a solaces of grete pleasance and disport." This prince must have been an extraordinary proficient in music; and Bower, in his continuation of Fordun, enumerates the following instruments upon which he could perform, the tabour, the bagpipe, the psaltery, the organ, the flute, the harp, the trumpet, and the shepherd's reed; in addition to which, Boethius mentions the lute-" He was richt crafty (says Bellenden his translator) in playing baith of the lute and harp," &c. These instruments, along with others, are particularized in the Houlate, (1450,) in a stanza from which we have already made a citation.— "All thus our ladye thai lofe, with lylting and lift, The trump and the taburn,h the tympane, but tray; B. xvi. c. 28. > The expressions in the original are, "in tympano et choro, in psalterio et organo, tibiâ et lyrâ, tuba et fistulâ." • The psaltery is frequently mentioned by Chaucer and the old French and English romancers. It was also an instrument known to the ancients; but so much difference of opinion prevails as to its antique form, that we shall not venture to say what it resembled. The modern instrument of that name was in the form of a flat unequal-sided figure, like a triangle, with the top cut off it. It had three rows of strings, and was played either with the fingers or with plectra. La Borde's Essai, vol. i. p. 303. Probably the " citole," or "cistole," a sort of" dulcimer," from " cistella," a little box. • We need hardly observe, that the "crowde" was the viol or violin-the name, as well as the instrument, being obviously derived from the ancient British "crwth." Gythornis, i.e. "guitars." Chaucer generally spells this word "giternes," and " 'getrons." The " citterne," or "cistrum," a similar, but inferior instrument, is often confounded with the guitar. See Hawkins, vol. iv. p. 112. A species of flageolet, the tone of which was particularly soft and sweet. Milton speaks of "Flutes and soft recorders." The tabour, a small drum beaten with a drumstick, in which respect, and in its being covered with parchment at both ends, it differed from the tambour de Basque, with which it is often confounded. 'Tympane, i.e. the drum. N The lilt-pype and the lute, the cithill and fift, The dulsate and the dulsacordis, the schalm of affray; Clarions loud knellis, Portatibisd and bellis ; Cymbaellonis in the cellis, The reader will find some of these instruments explained in the footnotes; others, such as the "atharift," the "ribus," and the "rift," we admit our inability to define. But we must say a few words in regard to the "monycordis," a name liable to some ambiguity, and which has never hitherto been explained or illustrated. There are various interesting notices relative to this instrument, some of which we shall shortly bring under the reader's attention. We may mention, in the meantime, that the following, which we lately obtained from the General Register House, is among the latest, while it is certainly not one of the least curious. • "Lilt-pype" certainly did not signify "bagpipe," as Ritson supposes. It was, more probably, the shepherd's pipe, or other instrument on which were performed the tunes called "lilts." These, it will be observed, bear no resemblance whatever to bagpipe tunes; neither do they correspond with the description which Dr Jamieson, in his Dictionary, gives of the "lilt." Instead of being a "cheerful air," as defined by him, judging from the specimens which the Skene MS. has brought to light, the "lilt" would rather seem to have been an air of a plaintive character, and from the peculiar vein of melody which runs through such of them as we have seen, we should think that they must have sprung from the pastoral districts of the Lowlands of Scotland. "The "cythill" may be here used as a quaint term to denote cythara, or harp: if not, we must suppose that all mention of the last instrument was here omitted-an idea of which Ritson has availed himself to argue that the harp was not in general use in the Lowlands at this time. ⚫ Schalms and clarions are fully explained infra, p. 114, 115, 116. Portatibus, i.e. portativi, or regals, were a kind of diminutive portable organ, formerly much used in public processions. Hawkins speaks of it as being not uncommon in Germany even in his day.— The regal was borne through the streets on a man's shoulders; when the procession stopped, it was set down upon a stool; the performer then stepped forward-played upon it; and the man that carried it blew the bellows. Hawkins, vol. ii. p. 449. EXTRACT from the Testament of EDWARD HENRYSOUN, "Maister of the Sang Scole of Edinburgh, and Prebendare of St Gelis Queir, quha deceist 15 Aug. 1579. [Recorded 6 Nov. 1579]." "Item, thair wes awin to the said umquhile Edward Henrysoun, be the gude toun of Edinburgh, for bigging of the Sang Scole, xlj lib. "Item, I leif to my sone, James Henrysoun, my gown, my coitt, my bumbasie dowblet, and the bodie of poldavie, my kist, my bybill, ane PAIR OF MONYCORDIS, my hat, thre of the best sarkis, ane pair of round scheittis, foure serviottis," &c. The cause of the ambiguity of this word "monycordis" is, that it is sometimes spelt, as in the above extract, and at other times "monochord,”modes of orthography which suggest very different ideas,-the last being descriptive of an instrument of one string, and the other of-the very reverse-a "polychord," or instrument of many strings. What renders it the more necessary that we should here enter into some explanation is, that, although the "monochord," or "monycordis," appears to have been much employed during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, we have no where seen any attempt to define its nature; and we believe that for these many years no very definite ideas have been attached to its name. There are no fewer than three instruments to which the name of "monochord" has been applied. The first and oldest is the harmonic Canon of Pythagoras, which was latterly much used by the Greeks. It consisted literally of a single string; and the instrument or frame to which it was attached was marked off by sections and subdivisions, corresponding with the intervals of the scale. There were three bridges, two stationary, one of which stood at each end; the other, which was placed between the two, was moveable, and, by being applied to the different divisions of the scale, showed the relation which the sounds bore to the length of the string, and, in this way, familiarised the student with the series of intervals which it embraced. This instrument was not employed in the performance of music. But there was a one-stringed instrument called a "monochord," or "unichord," used for that purpose, not by the ancients, but by the moderns of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, of which Mersenne and other authors have given a description. Another appellation by which it was known was the Marine Trumpet, though the reason why it was so called does not very distinctly appear; unless, as is supposed by some, it had been invented by a person of the name of Marini. It seems to have been about five feet long, of a pyramidal shape, fitted up with a finger board and bridge, and played upon like a double-bass, with a bow, except that the performer, as is sometimes done in the execution of concertos on the last mentioned instrument at the present day, confined himself to the extracting of the harmonic sounds; by which means, effects were produced similar to the notes of the trumpet. We mention this strange instrument, because it bears the same name with that under consideration. As for the thing itself, there is no evidence, and no probability, that it was ever used in Scotland, or that it ever became much known in France or in any other country. The "monicordis," or "monochord," used by our ancestors, was certainly not an instrument of a single string; but, on the contrary, one of the class of instruments most remarkable for the multiplicity of their strings. It seems to have been the same with the "clavichord," or clarichord," and as such to have been one of the precursors of the spinet, the virginals, the harpsichord, and the piano-forte of modern times. 66 Michael Prætorius, who lived in the latter part of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries, in the second volume of his work, "Syntagma Musicum," &c., under the head of " Organographia," p. 60, expressly says, that "the clavicord was invented and disposed after the model of the monochord." This may be correct; but we find the former designation, clavichord," used at a very remote period. Mr • Mersennus de Instr. Harm., lib. i. prop. 37, 38. See also La Borde's Essai, vol. i. p. 279. See a Paper on the Trumpet and Trumpet-Marine, by the Hon. Francis Roberts, in the Philosophical Transactions for 1692. See also Hawkins' Hist. of Music, vol. iv. p. 121. Strutt, in his "Manners and Customs of the English," makes the following extract from an old MS. book of instructions for music, as old as the reign of Henry IV. "Who pleythe on the harp, he should pley trew; Unless, therefore, Mr Strutt has been in some mistake as to the age of this MS., the "clavycorde" must have been in existence some time between the years 1399 and 1413; and, if so, as our James I. was educated at the court of Henry IV., it is rather extraordinary that the "clavycorde" or the "monocord" should not have been one of the many instruments upon which he performed. A century posterior, it seems to have been a favourite with his descendant, James IV. On the 10th April 1497, in his treasurer's accounts, we read of a payment of 9s. to "John Hert, for bering a pare of MONICORDIS of the kings fra Aberdene to Strivelin." On the 15th October 1504, there is a payment of 18s. "that samyn nycht in Dunnottir to the chield playit on the monocordis be the kingis command;" and in the circumstantial account which John Young, Somerset herald, gives of James IV.'s nuptials, he is described as having entertained his royal bride, first of all by his performance on the "clarychordes," and afterwards on the lute. From these and other notices, we should think it probable, that at this time "clavichord" and " monochord" had been used synonymously. ■ Vol. iii. p. 116. Leland's Collectanea, vol. iv. pp. 284, 285. We are surprised to find a writer so well informed as Mr Gunn representing the word "clarychordes," in the passage to which we have above referred, as probably a typographical error, or alteration of " clarsho," (Enquiry, p. 72.) It is possible, however, that the word "clarichord," the etymology of which is not so evident, may have arisen from error or indistinctness in the spelling of the word “clavichord." |