"Anything that is worth doing is worth doing well" is a maxim that teachers should hold up to themselves and their pupils, and this reminds me of an exhortation to that effect in "Musick's Monument," that quaint and pathetic book of Thomas Mace (1676) with which I cannot do better than end my already too extensive preamble. "Now being Thus far _ready_ for _Exercise_, attempt the _Striking of your Strings_; but before you do _That_, Arm yourself with Preparative _Resolutions to gain a Handsome--Smooth--Sweet--Smart--Clear--Stroak_; or else Play not at all." CONTENTS. PART I. _The History of the Bow_. CHAPTER I. PAGE ORIGIN OF INSTRUMENTS. FRICTIONAL VIBRATION. THE BOW DISTINCT FROM THE PLECTRUM. THE TRIGONON. BOWING WITH VARIOUS OBJECTS . . 1 CHAPTER II. ORIENTAL ORIGIN OF THE BOW. INDIAN, CHINESE AND OTHER EASTERN BOWED INSTRUMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 CHAPTER III. THE CRWTH. FLEMING'S "ETRUSCAN RAVANASTRON." THE MEDIAEVAL BOW. UNRELIABILITY OF EARLY DRAWINGS AND SCULPTURES . . . . . . . . . 14 CHAPTER IV. THE BEGINNINGS OF THE MODERN BOW. ORNAMENTATION. A POSSIBLE STRADIVARI BOW. THE MOVABLE NUT. THE CREMAILLERE. THE SCREW NUT 23 CHAPTER V. VUILLAUME'S FACTS. THE FERRULE AND SLIDE. JOHN DODD . . . . . . 31 CHAPTER VI. DR. SELLE'S RECOLLECTIONS OF DODD. HIS WORK AND POVERTY. DODD AND TOURTE. THE CALCULATION OF FETIS AND VUILLAUME . . . . . . . 36 CHAPTER VII. LUPOT. PECCATTE. SPURIOUS STAMPING. PANORMO. W. J. B. WOOLHOUSE'S CALCULATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 CHAPTER VIII. A LIST OF BOW MAKERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 PART II. _Bow Making_. CHAPTER IX. MATERIALS. BRAZIL WOOD. HORSEHAIR. THE ACTION OF ROSIN . . . . . 60 CHAPTER X. QUALITIES ESSENTIAL IN A BOW MAKER. SHAPING THE STICK. SETTING THE _Cambre_. THE FACES. THE TRENCHES. THE NUT . . . . . . . . . 64 CHAPTER XI. POSSIBLE REPAIRS. SPLICING. RENEWING CUPS. RESTORING THE NUT. RE-FACING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 CHAPTER XII. RE-LAPPING. RE-HAIRING. CHOICE OF ROSIN . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 CHAPTER XIII. THE PERFECTION OF THE MODERN BOW. DR. NICHOLSON'S PATENT BOW. VUILLAUME'S INVENTIONS. SELF-HAIRING BOWS. A FOLDING BOW. THE "KETTERIDGE BOW" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 PART III. _The Art of Bowing_. CHAPTER XIV. THE UNDECIDED ASPECT OF TECHNIQUE. IMPORTANCE OF A KNOWLEDGE OF THE ANATOMY OF THE HAND. THE FUNCTION OF THE THUMB. INDIVIDUALITY IN TECHNIQUE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 CHAPTER XV. BOWING HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED. THE OLDEST ENGLISH VIOLIN METHOD. SYMPSON'S INSTRUCTIONS IN BOWING. THOSE OF MACE (1676). THOSE OF VARIOUS MODERN MASTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 CHAPTER XVI. THE FINGERS OF THE RIGHT HAND. DIFFERENCES OF OPINION THEREON. SAUTILLE. THE LOOSE WRIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97