as the master
hand that _did_ what others had been trying to do. Dodd, working, as
I believe, quite independently, came very near it. A comparison of
the Dodd bows shown in Plates III. and IV., with the Tourtes in
Plates V. and VI., will make clear a very significant fact. Dodd's
work--fine as it is--is distinctly _earlier_ in spirit than that of
his great French rival. Yet they were contemporaries--in point of
fact Dodd was a few years later than Tourte.

[Illustration: PLATE V.]

[Illustration: PLATE VI.]

Then, as regards the _cambre_, Dodd followed on in the primitive
school and cut his bows at once to the required sweep: Tourte, in
addition to perfecting the dimensions and design, instituted an
entirely new principle based on scientific deductions. His bows were
all cut straight, and the "spring" was produced by judicious heating
of the fibres.

Another thing one has to consider in this connexion is the relations
that existed between England and France at this period. I think most
people will admit that they were "strained," and that there were many
obstacles in the way of free intercourse between the two countries.
The war with France commenced when Dodd was twenty-one years of age,
and though Tourte was five years older he had spent his youth firstly
in the pursuit of a vocation entirely removed from bow making, and
secondly in experiments lasting some considerable time before he
commenced producing the perfect work that has made his name one to be
extolled and reverenced by all wielders of that magic wand, the
"fiddle-stick." When one thinks of the roundabout way such a thing
would have to travel from Paris to London at this period, it seems
highly probable that Dodd may not have seen a specimen of Tourte's
work until he was about sixty.

What a marvellous thing a fine Tourte is! What a revelation the first
time a player handles one! When I have an opportunity of playing on a
Strad with a Tourte I can never decide which causes me the most
delight. There is an indefinable something about a Tourte that seems
to increase the player's dexterity of manipulation to an
extraordinary extent. No matter how used one may be to a certain bow:
no matter how expert one may be in the execution of staccato and
arpeggio passages, the first time a Tourte is tried one realizes that
hitherto there has been an effort necessary for the adequate
production of such effects, whereas now the bow seems endowed with a
consciousness