especial theme of wonder and admiration, and, in the opinion of some,
could only be accounted for by resorting to the theory of the dungeon,
and the supposition that his other strings being worn out, and not
having it in his power to supply their places, he had been forced from
necessity to take refuge in the string in question; a notion very like
that of a person who would assert, that for an opera dancer to learn to
stand on one leg, the true way would be--to have only one leg to stand
upon. We shall give Paganini's explanation of this mystery in his own
words:

"At Lucca, I had always to direct the opera when the reigning family
visited the theatre; I played three times a week at the court, and every
fortnight superintended the arrangement of a grand concert for the court
parties, which, however, the reigning princess, Elisa Bacciochi Princess
of Lucca and Piombino, Napoleon's favourite sister, was not always
present at, or did not hear to the close, as the harmonic tones of
my violin were apt to grate her nerves, but there never failed to be
present another much esteemed lady, who, while I had long admired
her, bore (at least so I imagined) a reciprocal feeling towards me.
Our passion gradually increased; and as it was necessary to keep it
concealed, the footing on which we stood with each other became in
consequence the more interesting. One day I promised to surprise her
with a musical _jeu d'esprit_, which should have a reference to
our mutual attachment. I accordingly announced for performance a comic
novelty, to which I gave the name of 'Love Scene.' All were curiously
impatient to know what this should turn out to be, when at last I
appeared with my violin, from which I had taken off the two middle
strings, leaving only the E and the G string. By the first of these
I proposed to represent the lady, by the other the gentleman; and I
proceeded to play a sort of dialogue, in which I attempted to delineate