l library. A first attempt of this kind must
necessarily be imperfect. Were I to go over the ground again I should
enlarge the collection, and I should hope to gain tidings of some
song-books (mentioned by bibliographers) which I have hitherto been
unable to trace.

In Elizabeth's days composers were not content to regard the words of a
song as a mere peg on which to hang the music, but sought the services
of true-born lyrists. It is not too much to say that, for delicate
perfection of form, some of the Elizabethan songs can compare with the
choicest epigrams in the Greek Anthology. At least one composer, Thomas
Campion, wrote both the words and the music of his songs; and there are
no sweeter lyrics in English poetry than are to be found in Campion's
song-books. But it may be assumed that, as a rule, the composers are
responsible only for the music.

It was in the year of the Spanish Armada, 1588, that William Byrd
published "Psalms, Sonnets, and Songs of Sadness and Piety," the first
Elizabethan song-book of importance. Few biographical particulars
concerning Byrd have come down. As he was senior chorister of St. Paul's
in 1554, he is conjectured to have been born about 1538. From 1563 to
1569 he was organist of Lincoln Cathedral. He and Tallis were granted a
patent, which must have proved fairly lucrative, for the printing of
music and the vending of music-paper. In later life he appears to have
become a convert to Romanism. His last work was published in 1611, and
he died at a ripe old age on the 24th of July, 1623. The "Psalms,
Sonnets, and Songs" are dedicated to Sir Christopher Hatton. In the
dedicatory epistle he terms the collection "this first printed work of
mine _in English_;" in 1575 he had published with Tallis "Cantiones
Sacrae." From the title one would gather that Byrd's first English
collection was mainly of a sacred character, but in an epistle to the
reader he hastens to set us right on that point:--"Benign reader, here
is offered unto thy courteous acceptance music of sundry sorts, and to
content divers humours. If thou be disposed to pray, here are psalms; if
to be merry, here are sonnets." There is, indeed, fare for all comers;
and a reader has only himself to blame if he goes away dissatisfied. In
those days, as in these, it was not uncommon for a writer to attribute
all faults, whether of omission or commission, to the luckless printer.
Byrd, on the other hand, solemnly warns us that "in the ex