Page:Life of Her Majesty Queen Victoria (IA lifeofhermajesty01fawc).pdf/46

36 dinner. She was instructed in the usual educational subjects, besides, what was then unusual for a girl, Latin, Greek, and mathematics. From an early age she spoke French and German with fluency; the latter indeed was almost another mother tongue. All her life she has shown delight in languages, and her subjects, especially those in Asia, were very interested to hear that, even in old age, she had begun to make systematic study of Hindustani. From an early age she acquired considerable proficiency in drawing and music, and developed in youth a pleasant mezzo-soprano voice. One of Mendelssohn's letters to his family describes his visit to the Queen and Prince Consort at Buckingham Palace in 1842. She offered to sing one of his songs, and he handed her the album to choose one. "And which," writes Mendelssohn, "did she choose? 'Schöner und schöner schmäckt sich'!" The exclamation mark is due to the fact that this song was not by Mendelssohn at all, but by his sister Fanny. Germany in the forties would have been scandalized by a woman's name on the titlepage even of a song, so that Mendelssohn's album of songs was enriched by those which had been composed by his sister. The letter continues: "She [the Queen] sang it quite charmingly, in strict time and tune, and with very good execution. Only … where it goes down to D and comes up again chromatically she sang D sharp each time. … With the exception of this little mistake, it was really charming, and the last long G I never heard better, or purer, or more natural from any amateur. Then I was obliged to confess that Fanny had written the song (which I found very hard, but pride must have a fall), and begged her to sing one of my own also.

In the Queen's early childhood the knowledge that she was the probable heir to the throne was carefully