Books › Old violins, 1905 › scan 162
Scan 162
Old violins, 1905
8 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 144. See the scan on archive.org.
1sayings. On one occasion he refused to sell to a customer who already owed more than he could pay. Hill remarked dryly when the gentleman had left the shop, "That man's complaint is wind in the pockets." Of an amateur who was proud of showing off his style on his fiddles, Hill, looking up from his work, would say with a comical twinkle, "Hark, now, he's doing the lovely."
3The manner was often worth more than the matter.
5His memory was as extraordinary as Tarisio's. On one occasion a claim was brought against a railway company for sixty pounds' damage to the belly of a violoncello. The company demanded a valuation, and damages to be assessed by Hill. The claimant at last angrily submitted. Hill reported on the instrument, which he repaired for about thirty shillings. Five pounds he thought would be very liberal damages. The owner was furious, and would not even accept fifteen guineas. Mr Hill was at last called up, and made the following unpleasant statement: "This instrument does not belong to this man at all. It is one of the instruments belonging to her Majesty, and used by the members of the private band." The soi-disant owner was perfectly dumbfounded, but was obliged to confess that he had actually borrowed the instrument when employed as deputy in the Queen's Band several years before, and had never restored it. Mr Hill had only seen it once before.
7A violin, said to be by F. Panormo, was sold as such by a dealer in Pentonville Road. It came into
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