I asked. 'Yes,' was
the reply--'for one quarter of all Vienna.' Now Ehehazek was really as
poor as a church mouse. Though he had no end of money put out in the
most valuable instruments, he never sold any of them unless when forced
by hunger. I invited Rhehazek to my concerts. I wanted to buy the violin
so much that I made him some tempting offers. One day he said to
me, 'See here, Ole Bull, if I do sell the violin, you shall have the
preference at four thousand ducats.' 'Agreed,' I cried, though I knew it
was a big sum.

"That violin came strolling, or playing rather, through my brain for
some years. It was in 1841. I was in Leipsic giving concerts. Liszt was
there, and so also was Mendelssohn. One day we were all dining together.
We were having a splendid time. During the dinner came an immense letter
with a seal--an official document. Said Mendelssohn, 'Use no ceremony;
open your letter.' 'What an awful seal!' cried Liszt. 'With your
permission,' said I, and I opened the letter. It was from Bhehazek's
son, for the collector was dead. His father had said that the violin
should be offered to me at the price he had mentioned. I told Liszt and
Mendelssohn about the price. 'You man from Norway, you are crazy,' said
Liszt. 'Unheard of extravagance, which only a fiddler is capable of,'
exclaimed Mendelssohn. 'Have you ever played on it? Have you ever tried
it?' they both inquired. 'Never,' I answered, 'for it can not be played
on at all just now.'

"I never was happier than when I felt sure that the prize was mine.
Originally the bridge was of boxwood, with two fishes carved on it--that
was the zodiacal sign of my birthday, February--which was a good sign.
Oh, the good times that violin and I have had! As to its history,
Ehehazek told me that in 1809, when Innspruck was taken by the French,
the soldiers sacked the town. This violin had been placed in the
Innspruck Museum by Cardinal Aldobrandi at the close of the sixteenth
century. A French soldier looted it, and sold it to Ehehazek for a
trifle. This is the same violin that I played on, when I first came
to the United States, in the Park Theatre. That was on Evacuation day,
1843. I went to the Astor House, and made a joke--I am quite capable of
doing such things. It was the day when John Bull went out and Ole Bull
came in. I remember that at the very first concert one of my strings
broke, and I had to work out my piece on the three strings, and it was
supposed I did it o