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The Bard, Davydd ab Gwilym, who flourished about the end of the 14th century, has given fuch droll and interesting particulars respecting the Irish Harp, as well as the Welsh Harp of that period, that I am unwilling to omit any thing which may throw light on the fubject; therefore shall avail myself of it, by giving a literal tranflation of his Cowydd y Delyn Ledr, or Poem on the Leathern Harp; which is as follows: "Grant, bounteous God, that the bleffings may dawn of the mirthful manners of Wales in times of fore! The choicest spot; a fair garden, for the enjoyment of life thou wert, whilft the time of Clera continued, and the learning of the good old Cymry! Now, alas! cold the news; there is a noisy strumming amongst us, of dismal crazy-fided Harps, or Leathern wickets. David had not one string from dead sheep; long profper the faith. The Minstrels of the ferious prophet David, with all the cunning of their divination, never formed one Harp exquifitely pleafing, but of fhiny hair, yet pure the song! Wife is the eafy and sprightly defcription of the Harp ftrung with black gloffy hair. The hair-ftrung Harp, a worthy gift! by the bounty of Heaven which came complete to David, and was, and henceforth shall continue, from the beginnning of the world: an ample thought! till the day of doom; awful contemplation!

There is none who would wish for life amongst us, should he be skilled in mufic; for, there is nothing but the din of this Leathern Harp; (fie on the office !) profperous it shall not be, played with a horny nail of unpleasant form; only the graceless bears it. For a learner, it will be difficult in a month to put it in tune-the copper-tinted ftrumpet; an ugly plague, like the naked curve of the rainbow, a frightful form. It is the murmur of young sprawling crows, a pleafing brood affected by the rain.-Having an ardent thirst for perfection, I loved not its button-covered trough, nor its mufic; nor its guts, founding eventful disgust; nor its yellowish colour, nor its gaudiness, nor its unconnected angle, nor its bending pillar it is the vile that loves it. Under the preffure of the eight fingers, ugly is the swell of its belly, with its canvas fmock: its trunk, and its hoarfe found, were but formed for an age-worn Saxon. It is like the wild neighing and dismal roar of fome bay mare after horfes. The unceafing din through the night is a perfect fifter to the frightful yellow Hag of Rhós3.

It is the noise of a lame goofe amongst the corn; a squealing, foolish, Irish witch; it is the rumbling of the mill-stream of crazy leap; and like the fhrieking, wry-necked, hare. It is the wooden fickle of a prude of yore, or the tottering fhin of an old woman.'

"Let every mufical Profeffor, from the English marches, as far as Mona's ifle, learn to play upon a fair Harp, with jetty hair; and to impart inftructions, as was ufual in the time of our old forefathers: I proclaim it! As for the other, giftlefs, twanging one, let no difciple bear it in the face of day *.”

According to the above poem, Davydd ab Gwilym seems partial to the Harp ftrung with gloffy hair, which formerly was curiously plaited 2: yet, it appears evident, from the ancient Welsh laws, that only the under-graduates were obligated to use the hair-ftrung Harp until they took a degree. It seems also, that the body of fome of the ancient Harps were covered with leather+; (fomewhat fimilar, perhaps, to

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The tranflation.

The Harp of Llywelyn, the Prince most honoured through ages, was completely filled with hair ftrings, curiously braided, to hymn golden praife to the Lord.

3" Eve a ddyly i gan bôb Cerddorion ievanc, pan ymadawont a Thelyn rawn, a mynnu bôd yn Gerddawr cyweithas, ac yn eirchiad bedair ar hugaint o ariant yn ei obrwy."-Leges Wallicae, Lib. I. p. 69. See also, pages 28 and 32 of this Book.

▲ Lleddv lathr gavn vygr yfgavn vaich,

Llun calon rhwng bron a braich ;

Tôn a Sun o'r Tannau fydd,

Bid i'r don bedwar deunydd,

Pren, Croen, a Rhawn, cwbl-ddawn cû,

Ag Efgyrn, rhaid i gwafgu.

From a Poem of Siôn Phylip, about A. D. 1580.

The tranflation of the fame.

The fweet polished trunk, fair and light the load,
the form of a heart, between the breaft and the arm;
a tone and found the ftrings produce:

To effect this tone, four things concur ;
wood, fkin, and hair, lovely and complete the gift;
which with bone must be tightened.

A Minstrel, of nearly the fame period, likewife gives a defcrip tion of himself and Harp, in the following words:

"If I have my Harp, I care for no more,
"It is my treasure, I keep it in flore;
"For, my Harp is made of a good mare's skin ;
"The ftrings be of horfe-hair, it maketh a good din.
My fong, and my voice, and my Harp doth agree,
"Much like the buzzing of an humble bee:
"Yet in my country I do make pastime,
"In telling of prophecy which be not in rhyme."

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2

the ancient Corwgl, Coracle, or British boats, which were made of hoops, and covered with horses hides, as mentioned by Cafar and Pliny.) I am informed by Mr. William Williams, that, when a boy, he had an old leathern Harp, which he used to play upon. The body of it was hollowed, or scooped, out of a piece of wood, and covered over with an ox's skin, which was fowed extremely tight at the back; and the pegs, which the ftrings were screwed with, were made of bone, or of ivory.

With regard to the compass of the ancient Welsh Harp, it is now difficult to ascertain with precision, as it received various alterations, and improvements at different periods; therefore, it is the fruit of deep researches of divers fpeculative lovers of mufic. The late Mr. Lewis Morris attributes its rife and progress to the Bardic Druids, who had a great knowledge of mufic when it was at the lowest ebb with all the other European nations. There appears to have been a great deal of thought and art employed upon the formation of this inftrument, and that it was not a work of chance! It may be a question worthy a mathematician to answer, what curve the ftrings will form, fo as to bear all an equal stress, supposing them to increase in thickness, from the shortest Treble to the longest Bass, so that none of them will be more liable to break than another, and yet be equally tight under the fingers, according to their length, when put in tune?

On a farther investigation, I find there are mufical compofitions ftill in being, which I have already mentioned in pages 28 and 29, that decidedly point out the compafs of the Harp at a very early period; fome of those melodies are faid to have been played about the year 5202, and they extend from G, the first line in the bass, to D in Alt; (that is, 26 diatonic notes.) There are also other pieces, in the fame manufcript, of about the year 1100, and fome later, which extend from double C in the bass to G in Alt. According to Merfennus, the Cithara Antiqua, or Ancient Harp, had but one row of strings, which confifted of twenty-four chords; viz. from G, the first line in the bass, to G, the fifth space in the treble.

It appears by an address, written to folicit a Harp, in the reign of Elizabeth, that, "twenty-nine ftrings, or more," were then about the extent of the Harp. I faw an old Harp, that formerly belonged to William ab Owen, of Pencraig Inco, in Caernarvonshire, which is faid to have been made upwards of two hundred years ago, about the reign of Elizabeth. It had one row of ftrings, confifting of thirty-three. It was four feet nine inches high, and made of Pren Mafarn, or Sicamore wood, as all the Harps and Viols are still made of, except the found-board, which is made of deal. Query, Whether the fine Cedar would not be better for making ftringed inftruments of, as King David and King Solomon made all their Harps and Pfalteries of Algum trees, or Cedars ?

In early time, the fingle Harp was small and portable, and rather confined in the number of strings. It was always obliged to be tuned when the key required to be changed; but, when any accidental sharp was requifite in the middle of a tune, the performer ran up his hand close to the comb, and stopped the ftring dexterously with his thumb, while he played it with his finger. Likewife, fome of the fingle-row Harps had Gwrachod, which were, a kind of angular pegs; the longest end of each, ferved as a pin, to keep the bottom, or knot end of the string, faft in the found-board; and the shortest angle of each of them served for the ftring to vibrate againft, fo as to cause a tremulous continuation of the found, not very unlike the effect of a trumpet-marine. Sometimes these pegs were turned off the strings, about one-fourth round, fo as not to produce the jarring tone.

Mr. Lewis Morris's letter to the Cymmrodorion Society, on the ftructure of the Welsh Harp. Allo, Peter Ramus fays, "that Britain had twice the honour of inftructing Gaul by the Druids *. and by Alcuin ; which laft was of fingular fervice to Charlemagne, in establishing the University at Paris."

*Cæfar's Commentaries of his wars in Gaul, Book VI. chap. 13. + Alcuin flourifbed in the latter part of the 8th century.

Gough's Camden, Vol. I. p. cvii. of the Introduction.

2 See also, Pennant's Tour in Wales, Vol. I. p. 459, of the fecond edition.

3 Merfennus, Liber Primus, de Inftrumentis Harmonicis, propofito XLIII. p. 70, 1632.

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This poetical petition probably was written for an under graduate, because it mentions hair strings:

See page 92.-The first kind of cedar is the cedar of Lebanon. It is fometimes kept in the gardens of the curious: the wood is of a reddish colour, fomething refinous, of a strong agreeable fmell, and it is faid, it never will decay. Alfo, it is ufed in phyfic, as a fudorific.

The angular pegs are called Grurachod, probably from their being crooked, like an old Hag.

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In process of time, the Double Harp, or Harp with two rows of strings, was invented, which fupplied the deficiency, and obviated the difficulty, in fome degree, of the flats and fharps; though they had a method of producing them long before, which was by tuning, and by judiciously stopping the ftrings i the latter they executed, with great skill, whilft they were playing: but, query, whether the found of these could be so clear as the other ftrings? I have already defcribed the Double Harp, in the preceding pages of 96 and 99.

The next improvement was the Triple Harp, or Harp with three rows of ftrings; which probably was invented in the fourteenth century; though I have not been able to find any particulars respecting it fooner than about the year 1450, in a monody on the bard, Sión Eos, which contains the following paffage :

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Galileo, in the year 1582, defcribing the double Harp, mentions the number of strings in Harps of that period; viz. " fifty-four, fifty-fix, fifty-eight, and as far as fixty':" confequently, it seems more than probable, that the latter was a triple Harp which he alludes to, as having fixty strings. Merfennus, likewise, in the year 1632, has delineated the triple Harp; and says, it extended four octaves, but confisted altogether of seventy-five ftrings".

The present Triple Harp extends to the compafs of five octaves, and one note. The two outfide rows are the diatonics, which are both tuned in unifons, and in any key that the performer means to play in the treble row of them confifts of twenty-feven ftrings; that is, from A in alt down to C in the bass; and the oppofite row, or unifons, (which are played with the bafs hand,) extends from A in alt as low as double G in the bafs, which is thirty-feven ftrings: and the middle row, being the flats and sharps, extends from alto G fharp, down to double B natural in the bass; confifting of 34 strings. All the three rows together amount to ninety-eight strings. See this Harp delineated in the trophy of the Mufical Inftruments, in page 89.--In playing upon the Welsh Harp, as well as the Irish Harp, it has always been customary to incline it against the left shoulder, and to play the treble with the left hand, and the bass with the right hand. But, the contrary is now more ufual in performing on the Pedal Harp, which is, to rest it against the right shoulder, fo as to play the treble with the right hand, and the bass with the left. This recent custom originated, probably, for the fake of making it more uniform and familiar to those who play on the Harpfichord. Though, at the same time it is evident that the Harpfichord first originated from the Harp *.

There is one idea worthy of remark, the Druidic-Bards had an extraordinary veneration for the number

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After him, John Richards, who died about twelve years ago, was the most celebrated maker of the Triple Harp of his time. In the latter part of his life, he was retained as a penfioner at Mr. Gwynn, of Glan-bran, (a great lover of mufic, in Caermarthenshire ;) during that period, John Richards made him upwards of twenty harps, because Mr. Gwynn had fuch a high opinion of his in-ftruments, that he defpaired of ever attaining a good one, when John Richards died.

+ The Manichordij, Clavicytherium, or Clavicimbalum, was originally a kind of an upright Spinet, or Harpfichoid; and fuppofed to have been conftructed from the Harp. Afterwards, it was made horizontal, and called Clavichord, Clarichord, or Virginal, becaufe, it was played by Nuns, and young Virgins. After that it was fometimes termed Harp couched, or Spinet: then Harpsichord; Piano Forte, &c. Merfennus de Inftrumentis Harmonicis, Lib. I. p. 65.——Luscinius's Mufurgia, p. 8 and 9. And fee the preceding page 97.

Three;

Three; for instance, their Triads; their Triplet verses; their Harps being triangular, and their tuning keys having three armis 4; likewise, about three centuries ago, the Harp received the addition of a triple row of ftrings. The Harmonical Triad, or mufical confonance (of a fifth, a third, and fundamental note.) The Triple time, or measure, in mufic: A Trio; A Canon ; &c.

The next improvement on the Harp was the Pedals, by which addition this inftrument was again reduced nearly to its original fize, and former fimplicity of a fingle row of ftrings. The Pedal Harp is ufually tuned in the key of E flat; and the ufe of the Pedals is to make the occafional sharps, and to alter it into the different keys without the trouble of tuning; therefore, by these mechanical pedals, it evades thofe inconveniences which are fubject to the Triple Harp, and is rendered much lefs complicated and commodious. At the fame time I am rather an advocate for the Triple Harp, because I admire its venerable and stately appearance; and particularly the fweet re echoing effect of its unifons, which are played with both hands, and are peculiar to that instrument. Notwithstanding, when it is compared with the Pedal Harp, which has modern elegance as well as conveniences blended, it must be acknowledged in favour of the latter. The ufual compass of the Pedal Harp is from double G at bottom to G in alt. confifting of thirty-fix ftrings: also, there are fome that go as high as D in altiffimo. Sometimes the Pedal Harp is called the German Harp, because its pedals are faid to have been invented by a German. However, I fhall quote here what Dr. Burney fays on the fubject: "The Pedal Harp is very much practifed by the ladies at Brussels as well as at Paris: it is a sweet and becoming inftrument, and lefs cumbrous and unwieldy than our double Welsh Harp. The compass is from double Bb to F in altiffimo; it is capable of great expreffion, and of executing whatever can be played on the harpfichord: there are but thirty-three ftrings upon it, which are the mere natural notes of the diatonic fcale; the reft are made by the feet. This method, of producing the half-tones on the Harp by pedals, was invented at Bruffels, about thirty-feven years ago, by M. Simon, who refides in that city. It is an ingenious and useful contrivance, in more refpects than one: for, by reducing the number of ftrings, the tones of those that remain are improved; as it is well known that, the less an inftrument is loaded, the more freely it vibrates 6.

"The Harp paffed for the moft majestic of inftruments; and, on this account, the French romancers place it in the hands of their greatest heroes, as the ancient Greek-poets did the Lyre. It was in fuch general favour, in the fourteenth century, that the old Poet, Machau, has made it the subject of a poem, called Le Di&t de la Harpe, (the Ditty, or Poem, upon the Harp,) and praises it as an inftrument too good to be profaned in taverns, or places of debauchery, faying that it should be used by Knights,

What mystery might be in the number Three, among the Britons, is not eafy to determine, unless it were in regard to its perfection, as being the first of odd numbers, and containing in it, a beginning, a middle, and an end. For this reafon it has been faid, that three was all. It is likewife called the holy number, and was thought the most proper and fit for every thing that related to religion. There is now extant a treatife in folio, intitled, Myftica Numerorum Significationis, written by one Peter Bongus, and published at Bergamo, in the year 1585; the Jole end of which is to unfold the mysteries, and explain the properties of certain numbers

See the Triads, in pages 10, 11, 12; and in 79, &c. 3 See page 4 and 5.

Alfo, Trimarchwys, or a British war chariot, had three horses, "A tri March, a gwys or a charioteer and two attendants. Gweifion." The Trefoil was much reverenced, and accounted the husbandman's Almanack, by reason, when it shutteth in the leaves, it foretelleth rain. Their ancient feats are also threefooted, or tripods, as well as their trevets, kettles, and other implements. And Morgan fays, that of old, the letter T (Tau,) was the Hieroglyphick of fecurity.

A Canon, or long, in two, three, or more, parts. It is extraordinary, though a fact, that the term Canon, appears as far back as the fixth century, in Aneurin's poem on the Months; which runs thus: "Mis Medi mydr y-nghanon."

In September comes the metrical Canon.

A Canon is again mentioned by a Bard of the middle ages, in a poem of thanks for a bow:

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It is impoffible that the Ancient British Bards fhould be ignorant of Harmony, they certainly knew it, long before Guido's time. In the first place, the Harp is the earliest inftrument, it had the greatest number of firings, and it was the firft played with the fingers of both hands. Therefore, is it probable, that the Britons fhould have performed on the Harp from time immemorial; and were obliged to study twelve or fifteen years before they paft their degrees; and to ufe both hands, and ten fingers, and yet to avoid falling into fomething like counterpoint, or compofitions in parts In fact, a third, a fifth, or a chord, are more eafily ftruck on the Harp, than a fingle note, because the ftrings lie convenient and natural for the hand. If any one wishes farther illustration on this head, fee pages 29, 35, and 36, of this work. And proofs from Ancient writers in Mr. Stillingfleet's Principles and Power of Harmony, p. 132 and 133.

• Burney's prefent ftate of Music in Germany, Netherlands, and United Provinces, Vol. I. p. 59, fecond edition, octavo. Likewife, Dr. Burney mentions, that when he was at Vienna, about twenty-two years fince, "M. Mut, a good performer, played a piece on the fingle Harp, without pedals, which renders it a very difficult instrument, as the performer is obliged to make the femitones by brafs rings with the left hand, which, being placed at the top of the Harp, are not only hard to get at, but difagreeable to hear, from the noife, which, by a fudden motion of the hand they occafion. The fecret of producing the femitones by Pedals, is not yet arrived at Vienna; and the Double Harp is utterly unknown there. This player, though highly efteemed, did not fulfil all my ideas of the power of that ingrument." Ibid, Vol. I. p. 284.

Efquires,

Efquires, Clerics, perfons of rank, and ladies with plump and beautiful hands; and that its courteous and gentle founds should be heard only by the elegant and good. (At that period,) it had twenty-five strings ; to each of which the poet gives an allegorical name: calling one liberality, another wealth, a third politeness, a fourth youth, &c. applying all thefe qualities to his Mistress, and comparing her to the Harp'.'

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It does not appear that the Saxons had the Harp, nor letters, prior to their arrival in Britain, which was about the end of the fifth century, in the time of Gortheyrn.

About the beginning of the eighth century, the Harp appears to have been in high estimation among the Saxons. Venerable Bede records, that at one of their feafts, for the fake of conviviality, it was agreed that all the guests fhould fing in their turn: as foon as Cadmon faw the Harp approach near him, he rofe up, for fhame, from the table, and retired home 3. About that period also, it was usual to learn both to read and fing at schools 4.

The manner of finging with the Harp, among the Britons, I have already mentioned, in pages 34, 35, 60, and 61, of this work. Shakespear alludes also to this custom of finging to the Harp, amongst the English, in the time of Henry the Fourth 5.

The grand Coronation of Henry the Fifth, held at Westminster in the year 1413, is recorded by Elmham, from whom the following is literally tranflated: "What festival, I beseech you, can be deemed more important than one which is honoured with the prefence of fo many royal perfonages; by fuch a multitude of chiefs, and ladies; where the tumultuous founds of fo many trumpets compel the Heavens to re-echo with a noife like thunder. The harmony of the Harpers, drawn from their Inftruments, ftruck with the rapideft touch of the fingers, note against note, and the foft angelic whifpering of their modulations, are gratifying to the ears of the guests. The mufical concert alfo, of other inftruments, which had learnt to be free from all fort of diffonance, invites to fimilar entertainment "."

St. Dunstan, who lived in the tenth century, is reprefented by a writer of his life, that he could, like David, take the Pfaltery, handle the Organ, touch the Cymbal, and strike the Harp. And as David, with his inftrument, calmed the difturbed spirit of Saul, fo did Dunftan, by his mufic, exhilarate the heart of his Prince, after his being haraffed by worldly cares. This Saint's Harp was indeed endued with a miraculous power, which David's never poffeffed; for, when fufpended on the wall of Dunstan's cell, it would, without the interpofition of any vifible hand, pour out the most harmonious founds.

This reminds me of Æolus's Harp, invented by Kircher, about the year 16499: which is fimply a box with about 15 ftrings, or more, all tuned in unifon, or with an octave: when this inftrument is put in a window, the wind founds it, and fometimes produces a wonderful effect of harmony, and fwelling and diminishing of founds. If it was possible to add air and time to it, it would be the most perfect of all inftruments. The Æolian Harp is exquifitely described, in a poem by Thomson 10, and by others.

"Burney's Hiftory of Music," Vol. II. p. 262. And Re Medes de Fortune, par Mr. Machau.-On an antique ewer, dug up near Soifons, is a reprefentation of fome muficians, one of which is a player on the Hap. The chapel of St. Julian des Meneftriers, a Paris, was built in 1331, by Jaques Grure and Hug es de Lorrain, two of the Jongleurs, or Minitrels, of Philip de Valois, and on the p rtico it which are fome minstrels defcribed. See Burney's Hiftory of Mufic, Vol. II page 264. Likewife, I am informed, there is another church at Paris, called St. John des Menefiriers, and founded by the Minstrels, in 1330.

2 See Lhuyd's Preface to his Archeologia Britannica; At y Cymry. "Lewis's Ancient Hillory of Great Britain, pige 61, of the In reduction." And note 10 in pages 7 and 8, and as far as page 16, of this work of the Bards.

3 Bear's Ecclefiafiicat Hiftery, lib IV. cap. 24. Among the Greeks, alto, nie was elicemed a neceftary accomplishment: aud an ignorance in this art was regarded as a capital defect. Of this we have an initance, even in Themistocles mantelf, who was upbraided with his ignorance in music. Cicero Tufe lib. i.-The whole country of (ynæ the laboured under a parallel reproach; and all the enormos crimes committed there were attributed by the neighbouring states to the neglect of Mufic; which may be fand, in fon e mature to comprehend religion, polity, and morality, Athenæus. 1 olybius, and Ariftotle .--When the lyre came more into fe, it was ufual for all who were at their entertain: ents to play upon it alternately till it paffed round the table. Plutarchfymp. 1. i. p. i then, Diep. 1. XV. Plato, de Leg. l. ii.

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&c.

7 Obernus de vita Dunflani, et angl. Sacr. Vol. II. p. 93, 94,

Sumpfit fecum ex more Cytharam fuam,

Quam paterni Lingua Hearpam vocamus. Cap. ii. n. 12.

Thorpe's Antiquities of Kent, p. 95 and 102. Darwent Church, in Kent, is faid to have been built about the year 940, and upon the font is fculptured the figure of King David, playing on the Harp, which probably was executed in the time of Dunftan. Ibid. p. 94, fol.

9 Kircher's Mufurgia: and Hawkins's Hift. of Mufic, Vol. IV.

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