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Scan 174
The story of the violin, 1904
10 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 138. See the scan on archive.org.
1Story of the Violin
3large number of instruments left by the various third and fourth-rate French makers.¹ The wood is usually selected with knowledge and care, the workmanship is good, the varnish durable and very attractive in colour and tints; and, above all, the pattern in most cases is that of Stradivarius and Guarnerius.
5Turning to England, we find here too some praiseworthy efforts in violin-making. We need not go back to a father and son Ross who worked in London between 1562 and 1600, and were simply viol and lute-makers; nor to one Aldred (1560), or Richard Hume of Edinburgh, also sixteenth-century viol and lute-maker. Even from a time as remote as 1578 the name of J. Pemberton has come down as the probable creator of the violin now on exhibition at the South Kensington Museum (lent by the Earl of Warwick), which Queen Elizabeth is said to have presented to her favourite, the Earl of Leicester. The arms of both these personages are engraved in silver on the finger-board, and the date, 1578, with the initials "J.P." on the tailpiece. The instrument is mentioned by Hawkins and Dr. Burney in their histories of music, but is interesting more as a curiosity than as possessing intrinsic musical value.
7Of later date than this somewhat legendary maker (at least as far as violins are concerned) is a certain "Jacob Rayman," a Tyrolese by birth, who first
9¹ See Appendix.
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