THE HARP 309 



progress, although probably much more in home or 

 domestic than in orchestral music performed in 

 public. Thus we find that an instrument beautiful 

 to our ears, and with the quality of expression which 

 should make it dear to our hearts, may yet lose 

 favour. The harp is an example: and in this case 

 it may be said that it was ousted from the house 

 by the piano, a bigger, louder, more varied instru- 

 ment ; an important-looking piece of furniture for 

 a drawing-room; moreover, an instrument that any 

 daughter of the house, however stupid or unmusical 

 she might be, could be taught to strum on after a 

 fashion. Again, we see that in orchestral music the 

 harp has become almost negligible, and for a good 

 reason, since that which is best in it, its delicate and 

 tender expression, is lost in sounds that express more to 

 us, greater emotions, and have a more violent appeal. 

 We may say then that the piano superseded the 

 harp because it was more suitable for everyone, 

 including the coarser-minded and stumpy-fingered, 

 whereas the harp called for special qualities in the 

 player which are not common, certainly not universal 

 — refinement and what was once called sensibility, 

 and above all spirituality. May we not go even 

 further and believe that such an instrument in the 

 house, with such a history — it is really "older than 

 history" and after a thousand changes was brought 

 down but a little over a century ago to its present 

 state of exquisite perfection — may we not believe 

 that the music of such an instrument, with the sight 

 of its beautiful shape, has a reflex effect on player 



