The instrument, in Italian "Cetera," is in French called "Cistre," and in English "Cither," sometimes English Guitar. It belongs to the guitar kind because it has a flat back, but all cithers are strung with wire, and the sounds are elicited, like those of the lute-shaped mandoline, by means of a plectrum. This exquisitely beautiful instrument of the early sixteenth century is attributed to the Brescian School. Formerly the property of the Biblioteca Estense at Modena, it has since been acquired by Mr. George Donaldson, London. It will be observed in the drawing that a carving of a woman's head surmounts the peg-box and resolves itself into a lizard, which serves as a handle wherewith to hold the instrument. A mermaid is seen below the finger-board, and there are two in the carving of the back. The ribs are also carved. To show this exquisite carving upon a larger scale enlargements are given of the finger-board mermaid and the rose in the sound-hole. The extreme length of the instrument is 3 feet; and that of the body measured to the neck, 19-1/2 inches; the number of strings is thirteen. Praetorius gives the tuning of such an instrument as follows: [Music] the highest being the single melody string. This Cetera should be compared with that of Mr. Alard in Plate XXVIII.--an instrument made by the famous violin-maker, Antonio Stradivari. [Illustration: XV] PLATE XV. LUTE. A fine old Italian Lute, with the label "1600, IN PADOVA Vvendelio Venere." It is not only rare, but a special interest is attached to it from its having been the favourite musical instrument of the late Carl Engel. When he disposed of his collection he reserved this instrument for his own use, and probably his last performance upon it was Handel's "Lascia ch'io pianga," which he played to the present writer, who now owns the instrument. It is a large lute, being 42 inches in length. The greatest width of the body is 14-1/2 inches, with an extreme depth of 8 inches. The body is 21 inches from the base to the shoulders; from thence to the nut is 10-3/4 inches, and it is 13-1/2 inches from the nut to the extremity of the head, the angle of the peg-box being obtuse. The mean width of the finger-board is 4 inches. It is furnished with twenty strings, which are divided into six pairs of unisons, and eight single strings for basses. Engel tuned it in the D minor tuning, an accordance introduced according to Herr Oscar Fleischer in the first half of the seventeenth century, by the great French lutenist, Denis Gaultier. This accordance ultimately prevailed not only in France and England but in Germany; the same writer informs us that Joseph Haydn used it. This lute, when so tuned, is thus arranged-- [Music] but the old Lute tuning was, in chamber pitch-- [Music]