The strollers' band is often of uncertain strength.

For when the travelling company meets with misadventure, the orchestra are usually the first to prove unfaithful.
They are the Swiss of the troop.

The receipts fail, and the musicians desert.

They carry their gifts elsewhere, and seek independent markets.

The fairs, the racecourses, the country inn-doors, attract the fiddler, and he strolls on his own account, when the payment of salaries is suspended.