; merely adding that in the course of my work I
have so arranged all the thicknesses of the back that it answers to
the tone C, which do not forget, as I shall have again to refer to
it.

CHAPTER VII.
THE BELLY.

This is the soundboard of the instrument--that which, I suppose,
vibrates as fourteen to ten as compared with the back--that is to
say, it is recorded that, given equal conditions, such will be the
case. It is that which first receives concussion as the bow strikes
the strings, which shock travels down the upper surface of the gut
from the bridge until the nut at the end of the fingerboard be
reached, when it flies under the said string to the bridge again,
which communicates the shock to the belly, the belly to the back by
soundpost, ribs, neck, scroll, and all about it, to the mass of air
in the body of the violin, when comes what we call tone, and rightly
do we call it so, if pure vibrations have been brought into play,
otherwise noise would be a much safer word to use. Of course, I give
you the above in detail: it will appear to you as though the whole
of the agitations were simultaneous, such is the amazing rapidity
with which all this takes place. And I only give it to show you how
incumbent it is upon you to use every care in all you do when
engaged in this work, more especially that on the upper table. For
no matter how well your back may be gauged, finished, and finally
adjusted; or your ribs, how equally balanced one with another or in
relative proportions with the whole: if your tell-tale soundboard be
defectively wrought, cheeks too much hollowed, or the thicknesses
carelessly seen to, there will be beats in your tone, strings
irregular, weak notes and strong ones, and a general unsatisfactory
result which could easily have been avoided.

But I will get to work on this upper table; and, there being some
interesting features to notice as the panorama of its construction
passes before your eyes, you will do well to let nothing escape your
observation; besides, there is much that is merely a repetition of
the working of the back, and which I omit in letterpress.

The said back, you will remember, was in a whole piece--this belly
is in two pieces, as I intimated under the heading "selection of
wood"; and, as a natural consequence, has to be joined before I can
operate upon it as a whole before you. The manner of preparing the
two half plates for a joint is this:--upon this bench I place wh