h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello Andrew. I've been given your Entry on Viols to sub-ed, and what a pleasure it is do The edited version is at A87760065 so if you'd like to subscribe over there you can keep up to date with it.

I've not had much to do in honesty, just a few consistency things and a couple of links to other Guide Entries added.

I do have a couple of points to raise with you though:

1. <> In the PR thread you said that this a Dublin expression (I think I understand the humour of it), in which case I'd like to add as a footnote. Otherwise it could easily appear to non-Dubliners as though we missed a typo for 'amusement'. Agreed?

2. <> To be a shade pedantic, if it had died with him he would have been the last. I guess what you're saying is that there were others after Byrd, but not very many. Could that sentence be rephrased perhaps?

Please have a look through and post any comments here.

Thanks
h5

The case of Byrd is unusual: he lived an extremely long life (83 years) yet wrote little music in his last twenty years, and perhaps none in his last ten or so. So although others (Ravenscroft, Amner, Peerson ...) wrote consort songs later than his, the form had just about reached an end by the time he died in 1623 (Peerson published his last in 1630). This is too much information to include, yet I hope it justifies my syntax.

'A Dublin expression' will do fine. It originated as far as I know with an amateur cellist, Jimmy Brady, who describes Ikea's products as 'suppository furniture' (you put it up yourself)

I have given you a problem by capitalizing Fantazia, Pavan, Galliard, Suite and so on. Perhaps they should remain lower-case. Italics?

Could I beg a few corrections?

Purcell's In Nomines were written around 1680, rather than 'in'. He dated some fantazias but not the In Nomines.

Last sentence: could we say 'many elegant baroque instruments including the viol were pretty well silenced for a hundred years' -- I have a book by Peter Holman describing sporadic yet (overall) constant use of viols in England throughout the 19th century.

Thanks!

Having given some thought to it, I've come to the conclusion that Fantazia, Pavan, Galliard etc should all be capitalised throughout, so I've changed fantazia to Fantazia in about 3 places.

Corrections made

If you're happy, unless I hear to the contrary, I'll return this Entry to the Eds tomorrow.

Thanks for contributing Andrew.

Thank you! (But no fullstops on footnotes 1 & 3?)

By the way, I'd really love a blob! A reworking of the portrait of Christopher Simpson that I attached to the first mention of the word 'viol' in the text would suit excellently! What are the chances?

I've returned the Entry and asked the Eds about using the picture as a blob. I don't see a problem with it, but we'll have to see what they think.