Books › the history of the violin, 1864 › scan 369
Scan 369
the history of the violin, 1864
6 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 347. See the scan on archive.org.
1have been made; perhaps not more than twenty-four violins, four or five tenors, and about ten violoncellos. A correct account of these has not been kept, as the interest in them experienced a check by the cheap and very common instruments from Germany, France, and other countries, which sadly interfered with the welfare of the English artizan, who could not compete in price, as this class of foreign goods could be purchased for a less sum than the materials cost for making them.
3The foregoing facts have taken a long time to collect and arrange, and the details from their length may be deemed to require some apology. It was considered, however, that they might be useful to the rising generation, and to a future age. At the present time we should be much gratified to know how many instruments had been made by the Amati, the Stradiuarius, and the Guarnerius families, and especially by Joseph Guarnerius, as his instruments are in great request. Many boast of possessing one, yet when examined and compared how different the style of work, and quality of the varnish, so that even the tales told about the prison and the keeper's daughter scarcely justify the dissimilarity.
5George Pearce was born in Warminster, on the 16th November, 1820, and came to London with his parents in the fourth year of his age. He entered into the service of Simon Andrew Forster, as an errand boy, in July 1834, and soon evinced a mechanical talent, and showed expertness in the use of the tools; he was, therefore, instructed in the art of violin-making, and became a very neat and first-rate workman. As years advanced, however, he selected companions of vitiated minds and debased habits, and he was consequently discharged in July, 1844, for neglect of his duties. He ultimately gained employment as a fret-cutter at Messrs. Broad-
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