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knowledge that people of Simpsori s time were generally smaller than now. But
[21] this does not take into account either that many of Simpson's
contemporaries learnt the viol from childhood and their bodies would grow
adjusted to the demands of the instrument, or that it is not only the tallest
violists of today who can play divisions on a thirty-inch viol. Modern players
also point to that fact that with the bridge in the expected place 27 the string
length of most extant antique bass viols is around 27-28 inches. This,
however, ignores two important facts: first, that almost every original neck
has been replaced, 28 leaving us with insufficient information to determine the
original string length of surviving viols, and second, that most surviving bass
viols are later than the Division-Viol. Furthermore, in the case of the only
English bass viol definitely made before 1659 that retains its original neck in
an essentially unaltered state (Henry Jaye, 1619), its string length is about
29 1 /2 inches, which is almost Simpson's 'ordinary size' of division viol (just
1.7% shorter). There is no doubt that this instrument is a suitable size for a
division viol (and so is the slightly larger Jaye bass of 1621 described by
Muthesius), 29 and an ordinary consort bass would be larger. We should also
think very carefully and humbly about lutes, many of which were exactly the
sizes that cause modern violists to complain. Bass lutes in the late sixteenth
and early seventeenth centuries, several examples of which survive, had
string-lengths of over 30 inches, and Italian chitarrones had string-lengths of
around 88-98 cm (around 34 1 /2 to 38 1 /2 inches). French solo theorboes built
right at the end of the seventeenth century (for much more complex solo
music than most bass viol divisions) typically had a string length of about 30
inches. 30 As it is clear that the left hands of plucked instrument players could
manage these string-lengths, why should viol-players be different?
There were local variations in some units but their use was exclusive to a
locality, and workers would need to know the ubiquitous units in order to
participate in non-local trade. 31 This was an important matter for weavers,
27 'The Best Place for the Bridge, is to stand just in the 3 Quarter Dividing of the Open
Cuts Below; though Most, most Erroniously suffer them much to stand too High, which is a
Fault': T. Mace, Musick's Monument (1676), 246. This might suggest that players were trying to
ameliorate finger-stretching problems by shortening the string-length, but bridges are not fixed
where they stand and failure to keep them adjusted allows them to move towards the
fingerboard, as Mace observed.
28 See Flemin& Viol-Making, introduction and ch. 2. If iconology suggests anything
about the length of viol necks, it is that they were longer in proportion to viol bodies than
is now generally assumed.
29 Muthesius, 'English Chest of Viols', 22-3 and Table 2. I must question the stringlengths
in this table which are 'given only when original'. First, the position of the bridge
when the instrument was used may be estimated but is not known precisely, so the stringlength
cannot be determined. Second, the original neck is either not present or is altered
on at least the following viols whose string-lengths are given: Jaye in the V&A; Blunt in
the Ashmolean; and both Rose viols in the Ashmolean. I took the body-length measurements
of these four viols, respectively 432 mm, 555 mm, 551 mm and 704 mm, for Fleming,
Viol-Making, wherein I also question some attributions including this small 'Jaye' and
the'Rose' bass.
30 . I am grateful to Michael Lowe for enlightening discussions of plucked instruments
and other matters.
31 A unit conversion table among the papers of Brian Twyne (1579?-1644) considers Barley
Comes, Inches, Handes, Spannes, Feete, Cubits, Pases [i.e. paces], Perches, Furlongs, and