In Tudway's Collection of British Mufic. And in other old and obfolete mufical mifcellanies.

Cromwell's ufurpation put an end to Masks and mufic: and Lawes being difpoffeffed of all his appointments, by men who defpised and discouraged the elegancies and ornaments of life, chiefly employed that gloomy period in teaching a few young ladies to fing and play on the lute. Yet he was ftill greatly refpected; for before the troubles began, his irreproachable life, ingenuous deportment, engaging manners, and liberal connections, had not only eftablished his character, but raised even the credit of his profeffion. Wood fays, that his moft beneficent friends during his fufferings for the royal cause, in the rebellion and afterwards, were the ladies ALICE and MARY, the earl of Bridgewater's daughters, before mentioned. MSS. Muf. ASHMOL. D. 17. p. 115. 4to. But in the year 1660, he was restored to his places and practice; and had the happiness to compose the coronation anthem for the exiled monarch. He died in 1662, and was buried in Westminster abbey. Of all the teftimonies paid to his merit by his contemporaries, Milton's commendation, in the thirteenth SONNET and in fome of the fpeeches in CoмUS, must be efteemed the most honourable. And Milton's praise is likely to be founded on truth. Milton was no fpecious or occafional flatterer; and, at the fame time, was a skillful performer on the organ, and a judge of mufic. And it appears probable, that even throughout the rebellion, he had continued his friendship for Lawes; for long after the king was reftored, he added the SONNET to LAWES in the new edition of his Poems, printed under his own eye, in 1673. Nor has our author only complimented Lawes's excellencies in mufic. For in COMUS, having faid that Thyrfis with his foft pipe, and smoothdittied fong, could fill the roaring winds, and hufh the waving woods, he adds, v. 88.

Nor of lefs FAITH.

And he joins his worth with his skill, SONN. xiii. v. 5.

In 1784, in the house of Mr. Elderton, an attorney at Salifbury, I faw an original portrait of Henry Lawes on board, marked with his name, and, "ætat. fuæ 26, 1626." This is now in the bishop's palace at Salisbury. It is not ill painted; the face and ruff in tolerable preservation; the drapery, a cloak, much injured. Another in the Mufic-School at Oxford; undoubtedly placed there before the rebellion, and not long after the inftitution of that school, in 1626, by his friend Dr. William Heather, a gentleman of the royal chapel. And among the mutilated records of the fame School, is the following entry; "Mr. Henry Lawes gentleman of his Ma"jefty's Chapell royall, and of his private mufick, gave to this "School a rare Theorbo for finging to, valued at..... with the "earl of Bridgewater's creft in braffe juft under the finger-board, "with its cafe: as also a fett of .. "The earl of Bridge

water is the second earl JoHN, who acted the part of the FISRT BROTHER in COMUS, being then lord Brackley.

HENRY's brother WILLIAM, a composer of confiderable eminence, was killed in 1645, at the fiege of Chefter: and, it is said, that the King wore a private mourning for his death. Herrick has commemorated his untimely fate, which fuddenly filenced every violl, lute, and voyce, in a little poem Upon Mr. William Lawes the rare Mufician. HESPERID. ut fupr. p. 341. Of William's feparate works, there are two bulky manufcript volumes in fcore, for various inftruments, in the Mufic School at Oxford. In one of them, I know not if with any of Henry's intermixed, are his original compofitions for Masks exhibited before the king at Whitehall, and at the Inns of court. Moft of the early mufical treasures of that School, were destroyed or dispersed in the reign of fanaticism; nor was the establishment, which flourishes with great improvements under the care and abilities of the prefent worthy Profeffor, effectually restored till the year 1665 *.

I have purposely referved what I had to fay particularly about Lawes's COMUs, with a few remarks on the characteristic style of his mufic, to the end of this Note. Peck afferts, that Milton wrote CoмUs at the request of Lawes, who promised to set it to mufic. Moft probably, this Mafk, while in projection, was the occafion of their acquaintance, and firft brought them together. Lawes was now a domeftic for a time at least, in Lord Bridge. water's family, for it is faid of Thyrfis in CoмUS, V. 85.

That to the fervice of this houfe belongs,

Who with his foft pipe, &c.

And, as we have feen, he taught the earl's daughters to fing, to one of whom, the Lady ALICE, the SONG to ECHO was allotted.' And Milton was a neighbour of the family. See the last Note. It is well known, that Lawes's Mufic to CoмU's was never printed.

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I find the following injunction from Cromwell's Vice-chancellor and delegates, dated April 3, 1656. "Whereas the Mufick Lecture ufually "read in the Vefperiis Comitiorum, [in this School] is found by experience to be "altogether uselesse, noe way tending to the bonour of the univerfity, or the furtherance of any literature, but hath been an occafion of great dishonour to God, "Scandall to the place, and of many evills: It is ordered by the delegates that it "be utterly taken away." MS. ACTA Delegator. Univ. Oxon. ab ann. 1655. fub ann. 1656. Yet foon afterwards the following order occurs under the fame year. Concerning the Mufick Lecture, it was approved by the Delegates, that "Inftruments bee provided according to the will of the founder': and Mr. Proc"tor bee defired to goe to the Prefident and Fellows of S. Johns for the gift or loan of their Chaire-organ." And afterwards it is ordered under 1657, that the mufick books of the School, which had been removed by one Jackson, a musician and royalist, fhould be restored, and the stipend duly paid to the profeffor Dr. Wilfon. This inftitution, however, languished in neglect and contempt till the Restoration; and for this flight support, I suspect, was folely indebted to the interpofition of Dr. Wilkins, one of the Delegates, Cromwell's Warden of Wadham College, a profound adept in the occult fciences, and a lover of mufic on philofophical principles.

1

But by a manufcript in his own hand-writing it appears, that the three Songs, SWEET ECHO, SABRINA FAIR, and BACK SHEPHERDS BACK, with the lyrical Epilogue, "To the Ocean now I fly," were the whole of the original mufical compofition for this drama. I am obliged to my very ingenious friend, the late Doctor William Hayes, Profeffor of Mufic at Oxford, for some of this intelligence. Sir John Hawkins has printed Lawes's fong of SWEET ECHO with the words, HIST. Mus. iv. 53. So has doctor Burney. One is furprised that more music was not introduced in this performance, especially as Lawes might have given further proofs of the vocal fkill and proficiency of his fair fcholar. As there is lefs mufic, fo there is lefs machinery, in Coмus, than in any other mask. The intrinfic graces of its exquifite poetry difdained

affiftance.

For a compofition to one of the airs of Cartwright's ARIADNE, mentioned above, Lawes, as I have before incidentally remarked, is faid to have introduced the Italian style of mufic into England: änd Fenton, in his Notes on Waller, affirms, that he imparted a fofter mixture of Italian airs than was yet known. This perhaps is not strictly or technically true. Without a rigorous adherence to counterpoint, but with more tafte and feeling than the pedantry of theoretic harmony could confer, he communicated to verfe an original and expreffive melody. He exceeded his predeceffors and contemporaries, in a pathos and fentiment, a fimplicity and propriety, an articulation and intelligibility, which fo naturally adapt themfelves to the words of the poet. Hence, fays our author, Son N. xiii. 7.

To after age thou fhall be writ the man

That with Smooth air could humour best our tongue.

Which lines ftand thus in the manufcript,

To after age thou shalt be writ the man

That didft REFORM THY ART.

And in COMUS, Milton praises his "SOFT pipe, and SMOOTHDITTIED fong," v. 86. One of his excellencies was an exact accommodation of the accents of the mufic to the quantities of the verse. As in the SONNET juft quoted, v. 1. feq.

Harry whofe tuneful and well meafur'd fong

First taught our English mufic how to pan
Words with just note and accent, not to scan
With Midas-ears, committing fhort and long.

Waller joins with Milton in faying, that other compofers admit the
poet's fenfe but faintly and dimly, like the rays through a church-
window of painted glafs: while his favourite Lawes

Could truly boast,

That not a SYLLABLE IS LOST

And

And this is what Milton means, where he fays in the SONNET fo often cited, "Thou honour'ft VERSE." V. 9. In vocal execution, he made his own fubfervient to the poet's art. In his tunes to Sandys's Pfalms, his obfervance of the rythmus and syllabic accent, an effential requifite of vocal compofition, is very striking and perceptible; and his ftrains are joyous, plaintive, or fupplicatory, according to the fentiment of the ftanza. These Pfalms are for one finger. The folo was now coming into vogue: and Lawes's talent principally confifted in songs for a fingle voice: and here his excellencies which I have mentioned might be applied with the beft effect. The SONG TO ECHO in Coмus was for a fingle voice, where the compofer was not only interested in exerting all his skill, but had at the fame the means of fhewing it to advantage; for he was the preceptor of the lady who fung it, and confequently muft be well acquainted with her peculiar powers and characteristical genius. The poet fays, that this fong, rofe like a team of rich

U

distilled perfumes, and ftole upon the air, &c." v. 555. Here feems to be an allufion to Lawes's new manner; although the lady's voice is perhaps the more immediate object of the compliment. Perhaps this fong wants embellishments, and has too much fimplicity, for modern critics, and a modern audience. But it is the opinion of one whom I should be proud to name, and to which I agree, that were Mrs. Siddons to act the Lady in Coмus, and fing this very fimple air, when every word would be heard with a proper accent and pathetic intonation, the effect would be truly theatrical. Another excellent judge, of confummate taste and knowledge in his science, is unwilling to allow that Lawes had much addrefs in adapting the accents of the mufic and the quantities of the verfe. He obferves, that in this SONG to ECHO a favourable opportunity was fuggefted to the musician for instrumental iterations, of which he made no ufe: and that, as the words have no accompaniment but a dry bass, the notes were but ill calculated to waken Echo however courteous, and to invite her to give an answer. Burney's HIST. Mus. vol. iii. ch. vii. pp. 382. 383. 384. 393. It is certain, that the words and fubject of this exquifite fong, afford many tempting capabilities for the tricks of a modern compofer.

Mr. Mafon has paid no inconfiderable teftimony to Lawes's mufic, in encouraging and patronifing a republication of his Pfalmtunes to Sandys's PARAPHRASE, with Variations, by the ingenious Mr. Matthew Camidge of York cathedral. From the judicious Preface to that work written by Mr. Mafon, I have adopted, and added to what I had hazarded on the fubject in my last edition, 'many of these criticisms on Lawes's mufical ftyle. Lawes has also received another tribute of regard from Mr. Mafon: in Lawes's SONG TO ECHO, he has very skilfully altered or improved the bass, and modernised the melody.

In Fletcher's FAITHFUL SHEPHERDESS, an Arcadian comedy recently published, Milton found many touches of paftoral and fuperftitious imagery, congenial with his own conceptions. Many of these, yet with the highest improvements, he has transferred into COMUS; together with the general caft and colouring of the piece. He catched alfo from the lyric rhymes of Fletcher, that DORIQUE DELICACY, with which fir Henry Wootton was fo much delighted in the Songs of Milton's drama. Fletcher's comedy was coldy received the first night of its performance. But it had ample revenge in this confpicuous and indifputable mark of Milton's approbation. It was afterwards reprefented as a Mask at court, before the king and queen on twelfth-night, in 1633. I know not, indeed, if this was any recommendation to Milton; who in the PARADISE LOST speaks contemptuously of these interludes, which had been among the chief diverfions of an elegant and liberal monarch. B. iv. 767.

Court-amours,

Mix'd dance, and wanton MASK, or midnight ball, &c. And in his Ready and eafy Way to establish a free Commonwealth, written in 1660, on the inconveniencies and dangers of readmitting Kingship, and with a view to counteract the noxious humour of returning to Bondage, he fays, "a King must be adored as a demigod, with a diffolute and haughty court about him, of vast expence and luxury, MASKS and Revels, to the debauching our prime gentry, both male and female, not in their pastimes only, "&c." PR. W.i. 590. I believe the whole compliment was paid to the genius of Fletcher. But in the mean time it should be remembered, that Milton had not yet contracted an averfion to courts and court-amufements; and that in L'ALLEGRO, MASKS are among his pleasures. Nor could he now disapprove of a species of entertainment to which as a writer he was giving encouragement. The royal Masks, however, did not, like Coмus, always abound with Platonic recommendations of the doctrine of chastity.

The ingenious and accurate Mr. Reed has pointed out a rude outline, from which Milton feems partly to have sketched the plan of the fable of COM US. See BIOGRAPH. DRAMAT.ii. p. 441. It is an old play, with this title, "THE OLD WIVES TALE, a pleasant "conceited Comedie, plaied by the Queenes Maiefties players. "Written by G. P. [i. e. George Peele.] Printed at London by 'John Danter, and are to be fold by Ralph Hancocke and John 'Hardie, 1595." In quarto. This very scarce and curious piece exhibits, among other parallel incidents, two Brothers wandering in queft of their Sifter, whom an Enchanter had imprisoned. This magician had learned his art from his mother Meroe, as Comus had been instructed by his mother Circe. The Brothers call out on the Lady's name, “and Echo replies. The Enchanter had given her a