The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-19 00:00:00

THE BLIND FIDDLER.

The itinerant musician may be considered as the le-
gitimate successor of the old Scottish minstrel of tuneful
memory, who perambulated the country to the infinite
delight of the people. Although the fiddler of the later
days was more accustomed to frequent the houses of the
farmers and the peasantry than the lordly halls where
the harps of his ancestors were strung, it was more in
consequence of the progress of modern customs, which
had begun among the higher masses of society, than
from any falling away in the profession. On the contrary
the blind fiddler was a person in considerable note in the
circle which he periodically visited. So regularly were
those visits paid that the rural population could calculate
the precise time of his coming, and prepare for the same.
If those visits were in winter the blind fiddler was al-
ways sure of a warm nook at the fire-side, as well as a
numerous and liberal auditory—if in summer, the village
green was soon enlivened with busy feet by the notei of
the Orpheus ; while, between the dances, his budget of
jokes and wonders, the fruits of his wide wanderings and.
the varied society in which he mingled, was op,ned to
the delight and astonishment of gaping rustics. If he
held them not, like the ancient mariner, with his glitter
tag eye, he did so with his eloquent tongue. Nature,
who, when she deprives an individual of the use of one
faculty, generally makes up for the loss by giving with-
tion..l force to another, made this worthy a walking
news') iPer—a periodical of mirth, news, and music.
Every house and family, for miles round, was as familiar
to him as the tunes he played, and hence the aptitude
of the well-known saying, applied to one well versed in
local chronology, that he must have led a blind fiddler.
Unenviable, indeed, must have been the post of leader,
stihj-eted to the never ceasing volubility of one who
lived both in noise and by it, and with no opportunity
of ret liation but what the trick of a false jump might
afford.

The blind fiddler was the spirit of all merry meetings
and penny weddings throughout the country. At all
such festivals you were as sure to find him seated on a
barrel-end as you are to find the Martell() Tower in the
Frith. With what swiftness his fiddle bow was plied—a
very spirit was in his elbow and fingers—he seemed to
play against time; a perfect sand-bag, too, was this
.dd worthy, 1i-dons which were sufficient to make a
stronger man stagger were drops in a bucket to him; the
tankard came as readily to his lips between the dances
as the rosin to his bow, and, in both cases, it improved
the tone. We have scarcely a solitary specimen left of
the original blind fiddler. Only one we yet hold delight-
ful intercourse with, and he seems to be, like a " bro-
therless hermit, the last of his race." That rare gift of
lime and tune for which he was distinguished is worn
out, and, although the ancient power of music sometimes
makes his lip quiver with emotion, when, with a plaintive
grace, he plays " Auld Robin Gray," yet, not unfre-
quently, he will mix up the cadences of " Satan among
the Tailors" with a favourite quadrille. Polkas and
Mazurkas are wholly unknown to him, and he would
scorn the idea of prostituting his fiddle to the work of
playing an overture or a modern gallopade,—that fiddle
which has given life to " bab at the bowster," may
never thrill forth the compositions of a Julien. The
fiddlers now-a-days, are no more like those of old than
an egg is like an oyster. They want the peculiar twist
of the mouth, the merry bob of the hew', and stamp of
he foot. No grease brightens their p,cket lids, no snufF
heerims their visages, they are odiously clean—dc-
generate sons of mighty Orpheusl—Frosn " Old Scottish
Gitaracters" in the Leith Herald.

BROWN'S HOSPITAL, OR THE BEDE HOUSE, STAN-
froita.—The estates of this charity, comprising 1,805 acres of
land and 116 houses, yielded, according to the report of the
Charity Commissioners in 1836, a yearly revenue of about
1,2451., viz., the reserved rents (numbering 60), 5871. 10s. Bd. ;
the " fines," which amount to two-thirds of the rental,
3941. 12s. Id.; sale of wood and bark, 1161.; and dividends on
stock in Consols, 147/ This income, the average of the seven
years preceding 1836, may be reckoned as being what is at
the present time realised; but investigation has proved that,
by a more equitable mode of rental as much as 3,0001. may
be realized annually for the benevolent objects of the charity.
A year ago the matter was entered into by a young man re-
sident in Stamford, who has sine 3 had communication with
the Bishop of Lincoln, and had his Lordship's cordial concur-
rence in the desire for an extension of 1102 e " charity" to the
ample extent which the estates may be made to ensure. The
Bishop, with the consent of the Archbishop of Canterbury,
has the power to alter the statutes relating to the hospital;
and from a conversation the other day which his Lordship
had with the applicant (Mr. G. Burton), it seems that the ne-
cessary steps for running out the present leases, and effecting a
better arrangement of rental, will forthwith be adopted by
the authorities of the hospital, certain powers being sought
from the Court of Chancery. The proposals submitted to the
Bishop were, the ads ptiug of a more just mode of determin-
ing the rents, the discontinuance of the "fines," and the
addition to the charity of as many out-pensioners as the
augmented funds will allow—each having an allowance of
clothing and six shillings a week. It appears that four other
persons in Stamford have had communication with the
Bishop of Lincoln on the subject; and there is at length a
hope that the statutes of the institution (which have been for
ages withheld from public view) will be promulgated; and
that the disgraceful walappropriation of the large means
given for the benefit of the poor, by one who intended to be
a liberal benefactor to the town (but whose perverted means
have done little more than add to the thousands of other
examples of the danger of entrusting tothoenclesragtyurtthlaeyadlams:
nistration of charities) will cease within a short time, and
that the benefits of the Bede-house will be extended, as they
ought to be, to 150 persons, instead of fourteeu.--Stninford
Mercury.
DESPERATE HIGHWAY ROBBERY._
information was forwarded by route to all the metropolis an
police-stations, respecting a most desperate highway robbery
committed by two men, in the vicinity of Lomans-street,
Gravel-lane, Southwark, under the following brutal and
daring circumstances seems that about a quarter to
twelve o'el,,ck; on Friday night, two gentlemen, residing in
tits Blackfriars'-road, were returning home, through some
part of the Borough, whpn they were followed by two ruf-
fianly-looking fellows, and when they reached a dark spot,
facing time George public-house, in Gravel-lar.e, the robbers
suddenly seized the two gentlemen and felled-them to the
ground, and afterwards jumped upon them until they became
insensible. In the meantime they robbed them of a very
valuable gold watch, with a rich chain and its appendages,
together with money and other things, leaving the gentle-
men lying on the ground insensible. Several persons ran out
of the public-house opposite, but the villains had effected
their escape. The police were called for some time, but none
could be found. Large bills were posted on Saturday round
the metropolis, offering a reward for the recovery of the
property, the apprehension of the robbers.
—NARRoW ESCAPE FR-M
CAUTIONS
GD:e7uwNii:h°,a—ladnyBautlid a little boy, between
London and Woolwich steamer coming alongsble the stone pier at
ulgseyn:ieftrlnzitc,caombopuatnlieeudrbo:clock, on the Sybil
two and three years of age, who were waiting to proceed to Li.mitnt,
on perceiving the overcrowded state of the boat, refused to go
aboar i, preferring to await the arrival of the next boat. The lady
the pier, allowed the child to run about the dummy, when, on at-
and gentleman having seated themselves on one of the benches on
tempting to pass behind the bench on which his parents were seated,
he tell overboard, between the cofferdam (erected for the purpose of
repairing the pier) and the dummy. An instant alarmwas raised,.
when Edward Gillett, the mate of the Sybil, with great presence of
fortunately' succeeded in rescuing the child, as he rose ta• the third
mood, and without waiting topull off his clothes, plunged in, and
time. The little sufferer was immediately conveyed to a tea• house
adjoining the Torbay Tavern, where the usual restoratives were ad-
ministered, and in less than an hour afterwares ho was so far reco-
vered as to accompany his parents home, who left a very handsome
Maur for the gallant preeerrer of their Want.