Scan 379
The violin, its famous makers and their imitators, 1887
39 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1THE VIOLIN.
3Either for life, or death, or sale,
4The gallows, or perpetual jail;
5For one wink of your powerful eye
6Must sentence him to live or die;
7His Fiddle is your proper purchase,
8Won in the service of the Churches;
9And by your doom must be allow'd
10To be or be no more, a Crowd."
12The Knight began to rouse,
13And by degrees grew valorous;
14He stared about, and seeing none
15Of all his foes remain, but one,
16He snatch'd his weapon that lay near him,
17And from the ground began to rear him,
18Vowing to make Crowdero pay
19For all the rest that ran away.
20But Ralpho now, in colder blood,
21His fury mildly thus withstood.
22"Great sir," quoth he, "your mighty spirit
23Is raised too high; this slave doth merit
24To be the hangman's business sooner
25Than from your hand to have the honour
26Of his destruction; I, that am
27A nothingness in deed and name,
28Did scorn to hurt his forfeit carcase,
29Or illtreat his Fiddle or case;
31Will you employ your conq'ring sword
32To break a Fiddle, and your word?
34I think it better far
35To keep him prisoner of war."
37He liked the squire's advice, and soon
38Resolved to see the business done.
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