As a Cambridge undergraduate I remember playing
flute solos at the University Musical Society's concerts. And I can
still recall the pleasant sound of the applause which on one occasion
called for a repetition of my performance. Since those days I took up
the bassoon under the guidance of another admirable teacher, Mr E. F.
James. But nowadays my chief interest is the recorder, which is best
known to the unmusical world from the well-known passage in _Hamlet_. Of
this instrument I shall have something to say in the sequel. I give
these personal details to show how small a right I have to do more than
give an abstract of Mr Galpin's admirable book.

The first instrument dealt with is the harp, the essential feature of
which is that each string gives but one sound. {72} It is not clear to
me why the psaltery and dulcimer are separated from the harp, since they
also have unstopped strings and therefore unalterable notes. Whereas the
interpolated chapter ii. is concerned with instruments--the gittern and
citole--whose tones are alterable in pitch by "stopping," _i.e._,
altering the length of the vibrating part of the string. I can only
suppose that the author considers that the fact of the gittern and citole
being sounded by plucking the strings, brings these instruments into
alliance with the harp. I confess that I should like to have seen Class
I. (strings unalterable in tone) including the harp, the rote, the
psaltery, dulcimer (Plate I.), the aeolian-harp, and the piano. Then
would come a class of instruments some at least of whose strings produce
a variety of tones by stopping, _i.e._, shortening the vibrating region
of the string, and this would include gittern and citole, lute, etc. But
doubtless the author has good reason for his arrangement, and I have not
knowledge enough to be his critic.

[Picture: Plate I. Psaltery and Dulcimer]

At p. 4 (Galpin) is represented the simple Irish harp or lyre which was
known as the cruit or crot; it is essentially a harp, although it seems,
in its infancy at any rate, to have had but five or six strings. The
name cruit or crot afterwards developed into rotte, and under this name
is described a remarkable instrument apparently dating from the fifth to
the eighth centuries, which is figured at p. 34 (Galpin). It was found
in the Black Forest in the grave of a warrior, together with his sword
and bow, and seems to have been clasped in his arms, as th