ar bronze horns.
There is an interesting popular fable that horns were first introduced
into Western Europe by the Crusaders; but that is incorrect, in that
bronze horns have been found in prehistoric barrows. The horn was
commonly used for summoning the folk mote in Saxon times, and in quite
early days horns sounded in English homes on the arrival of guests. The
hunting horn was found in every house of importance in mediaeval times,
and in the sixteenth century it had become semicircular. Great composers
testify to the value of the horn in instrumental music, Handel and
Mozart writing pieces specially adapted for its use.

Some very quaint old flutes are found among household instruments, the
origin of the primitive pipe or flute being lost in the mists of
antiquity. Among household curios old flutes beautifully inlaid stowed
away in antique leather cases are interesting relics of former days.

[Illustration: FIG. 89. OLD SPINET.

(_In the collection of Mr. Phillips, of Hitchin._)]

Violins and Harps.

To many the chief charm of old instruments is found in the delicious
tones and notes produced by an old violin, which, if the work of a
well-known maker, commands a fancy price; among the most valuable being
an authentic Stradivarius. Many old English violins were made in Soho
in the eighteenth century, for that was the centre of the trade,
although in still earlier days violin makers worked in Piccadilly. In
Soho, too, horns, trumpets, drums, and guitars were made. The guitar,
but in slightly altered form, was the popular home instrument played
upon by Greek and Roman maidens. Many of the earlier European lutes were
in reality guitars. Some beautifully inlaid specimens are occasionally
met with. Of these there are many varieties in the Victoria and Albert
Museum; among them there is a guitar lyre, on which is a mask of Apollo,
an exact imitation of the lyre of the Ancients, which was formerly used
by a member of the Prince Regent's Band at the Royal Aquarium, Brighton.

There is one other instrument which ranks high among the musical
instruments of olden time found in British homes. It is the harp, heard
to perfection in the drawing-room and the concert hall--an instrument
upon which such beautiful melodies can be produced. There are many
pretty legends about the harp heard with such delight and yet
superstitious awe by the Vikings, who, on their return from Britain,
told of the mysterious shores where mermaids