296 
we will now sing one which our northern neighbours have not 
appropriated, “The Bailiff’s Daughter of Islington.” 
In conclusion, it may be well to notice the instruments for 
which music was composed at this time: they were the lute, the 
virginals, the spinet, and the harpsichord. The last three were 
constructed on the principle of the piano, but all were inferior to 
it. It was impossible on either of them to obtain gradations of 
tone, piano or forte, or a sustained note. The harpsichord had 
two strings to each note, the spinet, a weaker brother, had but one. 
Dr. Burney describes the note as a scratch, with a sound at the 
end of it ; the scratch being produced by a quill which struck the 
wire. 
We have in the British Museum the Yirginal Book of Queen 
Elizabeth: the music written by the best composers of her time, 
is not at all easy of execution: many pieces would tax the skill of 
good modern players. Indeed, it must have required marvellous 
dexterity in those days, for in their method of fingering, the use of 
the thumb and the little finger of each hand was strictly forbidden, 
and this restriction remained till 1718, when Purcell, Bach, and 
others introduced the modern fingering. 
Time will not permit us to enter upon the next period, when 
Purcell, Dr. Arne, Dibdin, Shield, and a host of other composers, 
ably sustained the reputation of English music; but in order to 
leave a vocal impression, after our mention of the musical instru- 
ments, we will trespass over the boundary, and take two examples 
of the Glee. 
[“O happy fair,” by Shield, and “Hark! the lark,” 
by Dr. Cooke, were sung by a choir consisting of Mrs. Russell, the 
Misses Knowles, Parker, and Barnish ; and Messrs. W. Mc.Gowan, 
and Feldtmann, who as a choir, or individually, also sang the 
previous illustrations. | 
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