After working till two o'clock in the afternoon, Schubert used to dine, and then visit friends, or take a walk, or sit in a café over his schoppen of wine or beer. At such times, as we have seen, the sight of a poem, or perhaps some interesting incident, would call forth a sudden outburst of song. Some of his noblest masterpieces came from the beer garden. He does not seem to have been in the habit of drinking anything stronger than beer and wine. Of these light beverages he was very fond, and as his head was easily affected, an opinion has found currency that this appetite was a weakness with Schubert,--perhaps his only assignable weakness. The fact, however, that he was always up early and quite fresh for the morning's work, is clear proof that it could not have been a serious weakness. Among friends with whom he was well acquainted he was genial and jovial, and liked to sit and talk; but he habitually entertained a due respect for to-morrow morning. The compositions for the three years 1818-20 were about a hundred in number. There were some noble church works, the fourth mass in C and the fifth in A flat, a Salve Regina for soprano voice with string orchestra, four hymns by Novalis, the twenty-third Psalm to Moses Mendelssohn's version, and the Easter cantata "Lazarus"; also the operetta "Die Zwillingsbrüder" and the fragment of an unfinished opera, "Sakuntala"; an overture for orchestra, quartetts, quintets, canzoni, many dances for piano, and many songs. The year 1821 marked a new era with Schubert; in that year some of his compositions were first published. Some of his friends were determined to have a group of his songs engraved, among them the Erl King which had now often been heard in private concerts. They applied to two or three of the most enterprising music publishers in Vienna, but without success. There was no profit in such publications, said the sagacious men of business. The composer was so obscure that his name would carry no weight; and as for the songs, they were strange affairs, the melodies too difficult for anybody to sing, and the piano accompaniments quite impossible for any one to play! As the publishers thus proved unmanageable, some of Schubert's friends had the Erl King engraved and printed by subscription, and about the same time the song was first heard at Vienna in a public concert, with the accompaniment played by the composer himself. It was in this year, as already observed, that Vogl began giving concerts in which these songs took a prominent place. In the course of a few months seven groups of Schubert's songs were published on commission, and their success was such that publishers were afterward ready to go on at their own risk. Of new compositions this year saw the completion of the beautiful "Gesang der Geister über den Wassern" for four tenors and four basses, with accompaniment of two violas, two 'cellos, and double-bass. There was also