instruments, he resolved to gratify his passion
by bringing together a collection of Violins which should be
representative of the work and character of each maker, and serve as
models to those seeking to tread the path of the makers who made
Cremona eminent as a seat of Violin manufacture. Virtuosity emanating
from a spirit of beneficence is somewhat rare. When, however, utility
occupies a prominent place in the thoughts of the virtuoso, he becomes
a benefactor. The virtuosity of Count Cozio was of this character. His
love for Cremonese instruments was neither whimsical nor transient.
From the time when he secured the contents of the shop of Stradivari
to the end of his life--a period of about fifty years--he appears to
have exerted himself to obtain as much information as possible
relative to the art, and to collect masterpieces that they might in
some measure be the means of recovering a lost art. When in the year
1775 he secured ten instruments out of ninety-one which Stradivari
left in his shop at the time of his death, he must surely have
considered himself singularly fortunate, and the happiest of
collectors.[3] That such good fortune prompted him to make fresh
overtures of purchase cannot be wondered at. We learn from the
correspondence of Paolo Stradivari that the Count had caused two
letters to be sent by the firm of Anselmi di Briata to Paolo inquiring
if he was willing to part with the tools and patterns used by his
father Antonio, and that Paolo replied on May 4, 1776: "I have already
told you that I have no objection to sell all those patterns,
measures, and tools which I happen to have in my possession, provided
that they do not remain in Cremona, and you will recollect that I have
shown you all the tools I have, and also the box containing the
patterns.... I place all at your disposal, and as it is simply a
friendly matter" (Paolo Stradivari appears to have had large dealings
in cloth and other goods with the firm of Anselmi di Briata, of
Casale, a small city on the Po), "I will give you everything for
twenty-eight giliati."[4] It does not appear that Paolo's
correspondents were moved in their answer by any feelings of
sentimentality or of friendship: on the contrary, the tone of the
letter was clearly commercial, they having made an offer of
twenty-three giliati less than demanded. Paolo Stradivari in his
reply, dated June 4, 1776, says: "Putting ceremony aside, I write in a
mercantile style. I see fro