My apology, misspelled on the run, used it rather as reminder, in hope you
remembered the quote:
http://www.luteshop.co.uk/stringsburwell.htm
"From the Mary Burwell Lute Tutor, c.1670, f.7 (full stops editorial):
The good stringes are made at Rome or about Rome and none that are good
are made in any other place except the great strings and octaves that
are made in Lyons att Fraunce and noe where else. They attribute that
to the clymate and to the waters. The stringes are made of sheepes and
catts gutte and are twisted with a good deale of art. To be good they
must be hard and transparant smooth and well twisted hard and strong
and now they are preserved in a white paper dipped in oyle of almonds
or in a hogges bladder. They endure noe moisture nor any opressive
heate noe more than the lute but they will have a temperate ayre and
place but of the twoe the moisture is the worst. When they are open
there goodnes is knowne thus holding the twoe ends in both hands and
strikeing the string with the middle finger if they parte in twoe onely
or if being laid uppon the lute they doe not jarre. If the twoe
stringes can be made of one bunch they will agree the better but it is
hard to find twoe good stringes of a length therefore you must choose
them as neare as you can to the same bignes, the string must not be
full of knotts or gowty or rugged nor be bigger in one place then in
another."
Alexander
Do you have the page? One would suppose that the first was
sheep gut, but I would like to look at that more closely.
The problem is whether a confusion had already crept in about "cat",
at the time of Burwell. The author may have been translating the
French expression "boyau de chat", in which case we are no closer to
knowing what the origin was.
If sheep is actually written as "ship" then the person who wrote it
down could have been effected somehow by French. We all know that
many French speakers, make no difference between "sheep" and "ship",
but without looking at the text it is hard to guess.
Anthony
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