on the proficiency of his left hand, as with the piano-player it depends on the tuner's proficiency,—it is the action of the violinist's right hand, his bowing, which, analogous to the pianist's touch, makes the sound spring into life; it is through the medium of the bow that the player realises his ideas and feelings. It is therefore evident that 'bowing' is one of the most important and difficult parts of the art of violin-playing, and that the excellence of a player, and even of a whole school of violin-playing, to a great extent depends on its method of bowing. The progress of the art of bowing closely followed the gradual perfection of the bow itself. As long as the stick of the bow was stiff and unpliableand the hair could not be made tighter or looser at pleasure, we can hardly speak of an art of bowing; for that art can only be practised with an elastic bow, which yields to the slightest pressure of the fingers. As long as the violin-player had merely to double the singers' part, no other nuances but piano and forte were required from him. These the stiff bow could produce, but nothing more. When at the beginning of the 18th century the violin began to emancipate itself from the position of a mere accompanyist, and entered on its glorious career of a solo-instrument, under such masters as Corelli and Vivaldi, it was only by the use of an elastic bow that it could acquire the faculty of producing