In the _Convict_ more or less instruction was given in history and mathematics, French and Italian, drawing and writing. In such branches as he studied, Schubert seems to have done fairly well, but as he went on the tendency grew upon him to neglect everything else for the sake of music. Instrumental music was elaborately studied, and symphonies and overtures of Haydn, Mozart, and others were diligently practised by an orchestra of boys, in which Schubert distinguished himself from the first. Soon after his arrival in the school, the conductor of this orchestra--a big boy, named Joseph von Spaun, afterward Baron and Member of the Imperial Council, and well known as an amateur musician--remarked how finely "the little fellow in spectacles" played; from which we may infer that Schubert's near-sightedness dated from his childhood. After a while the little fellow himself became first violin and often served as conductor. A warm friendship grew up between Schubert and Spaun, who presently discovered that the shy boy of twelve was already possessed by an unappeasable rage for composition. His head was brimming over with melodious thoughts, with which he would cover every scrap of music paper that he could get hold of. But either the _Convict_ was niggardly in its supply of writing materials no less than of food and fuel, or else the needs of the new-comer were such as had never before been heard of; for he could not get enough paper on which to jot down the daily flow of musical ideas, nor was his scanty stock of copper coins sufficient to procure sheets enough to meet his wants. Having made this discovery, the kindly Spaun determined that his little friend should no longer suffer from this kind of privation; and from that time forth Schubert's consumption of music paper was astonishing. In April, 1810, he wrote the four-hand fantasia for piano, probably the earliest of his compositions that is still preserved. It fills thirty-two closely written pages, and contains a dozen movements, each ending in a different key from that in which the piece begins. "Hagar's Lament," written in March, 1811, is the earliest of his songs still preserved. Perhaps it ought rather to be called a nondescript vocal piece, or an attempt at a song-cycle; it comprises twelve numbers, with singular and sometimes irrelevant changes of key, and covers twenty-eight pages. In spite of its fragmentary and inorganic character, it bears the unmistakable stamp of genius. From the outset, whatever his faults, Schubert was always free from the fault of which Schiller complains that it fetters so many of us poor mortals: he was never guilty of being commonplace. Whatever came from him was sure to be something that no one else would have thought of, and it was sure to be rich in beauty. In view of this, the spontaneity of his creativeness was almost incredible, and fully justifies the comparison with Mozart. This same year saw the production of two other vocal pieces, a second