Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/803

 PAGANINI nary pitch of excitement by the performance of variations, composed by himself, on the French air La Carmagnole. In 1797, in com- pany with his father, he made his first musical tour in Italy, and soon after produced music which defied the attempts of other violinists, and greatly taxed his own powers. The severe discipline to which his father subjected him meanwhile became so irksome, that before at- taining his 15th year he ran away, and began a course of concerts at Lucca, Pisa, and other cities. The flatteries lavished upon him, to- gether with the possession of large sums of money, induced habits of dissipation. For sev- eral years he led a vagabond life, and about the age of 18, it is said, formed a connection with an Italian lady of rank, with whom he retired to an estate of hers in Tuscany. Here he renounced the violin and devoted himself to the guitar ; but his old tastes returning, he went in 1804 to Genoa and studied composi- tion with renewed vigor. In 1805 he began another musical tour of Italy, and between 1806 and 1808 was director of the orchestra in the service of the princess Elisa of Lucca, sister of Napoleon. At this period he first perform- ed his remarkable feat of playing the military sonata entitled " Napoleon " on a single string. The next 20 years he spent in the chief cities of Italy, where his fame exceeded that of any previous or contemporary violinist. In 1828 he made his first appearance in Vienna, and was received with an enthusiasm bordering on the wildest extravagance. Poems were com- posed in his praise, medals struck in his honor, articles of dress were named after him, and the emperor appointed him violinist of his pri- vate band. After a triumphant career in Ger- many he arrived in Paris in March, 1831, and during the next two months produced a sen- sation almost without a parallel in that city. In England, whither he went in May of the same year, his reception was not less enthu- siastic, notwithstanding he charged the most exorbitant prices for admission to his con- certs. Soon afterward he retired to a country seat near Parma, but the latter years of his life were rendered unhappy by lawsuits and ill health. He left a fortune of several million francs, the greater part of which was be- queathed to his natural son Achillino, whose mother was a Jewess of Milan. His personal appearance, studiously eccentric, his facility in making his instrument produce effects at once startling and unearthly, and a certain mystery connected with his character and early career gave rise to numerous stories which greatly en- hanced his notoriety. He was of a gross and sensual disposition, in general exceedingly ava- ricious, and vain to excess of popular applause. As an artist his name has become a synonyme for all that is excellent in violin playing, not- withstanding that he degraded his art by feats little better than sleight of hand. His com- positions are full of invention and beauty. His life has been written by Schottky under PAGE 789 the title of PaganinVs Leben ,und Treiben (Prague, 1830). PAGANISM, a general term applied to all forms of religious worship except Christianity, Judaism, and Mohammedanism. When Con- stantine forbade the worship of the heathen deities, the followers of the old religion retired to the country villages (pagi), where they could practise their rites in secrecy, and were hence called by the Christians pagani, or country people. The term thus came in time to denote heathens generally, irrespective of their places of abode. In the middle ages it was also ap- plied to Mohammedans. PAGE. I. A N. E. county of Virginia, bor- dered E. by the Blue Eidge, and intersected by the Shenandoah river; area, about 250 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 8,462, of whom 986 were col- ored. The soil is very fertile. The chief pro- ductions in 1870 were 128,543 bushels of wheat, 18,583 of rye, 93,765 of Indian corn, 24,249 of oats, 43,932 Ibs. of butter, and 3,315 tons of hay. There were 1,965 horses, 1,450 milch cows, 3,084 other cattle, 2,532 sheep, and 5,254 swine; 1 bloomary, 2 blast furnaces, and 13 distilleries. Capital, Luray. II. A S. W. county of Iowa, bordering on Missouri, drained by the Nodaway and several branches of the Nishnabatona and Pakio rivers ; area, 576 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 9,975. It has a rolling sur- face and fertile soil. The Brownsville and Nodaway railroad ends at the county seat, and a branch of the Burlington and Missouri Kiver railroad to Nebraska City crosses the N. "W. corner. The chief productions in 1870 were 69,436 bushels of wheat, 1,001,054 of Indian corn, 123,457 of oats, 68,856 of potatoes, 188,- 699 Ibs. of butter, 22,213 of wool, and 16,352 tons of hay. There were 4,645 horses, 3,899 milch cows, 5,589 other cattle, 7,532 sheep, and 14,619 swine. Capital, Clarinda. PAGE, William, an American painter, born in Albany, N. Y., Jan. 23, 1811. He went "to the city of New York with his parents in 1819, and at the age of 11 received a premium from the American institute for a drawing in India ink. At the age of 14 he was put into the law office of Frederick De Peyster; but his passion for art was so strong that he soon left it and engaged himself as an ap- prentice to Herring, a portrait painter, with whom he remained nearly a year. He after- ward became a pupil of S. F. B. Morse, was admitted as a student at the national academy, and received a large silver medal for his draw- ings from the antique. At the age of 17 he became a member of a Presbyterian church, and went to Andover, Mass., and afterward to Amherst, to study theology ; but at the end of two years his religious ardor cooled, and he returned to his artistic pursuits. After spend- ing a year in Albany painting portraits, and exciting great expectations by the brilliancy of his color and the accuracy of his drawing, he went to New York, and was admitted a mem- ber of the national academy. He painted the