' tinued, a matter of endlefs ftrife and contention in the church.'
For thefe and other reafons contained in the preface, which repre-
fent the hearing of the word as a much more important duty of re-
ligion than prayer or thankfgiving, the directory eftabliffies a new
form of divine worfliip, in which the finging of Pfalms is all of mu-
fic that is allowed ; concerning which the following are the rules :
' It is the duty of Christians to praife God publickly by finging of
' pfalms, together in the congregation, and alfo privately in the fa-
* mily. In linging of pfalms the voice is to be tuneably and gravely
* ordered ; but the chief care mud be to fing with understanding
* and with grace in the heart, making melody unto the Lord. That
* the whole congregation may join herein, every one that can read is
' to have a pfalm-book, and all others, not difabled by age or other-
* wife, are to be exhorted to learn to read. But for the prefent, where
' many in the congregation cannot read, it is convenient that the mi-
' nifter, or fome fit perfon appointed by him and the other ruling offi-
* cers, do read the pfalm line by line before the finging thereof.'
Thus was the whole fabric of the liturgy fubverted, and the Study
of that kind of harmony rendered ufeleis, which had hitherto been
looked upon as a great incentive to devotion. That there is a ten-
dency in mufic to excite grave, and even devout, as well as lively
and mirthful affections, no one can doubt who is not an abfolute
ftranger to its efficacy ; and though it may perhaps be faid that the
effects of mufic are mechanical, and that there can be nothing pleafmg
to God in that devotion which follows the involuntary operation of
found on the human mind : this is more than can be proved; and
the fcripture feems to intimate the contrary.
The abolition of the liturgy was attended not barely with a con-
tempt of thofe places where it had been ufually performed; but by a
pofitive exertion of that power which the then remaining reliques of
the kgiflature had ufurped, the Common Prayer had been declared
by public authority to be a fuperftitious ritual. In the opinion of
thefe men it therefore became neceffary for the promotion of true re-
ligion that organs mould be taken down ; that choral mulic-books
fhould be torn and deitroyed ; that painted glafs windows mould be
broken ; that cathedral fervice mould be totally abolished, and that
thofe retainers to the church, whofe duty it had been to celebrate its
more
Chap. 4- AND PRACTICE OF MUSIC. 43
more folemn fervice, fhould betake themfelves to fome employment
lefs offenfive to God than that of finging his praifes. In confequence
of thefe, which were the predominant opinions of thofe times, col-
legiate and parochial churches were fpoiled of their ornaments; mo-
numents were defaced; fepulchral inicriptions engraven on brafs
were torn up ; libraries and repolitories were ranfacked for ancient
mufical fervice- books, and Latin or Englifh, popifh or proteftant,
they were deemed equally fuperftitious and ungodly, and as fuch
were committed to the flames, or otherwife deftroyed, and, in fhort,
fuch havoc and devaluation made, as could only be equalled by that
which attended the fuppreflion of religious houfes under Henry VII f .
The fentiments of thefe men, who, to exprefs the meeknefs and
inoffenflvenefs of their difpofitions, had affumed the name of Puri-
tans, with refpecl: to the reverence due to places fet apart for the pur-
pofe of religious worfhip, were fuch as freed them from all reftraints
of common decency : that there is no inherent holinefs in the ftones
or timbers that compofe a cathedral or other church ; and that the
ceremony of confecration implies nothing more than an exemption
of the place or thing which is the fubjedl of it from vulgar and com-
mon ufe, is agreed by the fober and rational part of mankind ; and
on the minds of fuch the ceremonies attending the dedication of
churches has operated accordingly ; but, as if there had been a merit
in contradicting the common fenfe and opinion of the world, no
fooner were thefe men vefted with the power, than they found the
means to level all diftin&ions of place and fituation, and to pervert
the temples of God to the vileft and moft profane ufes.
To inftance in one particular; the cathedral church of St. Paul
was turned into horfe-quarters for the foldiers of the parliament, fav-
ing the choir, which was feparated.by a brick wall from the nave,
and converted into a preaching place, the entrance to which was at
a door formerly a window on the north fide eaftwards*. Hitherto
many of the citizens and others were ufed to refort to hear Dr. Cor-
nelius Burgefs, who had an affignment of four hundred pounds a
year out of the revenue of the church, as a reward for his fermons,
which were ufually made up of invedtives againfl deans, chapters,
and finging-men, againfl whom he feemed to entertain a great anti-
pathy -f-. The nobie Corinthian portico at the weft end, defigned by
* Dugdalc's Hifti of St. Paul's Cathedral, pag. 173. t Athen. Oxon. vol. II. Col. 34.7.
Jones
44 HISTORY OF THE SCIENCE Book I.
Jones was leafed out to a man of a projecting head, who built in it
a number of fmall fhops, which were letten by him to haberdafhers,
glovers, femfters, as they were then called, or milliners, and other
petty tradelmen, and obtained the name of St. Paul's Change.
Of muficians of eminence who flourifhed in the reign of king
Charles I. the following are among the chief.
Richard Deering was defcended from an ancient family of that
name in Kent. He was bred up in Italy, where he obtained the re-
putation of a moft admirable mufician upon his return to England,,
and pradifed for fome time, but being ftraightly importuned, he be-
came organift to the monaftery of Englifh nuns at Bruffels'j upon-
the marriage of king Charles I. he was appointed organift to his con-
fort Henrietta Maria, in which ftation he continued till he was com-
pelled to leave England : he took the degree of bachelor of mufic as
a member of Chrift-Church college, Oxon. in 1610; he has leftofhis-
compofition ' Cantiones facras quinque vocum, cum baffo continuo ad
* Organum.' Antwerp, 1597 ; and * Cantica facra ad melodiam ma-
* diigalium elaborata fenis vocibus.' Antwerp, 1618. He died in the
communion of the church of Rome about the year 1657.
John Hingston, a fcholar of Orlando Gibbons *, was organift
to Oliver Cromwell, who, as it is faid, had fome affection for mufic
and muficians -}-. Hingfton was fir it in the fervice of Charles I. but
for a penfion of one hundred pounds a year he went over to Crom-
* Anthony Wood, from whofe manufcript in the Afhmolean Mufeum the above ac-
count is partly taken, was not able to fill up the blank which he left therein for the name
of Hingfton's mailer ; but a manufcript in the hand-writing of Hingfton. now extant, as-
certains it. This relic is thus inferibed, ' My Mafter's Songs in fcore with fome Fanta-
' zias of 6 parts of my own.' 1 he Fantazias ftand firft in the book, and are about fix in
number, fome fubferibed Jo. Hingfton, Jan. 1640, and (jther dates; the fongs are fub-
fcribed Orlando Gibbons. Hence it is to be inferred that Orlando Gibbons was the maf-
ter of Hingfton : and this fuppofition is corroborated by the following anecdote, commu-
nicated by one of- Hingfton's defcendants now living, to wit, that the Chriftian name Or-
lando, for reafons which they have hitherto been ignorant of, has in feveral inftances been
given to the males of the family. Note, that in the MS. above'mentioned one of Gib-
bons's fongs has this memorandum, ' Made for Prince Charles to be fung with 5 voices to
' his wind inftrument.'
•f There are many particulars related of Cromwell, which fhew that he was a lover of
mufic: indeed Anthony Wood exprefsly afterts it in his life of bimfelf, pag. 1^9, and as
a proof of it relates the following ftoiy. ' A. W. had fome acquaintance with James
« Quin, M. A. one of the fenior ftudents of Chrift Church, and had feveral times heard
• him fing with great admiration. His voice was a bafs, and he had a great command of
' it ; t'was very ftrong, and exceeding trouling, but he wanted (kill, and could fcarce
* fing
Chap. 4 . AND PRACTICE OF MUSIC. 45
well, and inftruded his daughters in mufic. He bred up under him
two boys, whom he taught to fing with him Deering's Latin fongs,
which Cromwell greatly delighted to hear, and had often performed
before him at the Cock-pit at Whitehall. He had concerts at his
own houfe, at which Cromwell would often be prefent. In one of
thefe mufical entertainments Sir Roger L'Eftrange happened to be a
performer, and Sir Roger not leaving the room upon Cromwell's com-
ing into it, the Cavaliers gave him the name of Oliver's fidler ; but
in a pamphlet entitled Truth and Loyalty vindicated, Lond. 1662, he
clears himfelf from the imputation which this reproachful appellation
was intended to fix on him, and relates the ftory in the words following:
â– Concerning the ftory of the fiddle, this I fuppofe might be the
* rife of it. Being in Saint James park, I heard an organ touched in
1 a little low room of one Mr. Hinckfon's ; I went in, and found a
« private company of five or fix perfons : they defired me to take up
' a viole and bear a part, I did fo, and that a part too, not much to
' advance the reputation of my cunning. By and by, without the
' leaft colour of a defign or expectation, in comes Cromwell. He
' found us playing, and as I remember fo he left us.'
Hingfton was Dr. Blow's firft mailer, though the infcription on
Blow's monument takes no notice of it, but fays that he was brought
up under Dr. Chriftopher Gibbons. He had a nephew named Peter,
educated under Purcell, and who was organift of Ipfwich, and an
eminent teacher of mufic there and in that neighbourhood. A pic-
ture of John Hingfton is in the mufic-fchool, Oxon.
* fing in confort. He had been turn'd out of his ftudents place by the vifitors, but being
« well acquainted with fome great men of thofe times that loved mufick, they introduced
' him into the company of Oliver Cromwell the protestor, who loved a good voice and
* inftrumental mufick well. He heard him fing with very great delight, liquor'd him
* with fack, and in conclufion faid, f* Mr. Quin, you have done very well, what fha'l I
" do for you ?" To which Quin made anfwer with great complements, of which he had
' command, with a great grace, " That your Highnefs would be pleafed to rellore mc to
*' my (Indents place ;" which he did accordingly, andfo kept it to his dying day '
Cromwell was alfo fond of the mufic of theorgan, as appears from the following remark-
able anecdote. In the grand rebellion, when the organ at Magdalen college in Oxford among
others was taken down, Cromwell ordered it to be carefully conveyed to Hampton-Court,
â– where it was placed in the great gallery ; and one of Cromwell's favourite amufements was
to be entertained with this inftrument at leifure hours. It continued there till the Reftora-
tion, when it was returned to its original owners, and was the fame that remained in the choir
of that college till within thefe laft thirty years. Obfervations on the Fairy Queen of
Spenfer by Tho. Wharton. Lond. 1772, vol. II. pag. 236, in not.
Vol. IV. K John
4 6
HISTORY OF THE SCIENCE
Book h
JOHN HILTON
MUS .BACC . CANTAB .
MD CXXVT .
John Hilton, a bachelor in mufic, of the univerfity of Cam-
bridge, was organift of the church of St. Margaret, Weftminfter, and
alfo clerk of that parifh. He was the author of a madrigal in five
parts, printed in the Triumphs of Oriana. In 1627 he published
Fa La's for three voices*; and in 1652, ' A choice Collection of
' Catches, Rounds, and Canons for 3 or 4 voyces,' containing fome
of the raoft excellent compofitionsof this kind any where extant, many
of them by himfelf, the reft bythemofteminentof his contemporaries.
* Fa La's are fhort fongs fet to muGc, with a repetition of thofe fyllables at the fecond
and fourth line, and fometimes only at the end of every ftanza. Morley compofed many
fongs of this kind, but none equal to thofe of Hilton, which are remarkable for the good-
nefs of the melody.
There
Chap. 4. AND PRACTICE OF MUSIC. 47
There are extant In the choir-books of many cathedrals a morning
and evening fervice of Hilton's composition, but they were never
printed. He died in the time of the ufurpation, and was buried in
the cloifter of the abbey church of Weftminfter, with the folemnity
of an anthem fung in the church before his corpfe was brought out for
interment ; an honour which he well deferved, for, though not a vo-
luminous compofer, he was an ingenious and found mufician.
William Lawes, the fon of Thomas Lawes, a vicar-choral of
the church of Salifbury, and a native of that city, having an early
propenfity to mufic, was, at the expence of Edward earl of Hertford,
educated under Coperario. He was firft of the choir at Chichefter, but
was called from thence, and on the firft day of January, 1602, was
fworn a gentleman of the royal chapel. On the fixth day of May, 161 1,
he refigned his place in favour of one Ezekiel Wood, and became one
of the private mufic to king Charles I. Fuller fays he was refpedted
and beloved of all fuch perfons who cafl any looks towards virtue and
honour j and he feems to have been well worthy of their regard : his
gratitude and loyalty to his mafter appear in this, that he took up arms
for the king againft the parliament, and though, to exempt him from
danger, the general, Lord Gerrard, made him a commiffary, yet the
activity of his fpiritdifdained that fecurity which was intendedfor him,
and at the fiege of Chefter, in 1645, he loft his life by a cafual fhot.
The king was fo affected at his lol's, that it is faid he wore a particular
mourning for him.
His compofitions were for the moft part Fantafias for viols and the
organ. His brother Henry, in the preface to a joint work of theirs,
hereunder mentioned, afTerts that he compofed above thirty feveral
forts of mufic for voices and inftruments, and that there was not any
inflrument in ufe in his time but he compofed fo aptly to it as if he
had only ftudied that. Many fongs of his are to be met with in the
collections of that day j feveral catches and rounds, and a few canons
of his compofition are published in Hilton's Collection, but the chief
of his printed works are, • Choice Pfalms put into Mufick for three
4 voices,' with a thorough-bafs, compofed to the words of Mr. Sandys's
paraphrafe, by him in conjunction with his brother Henry, and pub-
lifhed in 1648, with nine canons of William Lawes printed at the
end of the thorough-bafs book.
Henry
4 8
HISTORY OF THE SCIENCE Bookl,
ItESRY LAWES SERVANT TO HIS MAJE STIE
KING CHA.I.IN HIS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE
MUSIC.
Henry Lawes, the brother of the former. Of his education lit-
tle is known, except that he was a fcholar of Coperario. By the
cheque-book of the chapel royal it appears that he was fworn in Pif-
telleron the firfr. day of January, 1625, and on the third of November
following a gentleman of the chapel ; after that he was appointed
clerk of the cheque, and of the private mufic to king Charles I.
Lawes is celebrated for having firft introduced the Italian ftyle of
mufic into this kingdom, upon no better a pretence than a fong of
his, the fubjett whereof is the flory of Thefeus and Ariadne, being
the
Chap. 4. AND PRACTICE OF MUSIC. 49
the firft among his Ayres and Dialogues for one, two, and three
voices, Lond. fol. 1653, wherein are fome pafiages which a fuperfi-
cial reader might miftake for recitative. The book however deferves
particular notice, for it is published with a preface by Lawes himfelf,
and commendatory verfes. by Waller, Edward and John Phillips, the
nephews of Milton, and other perfons ; befides, that the fongs are, for
the poetry, fome of the bell: compofuions of the kind in the Englifi*
language ; and, what is remarkable, many of them appear to have been
written by young noblemen and gentlemen, of whofe talents for poetry
there are hardly any other evidences remaining ; fome of their names
are as follow: Thomas earl of Winchelfea, William earl of Pembroke,
John earl of Briftol, lord Broghill, Mr. Thomas Carey, a fon of the
earl of Monmouth, Mr. Henry Noel, fon of lord Camden, Sir
Charles Lucas, fuppofed to be he that together with Sir George Lifle
was (hot at Colchefter after the furrender of the garrifon ; and Carew
Raleigh, the fon of Sir Walter Raleigh. In the preface to this book
the author mentions his having formerly compofed fome airs to Ita-
lian and Spanifh words ,• and fpeaking of the Italians, he acknow-
ledges them in general to be the greateft matters of mufic : yet he con-
tends that this nation had produced as able muficians as any in Eu-
rope. He cenfures the fondnefs of the age for fongs fung in a lan-
guage which the hearers do not underftand ; and to ridicule it, men-
tions a fong of his own compofition, printed at the end of the book,
which is nothing elfe than an index containing the initial words of
fome old Italian fongs or madrigals; and this index, which red to-
gether made a ftrange medley of nonfenfe, he fays he fet to a, va-
ried air, and gave out that it came from Italy, whereby it pafTed for
an Italian fong. In the title-page of this book is a very fine engrav-
ing of the author's head by Faithorne, a copy whereof, with the in-
fcription under it, is above inferted.
The firft compofition in this book is the Complaint of Ariadne,
written by Mr. Wdliam Cartwright of Chrift-Church college, Oxon.
The mufic is neither recitative nor air, but is in fo precife a medium
between both, that a name is wanting for it. The fong is in the
key of C, with the minor third, and feems to abound with femito-
nic intervals, the ufe of which was lcarcely known at that time.
Whether it was this fingular circumftance, or fome other lefs ob-
vious, that contributed to recommend it, cannot now be difcovered,
Vol. IV. L but
5 o HISTORY OF THE SCIENCE Book I.
but the applaufes that attended the publication of it exceed all
belief.
In the year 1633, Henry Lawes, together with Simon Ives were
made choice of to compofe the airs, leffons, and fongs of a mafque
preferred at Whitehall on Candlemas-night before the king and
queen by the gentlemen of the four inns of court, under the direc-
tion of Noy the attorney-general, Mr. Edward Hyde, afterwards
earl of Clarendon, Mr. Selden, Bulftrode Whitelocke *, and others.
Of this ridiculous fcene of mummery Whitelocke has given an ac-
count in his Memorials, but one much longer and more particular in
certain memoirs of his life extant in manufcript, wherein he relates
that Lawes and Ives had each an hundred pounds for his trouble,
and that the whole charge of the mufic came to about one thoufand
pounds.
Henry Lawes alfo compofed tunes to Mr. George Sandys's excel-
lent paraphrafe on the Pfalms, publifhed firft in folio in the year
1638 and in 1676 in octavo. Thefe tunes are different from thofe
in the Pfalms compofed by Henry and William Lawes, and publifh-
ed in the year 1648 -, they are for a fingle voice with a bafs, and
were intended for private devotion : that to Pfalm lxxii. is now, and
beyond the memory of any now living, has been played by the chimes
of the church of St. Lawrence Jewry, London, at the hours of four,
eight, and twelve.
Milton's Comus was originally fet by Henry Lawes and was firffc
publifhed by him in the year 1637, with a dedication to Lord Bracly*
ion and heir of the earl of Bridgewater.
Of the hiftory of this elegant poem little more is known than that
it was written for the entertainment of the noble earl mentioned in
* Whitelocke made great pretenfions to fk.il! in mufic. Iti the manufcript memoirs of
his life above-mentioned* he relates that ' with the affxftance of Mr. Ives he compofed an
' ler of iifeand fpirit than the Englifh airs, but that (he honoured theCorantoand the maker
4 of it with her majefty's royal commendation: and, laftly, that it grew to that requeft,
' that all the common muficians in this towne, and all over the kingdome, gott tbecom-
1 pofition of it, and played it publicly in all places for about thirty years after.' The.
reader may probably wifh to perufe a dance tune the compofition of a grave lawyer, one
who was afterwards a commiffioner of the great feal, and an ambalTador, and which a
ijueen of England vouchfafed thus to honour 3 and to gratify his curiofity it is here inferted
by
Chap. 4, AND PRACTICE OF MUSIC. 51
the title-page of it, and that it was reprefented as a mafque by his
children and others ; but the fa£t is, that it is founded on a real ftory :
by the favour of Dr. Morton of the Britifh Mufeum, the poffeflbr of the MS. from which
it is taken. __ —
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52 HISTORY OF THE SCIENCE Cock I.
for the eail of Bridgewater being prefident of Wales in the year 1634,
had his residence at Ludlow-cafile in Shropshire; lord Bracly and
Mr. Egerton, his fons, and lady Alice Egerton, his daughter, paffing
through a place called the Hay-Wood foreft, or Haywood in Here-
ford (hire, were benighted, and the lady for fome fhort time loft ;
this accident being related to their father upon their arrival at .his
caftle, furnifhed a fubjed which Milton wrought into one of the fined
poems of the kind in any language; and being a drama, it was re-
presented on Michaelmas night, i 634, at Ludlow-caitle, for the enter-
tainment of the family and the neighbouring nobility and gentry.
Lawes himfelf performing in it- the chara&er of the attendant fpirit,
who towards the middle of the drama appears to the brothers habited
like a fhepherd, and is by them called Thirfis *.
Lawes's mufic to Comus was never printed, and there is nothing
in any of the printed copies of the poem, nor in the many accounts
of Milton now extant, that tends to fatisfy a curious enquirer as to
the form in which it was fet to mufic, whether in recitative, or
otherwife ; but by a MS. in his own hand-writing it appears that
the two fongs, * Sweet Echo,' and ' Sabrina Fair,' together with
three other paflages in the poem, ' Back fhepherds back,' ' To the
* ocean now I fly,' ' Now my tafk is fmoothly done,' feledled for the
purpofe, were the whole of the original mufic to Comus, and that the
red of it being blank verfe, was uttered with a&ion in a manner con-
formable to the rules of theatric reprefentation. The firflofthefe
fongs is here given. At the end of it a quaint alteration of the read-
ing occurs, which none but a mufician would have thought of.
In the Journal of his embaffy to Sueden, lately publifhed from the above-mentioned MS.
is this p.iiiage : ' Piemtntelle fhying with Whitelocke above three howers, he was in-
* teitamed with "Whitelocke's mufick ; the reftor chori was Mr. Ingelo, excellent in that
' and oilier faculties, and feven or eight of his gentlemen, well (killed both in vocall and
' inlli umcntall muficke ; and Whitelocke himfelf fometimes in private did beare his r
' part with them, having bin in his younger dayes a mailer and compofer of mufick..'
Vol. I page 289.
In the account which gave occafion to this note it is faid that Lawes and Ives had each
an hundred pounds for compofing the mufic to the mafque : the fame adds that propor-
tionable rewards were alfo given to four French gentlemen of the queen's chapel, who
ailifted in the reprefentation. Whitelocke's words are thefe : ' I invited them one morn-
' ing to a collation at St. Dunftan's taverne, in the great roome, the Oracle of Apollo,
' where each of them had his plate layd for him covered, and the napkin by it; and/
' when they opened' their plates, they found in each of them forty pieces of gould of
' their malter's coyne for the firft difh.'
* iiee the dedication of the original printed in 1637, and in Dr. Newton's edition of
Milton's poetical works.
Lawe*
Chap. 4. AND PRACTICE OF MUSIC.
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