daily in attendance, violins, hautboys, violas, double-basses, choristers, etc.; and, cards not being allowed, they had a long table inlaid with a number of chess-boards, with which they amused their leisure time.  When fourteen years old Philidor was the best chess-player in the band.  Four years later he played at Paris two games of chess at the same time, without seeing the boards, and afterward extended this feat to playing five games simultaneously, which, though far inferior to the wonderful feats of Morphy, Paulsen, and others in more recent years, very much astonished his own generation.  Philidor was an admirable violinist, and the composer of numerous operas which delighted the French public for many years.  He died in London in 1759.

There were several other pupils of Corelli who achieved rank in their art and exerted a recognizable influence on music.  Locatelli displayed originality and genius in his compositions, and his studies, “Arte di Nuova Modulazione,” was studied by Paganini.  Another pupil, Lorenzo Somis, became noted as the teacher of Lecler, Pugnani (the professor of Viotti), and Giardini.  Visconti, of Cremona, who was taught by Corelli, is said to have greatly assisted by his counsels the constructive genius of Antonius Stradiuarius in making his magnificent instruments.

IV.

The name of Giuseppe Tartini will recur to the musical reader more familiarly than those previously mentioned.  He was the scion of a noble stock, and was born in Istria in 1692.  Originally intended for the law, he was entered at the University of Padua at the age of eighteen for this profession, but his time was mostly given to the study of music and fencing, in both of which he soon became remarkably proficient, so that he surpassed the masters who taught him.  It may be that accident determined the future career of Tartini, for, had he remained at the university, the whole bent of his life might have been different.  Eros exerted his potent sway over the young student, and he entered into a secret marriage, that being the lowest price at which he could win his bourgeois sweetheart.  Tartini became an outcast from his family, and was compelled to fly and labor for his own living.  After many hardships, he found shelter in a convent at Assisi, the prior of which was a family connection, who took compassion on the friendless youth.  Here Tartini set to work vigorously on his violin, and prosecuted a series of studies which resulted in the “Sonata del Diavolo” and other remarkable compositions.  At last he was reconciled to his family through the intercession of his monastic friend, and took his abode in Venice that he might have the benefit of hearing the playing of Veracini, a great but eccentric musician, then at the head of the Conservatario of that city.  Veracini was nicknamed “Capo Pazzo,” or “mad-head,” on account of his eccentricity.  Dubourg tells a curious