“ The fourteen-course cittern was also known in England as Bijuga; the seven courses in pairs were stretched over the finger-board, and the seven single strings, fastened to the grotesque head, were stretched as in the lyre à vide alongside the neck; all the strings rested on the one flat bridge near the tail-piece. Robinson gives instructions for learning to play the cittern and for reading the tablature. ”

“ The popularity of the cittern was at its height in England and Germany during the 16th and 17th centuries. The cittern consisted of a pear-shaped body similar to that of the lute but with a flat back and sound-board joined by ribs. The neck was provided with a fretted fingerboard; the head was curved and surmounted by a grotesque head of a woman or of an animal. [1] The strings were of wire in pairs of unisons, known as courses, usually four in number in England. ”

“ The descriptive list of the musical instruments in use in England during Leycester’s lifetime (about 1656) has been extracted and published by Dr F. J. Furnivall, in Captain Cox, his Ballads and Books, or Robert Laneham’s Letter (1575) , (London, 1871) , pp. 65-68. ↑ See Knight’s London, i. 142. ↑ See De Vita propria sermonum inter liberos libri duo (Haarlem, 1817) and E. van der Straeten, La Musique aux Pays-Bas, ii. 348-350. ↑ Syntagma Musicum (1618) . See also M. Mersenne, Harmonie universelle (Paris, 1636) , livre ii. prop. xv., who gives different accordances. ”