teth, murie sing cuccu,
Cuccu, Cuccu,
Wel singes thu cuccu, ne swik thu naver nu.'--

while all the time two other voices of lower pitch sing a monotonous
refrain, 'Sing cuccu nu, Sing cuccu,' which they repeat _ad infinitum_
till the four who sing the Round are tired. This refrain is called Pes
(or 'foot'), and this is the kind of thing which Lucrece means by
'burden.' The word 'hum' may be considered technical, see the
Introduction, where '_buzzing_ bass' is referred to. The tune, 'Light
o' love' [see Appendix], as we know from _Much Ado_ III, iv, 41, used
to go _without_ a burden, and was considered a 'light' tune on that
account, see _Two Gent._ I, ii, 80.

'Descant,' in l. 1134, wants explaining. To 'descant' meant to sing or
play an _extempore_ second 'part' to a written melody. The point was
that it should be extempore; if written down it ceased to be true
descant, and was then called 'prick-song.' A rough example may be had
in the extempore bass or alto which some people still sing in church
instead of the melody. A more accurate example of descant would be
this--let A sing a hymn tune, say the Old 100th, and let B accompany
him _extempore_ with a separate melody within the bounds of harmony. B
is 'descanting' on the melody that A sings.[5]

[Footnote 5: Appendix, Ex. 1.]

The art of descant in Elizabeth's time corresponded closely with what
we call 'Strict Counterpoint' (_contra_, _punctus_, hence
'prick-song,' or 'written' descant).

The modern equivalent for 'bear a part' (l. 1135) is 'sing a part.'
[See also Sonnet VIII.] Any person of decent education could 'bear a
part' in those days, _i.e._, read at sight the treble, alto, tenor, or
bass 'part' of the work presented by the host for the diversion of his
guests. [See Introduction.]

L. 1140. 'Frets upon an instrument' can still be seen on the modern
mandoline, guitar, and banjo. In Shakespeare days, the viol, lute, and
cittern all had frets on the fingerboard, but they were then simply
bits of string tied round at the right places for the fingers, and
made fast with glue. Their use is referred to in the next line, to
'tune' the strings, _i.e._, to 'stop' the string accurately at each
semitone.

There is a quaint illustration of ll. 1135-6, about the nightingale
singing 'against a thorn' to keep her awake, in the words of a
favourite old part song of King Henry VIII., 'By a bank as I lay,'
where the poem has these lines on the nigh