Glass harmonica by rubbing glass or crystal goblets or bowls. The alternate instrument consisting of a set of wine glasses (usually tuned with water) is generally known in English as "musical glasses" or the "glass harp". When Benjamin Franklin invented his mechanical version of the instrument in 1761, he called it the armonica, based on the Italian word "armonia", which means "harmony". The unrelated free-reed wind instrument aeolina, today called the "harmonica", was not invented until 1821, sixty years later. The word "hydrodaktulopsychicharmonica" is also recorded, composed of Greek roots to mean something like "harmonica to produce music for the soul by
18th century in literature be pronounced by Dr Johnson to be one of the most pleasing tragedies in the language. Also in 1703 Sir Richard Steele's comedy "The Tender Husband" achieved some success. In 1704, Jonathan Swift (Irish satirist) published "A Tale of a Tub" and "The Battle of the Books" and John Dennis published his "Grounds of Criticism in Poetry". "The Battle of the Books" begins with a reference to the use of a glass (which, in those days, would mean either a mirror or a magnifying glass) as a comparison to the use of satire. Swift is, in this, very much the