Sept. 13. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



187 



At Oriana's presence each thing smileth, 

 The flowres themselves discover, 

 Birds over her do hover, 



Musick the time beguileth. 

 See where she comes, with flon'ry garlands crowned ; 

 Queene of all Queenes renowned : 



Then sang the shepherds and nymphs of Diana, 



Long live faire Oriana." 



3. 

 " Thus Bonny-lmotex the birthday celebrated 

 Of hir liis Lady dearest ; 

 Fair Oriana, which to his hart was neerest. 

 The nymphs and sheplierds feasted 

 With clowted creame, and to sing were requested. 

 Loe ! here the fair, created 



(Quoth he) the world's chiefe goddesse. 

 Since then, for she is Bonny-bootes' sweet mistres. 

 Then sang the shepherds and nymphs of Diana, 

 Long live faire Oriana." 



4. 

 " Come blessed bird ! and with thy sugred rellish, 

 Help our declining quire now to embellish ; 

 For Bonny-bootes that so aloft would fetch it. 

 Oh 1 he is dead, and none of us can reach it ! 

 Then tune to us, sweet bird, thy shrill recorder, 



And I, Elpin and Dorus, 



For fault of better, will serve in the chorus. 

 Begin; and we will follow ihee in order. 



Then sang the wood-born minstrel of Diana, 



Long live faire Oriana." 



Now a question arises, who was the Bonny-boots 

 mentioned in the two last-quoted madrigals ? 

 Sir John Hawkins has the following hypothesis : 



" Bonny-boots seems to be a nick-name for some 

 famous singer, who, because of his excellent voice, or 

 for some other reason, had the permission to call the 

 queen his lady. Possibly the person meant might be 

 one JNIr. Hale, of whom mention is made by Sir AVil- 

 liam Segar, in his accoiuit of a solemn tilt, or exercise 

 of arms, held in the year 1590 before Queen Elizabeth, 

 in the Tiltyard at Westminster, with emblematical 

 representations and music, in whicli the above-men- 

 tioned Mr. Hale performed a part, by singing a song, 

 &c. Sir William Segar also says of this person, that 

 he was her majesty's servant, a gentleman in that art 

 excellent, and for his voice both commendable and 

 admirable." — Hist, of Music, vol. ili. p. 406. 



Some gallant, higli in favour with the Lady 

 Oriana (Queen Elizabclh), is evidently alluded to 

 in these madrigals; but I cannot aiiree with Sir 

 John Hawkins, that a public singer like J\lr. Hale 

 would be permitted " to call the queen his lady." 

 'J he idea is too absurd for a moment's considera- 

 tion. Another conjecture is, tliat tiie individual 

 designated Bmimj-bvots was the Earl of Es.'-ex ; 

 hut 1 shall here <iuote two extracts from a cuiious 

 and rare work published by Thomas Morley in 

 1597, and entitled " Cnvzonets, or Little Short Acrs 

 to Five and Six Voices : rrinlcd by I'etcr Siiort," 

 &c. : — 



1. 



Fly love, that art so sprightly. 



To Bonny-booti uprightly ; 



And when in Heav'n you meet him. 



Say that I kindly greet him ; 



And that his Oriana, 



True widow maid still followeth Diana.' 



" Our Bonny-boots could toot it, yea and foot it ; 

 Say lusty lads, who now shall bonny-boot it? 

 Who but the jolly shepherd, bonny Dorus ? 

 He now must lead the Morris dance before us." 



The conjecture that Bomuj-boots was the Earl 

 of Essex at once fitlls to the ground ; for he was 

 not beheaded till 1601, and the title-page of 

 Morley's Canzonets bears date 1597. 



That some conceit relative to the Lady Oriana 

 existed long before the appearance of The 

 Triumphs, is evident. Although the latter work 

 was not published till the year 1601, yet in 1597 

 the idea had been acted upon by Nicholas Yonge 

 in his Second Book of Musica Ti'ansalpina ; for 

 therein is the well-known madrigal by Giovanni 

 Croce from H Trionfo di Dori, adapted to the 

 English words, " Hard by a crystal fountain," and 

 ending with the burden, " Long live fair Oriana." 

 Dr. Burney {Hist, of Music, vol. iii. p. 124.) says, 

 that accoriling to llearne, a madrigal beginning 

 with these words used annually to be sung by the 

 fellows of the New College, Oxon, but he was 

 unable to find it. Other madrigals in praise of 

 Oriana may be found in Bateson's First Set of 

 Madrigcdes, 1G04 ; Tilkiiigton's First Set of Ma- 

 drigules, 1613; and in Vautor's Fi7-st Set of 

 Songes, 1619. 



The publication of madrigals in praise of Queen 

 Elizabeth, after her death, may be easily accounted 

 lor. Tliey were (it is evident upon examination) 

 originally composed with the others, butsent too 

 late for "insertion in the set ; alter which their 

 respective composers had no opportunity of pub- 

 lishing them until the dates above given. 



The conclusion then I arrive at is this, that 

 II Trionfo di Dori was printed in Italy (most 

 probably at Rome) between the years 1588 and 

 1597 ; that N. Yonge procured a copy of it from 

 thence (as may be inferred from his Treface), and 

 from it published Croce's madrigal. This copy 

 was most ])robably seen by Thomas Morley, and 

 gave him the idea of his Triumphs of Oriam. 

 JNlorley was at this time an especial favourite with 

 the queen, who had recently rewarded him with 

 " a faire golde chaine." An offering then like 

 the Orianas coidd not fail of being acceptable to 

 the vanity of Elizabeth, who, e\en at the age of 

 sixty -eight, was extremely sus^ccptible of flattery — 

 esjiecialiy when directed towards her person. It 

 doubtless had the desired cllect, and secured for 

 Morley the patronage of the queen and the prin- 



