It is not my intention to follow up here the various transformations of bow instruments in the middle ages; it will suffice to observe that there were frequent changes in them from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century; as much in the common kinds, vulgarly called in French Rebec, and in German Geige ohne Bunde (Violins without band or side pieces), which possessed only three strings, as in the improved Viols, the body of which was formed of belly and back joined by side pieces, as in our Violins, Tenors, and Basses. The smaller kinds also possessed only three strings; the larger kind had four; there were also others with five, six, and seven strings. In the middle ages, the Rebec, called Rubebbe, possessed but two strings. It is the same instrument which in Arabia acquired the name of Rebab. From the fifteenth century it is found with its three strings. This instrument took nearly the form of a mandoline; the neck and the body being formed of a single piece, the finger-board being as wide as the entire instrument, and reaching within a short distance of the bridge. No passage was left for the bow in the body of the instrument, but the body was very narrow, and the bridge formed a point for the middle string to rest upon, so that this string could be touched by the bow without touching the others. Like all instruments later than the fifteenth century, the Rebec was made of four different sizes, the smallest of which was called Discant, or upper; then followed, in progressively larger proportions, the Alto, the Tenor, and the Bass. The dancing-master’s Kit, of the latter years of the eighteenth century, was all that remained of the ancient Rebec. The Viol was called Vielle in the middle ages. This is the Viola of the Italians, and the Vihuela of the Spaniards. There were several kinds. As early as the fifteenth century, one of this kind had a flat belly, and a place for fixing the strings similar to that of the Guitar. As in the Lute, and all stringed instruments played with the fingers, the finger-board was divided into distances for placing the fingers. From the fifteenth century the bellies of Viols assumed the raised or vaulted form, the backs remaining flat. The cavities at the side, which had formerly been very large and straight, were made in the shape of a section of a circle, and were reduced to the dimensions necessary for the use of the bow. The raised bellies rendered it necessary to alter the bridge into the bridge-shape, so as to incline towards the ribs. Hence the term Bridge, which is called by the Italians, from its form, Ponticello. The divisions for the fingers on the finger-board were retained on the Viols up to the second half of the seventeenth century. During the fifteenth century the vaulted form of Viol possessed five strings; in the commencement of the sixteenth it had six. The first string was called in Italy Canto, the second Sotana, the third Mezzana, the fourth Tenore, the fifth Bordone, and the sixth Basso.