I will only say that I believe my brother applied himself diligently to his studies, and took his amusement mostly on horseback, riding two horses which he had had sent to him from Worth Maltravers.
About the second week after his return he received a letter from Mr.
George Smart to the effect that the Stradivarius violin was now in complete order.

Subsequent examination, Mr.Smart wrote, and the unanimous verdict of connoisseurs whom he had consulted, had merely confirmed the views he had at first expressed--namely, that the violin was of the finest quality, and that my brother had in his possession a unique and intact example of Stradivarius's best period.

He had had it properly strung; and as the bass-bar had never been moved, and was of a stronger nature than that usual at the period of its manufacture, he had considered it unnecessary to replace it.

If any signs should become visible of its being inadequate to support the tension of modern stringing, another could be easily substituted for it at a later date.
He had allowed a young German _virtuoso_ to play on it, and though this gentleman was one of the first living performers, and had had an opportunity of handling many splendid instruments, he assured Mr.Smart that he had never performed on one that could in any way compare with this.

My brother wrote in reply thanking him, and begging that the violin might be sent to Magdalen Hall.
The pleasant musical evenings, however, which John had formerly been used to spend in the company of Mr.Gaskell were now entirely pretermitted.