sed for the manufacture of
nearly all the romantic accounts of Stainer with which we are
familiar. Herr Ruf says that in the year 1825 there appeared in a
German literary publication a poetical effusion entitled "Jacob
Stainer," and that in 1829 Dr. Johann Schuler published a novel of
great merit on the same subject.

Herr Ruf states that August Lewald in 1835 made the novel of Dr.
Schuler the basis of the romantic account of Stainer, published in his
"Guide Book to Tyrol," under the title of "An Evening in Absam," but
without any acknowledgment whatever. Notwithstanding the growth of
Stainer literature down to 1835, not a single historical fact
concerning the maker had been brought to light. In the year 1839 Herr
Ruf began his labours of research. He discovered at Hall a register of
the parish of Absam, wherein he found all the information we possess
as regards the birth and death of Stainer and his family. About this
period the poem of Dr. Johann Schuler, "Jacob Stainer," was dramatised
by Theodore Rabenalt. Other poems based on the same material appeared
in 1843, but still the facts of Stainer's life were all but unknown.
At length Herr Ruf was prevailed upon by Dr. Schafhault (an ardent
admirer and collector of Stainer's Violins) to prosecute his inquiries
concerning the great maker.

In the archives of the town and salt mines at Hall, Herr Ruf found
much information, which he published in the local newspapers, the
ephemeral nature of which naturally placed his valuable contributions
beyond the reach of those likely to value them. In the meantime
Nicolaus Diehl, of Hamburg, published a little book on Violins, into
which was imported a portion of the romance traceable to the novels or
poems on Stainer. Herr Ruf, feeling disappointed that his labours in
discovering the facts relative to Stainer had failed to clear away the
cloud of Stainer fiction, published in 1872 his book, "Der
Geigenmacher Jacob Stainer von Absam in Tirol," which gives us a full
account of his researches, and should have secured to him the full
credit due to his industry. His facts, however, like the good fiction
found in Dr. Schuler's novel, "Jacob Stainer," have been used by
German writers on the subject of the Violin without any
acknowledgment. Herr Ruf died at Hall in the year 1877.

It is said that Stainer was apprenticed to an organ-builder at
Innsbruck, but owing to his weak constitution he was unable to
continue in the business, and ch