L Y R 
tians did formerly, according to Apollodorus and Lucian ; 
but, having now loft that refource, they have adopted 
In its place a particular fpecies of gourd, or pumpkin, very 
hard and thin in the bark, ftill imitating with the knife 
the fquares, compartments, and figure, of the fhell of the 
tortoife. This lyre is generally from three feet to three 
feet fix inches high ; that is, from a line drawn through 
the point of the horns to the lower part of the bafe of 
the founding-board. It is exceedingly light, and eafy of 
carriage, as an inftrument fliould naturally be in fo rug¬ 
ged and mountainous a country. When we confider the 
parts which compofe this lyre, we cannot deny it the ear- 
lielt antiquity. Man in his firft (late was a hunter and a 
fifher, and the oldeft inflrument was that which partakes 
moft of that ftate. The lyre, compofed of two principal 
pieces, owes the one to the horns of an animal, the other to 
the fhell of a fifh. It is probable, that the lyre continued 
with the Ethiopians in this rude ftate as long as they con¬ 
fined themfelves to their rainy, fteep, and rugged, moun¬ 
tains ; and afterwards, when many of them defcended 
along the Nile into Egypt, its portability would recom¬ 
mend it in the extreme heats and wearinefs of their way. 
Upon their arrival in Egypt, they took up their habitation 
in caves, in the fides of mountains, which are inhabited 
to this day. Even in thefe circumftances, an inftrument 
larger than the lyre rnuft have been inconvenient and lia¬ 
ble to accidents in thofe caverns; but, when thefe people 
increafed in numbers and courage, they ventured down 
into the plain, and built Thebes. Being now at their eafe, 
and in a fine climate, all nature fmiling around them, 
mulic and other arts were cultivated and refined, and the 
imperfeft lyre was extended into an inftrument of double 
its compafs and volume. The fize of the harp could be 
now no longer an obje&ion ; the Nile carried the inhabi¬ 
tants every-where eafily, and without effort; and we may 
naturally fuppofe, in the fine evenings of that country, that 
the Nile was the favourite fcene upon which this inftru¬ 
ment was praftifed ; at leaft the fphinx and lotus upon 
its head, feem to hint that it was fomeway connected with 
the overflowings of that river.” 
The Indian lyre, called the vina or been, is a fretted in¬ 
ftrument of the guitar kind. The finger-board is 2i|-ths 
inches long. A little beyond each end of the finger¬ 
board are two large gourds, and beyond thefe are the pegs 
and tail-piece which hold the wires. The whole length 
of the inftrument is three feet feven inches. The firft 
gourd is fixed at ten inches from the top, and the fecond 
at about two feet uj. The gourds are very large, about 
fourteen inches diameter, and have a round piece cut out 
of the bottom, about five inches diameter. The finger¬ 
board is about two inches wide. The wires are feven in 
number; and confift of two fteel ones, very clofe together, 
in the right fide ; four brafs ones on the finger-board ; 
and one brafs one on the left fide. The great Angularity 
of this inftrument is the height of the.frets; that nearelt 
the nut is one inch §, and that at the other extremity 
about jjths of an inch, and the decreafe is pretty gradual. 
By this means the finger never touches the finger-board 
itfelf. The frets are fixed on with wax by the performer 
himfelf, which he does entirely by ear ; but any little dif¬ 
ference is eafily corrected by the preflure of the finger. 
Indeed the performers are fond, on any note that is at all 
long, of prefling the firings very hard, and letting it return 
immediately to its natural tenfion, which produces a found 
fomething like the clofe {hake on the violin ; but not 
with fo agreeable an effe£t; for it appears lometimes to 
alter the found half a tone. The frets are nineteen in 
number. The inftrument is held over the left flioulder, 
the upper gourd refting on that flioulder, and the lower 
one on the right knee. * The frets are flopped with the 
left-hand ; the firft and fecond fingers are principally ufed ; 
the little finger is fometimes ufed, the third finger feldom, 
the hand fhifting up and down the finger-board with 
great rapidity. The fingers of the right hand are ufed 
to ftrike the firings of this hand 5 the third finger is never 
VOi.. XIII. No. 94.9. 
L Y R 841 
ufed. The two firft fingers ftrike the wires on the finger¬ 
board, and the little finger ftrikes the two wires. The 
two firft fingers of this hand are defended by a piece of 
wire put on the tops of them in the manner of a thimble; 
when the performer plays ftrong, this caufes a very jarring 
difagreeable found ; whereas, when he plays foftly, the 
tone of the inftrument is remarkably pleafmg. The ftyle- 
of mulic on this inftrument is in general that cf great exe¬ 
cution. “I could hardly ever difcover any regular air 
or fubjeft. The mulic feems to confift of a number of 
detached paffages, fome very regular in their afcent and 
defcent; and thofe that are played foftly, are moft of them 
both uncommon and pleafir.g. The open wires are (truck, 
from time to time, iti a mannerthat, I think, prepares the 
ear fora change of modulation, to which the uncommonly 
full and fine tones of thefe notes greatly contribute; but 
the ear is, I think, always difappointed; and, if there is 
ever any tranfition from the principal key, I am inclined 
to think it is very fliort. Were there any other circum ¬ 
ftances refpecting the Indian mulic. which led to fuppofe 
that it has, at fame period, been much fuperior to the 
prefent praftice, the ftyle, fcale, and antiquity, of this 
inftrument would, I think, greatly confirm the fuppofi- 
tion.” Afiatic Refearches, vol. i. 
LYR/IA, a town of Spain, in Valencia: eighteen miles 
north-weft of Valencia. 
LYR'IC,^ A poet who writes fongs to the harp.—■ 
The greateft conqueror in this nation, after the manner 
of the old Grecian lyrics, did not only compofe the words 
of his divine odes, but fet them to mulic himfelf. Addifon. 
LYR'IC, or Lyr'ical, adj. Pertaining to a harp, or 
to odes or poetry fung to a harp ; finging to a harp.—- 
Somewhat of the purity of Englifli, fomewhat of more 
equal thoughts, fomewhat offweetnefs in the numbers; in 
one word, fomewhat of a finer turn, and more lyrical 
verfe, is yet wanting. Dryden. 
The lute neglefted, and the lyric mufe, 
Love taught my tears in fadder notes to flow, 
And tun’d my heart to elegies of woe. Pope. 
Lyric Poetry, with the ancients, implied verfes t* 
be fung to the accompaniment of the lyre. In the Tup- 
plement to the firft edition of the folio Encyclopedic, there 
is a very long article on the fubject, which, written long 
before the firm adherents to Lulli and Rameau were ex¬ 
tinct, is of great length, and feems to flow from a writer 
who had read, meditated, and felt, with entliufiafm, all 
the infpirations of the lyric bards of Greece. He has 
taken a wide range in treating the fubjeft, and confidered 
the union of poetry and mulic, not only with more en¬ 
larged views than any other modern, but perhaps than 
the ancients themfelves. Ke begins in the following 
manner: “ The lyric poetry of the Grecians was not only 
fung, but compofed to the chords of the lyre. This was 
at firft'the characleriftic diftinftion of all that was called ly¬ 
ric poetry by the Romans, and their defcendants and imi¬ 
tators in later times. The poet was a mufician, he called 
upon the god of verfe, and animated himfelf with a prelude. 
He fixed upon the time, the movement, and the mufical 
period ; the melody gave birth to the verfe ; and thence 
was derived the unity of rhythm, charafter, and expreflion, 
between the mufic and the poem that was fung. Thus 
the poetry became naturally fubfervient to number and 
cadence; and thus each lyric poet invented not only the 
proper kind of verfe, but alfo the ftrophe analogous to 
the melody which he himfelf had created, and to which he 
compofed it. In this refpefi, the lyric poein or ode with 
the Latins and with modern nations, has been nothing 
more than a frivolous imitation of the lyric poem of the 
Greeks : they fay, I Jing, but never do fing ; they (peak, 
of the chords of the lyre, but have never feen a lyre. * No> 
poet, fince Horace inclulively, appears to have modelled 
his odes upon a melody. Horace, adopting by turns the 
different formulas of the Greek poets, feems fo much to 
have forgotten that an ode ought to be fung, that he has. 
9 'A ; often 
