Harmonium. A musical instrument having a key-board like a pianoforte, and the sounds (which resemble those of organ pipes) produced by the vibration of thin tongues of metal.
Harp. The Egyptians had various kinds of harps, some of which were elegantly shaped and tastefully ornamented. The name of the harp was buni. Its frame had no front pillar. The harps represented on the monuments varied in size from 6½ feet high downwards, and had from 4 to 28 strings. A beautiful Egyptian harp, in the Louvre collection, is of triangular shape with 21 strings, but, like all the harps represented on the monuments, it has no fore-pillar. The strings were of catgut. Assyrian sculptures also represent harps. These also had no front pillar, and were about 4 feet high, with ornamental appendages on the lower frame. The upper frame contained the sound-holes and the tuning-pegs in regular order. The strings are supposed to have been of silk. The Greek harp, called kinyra, resembled the Assyrian, and is represented with 13 strings: it is an attribute of Polyhymnia. The Anglo-Saxons called the harp the gleo-beam, or “glee-wood;” and it was their most popular instrument. King David playing a harp is represented on an A.S. monument of the 11th century. It was the favourite instrument of the German and Celtic bards, and of the Scandinavian skalds. It is represented with 12 strings and 2 sound-holes, and having a fore-pillar. A curious Irish harp of the 8th century, or earlier, is represented in Bunting’s “Ancient Music of Ireland,” having no fore-pillar. The Finns had a harp (harpu, kantele) with a similar frame, devoid of a front pillar. In Christian art a harp is the attribute of King David and of St. Cecilia. St. Dunstan is also occasionally represented with it. In Heraldry the harp is the device and badge of Ireland. The Irish harp of gold with silver strings on a blue field forms the third quarter of the royal arms.
Harpaga, Harpago, Gr. and R. A general term, including any kind of hook for grappling; more particularly a military engine invented by Pericles, and introduced into the Roman navy by Duillius. It consisted of a joist about two yards and a half long, each face of which was coated with iron, and having at one end a harpoon of iron or bronze; the other end was fitted with an iron ring, to which a rope was attached, so as to enable it to be drawn back when it had once grappled a ship or its rigging. Harpago or wolf was the term applied to a beam armed with a harpoon, which was employed to break down the tops of walls, or widen a breach already made. [A flesh-hook used in cookery to take boiled meat out of the caldron.]
Harpastum, R. A small ball employed for a game in which the players formed two sides. They stationed themselves at some distance from a line traced on the ground or sand where the harpastum was placed. At a given signal each player threw himself upon the ball, in order to try and send it beyond the bounds of the opposite party.
Harpies, Gen. (Ἅρπυιαι, i. e. the Snatchers). Winged monsters, daughters of Neptune and Terra, three in number, viz. Aëllo (the tempest), Ocypetê (swift-flying), and Cêlêno; representing the storm-winds. They had the faces of old women, a vulture’s body, and huge claws; they were the representatives of the Evil Fates, and the rulers of storms and tempests. In Christian iconography the Harpies symbolize the devil and repentance. [In the so called “Harpy tomb” in the British Museum they are represented carrying off Camiro and Clytia, the daughters of Pandarus of Crete, as a punishment for his complicity with Tantalus in stealing ambrosia and nectar from the table of the gods.]
Harpsichord. A musical instrument intermediate between the spinet, virginals, &c., and the pianoforte, which supplanted it in the 18th century. It may be described as a horizontal harp enclosed in a sonorous case, the wires being struck with jacks armed with crow-quills, and moved with finger-keys.
Harquebus. An improvement of the hand-gun introduced in the 15th century, applying the invention of the trigger.
Hart. A stag in its sixth year.
Hart or Hind, in Christian art, originally typified solitude and purity of life. It was the attribute of St. Hubert, St. Julian, and St. Eustace.
