billkilpatrick - 4-3-2006 at 04:07 AM
picked this up on the mandolin.cafe site - from "much ado about nothing:"
"Is it not strange that sheep's guts should hale souls out of men's bodies?"
nylgut too ...
- bill
John Erlich - 4-3-2006 at 09:30 AM
An English Renaissance poem for oud/lute and cat lovers (please forgive the length!):
Upon Lute-strings Cat-eaten.
A Re these the strings that Poets feigne,
Have clear'd the Air, & calm'd the Maine ?
Charm'd Wolves, and from the Mountain crests
Made Forrests dance, with all their Beasts ?
Could these neglected shreds you see,
Inspire a Lute of Ivorie,
Or,
And make it speak ? oh then think what
Hath been committed by my Cat,
Who in the silence of this night,
Hath gnawn these cords, and marr'd them quite,
Leaving such relicts as may be
For frets, not for my Lute, but me.
Pusse, I will curse thee, maist thou dwell
With some dry Hermit in a Cel, *
Where Rat ne're peep'd, where Mouse ne'er fed,
And Flies go supperlesse to bed :
Or with some close-par'd Brother, where
ThouPt fast each Sabbath in the yeare,
Or else, profane, be hang'd on Monday,
For butchering a Mouse on Sunday.
Or maist thou tumble from some tower,
And misse to light upon all foure,
Taking a fall that may unty
Eight of nine lives and let them fly.
Or may the midnight embers sindge
Thy dainty coat, or lane beswinge
Thy hyde, when she shall take thee biting
Her Cheeseclouts, or her house be—
What, was there ne're a Rat nor Mouse,
Not Butery ope ; nought in the house
But harmlesse Lutestrings, could suffice
Thy paunch, and draw thy glaring eyes ?
Did not thy conscious stomach finde
Nature profan'd, that kind with kind
Should staunch his hunger ? think on that,
Thou Canniball and Cyclop Cat.
For know, thou wretch7 that every string
Is a cats gut, which Art doth bring
Into a thread; and now suppose
Dumtan, that snufPd the Devills nose,
Should bid these strings revive, as once
He did the Calfe, from naked bones ;
Or I to plague thee for thy sin,
Should draw a Circle, and begin
To Conjure, for I am, look to't,
An Oxford Scholer, and can doe't.
Then with three sets of Mops and Mbwes,
Seaven of odd words, and Motley showes,
A thousand tricks, that may be taken
From Faustus, Lambe, or Frier-Bacon;
I should begin to call my strings
My Cattlings, and my Minikins ;
And they re-catted, streight should fall
To mew, to purre, to Caterwawle;
From Pusses belly, sure as death,
Pusse should be an Engastrumeth.
Pusse should be sent for to the King,
For a strange Bird or some rare thing.
Pusse should be sought to farre and neer,
As she some cunning woman were.
Pusse should be carried up and downe,
From Shire to Shire, from Town to Towne,
Like to the Cammell, leane as Hag,
The Elephant or Apish Nag,
For a strange sight; Pusse should be sung
In Lowsie Ballads, midst the throng,
Or,
At Markets, with as good a grace
As Agincourt, or Chevy Chace.
The Troy-sprung Britain would forgoe
His Pedigree, he chanteth so,
And sing that Merlin (long deceast)
Returned is in a nine liv'd beast.
Thus Pusse thou seest, what might betide thee,
But I forbear to hurt or chide thee.
For't may be Pusse was Melancholy,
And so to make her blythe and Jolly,
Finding these strings, shel'd have a fit
Of Mirth; nay, Pusse, if that were it;
Thus I revenge me, that as thou
Hast plaid on them, I on thee now;
And as thy touch was nothing fine,
So I've but scratched these notes of mine.
-----------------
All the best,
Udi John
billkilpatrick - 4-3-2006 at 01:09 PM
IF! ... i had gone to the expense of putting gut strings on my oud and ...
IF! ... a cat - or more probably, in our case, any one (or all) of the 6 dogs we have flaked out around the house - were to have "gnawn these cords,
and marr'd them quite," i would most definitely...
NOT! ... seek consolation in rhyming couplets ...
no-siree-bob!
you're more than likely aware of this but here's an explanation for the legend of cat gut:
http://www.labella.com/company/history.asp
regards - bill
John Erlich - 4-3-2006 at 06:12 PM
Bill,
Thanks for sharing!
-JE