Books › The History of the Violin and Other Instruments Played on with the Bow from the Remotest Times to the Present by William Sandys and Andrew Forster, 1864 › scan 16
Scan 16
The History of the Violin and Other Instruments Played on with the Bow from the Remotest Times to the Present by William Sandys and Andrew Forster, 1864
2 lines. Read by computer on 29 August 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1to the sound of a violin, that he began to howl in anticipation as soon as he saw it touched. He gives an account of a lizard, which would come out of an old wall, where he had established a domicile, on hearing the adagio to Mozart's quartett in C, but would not pay the same compliment to any other piece. The little reptile's musical taste must have been limited as well as scientific. The same remark may apply to the pigeon mentioned by Mr. John Lockman, as cited by Hawkins, which would fly down from his dove-house, and perch on the parlour window, to hear Handel's air of "Spera si, mio caro," played on the harpsichord, and return when the tune was finished. Lenz, in his anecdotes of animals, relates one of an elephant, who paid no attention to the performances of an orchestra in his vicinity, until they played "Charmante Gabrielle," when he appeared much pleased, keeping time with his trunk, and was particularly attracted by M. Duvernais, who played the horn. Vigneul Marville, whose real name was Noël Bonaventure d'Argonne, and who lived in the latter half of the seventeenth century, in his "Mélanges d'Histoire," &c., and Bonnet, in his "Histoire de la Musique," give some examples. On hearing a trumpet marine, a dog sat on his hind legs, like a monkey, fixing his eyes on the performer, and remained so for more than an hour. An ass continued to eat his thistles with sublime indifference. Domestic poultry seemed to pay no attention, while the smaller birds around sang in rivalry as if they would burst. Cows stopped, looked up a little, and then walked on. A hind raised her ears, and seemed attentive. A horse raised his head from time to time while feeding; and horses generally are attracted by the sound of the trumpet, and other warlike instruments; we have seen them attentive to the sound of a gong. A cat seemed
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