Scan 561
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1884
27 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 465. See the scan on archive.org.
1meet us everywhere; they cumber the toy-shop; they house with the furniture dealer; they swarm by thousands in the pawnbrokers' stores, and block out the light from his windows; they hang on the tobacconists' walls; they are raffled at public-houses; and they form an item in every auctioneer's catalogue.
3"Meanwhile the multiplication of rubbish only enhances the value of gold; and a Fiddle worthy of an applauding verdict from old Borax is more difficult of acquisition than ever. So I shall keep my Cremona."
5WORDSWORTH'S BLIND FIDDLER.
6(THE POWER OF MUSIC.)
8An Orpheus! an Orpheus!—yes, faith may grow bold,
9And take to herself all the wonders of old;–
10Near the stately Pantheon you'll meet with the same,
11In the street that from Oxford hath borrow'd its name.
13His station is there; and he works on the crowd,
14He sways them with harmony merry and loud;
15He fills with his power all their hearts to the brim—
16Was aught ever heard like his Fiddle and him?
18What an eager assembly—what an empire is this!
19The weary have life, and the hungry have bliss;
20The mourner is cheer'd, and the anxious have rest,
21And the guilt-burthen'd soul is no longer oppress'd.
23As the moon brightens round her the clouds of the night,
24So he, where he stands, is a centre of light!
25It gleams on the face, there, of dusky-brow'd Jack,
26And the pale-visaged baker, with basket on back.
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