A^' ESSAY ON iiusrc. 



667 



improvement from Egypt, and that Hermes 

 was also the inventor of the l^'re with seven 

 strings. Pythagoras, or Simonides, about 

 the year 500, added an eighth, and Timo- 

 theus a ninth string : the number was after- 

 wards extended to two octaves ; and Epigo- 

 nus is said so have used a lyre of forty 

 strings, or rather a harp, as he played with- 

 out a plectrum : but the theory of the an- 

 cient music soon became more intricate than 

 interesting. The lyre of eight strings com- 

 prehended an octave^ corresponding pretty 

 accurately with the notes of our natural 

 scale, beginning with e : the key note was a, 

 so that tlie melody appears to have borne 

 usually a minor third, which has also been 

 observed to be the case in the airs of most 

 uncultivated nations ; but there was a con- 

 sideraljlc diversity in tlie manner of tuning 

 the4}'re, according to the great variety of 

 mod€8 and genera tlwit were introduced. 

 These modes were of a nature totally differ- 

 ent from the modern modulations into vari- 

 oas keys, but they must have afforded a more 

 copious fund of striking. If not of pleasing 

 melodies, than we have at present. In some 

 of the genera, intervals of about a qiiaiter 

 tone were employed ; but this practice, on 

 ac'countof its difficulty, was soon abandoned; 

 a difficulty which is not easily overcome by 

 the most experienced of modern singers ; al- 

 though some great masters have been said to 

 introduce a progression of quarter tones, in 

 pathetic passages, with surprising effect. 

 The tibia of the ancientsj as it appears evi- 

 dently from I'heophrastus, although, not 

 from the misinterpretations of his commenta- 

 tors and of Pliny, had a reed mouth piece 

 about three itjches long, and therefore was 

 more properly a clarinet than a flute ; and the 

 same performer generally played on two 



at once, and not in unison. Pollux, in the 

 time of Commodus, describes, under the 

 name of the Tyrrhene pipe, exactly such an 

 organ as is figured by Hawkins, composed of 

 brass lubes, and blown by bellows : nor does 

 he mention it as a new discovery : it apjiears, 

 from other authors, to have been often fur- 

 nished with several registers of pipes; and it 

 is scarcely possible that the performer, wiio 

 is represented by Julian as having consider- 

 able execution, should have been contented 

 without occasionally adding harmony' to his 

 melody. That the voice was accompanied 

 by thorougii bass on the lyre, is undeniably 

 proved by a passage of Plato: and that the 

 ancients had some knowledge of singing in 

 three puns, is evident i'rom Macrobius. 

 Martini, who is one of die strongest oppo- 

 nents of that opinion, which attributes to the 

 ancients a knowledge of counterpoint, ob- 

 serves, that " they allowed no concords bul 

 the octave, fourth, and fifth, or at most very 

 rarely the thin! ; yet tiiey were not without 

 a knowledge of concord of harmonious paits. 

 It is known with certainty, that two parts, 

 whether vocal or instmniental, or mixed, 

 besides unison, performed at the same time 

 the same melody, either always in octaves 

 or pj'obably always in fifths, or always in 

 foiirllis ; which was called a symphony : 

 perhaps also, they changed in the course of 

 the performance from one interval to an- 

 other, add this might be done by more than 

 two parts at the same time." It is not im- 

 probable that this statement mav be accu- 

 rate : nor is it necessiiry to suppose a very 

 exquisite and refined skill in the intricacies 

 of composition,, to produce all the effects 

 that have with any probability been altri- 

 . buted to music. It is well known thatllousseau 

 and others have maintained, that harmony 



