of January, 1687, the Marquis Niccolo
Rota ordered a Violoncello for the King of Spain." One of the Violins
of this set was purchased in Madrid about thirty years since by Ole
Bull. The Tenor belonging to this quatuor has lost its ivory work, a
blemish which is to be regretted. He also made, about this period,
some very small Violins with similar designs, instruments evidently
made to order.

"On the 7th of August of the same year, 1687, the nobleman Don
Agostino Daria, General-in-Chief of the Spanish Cavalry in Lombardy,
while he was residing in Cremona, obtained from him a Violoncello."

We now reach the year 1690, in connection with which Arisi has
supplied information of singular interest. He says: "On the 19th of
September, 1690, Stradivari received the following letter from the
Marquis Bartolommeo Ariberti,[22] a Cremonese nobleman--'The other day
I made a present of the two Violins and the Violoncello which you made
for me to His Highness the Prince of Tuscany;[23] and I assure you, to
my great satisfaction, he has accepted them with such pleasure that
more I could not expect. The members of his orchestra--and he
possesses a select number--were unanimous in expressing their great
appreciation, declaring the instruments quite perfect, and, above all,
exclaiming with one voice that they had never heard a Violoncello with
such an agreeable tone. For the highly flattering reception with which
my present has been received by His Highness, and which I cannot
sufficiently describe, I am principally indebted to the care which you
have used in the manufacture of the instruments. At the same time I
hope to have by this present shown you my appreciation, and of having
acquired the merit of practically bringing to the knowledge of such a
personage the truth of your great skill, which will procure you,
undoubtedly, many orders from this exalted house. To prove this, I
have now to request you to begin at once two Tenors, one _Tenor_ and
the other _Contralto_, which are wanted to complete the
concerto.'"[24]

[Footnote 22: The Marquis of Ariberti was born in 1666, and died 1724.
He was an elegant writer, and a member of several literary academies.
He was for some time in Tuscany. Upon returning to Cremona, where he
settled, he built in 1687, at his own expense, a theatre called after
his own name, Ariberti. He, being a passionate lover of music, was
anxious to have in his own establishment (the theatre adjoining his
palace