The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1903-09-12
THR HARP OF IRELAND.
Alike the Reflex and Interpreter of
p Popular Feeling.

pathway across the insecure ground
of legend and tradition the Irish harp
was alike the reflex and interpreter of
popular feeling, says the London
Globe. Perhaps it may be said to
have come prominently into the gen.
eral view when James I placed it in
the third quarter of the royal arms
of Great Britain. But century be-
fore this Henry VIII had impressed
a harp on the Irish coinage, a SEEM
ingly prosaic fact which yet cannot be
divorced from the strong element Of
romance which permeates every phase
of the subject. For it seems that a
son Of King Brian Boru presented his
fathers harp to Pope John XVIII in
1908; and that it was treasured in
Rome until Leo x sent it to Henry
VIII five hundred years afterward. He
in turn gave it to the first earl Of
Clanricarde; and after passing into the
possession of several Irish families,
Brian's storied harp eventually found
home in the College Museum in
Dublin. But supposing this venerable
instrument to be at least a thousand
years old, that is a mere trife in the
history of the harp-especially of the
Irish harp. We may accept the The
ban harp as pretty ancient represent
tative Of its great family; but then
the Irish historians go back to the
deluge, and it is only in the very mist
land of antiquity that we lose touch
with their national symbol And
even there we seem to catch the echo
of it's strains.
But though Boosting of such re-
mote 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 it something of its
own peculiar genius. The violin is
Italian in it's 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 essen
tally consists Of strains of the harp.
This, however, is not surprising, 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 high bid for antiquity, and it
would be interesting to know if it
could be really sustained. There can
be no doubt that in Irish hands the
harp was supreme exponent of popu-
lar feeling and enthusiasm, the very
excess of which has largely obscured
the history and traditions of the coun-
try.
The study of music was originally
confined 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 i'll which it was held was
confined to Ireland. BY the Welsh
laws no person could claim to be IL
freeman who could not play upon the
harp, and it was expressly forbidden
to slave to touch it. A gentleman
harp could not be seized for debt, be-
cause the want of it would have de-
graded him from his rank and reduced
him to the condition of slave. 1t
would be difficult indeed to cxaggeratc
the veneration in which the harp was
held by the Cambro- Britons. Tic
stories rehearscd to it's accompaniment
were often fabulous and always high
ly wrought; and in the hands of the
most famous bards ''the fatteriny
harp never lacked golden strings. :"
All this relates to a highly picturesque
condition Of life and manners set in IL
remote but not indefinite past; but
the Irish antiquary goes far behind it,
and declares that Welsh music was
superfuous to add that the Welsh
writers are of precisely opposite
opinion, and say roundly that the
thief's name was not Taffy, but Pat.
The result of this contest has beel,
rather to throw ridicule upon the ira.
ditiOns of the harp than to add to the
interest which it's genuine history pos.
sesses. 1t is certainly one of the most
ancient Of all instruments, and the
strong musical taste of the native
Irish made it an exceptional power n
their hands. 1t is generally agreed
that the old Irish harp was stringed
with brass wire, but in it's triangular
form it was by no means exceptional
The gradual progress towards the
present shape seems indeed, to have
been almost universal The Egyptian
harp had no front pillar, it's frame
being in outline something like ar
elongated capital G.. This allowed tho
upright stringing of the instrument
in curious contrast to the Persian
form, which, being simply woodel
l., necessitated diagonal stringiny
Perhaps the earliest known repre-
sentation of an Irish harp occurs a
the old church of Ullard. in til,
County of Kilkenny. 1t is rud,
~ yip,rp In rs