At the end of the thirteenth century Vincenzo Galilei writes: “This most ancient instrument was brought to us from Ireland (as Dante says), where they are excellently made, and in great numbers, the inhabitants of that island having practised on it for many a century. Nay, they place it in the arms of the kingdom and paint it on their public buildings and stamp it on their coinage, giving as a reason their being descended from the royal prophet David. The harps which these people use are considerably larger than ours and have generally the strings of brass and a few of steel for the highest notes, as in the clavichord. The musicians who perform on it keep the nails of their fingers long, forming them with care in the shape of the quills which strike the strings of the spinet.” The harp appears frequently in illuminated manuscripts. It is played by ladies as well as by gentlemen, and by amateurs as well as by professional musicians. It is always of the type shown in the illustration of King David, facing page 286, taken from a manuscript of the Fourteenth Century. Another Mediæval harp is shown in our illustration, facing page 280. This picture is taken from a beautiful illuminated manuscript of the famous _Romaunt of the Rose_, by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meung, made in the Fifteenth Century. The first minstrel is playing the harp; the second, the flute; and the last the “pipe and tabor.” They are richly dressed. The first minstrel is wearing purple and black hose, scarlet mantle, green sleeves, and black velvet cap; the second in purple and green hose, pink and black mantle, green sleeves, and red velvet cap; the third minstrel is wearing purple and green hose, green and purple mantle, and black velvet cap. The small, green leaves of the trees over the brown wall show that the time is early spring. The Mediæval harp had but one scale; and the only way to shorten the string was to press it down firmly with the finger. Gradually people tried to improve the harp. The first idea of pedal mechanism is due to a Bavarian named Hochbrucker in 1720. Further improvements were made by Cousineau, a French harper, and his son, who doubled the pedals and the mechanism connected with them and practically originated the idea of the modern harp. Cousineau also arranged the pedals in two rows. Then came Sebastian Érard, born in Strassburg in 1752, but who went to Paris and became a famous maker of pianos. During the Revolution he fled to London, but in 1796 returned to Paris, where he died in 1831. His improvements in the harp date from about 1786 and were at first confined to single action. He made his first double-action harp in 1801; and in 1810 produced the perfect model that has never been surpassed.