Books › The heart of music; the story of the violin, 1906 › scan 136
Scan 136
The heart of music; the story of the violin, 1906
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1With Rebeck and Viol
3rowbyble, and in none other bookes!" And while we are on the subject of gay young clergymen, Bourdelot tells a story of a young priest of his acquaintance who was late to his Good Friday service. When two friends went in search of him they found him dancing about his room, and at the same time playing most infectious melodies upon his violin. He explained that he always did this before a service, as it cheered and strengthened him "for what," in his own words, "would otherwise be a work of pain and labour."
5The term "fiddling parson" was for many years one of the bitterest opprobrium, probably because of the deserved ill-repute into which the viol fell during one long period in its career. In 554 Childebert was obliged to institute legal measures, in France, for the suppression of the evil uses to which music was put, and although matters were a trifle better in England, the Middle Ages did not add to the lustre of the fair fame of stringed instruments.
7Public opinion was affected, also, by the luckless fate of a certain parson who was fiddling to his parishioners on the village green. The weather was clear and the villagers were dancing. Out of the blue sky came a flash of lightning and
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