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X. Remarks on an Italian musical Instrument. In a Letter to General Melville. From John Moir, Esq.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2012

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Extract

In 1789, passing through a town iu Lombardy, I accidentally heard a piper, surrounded by a crowd, execute an air so affecting, that I got out of my chaise to hear him; but judge my surprise when I found, that the instrument he was playing on was perfectly similar to the fistula the Satyrs and Fauns are pictured with. The piper had a little basket of the same sort of instruments to sell, one of which I bought, and on enquiry I found that it is common with the peasantry in that country; I doubt, therefore, whether it will have that merit of novelty with you that it had with me; but if it should happen that you have not seen one of the kind before, I may congratulate myself from the light your fine taste and erudition have constantly thrown on every thing relative to the antients, that I have put it in the best possible train of investigation. On my arrival at Milan, I mentioned the circumstance to a gentleman, who procured me the hearing a concert on it, accompanied by a violin and guittar, that quite enchanted me.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1792

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References

page 81 note [a] See it engraved, plate VI.