the sculptures of the Egyptians; but as they may have had pipes of similar construction, and these tend to throw some light on the general appearance

and use of the instrument, I have introduced them in the accompanying wood-cut.

The double, like the single pipe, was at first of reed, and afterwards of box *, lotus thorn †, and other sonorous wood; or of horn, ivory, bone ‡, iron, or silver. It was not only used on solemn occasions, but very generally at festive banquets S, both among the Greeks and Egyptians. Men, but more frequently women, performed upon it, occasionally dancing as they played; and from its

* Plin. loc. cit. Boxwood for the pipes used on solemn occasions, the lotus-thorn for the lively-toned instruments. "Nunc sacrificæ Thuscorum è buxo, ludicræ verò loto, ossibusque asininis, et argento fiunt." Vide J. Poll. Onom. iv. 9.

+ Athenæus tells us, the pipes made of the lotus-wood of Africa were called by the Alexandrians photinges.

Some were made at Thebes, in Boeotia, of the thigh-bone of the fawn. Athen.; and J. Poll. iv. 10. The latter writer mentions the bones of vultures and eagles used by the Scythians.

§ According to the same author, the name of boys' pipe, or hemiopus, was applied to one of those used at feasts.

| Vide wood-cut, No. 228. 176., etc.

repeated occurrence in the sculptures of Thebes, we may suppose the Egyptians preferred it to the single pipe. Of its tone no very accurate notion can be formed; but it is easy to conceive the general effect of an instrument emitting a tenor and bass at the same time. The modern Egyptians have imitated it in their zummára, or double reed; but not, I imagine, with very great success, since it is both harsh and inharmonious, and of the rudest construction. Nor is it admitted, like the ancient double pipe, at festivals, where other instruments are introduced; nor allowed to hold a rank in their bands of music, humble and imperfect as they now are; and its piping harshness and monotonous drone are chiefly used for the out-of-doors entertainment of the peasants, or as a congenial accompaniment to the tedious camel's pace.

Many of the instruments of the ancients, whether Greeks, Romans, or Jews, bore a noisy and inharmonious character; and Lucian relates an anecdote of a young flute-player named Harmo

nides, who, thinking to astonish and delight his audience, at the Olympic games, blew with such violence into the instrument, on which he was performing a solo, that, having completely exhausted himself, he died with the effort*, and may be said to have breathed his last into the flute. But that it was really a flute, seems highly improbable; and on this, and many other occasions, ancient writers appear to have confounded the instrument with a species of clarionet, or bellmouthed pipe, which, being different from the straight fistula, was comprehended under the more general name of auλos, or tibia. Of the clarionet we have no instance in the sculptures of Egypt; and the modern inhabitants have probably derived their clamorous and harsh-toned instrument from some model introduced by the Romans, or other foreigners; who, after the reign of Amasis, visited or took possession of the country.

Nor do we meet with that combination of long and short reeds, now known by the name of panpipes t, in any of the musical scenes portrayed in the tombs; which, from its having been used by the Jews, we might expect to find in Egypt. It was called in Hebrew dogab‡, and is one of the oldest instruments mentioned in sacred history,

* No doubt from the bursting of a blood-vessel. J. Pollux mentions a player on the trumpet, one Herodorus of Megara, whose instrument stunned every one. Önom. iv. 11.

+ Some of those at Herculaneum have all the reeds of the same length, in others they decrease towards one end; as described by J. Pollux. iv. 9., who says they were bound together with waxed string.

its invention being said to date before the age of Noah.

THE TAMBOURINE.

The tambourine was a favourite instrument both on sacred and festive occasions. It was of three kinds, differing, no doubt, in sound as well as form. One was circular, another square or oblong, and the third consisted of two squares separated by a bar. They were all beaten by the hand, and used as an accompaniment to the harp and other instruments.

Men and women played the tambourine; but it was more generally appropriated to the latter, as with the Jewst; and they frequently danced to its sound, without the addition of any other music. It was of very early use in Egypt, and seems to have been known to the Jews ‡ previous to their leaving Syria: being among the instruments mentioned by Laban, under its Hebrew name taph, the tar of the modern Arabs.

From the imperfect representations of those in the tombs of Thebes, it is difficult to say whether the Egyptian tambourine had the same moveable pieces of metal, let into its wooden frame, as in

* Vide wood-cut, No. 236.

+ Exod. xv. 20. "And Miriam took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances." Judg. xi. 34. Jephthah's daughter, and xxi. 21. 1 Sam. xviii. 6.

Gen. xxxi. 27.

As was the harp, which I before mentioned. "With tabret and with harp; " "be taph oo be kinoor." The harp, tabret, and aogab were known in the days of Job. Job, xxi. 12.

that of the present day; but their mode of playing it was similar, and from their holding it up after it had been struck, we may venture to conclude the adoption of the metal rings, for the free emission of whose sound that position was particularly suited. It is evident, from the paintings at Herculaneum, that the Greek tambourine was furnished with balls of metal, pendent from the front part, or from the centre, of its circular rim, to which each appears to have been attached by a short thong; and this instrument was mostly confined to women, as with the Egyptians, and chiefly used by the Greeks in festivals of Bacchus and Cybele.

With the name of tambourine that of Anacharsis will always be connected; and, however improbable the story, it has been very generally believed that he fell a sacrifice to the indignation of his countrymen, in consequence of having introduced the instrument into Scythia, when he returned from Greece. Some, with more reason, suppose that an attempt to reform the laws of his country, after the Athenian model, was the cause of his death.

SACRED MUSIC.

Among the instruments of sacred music * may be reckoned the harp, lyre, flute, double pipe, tambourine, cymbals, and even the guitar; but neither the trumpet, drum, nor mace, were ex