the trial, and was silent upon the whole opera. The gravity of
her censures, and composure of her voice, which were often attended with
supercilious casts of the eye, and a seeming contempt for the lightness
of the conversation, put me in mind of that ancient serious matronlike
instrument the virginal.

I must not pass over in silence a Lancashire hornpipe, by which I would
signify a young country lady, who with a great deal of mirth and
innocence diverted the company very agreeably; and, if I am not
mistaken, by that time the wildness of her notes is a little softened,
and the redundancy of her music restrained by conversation and good
company, will be improved into one of the most amiable flutes about the
town. Your romps and boarding-school girls fall likewise under this
denomination.

On the right hand of the hornpipe sat a Welsh harp, an instrument which
very much delights in the tunes of old historical ballads, and in
celebrating the renowned actions and exploits of ancient British heroes.
By this instrument I therefore would describe a certain lady, who is one
of those female historians that upon all occasions enters into pedigrees
and descents, and finds herself related, by some offshoot or other, to
almost every great family in England: for which reason she jars and is
out of tune very often in conversation, for the company's want of due
attention and respect to her.

But the most sonorous part of our concert was a shedrum, or (as the
vulgar call it) a kettledrum, who accompanied her discourse with motions
of the body, tosses of the head, and brandishes of the fan. Her music
was loud, bold, and masculine. Every thump she gave, alarmed the
company, and very often set somebody or other in it a-blushing.

The last I shall mention was a certain romantic instrument called a
dulcimer, who talked of nothing but shady woods, flowery meadows,
purling streams, larks and nightingales, with all the beauties of the
spring, and the pleasures of a country life. This instrument has a fine
melancholy sweetness in it, and goes very well with the flute.

I think most of the conversable part of womankind may be found under one
of the foregoing divisions; but it must be confessed, that the
generality of that sex, notwithstanding they have naturally a great
genius for being talkative, are not mistresses of more than one note;
with which however, by frequent repetition, they make a greater sound
than those who are possessed of t