The high market-value borne by the best instruments of the best Italian and Tyrolese makers, is a point well known to those who take a particular interest in the violin. It has formed the subject of admiration to all, of exultation to a few, and of disappointment to many. The money that would buy a house, has been sometimes demanded for a fiddle! The subjoined passage from Mr. Gardiner’s “Music and Friends,” will serve (among other purposes) to illustrate in some degree this exorbitancy:— “Mr. Champion, an Amateur, had just purchased a Stradivari violin and tenor (in one case), for which he gave three hundred guineas. They seemed to have been untouched since the day they were made. They were of a beautiful yellow colour, inclining to orange, and appeared to have ripened and mellowed into excellence. Mr. Salomon’s violin was the celebrated one that belonged to Corelli, with his name elegantly embossed in large capital letters on the ribs. Probably three such valuable Cremonas were never before brought together. There can be no question that the instruments made by Stradivari are superior to those of any other Maker in the world. Dragonetti’s double-bass was made by the same artist. Mr. Salomon, the Jew, has offered him eight hundred guineas for it; but he will not part with it for less than a thousand.” As in their own country, so in others, the great Italian and German Makers have had their “servum pecus,” their crowd of imitative followers, who have sometimes copied with a plausible neatness, and sometimes caricatured with a coarse barbarity. The most prominent names in France are, successively, those of _Bocquay_, _Pierret_, _Despons_, _Véron_, _Guersan_, _Castagnery_, _Saint-Paul_, _Salomon_, _Médard_, _Lambert_ (whose rough and ready doings got for him the name of “_Le Charpentier_ de la Lutherie”), _Saunier_, _Piete_ (whose instruments were given as prizes to the pupils of the Paris Conservatory, at the commencement of the present century)—and, lastly, _Lupot_, a studious artist, whose instruments, finished with a loving care, have a real value in the eyes of the discerning, and are in request where a good Cremona is unattainable. For one of Lupot’s best instruments, an offer equal to sixty guineas has been known to be refused.—Of the English Constructors, a scanty knowledge limits me to a slender account. _Richard Duke_, who belongs to the middle of the last century, flourished in Red Lion Street, near Gray’s Inn Passage. The _Forsters_, old and young, grandfather and grandson, have, in their department of art, a name that lives. _Banks_, of Salisbury, also claims notice. His violoncellos (observes Mr. Gardiner) are of the finest quality of tone—not so strong and fiery as old Forster’s, but, in sweetness and purity, excelling them. Banks’s are more adapted to the chamber, and Forster’s to the orchestra. The names of _Betts_, _Davis_, _Corsby_, _Kennedy_, and _Hart_ (all London Makers) are likewise entitled to respect.