Both the clarion and the buzine, as the shorter and longer forms of the medieval trumpet were denominated, have disappeared, the former giving place to the clarinet, whose high notes made an effective substitute for those of the clarion; and the latter to the sackbut, a slide instrument which, judging from the Bible and Book of Common Prayer, had become well-known in the seventeenth century, and is found in the modern orchestra under the name of trombone.

7.-CLAVICYMBAL.

Our next two instruments are of exceptional interest as introducing us to the forerunners of the keyed instruments which issued in the pianoforte and organ of modern days. Although the Clavicymbal here represented resembles in shape the grand-piano, its fellow the clavichord, a unique example of which is figured in the fine roof sculpture of St. Mary's, Shrewsbury, is actually the real ancestor of the piano.

The essential difference between these two keyed string instruments of medieval times subsists in the mode of operating the strings. Both were derived from earlier forms, and may be regarded as the application of the mechanical principle to pre-existing instruments played by hand, such as the psaltery and citole, which were played with a plectrum or plucked by the fingers; and the dulcimer, whose wire strings were struck by hammers. The clavicymbal embodied the former of these two principles.

The earlier keyed-psaltery from_which it was derived was introduced by the Italians about 1400, and was called the clavicytherium, or keyedharp. The English clavicymbal (Ital. clavicembalo) developing the same principle of plucking the strings mechanically, became in turn the virginal, harpischord, and spinet; the strings in each case being twanged by means of small portions of crowquill, whalebone, or leather attached to slips of wood called "jacks," which were provided with springs and connected with the keys.

Early representations of this instrument, which assumed its form about the beginning of the fifteenth century, are extremely rare, and accordingly the value of the specimen here is enhanced. From its peculiar shape, resembling somewhat the wing of a bird, the clavicymbal was called the "flugel" by the Germans. A beautiful Venetian example of the instrument itself, adorned with painting, is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. It is dated 1574, and measures 7 ft. 4 in. by 3 ft. by 91⁄2 in.

8.-PORTATIVE ORGAN.

It requires some effort of imagination to realize that the winsome little model so charmingly portrayed here is not a mere concept of artistic fancy, but, on the contrary, that it represents an actual and important adjunct of processional and other uses in the medieval services of the church and elsewhere, and is withal in essentials the prototype of the "king of instruments" of to-day.

This popular little instrument called the Portative was so named because it could be

1 The spinet (Ital. spinetta or spinetto) is said to derive its name from the little quill (spina, a thorn) belonging to its mechanism. 2 Ill. by Engel, op. cit., fig. 66.

carried about during performance, in contradistinction to the "positive," or standing organ, which was placed on a table or rested on the ground (Pl. V. 2). Both are alluded to in the will of Richard Fitz-James, bishop of London, 1522, who

to

bequeathed his " payre of portatyves" and his organs being and standing in my chapels his successor. The fact, which is here implied, that both these little organs could be moved about explains a custom which obtained in the sixteenth century and is illustrated in the churchwardens' accounts of the period, namely, the lending of organs from one church to another; as, for example, at St. Margaret's, Westminster :

1508. "For bringing the organs of the Abbey into the Church, and bering them home agayne, iid. "; and at St. Mary at Hill, London :

1519. "For bringing the organs from St. Andrews'

"

1 It is hardly necessary to explain that the old English "payre' means a complete set, and is irrespective of the number of parts composing the set: e.g., a pair of beads,' or a pair of scissors.”

' Hopkins and Rimbault's History of the Organ, ed. 1865, p. 38.