MUSIC. 370 
or eight inches wide. Let therer be glued upon it two 
pieces of wainfcot about half an inch high, and a quarter 
of an inch thick, to ferve as bridges for the ltrings; and 
within-fide, at each end, glue two pieces of beech, about 
an inch fquare, of length equal to the width of the box, 
which are to fultain the pegs. Into thefe fix as many 
pins (fuch as are ufed in a harpfichord) as there are to 
be firings in the inftrument, half at one end, and half at 
the other, at equal diftances. It now remains to firing it 
with fmall catgut, or blue firft fiddle-firings, fixing one 
end to a fmall brafs pin, and twilling the other round 
the oppofite pin. When thefe firings are tuned unifon, 
let the inftrument be placed, with the firings outward, 
in the window to which it is fitted ; and it will, provided 
the air blows on that window, give a found likeadiftant 
choir, increafing or decreafing according to the ftrength 
of the wind. There mull be found-holes in the middle; 
and, the thinner the top is, the better will the inftrument 
perform. Thomplon, in a note to his celebrated Ode 
on this inftrument, afcribes the invention of it to Mr. 
Ofwald ; whereas it was known to Kircher above a hundred 
years before; and the method of conftrufting and tiling 
it is deicribed by him in a book intitled Magia Phono- 
taflrica et Phonurgia. 
This inftrument was conftru&ed in an improved form 
• by the late Rev. W. Jones. The firings, inftead of being 
on the outfide, are fixed to a founding-board or belly 
within a wooden cafe, and the wind is admitted to them 
through an horizontal aperture. In this form the inftru¬ 
ment is portable, and may be ufed any-where in the open 
air. 
The iEolian harp produces all the harmonies of a 
fingle firing, divided in harmonical proportion. See 
p. 322. The tenfion of the ltrings mull not be great; 
as the air, if gentle, has not fufficient power to make them 
vibrate; and, if it blows frelh, the inftrument does not 
fing, but fcream. Its crefcendo and diminuendo, or the 
gradual advancing and retiring of its delicate tones, are 
very plealing. 
Kircher has attempted to account for the phenomena 
•of the^Eolian harp, by fuppoling the current of air to 
ftrike on different portions of the firing. But this is 
contrary to experience ; for, if we fuppofe the ^Eolian 
note to be one-fifth above the original note of the firing, 
that is, one-third of the whole; then, according to Kir¬ 
cher, the remaining part would be at reft, which is not 
the fa< 5 l; for an obltacle applied to any other point befides 
the quiefcent points of divifion, will dellroy the Hsolian 
tone. The chords alio, that would arile on this theory 
are not fuch as really take place in Nature; thus, where 
the chord confifts of the notes F and A, the firft note F 
is produced, according to Kircher, by the blafts linking 
on one fourth of the firing ; and in this cafe, the remain¬ 
ing part of the firing mull be at reft, according to Kircher, 
which is contrary to experience; or, if it be agitated as 
one firing, it mull produce the note of three-fourths of 
the whole firing, that is, a fourth above the bal's-note ; 
whereas, the note really produced, is the double o£tave 
to the third above the bal's-note. 
Mr. Young, in order to alcertain the order of the notes 
in this inftrument, took off all the firings but one; and, 
placing it in a proper fituation, he was lurprifed to hear 
a great variety of notes, and frequently fuch as were not 
produced by any aliquot.part of the firing ; and he often 
heard a chord of two or three notes from this fingle firing. 
Thefe complex and extraordinary phenomena at firft per¬ 
plexed him; and he alrnolt defpaired of being able to ac¬ 
count for them on the principle of aliquot parts. On far¬ 
ther examination, however, he found that they all flowed 
naturally and eafily from this principle. Having directed 
his attention to the effefl of a current of air milling 
againft a ftretched elaftic firing, he obferved, that a blaft 
againft the middle point of the firing moved the whole of 
it from its re&ilineal pofition; and that the firing, by its 
olafticity, returned to its former pofition 5 fo as thus to 
continue vibrating and exciting pulfes in the air, which 
produced the tone of the entire firing. If the current of 
air be too ftrong and rapid, when the firing is bent, it will 
retain its curvature; and, though the whole firing can¬ 
not perform its vibrations in this cafe, the fubordinate ali¬ 
quot parts may ; and thefe will be of different lengths; 
according to the rapidity of the blaft. Thus, when the 
velocity of the current increafes fo as to prevent the vi¬ 
bration of the whole firing, thofe particles which ftrike 
againft the middle points of the halves of the firing, agi¬ 
tate thole halves, as in the cafe of fympathetic and fe- 
condary tones; and, as thefe halves vibrate in half the 
time of the whole firing, though the blaft may be too 
rapid to admit of the vibration of the whole, yet it? can 
have no moreeffedl in preventing the motion of the halves 
than it would have on the whole firing if its tenfion were 
quadruple ; for the times of vibrations in firings of differ¬ 
ent lengths, and agreeing in other circumftances, are di- 
reftly as the lengths; and in firings differing in tenfion, 
and agreeing in other circumftances, inverfely as the 
fquare roots of the tenfions; and therefore, their vibra¬ 
tions may become ftrong enough to excite fuch pulfes as 
will affe£l the drum of the ear; and the fame may be faid 
of other aliquot divifions of the firing. Thofe particles 
which ftrike againft fuch points of the firing as are not in 
the middle of aliquot parts, will interrupt and counteract 
each other’s vibrations, as in the cale of lympathetic and 
fecondary tones, and therefore will not produce a fenfible 
effefl. Thefe principles are illuftrated and applied by 
Mr. Young, in his Enquiry into the Principal Phenomena 
of Sound and Mufical Strings; Lond. 1784, 8vo. 
The Lute. —We are now arrived at that clafs of in- 
ftruments which are furniihed with a neck,, on which 
frets are raifed, and againft thefe the firings are prefled 
with the left hand, while they are made to fpeak by means 
of the fingers and thumb of the right, and in fome cafes 
with a plectrum or quill. 
All that is known with certainty concerning the Lute, 
has been related under that word, vol. xiii. p. 785, 6. On 
the annexed Plate XVIII. fig. 1 is a lute, according to 
the bell authorities; its length is 3 feet 8 inches. Fig. 2 
is the theorbo, or arch-lute; length, 5 feet 8 inches, in 
the collection of the late Mr. D. Walker. It has tw'o 
necks, the fecond and longer of which fuftains the four 
laft rows of firings, which are to give the deepeft founds. 
The meaning of the word tiorbe, or theorbo, is not 
known : Mace only fays, that ©e, in Greek, “ begins a 
very high name;” meaning ©eo;, God, perhaps from its 
high and fublime tones. Some will have it to be the 
name of the inventor. The theorbo is an inftrument 
w'hich for many years fucceeded to the lute, in the play¬ 
ing of thorough-baffes. It is faid by fome to have been 
invented in France, and thence introduced into Italy, 
&c. Mace fays, that the theorbo is really the original, or 
“ old Englilh lute.” The chief difference between the 
theorbo and the common lute was, that the former had 
eight bafs or thick firings twice as long as thofe of the 
lute; which excels of length mull have made it rather 
unmanageable. Mace (Mufick’s Monument) has no¬ 
ticed the inconveniences of the great length of the neck 
in this inftrument: “ Thofe very extreme long heads 
which are ufually put upon theorboes, are both trouble- 
fome to tune, and inconfittent with the punCtilioes and 
criticifms in art; they rendring the inftrument difpro- 
portionable within itfelf; for in the ufe of it, thefe extra¬ 
ordinary long baffes commonly over-ring and drownd the 
trebles; or, if (to help the matter) you ftrike them fo 
much the fofter, yet they feem not to be of the fame kin- 
Ihip with the Ihorter firings.” P. 205. 
In the fame work, there is a print of the theorbo (but 
with the neck Ihortened) and common lute (called the 
Englilh and French lutes) joined together, and chriltened 
“ the lute dyphone, or double lute of fifty firings.” He 
tells us, that it is as eafy to play upon as any other lute; 
but we really cannot underltand it; and mult therefore 
refer 
