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his imagination was inflamed by the ge-
nius of composition. " He dreamed one
" night, in 1713, that he had made a
" compact with the Devil, who promised
" to be at his service on all occasions;
" and during this vision every thing
" succeeded according to his mind; his
" wishes were prevented, and his desires
" always surpassed by the assistance of
" his new servant. In short, he imagined
" that he presented the Devil his violin, in
" order to discover what kind of a mu-
" sician he has; when, to his great
" astonishment, he heard him play a solo
" so singularly beautiful, which he exe-
" cuted with such superior taste and pre-
" cision, that it surpassed all the music
" which he had ever heard or conceived
" in his life. So great was his surprize,
" and so exquisite his delight upon this
" occasion, that it deprived him of the
" power of breathing. He awoke with
" the violence of his sensation, and in-
" stantly seized his fiddle, in hopes of
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