Page:Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age (1896).djvu/12

viii lain hidden out of sight for nearly three centuries. How many readers have heard of Captain Tobias Hume? He published in 1605 "The First Part of Airs, French, Polish and others together." Among these Airs I found the flawless verses that I have placed at the beginning of my anthology, "Fain would I change that note." Surely few, even among the very elect, have sung Love's praises in happier accents of heartfull devotion. Captain Hume wrote the music, but I know not who wrote the verses. It may be assumed that the composers, as a rule, were only responsible for the music. Dr. Thomas Campion, of whom I shall speak present, was both a poet and a musician; but he was an exception to the rule.

Take another example, the sweet and tender lullaby, worthy of William Blake, "Upon my lap my sovereign sits." It is from Martin Peerson's "Private Music," 1620, of which only one perfect copy, preserved in the Bodleian Library, is extant.