XXXV. On the Origin and Introduction of the Violin. MR. URBAN, I APPREHEND it must be a very difficult matter, to as certain the exact time of the invention and introduction of any one particular kind of musical instrument, unless it could be assuredly known of what sort those instruments were, which were invented by Jubal, who was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ;' but this, I doubt, is not to be done. The original, as I take it, of the violin is involved in equal obscurity with the rest, concerning which I would put the question thus, at what time, and by whom was the violin invented? meaning by the violin every species of that genus, the violino, alto viola, violoncello, and violone, for since the transition from one to the other is so obvious, it matters not whether we speak of the bracchia, or the viola di gamba, they evidently springing from the same source. Taking therefore the violin or fiddle in this latitude, I would define it in this manner; a stringed instrument with a neck, a belly placed under or behind the strings, and played upon with a bow. This definition sufficiently distinguishes it from the ancient lyre, or the modern harp; as likewise from the lute, the guitar, or mandola, which are touched in a different manner. That an instrument of this kind was in use here in England, before the dissolution of monasteries, Temp. H. VIII. I can easily believe; for I have seen something like it, depicted in a glass window of the chancel of Dronfield church, in the county of Derby. The rectory of Dronfield, before the reformation, was appropriated to Beauchief Abbey, in the same county, and that fine and lofty building, the chancel, which is equalled by very few in our common parochial churches, was erected by the abbot and convent of that house, long before the year 1535, when that religious foundation was dissolved; but however not till after 13 R. II. or 1390, when this rectory was first appropriated to the Abbey. I remember also to have seen an instrument of the same sort in the painted glass of a window, in the church of Staple, in the county of Kent. But to confine myself to this uncouth thing, at Dronfield, you will please to observe, that it can be called no more than the rudiment of a violin; there is no neck, but it rests partly upon the performer's breast, and partly upon his knee, and moreover was steadied, as I conceive, by the left hand's passing through a strap at the back of it. As there is no finger board, it consequently could not be stopped, and then as there are only four strings, it could yield only four notes, which yet I suppose were sufficient at that time of day, for expressing a chant or a psalm tune. But the greatest difficulty is, the absence of the bridge, for it is not easy to conceive, how a performer with a bow, could do any thing without one, even though there were no more than four notes. All that can be said on this behalf, is, that perhaps the painter himself, had no just notion of a musical instrument at that time so uncommon, and that consequently we are not to examine it too strictly. It appears to me, upon a view of the windows in this chancel, that this rude figure did not always occupy that place, in which it now stands, but has been removed thither by a glazier; nothing being more common than to transfer painted glass from one situation to another: however, I make no question, but that it always belonged to this chancel, and is of the same age with it, whatever place it formerly stood in. But to go on; the word viola occurs more than once in the Decameron of Boccace, a work which was written A. D. 1348, so that in Italy this instrument seems to have been in vogue as early as then; and yet the name is thought to be not of Italian, but of Spanish extraction, see Menage Origines de Lang. Franc. from whence it may be inferred, that it must be a good deal older in Spain. At the court of honour of Tutbury in Staffordshire, a king of the fiddlers is chosen every year, in pursuance of an establishment of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, bearing date 4 R. II. or 1381, and in this charter a reference is made to the custom of more ancient times. This officer is called at this day King of the Fiddlers, but this I fear will not come up to the point, since according to Dr. Plot in his Natural History of Staffordshire, from whom I take this account, he was formerly termed King of the Minstrels, le Roy de Ministral, an expression of a lax signification, and which as appears from p. 438, of Dr. Plot's book, included both wind and string music. Nothing therefore that is precise and certain concerning the use of violins, in the time of Richard II. can be concluded from hence. The word Crowd is an ancient word for a fiddle, and Crowder is a player on that instrument, and it appears from Junius's Glossary in Voce, and from sir Henry Spelman v. Crotta, that it is a term of sufficient antiquity; nay it occurs even in Chaucer, who died A. D. 1402, or thereabouts; but then it may be justly doubted, whether at that time it meant exactly the same thing that is now meant by a fiddle or violin, for in the glossary to Chaucer, to crowde, is explained, to play on a crowde, or any musical instrument, also, to sing, or to make any melody,' which leaves the matter a great deal too much at large for us to learn any thing determinate concerning the form and figure of the crowde at its first invention. In short, it might mean originally a musical instrument, very different from the violin, and afterwards might be appropriated to this particular one, by analogy, as often happens, You see, Mr. Urban, that I for my part, can go but little into this subject, with any tolerable degree of certainty, no farther than the above notice can carry me. But these leave so much room, that they by no means give satisfaction, and therefore I should be glad of further assistance from some of your learned and musical correspondents; and in the mean time, 1757, Dec. I am, Sir, PAUL GEMSEGE, XXXVI. On the Country Dance. MR URBAN, TRUTH is a thing so sacred with me, and a right concep tion of things, so valuable in my eye, that I always think it worth while to correct a popular mistake, though it be of the most trivial kind. Now, sir, we have a species of dancing amongst us, which is commonly called country dancing, and so it is written; by which we are led to imagine, that it is a rustic way of dancing borrowed from the country people or peasants; and this I suppose is generally taken to be the meaning of it. But this, sir, is not the case, for as our dances in general come from France, so does the country dance, which is a manifest corruption of the French contredanse, where a number of persons, placing themselves opposite one to another, begin a figure. This now explains an expression we meet with in our old country dance books, long ways as many as will;' as our present English country dances are all in that manner, this direction seems to be very absurd, and superfluous; but if you have recourse to the original of these dances, and will but remember that the performers stood up opposite one to another in various figures, as the dance might require, you will instantly be sensible, that that expression has a sensible meaning in it, and is very proper and significant, as it directs a method or form different from others that might be in a square or any other figure. 1758, April. Yours, &c. PAUL GEMSEGE, XXXVII. Ancient Custom of Shepherds. MR. URBAN, As there is something very entertaining to the mind, as well as useful, in reviewing the manners of antiquity; I should be obliged to any of your learned correspondents for the pleasure of knowing the methods, which the shepherds of Jewry, and the eastern countries, followed in the care of their flocks. In St. John x. 3, 4, we have these words; 'To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out and when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.' On these words, Dr. Hammond observes, 1st, That the shepherds of Judea knew every sheep severally. (This, as I have been informed, by a gentleman of true value, has been attained to by a shepherd in our own country;) 2dly, "That the shepherds of that country had a distinct name for every sheep, which each sheep knew and answered by obediential coming, or following, to that call.' This, as very unusual with us, scarcely gains credit.-And Marshal Bassompierre, speaking of his dancing country dances here in England, in the time of king Charles I. writes it expressly contredanses. See his Memoires, Tom. iii. p. 307. yet what is there wonderful in it?-Why might not names be given to flocks of sheep, as well as to herds of bullocks? And why may not sheep, led into their fold every night by the shepherd, and brought out every morning, (fed when young, in a great measure too by hand) be taught to follow the accustomed voice of their shepherd, and distinguish that voice too from the voice of a stranger.-That the shepherds gave them names, appears in some measure from the above-cited passage of St. John, but more fully from Theocritus. Id. v. 1. 103, 104. where a shepherd calls three of his sheep by their names; and that the shepherds often went before, while the flock followed, is above asserted by St. John in express words. Hence God, who is said to go before the Israelites, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night, is, Psalm lxxx. 1. stiled the shepherd of Israel that led Joseph like a flock;' hence the title of shepherd, Is. xliv. 28, is given by God to Cyrus, and by the most ancient authors to kings, who headed their armies to battle; and since David was an expert shepherd, as well as divine poet, after whose sweet strains his flock doubtless went, the fable of Orpheus may, I think, be easily deduced from thence. But the care of these shepherds did not stop here. They seem to have trained up the ram to collect the flock, when any way scattered, and thus to draw them together in that regular order, in which sheep brought together almost naturally stand. Let it be observed, that I am not here positive, though Lucian says of Polyphemus the shepherd, i λαμενος τῷ κρίῳ, ὑποσα έχρην προτίειν αυτον ύπις έμω, ordering the ram what things he ought to do for me.' Homer has a comparison of the same nature; and it must be owned, that all poetical comparisons, either were known, or supposed to have a real existence in nature, and that Homer would not have compared Ulysses, drawing up his men, to a ram or dering the flock, unless some such thing had really, or supposedly, been done. The words of Homer may as well be seen in Mr. Pope's translation as in the original. Then said, once more he viewed the warrior train : |