Books › Chats on violins, 1905 › scan 56
Scan 56
Chats on violins, 1905
10 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 38. See the scan on archive.org.
1This treble Viol which Dr Tudway mentions is thought to have been a very fashionable instrument at one time. Such numbers were sent out of the workshops of Guerson and other Parisian makers that there is little doubt that the eighteenth-century ladies of quality followed in the footsteps of their sisters of the vielle, and took the Treble Viol (metaphorically) to their hearts. But it was not the treble viol alone that they welcomed thus; they likewise favoured the Viola da Gamba, or bass viol, and not only played on it, but made it the custom to hang it on the wall and use it when there was any lull in the conversation.
3Ben Jonson alludes to this practice and mentions it as an aid to love-making:
5"In making love to her never fear to be out, for you may have a pipe of tobacco, or a bass viol which shall hang o' the wall."
7In William Gifford's notes to Ben Jonson's works, he says:
9"It appears from numerous passages in our old plays, that a Viola da Gamba, or bass viol as Jonson calls it in subsequent passages,
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