Scan 178
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1875
11 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1"That plain white-aproned man who stood at work,
2Patient and accurate, full fourscore years;
3Cherished his sight and touch by temperance;
4And, since keen sense is love of perfectness,
5Made perfect Violins, the needed paths
6For inspiration and high mastery."
7Stradivari, by George Eliot.
9M. Fétis, is his notice of Anthony Stradiuarius, remarks, "The life of Anthony Stradiuarius was as tranquil as his calling was peaceful. The year 1702, alone, must have caused him much disquiet, when, during the war concerning the succession, the city of Cremona was taken by Marshal Villeroy on the Imperialist side, retaken by Prince Eugène, and finally taken a third time by the French; but after that period Italy enjoyed a long tranquillity, in which the old age of the artist glided peacefully away. We know but little respecting that uneventful existence. Polledro, late first Violin at the Chapel Royal of Turin, who died a few years ago at a very advanced age, declared that his master had known Stradiuarius, and that he was fond of talking about him. He was, he said, tall and thin, habitually covered with a cap of white wool, and of cotton in summer. He wore over his clothes an apron of white leather when he worked, and as he was always working, his costume scarcely ever varied. He had acquired more than competency by labour and economy, for the inhabitants of Cremona were accustomed to say, 'As rich as Stradiuarius!'"
10The house he occupied stands in the Piazza Roma,
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.