when shaken, like the crescent-crowned bells of our modern bands; besides many other combinations

1

No. 192. Two harps, and another instrument which perhaps emitted a jingling sound. a and b show how the strings were wound round the pegs. Beni Hassan.

of these various instruments; and in the Bacchic festival of Ptolemy Philadelphus, described by Athenæus, more than 600 musicians were employed in the chorus, among whom were 300 performers on the cithara.*

Sometimes the harp was played alone, or as an accompaniment to the voice; and a band of seven or more choristers frequently sang to it a favourite air, beating time with their hands between each stanza. They also sang to other instruments †, as the lyre, guitar, or double pipe, or to several of them played together, as the flute and one or more harps, or to these last with a lyre, or a

*Athen. lib. v.

+ Vide wood-cuts, Nos. 188, 189, 190, and 191.

guitar. It was not unusual for one man or one
woman to perform a solo; and a chorus of many
persons occasionally sang at a private assembly
without any instrument, two or three beating time
at intervals with the hand. Sometimes the band of

No. 194.

2

1

An unusual kind of instrument.

Thebes.

choristers consisted of more than twenty persons,
only two of whom responded by clapping their
hands; and in one instance I have seen a female

*Vide Herodot. ii. 60., where they are said to play the flute and

Alabastron.

represented holding what is, perhaps, a species of instrument, whose use and sound may have been similar to the one above mentioned.*

The custom of beating time by clapping the hands between the stanzas, is still usual in Egypt, though I conceive it to be no longer done in the same manner by the modern as by the ancient Egyptians, whose notions of music, as of every other subject, must have been very different from those of their uncivilised successors.

On some occasions women beat the tambourine and darabooka drumt, without the addition of any

No. 195.

7

6

5

4

1

Thebes

other instrument, dancing or singing to the sound; and, bearing palm branches, or green twigs in their hands, they proceeded to the tomb of a deceased friend, accompanied by this species of music: and the same custom may still be traced in the Friday visit to the cemetery, and in some other funeral * In p. 237. Vide wood-cut, No. 194. fig. 1.

+ The darabooka is a sort of drum still used in Egypt, where it bears this name. Vide wood-cut, No. 195.

ceremonies among the Moslem peasants of modern Egypt.

If it was not customary for the higher classes of Egyptians to learn music for the purpose of playing in society, and if few amateur performers could be found among persons of rank, still some general knowledge of the art must have been acquired by a people so alive to its charms; and the attention paid to it by the priests regulated the taste, and prevented the introduction of a vitiated style. Those who played at the houses of the rich, as well as the ambulant musicians of the streets, were of the lower classes, and made this employment the means of obtaining their livelihood; and in many instances both the minstrels and the choristers were blind.*

From what has been said, it appears, first, that music was studied by the Egyptian priests with other views than that of affording pleasure and entertainment, the same science being borrowed by Pythagoras from Egypt. Secondly, that it was universally used at their private parties, where professional people were hired to perform. Thirdly, that we are to understand from the remark of Diodorus, of its not being customary for the Egyptians to learn music, that the higher orders did not study it as an amusement; and though the twelfth Ptolemy obtained the surname of Auletes from his skill in playing the flute, we cannot infer a general custom from the caprice of a Greek. Strabo, in

* Vide wood-cut, No. 193.

deed, censures his taste; but this was rather owing to the feelings of a Roman*, than to the conviction that the conduct of the monarch was at variance with the customs of his people: for the Greeks† had not the same prejudices against music and the dance as many of the Romans; and, so far from deeming it unworthy a person of rank to excel in them, no one was thought to have received a proper education who possessed not those accomplishments. Cicero observes, that "they considered the arts of singing and playing upon musical instruments a very principal part of learning; whence it is related of Epaminondas, who, in my judgment, was the first of all the Greeks, that he played very well upon the flute. And, some time before, Themistocles, upon refusing the harp at an entertainment, passed for an uninstructed and illbred person. Hence Greece became celebrated for skilful musicians; and as all persons there learned music, those who attained to no proficiency in it were thought uneducated and unaccomplished." Cornelius Nepos, again, mentioning Epaminondas, observes that " he played the harp and flute, and perfectly understood the art of dancing, with other liberal sciences;" "though," he adds, "in the opinion of the Romans, these are trivial things, and not worthy of notice, yet in

* Strabo was born at Amasia, in Pontus, on the borders of Cappadocia, and had studied in Greece, but was educated as a Roman.

+ Polybius, lib. iv. 20, 21., commends the Arcadians for their love of music and the dance. Vide Plato's Crito. s. xii.; Phædo. s. iv.; Alcibiad. A. s. vi.; and Olympiodorus' Life of Plato.

Cic. Tusc. Quæst. lib. i.