Scan 427
The violin, its famous makers and their imitators, 1887
8 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1which I am confident will delight all modern amateurs, who very properly estimate music in proportion to the noise it makes, and delight in thundering cannon and earthquakes.
3"In my warm anticipations of future improvement, I have sometimes almost convinced myself that music will in time be brought to such a climax of perfection as to supersede the necessity of speech and writing, and every kind of social intercourse be conducted by the Flute and Fiddle. The immense benefits that will result from this improvement, must be plain to every man of the least consideration. In the present unhappy situation of mortals a man has but one way of making himself understood: if he loses his speech he must inevitably be dumb all the rest of his life; but having once learned this new musical language, the loss of speech will be a mere trifle, not worth a moment's uneasiness. This manner of discussing may also, I think, be introduced with great effect into our National Assemblies, where every man, instead of wagging his tongue, should be obliged to flourish a Fiddle-stick; by which means, if he said nothing to the purpose, he would at all events 'discourse most eloquent music,' which is more than can be said of them at present.
5"But the most important result of this discovery is, that it may be applied to the establishment of that great desideratum in the learned world—a universal language. Wherever this science of music is cultivated, nothing more will be necessary than a knowledge of its alphabet, which, being almost the same everywhere, will amount to a universal medium of communication. A man may thus—with his Violin under his arm, a piece of resin, and a few bundles of catgut—fiddle his way through the world, and never be at a loss to make himself understood.—I am, &c.,
7"Demi-Semiquaver."
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.