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calleil tlk'ia, claiiuilorlj, and />ro/jii!l.7M, inebra, and inh'tla. 

 Inaiuiiarui, that which gave omen of a fire, or other calami- 

 ty ; or whicli is fctn carrying a firebrand from the funeral 

 pile to a houfe. Ranora, that which (lays or delays an uc 

 tion. Siiii/lra, that on the left hand, denoted a happy or 

 profpcrous omen; and was alfo called y^cun^Ai, pinfpera. ylh- 

 tes, thofe which Rave omens by their wings and flight. Of- 

 cina, thofe by their finging or chirping. Pulii, by their 

 pecking. Pnpcta, thofe which by their flight, or perching, 

 gave happy omens. Infers, or incbr^-, thofe which in like 

 manner gave ill omens. 



Bird, William, in Muf.cal B'wgrnphy. This worthy and 

 admirable fcholar of the profound Tallis, is fuppofed to have 

 been the fon of Thomas Bird, one of the gentlemen of Ed- 

 ward tlie fixth's chapel, in whicli he was himfelf a fingnig- 

 boy. By the great number of his ccclefiallical compolitions 

 to Latin wonU-, and the feveral portions of the Romifli ritual 

 which he fo frequently fct to mufic, and publilhed late in 

 life, he feems to have been long a zealous adherent to that 

 religion. He mull , however, have conformed to the church 

 ertablilhmtnls of queen Elizabeth's icign ; for, in 1563, he 

 was chofen organill of Lincoln cathedral, where he continu- 

 ed till 1569, when, upon the accidental death of Robert 

 Parfons, who was drowned at Ncwark-upon-Trent, he was 

 appointed gentleman of the chapel royal. Notwithitaiiding 

 which ofTice, he feems to have compofed the chief part of his 

 Choral Mufic to Latin words, and to have publiflied it in 

 that language, as late as the middle of the reign of king 

 James L 



In 1575. it appears by the title-page of the " Cantiones 

 Sacrx," and the patent annexed to that work, that he and 

 Tallis were not only gentlemen of the royal chapel, but or- 

 ganills to her majelly queen Elizabeth. Indeed both muft; 

 have been great performers on the organ, to have been able 

 to play fuch of their pieces for that inllrument as are fliill 

 prefcrved ; in which the paffages, though awkward to per- 

 formers who are only accullomcd to modern mufic, muft 

 have been fuggefled by perfons that were habituated to the 

 complicated, and now, almolt, invincible difficulties of the 

 fixteenth century. And though the compofitions for keycd- 

 inftruments by thefe great mailers of harmony, are totally 

 uninipaflioned, and without grace, it is impoflible not to re- 

 gard their ingenuity and contrivance in the texture of the 

 parts, with refpeCl and wonder! 



If we confider the elaborate (lyle of compofition which 

 prevailed, particularly in the church, dunng the time of 

 Bird, and that he, like his mailer Tallis, was not only am- 

 bitious of vanquifliing its nfual difficulties in the conftrudlion 

 of fugues and canons, but fought new complications, per- 

 plexities, and involutions in the motion and arrangement of 

 the parts, the following lill of his works will not only mani- 

 feft diligence, but fecundity. 



Befides the great rtiarc he had in the " Cantiones Sacrx," 

 publifhed in conjunclian with his mafter Tallis, in 1575, 

 when his name firll appears as an author; and without enu- 

 merating many admirable compofitions for the church and 

 chamber, (lill fubfilling, but which were never printed, or, 

 at leaft, not till after his deceafe, he publiflitd " Pfalms, 

 Sonnets, and Songs of Sadntfs and Pietie," of five parts, 

 1588; "Liber primus facraruin Cantionum, quinque vo- 

 cum," 1589; " Songs of fnndrie Natures, fome of Gravitie, 

 and others of Myrth, fit for all Companies and Voyces," 

 1589; " Gradualia ac Cantiones Sacrx, Lib. primus et fe- 

 cundus," 1607 and 1610. The lafl work publilhed by him- 

 felf, was entitled, " Pfalms, .Songs, and Sonnets : fome 

 folemne, others joyful, framed to the Lite of the Words, 

 fit for Voyces or Viols, of three, four, five, and fi.\ partes," 



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161 J. Dr Tudway's colleftion, in the Britifli Mufenm, 

 contains a whole fcrvice in D minor, by Bird, with refponfes, 

 and the anthems, " Sing joyful unto God," — " O Lord, 

 turn thy W'rath," — (all publifhed n thcfecond and third 

 volumes of Dr. Boyce's Cathedral Mufic.)— "O Lord, 

 make thy Servant;" " Save me, O God;" " Prevent us, 

 O Lord ;" " Civitas fancVi tuo," one of his Sacrarum Can- 

 tionum, or Sacred Songs, publiflied 1589, has been long 

 fung in our cathedrals to the Euglifli words, " Bow thine 

 ear, O Lord," and is one of the admirable pieces of har- 

 mony in the fecond volume of Boyce's printed colleftion. 



Dr. Aldrich, who was a great admirer and colleftor of 

 the works of Bird, and who adapted Englifli words to m.oft 

 of his compofitions which have been ufed in our cathedrals, 

 and th.U were originally let to parts of the Romifli fervice, 

 in Latin, has bequeathed to Chrift Church, Oxon, beauti- 

 ful and correct copies of moft of his productions, in a fet of 

 books, fmall 4to. In this libraiy near forty of his com- 

 pofitions are preferved ; and in another fet, many more, with 

 thofe of Tallis, Tavcmer, Tye, White, Redford, both the 

 Mundys, Shepherd, Bull, and other contemporary Englifli 

 maftcrs. 



Bird's pieces for the organ and virginals are almoft innu- 

 merable. In a magnificent folio manufcript, curioufly bound 

 in red morocco, formerly in Dr. Pepulch's colleclion, which 

 is generally known by the name of " Queen Elizabeth's 

 Virginal Book," there are near 70 of his compofitions. 



The firft piece by Bird, in this book, and the eighth in 

 the colleclion, is a Fantafia, which generally implies a Fugue, 

 in which the fubjeft is as frequently changed as in an- 

 cient Choral Mufic, where new words require new accents 

 and intervals ; for as yet, it was not the cullom in compofing 

 fugues to confine a whole movement to one theme ; and 

 here Bird introduces five or fix, wholly ditTerent and un- 

 conneiEled with each other. 



The fubjeft of the fecond compofition, by Bird, in the 

 Royal Virginal Book, is the tune of an old ballad, '• John 

 come kifs mt now ;" of which, with great labour and inge- 

 nuity, he has varied the accompaniments fixteen different 

 ways ; for while the treble, bafe, or fome inward part, is 

 always playing the original air, three other parts are moving 

 in fugue, or running rapid and difficult divifions. No. 52, 

 is another Fancie ; and 56, a Pavan, by Bird ; which im- 

 plied a grave majeftic dance, in common time, fimilar to the 

 movement of the peacock. This drain was ufually followed 

 by the Galhard ; which, on the contrary, was a gay and 

 lively dance, in triple time, but on the fame fubjefl as the 

 preceding Pavan. No. 58, is entitled, " The Carman's 

 Whillle." From No. 58 to 69, the compofitions are all by 

 Bird ; confiding chiefly of eld tunes, with variations; among 

 which is " Fortune," a plaintive and exprelTive melody, to 

 which the ballad, called " Titus Andronicus's Complaint," 

 inferted in Reliques of ancient Englifli Poetry, vol. i. 

 p. 204, was originally written. It has been imagined that 

 the rage for variations, that is, multiplying notes, and dif- 

 guifing the melody of an eafy, and, generally, well-known 

 air, by every means that afpacca no/a, or note fpHttcr, fees 

 poffible, was the contagion of the lad century ; but it ap- 

 pears from the Virginal Book, that this fpecies of influenza, 

 or corruption of air, was more exccffive in the fixteenth cen- 

 tury, than at any other period of mufical hiftory. 



Crowded and elaborate as is the harmony, and uncouth 

 and antiquated the melody, of all the pieces in this collec- 

 tion by various compofers, there is a manifeft fuperiority in 

 thofe of Bird over all the reft, both in texture and defign. 

 In a later age his genius would have expanded in works of 

 invention, tafte, and elegance ; but, at the period in which 

 I he 



