o placate the ecclesiastical
authorities.

VI.

The singular personality of Paganini displayed itself in his private no
less than in his artistic life, and a few out of the many anecdotes told
of him will be of interest, as throwing fresh light on the man. Paganini
was accused of being selfish and miserly, of caring little even for his
art, except as a means of accumulating money. While there is much in his
life to justify such an indictment, it is no less true that he on many
occasions displayed great generosity. He was always willing to give
concerts for the benefit of his fellow-artists and for other charitable
purposes, and on more than one occasion bestowed large sums of money for
the relief of distress. We may assume that he was niggardly by habit
and generous by impulse. Utterly ignorant of everything except the art
of music, bred under the most unfortunate and demoralizing conditions,
the fact that his character was, on the whole, so _naive_ and upright,
speaks eloquently for the native qualities of his disposition. His
eccentricities, perhaps, justified the unreasoning vulgar in believing
that he was slightly crazed. His appearance and manner on the platform
were fantastic in the extreme, and rarely failed to provoke ridicule,
till his magic bow turned all other emotions into one of breathless
admiration. He talked to himself continually when alone, a habit
which was partly responsible for the popular belief that he was always
attended by a familiar demon. When a stranger was introduced to him, his
corpse-like face became galvanized into a ghastly smile, which produced
a singular impression, half fascinating, half repulsive. He was taciturn
in society, except among his intimates, when his buoyant spirits bubbled
out in the most amusing jokes and anecdotes expressed in a polyglot
tongue, for he never knew any language well except his own. Naturally
irritable, his quick temper was inflamed by intestinal disease, which
racked him with a suffering that was aggravated by a nostrum, in the use
of which he indulged freely. Indeed, it was said by his friends that his
death was accelerated by his devotion to medical quackery, from a belief
in which no arguments could wean him.

To his fellow-artists he was always polite and attentive, though they
annoyed him by their persistent curiosity as to the means by which he
produced his unrivaled effects--effects which the established technique
of violin-playing could not e