ring; and when sure of that likewise, pass to the fourth
position of the hand, making C with the first finger upon the first
string; and indeed this is a scale in which, when you are firm, you
may be said to be mistress of the finger-board. This study is so
necessary, that I most earnestly recommend it to your attention.

"'I now pass to the third essential part of a good performer on the
Violin, which is the making of a good shake, and I would have you
practise it slow, moderately fast, and quick; that is, with the two
notes succeeding each other in these three degrees of _adagio_,
_andante_, and, _presto_; and in practice you have great occasion for
these different kinds of shakes; for the same shake will not serve
with equal propriety for a slow movement as for a quick one; but to
acquire both at once with the same trouble, begin with an open string,
either the first or second, it will be equally useful; sustain the
note in a swell, and begin the shake very slow, increasing in
quickness, by insensible degrees, till it becomes rapid, in the manner
following:--

[Illustration]

But you must not vigorously move immediately from semiquavers to
demisemiquavers, as in this example, or from these to the next in
degree--that would be doubling the velocity of the shake all at once,
which would be a skip, not a graduation; but you can imagine between a
semiquaver and a demisemiquaver intermediate degrees of rapidity,
quicker than the one, and slower than the other of these characters;
you are therefore to increase in velocity by the same degrees in
practising the shake, as in loudness when you make a swell. You must
attentively and assiduously persevere in the practice of this
embellishment, and begin at first with an open string, upon which if
you are once able to make a good shake with the first finger, you will
with the greater facility acquire one with the second, the third, and
the fourth, or little finger, with which you must practise in a
particular manner, as more feeble than the rest of its brethren. I
shall, at present, propose no other studies to your application: what
I have already said is more than sufficient, if your zeal is equal to
my wishes for your improvement. I hope you will sincerely inform me
whether I have explained myself clearly thus far; that you will accept
of my respects, which I likewise beg of you to present to the
Prioress, to Signora Teresa, and to Signora Chiara, for all whom I
have a sinc