Art. VIII.— the ^OLIAN HARP. 



All our readers have heard of the ^olian Harp — the Harp of the 

 Winds ? They have read about it in the poets, who have celebrated 

 its virtues in their choicest strains, as for example, in such as follow 

 by Montgomery : 



Thiis o'er the light iEolian Lyre, 



The winds of dark Noveuiher stray. 

 Touch the quick neiTe of every wii'e, 



And on its magic pulses play, 



Till all the aii' around 



3Iysterious miirmurs fill, 

 A strange, bewildering dream of soimd. 



Most heavenly, sweet, yet mournful still. 



And yet comparatively few have heard the harp itself. To most 

 persons it exists only as a fancy, if indeed it exist at all, classified 

 with syrens and mermaids. Flutes, pianos, and organs, are realities, 

 facts, everywhere discoursing sounds, artificial, prosaic — as destitute 

 of the spirituality of music, as is the jingle of coin. But the mys- 

 terious harp of the winds — what is it ? Is it a mere creation of the 

 poet, as vain as the existence of old ^olus himself? Sometimes 

 when the damp south wind blows, we hear just outside the window or 

 door of our cottage, where old and young are gathered after night- 

 fall, a mournful strain of soft, sweet music, now murmuring low, 

 now wailing loud, now lulling into silence. Was that the harp of 

 iEolus ? Not quite. It was his heavy, damp breath — fore-runner of 

 storms — pouring through a crevice in the wainseoat, or perhaps a 

 key-hole, thus strangely made a liUe. It might then, have been his 

 lute, or perchance his voice, but certainly not his Tiarp. 



It is our good fortune to possess a genuine 'harp of the winds,' 

 and its warbling notes, rich, plaintive and indescribably sweet, even 

 now inspire our meditations while we write. If there be in the bo- 

 som of the reader an answering chord to nature's melodies, such as 

 there seems to be in our own, while listening to these strains of more 

 than earthly music, he will read patiently the account we give of the 

 construction of this simple instrument, and our attempt at the ex- 

 planation of its phenomena. 



A box is constructed of spruce or hemlock boards, (the latter is 



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