He improvised upon a many-stringed lyre made of tortoise shell, and his music was shimmering and symphonious.
"Melomaniacs"
James Huneker
It certainly was a beautiful and brilliant pageant, and the splendid military music of the cavalry-bands, the clash and clang of the silver cymbals, the ringing roll of the kettle-drums, and the symphonious cadences of the cornets, horns, and trumpets at the same time, delighted and excited me to the utmost.
"Valerie"
Frederick Marryat
And through the tortoise's hard stony skin At proper distances small holes he made, And fastened the cut stems of reeds within, And with a piece of leather overlaid 60 The open space and fixed the cubits in, Fitting the bridge to both, and stretched o'er all symphonious cords of sheep-gut rhythmical.
"The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Volume III"
Percy Bysshe Shelley Edited by Thomas Hutchinson, M. A.