Scan 46
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1909
11 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. Printed page 12. See the scan on archive.org.
1II.
3The survey of the early history of bowed instruments in the North of Europe necessarily discovers a broader field of ostensible data than is possible to be found in the Asiatic view of the subject. Tradition, accompanied by its attendant uncertainties, gives place to facts recorded in illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages, on sculptured stone, on engraved brasses, in the lay of the minstrel, in the song of the poet, and, finally, in the works of the painter and of the musician. The information obtainable from these several sources is often of the slightest kind, and admits of little else than a rude historical outline being drawn. The varied character of the evidence, however, serves in some instances to counterbalance the lack of detail.
5Enquiry into the history of any science seldom fails to make us acquainted with men whose views and opinions were formulated prior to the production of well-digested evidence in favour of their premises—a condition of things resulting oftentimes in their judgments being post-dated, and their names in consequence severed from them; in short—
7 "Elder times have worn the same,
8 Though new ones get the name."
10In relation to our subject, the Hon. Roger North, Attorney-General to King James the Second,
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.