he most of them.'

[Illustration: '_They found Schubert hard at work._']

Nevertheless, Schober was right; Vogl had been deeply impressed, and
the visit marked the beginning of a close friendship. Schubert soon
learned to appreciate Vogl's sincerity and advice, and as time went on
the latter's visits became more and more frequent, until the picture
might often have been seen of Vogl singing Schubert's latest songs to
the latter's accompaniment. To the completeness of this union Schubert
himself testifies in a letter to his brother Ferdinand: 'When Vogl
sings and I accompany him we seem for the moment to be one.' Vogl, for
his part, afterwards wrote of Schubert's songs that they were 'truly
Divine inspirations, utterances of a musical _clairvoyance!_' and he
emphasised the fact, which had not hitherto been appreciated, that
'the finest poems of our greatest poets may be enhanced and even
transcended when translated into musical language'--an important
testimony to the great service which Schubert was rendering to vocal
music.

The five years which had elapsed since the friendship with Vogl began
had been passed in the production, as we have seen, of an immense mass
of compositions covering almost every branch of the art; but as none
of these works had so far produced any money it is obvious that, for
the first two years after leaving his father's house, Schubert must
have been dependent upon the hospitality of his friends. His residence
with Schober lasted only six months, at the end of which time
Schober's brother came to reside with him, and Schubert had to give up
his room. Teaching was entirely distasteful to him, as we know; yet we
can well understand that the pressure of circumstances alone may have
compelled him to accept, in the summer of 1818, an engagement as
music-teacher in the family of Count Johann Esterhazy. The terms of
this engagement were that he should spend the summer months with the
family at their seat at Zelesz, in Hungary, returning with them to
Vienna for the winter. How difficult it must have been for Schubert to
sever himself, even for a time, from the circle of which he was the
life and centre, in order to enter a family belonging to those ranks
with which he avowedly had nothing in common, may be imagined. Within
his own circle he was adored--nay, worshipped--by one and all. The
life, too, was so entirely free and unrestrained; the members
addressed each other by nicknames. Schubert ha