in which Mr. Holland is held by one
of the firms just mentioned, I append the following extract from a
letter which I received a few months ago:--

S. BRAINARD'S SONS' MUSIC-PUBLISHING HOUSE,

CLEVELAND, O., April 2, 1877.

_Dear Sir_,--... Mr. Justin Holland is one of our finest
practical and theoretical musicians. He has written two
large methods for the guitar, besides being the composer and
arranger of a large amount of guitar-music, both vocal and
instrumental. He is a refined and educated gentleman of very
modest and unpretending character, but is a thorough
musician and student.

Yours,

S. BRAINARD'S SONS.

A few years ago, on his return from a visit to New Orleans, he stopped
at Leavenworth, Kan. The editor of the leading paper in Leavenworth,
supposing that Mr. Holland intended to remain there, thus spoke of him
editorially:--

"PROFESSOR HOLLAND.

"We had the pleasure of a visit yesterday from Professor J.
Holland of Louisiana, who is an eminent music teacher and
writer of thirty years' practical experience. He purposes
locating in Leavenworth, and giving instructions on the
guitar, flute, and piano. He has made an especial study of
the guitar, and has written a work on it which is pronounced
the best in print by competent critics. We need just such a
man as the professor in this city, and are glad he has come
among us, and hope he may receive a liberal patronage."

And the editor of "The Musical World," Professor Carl Merz, thus
mentioned Mr. Holland in the number of that journal for October,
1877:--

... "Again we would mention Mr. Justin Holland, teacher of
the guitar, and composer of music for this instrument. Mr.
Holland is a great lover of art, a gentleman of culture, who
reads fluently several languages, and whose labors are
highly esteemed by publishers as well as by lovers of the
guitar. From 'Der Freimaurer,' a monthly published in
Vienna, Austria, we learn that Mr. Holland is now in his
fifty-seventh year. He lives in Cleveland, where he enjoys
the patronage of the lovers of music, irrespective of
color."

As before intimated, Mr. Holland's pupils have been in many cases
members of the richest and most highly cultivated families of
Cleveland; and such have been his skill as an instructor, and his
noble qualities of heart and min