But one bad fault this genius had Of flying into fits, And in great anger once he broke A spinet into bits.
One night her fur by dogship rubbed The right way for a spat, Upon thespinet keys she sprang, Wild music made her feet; And in Scarlatti's soul their rang The tones for music sweet.
This hungry lad prayed often there That some day he might own A lovely spinet in whose keys Were fairies' magic tones.
There is now no billiard table but instead a spinning-wheel, and a dainty, old-fashioned spinet upon which little Martha Wentworth learned to play.
Pianos in those days were rarely seen, for the old-time harpsichord and spinet had scarcely gone out of style.
He began to learn theSpinet when he was seven years old.
So faithfully did the little boy practise that the spinet was soon quite worn out and new jacks, or hammers, had to be made for it.
This made him so impatient and finally so curious that he began to break the spinet to pieces with a hammer.
Fortunately the noise he made brought his father into the room and the spinet was saved.
When Giuseppe was making his first attempt to find beautiful chords on the spinet he was, as we have said, seven years old.
I noted with secret delight that the songs she chose, when she went to the spinet at my request, were tinged with a sweet melancholy, which might be that of love.
The old spinetbecame another instrument under the touch of her fingers.
This spinet remained one of Verdi's most treasured possessions.
The Queen pressed down the levers of the spinet once or twice, and the thin, sweet chords like the ghost of a harp rang out into the room.
There will be lessons on the spinet and in dancing.
I made a robin's song on the spinet quite by myself, one afternoon.
Patty has seen to it that I shall know something besides strumming on the spinet and reading French verse.
He had listened to Primrose playing on her spinet and singing pretty old love songs that she did not understand aught of but the rare melody.
There was the spinet and singing of songs, dancing and doing fine needlework.
Every part of the construction of the spinet was improved, and many new minor devices were added; but the harpsichord, in its best estate, was nothing but a spinet, because its strings were always twanged by a piece of quill.
Chickering, near the spinet just mentioned, there is an instrument, made perhaps about the year 1800, which explains why the piano was so slow in making its way.
One of his motets calls for an orchestra of eight trombones, eight violas, eight large flutes, a spinet and a large lute.
The wires of little Handel's spinet were wound with cloth.
About this time, too, he was made happy by having a spinet of his own.
The pink-brown woodwork of the spinet and chair prevent the colour scheme from being cold.
The floor is a chequer of black and white (mottled) marble, which gives a fine relief to the dress and repeats the emphatic black of the picture frame; the stand of the spinet is also black striated marble.
He remembered that formerly he also used to play and draw, and he thought that if he had the smallest spinet and some chalks, he could bear it with patience.
D'Harmental gave a double louis to the porter, telling him that in half an hour he wished to have a spinet and some pencils.
And he left his place by the spinet to come and stand immediately before her, barring her passage to the door.
In the background at the right, near the window, a spinet with a chair before it.
He steps across to the spinet which is open, sits down, and softly strikes a number of chords.
Over her thoughts passed the memory of the spinetwhose music she had said he could not touch and waken.
All the musicians dead, dead so long ago, and the old spinet still answering when anyone calls!
He made a gesture of repudiation, and walked across to a spinet of the fifteenth century, inlaid with curious devices by Martin Pacher of Brauneck, and having a painting of his in its lid.
Wanda von Szalras, left alone in her chamber, stood awhile thoughtfully beside the fire; then she moved away and touched the yellow ivory of the spinet keys.
If one be disposed to be sad, surely of all sad things an old spinet is the saddest!
The spinetwould never have spoken,' said the Princess; 'and I am surprised that a Christian woman can say such things, even in joke!
There is a beautiful harpsichord; not a spinet as in Maleszow,--it has five and a half octaves.
We have a spinet and are taught to play upon it by a German teacher, who directs our orchestra; for this service he receives three hundred florins annually.
I bought the loveliest old spinet -- truly, a fine!
When I sit at the spinet and look at Lady Clarissa I often wonder what people do without family traditions.
Before thespinet a bench was placed about four feet below the keys, and I was put upon the bench.
She went to her spinet and ran her fingers over the keys and broke into a song-- Oh, what ails the laddie, new twined frae his mither?
And then she flew to the spinet (a handsome instrument singularly out of keeping with the rest of the plenishing in that odd lodging in the Rue de la Boucherie of Dunkerque), and touched a prelude and broke into an air.
She sat at a spinet playing, and for the sake of this poor exile, sang some of the songs we are acquainted with at home.
In the Boston Gazette, published in 1770, we are told that an excellent spinet had just been completed which for goodness of workmanship and harmony of sound was esteemed by the best judges to be superior to those imported.
Illustration: Double Spinet or Virginal made by Ludovicus Grovvelus Flanders, 1600] The virginal and spinet were almost identical with each other, but the harpsichord was larger and occasionally was built with two keyboards.
It was not until after the revolutionary period that the spinet and harpsichord were superseded in this country by the piano.
Illustration: Clavichord made by John Christopher Jesse, Germany, 1765] In shape the spinet resembled the harp placed horizontally in the framework.
In tone the spinet was usually a fifth higher than that of the harpsichord, which came into favor during the eighteenth century.
On the wet days, which were by no means infrequent, she would sit at her spinet and sing such old songs as that I had listened to on the first night of my coming.
The sound swelled of a sudden, as though the music of a spinet should magically deepen to an organ-harmony.
On the floor were a couple of portmantles, over a chair a cloak and a sword; books, papers, and a bunch of white roses lay on the little spinet in the corner.
She sat down at the spinet and played a little madrigal by Orlando Gibbons that was associated with her earliest childhood.
His hand remained where it was, resting on the spinet behind her, but she loosened her clasp on his lace and drew herself erect.
Finding the room empty he walked up and down idly a while, then stopped before the spinet and began turning over Susannah's fragrant music-sheets.
He seated himself at the spinet so that his profile was towards her; above the gold and pink glimmer of his brocaded coat, his face showed ill and suddenly and strangely worn.
The lace falling round the hand he rested on the spinet shook noticeably.
Of course it is understood that both types of virginals as well as the spinetand the harpsichord were keyed chordophones employing the plucking action of jacks and plectra.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "spinet" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
