Books › Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883 › scan 216
Scan 216
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
7 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. Printed page 202. See the scan on archive.org.
1Thy clowtit cloik, thy skrip, and thy clamschellis,
2Cleik on thy corce, and fair on in to France,
3And cum thow never agane but ane mischance;
4 The feynd fair with thé, fordwart our the fellis.
6That this poem was written as early as 1492, or not later than 1497, seems clear from a stanza in the published fragment containing a reference to the ship "Katherene" as being that in which Dunbar, one of the "Flyters" or scolders, had gone abroad in the retinue of the Earl of Bothwell and Lord Moneypenny, when these noblemen were sent as ambassadors to France in 1491. In the "Scottish Treasurer's Accounts" there is entered under date July 16th of that year, "Item to my Lord Bothwell, quhilk the King gart him gif to the schipmen of the Katryn besyde Northberwic, quhen the Imbassatouris past in France, xl demys, summa L26, 14s, 4d." The class of fiddle indicated in Dunbar's poem, whatever it was and by whomsoever made, appears to have been held in very low repute indeed, since it is deemed the fit companion of a person doomed to such unmistakable contempt as that in which Dunbar and Kennedy jocularly profess to hold each other, for elsewhere in the same poet's writings, the harp, the lute, the organ, timbrel, timpanon, cymbals, and even the bagpipe are employed as adjuncts to the performance of some noble task, the fiddle and the flute, of all musical instruments, being reserved to represent a condition of the utmost degradation. It is difficult to account for these marks of contumely attaching to this instrument in early times, but they have been prevalent in nearly all countries since the time of Charlemagne—when that monarch was obliged to curtail the privileges, and
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