INSTRUMENT, 



VDuld have upon tlieni, and found that none who lieard it 

 could continui" foated, but that all tofe up and continued the 

 whole time in motion. 



" The fifth inilrument is the liftrum: it is ufed in the quick, 

 nieafure, or in allegros, in tinging pfalms of thankfgiving. 

 Each priell has a fiftrum which he (hakes in a very threaten- 

 ing manner at his neighbour, dancing, leaping, and turning 

 round witli fuch an indecent violence, that lie refembles 

 rather a prieft of paganifm, whence this inilrument was de- 

 rived, than a Chriltian. I have forgot the name of the 

 fiftrum in Ethiopic, but on looking into my notes I fhall 

 find it. 



■ " The fixth and laft inftrument is the lyre, which is never 

 played folo, but always in accompanying the voice, with 

 which it plays conftantly in unifon ; nor did I ever hear mufic 

 m parts, in any nation, favage or poli(hcd, out of Europe : 

 this is the laft refinement mufic received, after it was in pof- 

 feflion of complete inftruments, and it received it probably 

 in Italy. 



'♦ The lyre has fometimes five, fometimes fix, but moft fre- 

 quently feven ftrings, made of the thongs of raw fheep or 

 goat flcins, cut extremely fine, and twifted ; they rot foou, 

 are very fubjeft to break in dry weather, and have fcarcc 

 any found in wet. From the idea, however, of this inftru- 

 ment being to accompany and fuftain a voice, one would 

 think that it was better mounted formerly. 



■ " The Abyffinians have a tradition, that the fiftrum, lyre, 

 and tambourine were brought from Egypt into ^Ethiopia, by 

 Thot, in the very firft ages of the world. The flute, kettle- 

 drum, and trumpet, they fay, were brouglit from Paleftine 

 with Menclek, the fon of their queen of Saba, by Solomon, 

 who was their firft Jewilh king. 



"The lyre in Amharic is called beg (the flieep) ; in 

 Ethiopic, it is called mesTnko ; the verb ^iiio fignifies to 

 ftrike ftrings with the fingers : no pleBrum is ever ufed in 

 Abyflinia, fo that mejmho being literally interpreted, will 

 fignify " the ftringed inftrument played upon with the fin- 

 gers." This would feem as if anciently there was no other 

 ftringed inftrument in Abyflinia, nor is there any other ftill." 

 See TiiEBAX Harp, with Mr. Bruce's drawing and ac- 

 count of it, in the fame volume. 



Modern mufical inftruments will be defcribed under their 

 feveral heads as they occur. 



In modern times, fince harmony lias fuftained fo important 

 a part in mufic, mufical inftruments have been divided \nX.o per- 

 fea and imperfeS, the firft of thefe being fuch as are capable of 

 executing or founding as many notes of different pitches 

 within a given compafs, as within an oftave for inftance, as 

 the harmony of the mufic performed upon it may require, 

 without being forced to introduce notes, which make falfe 

 or tempered intervals, or ivolves with the other notes of the 

 piece, founded at the fame time ; as in the fecond clafs 

 neceffarily happens, in very numerous inftances, where the 

 notes are previoufly fixed and tuned, as it is called, to fome 

 certain fcale orfyftemof 12 notes within theoftave, and which 

 notes the performer of any one part in a piece of mufic has 

 not the power of altering and adjufting to the true harmonic 

 relation with the fimultaneous notes of the bafs, or other 

 principal part : imperfeft inftruments are not, however, con- 

 fined to thofe with 12 ftrings, pipes, &:c. in an oftave, but 

 the term applies, though in a lefs degree, to inftruments 

 with 14, 16, or 17 ilrings, as flicwn in our article Hawke's 

 temperament of the mufical fcale, where his 1 7 notes in tiie 

 oftave are proved to be incapable of banifiiing wolves, or 

 falfe intervals, even from tempered fyftems, and which 

 • Vol. XIX. 



Dr. Smith's harpfichords with n notes in the oftave 

 were alike unable to efFedl:, in the numerous paflages of 

 modern mufic where double fliarps or double flats oc- 

 cur : but on the improved organs and piano fortes of 

 D. Loefchman, whofe fcale is extended to 24 notes, 

 all fuch notes as ufually occur can be truly given, accord- 

 ing to any afiigned fyftem of temperament. The vio- 

 hn, viola, bafs-viol or violoncello, and double bafs, have 

 held a diftinguiftied rank in modern refined concerts a» 

 perfeft inftruments, and were, indeed, the only inftrumentt 

 that fliould be admitted to accompany the human voice, 

 which exceeds, in the perfeftion of its fcale, any inftrument 

 whatever, fince a vocal performer, with a good ear and in- 

 tonation, can inftantly ftrike a perfeft interval to any note 

 whatever, without the leaft beating or degree of tempera- 

 ment or imperfedion in the harmony, and this he does, by 

 attempering the leaps or intervals of the melody (fee Melo- 

 dy, Temperaments of) : it being abfolutely and demonftrably 

 impoflible to avoid temperaments, or the ufe of imperfeft 

 intervals, either in the harmony or in the melody, (but they 

 need not be ufed in both,) on perfeft inftruments, as on im- 

 perfeft inftruments they neceflarily muft, as is Ihewn in our 

 article Harmony, Temperaments of: the late Mr. Maxwell, 

 in the year 1781, in his " EfTay on Tune,'' flcetched out 

 the principles of an organ capable, by means of 44 pipes in 

 each oftave, of entirely banifhing temperaments from the 

 harmony, in 24 keys, 1 2 major and 1 2 minor : but we never 

 heard until very lately, that any one had conftrufted fuch an 

 inftrument. It appears, however, that on the 3d of July 

 1810 the Rev. Henry Lifton took out a patent for his enhar-^ 

 monk organ, and in the autumn of the year ifiued propofal* 

 for publilhing, by fubfcription, " An EITay on perfeft Into- 

 nation," and for exhibiting one of thefe patent organs in 

 London, which had been completed in Scotland, and tuned, 

 fays his profpeftus, " perfeftly true throughout, luithout any 

 temperament whatever, and performs every chord, in every 

 key abfolutely perfea, nor is there any combination which it is 

 not capable of performing." — " The decided fuperiority of 

 the harmony has been acknowledged by the beft judges, and 

 the performers have found no ferious difficulty in the moft 

 fudden and extraneous modulation, or in the wideft range of 

 keys;" fuch were the pretenfions of this fnftrument, and 

 which no mufical perfons that we converfed or correfponded 

 with feemed difpofed to expeft would be realifed : how- 

 ever, in the beginning of this month (April 181 1), Mr. Lifto* 

 arrived in London with his organ, and had it put up at 

 Flight and Robfon's, organ builders in St. Martin's lane, and 

 tuned it, and on the i6th politely gave us the opportunity 

 to be the firft that heard it performed on m London, and of 

 hearing the eff'eft of fome glees fung to it ; which proved 

 delightful indeed, and rather exceeded our expeftations than 

 otherwife, though they had, as above hinted, been raifed 

 above thofe of moft mufical perfons. The Rev. Mr. Lifton 

 alfo favoured us with the perufal of the manufcript of the 

 firft part of his intended work, in which we were delighted to 

 obfervc, that a good knowledge and a correft application of 

 mathematics is combined with a thorough knowledge of 

 compofition, and of the wants of the praftical mufician : 

 the defeft of one of which eflentlal qualifications we have 

 fo often had to deplore, and even to reprobate, in our nume- 

 rous quotations and references to modern writings on tem- 

 perament, and on the nature and magnitude of mufical inter- 

 vals, in the diff'erent articles of our work. Mr. Liilon's work 

 will defcribc an inftrument with 24 pipes in each octave, and 

 to each of which two valves or Ihadcrs, of different fizes, 

 are adapted, affixed to radii from rolls or axles, that can be 

 D d turned 



