Deborah Lewis

From Jeffery Kacirk's Forgotten English calendar:

Duffers:
The sellers of sham sovereigns and sham gold rings for wagers. The
duffer in English birds disguises them so that they shall look like
foreigners...Among the swag-shopkeepers, at one place in Houndsitch more
especially, are dealers in "duffing-fiddles". These are German-made
instruments, and are sold to the street-folk at two shillings, sixpence,
or three shillings, bow and all. Then purchased by the music-duffers,
they are discoloured so as to be made to look old. A music-duffer,
assuming the way of a man half-drunk, will enter a public-house, or
accost any party in the street, saying "It cost me two guineas and
another fiddle... but I may as well be my own broker, for I must have
money anyhow, and I'll sell it for ten shillings."
--Henry Mayhew's "London Labour and the London Poor," 1851

Friday 22 November:
Feast day of St. Cecilia, a patroness of musicians. It was believed that
angels returned to Earth to listen to her play music.
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Deb L