think that their influence will be very limited, and that what arises out of them is only good in _his_ hands; for, indifferently executed, it would be insupportable. The art of Paganini stands alone: it was born and it will die with him.” It is true that we have had _subsequent_ experience, in various instances, of a certain degree of _approximation_ to the feats of Paganini; but, were this even closer than it is, it would not invalidate what has been here suggested as to the almost incommunicable nature of such skill as his. Potent to stir the vibratory string, And _wonders_ from the realms of sound to bring! Skilled, through the _ear_, to reach the awakened _heart_, Or bid the _Fancy_ play her picturing part! Conqu’ror, whose captives, gladdened with soft strains, Clung to thy sway, and revelled in their chains, And came in crowds, their homage to renew, And heaped the tribute still, as still thy due! How _void_ the space that thou were wont to fill! Thy throne, how vacant, now—and _mute_ thy skill! Hast thou—hast _found_, far, far from earthly din, The _rest_ thy glittering triumphs could not win? —Farewell!—What chief soe’er may seek to reign, _Thy like_ we shall not look upon again! The _compositions_ of Paganini, replete as they are with the most surprising difficulties, and the boldest innovations, form prominent examples of what may be called the _romance_ of instrumental music. The design entertained by their author, of giving them to the world in his own life-time, as well as of imparting the _secret_ that should make their execution seem no longer super-human, was destined to have no fulfilment; and it is to be regretted that his death rendered impossible the complete publication of _all_ that he had composed, as not a few of the manuscript pieces were left by him in an imperfect state. Of _twenty-four_ several pieces, enumerated as forming the whole of the MS. original works of Paganini, preserved by his son, _nine_ only were discovered to be in a completed state. An edition of all that is presentable, however, has been undertaken in Paris, to gratify at length a twenty-years expectation but it is very doubtful whether a London edition will be ventured on, since it is only for the higher class of professors—for a very select minority—that such a collection can have any attractiveness, beyond that of mere curiosity.