and musical instruments with us, in our original migration from the East, in all probability, we are indebted for them to the Phoenicians, who were of Hebrew origin-and were supposed to be none others than the Canaanites.

It is a remarkable circumstance, in support of this supposition, that the Welsh word Telynu, "to play upon the harp", is said to signify precisely the same in the Phoenician language. This might go far to account for the harp of David being our national instrument.

The harp, of all instruments, is the one which has been held in the most general esteem, and has for ages been the inseparable companion of prophet, king, bard, and minstrel. From the days of Jubal-" the father of all such as handle the harp and organ"-it may be traced through all generations as holding the highest place among the Israelites, as is testified by the Holy Scriptures. For example, Laban reproaches Jacob, his son-in-law, in the following words :-" Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me? and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth and with songs, with tabret and with harp."

Samuel, in his instructions to Saul, after having secretly anointed him king, says: "And it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city (Bethel), that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp before them."

Later on, in the days of King David, with whose eventful life, from beginning to end, it was associated in a remarkable degree, we find the harp occupying a still more prominent position. The advice given to Saul by his servants, will show the high estimation in which this instrument was held in those days, especially in the hands of a skilful performer:-" Behold now an evil spirit from God troubleth thee. Let our Lord now command thy servants,

which are before thee, to seek out a man who is a cunning player upon the harp, and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand and thou shalt be well."

On the very first occasion upon which David is presented before Saul, we have the following account of the effect he produced upon that monarch, through the medium of his harp" And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him." As a proof that the harp was David's constant companion in his worship of the Almighty, it is only necessary to quote a few, out of the innumerable instances to be found in the Psalms :-"Awake up, my glory, awake lute and harp, I myself will awake right early." "Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God." "By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof, for they that carried us away captive required of us a song. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning." The last sentence evidently alludes to playing upon the harp, and the whole of this beautiful passage shows that such was the love of the Israelites for this instrument, that it accompanied them even in their captivity, although they had not the heart to awaken its sweet sounds. Even up to the time of the Christian era, the harp was regarded with peculiar veneration; for we find John the Apostle making frequent mention of it in the Revelations, from which we select the following remarkable passage: "And I heard a voice from Heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harp

ing upon their harps." It is not to be wondered at, then, that the Welsh, as a people, should have retained their fondness. for their national instrument, if my conjecture, as to the source from which they derived it, be correct.

Recent discoveries made in Egypt and Assyria, by Bruce, Layard, and others, show that the harp was equally popular in all these countries in ancient times; and it is to be found in every Eastern country, even to this day, in one form or another. It is generally found without the front pillar; but Bruce, in a letter to Dr. Burney, also alludes to the representation of a harp upon a basso-relievo at Ptolemais, in Cyrenaicum, a city built by Ptolemy Philadelphus, where it is twice represented with fifteen strings or two octaves, and with the front pillar; the use of which he attributes to the additional strain of the extra strings most other harps having less than that number.

Greek historians clearly show that the ancient Britons and the ancient Greeks were well known to each other; and they mention Abaris, a British druid and philosopher, who visited Greece in the time of Pythagoras.

Himerius, a Greek orator, gives the following description of him: "Abaris came to Athens, not clad in skins like a Scythian, but with a bow in his hand, a quiver hanging from his shoulder, a plaid wrapped about his body, a gilded belt encircling his loins, and pantaloons reaching from his waist to the sole of his feet. Moreover, he addressed us in our own tongue."

On the other hand, the Greeks appear to have been acquainted with the British Isles, from the following description given by Diodorus Siculus, half a century before the Christian era. He says: "There is an Island over against Gaul, the size of Sicily, under the Arctic pole, inhabited by the Hyperboreans, so called because they lie far north. They say that Latona was born there, and therefore that they

worship Apollo above all other gods, because they daily sing songs in praise of this god, and ascribe to him the highest honors. They say that these inhabitants demean themselves as if they were the priests of Apollo, who has there a stately grove and renowned Temple of a circular form, beautified with many rich gifts; that there is a city likewise consecrated to this god, whose citizens are most of them harpers, who, playing upon the harp, chaunt sacred hymns to Apollo in the Temple, setting forth his glorious acts. The Hyperboreans use their own natural language; but, of long and ancient time, have had a special kindness for the Grecians; and more especially for the Athenians and the Delians; and that some of the Grecians passed over to the Hyperboreans, and left behind them divers presents (or things dedicated to the gods) inscribed with Greek characters; and that Abaris formerly travelled thence into Greece and renewed the ancient league of friendship with the Delians."

Julius Cæsar, in his Commentaries, states that the Druids made use of the Greek characters and gives reasons for their doing so. In explaining the system of education adopted among their disciples, he says: "They are taught to repeat a great number of verses by heart, and often spend twenty years therein, for it is deemed unlawful to commit their statutes to writing; though in other matters, whether public or private, they make use of Greek characters. They seem to me to follow this method for two reasons, to hide their mysteries from the knowledge of the vulgar, and to exercise the memory of their scholars."

It may be a circumstance worthy of remark that Abaris was a name peculiar to Arabian kings in ancient times, as much so as Ptolemy was to Egyptian monarchs.

In the fourth century, Ammianus Marcellinus relates that the British bards celebrated the brave actions of illustrious

men in heroic poems, which they sang to the sweet sound of the harp.

In this respect they resembled the Grecians, as is shown by Homer, in the 9th book of the Iliad (v. 245). In the embassy sent by Agamemnon to Achilles, during his retirement, after he had quitted the Grecian camp, he gives the following description :

"Amus'd at ease, the God-like man they found,

Pleas'd with the solemn harp's harmonious sound;
(The well-wrought harp from conquer'd Thebe came,
Of polish'd silver was its costly frame);

With this he soothes his angry soul, and sings

Th' immortal deeds of heroes and of kings."

The most remarkable feature of all, in comparing the manners and customs of the ancient Greeks with those of the ancient Britons, is to be found in the singular similarity between the Olympic games and the Eisteddfodau, which have been periodically held in Wales from time immemorial, and continued up to the present. It is true that athletic games are no longer included in the programme of the Eisteddfod-in addition to music and poetry-as was the case in the Olympic games; neither have we any instance of a challenge of skill between two musicians, and its being mutually agreed that he who was defeated should be tied to a tree and flayed alive by the conqueror, as was the case between Marsyas and Apollo; but the particular trials of strength mentioned in the Grecian contests, such as running, leaping, wrestling, boxing, and throwing the quoit, are all included in the four-and-twenty games of the Welsh ; and in all probability, they were encouraged at the Eisteddfodau in former times, and until the more civilising influence of music and poetry caused them to be discontinued.

The first Eisteddfod of which we have any historical record, was held in the middle of the seventh century, pre