The praise of musicke wherein besides the antiquitie, dignitie, delectation, & vse thereof in ciuill matters, is also declared the sober and lawfull vse of the same in the congregation and church of God.

THE ANTIQVI∣TIE AND ORIGINAL OF MVSICKE: FIRST GE∣nerally, then more particular∣lie set downe. CHAPTER I.

IT were but lost labour to write any thing of Musick, being an Arte of more vse than credit, more knowen than acknowledged, were it not that more indifferencie is to be looked for of the eye, to whose view and ouersight shee betaketh her selfe, than hath heretofore beene shewen by the eare, whose itching sense shee hardly contented. But fulnesse perhaps breeds loathing: And the eye which in a manner hath beene kept hungry from these things, may by sight and reading hereof, both satisfie her selfe, and teach her vngratefull neighbour the eare to thinke better of so comfortable a treasure. The commendation whereof as it ariseth from many heades, namely her parentage,

auncientrie, dignitie, her both pleasant and profitable seruice, with other as many & no whit meaner arguments of her praise, all which iointly fill vp a perfect measure of more than common honour, so her birth and antiquitie maketh not least to the setting foorth of her beautie.

And although it is for poore men to rec∣ken their cattel, because rich mēs store gro∣weth out of number, & for yonglings to ac∣count their yeares, because antiquities wax out of mind (wherupon the Arcadians least they might come in question of iuniority w^c any other country would needs be elder thā the moone) yet the casting of her natiuity cā in no wise preiudice so anciēt a sciēce, whose continuance is great but not defined, her birth day ancient but not dated. For time cānot say that hee was before her, or nature that she wrought w^tout her. To proue this looke vpon the frame, & workmanship of the whole worlde, whether there be not aboue, an harmony between the spheares, beneath a simbolisme between the elements. Looke vpon a man, whō the Philosophers termed a litle world, whether the parts accord not one to the other by consent and vnity. And

who can blame nature in any reason for v∣sing her owne inuention? Doth the nigh∣tingale record by Art or by nature? Al∣though the Romane taught his crow this one lesson with much adoe, All haile Caesar, and the Carthaginian his birdes hardly e∣nough to sing this one plaine song, Hannon is god, yet it is I am sure besides the cu∣stome, and perhaps beyond the cunning of any man, to instruct the nightingale in so pleasant and variable notes, being as cun∣ningly deliuered as speedily learned. But to leaue nature and come to Art (which then is at her best when shee is neerest this mai∣stresse) who can be ignorant that nature hath giuen her the ground worke, whereon shee a long time hath flourished? As for her infancy, let vs burie it in silence, and wrap vp as it were in her swathing cloutes. For no doubt shee was not enquired, talked, or written of till shee waxed and grewe in yeares, that is in perfection and ripenesse. At what time being

Iam plenis nubilis annis,

fitte to wedde mens eares and heartes vn∣to her, shee beganne euen with greedinesse to be receiued, cōmended, practised, to exer∣cise

their wits, possesse their mindes, occu∣pie their tongues, fill their bookes and wri∣tings. Forthwith shee was so chalenged by this nation and that countrie, so claimed by this man and that God, that it was doubt∣full in such variety of iudgement, to whom she was most beholding for her birthright. Whereof what shall I say els, but that as the contention of seuen cities about Homer that famous & renowmed Poet, & earnest plea of each of them to be his natiue soile did implie his excellency: so these many lands & Islands, men and weomen, gods and god∣desses, and (if I may so speake) heauen and earth being at ods and variance about this science, argue her to be no base borne child, but such a one as both commends him that inuented her, and honesteth them which in∣tertaine her.

But because she is as pregnant as Libia alwaies breeding some new thing, for so it pleased Anaxilas long agoe to make com∣parison, it wilbe the harder in such fruitful∣nes of issu to father euery child aright, & to assigne to euery one his proper and peculiar inuention. First the Muses lay chalenge vnto her for their ofspring, as may ap∣peare

by christening her Musicke after their owne name. If we from hence de∣riue her linage, what one thing is amisse? Iupiter, that is dexteritie and quicknesse of witte her grandfather: memorie that aged and reuerend Mistresse of all sciences her grandmother, her mother many in steede of one (for how could ordinary parēts haue conceiued such extraordinarie perfection?) and yet but one in many, for all is but Har∣monie. Exception may bee taken against these things as fables and fantasies of the Poetes: yet if we drawe the vaile aside, and looke neerer into that, which nowe wee doe but glimpse at, what else is ment but that Musike is and ought to be accounted donum & inuentum deorum: the gift and inuentiō of the gods, and therefore ordained to good vse and purpose? Now if Musicke can find no fauour by alleadging these parentes, let vs search other mens registers, and see if happily shee be more gracious for the gra∣ces sake. Whose handes being fast claspt without seuering, their faces amiable with∣outfrouning, their youth fresh & green with∣out waining, their garmentes loose with∣out-girding, and their chastitie perpetuall

without violating expresse in sense & mea∣ning nothing else, but concorde without breach, mirth without sadnesse, continu∣ance without end, liberty without cōstraint, and finally purenesse without taint or cor∣ruption. And can a gracelesse fruite come of so gracious a stock? For proofe hereof may serue the image of Apollo which stoode at Delos, bearing in the one hande his bowe and arrowes as being God of the archers, in the other the three graces with seuerall instruments as hauing soueraintie ouer the Musitians. I would not leaue Bacchus out of this catalogue: were it not that his name nowe adayes is in some disgrace a∣mōgst vs, & those dronken euohes and how∣linges togither with confuse hammering of timbrels vsed in his Bacchanalles feastes and somnities might seeme to indaunger the credit of this art. Howbeit if we take him not as hee is imagined, but as hee was indeede, I meane an heroicall per∣son, his finding out of wine and Musike is or ought to be as famous, as his victories and triumphes in India were glorious.

But because as the rainebowe being not of one colour is therefore more sightly

to the eye, so Musicke being not of one kinde is therfore more welcome to the eare, it shal not be amisse to consider the specialities, & lay by it selfe each mans helpe and furthe∣rance in this science. And first to begin as best beseemeth, with vocall Musicke, being sounded with a liuely instrument the toung of mā who wil not fly with birds of his own feather & professe that both the nature of mā is beautified with so excellent a quality, and the quality credited with so excellent a na∣ture. For if we ioine euen with heathē Phi∣losophers & masters in this point, & confesse with Pythagoras that mā is a great mira∣cle, w^t Mercury a secōd god, w^t Phauorinus a mortal god, with Abdala the Sarracene another Proteus apt to receiue any form, w^t others a litle world, & with others omnia, all in al: as taking part with angels, part with plantes, & part with brute beastes, it were most iniurious to make better account of an instrument framed by art, than made by na∣ture, the one being without vs, the other ly∣uing & growing within vs. But what neede I cal the light of the Sun in question? Let each of these sorts receiue her due commen∣dation, neyther let contention about the

maystrie make to the disgracing of either of them, but rather proue howe happye and rich wee are, that can finde no worse quarelling matter, than to dispute of two good thinges, whether is the better. The antiquitie of this kinde hath more neede of disciding than the soueraigntie, both because the times are not easilie re∣membred, and the opinions of men hard∣lie reconciled. For some ascribe singing to Iupiter, as Diodorus of Sicilie: some to Mercurie, as Heraclides of Pontus: rest in whether of these two verdicts we list,

deus est in vtroque parente,

each of their authors was deified by the hea∣uen for principall vertues. Furthermore as all the Muses were reported at the ma∣riage of Cadmus and Hermione to haue sung a ditie of the neere alliance betwixt friendship & honestie, so specially amongest the rest Calliope had beene miscalled but for the goodnesse of her voice, and Melpo∣mene nicknamed but for setting of songes. But in such cases wee canonize for Au∣thors, aswell those that make perfect, as those which first inuent: not for deuising

that which was not before, but for bette∣ring that which was worse before. Doeth no manne build but hee which layes the foundation? no man paint but hee which shadowes? no man wade but hee which first breaketh the yce? If it were so, in what case had all our Artes & sciences bin? They had beene monumentes as one speaketh a∣dorandae rubiginis, and nothing else, well we might haue reuerēced their anciēt rustines, but neither had their faces bin halfe so wel fauoured, neither their knowledge halfe so much practised. Nowe then by this ac∣compt Osiris must bee remembred for one whom the Muses were saide to attend vp∣on. To signifie that he was his craftsmai∣ster, hauing the art at will, and throughly stored with all the giftes of so notable a knowlege. Next Tisias otherwise Stesicho∣rus commended euen from his cradle to this science by the ominous sitting of a nightin∣gale vpon his tender lippes. Besides these Chrysogonus which made a perfect con∣sorte betweene his owne voice and Mari∣ners oares, obseruing a delectable tune in the one, and proportionable a time in the o∣ther. What shall I speake of Simon and

Lysias, which being offended with the olde Musicke as too too harsh for their smooth and delicate eares, cast it once and againe as it were in a new mould, neither suffered so much as the former name to remaine vn∣changed. These & many the like whose me∣morie is fresh in histories though passed by mee in silence, either for setting vs on work by their examples, or for instructing vs by their precepts, or for polishing other mens rough hewen worke by their skilfulnesse cā deserue no lesse at our handes than to bee held and reputed for authors. But why doe I pleade for their priuilege and authorize∣ment, who haue founde no age hitherto so vngratefull as not to offer it? He that will not giue seconds and thirds a first place in these matters thinkes it easie perhaps to builde Rome in one day, & possible enough to make a science perfect euen at one in∣stant. Albeit we know that euen Mercurie himselfe called amongest the Aegyptians by a name of prerogatiue, Ter maximus, as being in three speciall thinges, especiall and chiefest could not acquite himselfe so handsomely in this science, as not to haue neede of bettering in succeeding ages. His

Musicke of three parts, set and proportio∣••ed to the three times of the yeare, the base ••o winter, the treble to sommer, the meane ••o the spring, being a midle season between sommer and winter, was bare and naked til other partes came in to helpe and supply it. So that as a questiō is made whether The∣seus his shippe being kept among the A∣thenians for a monument, and by continu∣all reparation euen from the hatches to the keele quite altered bee nowe Theseus his shippe or no: so it might be disputed were it not iniurious to the good deseruings of our predecessours, whether this our Musicke after the newe fashioning, and working of so many mē in so many ages be the same mu¦sicke which was retained in former times? For string hath beene added to string, part vnto part, precept vnto precept, one thing to an other so long til at length no one thing so much as variety hath made musick a perfit & vniform body. Nowe besides al this who knowes not that as generally so many men so many minds, so specially sundry musiciās driue sundry crotchets, & diuersity of mai∣sters maks diuersity of methods. Timothe{us} one for al (though one swalow be no sufficiēt

warrant of the spring) yet standing in for 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of many witnesses, as being borne out b•• common sense and practise of our dayes required a double fee of other mens scho¦lers: one to make them forgette what the•• had taught thē, another to make thē learn•• what he himselfe would teach them. S•• then if both the matter taught, and the ma¦ner of teaching haue seene as many altera¦tions, as almost ages, who can imagin•• that so great a dissent of the kindes can stā•• without as great diuersitie of the authors?

But to come neerer home, and to speak•• of the other sort of Musicke, which hath a while beene preuented by this needelesse digression, although we be nowe adaies fal∣len into a kind of intemperancie and wan∣tonnesse, especially in the framing of instru∣mentes, in so much that the diuising of them is not so great a trouble as their naming, yet antiquitie the mother of simplicitie and singlenesse in the greatest part of artifi∣ciall thinges, both contented her selfe with meaner choice, & incombred her selfe with smaller busines. In those times three co∣lours did serue for painting, and three in∣struments for playing. Nowe the Painters

••••op may vie with the rainebow for colors, ••art hath almost gone beyond it selfe for in∣••••ruments. But to leaue both the greater & ••••e later number of them which are made 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the imitation of the former, there is no ••uestion but as the dignity of these three ••boue the rest is to be maintained, so their ••••der amongest them-selues not to bee ••eglected. For by the iudgemēt of Alcibia∣••es the harpe is to be preferred before the whistling pipe or pshalms, because it leaues 〈◊〉〈◊〉 roume for the voice, wheras the other pos∣••essing the whole wind and breath of man ••ispossesse him of that seruice.

Touching the original hereof it is repor∣••ed that when Nilus had ouer-washed the countrie of Aegypt & afterwards drank in ••is waters againe into his seuen mouthes being so many streames or chanels, amōgst many other fishes which perished on the dry lād being in a sort betraied by that element wherein their nature is preserued the Tor∣tuise also came short. Mercury coasting along that way toke vppe one of them, and finding nothing thereon but a fewe of par∣ched or withered sinewes tied them with his fingers, wherewith they made some

offer of a musicall noise. The experiment is wel known lippis & tonsoribus, to the mea∣nest and simpleir persons amongest vs. For euerie childe holding a threede or haire in his mouth, and striking it with his finger shall finde the like partly by the motion of his finger wherthrough the solid is caused, and partly by the hollownesse of the mouth whereby it is tuned. Mercurie hauing got∣ten this hold tooke occasiō to set abroch his cunning. For he fashioned a peece of wood proportionable to the shel of a fish, and put thereon three strings distinct in sounds, an∣swerable to the three seasōs. After this first onset which for the most part carieth both the greatest daunger, and the greatest cre∣ditte, Terpander made vppe seauen stringes in honor of the seuen Atlantides which go vnder the name of our seuē stars: Simonides and Timotheus brought them to nine in reuerēce of the nine Muses. Thus Mercuries handsell set the market in a good & happy forwardnes. This instrumēt being as wel for the nouelty as excellencie strange was presented by report of some to Apollo: in lue whereof he recōpensed Mer∣curie w^t his heraulds rod called Caduceus.

Hoc animas ille euocat orco Pallentes, alias sub tristia Tartara mittit.

Herewith he calles some soules from Hel, And sends down others there to dwell.

By witnesse of others it was giuen to Orpheus, wherewith he brought euen sens∣lesse thinges to a sense and feeling of his sweetnes, and lifelesse creatures to a liuely stirring & motion of their vnarticulate bo∣dies. And when Orpheus was torne in pie∣ces by the drunken Bacchides, his head and harpe swam downe the riuer Hebrus, and were taken vp at Lesbos: where they buri∣ed the one, and hung vp the other in the tem∣ple to their gods. Thus the harpe liued after Orpheus was dead, and made a manifest proofe how highly it disdained to be handled by vnskilful & prophane fingers, reuenging euen vnto the death a presumptuous act cō∣mitted by Naearch{us}. This yong man being the king of Miteleus son bargained with the priestes of the tēple for Orpheus his harpe, because as the practise of musick was cōmē∣dable amongest them, so the greater euery mans skill was the better was his recom∣pēce. Now Naearchus hauing a mind to the best game, and putting more affiance in the

vertue of the harpe than his owne cunning, gotte by night into the suburbes, and there iangled the stringes so long, till at length he was rent asunder by dogges. Thus was his Musicke vnsauerie, thus was his death vntimely.

But to proceede, the first that euer sang to the harp which is either the only or chiefe reason why it is preferred before wind in∣strumentes, was Linus. Whose vngra∣cious scholer Hercules being controlled by him for his rawnes made such vntoward Musike betwixt his Maisters harpe and his head, that he beat out the sides of the one, and the braines of the other. Although some displace him from the honour of this inuen∣tion, and ascribe it rather to Amphion.

Nowe among the winde instrumentes the Pshalme was deuised either by Euter∣pe one of the nine Muses, or else by Ardalus Vulcans sonne, made at the first of the shāke bones of cranes, and therefore called Tibia by the Latines. Although afterwardes it was framed of the baytree in Lybia, of box in Phrygia, of the boans of hinds in Thebes in Scythia of rauēs & eagles, in Aegypt of barly stalks, & so accordingly at other times

& in other places of other matters. But the most voices run vppon Minerua the daugh∣ter of Iupiter, and one who for her wisedom is said to be borne of Iupiters braine. And because euerie artificer loueth his owne worke, Minerua was delighted with her pipe, and vsed euen in the assemblie of the gods very much to winde it: till such time till both they draue her both from her Mu∣sike and their presence by laughing at her blowen cheekes. Shee to make triall of the matter went down to a riuer side, & behol∣ding her swelling face in Neptunes glas bid her pipe farewell in a great choler, loa∣thing & disgracing the same as much as it disfigured her. This pipe left not so good a Mistresse, but it lighted on as bad a Master Marsias by name: whom it caused so to swel not in face but in heart, that hee chalenged & prouoked Apollo to a musical combate: and being ouercom lost the best and nearest coate to his back, hauing his skinne pluckt ouer his eares for attempting so bold an enterprise. The vse and effect of this as also other instrumēts I referre to their places. In the meane while I followe my pur∣pose.

Touching the whistling pipes which were made, for the most part, of reedes, though some assigne them to Silenus the foster father of Bacchus: on whome he al∣waies attended riding vpon an Asse, yet the greater part agree in Pan the God of sheep∣heardes.

The occasion was this: It chaunced that he fell in loue with Sirinxe a nimph of Arcadie, who would neither giue her head as they say for the washing, nor her virginitie for the asking. And therefore when he first came to commense his sute shee tooke her course from him towarde the riuer Ladon. Where her iourney being at an end vppon request made vnto the nimphes, shee was de∣liuered by them from that rusticke para∣moure by transforming her into water reedes. Those hee tooke for loue of her, and made them instruments to vtter forth his complaintes. Howsoeuer other thinges in this historie be feigned, sure it is that it carieth with it an other drift than to proue Pan the author of that in∣strument. And if it be so, howe could so grounded a worke-man, being made as

they say to the imitation of nature and ex∣pressing by his hornes the sunne beames, by his redde face the coulour of the skies, by his rough and heary thigh the trees and hearbs vpon the face of the earth, by his goats feete the soliditie and steedfastnes of the same, be the master of a vaine and frutelesse worke? What shall I speak of the Lute, Citterne, Violle, Rebeck, Gittorne, Pandore, Dul∣cimer, Organes, Virginals, Flute, Fife, Re∣corders, of the Trumpet, Cornet, Sackbut, and infinite other sortes so excellent & plea∣sant in their sundrie kinds, that if art be any way faultie for them, it is for being too too riotous and superfluous. For hauing as it were wearied and ouergone her selfe in choise of new sortes, shee hath deuised a kind of newnes euen out of the old, by ioyning & compacting many in one, which these later times may by right chalenge for their inuē∣tion. But to leaue al other historiographers dissenting some of them far in opinions that historie which indeed is the witnes of times & light of the trueth written by the finger of God sets downe Iubal sonne of Lamech & Ada to be the Father of all such as handle harpe and instruments.

Notes

• Iustinus,
• Musica mun∣dana. Cor. Agrippa.
• Polydor. Virg. 1. lib. cap. 14.
• Cornelius Agrippa.
• Natal. Comes
• Pol. Virg. ibid.
• Idem ibid.
• Vocal Musick
• Diod. Sicul.
• Rauis.
• Volaterranus
• Pol. Virg. ibidem.
• Instrumen∣tal musicke.
• The harpe.
• Polydor. Virg.
• Ibidem.
• Ouid.
• Polydor. Vir.
• The Pshalme.
• Caelius Rhod
• Ouid.
• The whistling Pipe.
• Ouid.
• Natal. Comes.
• Genes. & Ioseph.