directly opposite to the fact: "they manage this matter much better in France." May I hope that this subject is not unworthy of the consideration of those whose proceedings and influence must soon be felt in every thing connected with the science and the profession; and that the managers of the Royal Musical Academy will not disdain to lighten the burthen of masters in general by a promulgation of some system of nominal notation more consonant with truth and reason than the present.

I am, your sincere well-wisher,

TO THE EDITOR.

A QUERIST.

SIR,

THE HARP OF MARTABAN.

I AM induced to send you the following extract from a letter I lately received from my brother, (now engaged with the native troops of India against the Burmese,) in the hope that it may prove interesting to many of your readers; first however premising, that it never was written with the remotest idea of being made public.

"Martaban, 1825.-Very little being known of the natives of this place in England, you may perhaps like to learn something of them: they appear extremely fond of our music, to which their own approaches nearer, and is far better than any I have yet heard in India. They have a lute with two brass strings, played either with the fingers or a bow: a kind of violin: a crocodile, which is an instrument in the form of that animal, with three strings on its back, two of silk and one of brass; this is played with the fingers: they have also another instrument, which I must call a cat, since it is in the form of that quadruped sitting, with its legs folded under it, and with its tail brought in a semicircle over its back, VOL. VII. NO. XXVIII.-DEC. 1825. 2 M

and to these the strings are attached. They have a species of flutes, flageolets, tomtoms, and gongs ;-so much for their instruments. As far as I understand it, I will endeavour to give you an idea of the arrangement of their scale, although being far from versed in the theory of music, you must not implicitly rely on the correctness of my explanation ;-The cat has usually twelve or thirteen strings: supposing then the lowest of these to be D, the scale does not rise as ours does by tones and half tones, D, E, F, G, but thus: 1st string, D-2d, F-3d, A. The 4th then commences with G, and the two following are B, D. The 7th string again begins with C. The 8th and 9th are E, G, and so on with the remainder; of the other stringed instruments I know nothing, except that they play in concert with the cat."

Such, Sir, is my brother's account, for which I beg the indulgence of yourself and readers, as also for a few remarks, which, (although but ill prepared to write on this subject), I cannot refrain from offering; and first of two stringed instruments, which appear to be of the highest antiquity, and are probably the first attempts of a rude people to produce sounds by other means than the voice, or breathing through a reed: the earliest of these whereof we have any record, seems to be that preserved on the guglia rolla, at Rome. This curious relic has two strings and a neck, resembling the colascione now used in the kingdom of Naples. The Russians have their balalaika, and the old rebec had at first but two strings, and was played on with a bow, (the reader will mark the similarity between this and the Martaban lute); with the Moors it came into Spain, whence it passed into Italy, and with the addition of a third string obtained the name of rebeca; thence the old British rebec, or fiddle with three strings. Should there remain a doubt as to the derivation of the Martaban lute from Egypt, surely the crocodile-shaped instrument must be allowed to have originated in that country:† its affinity too with the lyre of Trismegistus is so remarkable that it cannot pass unnoticed.

The cat, or harp of Martaban, is but a variation of the famed and elegant Theban harp, both in its figure and the number of

* One of the obelisks supposed to have been erected by Sesostris at Heliopolis, 400 years before the siege of Troy, or A. M. 2420.

+ The crocodile was among the number of Egyptian sacred animals.

its strings; this I am induced to remark, in reflecting that the arts and sciences of most of the vast provinces of Asia have remained stationary, at least during an immense period of years, so that in all probability the music and instruments used at present in Hindostan and the Birman Empire (India without the Ganges) are in their primitive state, and owe their origin to the high antiquity; if so, whence are they derived? by whom invented? "In Egypt the Red Sea," says Dr. Rutherford,* "opened a communication with the Indian Continent and the South-east coast of Africa, while the Isthmus of Suez presented by land an extensive market among the Eastern nations for the productions and manufactures of Egypt." The Egyptians, from their superstitious horror of the sea, (regarding it as the emblem of Typhon, their evil genius, and the enemy of Osiris) did not extend their commerce for some time to countries they could only have reached by crossing it. "The tribes," continues Dr. R. "who settled on the coasts of Palestine, are unquestionably the first who discovered the art of rendering navigation subservient to commerce. These people are mentioned in Scripture by the name of Canaanites, which in the language of the East signifies Merchants; they were afterwards known to the Greeks by the name of Phoenicians, an appellation probably bestowed on them from the multitude of palms (povIĘ) which their country produced." The Phoenicians extended their commerce and settlements into almost every part of the then known world; India, Greece, Spain, and Britain, &c. &c. shared the former. The sacred writers mention, as well as profane authors, the extent of their trade, wealth, luxury, and power. Is it then improbable that their arts and sciences, their religion and superstitions, should have overspread the vast Indian continent? Were it not so, there is yet another argument in favour of what I have advanced :-the Israelites dwelt in Egypt 400 years; Egypt, then in the meridian of literary glory!-Egypt, the ever avowed mother of the arts and sciences!-The Hebrews we know "spoiled the Egyptians," in their emancipation and departure from the country; and did not they carry away with them any instruments of music so universally used in religious services ?— They did for after, immediately after the tremendous overthrow

* Vide Rutherford's View of Antient History, Vol. 1.

of Pharoah and his hosts in the Red Sea, "Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances"-Ex. 15 chap. 20 v.-Now it may be enquired, where did, where could Miriam and her chorus obtain their timbrels, unless they brought them from the land they had just fled.-In the course of the 400 years of bondage the Hebrew nation had imbibed much of the idolatry of the Egyptians-and shall we suppose, that during so long a period they had gained none of their learning?—nor adopted any of their manners, customs, or amusements?—it would have been miraculous had they not. Now the doctrine, the ceremonies, and observances of the religion of Brama, are in many instances so remarkably similar to the ordinances of the Jews, as to leave no doubt whence their origin is derived. Music is, with few exceptions, a prominent feature in the religious rites of all nations; we therefore suppose the Israelites to have had some of their musical instruments from the Egyptians (either taken thus at their departure, or copied from those in use with that people, during their wanderings in the Desert,) and the Hindoos (were the probability respecting the Phoenicians set aside) from them ; as also somewhat of Egyptian idolatry and mysticism, with the ceremonies enjoined by the law. These remarks, Mr. Editor, you will be pleased to remember, are hazarded but as conjectures ; conjectures, probable at least, on a subject which, verging into those dark ages that are awfully veiled in impenetrable obscurity, admit of no surer mode of argument.-But to resume the observations I was about to offer on the cat :-first, it is a harp-and secondly, it is extremely singular in its coincidence with the Theban harp-they both want one side;-the harp of Thebes is represented with thirteen strings; the harp of Martaban has not more, if it has one less (for my brother evidently speaks without having actually numbered them, though about so many were apparent to the eye.) The form of the instrument also favours the supposition that it is of Egyptian origin; in Egypt, a cat was an object of extraordinary veneration.-" When a cat dies a natural death," says Herodotus, "all the people of the house shut their eyebrows in testimony of sorrow; the animal is also embalmed, and nobly interred:"-and the late lamented Belzoni, in the course of his search for papyri amid the tombs of the antient

Egyptians, came to one " which was filled with nothing but cats, carefully folded in red and white linen; the head covered with a mask, representing the cat, made of the same linen."-The invention of the harp itself is ascribed by some to the Arpi, a people of Italy; but Galileo maintains that the honour of inventing it is due to the Irish, who transmitted it to the Arpi; this point is not material to discuss here-but I mention it because, having previously observed that the ancient Egyptian and present Martaban harp both want one side of that frame, I would say, I never remember to have seen (though being attached to antiquarian researches, many drawings of ancient instruments have met my sight) any British harps of this peculiar construction. Does this circumstance prove that the harp has been at different periods invented by many nations?—or that in later times those nations have received from others their improved inventions? Should any of your correspondents, Mr. Editor, be inclined to continue this subject, most happy shall I be to receive the instruction their essays may afford. Perhaps some of your readers will enquire: :"But why this anxiety, this earnest endeavour to prove these unknown, and to us useless instruments of Egyptian extraction ?"— To which I simply answer-"Prove incontestibly that the lute, crocodile, lyre, and cat-fashioned harp, originate with an ancient and polished people now extinct; that they have been preserved among an oriental people from times of which we have scarcely any records, and it is satisfactorily established that in those countries forgotten, or of which very little is known by Europeans, we must seek the remnants of Egyptian and (perhaps) Grecian music.”— Remarks on the Martaban scale, or arrangement of the strings of their singular instrument, I leave for those who are better versed in the theory of music than myself and qualified to argue on Greek modes and Indian scales. In the interim, the presumption of the preceding attempt to establish Egyptian music in Hindostan at the present day, will I trust be pardoned, and whether my hypotheses are true or false, I should be gratified if I could know I had conferred pleasure on the reader, either by the novelty of my subject or by having opened a fresh field for speculation.

JUVENIS.

Note. I should have observed in mentioning the invention of the harp being attributed to the Irish, that it is from them the