the violin. I devoted myself entirely to the instrument, with an ardour which now I find it difficult to understand, and took lessons from all the great professors of the day. I was the pupil of Capron, Jarnowiek, Traversa, and Viotti. I could perform the most difficult concertos, but I question if I could have played a jig or a country dance with half the dash and spirit shown by many a village carpenter.

Thus did I pass my winters at Paris at the house of my respected uncle, President de Salaberry, dividing my time between