In Anno 78, he went to heaven.”
—John Jenkins was an extraordinary
player on the Lyra viol in the time of
Charles I.
CHAT THE SECOND
Lunch, and the Emperor Albinus—The Crwth—The immature Bow Instruments which preceded the Fifteenth-century Viol—M. Coutagne and Gaspar Duiffoproucart
While under the shadow of the friendly double-bass, we were particularly favoured and aided by the punctuating poke of a finger at the instruments mentioned. Now, however, isolated in that inartistic invention—a Restaurant—we have no such aid. There is no inspiration to be gained from knives and forks, plates and spoons, unless one be a cutler, a potter, a chef, or rejoices in the voracious appetite of the Emperor Albinus. This monarch—says our classical dictionary—thought nothing of devouring 500 figs, 100 peaches, twenty pounds of dry raisins, 10 melons, and 400 oysters for breakfast. What the heavier meals of the day were composed of is a matter upon which we are left to cogitate.
There is no necessity to dwell upon the many immature bow instruments which preceded the fifteenth-century viol, but, for the sake of context, they must be allowed a passing interest and a glance at these pictures of them, which we have here upon the table. The Welsh crwth we will not mention, for it has already been effectually cast out of the fiddle family’s ancestry by an eminent authority in such matters. Likewise, for the same reason, we will pass the rote or rotta, with a vacant stare.