many years older than she was. He was an agreeable man, but a spendthrift. He threw away his own fortune and then had no hesitation in wasting all the money that his young wife could earn. She worked harder than ever, Her great consolation was her

with no time for rest.

sweet little daughter.

Madame Le Brun painted many portraits of Marie Antoinette. The Queen treated her very kindly. Every day, after Marie Antoinette had sat for her portrait, she sang duets with the painter, for the Queen dearly loved music, and Madame Le Brun had a charming voice.

All the money that the artist earned was immediately taken by her husband. But Madame Le Brun cared little for luxuries. She wore simple muslin dresses and entertained her friends in one tiny room. So many people came to her evening parties that great nobles had to sit on the floor, because there were not enough chairs.

At the outbreak of the French Revolution Madame Le Brun fled in disguise to Italy with her little daughter. In Italy she was welcomed and honored. She spent several years in Vienna, and here she heard of the tragic fate of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Many of her friends and acquaintances who had not escaped from France met death on the scaffold.

After a visit to Russia, Madame Le Brun returned to Paris. It was twelve years since she had left her home,

but all her old friends who were left flocked around her. When she entered a concert room, everyone turned in her direction and applauded heartily; even the musicians rapped on their violins with their bows. She visited England for three years, and later went to Switzerland. Her husband and daughter died, to her great grief, but she herself lived on to be an old woman. Although her beauty faded, her gayety and courage and sweet temper remained. To the end she worked on her beloved art, and it always consoled her in trouble.

XVIII

THE HAPPY MUSICIAN

All the great musicians of whom we have read had to suffer many hardships in their childhood. Sometimes, like little Handel, they were not allowed to study music; sometimes they were forced to practice too long, like the boy Beethoven; and most of them were very poor. Even merry little Mozart knew what poverty and anxiety meant. But now we come to a musician whose life seems to have been all sunshine from beginning to end. Felix Mendelssohn was one of four children, two brothers and two sisters, in a wealthy and very intelligent Jewish family. He was born in Hamburg, Germany, but was brought up in Berlin. When he was three years old and his sister Fanny was seven, their mother began

to give them short music lessons.

This little boy and

girl remind us of Woferl and Nannerl Mozart, because they both loved music so dearly and played together so much. Their brother and sister, Paul and Rebecca, were musical, too; Rebecca sang, and Paul played the 'cello.

The four children began their day's work at five o'clock every morning, and all day long they were busy with study and practice and games. Only on Sundays were they allowed to sleep late. Every Sunday they gave concerts in the big dining-room for their friends and guests. Curly-headed little Felix used to mount a stool, take the baton, and act as conductor of the small orchestra, leading the players very solemnly and very correctly.

Felix first played in public when he was nine years old. He did not begin to compose at so early an age as Mozart did, but after he was ten, he wrote a great deal of music every year. He had a chance to play his compositions at the Sunday concerts.

His parents provided him with excellent teachers, and he also traveled in foreign countries, meeting distinguished musicians and poets. He was able to speak French and English as well as German, to write in Italian and to read Greek. Besides this, he was fond of walking, riding, swimming and dancing. As he grew older, he enjoyed sketching from nature and painting in water colors.

Fanny Mendelssohn shared all her brother's studies,

and was as talented as he was. The charming letters that he wrote to her whenever they were separated show how warmly he loved this sweet elder sister. They never quarreled or were at all jealous. Whenever Felix composed anything, he could scarcely wait to show it to his dear "Fance." Everything that the two young people liked they shared in common. Their mother used to say laughingly that they were really vain of one another.

Artists who lived in Berlin or who chanced to pass through the city, delighted in attending the Sunday concerts at the Mendelssohn house. On Felix's fifteenth birthday a three-act opera of his was performed. It was a very exciting and joyous occasion for the children. After the concert the company sat down to supper. Herr Zelter, Felix's stern old music teacher, rose and took the boy's hand.

"I proclaim your independence," he said, "in the name of Haydn, of Mozart, and of old Father Bach!"

A year or two after this great event, the family moved to a big stately mansion. The mother's little sittingroom opened by three arches into a larger room, and the young people used this for their home plays. All around the house were beautiful grounds, and behind it stood a villa called the Garden House.

The four young Mendelssohns had a little home newspaper or journal in which they and their friends wrote whatever thoughts occurred to them while strolling