Scan 494
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1884
30 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 398. See the scan on archive.org.
1THE VIOLIN.
3From whence men borrow ev'ry kind
4Of minstrelsy, by string or wind.
5His grisly beard was long and thick,
6With which he strung his Fiddle-stick;
7For he to horse-tail scorn'd to owe
8For what on his own chin did grow.
10And now the field of death, the lists,
11Were enter'd by antagonists,
12And blood was ready to be broach'd,
13When Hudibras in haste approach'd
14With Squire and weapons, to attack 'em;
15But first thus from his horse bespok 'em,
16'What rage, O citizens! What fury
17Doth you to these dire actions hurry?
19In name of King and Parliament
20I charge ye all—no more foment.
22first surrender
23The Fiddler as the prime offender,
24Th' incendiary vile, that is chief
25Author and engineer of mischief;
26That makes division between friends
27For profane and malignant ends.*
29* This passage evidently refers to Violists meeting to make division to a ground, namely, in the words of Christopher Simpson, "A ground, subject, or bass (call it which you please) is prickt (written) down in two several papers, one for him who is to play the ground (upon an organ, harpsichord, or other instrument), the other for him who plays upon the Viol, who having the said ground before his eye (as his theme or subject) plays such variety of descant and division thereupon as his skill and present invention do then suggest to him." The poet's allusion to "Th' incendiary vile (Viol) that is chief author and engineer of mischief" humorously points to the popularity of the Viol.
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