Books › The Violin and its Music, 1881 › scan 200
Scan 200
The Violin and its Music, 1881
2 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 176. See the scan on archive.org.
1of many names and particulars not without interest, yet had I noticed them the sections would have been drawn out to an inordinate length, besides sinking my simulated narrative in a dictionary of musical events, to avoid which has been my earnest wish from the commencement of my undertaking. I have endeavoured to follow to the best of my ability the advice of him who reminds us of "the proverb of old Hesiod, that half is often more than the whole. The policy of the Dutch, who cut down most of the precious trees in the Spice Islands, in order to raise the value of what remained was a policy which poets would do well to imitate." This is, I imagine, equally applicable to prose writings of all kinds. If I have followed too closely the example of the Dutch it has not been done with a desire to sacrifice instruction at the shrine of entertainment, but from a wish to combine the advantages of both. Having unbosomed myself of these remarks touching the shortcomings gone before, I have only to add that I wish them to apply to those which follow.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.