death of the only son. The Norwegian violinist presented himself
at the somewhat dilapidated mansion of the Comtesse de Faye, and was
shown into the presence of three ladies dressed in deepest mourning.
The eldest of them, on hearing his errand, haughtily declined the
proposition, when the more beautiful of the two girls said, "Look at
him, mother!" with such eagerness as to startle the ancient dame.

Ole Bull was surprised at this. The old lady put on her spectacles, and,
as she riveted her eyes upon him, her countenance changed suddenly. She
had found in him such a resemblance to the son she had lost that she
at once consented to his residing in her house. Some time afterward Ole
Bull became her son indeed, having married the fascinating girl who had
exclaimed, "Look at him, mother!"

With the little money he had now earned he determined to go to Italy,
provided with some letters of introduction; and he gave his first
Italian concert at Milan in 1834. Applause was not wanting, but his
performance was rather severely criticised in the papers. The following
paragraph, reproduced from an Italian musical periodical, published
shortly after this concert, probably represents very truly the state of
his talent at that period:

"M. Ole Bull plays the music of Spohr, May-seder, Pugnani, and others,
without knowing the true character of the music he plays, and partly
spoils it by adding a color of his own. It is manifest that this
color of his own proceeds from an original, poetical, and musical
individuality; but of this originality he is himself unconscious. He
has not formed himself; in fact, he has no style; he is an uneducated
musician. _Whether he is a diamond or not is uncertain; but certain it
is that the diamond is not polished_."

In a short time Ole Bull discovered that it was necessary to cultivate,
more than he had done, his cantabile--this was his weakest point, and a
most important one. In Italy he found masters who enabled him to develop
this great quality of the violin, and from that moment his career as an
artist was established. The next concert of any consequence in which he
played was at Bologna under peculiar circumstances; and his reputation
as a great violinist appears to date from that concert. De Beriot and
Malibran were then idolized at Bologna, and just as Ole Bull arrived in
that ancient town, De Beriot was about to fulfill an engagement to play
at a concert given by the celebrated Philharmonic S