Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/94

 190 NOTES AND QUERIES. p* b. iyvs«p*. 2, w There let the pealing organ blow To the full-voiced choir below. In service high and anthems clear, As may with sweetness through mine ear Dissolve me into ecstacies, And bring all Heaven before mine eyes. Thomas Mace, who,in 'Music's Monument' (1676), refers to the psalm sung in York Cathedral during the siege (1644), only does so to emphasize the moving effect of a large body of voices, accompanied by a " most ex- cellent, large, plump - lusty - full - speaking organ," and makes no comparison of the style of accompaniment as differing from that generally heard ; he mentions that the custom of singing a metrical psalm was peculiar to York Cathedral, and we may remember that the practice of singing such music has only been introduced into cathedrals within the last fifty years. I strongly suspect Mr. Davey has formed his opinion of seventeenth - century organ accompaniment from a perusal of Daniel Purcell's ' Psalms set full for the Organ'; but this was not published before 1718, and may be regarded as the result of the frivolous French style of music patronized by Charles II. and James II. Mr. Davey, in his note at the last reference, says " organs were seldom destroyed," and cites a "French traveller who says they were set up in taverns." If we knew the name of the traveller, we might perhaps be able to estimate the value of nis testimony. In any case it is hard to believe that bulky church organs could, by any pro- cess, be reduced to suitable dimensions for a tavern room. On the other hand, the state- ments in 'Mercurius Kusticus' (1685) are very definite and precise: organs and music books were ruthlessly destroyed at Canter- bury, Rochester, Chichester, Winchester, and Exeter. At Westminster Abbey " they brake down the organs and pawned the pipes at several ale-houses for pots of ale": perhaps this is what the " French traveller referred to. At Peterborough Cromwell was asked to stay the wanton destruction, but replied that his men "did God good service in that action "—which included breaking down the organs and piping about the market-place. Mr. Davey's assertion that more music was published during the Commonwealth than during the whole reign of Charles I. is, I think, a mistake ; but if it were true it must be borne in mind that a time of rebellion and civil war would not be favourable for music publication. Nevertheless the most exten- sive and remarkable collection of English church music ever published was that of John Barnard in 1641 ; the work consisted of ten separate voice parts, in as many folio volumes. An eloquent fact bearing on the question of the destruction of church music books by the Puritans is that no perfect copy of this work is known to exist, and frag- mentary volumes are of the greatest rarity. William H. Cummikos. A Poem attributed to Waller (9th S. iv. 41).—I find to my regret that the poem which I sent to ' N. & Q.' a few weeks ago has already been printed, but as the book in which it is contained is a scarce one it does not so much matter as it might have done. It appears at p. 88 of "Rome Rhymed to Death : being a Collection of Choice Poems. Written by the E[arl] of Rochester], Dr. Wild, and others of the best Modern Wits. London, 1683." In this collection it follows a poem ' Upon the New Parliament,' and is itself simply headed 'Another.' No author is assigned. Both refer to the Parliament of 1679. It is curious to note that a different version of this same poem was printed in 1686, under the title of ' A Poem on the Present Assembly of Parliament, November 9, 1685.' Many changes, of course, were necessary to make it fit the opening of the second session of James II.'s Parliament. Line 5, for instance, which in the first poem runs— Since Charles returned on his triumphant way, becomes in the second version of the poem— Since godlike James received imperial state, Our only recompense for Charles his fate. Considerable additions are also made in this second version. C. H. Firth. Amen Court (9th S. iv. 27, 134). — I feel considerable difficulty in accepting the state- ment, based apparently upon the authority of Stew's ' Survey,' that Amen Lane or Amen Corner, " like Pater Noster Row, Ave Maria Lane, and Creed Lane," takes its name " from the text illuminators living near the Cathe- dral." Text illuminators, one would think, must have been numerous indeed to give names to four neighbouring streets. And what kind of texts did they illuminate ? If these text illuminators were book illuminators, it is difficult to understand how their places of residence should be designated from parts rather than from the whole of their work. One could have understood a street being called Missal Lane. But perhaps we shall be told that the Pater Nosters of a service book were illuminated in one street, the Ave Marias in another, the Creeds in a third, whilst the artists of a fourth were entirely occupied in inserting the Amens. In this case we may reasonably ask, Where were the