vegetables met in the street and had a bit of a frolic together. The Fancy is resumed with the Cryes of the Chimney Sweep, Bellows-Mender etc., and later on a beautiful song for the seller of "Broome" is introduced. The words of this song date back before Weelkes, being found with slight variation in an old play called Three Ladies of London, 1584. They are sung by a character named "Conscience" who enters with brooms, and sings the song.

No doubt the tune given by Weelkes is the original one.

The conclusion of this Fancy is very charming and rather like an Anthem:

Then let us sing
And so we will make an end
With Alleluia.

There are two MSS. of this work in the British Museum. I have followed the shorter version, as the longer is not only rather dull and prolonged but includes a little deviation into vulgarity, and so is hardly suitable for modern ears. The "Alleluia" occurs in the longer MS. and I have included it in my version.

It is fortunate that there are two sets of parts, as neither of them is complete. But having been so fortunate as to find these two sets I have been able to restore the missing part.

The discovery of this Fancy is the reason why I select Weelkes instead of Wilbye, one of his great contemporaries, and I think all lovers of Shakespeare will be glad to make acquaintance with the music of the Cryes of London which saluted the Poet's ears in his daily walks.

Weelkes paid a loving tribute to "his dearest friend" Morley, on the latter's death. The date of Weelkes' death (1623) and other particulars have been brought to light by the investigations of the Rev. Dr. Fellowes, whose devotion to the madrigal school is so well known and appreciated. His paper on Weelkes (Musical Association, May, 1916) is an eloquent testimony to the worth of this composer, to whose madrigal writing I have not space quite to do justice. The Humorous Fancy, however, shows him in a new and interesting light.

V. ORLANDO GIBBONS

1583—1625

Orlando Gibbons is certainly the most outstanding name of the English musicians in the early part of the 17th century. A good deal of this is, no doubt, due to the fact that his contributions to Sacred Music have been one of the great possessions of our Cathedral School, and their presence in service lists has been—and I venture to hope will always be—a constant tribute to their excellence.

Gibbons' upbringing was, of course, such as turned his mind naturally, though by no means exclusively, to Church Music.

He was the son of one of the City waifs of Cambridge, William Gibbons, and was born in 1583. Placed in the Choir of King's College, he is mentioned amongst the Choristers during the years 1596-97; at which time his elder brother, Edward Gibbons, was Organist of the College. It might be noted in passing that this Edward Gibbons was himself a B.Mus. of both Universities; and, after occupying an appointment at Bristol at the beginning of the 17th century, was, later, organist and Priest Vicar at Exeter Cathedral, where he had to answer a charge of neglecting his duties; this, however, he managed to do successfully. He died about 1653.

To return to Orlando. There are some interesting entries in the College Records of 1601, 1602, and 1603, of sums of from 2s. to 2s. 6d. paid to Gibbons—or Gibbins, as it is there spelt—for music composed "in festo Dominae Reginae," and also in the two latter years for music for the Purification. No Christian name is given, but there is little doubt it was Orlando Gibbons. He was placed in an important and honourable appointment at an early age, for in 1604 he became Organist of the Chapel Royal, and in 1606 took his bachelor's degree at Cambridge.

In 1611 his name appears as an associate with Byrd and Bull in a work called Parthenia, a collection of pieces for the Virginals of which I shall speak later on.

We do not hear much more of him until 1612, with the exception of a mention in the State Papers of that period, wherein we find a petition in 1611 to the Earl of Salisbury "for a lease in reversion of forty marks per annum of Duchy lands, without fine, as promised him by the Queen." The year 1612 sees the publication of his First sett of Madrigals and Mottets of 5 parts, apt for viols or voyces. Newly composed by ORLANDO GIBBONS, Batchelor of Music, Organist of H. M. Chapel in Ordinary. The work is dedicated to Sir Christopher Hatton, and the dedication runs thus: "They were most of them composed in your owne house and doe therefore properly belong to you. The language you provided them, I only furnished them with tongues to utter the same." It is thought from this that Sir C. Hatton wrote the words, as Gibbons was on terms of close intimacy with him. Another proof of this is shown by a piece in Ben Coszyn's Virginal Book, where Gibbons is represented by a "Hatten's" Galliard. The collection, Madrigals and Mottets, is rather misleading as to title, for there is not one Motet in it, though there are thirteen Madrigals, some divided into 2, 3 and 4 sections, each as long as an ordinary Madrigal. One of the 'sett' is The Silver Swan.

It has been stated that besides the published Madrigals, no secular or vocal compositions exist in MS. except a kind of Burlesque Madrigal called The Cryes of London for 6 voices.

This statement is altogether incorrect. To mention one, a song, A Soldier's Farewell to his Mistress ("My love, adieu") is in existence, and I have often had it performed. And the statement about the Burlesque Madrigal is truly absurd. It is curious that the musical historians have, as in Burney's case, either neglected to notice the existence of the work on the Cryes of London, or have, quite incorrectly, called it a Madrigal. It is a particularly interesting form of composition. Like Weelkes' Humourous Fancy, it has parts for Viols and a superimposed vocal score for S.A.T.B. (not 6 voices) consisting of the Old Cryes of London. But it differs in one respect from Weelkes', for it is an "In Nomine" for strings. This is an older form of the Fancy, and has the peculiarity of one part for the Viol—an inner part—being allotted a well-known old ecclesiastical melody. This Plainsong melody is to be found in the Sarum Missal to the words "Gloria Tibi Trinitas," and, curiously enough, the same Plainsong is used by many composers of "In Nomines," Byrd and Ferabosco amongst others. But this is the only example I have come across where a sacred melody is introduced in connection with secular, and, in the case of Cryes, somewhat humourous words. Examples of the introduction of secular tunes into the sacred works by composers of the Italian school of the 16th century are, of course, very common. This is a curious reversal of the custom, i.e. the introduction of a sacred tune into a secular vocal work. It says much for Gibbons' skill that he is able to write very effective and flowing Viol parts and to introduce so many examples of the old Cryes, quite untrammelled by the Plainsong persistently played by one of the Viols. The copy from which this interesting work is taken is a MS. written by Thomas Myriell in 1616, so the Fancy was composed before that date. The copyist who preserved this work for us was the Rector of St Stephen's, Wallbrook, the church adjoining the Mansion House. Between 1612 and 1622 must have been published the best known Fantasies by Gibbons, for the collection is dedicated to Edward Wray as one of the Grooms of the Bedchamber, and Wray was dismissed