April 2^, 1874 J 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUEB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



331 



^Vhioh village ly'd by Banktree side, 

 There spend did I mine infancy. 

 There tlieD my name in honest fame 

 Kcmaiu'd in sight." 



Banktrep, or Brauktree, as it was written iu the Bixteenth 

 century, is the modern Braintree. 



Being desirous of asoertaining if the house in which the 

 Tussera resided at Eivenhall is linown, we ventured to apply 

 to the rector — the Bev. Bradford Deaue Hawkins, and to bis 

 most kind and courteous attention we are indebted for the 

 following: — "The Smyth family, into which Tusser's father 

 married, resided at and were iu possession of the farm called 

 Lanhams, and that is where Tusser's father brought home his 

 wife from Hoo Hall. The farm is the nearest to Braintree, at 

 the extreme end of Eivenhall. The house was altered and 

 modernised within these twenty years, but I found a drawing 



of the house made anterior to those alterations, and as it 

 probably existed two hundred years before. It is just of the 

 same character as that in which Ray, the naturalist, was born, 

 within a short distance of this, at lilack Notley." From that 

 drawing our engraving is taken. 



Of the dato of Tusser's birth there is no record, for the 

 earliest existing entry of a birth in the Bivenhall register is in 

 the year ICii t. In childhood he had a musical voice, and his 

 father, disregarding his repugnance and " tears from mother's 

 eyes," persisted in sending him " to song sohool." No 

 opposition 



" Could pity make good father take ; 

 But out I must to song be thrust." 



He was sent to the Collegiate Chapel at Wallingford, in Berk- 

 shire. It had then a dean, six prebendaries, six clerks, and 



tusser's birthplace. 



four choristers, but was dissolved iu 1519. He thus describes 

 his " chorister's misery " : — 



" O painful time, for every ciime 

 What touzed ears, like bated bears 1 

 ■What bobbed lipa ! what jerks ! what nips 



■What hellish toys 1 

 "What robes — how bare ! what college fare ! 

 "What bread — bow stale! what penny alel 

 Then Wallingford, thnu wert abhor'd 



Of seoly boyg." 



His father was right in his determination, for Tusser's voice 

 not only obtained him patronage in boyhood, but, remaining 

 musical in manhood, was a resource when his agricultural 

 pursuits failed. 



At that period choral services were most assiduously cul- 

 tivated, and the monarch, the bishop, and the peer spared no 

 expense to have skilled choristers. The liberty of the subject 

 was not then a prime article of the political creed, and one 

 example of its being disregarded is that power was granted to 

 press choristers and carry them off to serve in the choir of the 

 grantee. This was done as early as the reign of Edward IV. ; 

 and as an instance of a later date, in the year l.'JCO, Strype 

 says a commission was granted " to Philip Van Wilder, gentle- 

 man of the Privy Chamber, in anie churches or chappells within 

 England to take to the king's use such and as many singing 

 children and choristers as he or his deputy shall think good." 



In the third series of Ellis's " Original Letters " are interesting 

 details of the difficulty and tyranny in obtaining choristers 

 during Tusser's time. Henry VIII. thanks Cardinal Wolsey 

 " for the chylde off his chiapell as he dydde hartly send ; " so 

 the Cardinal required of Wareham, Archbishop of Canterbury, 

 " one Clement of his chapel which syngeth a basise parte." 

 This was done without any consulting of the singer's wishes. 

 When the king journeyed he took with him six singing boys 

 and six gentlemen of his choir, which will explain some of 

 Tusser's allusions. We have a list of the Earl of Northumber- 

 land's chapel choir, and its music was so superior that the 

 Cardinal extorted from him his choral books. 



Tusser was subjected to more than one of these impress- 

 ments. 



" Then for my voice, I must (no choice 



Away of force, like posting horse. 



For sundry men had placards then 

 Such child to take." 



" The better breast "—that is, the better voice, the child had 

 the oftenerwashe liable to be impressed, and that was Tusser's 

 fortune, and " to serve the choir, now there, now here," he was 

 forced about until he was enrolled one of the choir of St. Paul's. 

 Whilst there it is probable that he was introduced to Lord 

 WiUiam Paget by the organist and almoner, .John Bedford, who 

 was no less distinguished for his care of his pupils than for his 



