Books › The violin: some account of that leading instrument, and its most eminent professors, from its earliest date to the present time;, 1878 › scan 38
Scan 38
The violin: some account of that leading instrument, and its most eminent professors, from its earliest date to the present time;, 1878
12 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1similar change or declension, according to Mr. Percy, John of Gaunt's King of the Minstrels came, at length, to be called, like the Roi des Violons in France, King of the Fiddles—it being always to be borne in mind, nevertheless, that it was only as yet a baser kind of instrument which brought its professors into such scrapes*.
3The term crowd, as well as that of fiddle, was commonly used in England before the appearance of the perfect Violin, but appears to have been soon disused (along with the barbarous instrument it designated) after that period. Butler, in his "Hudibras," employs both terms indiscriminately, and seems to find enjoyment in linking them with mean and ludicrous associations—a tendency which must be allowed to have been quite in keeping with the feeling of the times he describes. His motley rabble, whom he puts in the way of the knight and his squire, were special affecters of the instrument he delights to dishonour,
5And to crack'd fiddle, and hoarse tabor,
6In merriment did drudge and labor.
8sent, in a vesture called a coat bardy, cut short in the German fashion, and resembling the dress of a minstrel. The oddity of his habit attracted the notice of the company, and especially of an elderly knight, to whom he was well known, who thus addressed him: "Where, my friend, is your fiddle, your ribible, or such-like instrument belonging to a minstrel?" "Sir," replied the young man, "I have no crafte nor science in using such instruments." "Then," returned the knight, "you are much to blame; for, if you choose to debase yourself and your family by appearing in the garb of a minstrel, it is fitting you should be able to perform his duty."
10* The miserable state of itinerant fiddlers, and other musicians, is described by Puttenham, in his Arte of English Poesie, printed in 1589; and Bishop Hall, the satirist, adverting to their low condition, describes them as
11Selling a laughter for a cold meale's meat.
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