MUSIC. 
new governments, may be /bid to have experienced feve- 
ral deaths and regenerations ; or, according to the Py- 
thagoric dodlrine, their /buls may be 1'aid to have tranf- 
migrated through -feveral bodies, lince they have been 
inhabitants of this world. 
“ With refpedt to the number of firings upon this harp, 
if conjectures may be allowed concerning the manner of 
tuning them, two might be offered to the reader’s choice. 
The firfl idea that prefented itfelf at the fight of thirteen 
firings was, that they would furnifh all the femitones to 
be found in modern inflruments within the compafs of 
an odtave, as from C to c, D to d, or E to e. The lecond 
idea is more Grecian, and conformable to antiquity, 
which is, that if the longefl firing reprefented projlam- 
banomcnos, or D, the remaining twelve firings'would 
more than fupply all the tones, femi-tones, and quarter- 
tones, of the diatonic, chromatic, and enharmonic, ge¬ 
nera of the ancients, within the compafs of an odlave ; 
but, for my part, I fhould rather incline to the firfl ar¬ 
rangement, as it is more natural, and more conformable 
to the ftrudlure of our organs than the fecond 5 for, with 
refpedl to the genera of the Greeks, though no certain 
liilloric teflimonycan be produced concerning the inven¬ 
tion of the diatonic and chromatic, yet ancient writers 
are unanimous in afcribing to Olympus the Myfian the 
firfl ufe of the enharmonic ; and though, in the begin¬ 
ning, the melody of this genus was fo limple and natural 
as to relemble the wild notes and rude eflays of a people 
not quite emerged from barbarifm, yet, in after-times, it 
became overcharged with finical fopperies, and fanciful 
beauties, arifing from fuch minute divilions of the fcale 
as had no other merit than the difficulty of forming them. 
Another conjecture concerning the tuning of the thir¬ 
teen firings of the Theban harp, is, that they furnifhed 
the four tetrachords, lir/paton, mej'on, fynemmenon, and 
diezeugvienon, with proflambanomenos at the bottom, as 
fhown, with the inflrument itfelf, at fig. 2. 
“ It feems a matter of great wonder, with fuch a model 
before their eyes as the Theban harp, that the form and 
ufe of fuch an inflrument fhould not have been perpe¬ 
tuated by poflerity; but that many ages after, another, 
of an inferior kind, with fewer firings, fhould take place 
of it; yet, if we confider how little acquainted we are at 
prefent with the ufe, and even conllru&ion, of the inflru¬ 
ments which afforded the greatefl delight to the Greeks 
and Romans, or even with others in common ufe in a 
neighbouring part of Europe but a few centuries ago, our 
wonder will ceafe ; efpecially if we refleft upon the igno¬ 
rance and barbarifm into which it is poffible for an inge¬ 
nious people to be plunged, by the tyranny and devafta- 
tion of a powerful and cruel invader.” 
It is but of fmall importance to us now, perhaps, to 
know what kind of muiical inflruments were in ufe 
among the Egyptians, in times fo remote from our own ; 
indeed, it is a humiliating circumftance to refleft how 
little permanence there is in human knowledge and ac¬ 
quirements; and, before we attempt to improve our in¬ 
tellects, or refine our reafon, how long and laborious a 
work it is to devife expedients for fupplying the wants, 
and defending the weaknefs, of our nature. Some ages, 
and fome countries, have been more fuccefsful in thefe 
endeavours than others ; however, there feeVns to be a 
boundary fet to the fum total of our perfectibility, and, 
like the llone of Sifyphus, when we are arrived with infi¬ 
nite toil at a certain height, we are precipitated back to 
the level whence we fet off, and the work is to do again ! 
The Greeks, who loft no merit by negleCting to claim it, 
unanimoufly confefs, that moil of their ancient muiical in¬ 
flruments were of Egyptian invention ; as the triangular 
lyre; the monaulos, oriingle flute; the fymbal,'or kettle¬ 
drum; and theflflrum,an inflrument of facrifice, which was 
fo multiplied by the priefls in religious ceremonies, and in 
fuch great favour with the Egyptians in general, that 
Egypt was often called, in deriiion, “ the country of iif- 
trumsas Greece has been laid to be governed by the lyre. 
317 
Theflftrum is flill ufed by the Abyflinians in religious 
ceremonies. Spoil defcribes it of an oval form, made in 
manner of a racket, with three flicks traverfing it breadth- 
wile, which, playing freely by the agitation or beating of 
the inflrument, yielded a kind of found, which, to the an¬ 
cients, feemed melodious. The upper part was adorned 
with three figures; that of a cat with a human face in the 
middle, the head of Ifis on the right fide, and the head of 
Nephthys on the left. The reprefentation which we have 
given at fig. 3. was drawn from an ancient fillrum pre- 
lerved in the library of St. Genevieve at Paris. It has 
been difputed by the abbe Winckelman, whether the 
fillrum was of very high antiquity in Egypt, becaufe it 
did not appear in the hands of fuch Egyptian flatues as 
he had feen at Rome; but, as there is one in the hand of 
a very ancient flatue of Ifis which Dr. Pococke brought 
into England from Egypt, it puts that point of muiical 
hiflory out of all difpute. The fillrum appears in the 
Ifiac Table; and Apuleius makes an old Greek invoke 
an Egyptian priefl “ by the flars in the firmament; by 
the infernal divinities ; by the elements which compofe 
the univerfe ; by the filence of the night; by the fanc- 
tuary in the temple of Coptos; by the increafe of the 
Nile ; by the myiteries of Memphis ; and by the fillrum 
of Pharos.” By Pharos, an Egyptian ifland, was here 
figuratively meant all Egypt. Mr. Malcolm takes the 
fillrum to have been no better than a kind of rattle. 
Jer. Bofius has an exprefs treatife on the fillrum, entitled, 
“ Ifiacus de Siflro.” Oifelius oblerves, that the fillrum is 
found reprefented on feveral medals; and alfo on 'talif- 
mans. Ofiris, on fome medals, is painted with the head 
of a dog, and with a fiflrum in his hand. 
We lhall now return to Mr. Bruce, whofe original 
communications, publilhed by Dr. Burney, are extremely 
valuable. 
There are fix muiical inflruments known in Abyffinia ; 
the flute, the trumpet, the kettle-drum, the tambourine, 
the fiflrum, and the lyre. The four firfl are ufed in war, 
and are by much the moil common ; the fifth is dedicated 
to the fervice of the church ; and the fixth is peculiarly 
an attendant on feflivity and rejoicings. 
There are two principal languages in Abyffinia : the 
JEthiupic, which is the literal, or dead language; and the 
Amharic, or language of Amhara, fpoken by the court. 
The flute, in the Asthiopic, is called kwetz, a word 
difficult to be written or founded in Englifh : in the Am¬ 
haric, it is called agada. It is about the fhape and fize of 
the German flute, but played upon long-ways, with a 
mouth-piece refembling that of the clarinet; its tone is 
not loud, but accompanied with a kind of jar, like a 
broken hautbois; not owing to any accidental defedl, 
but to conflrublion and defign, as it would not be ef- 
teemed without it. It is probable that the jar arifes 
from the vibration of a reed, which conflitutes the dif¬ 
ference between the tone of a hautbois and a flute. 
The kettle-drum is called in both languages nagareet , 
becaufe all proclamations (called nagar) are made by the 
found of this drum. If made by governors, they have 
the force of laws in their provinces; but, if made by the 
king, they are for all Abyffinia ; for the kettle-drum is a 
mark of fovereign power. Whenever the king promotes 
a fubjedl to be governor, or his lieutenant-general in a 
province, he gives him a kettle-drum and flandard as his^ 
invefliture. The king has forty-five of thefe drums al¬ 
ways beating before him when he marches. They are in 
ffi'ape and fize like ours, only they are braced very difad- 
vantageoufly; for the fkin is Itrained over the outer rim 
or lip of the drum,.and brought a third down its outfide, 
which deadens it exceedingly, and deprives it of that clear 
etallic found which ours has, Each man has but a/in¬ 
gle drum, upon the left fide of his mule, and beats it with 
a crooked Hick about three feet long. Upon the whole, 
its found is not difagreeabie; and it is heard at an incre¬ 
dible dillance. 
The third inilrument is the fmall drum, called kabut\> 
in 
