accomplish, if they are inclined,--but,--talking about the obvious is always tedious especially at the end of a long day, and we feel that it is nearly time to bid you adieu. So much has already been written by eminent writers on the subject of makers and players subsequent to Stradivarius--of the German, French, and English schools--that it would be superfluous to give a descriptive list of them here. The question as to whether Jacobus Stainer and Joseph Guarnerius del Jesu made violoncellos will always be one of the many subjects to argue about. Yet, apparently they have left evidence that they did make violoncellos. This and other doubtful points may be found adequately discussed in such works as Laurent Grillet’s “Les Ancètres de Violon,” George Hart’s “The Violin,” Anton Vidal’s “Les Instruments a Archét,” Von Wasielewski’s “Die Violoncelle,” Luigi Farconi’s “Il Violoncello, il violoncellesta e Violoncellesti,” etc., and to those who seek to dig deeper for themselves, there is the British Museum, and the many Museums, and storehouses, of information, to be found in every country. Our chief aim during these chats has been to seek out the uncommon rather than to preach, therefore we will end as we have begun, and before parting call your attention to the handsome violoncello belonging to that gifted artist Herr Paul Ludwig, made by a maker of the name of “Chioddi” of whom we can find no record, and as we bid you a regretful adieu, present you with the history of two eminent women gamba players, and the first violoncello prodigy known in this country. The fog has cleared and we may now dash through endless slush to our respective homes. The pleasant hours are over, let us hope for future meetings, but if this may not come to pass, the memory of to-day will be ever cherished by us. “FEMALE violinists are rare, the violin being we do not know why deemed an unfeminine instrument.... “Female violoncellists are rarer still, and we have never met with one. A young German lady, Mademoiselle von Katow, is delighting Paris by her performances.”--_The Spectator_, 14th April 1860 [Illustration: VIOLA DI BORDONE. A VARIETY OF THE VIOLA DA GAMBA PECULIAR TO GERMANY AND FAVOURED BY AMATEURS IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. THIS INSTRUMENT IS IN THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM.] CHAT THE FIFTH Two Eighteenth-century Women Players of the Viola da Gamba