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Scan 173
the history of the violin, 1864
2 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 151. See the scan on archive.org.
1He refers to different companies of musicians. The Dolphin Tavern had "an excellent company of fiddlers," and on the 27th March, 1661, he goes there "to a dinner of Mr. Harris's, where a great deal of mirth, and there staid till eleven o'clock at night; and in our mirth I sang and sometimes fiddled (there being a noise of fiddlers there), and at last we fell to dancing, the first time that ever I did in my life, which I did wonder to see myself to do." That habit of doing something to be wondered at, towards the conclusion of a tavern dinner, we are told still exists occasionally in this country. He mentions the Duke of Buckingham's musicians, to whom on one occasion he gave 3l. for a dance at his own house, as the best in town; they consisted of two violins, a bass-violin, and a theorbo. The witty Killigrew said that no ordinary fiddlers of any country were so well paid as our own. Heylin, in his "Voyage of France," 1679, says it was the custom at Tours for each man at table to pay the fiddlers a sou; they expected no more, and would not take less. Pepys was probably considered as an authority in his own circle for musical arrangements. On 7th May, 1660, Admiral Sir Edward Montagu, afterwards Earl of Sandwich, whom he calls "my Lord," gave him directions "to write for silk flags and scarlet waistcloathes; for a rich barge, for a noise of trumpets, and a set of fiddlers." On 10th April, 1661, he gives an account of a duet, not complimentary to the performers. "Here (Rochester) we had for my sake two fiddles, the one a base-viall, on which he that played, played well some lyra lessons, but both together made the worst musique that ever I heard." On the Coronation Day, 23rd April, 1661, he took a great deal of pleasure "to go up and down, and look upon the ladies, and to hear the musique of all sorts; but above all, the
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