3-18 INI U S 
in AEthiopic and Amliaric ; though in fome parts of Am- 
liara it is a!fo called hatamo. It is about half the diameter, 
and twice the length, of our common drum ; it is juft the 
tambourine of Provence, only rounded to a point at the 
lower end. This is beaten always with the hand, and car¬ 
ried fometimes on foot, fometimes on horfeback, when 
any inferior officer (not having a nagareet) marches. 
The trumpet is called meleket henet in Amharic, but 
heren in JEthiopic, (or horn,) which fhows of what ma¬ 
terials it was anciently formed. It is now made of a cane 
that has lefs than half an inch aperture, and about five 
feet four inches in length. To this long ftalk is fixed at 
the end, a round piece of the neck of a gourd, which has 
juft the form of the round end of our trumpet, and is on 
the outfide ornamented with fmall white fhells ; it is all 
covered over with parchment, and is a very neat inftru- 
ment. This trumpet has been already fpoken of at p. 315. 
The fifth inftrument is the fiftrum: it is ufed in the 
quick meafure, or in allegros, in finging pfalms of thankf- 
giving. Each prieft has a fiftrum, which he fliakes in a 
very threatening manner at his neighbour, dancing, leap¬ 
ing, and turning round, with fuch an indecent violence, 
that he refembles rather a prieft of paganifm, whence this 
inftrument was derived, than a Chriftian. See above. 
The fixth and laft inftrument is the lyre, which is never 
played folo, but always accompanying the voice, with 
which it plays conftantly in unifon ; “ nor did I ever hear 
mufic in parts , in any nation, Javage or polijhed, out of Eu¬ 
rope. This is the laft refinement mufic received.”—Its 
conftruftion has been fully defcribed under the article 
Lyre, Vol. xiii. p. 840, 1. and its form is fhown on the 
preceding Plate, at fig. 4. 
The moft ancient reprefentations of the tejiudo, or lyre, 
agree very well with the account of its invention. The 
lyre, in particular on the old celeftial globes, was repre- 
fented as made of the entire Ihell of a tortoife ; and that 
of Amphion in the celebrated group of the Dirce, or 
Toro, in the Farnefe palace at Rome, which is of exqui- 
fite Greek fculpture, and very high antiquity, is figured 
in the fame manner. Dr. Burney had a front and fide 
view' of this lyre drawn under his own eye, in order to 
furnifh the reader with an idea of the form given to the 
inftrument by ancient fculptors, upon the ftrength of this 
legend. See fig. 5, 6. The two projections near the bot¬ 
tom of fig. 5. feem to have been faftenings for the firings, 
and to have anfwered the purpofe of tail-pieces in modern 
inltruments. Amphion was the twin-brother of Zethus, 
who ufurped the crown from Laius, the father of the un¬ 
fortunate QEdipus. But, though Amphion is the firft and 
only Theban mufician upon record in thefe early ages, it 
is very doubtful whether mufic had any of thole obliga¬ 
tions to his genius and talents, which the poets, many 
ages after the time when he is faid to have reigned, be¬ 
llowed upon him. Homer, indeed, tells us, that, to fe- 
cure the crown which he had ufurped, he inclofed the 
city of Thebes with a wall, fortified with feven gates, and 
many ftately towers ; the poet, however, does not fay a 
word of the miraculous power of Amphion’s mufic, or 
of his building the wall by the found of his lyre. Pliny 
afcribes to him, however, the invention of the cithara; 
and both thefe authors fay, that Amphion learned mufic 
in Lydia; and, bringing it from that country into Greece, 
was called the inventor of the Lydian mode. 
II. Of the Hebrews. Plate XIV. 
The conltruCtion and ufe of mufical inltruments have 
a very early place among the inventions attributed to the 
firft inhabitants of the globe by Moles. See Gen. iv. 21. 
and p. 288 of this article. 
The trumpet of the jubilee is mentioned fo foon after 
the flight from Egypt, that it mull have been an Egyptian 
inftrument. See Lev. xxv. 9. 
However, in the infancy of a Hate, a nation has but 
little leilure for cultivating mufic any otherwife than as it 
is connected with religious rites and the military art. 
I c. 
Accordingly, we find no other mufical inftrument men¬ 
tioned during the adminiftration of the great Hebrew le- 
giflator than trumpets, except the timbrel ufed by Mi¬ 
riam. Numb. chap. x. 2. he is ordered by divine com¬ 
mand to make two trumpets of filver of a whole piece, for 
ajfembling together the people, and for journeying the camps. 
And in the eight following verfes all the fignals to be 
founded by one and by two trumpets are regulated. But 
thefe inltruments feem to differ from that of the jubilee, 
mentioned before, in nothing but the materials of which 
they were made; as the Hebrew text, and the feveral 
verlions, agree in calling them all by one common name. 
The trumpets of rams ' 1 horns ufed at the fiege of Jericho, 
feem to have been lefs mufical inltruments than military 
fignals for the allailants to march and Ihout by, in order, 
by their noife, to terrify and difmay the enemy. 
In 2 Sam. vi. 5. we read, that “ David, and all the 
lioufe of Ifrael, played before the Lord, on all manner 
of inltruments made of fir-wood; even on harps, and on 
pfalteii.es, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals." 
This is related 1 Chron. chap. xiii. ver. 8. in nearly the 
fame words. But in the different tranllations thefe in- 
ftruments are differently named. In the Syriac we are 
told, that David and all Ifrael fung "before the Lord, ac¬ 
companied by the cithara, pj’altery, cymbal, and fiftrum. 
And in the Arabic it is flutes , cymbals, hells, and harps. 
It is worthy of notice, as to the ufe of fir-wood, men¬ 
tioned at the beginning of this quotation, that this fpe- 
cies of wood, fo foft in its nature, and fonorous in its ef- 
fe6ts, fee ms to have been preferred by the ancients, as 
well as moderns, to every other kind, for the conftru&ion 
of mufical inltruments, particularly the bellies of them, 
upon which their tone chiefly depends. Thofe of the 
harp, lute, guitar, harpficord, and violin, in prefent ufe, 
are conftantly made of fir-wood. 
In the fifteenth, fixteenth,and twenty-third, chapters of 
the Firft Book of Chronicles, there is a particular account 
and enumeration of all the muficians appointed by David 
in the fervice of the ark, before a temple was ereCled. 
x Chron. xxiii. 5. David appoints four thoufand of the 
Levites topraife the Lord with inltruments; and, chap. xxv. 
ver. 1. the number of fuch as were inftruEted, and were cun¬ 
ning in fong, is faid to have been two hundred fourfcore 
and eight. In 1 Chron. ix. 33. we are told of “ the fingers , 
chief of the fathers of the Levites, who remaining in the 
chambers, were free; for they were employed in that 
work day and night.” Before this time, it does not ap¬ 
pear from the facred writings, that any other inltruments 
than trumpets, or finging than in a general chorus of the 
whole people, were ufed in the daily celebration of reli¬ 
gious rites; though others are mentioned in procejfions, 
and on occafions of joy and feftivity. 
It has ever been the cuftom of legillators and founders 
of religion, in compliance with the prejudices of man¬ 
kind, to retain part of the former laws and religious in- 
ftitutions. The Egyptians divided the inhabitants of 
their country into cafies, or tribes, confining each pro- 
feffion to one family. And, as mufic was many ages con¬ 
fined by them to the prielthood, and to religious pur- 
pofes, the Hebrews, who had their arts and fciences from 
the Egyptians, and who adopted many of their religious 
rites, (as the primitive Chriftians did afterwards thofe of 
the Pagans, in order to conciliate parties, and facilitate 
the eftablilhment of a new worlhip,) made both priefts and 
muficians hereditary in the tribe of Levi. “ And the fons 
of Aaron, the priefts, lhall bloiv with the trumpets, and 
they lhall be to you for an ordnance for ever, throughout 
your generations.” Num.x. 8. Accordingly, during the 
life of Mofes, none but the priefts blew the trumpets, 
whether in peace or war; as, afterwards, in Jolhua’s ad- 
miniftration, both at the fiege of Jericho, and upon all 
other occafions, we find the office of blowing the trum¬ 
pets was ltill confined to the prielthood; and, when 
David firft regulated the mufical eftablilhments for the 
fervice of religion, it appears, that, not only the feleCt 
3 band 
