d brilliant woman.

The instrument which belonged, once upon a time, to Mary Queen of Scots
was not quite so gorgeous. Its case was of oak inlaid with cedar, but it
was ornamented with gold and had rare paintings on the case. It was
customary to employ the best artists to decorate these instruments, as
this greatly enhanced their value. There is a story that Salvatore Rosa,
on a wager, made his almost valueless harpsichord worth a thousand scudi
by painting a landscape with figures upon the lid.

In July of the year 1701 the London _Post_ had an article relating to
virginals which reads: "This week a most curious pair of virginals,
reckoned to be the finest in England, was shipped off for the Grand
Seigneur's seraglio."

Old Pepys, in his diary, gives a description of the great fire in London
which occurred in 1666, in which he says: "The river was full of
lighters and boats, taking in goods, _good_ goods swimming in the water;
and only I observed that hardly one lighter or boat but that there was a
pair of virginals on it." The word "pair" as it is used then had no more
meaning than when we now say "a pair of scissors." This extract shows
that the instrument must have been almost as commonly used as the piano
of our day. In Shakespeare's time it was customary to have a virginal in
a barber shop for the entertainment of customers, probably to beguile
the weary moments while they waited for the barber to say "next."

[Illustration: Clavichord made by John Christopher Jesse, Germany, 1765]

In shape the spinet resembled the harp placed horizontally in the
framework. A very good example may be seen at the South Kensington
Museum in London. It was made by Rossi, a celebrated manufacturer. The
Metropolitan Museum in New York has rare specimens of the harp which
were given by the late Mr. Drexel, of Philadelphia, who purchased them
in Europe. There are two theories as to the origin of the name "spinet."
One is, that it was taken from Spinetti, a Venetian who invented the
oblong form of the case. The other is that the strings were made to
vibrate by the points of a quill, and that the word "spinet" came from
thorn or point.

In tone the spinet was usually a fifth higher than that of the
harpsichord, which came into favor during the eighteenth century. The
latter was almost exactly like our grand piano, only very much smaller.
To Italy has been accorded the honor of its origin, also, away back in
the fifteenth century. It