Instruments played with a bow of the celebrated Cremona makers are at the present day more likely to be met with in England than in Italy. In the beginning of the present century Luigi Tarisio, an Italian by birth, and a great connoisseur and collector of old violins, hunted over all Italy and other European countries for old fiddles. To avoid the high custom dues which he would have had to pay on the old instruments, he took them all to pieces, as small as possible, and carried the bits about him in his pockets and in a bag under his arm. So thoroughly was he acquainted with his acquisitions that, having arrived at the place of his destination, he soon restored them to their former condition, assigning to each fragment its original position. Tarisio made his first appearance in Paris, in the year 1827, with a bag full of valuable _dÈbris_ from Italy; and he continued his searches for nearly thirty years. During this time he imported into France most of the beautiful violins by Antonius Stradiuarius, Joseph Guarnerius, Bergonzi, Montagnana, and Ruggeri, which are of highest repute, and the greater number of which have afterwards found their way into England. In Germany we meet with several collections of interest. The Museum of Antiquities, at Berlin, contains, among other musical curiosities, well-preserved lyres which have been found in tombs of the ancient Egyptians. The Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde ("Society of Lovers of Music"), at Vienna, possesses a collection of antiquated instruments, among which are noteworthy: a viola di bardone by Jacobus Stainer, 1660; a viola di bardone by Magnus Feldlen, Vienna, 1556; a viola di bardone by H. Kramer, Vienna, 1717; a viola d'amore by Weigert, Linz, 1721; a viola d'amore by Joannes Schorn, Salzburg, 1699; a tromba marina (marine trumpet) by J. Fischer, Landshut, 1722; a lute by Leonardo Tieffenbrucker, Padua, 1587; a theorbo by Wenger, Padua, 1622; a theorbo by Bassiano, Rome, 1666; a Polish cither by J. Schorn, Salzburg, 1696; a large flute made in the year 1501; an old German schalmey (English _shalm_ or _shawm_) by Sebastian Koch; an old German trumpet by Schnitzer, N¸rnberg, 1598; an oboe d'amore, made about the year 1770, etc.