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DICTIONARY OF ORGAN STOPS. 133
Regal displays weights on the bellows (the first known instance), and two
pipes of the Knopf-Regal type to each note.
The instrument was chiefly employed in religious processions for
sustaining or " giving out " the Plainsong melody. The Regal, and the
portable flue pipe organs which probably came into use in the Xllth
century, received the name of "Portatif" (Lat., Portare, to carry), in
contradistinction to the larger pipe organs known as Positif (Lat., Ponere,
to place or fix). The Regal was not introduced as an organ reed until
after the Chalumeau {q.v.) ; although it may reasonably be supposed that
the distinction in the tone was but slight. It was of 8 ft., and in later
times also of 16 ft. and 4 ft. pitch. The invention of the various forms
of pipes employed must have taxed the ingenuity of the most fertile
imaginative faculties of the day. In those days the art of reed voicing was
certainly, as far as regards imitative character capacity was concerned, in a
rudimentary stage. For the most part, then, the names may be regarded
as mere fancy appellations, the coining of which doubtless afforded scope
for a little mild recreation on the part of those reponsible for them. A
few of the more important varieties of Regal are appended. In addition
to these, pipes shaped in most fantastic forms were to be found. Some
resembled large shells, others were composed of tubes wound about in
all directions.
Curious Forms of Regal Pipes.