a musical instrument much resembling the guitar, for which it has been frequently mistaken. Anciently it was called the cistrum, and till lately was held in great contempt both in France and Britain. The practice on it being very easy, it was formerly the amusement and recreation of lewd women and their visitors, insomuch, that in many of the old English dramatic writers, it is made the symbol of a woman that lived by prostitution. It was also the common amusement of waiting customers in barbers shops, as being the most easy of all instruments to play on, and therefore it was thought that almost every body could make use of it.