Books › The violin : some account of that leading instrument and its most eminent professors, from its earliest date to the present time : with hints to amateurs, anecdotes, etc., 1852 › scan 415
Scan 415
The violin : some account of that leading instrument and its most eminent professors, from its earliest date to the present time : with hints to amateurs, anecdotes, etc., 1852
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 399. See the scan on archive.org.
1depression of her head in holding the instrument; nor shall we continue to demand, with a pertinacity more nice than wise, that a feminine fiddler be
3"Graceful as Dian when she draws her bow."
5That exquisite sensibility which is one distinguishing charm of the female character, has its fittest musical exponent in the powers of the violin, which, therefore, in this particular sense, might even be styled the women's own instrument: but, without going so far as this, there seems no sufficient reason why it should not, occasionally, be honored by figuring in the hands of the fair. Should these defensive remarks, however, be found unsatisfactory by your anti-women's-playing-the-violin-at-all sort of people, I have nothing farther to say to them, but leave them to quote, undisturbed, their "quae sunt virorum, mascula dicas," &c. For my own part, I think so highly both of the ladies and the violin, that I rejoice at every opportunity of their being introduced to each other, and am delighted to know that, from time to time, certain clever and spirited women have been found ready to overcome the prejudices that have so long kept them asunder. Let us by all means enquire who these are.
7A very high name meets us at the outset of our investigation—no less a one than that of Queen Elizabeth. This exalted personage, who is recorded to have been musical "so far forth as might become a princess," appears to have amused herself not only with the lute, the virginals, and her own voice, but with the violin. An instrument of this denomination, of the old and imperfect fashion, but splendidly "got up," has been traced to her possession. If any particulars of Her Majesty's style of performance could now be obtained,
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