Scan 562
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1884
42 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 466. See the scan on archive.org.
1THE VIOLIN.
3That errand-bound 'prentice was passing in haste—
4What matter! he's caught—and his time runs to waste—
5The newsman is stopp'd, though he stops on the fret,
6And the half-breathless lamplighter, he's in the net!
8The porter sits down on the weight which he bore;
9The lass with her barrow wheels hither her store;
10If a thief could be here he might pilfer at ease;
11She sees the musician—'tis all that she sees.
13He stands back'd by the wall; he abates not his din;
14His hat gives him vigour, with boons dropping in,
15From the old and the young, from the poorest—and there!
16The one-pennied boy has his penny to spare.
18O blest are the hearers, and proud be the hand
19Of the pleasure it spreads through so thankful a band;
20I am glad for him, blind as he is—all the while
21If they speak 'tis to praise, and they praise with a smile.
23That tall man, a giant in bulk and in height,
24Not an inch of his body is free from delight;
25Can he keep himself still, if he would?—oh, not he!
26The music stirs in him like wind through a tree.
28There's a cripple who leans on his crutch; like a tower
29That long has leaned forward, leans hour after hour!
30A mother, whose spirit in fetters is bound,
31While she dandles the babe in her arms to the sound.
33Now, coaches and chariots! roar on like a stream;
34Here are twenty souls happy as souls in a dream;
35They are deaf to your murmurs—they care not for you,
36Nor what ye are flying, nor what ye pursue!
38THE PRINCE AND THE FUGAL VORTEX.
40A Royal amateur and British Admiral, a lover of
41the Violin and patron of music, happened whilst at
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