Scan 453
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1884
4 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 361. See the scan on archive.org.
1I have attempted to describe. It only remains for me to say, in reference to this array of Fiddles, that I passed a week in their company, and a more enjoyable one I have never had during my professional career.
3Dr. Johnson, who understood neither Fiddling nor painting, who collected neither coins nor cockleshells, maggots nor butterflies, was clearly of the same opinion as the author of "Tristram Shandy," that there is no disputing against hobby-horses. He says: "The pride or the pleasure of making collections, if it be restrained by prudence and morality, produces a pleasing remission after more laborious studies; furnishes an amusement, not wholly unprofitable, for that part of life, the greater part of many lives, which would otherwise be lost in idleness or vice; it produces a useful traffic between the industry of indigence and the curiosity of wealth, and brings many things to notice that would be neglected."
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.