Note 172 — Chapter XII · OF THEIR QUICKNESS AND SHARPNESS OF UNDERSTANDING

This instrument is generally supposed to have been the origin of the violin, which was not commonly known in England till the reign of Charles I. Before this time the crwth was not probably confined to the Principality, from the name of Crowdero in Hudibras; as also from a fiddler being still called a crowder in some parts of England, though he now plays on a violin instead of a crwth.