ind, some merely instruments of percussion.
In the early sculptures, indeed, only two or three musical instruments
are represented. One is a kind of harp, held between the left arm and
the side, and played with one hand by means of a quill or _plectrum_.
[PLATE CXXVI., Fig. 3.] Another is a lyre, played by the hand; while a
third is apparently cymbal. But in the later times we see besides these
instruments--a harp of a different make played with both hands, two or
three kinds of lyre, the double pipe, the guitar or cithern, the
tambourine, a nameless instrument, and more than one kind of drum.

The harp of the early ages was a triangular instrument, consisting of a
horizontal board which seems to have been about three feet in length, an
upright bar inserted into one end of the board, commonly surmounted by
an imitation of the human hand, and a number of strings which crossed
diagonally from the board to the bar, and, passing through the latter,
hung down some way, terminating in tassels of no great size. The strings
were eight, nine, or ten in number, and (apparently) were made fast to
the board, but could be tightened or relaxed by means of a row of pegs
inserted into the upright bar, round which the strings were probably
wound. No difference is apparent in the thickness of the strings; and it
would seem therefore that variety of tone was produced solely by
difference of length. It is thought that this instrument must have been
suspended round the player's neck. It was carried at the left side, and
was played (as already observed) with a quill or electrum held in the
right hand, while the left hand seems to have been employed in pressing
the strings so as to modify the tone, or stop the vibrations, of the
notes. The performers on this kind of harp, and indeed all other
Assyrian musicians, are universally represented as standing while they
play.

The harp of later times was constructed, held, and played differently.
It was still triangular, or nearly so; but the frame now consisted of a
rounded and evidently hollow, sounding-board, to which the strings were
attached with the help of pegs, and a plain bar whereto they were made
fast below, and from which their ends depended like a fringe. The number
of strings was greater than in the earlier harp, being sometimes as many
as seventeen. The instrument was carried in such a way that the strings
were perpendicular and the bar horizontal, while the sounding-board
projected f