FLUTE, an instrument of music, the simplest of all those of the wind kind. It is played on by blowing it with the mouth; and the tones or notes are changed by stopping and opening the ventiges arranged along its side. There is a very ancient instrument. It was at first called the flute a bec, from bee, an old Gaulish word signifying the beak of a bird or fowl, but more especially of a cock; the term flute a bee therefore signifies the beaked flute, which appears a very proper appellation in comparison with the traverse or German flute. The word flute is derived from fluta, the Latin for a lamprey or small eel found in the Sicilian Seas, and having seven holes immediately below the gills on each side, the precise number of those in the front of the flute.

By Mersenne this instrument is called the fistula dulcis seu Anglica; and, according to him, the lowest note for the treble flute is C fa ut, and the compass of the instrument fifteen notes. 1here is however a flute known by the name of the concert fl u te, the lowest note of which is r. Indeed ever since the introduction of the flute into concerts, the lowest note of the instrument, of what size soever it may be, has been called F; when in truth its pitch is determinable only by its correspondence in respect of acuteness or gravity with one or other of the chords in the scala maxima or great system.

Besides the true concert flute, others of a less size were soon introduced into concerts of violins; in which case the method was to write the flute part in.a key corresponding to its pitch. This practice was introduced in 1710 b v one 5 oodcock, a celebrated performer on this instrument, and William Babell, organist of the church of All-Hallows, Bread Street, London. They failed, however, in procuring for the flute a reception into concerts of various instruments; for which reason Thomas Stanesby, a curious maker of flutes and other instruments of the like kind, having about the year 1732 adverted to the scale of Mersenne, in which the lowest note is C, invented what he called the new system, in which, by making the flute of such a size as to be a fifth above concert pitch, the lowest note became C sol fa ut. By this contrivance the necessity of transposing the flute part was taken away; for a flute of this size, adjusted to the system above mentioned, became an octave to the violin. To further this invention of ' Stanesby’s, Louis Merci, performer on the flute, published, about the year 1735, six solos for this instrument, three of which are said to be accommodated to Stanesby’s new system; but the German flute had now become a favourite instrument, and Stanesby’s ingenuity failed to produce the effect intended. Indeed one great objection against this instrument, which equally affects all perforated pipes, is, that they are never perfectly in tune, or cannot be made to play all their notes with equal exactness. The utmost that the makers of them can do is to tune them to some one key; and to effect this truly, is a matter of no small difficulty. The English flutes made by the younger Stanesby came the nearest to perfection; but those of Bressan, though excellent in their tone, were all too flat in the upper octave. For these reasons some are induced to think that the utmost degree of proficiency on any of those instruments is not worth the labour of attaining it.

German Flute is an instrument entirely different from the common flute. It is not, like the latter, put into the mouth to be played; but the end is stopt with a tompion or plug, and the lower lip is applied to a hole about two inches and a half or three inches distant from the end. This instrument is usually about a foot and a half in length; rather larger at the upper end than the lower; and perforated with holes, besides that for the mouth, the lowest of which is stopped and opened by the little finger pressing on a brass or sometimes a silver key, like those in hautboys, bassoons, and other similar instruments. Itssound is exceedingly sweet and agreeable; and it serves as a treble in a concert.

Flute, or Fluyt, is a kind of long vessel, with flat ribs or floor timbers, round aft, and swelled in the middle, which serves chiefly for carrying provisions in fleets or squadrons of ships, though it is often used in merchandise. The word flute, signifying a sort of boat or vessel, is, according to Borel, derived from the ancient flotte, a little boat. In the verbal process of the miracles of St Catherine of Sweden, in the twelfth century, we meet with the following words: “Unus equum suum una cum mercibus magni ponderis introduxit super instrumentum de lignis fabricatum, vulgariter dictum flutaΓ