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Another famous composer, who devoted his talents entirely to 
Cathedral music, of which he has been called the patriarch, was 
Thomas Tallis, organist to Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and 
Elizabeth. Some of his music is to be found in Boyce’s collection, 
and his ‘ Responses,” for which he was much indebted to 
Marbeck, are still commonly used. 
In those days every one who moved in polite society, even 
though a prince, was expected to be able to take a part in a 
motett, or madrigal; if he could not, he probably felt as greatly 
ashamed as our old poet Ccedmon, nearly 1,000 years before. 
Indeed, we have instances recorded, and I hope that ere long 
history will again repeat itself. 
In a humorous court-play performed at the court of Henry 
VIIL., the country hero thus quaintly implores instruction in the 
coveted art :— 
‘*Wolde to Heav’n it would please you some day, 
A Ballad Boke before me for to lay, 
And lerne me for to synge re, mi, fa, sol, 
And, when I fail, bobbe me on the noll,” 
We need not dwell on Mary’s reign : she kept up the royal 
musical establishments ; but the constant demands made upon her 
purse by her husband, Philip, prevented her from patronizing 
music as her father had done. She was fond of music, and played 
well; let us hope that her many melancholy days were relieved by 
the voice of harmony. 
Before entering on the Elizabethan period, our musical 
illustrators will give us ‘‘The Spanish Lady,” written at this time, 
and founded on an incident in the Spanish wars. 
We now come to the Elizabethan period, where the difficulty 
lies in selection. Music, like literature, was at its zenith. What 
Shakespeare, Spenser, and Ben Jonson were to literature, Tye, 
Tallis, Farrant, Byrd, Morley, Gibbons, and others were to music. 
To them we are indebted for a collection of musical compositions 
of every variety that has never been excelled, if equalled, by any 
nation upon earth. Italy, through Palestrina, Festa, and others 
was pouring forth a flood of compositions, but our native pro- 
