Books › John Askew, the Stanhope violin maker, 1914 › scan 53
Scan 53
John Askew, the Stanhope violin maker, 1914
10 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 35. See the scan on archive.org.
1away with mirth and with song, with tabret and with harp."
3From the psaltery or stringed instruments as the harp, lyre, harpiscord and viol has been evolved the violin. It is stated that both the viol and violin were believed to have their origin in the Indian ravanastron an instrument said to have been in use for 5,000 years and still used by the poor Buddist begging monks of India, but this view is not accepted by modern experts.
5The fiddle and fiddlers find a place in early writers, Strutt tells us that the name fiddlers, was applied to minstrels, as early as the fourteenth century as mentioned in the vision of "Piers Plowman" where we read—"Not to fare as a fydeler or a frier to seke feastes."
7Oliver Cromwell in 1656 prohibited "all persons commonly called fiddlers, or minstrels, from playing, fiddling and making music in any inn, ale-house, or tavern." Butler in his adventures of Hudibras and Ralph helped to ridicule those who attempted to interfere with music.
9Even before Cromwell made his prohibition laws a great school of fiddle-makers in Italy were evolving and shaping into
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.