              Copyright
Helen Forder
2004
|
The
National Music of Wales ... continued xxxxxxxxxxxxxxpage 4
John
Thomas (Pencerdd Gwalia). From Y Cymmrodor, 1878 |
| 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 harping 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."
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