Scan 43
Researches into the early history of the violin family, 1883
34 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 33. See the scan on archive.org.
1was Gruffydd ab Davydd ab Howel. As this poem contains a minute description of the crwth as it was constructed about four hundred years ago, I shall insert it here in Welsh as well as in the English translation given by Edward Jones: this will enable inquirers conversant with the Welsh language to compare the translation with the original:—
3Prennol têg bâa a gwregis,
4Pont a brân, punt yw ei brîs;
5A thalaith ar waith olwyn,
6A’r bwa ar draws byr ei drwyn,
7Ac o’i ganol mae dolen,
8A gwâr hwn megis gwr hên;
9Ac ar ei vrest gywair vrîg,
10O’r Masarn vo geir Miwsig.
11Chwe yspigod o’s codwn,
12A dynna holl dannau hwn;
13Chwe’ thant a gaed o vantais,
14Ac yn y llaw yn gan llais;
15Tant i bôb bûs ysbys oedd,
16A dau-dant i’r vawd ydoedd.
18(A fair coffer with a bow, a girdle,
19A finger-board, and a bridge; its value is a pound;
20It has a frontlet formed like a wheel,
21With the short-nosed bow across;
22And from its centre it winds in a ring;
23And the bulging of its back is somewhat like an old man;
24And on its breast harmony reigns:
25From the sycamore music will be obtained.
26Six pegs, if we screw them,
27Will tighten all the chords;
28Six strings advantageously are found,
29Which in the hand produce a hundred sounds:
30A string for every finger is distinctly seen,
31And also two strings for the thumb.)
33Without the slightest inclination to dispute the existence of the fiddle-bow with the crwth in the fifteenth century, it appears by no means certain to the unbiassed inquirer that it is alluded to in the above description of the instrument. The bow which is mentioned may possibly refer to the curved shape of the frame, which in the older crwth appears to have been somewhat different from that of the crwth of the eighteenth century which is known to us.
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