fact that Stradivari's teacher, Nicolas Amati, treated it in like manner, besides several of his contemporaries. CHAPTER V. STRADIVARI'S GREAT SUCCESS--HIS SO-CALLED "GRAND EPOCH"--HIS PATRONS--HIS VIOLINS REPUTED FOR TONE WHEN QUITE NEW AND SOUGHT AFTER--THE HELP HE RECEIVED--HIS ASSISTANTS AND PUPILS--PARTS OF THE WORK REQUIRING HIS INDIVIDUAL TOUCH--THE MEMBERS OF HIS FAMILY WHO MAY HAVE ASSISTED HIM--STRADIVARI'S VARNISH--HIS IMITATORS. The period 1700-15 or thereabouts, found Stradivari not only an acknowledged master of his craft but among his contemporaries recognised as the head. His business had been all along steadily flourishing, his patrons had been of high social position, some most illustrious, others actually royal. Among the latter the King of Poland stands out in relief as having specially sent an envoy to Cremona and that he had to wait three months before he could return with his commission fulfilled. Whether he ran in danger of being decapitated for "hanging about" Cremona so long is not known, but one thing is certain, that patrons royal, illustrious, of high social standing and refined tastes, wanted the newly made violins of Stradivari that could never have been played upon, almost in the absolute sense of the term, while they could have easily obtained well seasoned, well tried instruments of makers who had lived long before. Here is "a nut to crack" for those who persistently assert the necessity and efficacy of age and use to bring tone to maturity. If any further evidence should be thought necessary to support the assumption of the equal excellence of the new Stradivarius with those that remain with us at the present time, it is contained in the praise of those who heard and used them when quite fresh, declaring the agreeableness of the tone to be beyond rivalry. Stradivari may be said to have been now in the enjoyment of the plentitude of his powers. Success was attendant upon him without intermission. Tradition says he was reputed in the locality as positively rich, but we do not hear of his aspiring to civic honours as alderman, vestryman, guardian or councilman--common or otherwise--as the outcome of the possession of full coffers. Stradivari simply went on making fiddles. In a position to secure the best materials in the respect of quality, artistically and acoustically considered, he put the best workmanship upon them; also he further selected the best help which, in common with all eminently successful artists, he must have found it necessary to employ. We now arrive at a point when the question may be fairly put, how much help did he have, and of what kind was it?