Scan 490
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1909
25 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 412. See the scan on archive.org.
1into reduced circumstances, until he was obliged to Fiddle from one alehouse to another for his existence. Hudibras—
3"On stirrup-side, he gaz'd about
4Portending blood, like blazing star,
5The beacon of approaching war.
7Ralph rode on, with no less speed
8Than Hugo in the forest did;
9But far more in returning made,
10For now the foe he had survey'd
11Rang'd, as to him they did appear,
12With van, main battle, wings, and rear.
13I' th' head of all this warlike rabble,
14Crowdero marched, expert and able.
15Instead of trumpet and of drum,
16That makes the warrior's stomach come,
17Whose noise whets valour sharp, like beer
18By thunder turn'd to vinegar;
19(For if a trumpet sound, or drum beat,
20Who has not a month's mind to combat?)
21A squeaking engine he apply'd
22Unto his neck on north-east side,¹
24¹ 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."
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