Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 08.djvu/129

 James I, Add. Ser. vol. xxxvi.), commanding her to permit Byrd quietly to enjoy the possession of the property; but in spite of this Mrs. Shelley persevered, and four years later (27 Oct. 1608) she presented a petition to the Earl of Salisbury, praying for the restoration to her of Stondon Place, and setting forth in an enclosure eight grievances against Byrd. The chief of these are that Byrd in 1608 began a suit against Mrs. Shelley to force her to ratify the lease he had from Elizabeth; but being unsuccessful, he combined with the individuals who held her other jointure lands to maintain suits against her, and when all these had submitted except ‘one Petiver,’ who also finally submitted, ‘the said Bird did give him vile and bitter words;’ that when told that he had no right to the property, he replied ‘that yf he could not hould it by right, he would holde it by might;’ that he had cut down much timber, and for six years had paid no rent (ib. vol. xxxvii.) What the end of the dispute was does not transpire. Mrs, Shelley 1608 was serenty years old, and as both Byrd's son and grandson occupied the same property, it is probable that she did not live much longer. While Byrd was in the possession of lands belonging to a recusant, and was actively engaged in performing his duties in the Chapel Royal, where he was present at the coronation of James I, he was not only being presented with his family for popish practices before the archidiaconal court of Essex, but he had actually been excommunicated since 1598. From 1605 until 1612, and probably later, it was regularly recorded that the Byrd family were ‘papisticall recusants.’ Mrs. Byrd in particular, if the reports of the minister and church wardens of Stondon are to be believed, seems to have been very zealous in making converts. Apart from these incidents, the particulars of Byrd's life consist chiefly of of the list of his published works. In 1600 Byrd contributed instrumental music to ‘Parthenia,’ a collection of virginal lessons by Bull, Orlando Gibbons, and Byrd. On 15 Oct. 1603 Easte published ‘Medulla Musicke. Sucked out of the sappe of Two [of] the most famous Musitians that euer were in this land, namely Master Wylliam Byrd … and Master Alfonso Ferabosco … either of whom having made 40tie severall waies (without contention), shewing most rare and intricate skill in 2 partes in one vpon the playne songe “Miserere.” The which at the request of a friend is most plainly sett in severall distinct partes to be sunge (with moore ease and vnderstanding of the lesse skilfull), by Master Thomas Robinson,’ &c. (, Transcript of Stationers' Registers, iii. 247). All copies of this work seem to have disappeared, and its existence was only revealed by the publication of the entry in the Stationers' Registers. Thomas Morley (Introduction, ed. 1608, p. 115) mentions how Byrd (‘never without reverence to be named of musicians’) and Ferabosco had a friendly contention, each one judging his rival's work, and he adds that they both set a plain song forty different ways; but it was not previously known that the result of their labours had been printed. In 1607 appeared the first and second books of ‘Gradualia, seu Cantionum Sacrarum,’ &c., of which the first book was dedicated to the Earl of Northampton in terms which seem to imply that the author had received some special protection or benefit from that nobleman: ‘Te habui, atque etiam (ni fallor) habeo, in afflictis familiæ meæ rebus benignissimum patronum.’ In the same dedication Byrd alludes to the increase in the salaries of the gentlemen of the chapel which was obtained by the earl's help in 1604. A second edition of this book appeared in 1610. The second book of the ‘Gradualia’ is dedicated to Lord Petre; a second edition was issued by the author in 1610. In 1611 appeared ‘Psalmes, Songs, and Sonnets: some solemne, others joyfull, framed to the life of the Words: Fit for Voyces or Viols, &c.’ This work was dedicated to Francis, earl of Cumberland, and contains a quaintly written address by the author ‘to all true louers of musicke.’ The last work which Byrd contributed to was Sir William Leighton's ‘Teares or Lamentacions of a Sorrowfull Soule’ (1614), in which four of his sacred vocal compositions are contained. Byrd's death took place (probably at Stondon) on 4 July 1623. It is recorded in the ‘Chapel Royal Cheque Book’ as that of a ‘father of musicke,’ a title which refers as much to his age as to the veneration in which he was held by his contemporaries, a feeling which was expressed by Peacham (Compleat Gentleman, ed. 1622, p. 100) as follows: ‘In Motets, and Musicke of pietie and deuotion, as well for the honour of our Nation, as the merit of the Man, I preferre aboue all other our Phœnix, M. William Byrd, whom in that kind, I know not whether any may equall. I am sure, none excell, euen by the iudgement of France and Italy. … His Cantiones Sacræ, as also his Gradualia, are meere Angelicall and Diuine; and being of himselfe naturally disposed to Grauitie and Pietie, his veine is not so much for light Madrigals or Canzonets, yet his Virginella, and some others in his