Scan 374
The violin, its famous makers and their imitators, 1887
31 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1Ralph rode on, with no less speed
2Than Hugo in the forest did;
3But far more in returning made,
4For now the foe he had survey'd
5Rang'd, as to him they did appear,
6With van, main battle, wings, and rear.
7I' th' head of all this warlike rabble.
8Crowdero marched, expert and able.
9Instead of trumpet and of drum,
10That makes the warrior's stomach come,
11Whose noise whets valour sharp, like beer
12By thunder turn'd to vinegar;
13(For if a trumpet sound, or drum beat,
14Who has not a month's mind to combat?)
15A squeaking engine he apply'd
16Unto his neck on north-east side,¹
17Just where the hangman can dispose,
18To special friends, the knot or noose;
19For 'tis great grace, when statesmen straight
20Dispatch a friend, let others wait.
21His warped ear hung o'er the strings,
22Which was but souse to chitterlings;²
23For guts, some write, ere they are sodden,
24Are fit for music, or for pudding;³
26¹ Several explanations of this passage have been set forth by Butler's commentators. Dr. Grey asks, "Why the north-east side? Do Fiddlers always, or most generally, stand or sit according to the points of the compass?" Dr. Nash suggests the poet may have had in view "a conceit," which is in Brown's "Vulgar Errors," viz., that the body of man is magnetical, and being placed in a boat will never rest till the head respecteth the north. Dr. Nash remarks, "Now, the body lying on its back with its head towards the north, or standing upright with the face towards the east, the reader will find the place of the Fiddle on the left breast to be due north-east."
28² Dr. Nash says, "Souse is the pig's ear, and chitterlings the pig's guts; the former allude to Crowdero's ear, which lay on the Fiddle; the latter to the strings of the Fiddle, which are made of cat-gut."
30³ Black pudding and sausages are placed in skins of gut.
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