THE 
(. MARCH 

MONTHLY. MAGAZINE. 
No. 56. 





Ey POOmmeus | INO. 2. of VoL. 9. 


ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. \ 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
UPON THE ORIGIN OF THE LYRE, 
4a 
<« Does not the Scythian, when he drinks, 
frequently handle the bow and -firike the 
HARP, AND OTHER STRINGED MU- fring, in order to recover his fenfes, which 
SICAL INSTRUMENTS. 
T appears, fir, to me to be an univer- 
falrule, thatevery art, fcience, or in- 
vention among men, owes its origin to 
fome external faét. This ferves as a foun- 
dation which the human mind afterwards 
builds upon. To afew letters cut upon a 
tree, we are faid to owe the art of, print- 
ing; to a foldier {craping his fufil, the art 
of engraving in mezzotinto. Newton is 
thought to have been indebted for his va- 
luable theory to the fall of an apple; and 
the ftrokes of a fmith’s hammer are: fup- 
pofed to have given rife to mufic. ‘This 
Jaft fuppofition has however been juftly 
called in queftion ; and, indeed, the.num- — 
ber of claimants to the honour of this in- | 
vention (among whom are reckoned gods 
and philofophers) tends not a little to in-., 
creafe our doubts upon the fubje&t. With- 
out further preface, it feems to me highly 
probable, that the lyre (which is the pas 
rent of firinged mufical infruments) is in- 
debted for its origin to the bow. For with 
re{pect to external appearance, if we re-. 
gard the form of fome of the ancient lyres, 
and make due allowance for the number 
of ftrings, which we know were added in 
fucceffion, we fhall not perceive any great \ 
diverfity between them. But it was not, 
fir, from confidering the external form of the 
two inftruments that I was Ied'to this fpe- 
culation, it was from reading the follow- 
ing paffage in the Odyfiey. 
“26 8 ol’ ane dogusyyos ~.! 
25 ag dlee rredns tayce meya Toloy Oducceus, 
~ Aegileen & aga vere: AaGwy weipnoalo veupns.. 
“HOO uno uaroy aeice, yerrdovs E1meAn aydny. 
Lib. 0406, 
The comparifon between Ulyfies bending 
his bow, and a mufician {kilfully fringing 
his lyre; would alone have been a fufficient 
inducement to a contemplative reader to 
reflect upon the fubjeét : but when the poet 
adds, that the hero twangs the flring; 
which finely_founds like the fwallow’s 
note, he is furnifhed with a more power- 
ful inducement. My thoughts being in 
this train, I was much pleafed to meet 
with a pafface in Plutarch, which appeared 
~to me almoft conclufive. a 
Ou yae' bey Savon dey Bing Werhanss ehanle ret... 
(FE Tofu, nas wagalarrc any yevgav, exdvomevoy 
/ weTO Tne MEINS avaKMarueog Tov Oreo 5 re 
Precept. Sanitat, feét, 13. 
MonTHiy Mas, No, 54, 
had been diffolved.by incbriety ?”? 
Here we have a Scythian concert of the 
twangs of the bow, and, however uncouth 
and diffonant, it proves all that I want, 
viz. that the bow was ufed in times of re= 
moteft antiquity as‘a mafical inftrument. 
But before I conclude, I fhall produce, in 
confirmation of my opinion, an extract 
from Mr. Park’s Travels into Africa :— 
‘¢ We were amufed by an itinerant finging 
man, who told a number of diverting to- 
ries, and played fame [weet airs, by blow- 
ang his breath upou a bow-firing, and firik= 
ing it at the fame time with a Vice ie Be 
a mufical ‘ear the found of a well-ftrung 
bow is not without _fweetnefs, anda vae 
riety of tunes may be produced by ftopping 
with the fingers of the left hand. 7” 
Invegard to. the improvement of the 
bow, both by the variation of figure and 
addition of ftrings, I can only fay,«that.. 
when once an idea is obtained, nothing 1s 
more eafy than to improve upon it; and 
we know that-the moft ancient lyres had. , 
very. few ftrings. Mr. Bruce gives the. 
figure of an Egyptian lyre which had only. 
two ftrings; and the monochord (which . 
had alfo a neck) is {uppoted to havé been *- 
invented by Pythagoras. . * 
‘Phat, the f&tinged infruments. of mo« 
dern times;.fuch.as the guitar, violin, cc. 
were derived from theancient lyre, or 
harp, is, 1 believe, undifputed; but I res 
fer the reader, who is defirous of further 
information, to. Walker's Hiftorical:Me- 
moirs of the Irifh. Bards (fee.particularly. 
page 73). # Lam fenfible, fir, :that? much 
‘more might be faid upon this fubje&t.; but 
“Bam equally tenfble, that too much as well 
as too little might be-faid upon any fub-— 
tele | thall leavé-it therefore to the in- 
veftigation of others, and am, your, moft 
obedient fervant,  THo. NoRTHMORE 
May Fair, Fan.18, 1800. 
a ee 5 = 
For the Monthly, Magazine. 
HAVE looked into feveral of the beft. 
I editions of ViRGIL, which have none 
of them a ftop afrer ‘¢/emper’. in the paf- 
fage quoted by. your Correfpondent, yet I 
think his inferpretation yeryangeniotis and 
very probable, 4 te 
Q AA 
a i a Oe Se ete Se ee 
. 

