Queen Elizabeth was a performer on the _virginal_ (_see_ Fig. 61) as well as on the lute. Sir James Melville, the Scotch ambassador, records in his memoirs an interview with Queen Elizabeth, in the year 1564, in which he heard her play upon the virginal:――“Then sche asked wither the Quen (Mary of Scotland) or sche played best. In that I gaif hir the prayse.” During the Shakesperian age a virginal generally stood in the barbers’ shops for the amusement of the customers. The instrument had evidently retained its popularity at the time of the Great Fire of London; for Pepys (Diary, September 2nd, 1666) records:――“River full of lighters and boats taking in goods, and good goods swimming in the water; and only I observed that hardly one lighter or boat in three that had the goods of a house in, but there was a pair of virginalls in it.” The instrument has metal strings, one for each tone, which are twanged by means of small portions of quill, attached to slips of wood called “jacks,” and provided with thin metal springs. Its construction is therefore similar to that of the spinet and harpischord. Crowquills were most commonly used in the construction of such instruments; but other materials, as for instance leather, whalebone, and even elastic strips of metal, were occasionally adopted instead. [Illustration: FIG. 63.――SPINET. Made by Annibale dei Rossi of Milan. Italian. Dated 1577. H. 11¼ in., L. 58¼ in., W. 22¼ in. No. 809-’69. Victoria and Albert Museum.] [Illustration: FIG. 64.――SPINET. Signed “Johannes Player fecit.” English. About 1700. L. 59 in., W. 22½ in. No. 466-’82. Victoria and Albert Museum.] [Illustration: FIG. 65.――CLAVICHORD. Inscribed “Barthold Fritz fecit, Braunschweig, anno 1751.” German. 18th century. H. 31 in., L. 70½ in., W. 22½ in. No. 339-’82. Victoria and Albert Museum.] There evidently prevailed, some centuries ago, much vagueness in the designation of certain stringed instruments with a key-board. The term _clavichord_ seems to have not unfrequently been applied to any stringed instrument with a key-board, no matter what its interior construction might be. Johann Walther, in his “Musicalisches Lexicon,” Leipzig, 1732, describes the _virginal_ (or “Virginale,” as he calls it), in these words:-“Ein Clavier vors Frauenzimmer” (_a clavichord for ladies_). The following brief explanation of the difference between the spinet and the clavichord may therefore be of interest to some inquirers. The _spinet_ (Italian, _spinetta_ or _spinetto_; French, _épinette_) is said to have derived its name from the little quill (_spina_) used in its mechanism, which is the same as that of the harpsichord and the virginal, described before.