1721-22 performed frequently at concerts, giving solos on the
harpsichord, violin, and bass viol. Previous to her there was one
Signora Leonora Baroni, born at Mantua about 1610, but she played the
theorbo and the viol di gamba.

The next is "La Diamantina," born about 1715, who is referred to by the
poet Gray in 1740, when he was at Rome, as "a famous virtuosa, played on
the violin divinely, and sung angelically."

Anne Nicholl, born in England about 1728, played the violin before the
Duke of Cumberland at Huntley in 1746, and her granddaughter, Mary Anne
Paton, also, who was better known as a singer and who became Lady Lenox,
and afterwards Mrs. Wood, was a violinist.

The celebrated Madame Gertrude Elizabeth Mara, one of the greatest
singers of her time, was a violinist when young. Her father took her to
England, hoping by means of her playing to get sufficient money to give
her a thorough musical education. She was then a mere child, and as she
grew to womanhood her voice developed and she became one of the
celebrities in the history of song. There is no doubt that the training
in intervals which her practice on the violin gave her proved invaluable
as an aid to her in singing. In later days several of the most
celebrated singers have been also good violinists, as, for instance,
Christine Nilsson and Marcella Sembrich.

Maddalena Lombardi Sirmen, born about 1735, had an almost European
reputation toward the end of the eighteenth century. She visited France
and England about 1760-61, and was so good a player that she was looked
upon almost as a rival of Nardini. She will always be celebrated in
history because of the letter which was written to her by Tartini, and
which is not only one of the rarities of musical literature, but
constitutes also a valuable treatise on the use of the violin.

This letter, which has been printed in almost every book on the violin,
would take up rather more space than can be afforded in this sketch. It
is admirably clear and is divided into three parts, the first giving
advice on bowing, "pressing the bow lightly but steadily, upon the
strings in such a manner as that it shall seem to _breathe_ the first
tone it gives, which must proceed from the friction of the string, and
not from percussion, as by a blow given with a hammer upon it,--if the
tone is _begun_ with delicacy, there is little danger of rendering it
afterwards either coarse or harsh." The second section of the letter is