872 M U S 
Of all mufical inftruments, the barrel-organ is the moft 
eafy of performance, as it merely requires a regular mo¬ 
tion given to it by a handle. On this account, it is an 
inftrument of very general ufe ; and the recent improve¬ 
ments of fome Engiifh artills, have rendered the barrel 
capable of producing an effeft equal to the fingers of the 
firft-rate performers. Barrels are now very’ generally 
added to chamber-organs, operating on the fame pipes 
as the finger-keys, though by a different fet of keys ; 
fo that either barrel or finger-keys may be ufed independ¬ 
ently of each other. Many barrel-organs are conftru&ed 
on an extremely final] fcale, motion being given to them 
by clock-work. The whole inftrument is frequently con¬ 
cealed in fome piece of furniture ; and the clock, being 
previoufly wound up, is put in motion at pleafure, by 
difcbarging a trigger, producing a very agreeable effeit to 
thofe unacquainted with the concealment. 
A moft powerful and grand inftrument of this kind, 
called the Apollonicon, is now exhibiting at Flight and 
Robl'on’s, St. Martin’s-lane, London. This inftrument 
has attracted, in a confiderable degree, the curiofity and 
attention of the mufical world. As a high refult of me¬ 
chanical (kill, and as a mode of producing mufical founds, 
it deferves high ecomium. It is efientially an organ, on 
a very large fcale, and of an extenfive compafs, comprifing 
every (hade and gradation of found from great power to 
extreme foftnef's and fweetnefs ; and pofl'efi’es moreover 
the capacity of being played on by five performers at the 
fame time. To the notion, however, which appears to 
have obtained currency, that it is equal in effedt to the 
variety and richnefs of a full orcheftra, to the union and 
contrail of voices and inftruments, we cannot lend our 
fandtion: from no one inftrument, however perfect and 
complicated, will fuch a refult ever be obtained; and this 
is not altogether free from the defedls which are inherent 
in inftruments of this charadler, the organ lpecies, of mo¬ 
notony, the want of the Jiaccato, and of the perfect and 
gradual crefcendo and diminuendo. It is but juftice, at the 
lame time, to obferve, that in this latter refpedl it has 
improved on, and exceeded the powers of, organs in 
general. On the whole we may venture to fay, that the 
Apollonicon, in its prefent mode of exhibition, is deferv- 
ing a vifit; and will rank the higher, if its admirers do 
not injudicioufly extol it for qualities which it does not 
polfefs. 
The hydraulic organ, already mentioned, is a machine 
that plays by water inllead of wind. Of thefe there are 
feveral in Italy, in the grottoes of vineyards. Ctefebes of 
Alexandria, who lived in the time of Ptolemy Evergetes, 
is faid to have invented organs that played by comprefting 
the air with water, as is ftill pradtifed. Archimedes and 
Vitruvius have left us defcriptions of the hydraulic organ. 
In the cabinet of queen Chriftina is a beautiful and large 
medallion of Valentinian, on the reverfe whereof is feen 
one of thele hydraulic organs, with two men, one on 
the right, the other on the left, feeming to pump the 
water which plays it, and to liiten to its found. It has 
only eight pipes, placed on a round pedeftal. The in- 
fcription is placea spetri, if it be not wrong copied, 
which we fufpedt to be the cafe. 
The Sptnet. —The fpinet is a ftringed inftrument, but 
played with keys like the organ. The name is derived 
from Jpina, a thorn, or quill, the tone being produced by 
a crow-quill inferred in the tongue of a little machine 
called a jack. The inftrument confifts of a cheft, or belly, 
ma'de of the moft porous and refinous wood to be found, 
and a table of fir faftened on rods, called the J'ound-board, 
which bears on the fides : on the table are raifed two little 
prominences or bridges, in which are fixed as many pins 
as there are firings on the inftrument. 
The keys, when prefled down at the end by the finger, 
on the principle of the lever, make the other end throw 
up jacks, which ftrike the firings, and caufe the found by 
means or the quills with which they are armed. The 
thirty thickeft firings are of brafs; the others, for the 
I c. 
more delicate tones, are of fteel or iron wire, faftened at 
one end by hooks, and at the other on pins, by which 
they receive their tenfion over the bridges already men¬ 
tioned. 
The figure of the fpinet is like that of a horizontal harp, 
and the harp an inverted fpinet. It is tuned in the fame 
manner as other keyed inftruments, by fths and 8ths, 
with or without bearings, as the tuner or the owner of 
the inftrument ftiall pleafe. There have been fpinets and 
harpfichords made for curious people with fome or all the 
keys fplit or cut in two, and furnifhing a different tone, 
for F* 1 and Gb, D* and Eb, &c. to perfect fome of the 
moft offenfive keys in common tuning. Zarlino had air 
inftrument of this kind made at Venice, and it was after¬ 
wards fent to England ; but the mechanifm and tone were 
fo bad, that no tuning could render its founds agreeable. 
There are quarter-notes, as they are called, in the Temple 
organ, to three of the five fiiort keys ; but, except in 
pfalmody, or very flow movements, Stanley never ven¬ 
tured to touch them. The fpinet has but a Angle firing to 
each note. We believe that very few fpinets have been 
made fince the middle of the laft century. 
The virginal was a keyed inftrument of one firing, jack, 
and quill, to each note, like a fpinet; but in fliape re- 
fembling the prefent fmall piano-forte. It has been ima¬ 
gined to have been invented in England during the reign 
of queen Elizabeth, and to have been thus denominated 
in honour of that virgin princefs ; but Dr. Burney has 
brought a proof of its ufe in this kingdom before Ihe was 
queen; and a drawing and delcription of it appeared in 
Lufcinius’s Mufurgia, before (he was born. Dr. Johnfon 
imagines that this inftrument had its name from being 
chiefly ufed by young ladies. 
A virginal which had belonged to queen Elizabeth is 
ftill extant, and in good prefervation. It was purchafed 
at lord Spencer Chichefter’s fale at Fifherwick, about 
fourteen years ago, by Mr. Jonah Child, a painter, at 
Dudley in Worcellerfliire. The cafe is of cedar, covered 
with crimfon Genoa velvet, upon which are three ancient 
gilt locks, finely engraved : the iniide of the cafe is lined 
with ftrong yellow tabby iilk. The whole is in a high 
ftate of prefervation, light and portable, not exceeding 
twenty-four pounds in weight; being five feet long, fix- 
teen inches wide, arid l'even inches deep. The front is 
covered entirely with gold ; having a border round the 
infide two inches and a half broad. There are fifty keys, 
with jacks and quills; thirty of them ebony, tipped with 
gold; and the femitone keys (twenty in number) are in¬ 
laid with filver, ivory, and different kinds of wood, each 
key confining of about two hundred and fifty pieces. The 
royal arms of Elizabeth, at one end, are moft exquilitely 
emblazoned : at the other end a dove, riling Luna, crowned, 
holding in its right foot a fceptre, and Handing upon an 
oak-tree, couped, and eradicated. It is impoftible to give 
an adequate idea of the ornaments and workmanlhip of 
the whole. The painting is done upon gold, with car¬ 
mine, lake, and fine ultramarine, and the ornaments are 
minutely engraven upon the gold, which give it a moft 
beautiful appearance. 
Speaking of this lingularly-curious inftrument, the late 
Mr. Shaw, in his Hiltory of Staffordlhire, vol. i. p. 365, 
article Fijherwick, fays, “ The mufic-rooms, which are 
elegantly fitted up, contain an excellent colledlion of in¬ 
ftruments by the firft makers: but the greateft curiofity, 
in this line, is a virginal; which his lordlhip purchafed 
fome years fince in London, and which has lain fome 
time in obfcurity. It is covered with crimfon velvet, 
and richly decorated in front with japan and gilt orna¬ 
ments, among which are the arms and l'upporters of queen 
Elizabeth at one end, and at the other, a bird, crowned, 
holding in its right paw a Iceptre. It is in fliape and fize 
much like a fpinet, but opens on the oppoiite fide, and 
then refembles a common piano-forte. The beauty and 
elegance of the ornaments, together with the above arms 
and badge, leave little room to doubt that it was, what 
tradition 
