"Mrs Snagsby sounds no timbrel in anybody’s ears, but holds her purpose quietly, and keeps her counsel."
TIMBREL
Pronunciation: 'timbrul
Matching Terms: timbre, Timbreled
WordNet Dictionary
Definition: [n] small hand drum similar to a tambourine; formerly carried by itinerant jugglers
I saw that picture, but couldn't be sure what it was supposed to represent. Maybe an inflated large intestine,
inflated tightly. Maybe plucking it would make a sound.
Oh, hitting, not plucking, would make the sound. The timbrel appears to be a tambourine without the drum head from most of the photographs I checked out--or perhaps simply a very small tambourine. Since it's called the timbrel and lacks the 'tambour' or drum component, I would suspect that timbrels were simply circles of small metal pieces hitting against each other and that the tambourine was distinguished from the timbrel because of the drum head addition.
It would be interesting to know the history of the two instruments. I'd guess that the timbrel preceded the tambourine. The timbrel is mentioned in biblical text.
this is what I found with a quick search:
http://www.creativesound.com.au/pr-percussion/timbrel.JPGI'll look more later... there may be a bit more to it than just another name for tambourine.