me, and Borax will take care that you _do_ see
that, and know all about it, before he shows you another. First
unlocking the case, he draws the instrument tenderly from its bed,
grasps it in the true critical style with the fingers and thumbs of
both hands a little above the bridge, turning the scroll towards you.
Now and then he twangs, with the thumb of his left hand, the third or
fourth string, by way of emphasis to the observations which he feels
bound to make--instinctively avoiding, however, that part of the
strings subject to the action of the bow. Giving you the name of the
maker, he proceeds to enlighten you on the peculiar characteristics of
his work; then he will dilate upon the remarkable features of the
specimen he holds in his hand--its build, its model, the closeness and
regularity of the grain of the wood of which the belly was fashioned:
the neatness, or, wanting that, the original style of the
purfling--the exquisite mottling of the back, which is wrought, he
tells you, 'by the cunning hand of nature in the primal growth of the
tree'--_twang_. Then he will break out in placid exclamations of
delight upon the gracefulness of the swell--_twang_--and the noble
rise in the centre--_twang_--and make you pass your hand over it to
convince yourself; after which, he carefully wipes it down with a silk
handkerchief. This process superinduces another favourite theme of
eulogium--namely, the unparalleled hue and tone (of colour) imparted
by the old Italian varnish--a hue, he is sure to inform you, which it
is impossible to imitate by any modern nostrums--_twang_. Then he
reverts to the subject of a Fiddle's indispensables and fittings;
discourses learnedly on the carving of scrolls, and the absurd
substitution, by some of the German makers, of lions' heads in lieu of
them; hinting, by the way, that said makers are asses, and that their
instruments bray when they should speak--_twang_. Then touching
briefly on the pegs, which he prefers unornamented, he will hang
lingeringly upon the neck, pronounce authoritatively upon the right
degree of elevation of the finger-board, and the effects of its due
adjustment upon the vibration of the whole body-harmonic, and,
consequently, upon the tone. Then, jumping over the bridge, he will
animadvert on the tail-piece; after which, entering at the
_f_-holes--not without a fervent encomium upon their graceful drawing
and neatness of cut--_twang_--he will introduce you to the _arca