<html> <body> Personally, after doing a little research, there seems to be quite a bit of difference between the two! Avery Doesn't look like any 'harpsichord' we have! :-) Avery Todd ========================================================================= The virginal uses the same plucking action as the harpsichord, but it is oblong rather than wing shaped and the keyboard is in the long side. In this regard, it resembles the clavichord in shape. The virginal has one string per note running parallel to the keyboard and its range is approximately four octaves.   The name virginal supposedly comes from the fact that young ladies usually played this instrument and possibly due to a reflection on Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen, who reigned at the time. It is more popular than the harpsichord in northern Europe. ================================================ The early English instruments were mostly virginals, and a great many survive. The virginal is similar to the harpsichord, but smaller, and with the keyboard arrangement on the side instead of the end. The are generally disposed 1x8', and have a range of C/E-c''. Important also in the Italian and Flemish schools, the virginal in England was the instrument of royalty as well as burgher, and it has a considerable literature designated for it. The keyboard can be placed to the left, the center, or the right, the last of which is called a muselar and has a distinctive flutey sound. <img src="cid:7.0.1.0.2.20060417160354.02300e70@houston.rr.com.1" width=366 height=293 alt="[]">   Virginal Plucked stringed keyboard instrument of the 16th and 17th centuries, often called ‘virginals’ or ‘a pair of virginals’ in England, where the term was applied to any quilled keyboard instrument well into the 17th century. The virginal is rectangular or polygonal in shape and is distinguished from the <a href="http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0016355.html"> harpsichord</a> and <a href="http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0018173.html"> spinet</a> by its strings being set at right angles to the keys, rather than parallel with them. The most likely explanation of the name is that the instrument was often played by girls. There are several manuscript collections of virginal music by English composers, including The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, My Ladye Nevells Booke, Will Forster's Book, Benjamin Cosyn's Book, and Elizabeth Rogers's Book. </body> </html>