MISCELLANEOUS COMPOSERS.

CCCLXX.

Ah me! when to the air I breathe my plaining,
To merry fountains my disdaining;

When to rude rocks and pleasant groves

I tell all my unhappy loves;

They hear me whilst I thus condole,

But with their echos call me fool.

From a set of twenty Madrigals in five parts, "apt both "for viols and voices," composed by Henry Lichfield,

1613.

CCCLXXI.

Sweet are the thoughts that harbour full content;
Delightful be the joys that know no care:

Such those sweet thoughts that on heaven's joys are bent,
And on celestial bliss still thinking are.

These joys delight, these thoughts content do send ;
All earthly thoughts and joys in sorrow end!

From a set of sacred hymns of three, four, five and six parts, for voices and viols, by John Amner, Bachelor of Music, Master of the Choristers and Organist of the Cathedral Church of Ely. Printed in 1615.

CCCLXXII.

Then sayd the Chief Priest, is it so?
Ye men and eke bretherne,
And all ye fathers, herke unto
My wordes, and then discerne.

There dyd appeare to Abraham
The God of great glorye,
Before that he dwelt in Carran
In Mesopotamye:

And sayd to him, come out of hande
From thy kin and contrè;

Make hast, and come into the lande
Whiche I shall shewe to thee.

Out of the land then of Caldey
Retourned he with spede;

The Lord's commaundment to obey,
Dwelt in Carran indede.

The above is given as a specimen of Dr. Christopher Tye's celebrated metrical version of the first fourteen chapters of The Acts of the Apostles, published A.D. 1553, under the following title: "The Actes of the Apostles trans"lated into Englyshe metre, and dedicated to the Kynge's "moste excellent Maiestye, by Christofer Tye, Doctor in "Musyke, and one of the Gentylmen of hys Graces most "honourable Chappell, with notes to cche chapter to synge "and also to play upon the lute, very necessarye for stu"dents after theyr studye, to fyle theyr wyttes; and also "for all Chrystians that cannot synge, to reade the good and godlye storyes of the lyves of Christ his Apostles."

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Having myself just reprinted the Doctor's musical

"notes to eche chapter" adapted to modern paraphrases of scripture; it may be thought the puff direct to say that I consider them unrivalled as models for counterpoint. To this I can but answer-I printed them because I thought them so I do not think them so because I printed them.

CCCLXXIII.

Ev'ry bush new springing,
Ev'ry bird now singing;
Merrily sat poor Nicho
Chanting tro-li-lo, lo-li-lo.

Till her he had espyed

On whom his hopes relyed;
Down with a frown

She pull'd him down.

Music by Michael Cavendish, the composer of one of the Madrigals in the Triumphs of Oriana.

CCCLXXIV.

Sweet are the thoughts that savour of content,
The quiet mind is richer than a crown:
Sweet are the nights in careless slumber spent,
The poor cstate scorns fortune's angry frown:
Such sweet content, such minds, such sleep, such bliss
Peasants enjoy, when princes oft do miss.

I have adapted these lines, which are from Greene's "Farewell to Follic," 1590, to a Madrigal by G. Pizzoni.

CCCLXXV.

In these delightful pleasant groves
Let's celebrate our happy loves;

Let's pipe and dance, let 's laugh and sing;

Thus ev'ry happy living thing

Revels in the cheerful spring.

Music by Henry Purcell, being a chorus from the Masque of "The Libertine destroyed."

CCCLXXVI.

Ah me! quoth Venus; young, and so unkind!
Cold, cold Adonis! haste not to begone.
I'll sigh celestial breath, whose gentle wind
Shall cool the heat of this descending sun.

I'll make a shadow for thee of my hair;
Should that too burn, I'll quench it with a tear.
Poor Queen of love! in thine own law forlorn;
To love a cheek that smiles on thee in scorn.

From Shakspeare's Poem of Venus and Adonis. The Music composed in 1827, by William Linley, a member of the Madrigal Society, and youngest son of the celebrated Thomas Linley. He died much regretted in 1835.

CCCLXXVII.

Sweet Philomela, breathe thy plaintive lay;
While radiant Cynthia sheds her silver ray.
Oh! soothe my pains, and tell the echoing grove,
No voice but thine can soothe the pains of love.

This was one of the unsuccessful candidates for the prize cup given by the Madrigal Society in 1811. The Music is composed by William Hawes, now their Musical Director.

CCCLXXVIII.

Awake, sweet muse! the breathing spring

With rapture warms; awake, and sing;
Awake, and join the vocal throng
Who hail the morning with a song.

To Nannie raise the cheerful lay,
O bid her haste and come away :
In sweetest smiles herself adorn,

And add new graces to the morn!

These words have been erroneously attributed to Burns. They are certainly not his, but are generally supposed to have been written by a young man of the name of Richard Hewitt, who was amanuensis to the blind poet Dr. Blacklock. They form the second stanza of the well-known Scottish song to the tune of Roslin Castle, beginning "'T was in that season of the year."

The music by W. Beale gained the prize in 1811.

CCCLXXIX.

Hark, every shepherd, hark, on tree and bush,

In notes melodious and clear,

The blackbird, nightingale, and vocal thrush
Proclaim the spring-tide of the year.