The first lady performer on the violin that I ever heard, which was some forty years ago, was Madame Philipowics, a Polish lady, neither young nor beautiful. And it so happened that she was engaged to perform at an oratorio in Bradford, where I also was engaged to sing the bass solos. So between the acts of the oratorio she was advertised to play an air with variations on the violin, the novelty of the performance of which created a perfect _furore_, and the applause far exceeded all that was given to the singers of the oratorio. But her execution, although considered wonderful, was not equal to that which Theresa Millanollo produced some time afterwards in the metropolis. “The most dangerous things for our piano-playing scholars to hear,” says Gustave Schilling, in his work on teaching, “are the more productive stringed instruments. One of my scholars,” he continues—“a young lady with whom I had taken special pains, and who was really clever, and had made much progress towards perfection as a pianist—after hearing Theresa Millanollo play the violin, declared that she would give up the piano, and take to that instrument, even though she should be able to play the violin but a little. And I had the greatest difficulty to get her to relinquish her intention, and to excite anew her interest and her former enthusiasm for the continued practice of the piano. But I at last succeeded in convincing her of the folly of her desire to change instruments, and she became, as I predicted, an extraordinary pianist.” Most students manifest a peculiar liking for some particular instrument at the outset of their career, and if they persevere in their determination to practise it, they often become eminent in its performance. Good teachers will not fail to take every means in their power to induce their pupils to take pains to arrive at a perfect knowledge of their art. I knew an old country professor, some fifty years ago, who was excessively fond of Haydn’s Symphonies, arranged as quintets for two violins, viola, violoncello, and flute; but he could not often get together the performers where he resided; so, having four grown-up daughters, he taught them to play these instruments in first-rate style, and thereby found no difficulty in indulging his hobby. And they were very particular in keeping their instruments in good order.