s passed with him whose apostolic virtues have raised him to the
throne of St. Peter.' The Pope replied, 'I have never forgotten your
name, my son; come to me at Rome, and we will again play duets
together, and if you have not progressed in your studies, I shall know
how again to correct you.'"--_Hogarth's Musical Herald_.

OLE BULL AND FIDDLE VARNISH.

"A man who had a patent varnish for Violins, brought his invention to
Ole Bull, and begged him to try it. He said that it gave ordinary
instruments the sweet quality of a Cremona Fiddle. Ole Bull tried it,
and found that it improved the tone, and promised to use a Violin
prepared with it at a concert he had to give at the house of the Duke
of Riario. There was a great deal of fashionable company at this
concert, and the heat of the room melted this famous varnish, which
was really a preparation of asafoetida. The smell which it exuded was
so maddening that an ordinary man would have stopped and excused
himself; but Ole Bull merely closed his eyes, turned his face away,
and played with an energy which became more frenzied the more
intolerable the stink became. He enjoyed an overwhelming success, and
the Duke rushed forward to seize his hand in congratulation. The
appalling odour of asafoetida struck him in the face, and Ole Bull had
to explain in what agony he had been performing."--_Ole Bull's_
"_Breve i Uddrag_," _by Jonas Lie, Copenhagen_, 1881.

ON THE TREATMENT OF THE VIOLIN.

_In a Letter from the celebrated Tartini_.

The letter here presented to my readers was translated and published
by Dr. Burney, in 1779, under the following title: "A Letter from the
late Signor Tartini to Signora Maddalena Lombardini (afterwards
Signora Sirmen). Published as an important lesson to performers on the
Violin.

"'PADUA, _March_ 5, 1760.

"'MY VERY MUCH ESTEEMED SIGNORA MADDALENA,

"'Finding myself at length disengaged from the weighty business which
has so long prevented me from performing my promise to you, a promise
which was made with too much sincerity for my want of punctuality not
to afflict me, I shall begin the instructions you wish from me by
letter; and if I should not explain myself with sufficient clearness,
I entreat you to tell me your doubts and difficulties, in writing,
which I shall not fail to remove in a future letter.

"'Your principal practice and study should, at present be confined to
the use and power of the bow, in order to make yourself ent