Scan 421
The violin, its famous makers and their imitators, 1887
22 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1into a state of lofty triumph like a conqueror. The phrase of smiting the cord—
3 "He smote; and clinging to the serious chords
4 With godlike ravishment," etc.
6was no classical commonplace; nor, in respect to impression on the mind, was it exaggeration to say, that from a single chord he would fetch out—
8 "The voice of quires, and weight
9 Of the built organ."
11Paganini, the first time I saw and heard him, and the first time he struck a note, seemed literally to strike it—to give it a blow. The house was so crammed, that being among the squeezers in the standing-room at the side of the pit, I happened to catch the first glance of his face through the arm a-kimbo of a man who was perched up before me, which made a kind of frame for it; and there on the stage, in that frame, as through a perspective glass, were the face, bust, and the raised hand of the wonderful musician, with the instrument at his chin, just going to commence, and looking exactly as I have described him.
13 "His hand
14 Loading the air with dumb expectancy
15 Suspended, ere it fell, a nation's breath.
16 He smote; and clinging to the serious chords
17 With godlike ravishment, drew forth a breath
18 So deep, so strong, so fervid, thick with love—
19 Blissful, yet laden as with twenty prayers,
20 That Juno yearned with no diviner soul,
21 To the first burthen of the lips of Jove.
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