Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-05-07
THE HARP OF IRELAND
ALIKE THE REFLEX AND INTER-
PREFER OF POPULAR FEELING.
Hibernian Songs and Sentiment
Legend and Tradition - Royal
Arms Of Great Britain.
From the London Globe.

From the London Globe.
Long before history had trodden path
way across the insecure ground Of legend
and tradition the Irish harp was alike the
reflex and Interpreter Of popular feeling.
Perhaps 1t may be said to have come prom
inently into the general view when James I
placed it in the third quarter of the royal
arms of Great Britain. But a century be-
fore this Henry VIII had impressed a harp
on the Irish coinage. a seemingly prosaic
fact which yet cannot be divorced from the
strong element Of romance which permo-
ates every phase of the subject. For 1t
seems that a. son of King Brian Boru pre-
sented his fathers harp to Pope John
XVIII in 1908; and that 1t was treasured
in Rome until Leo X sent 1t to Henry VIII
five hundred years afterward. He in turn
gave 1t to the first Earl of Clanricarde; and
after passing into the possession of several
Irish families, Brians stored harp eventu-
ally found home in the College Museum
in Dublin. But supposing this venerable
instrument to be at least thousand years
old, that Is mere trifie In the history of
the harp-and especially of the Irish harp.
We may accept the Theban harp as a
pretty ancient representative of its great
family; but then the older Irish historians
go back to the deluge, and 1t is only in the
very mist-land of antiquity that lose
touch with their national symbol. And
even there we seem to catch the echo of it's
strains.
An Ancient Instrument.
But though boasting of such a remote
past, the Irish harp is simply an adaptation
of an instrument common to central and
northern Europe. We find it in the hands
of the German and Celtic bards and of the
Scandinavian skalds; and every race has
been able to impress upon 1t something Of
It's own peculiar genius The violin is Ital-
ian In its birth, and is said to be animated
by an Italian soul And. in like manner,
such Of the old Irish music as has come
down to us essentially consists of strains
of the harp. This, however is not sur
prising. for we are told that long before
the Tyre was known in Rome or Greece the
Gael of Ireland had attained a high degree
of perfection in the form and management
OF the harp" This is indeed a high bid for
antiquity, and it would be interesting to
know II 1t could be really sustained There
can be no doubt that in Irish hands the
harp was supreme exponent of popular
1eenng and enthusiasm, the very excess of
which has largely obscured the history and
TRADITIONS of the country.
Slaves Gould Not Touch Harps.
The study of music was originally con-
fined to the bardic order; but so strong was
the national instinct in this direction that
every hero, every virgin, could touch the
harp long ere the useful arts got foot IN
Erin" But neither the accomplishment
nor the respect In which 1t was held was
confined to Ireland. By the old Welsh
laws no person could claim to be a free
and it was expressly forbidden to slave
10 touch It, A gentleman's harp could not
be seized for debt, because the want of II
would have degraded him from his rank
and reduced him to the condition of slave
1t would be difficult indeed to exaggera;e
the veneration in which the harp was held
by the Cambro-Britons. The stories re-
hearsed to It's accompa niment were often
In the hands of the more famous bards
the fattering harp never lacked golden
strings All this relates to a highly pic
turesque condition of life and manners SET
IN remote but not indefinite past: but the
irish antiquary goes far behind 1t and de-
ciares that Welsh music was derived from
the irish. 1t would be superfluous to add
.Hdt the Welsh writer's are of precisely
opposite opinion, and say roundly that the
th1efs name was not Taffy, but Pat
Kinds Of Harp.
The result Of this contest has been rather
TO throw ridicule upon the traditions of the
harp than to add to the interest which it's
genuine history possesses. 1t is certainly
one OF the most ancient of all instruments.
ana the strong musical taste of the native
irish made 1t an exceptional power in their
hands. 1t Is generally agreed that the old
Irish harp was stringed with brass wire
but In its triangular form it was by no
means exceptional. The gradual progress
nave been almost universal. The Egyptian
harp had no front pillar it's frame being in
outline something like an elongated capital
Z. RMS allowed the upright stringing of
the instrument; in curious contrast to the
Persian form, which. being simply a
wooden l., necessitated a diagonal string
ing. Perhaps the earliest known represent
tation of an Irish harp occurs at the old
church of Ullard, in the County of XII
kenny 1t is a rude carving in one of the
arms of sculptured cross, said to date
from a period anterior to the year 500 and
the sculptor has portrayed one of the ba IDS
seated, and in the act of playing But the
form of the harp resting the knee is an
exact counterpart of the letter E, it's six
strings being attached to the upper and
lower limbs. This is certainly a difficult
fact for those who contend that Ireland
gave the harp to all the European nations
For the absence of the front pillar in the
three instances given clearly suggests u
common origin, as 1T points to common
development toward the later triangular
form. The Welsh harp is of this shape
and is in all likelihood coeval with it's
Hfbernian neighbor, though it Is not in
crusted with so many fabulous stories The
early Irish writer's have so exalted the
harp as the national symbol that one might
suppose it to be literally native to the En-.
erald Isle. But it's history in all times and
countries shows that Ireland can maintain
no such claim. The harp from remote an
uqufty has belonged to the civilized world
Its cradle was in the east, and, in various
forms, 1T gradually made it's way among
the nations of Europe.