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CHAP. II.
NOw after all this that hath been said, I cannot but hope that Those many False and Ignorant Out-cries against the Lute will be laid aside, and deem'd (as indeed they are) False.
I will here Name some of Them;
First, That it is the Hardest Instrument in the World.
Secondly, That it will take up the Time of an Apprenticeship to play well upon It.
Thirdly, That it makes Young People grow awry.
Fourthly, That it is a very Chargeable Instrument to keep; so that one had as good keep a Horse as a Lute, for Cost.
Fifthly, That it is a Womans Instrument.
Sixthly, and Lastly, (which is the most Childish of all the rest) It is out of Fashion.
I will here give a short (but True) Answer to each of These Aspersions.
And as to the First, viz. that it is the Hardest Instrument, &c. I suppose my former Reasons may sufficiently convince any Reason∣able Person of the contrary; However (in that This is the main Ob∣jection) I will spend a little more labour against it, than against any of the Rest; And doubt not but so clearly to Rectifie that Errour, that whosoever will rightly consider what I shall here write con∣cerning it, will never more give Credit to that Flim-Flam-Ignorant saying of the Vulgar.
To which purpose I will make a Comparison betwixt the Lute and the Viol.
The Viol is confess'd to be a Plausible Instrument; and no Affrightment to any Person to undertake it; and in a short time they do much upon it.
Now that the Lute must needs be so Easie as the Viol, examine them Both after This Right manner, by way of Comparison; not comparing the Musick of the one with the Musick of the other, for that is confess'd by All in General, that the LUTE IS THE RAREST AND MOST EXCELLENT PORTABLE INSTRU∣MENT IN THE WORLD, but barely as they are Instruments, and as to the performance upon either.
And in such a Comparison we must consider, what it is that makes an Instrument of Strings Hard or Easie.
The Answer to which must be, The Number of Strings, and the Grasping, or Stopping of That Number. Well then;
The Viol hath six Strings, which are all used in Grasping or Stopping.
The Lute likewise hath but six Strings, which are used in Gras∣ping or Stopping; For although it have 12 Strings, all the other Ranks of Basses are not used at all in Stopping: But only struck open with the Thumb, which serve both to Amplifie the Harmony, as also very much to facilitate the Stops or Grasps of those other six Strings.