Books › Old violins, 1905 › scan 159
Scan 159
Old violins, 1905
8 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 141. See the scan on archive.org.
1Mr Woolhouse, the well-known collector, was one of his earliest patrons; but his fame soon spread, and he found he had more work than he could well manage. He was also much resorted to as one of the few men whose judgment on a violin admitted of no appeal, and who could be trusted to give an honest opinion.
3From Southwark, Hill went to Wardour Street, which for many years was as much the violin quarter in London as the Rue Croix des Petits Champs is in Paris. It was there, when I was little more than a boy, that I first made Mr Hill's acquaintance. I used to take him my fiddles, and I was always drawn to the young boys, his sons, who frequented their father's shop, and had the profoundest sense of his importance and ability. It is not too much to say that Arthur, Alfred, William, and Walter Hill have enjoyed unique opportunities from their earliest childhood, and have not failed to qualify themselves assiduously for the high position that the firm of Hill & Sons now holds in the violin world.
5The boys inherited violin tendencies. They were steeped from childhood in violin tradition. They had special chances for seeing, handling, and diagnosing most of the great violins now extant. No time or money was spared by their father on the boys' education, and certainly no boys ever made a better use of their privileges.
7Alfred and Walter went to Mirecourt, to study all that could be taught in the most scientific and celebrated workshop in the world.
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