LUTE, a stringed instrument of music, long since superseded by the harp and the guitar, but for centuries very fashionable in Europe. The music for the lute was written
in tablature. Any person who wishes to become acquainted with the nature of the lute and its mysteries of stringing, tuning, notation, and playing, may consult Thomas Mace's Music's Monument, published at London in 1676. Most of the MS. lute music in tablature is so carelessly and incorrectly written, as to offer serious difficulties to any person who would translate it into modern notation. The writer of this article may refer to the facsimile extracts which he made from Gordon of Straloch's Lute Book, and from Dr Leyden's Lyra-Viol Book, and presented to the Library of the Faculty of Advocates, Edinburgh, in 1847. (G. F. G.)