Naturally, it figured frequently in
'serenading' especially when a love song had to be sung outside a
lady's window. The general shape of a Lute was that of a mandoline,
but about four times as big. Like the mandoline, it had a flat belly,
and a great basin-shaped back. But in every other respect it was
entirely different. It was used more in the fashion of a guitar, and
its strings (which were of gut) were plucked with the fingers.
[Footnote 12: See Frontispiece.]
Adrian Le Roy's book, published in Paris about 1570, says the six
strings were tuned as follows--1st (minikin), C in third space, treble
staff; 2nd (small mean), G on second line; 3rd (great mean), D under
the staff; 4th (counter-tenor), B flat over the bass staff; 5th
(tenor), F on fourth line; and 6th (base), C in second space.
Scipione Cerreto, however (Naples 1601), gives quite a different
account of the Italian Lute of eight strings, the tuning of which
seems to have extended the compass downwards to C under the bass
staff. Thomas Mace (Musicks Monument, 1676) tells of several
objections against the lute, the most noteworthy of which were--1st,
that it was a costly instrument to keep in repair; 2nd, that it was
out of fashion; and 3rd, that it _made young people grow awry_. Mace
refutes these calumnies, the last of which no doubt was set about on
account of the very awkward shape of the lute back, and the
considerable size of the instrument.
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