MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 
tones of such wires as are struck by the 
hammers, so soon as the finger is taken off 
from tlie key. The devices for damping, as 
it is technically called, have been numerous ; 
and their several inventors have never fail- 
ed to Tiphold their own modes, as the ne 
phis ultra of ingenuity. It would, perhaps, 
be impossible to detail their several merits 
with any shew of utility to the reader, or 
with impartiality to the inventors : if, how- 
ever, simplicity of construction, certainty of 
action, and facility of repair, may give a 
claim to pre-eminence, the common balance- 
damper may assuredly urge its pretensions 
to the palm. This is nothing more than a 
round stem, like a small cedar-pencil, which 
is crossed at righ): angles by a flat bar, 
one of whose ends is slit, so that it may be 
guided by a slender perpendicular pin, as it 
rises, in consequence of the key’s pressure 
upwards ; at the other end is a small piece 
of broad cloth, single or double, according 
ot the powers of the wire (the longest vi- 
brating most forcibly). This little piece 
of cloth, by falling on the wire when the 
key is released, instantly stops the sound. 
The reader will, from this description, col- 
lect, that, when slow passages are played, 
the continuance of each note is in exact 
ratio with the time of the key’s being kept 
down ; and, that, in rapid passages, where 
the touches are light and transient, even 
defying the quickest eye to follow the 
movements of the fingers, the operation of 
the dampers must be as rapid as that of the 
hammers, else a confusion of tones will be 
heard. 
Most grand piano-fortes have two pedals, 
one for each foot, communicating with the 
interior. One serves to raise all the dam- 
pers completely, which in tuning is a con- 
siderable convenience ; the other serves to 
tlirow the Whole of the key-frame to the 
right, more or less ; by this means the ham- 
mers are slid at the same moment, in a 
body, about a quarter of an inch to the 
right ; so as to quit either one or two, at 
pleasure, of tlie left hand wires of each 
note ; and to strike upon only one, or two, 
as judged proper for the greater or less 
diminution of sound. Other pedals are 
sometimes affixed for the purpose of open- 
ing a kind of flat cover, like Venetian blinds, 
laying over the wires, thereby to allow 
more or less sound to pass. The sounding- 
board, or belly, is made of very fine narrow 
deals, chiefly imported from the continent, 
so closely joined that, in many, no line, or 
indication of junction, can be distinguished. 
This belly returns the sound, causing it to 
reverberate very forcibly. The long keys 
are exteriorly covered with ivory plates 5 
and the semitones, or sharp and flat keys, 
are made of ebony : they stand higher, but 
are nearly two inches shorter than the keys 
of the natural notes. 
The Harpsichord is of the plectrated 
species, whereas the piano forte is of the 
pulsatile. The former resembles the grand 
piano-fbi'te in every instance, excepting that, 
in lien of hammers, it has jacks; which, ris- 
ing perpendicularly, pass the wires, and by 
means of short pieces of stiff quill, project- 
ing from tlieir sides, displace the wires from 
their right lines, and consequently cause 
them to sound so soon as the quills have 
passed. The dampers of the harpsichords 
are on the jacks. This instrument is partly 
derived from the polyplectrura of Guido. 
The Square Piano Forte is very different 
in form from the grand. It, however, has 
an action, or movements, nearly similar. Its 
belly is short, and the bridge, or the sound- 
ing board, is rather curved. In some the 
tuning-pegs, which are four or in a line, 
form a kind of column on the right ; in 
others they are immediately beyond that 
bridge which is nearly parallel with the 
keys. Each note has two wires; those 
in alt, and, indeed, down to G on the 
clef-line are usually steel, from No. 8 to 12; 
the middle notes have brass wire ; about 
half an octave of the bass part are furnished 
with copper; and the eight or ten lowest 
notes are of brass wire, on which a thinner 
wire of the same metal is wound in an open 
spiral manner ; whereby a deep tone is pro- 
duced. A patent has lately been taken 
out, by a manufacturer in Golden-square, 
for bass notes formed entirely of spiral 
wires. This is founded on the principle of 
increased length giving an increase of 
tone: these bass notes are, no doubt, louder 
than those on the common Construction, 
but it remains to be ascertained how far 
they can bear comparison with them in other 
essential qualities. The square piano-foi tes 
are made with pedals, but not for sliding 
the keys and removing the hammers late- 
rally. That could not be done to any pur- 
pose in this instrument ; as the wires, in- 
stead of receding from the player in a per- 
pendicular line with the keys, lie across at 
nearly right angles. One pedal is all that 
is necessary, namely, to raise the dampers 
while tuning. Many young ladies raise the 
dampers while playing, for the purpose of 
increasing the sound ; they certainly suc- 
P p 2 
