ewhere--_e.g._, the blunt curves of the waist, the outline of the
back, and even the shape of the bow.

The practice of playing extempore variations on the viol da gamba has
already been mentioned as one of the elegant accomplishments of a
gentleman in those days. The following two quotations therefore will
not require further remark.

_Tw._ I, iii, 24.

_Maria_ [of Sir Andrew Aguecheek] ... he's a very fool, and
a prodigal.

_Sir Toby._ Fie, that you'll say so! he _plays o' the
viol-de-gamboys_ ... and hath all the good gifts of nature.

_Richard II._ I, iii, 159. Banishment of Norfolk.

_Norfolk._ The language I have learn'd these forty years,
My native English, now I must forego;
And now my tongue's use is to me no more
Than an _unstringed viol_, or a _harp_;
Or like a _cunning instrument cas'd up_,
_Or_, being open, _put into his hands_
That knows _no touch to tune the harmony_.

The _violin_ family had only a precarious footing amongst musicians up
to 1650. After that time, the viols declined in favour, and so
rapidly, that at the very beginning of the 18th century, Dr Tudway of
Cambridge describes a chest of viols, in a letter to his son, with
such particularity, that it is clear they had entirely fallen out of
use by 1700. As the viol fell out of fashion, the violin took its
place, and has kept it ever since.

The violin family had come into general and fashionable use under the
patronage of the Court of Louis XIV., and thus the English nation,
true to their ancient habit of buying their 'doublet in Italy, round
hose in France, bonnet in Germany, and behaviour everywhere,' took up
the 'French fiddles,' and let their national Chest of viols go to the
wall.

This growing tendency to adopt French customs, even in music, is
referred to in the following:--

_Hen. VIII._ I, iii, 41. French manners in England.

_Lovell._ A _French song_, and a _fiddle_, has no fellow.

_Sands._ _The devil fiddle 'em!_ I am glad they're going,
For, sure, there's no converting of 'em: _now_,
An honest country lord, as I am, beaten
A long time out of _play_, may bring his _plain-song_,
And have an hour of hearing: and, by'r lady,
Held _current music_ too.

The only word here that has not already been fully explained is
'current music,' which I suppose to mean simply, that the ol