Image: Singing Sam of Derbyshire, image by W. Williams, 1760

Description: Singing Sam of Derbyshire, image by W. Williams, 1760. Image chimes from the book The Ballads & Songs of Derbyshire by Llewellynn Frederick William Jewitt. Quote from the book about the illustration: As a frontispiece to my present volume, I give a fac-simile[Pg xi] of an old portrait of a Derbyshire ballad-singer of the last century, "Singing Sam of Derbyshire" as he was called, which I copy from the curious plate etched by W. Williams in 1760, which appeared in the "Topographer" thirty years after that time. The man was a singular character—a wandering minstrel who got his living by singing ballads in the Peak villages, and accompanying himself on his rude single-stringed instrument. Doubtless "The Beggar's Ramble" and "The Beggar's Wells," and other similar rhymes, were the production of "Singing Sam" or his compeers, and recounted his own peregrinations through the country. His instrument was as quaint and curious as himself. It consisted of a straight staff nearly as tall as himself, with a single string tied fast around it at each end. This he tightened with a fully inflated cow's bladder, which assisted very materially the tone of the rude instrument. His bow was a rough stick of hazel or briar, with a single string; and with this, with the lower end of his staff resting on the ground, and the upper grasped by his right hand, which he passed up and down to tighten or slacken the string as he played, he scraped away, and produced sounds which, though not so musical as those of Paganini and his single string, would no doubt harmonize with Sam's rude ballad, and ruder voice. This portrait I believe has never been reproduced until now.
Title: Singing Sam of Derbyshire, image by W. Williams, 1760
Credit: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42585/42585-h/42585-h.htm
Author: W. Williams, published in 1760
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No