The Decticus: his Instrument 



Snail, held between two fingers of the closed 

 fist, imitated the Partridge's call; a trumpet 

 formed of a wide strip of bark rolled into 

 a horn reproduced the bellowing of the Bull ; 

 a few gut-strings stretched across the empty 

 shell of a calabash grated out the first notes 

 of our stringed instruments; a Goat's blad- 

 der, fixed on a solid frame, was the original 

 drum; two flat pebbles struck together at 

 measured intervals led the way for the click 

 of the castagnettes. Such must have been 

 the primitive musical materials, materials 

 still preserved by the child, which, with its 

 simplicity in things artistic, is so strongly 

 reminiscent of the big child of yore. 



Classical antiquity knew no others, as wit- 

 ness the shepherds of Theocritus and 

 Virgil. 



Sihestrem tenui musam meditaris avena, 

 says Meliboeus to Tityrus. 1 



1 " Beneath the shade which beechen boughs diffuse, 

 You, Tityrus, entertain your sylvan muse. 



These blessings friend, a deity bestowed: 



He gave my kine to graze the flowery plain 

 And to my pipe renewed the rural strain." 



Pastorals: book i.; Dryden's translation. 

 249 



