Hawkins (Hist. of Music, pp. 730
and 731) gives two pieces for the lute by Mace, or, rather, the same
piece twice, first for one lute, then arranged for two. [Appendix.]
The five lower strings of the lute were 'doubled'--_i.e._, there were
two of each pitch, duplicates, which helped the tone of the chords by
'sympathetic' vibration. So there were really eleven strings, but only
six different pitches. There were eight frets on the fingerboard.
Other varieties were the Arch-Lute[13] and the Theorbo-Lute, both of
which had very long double necks, and a large number of strings. One
Archlute in South Kensington Museum has as many as 24, eleven of which
are duplications.
[Footnote 13: See Frontispiece.]
_H. 6. A._ I, iv, 92.
_Talbot_ (of Salisbury dying).
'He beckons with his hand, and smiles on me,
As who should say, "When I am dead and gone,
Remember to avenge me on the French."--
Plantagenet, I will; and _like thee, Nero,
Play on the lute_, beholding the towns burn.'
_Hen. 4. A._ III, i, 206. Mortimer to Lady Mortimer.
_Mort._ ... for thy tongue
Makes Welsh as sweet as _ditties_ highly penn'd,
_Sung_ by a fair queen in a summer's bower,
With _ravishing division_, to her _lute_.
For 'ravishing division,' see the remarks on the third of the
foregoing passages, the speech of Juliet about the lark's song [p.
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