[Illustration: THE HOUSE OF ANTONIO STRADIVARI.] There is really nothing in the so-called "grand" pattern of Nicolas Amati that seems to agree happily with that title, it is, on the other hand, one in which the love of dainty elegance of contour has been allowed almost unrestricted play by its author, and to an extent undreamt of before. He perceived, however, that there was a limit, a step further, and disaster would be certain; Nicolas was sufficiently wide awake not to take it, but left it for his hosts of imitators, many of whom, not gifted with the same perspicuity, "rushed in where angels fear to tread," their just reward being laughter and derision. The attainment of elegance at the expense of strength and stability was not at all in agreement with Stradivari's artistic tastes, and we accordingly have no evidence of his having touched the so-called "Grand Amati;" that which he did take up with was less complex in the subdivision of its curves, and a more simple looking thing altogether. To him it may have seemed to have more of the true characteristic quality always accompanying the grand in art, that of simplicity. It was this pattern, and this only, so far as our information goes--that Stradivari took as the basis on which any future developments should be grounded. He worked upon it for some time seemingly to his own contentment and probably the satisfaction of his patrons, these being sufficiently numerous and influential to enable him ere many years had passed to think of purchasing a house.[A] This he accomplished in the year 1680, when he was thirty-six years of age. Now be it noted Stradivari had been working on the simplest of Amati patterns for fourteen years, and during that time from his steady industry the number of violins, besides other instruments of the family, which left his atelier must have been very large. The similarity in type and regularity of excellence in finished workmanship was almost enough to have impressed the connoisseurs of the day that there was no originality or speculation in the maker, but it was just about this time that the independency of thought began to manifest itself; it was almost as if the acquisition of the freehold property had stimulated the self-reliance which had no doubt always been present, but which was now to show itself more clearly in his art. He had been in practise long and successfully enough to give a right claim to mastership. The veteran Nicolas Amati, who was now over eighty years of age, had probably been doing little or nothing for some time, and so his pupil, with all his admiration for the retiring chief, felt at full liberty to do really as he liked. [Illustration: STRADIVARI'S WORKSHOP.]