e
secured to the 'jacks' [see Sonnet cxxviii.], which in turn were set
in motion by the keys. The strings were wire. The oldest country dance
known, the Sellenger's (St Leger's) Round, of Henry VIII.'s time, was
arranged by Byrd as a Virginal 'lesson' for 'Lady Nevell's booke.'
Another well-known Virginal Book, that at the Fitzwilliam Museum at
Cambridge, commonly known as 'Queen Elizabeth's Virginal Book,' is
being published by Breitkopf & Haertel.

[Footnote 10: See Frontispiece.]

[Footnote 11: Plectra of leather were also in use, as well as those of
quill.]

The first music ever printed for the Virginals was 'Parthenia,'
published in London, 1611. This collection contains principally Pavans
and Galliards by Byrd, Bull, and Gibbons. The title 'Parthenia, or the
Maydenhead of the firste musicke,' etc., with a picture of a young
lady playing on the virginal, seems to confirm our explanation of the
name of this instrument.

Next to the viol, the lute[12] was the most popular stringed
instrument. It was used both as a Solo instrument on which to play
sprightly 'Ayres,' or as an accompaniment for the voice, or 'in
consort' with other instruments. Naturally, it figured frequently in
'serenading' especially when a love song had to be sung outside a
lady's window. The general shape of a Lute was that of a mandoline,
but about four times as big. Like the mandoline, it had a flat belly,
and a great basin-shaped back. But in every other respect it was
entirely different. It was used more in the fashion of a guitar, and
its strings (which were of gut) were plucked with the fingers.

[Footnote 12: See Frontispiece.]

Adrian Le Roy's book, published in Paris about 1570, says the six
strings were tuned as follows--1st (minikin), C in third space, treble
staff; 2nd (small mean), G on second line; 3rd (great mean), D under
the staff; 4th (counter-tenor), B flat over the bass staff; 5th
(tenor), F on fourth line; and 6th (base), C in second space.

Scipione Cerreto, however (Naples 1601), gives quite a different
account of the Italian Lute of eight strings, the tuning of which
seems to have extended the compass downwards to C under the bass
staff. Thomas Mace (Musicks Monument, 1676) tells of several
objections against the lute, the most noteworthy of which were--1st,
that it was a costly instrument to keep in repair; 2nd, that it was
out of fashion; and 3rd, that it _made young people grow awry_. Mace
refutes these calumnie