BULL. 



perniitttd to be altogf tlier in Englilh fo long as he fliall con- 

 tinue ill tlie place of mufic ledurer there." Ward's Lives 

 uf .the Prol'eflbrs of Grcfliam College, Pref. p. viii. The 

 firll Iccliire read by Dull, at Grefliam college, was printed 

 the I'an^e year that it was pronounced, under this title : 

 " Tiie Orjtlon of Maillcr John Bull, Doftor of Muficke, 

 and one of the Gentlemen of hir Majellies Royall-Chappell, 

 as he pronounced the fame, beefore divers wordiipful per- 

 fons, the Aldermen and Commoners of the citie of Lo:idon, 

 with a grcit multitude of other people, the 6ih day of 

 Oiftobtr, I J97, in the new erefted Colkdite of Sir Thomas 

 Grciham, Knt. dcceafcd : made in the commendation of the 

 founder, and the excellent fcience of Muficke." Imprinted 

 at London by Thomas Efte. 



At firft, application was made to the two univerfitics, by 

 the lord mayor and corporation of London, jointly with the 

 mercers' company, left triiilec: of this iriftitution, to nominate 

 two perfons in all the libertil arts fitly qualified to read lec- 

 tures in tlicir fevera! faculties ; but this application was not 

 continued, as fome jealoufy feems to have been awakened at 

 Oxford and Cambridge, loft this new college (hould be pre- 

 judicial to ihofe ancient feats of learning-- 



What elFecl this liberal foundation had on other faculties 

 let the friends and patrons of each particular fcience fay ; 

 but as to mufic, it is hardly pofDble to read the lives of the 

 profeflbrs without lamenting that the dcfign of fo noble an 

 inditution, eftabbflied on fuch an extenfive plan, fliould be 

 fo entirely frulirated as to become wholly ufelefs to that city 

 and nation for whofe ini\mftion it was benevolently intended. 

 Dr. Bull, the only perfon on the lift of mufic profeflbrs, who 

 feems to have been able to infonn by theory, or amufe by 

 practice, thofe who attended the mufical Icftures, refigned 

 his profcflbrihip in i^oy. Indeed, during more than a year 

 of his profeffor{hip, Mr. Thomas Bird, fon of the venerable 

 William Bird, excrcifed the office of a fubftitute to Dr. Bull, 

 while he travelled on the contiacnt for the recovery of his 

 health. So that except about nine years from the date of 

 the eftabliftiment, to the prefent times, it docs not appear 

 that the fcience of found, or praftice of the mufical art, has 

 been advanced by fubfequent profeflbrs. For in the foliow- 

 iog lift, given by Dr. Ward, up to the year 1740, including 

 Dr. Clayton, clecled 1607 ; John Taverner, l'^■Io, who was 

 tio relation of the mufician of that name; Richard Knight, 

 1638 ; William Petty, 1650, afterwards the famous fir 

 WiUiam Petty; Dr. Thomas Baynes, 1660; William 

 Perry, 16S1 ; John Newy, 1696; Dr. Robert Shippen, 

 1705; Dr. Edward Shippen, his brother, 1710; John 

 Gordon, 1723; and Thomas Brown, 1739; though all 

 men of learning and abilities in other faculties, yet no one 

 of them had ever diftinguiftied himfelf, either in the theory 

 or praflice of mufic ; nor are any proofs remaining that 

 they had ever ftudied that art, the arcana of which they 

 were appointed to unfold ! What an abufe of reafon and 

 munificence does it feem, that thofe who had never meditated 

 pn the art, or been taught, themfelves, (hould be fixed upon 

 to teach, and direftthe iludies of others! 



A filly ftory has b;en told by Anthony Wood (Fafti 

 Oxon. vol.i. c. ijl.) concerning a feat performed by Dr. 

 Bull, who, at St. Omen's, when he firft vilited the continent, 

 to a compofition originally written in forty parts, added 

 forty more in a few hours ; wliich is fo impoffible, as not to 

 be worth relating. 



After the dtceafe of queen Elizabeth, he was appointed 

 orgartift to king James. And J-ily the i6th, 1607, when 

 his majefty and pnnce Henry d:ned at Merchant-Taylors' 

 hall, the royal gutfts were entertained with mufic, both 

 »ocal and inftrumefltal, as well as with feveral orations. And 



while his majefty was at table, according to Stow, " Mr. 

 DoAor Bull, who was free of tliat company, being in a 

 citizens gowne, cappe, and hood, played moil excellent me. 

 lody upon a fmall payre of organs placed there for that pur- 

 pole oncly." (Chron. p. 891. edit. 1(515.) In Dtccnibcr, 

 of the fame year, he refigned his profeflbrlhip of Grelhani 

 college, but for what reafon does not appear, as he continued 

 in England feveral years afterwards. 



In 161J he quitted England, and entered into the fervice 

 of the archduke, in the Netherlands. He afterwards feems 

 to have been fettled at Lnbeck, at which place mary of his 

 compoCtions in the liil publiftied by Dr. Ward, are dated ; 

 one of them as late as 1622, the iuppofed year of his de- 

 ceafe. 



Dr. Bull has been cenfured for quitting his eftabliftiment 

 in England ; but it is probable that the increafe of health 

 and wealth was the caufe and confequcnce. Indeed he feems 

 to have been praiftd at home, more than rewarded ; and it 

 is no uncommon thing for one age to let an artift ftarve, to 

 whom the next would willingly ereft ftatues. The pro- 

 feflbrlhip of Greftiam college was not then a finecure. His 

 attendance on the chapel royal, for which he had forty 

 pounds pel annum, and on the prince of Wales, at a fimilar 

 falary, though honourable, were not very lucrative appoint- 

 ments for the firft performer in the world, at a time when 

 fcholars were not fo profitable as at prefent ; and there was 

 T\o public playing, where this moft wonderful mufician could 

 difplay his abilities, and receive their due applaufe and re- 

 ward. 



A lift of more than two hundred of Dr. Bull's com- 

 pofitions, vocal and inftrumental, is inferted in his life, which, 

 when it was written in 1740, were preferred in the colleftion 

 of Dr. Ptpufch. The chief part of thefe were pieces for 

 the organ or virginal, which we have feen and examined, 

 having been tranfcribed into queen Elizabeth's virginal book, 

 and printed in a coUeftion called Parthenia. An In nomine, 

 of five parts, we have fcored from the Chrift Church fet of 

 manufcript books, in Dr. Aldrich's coUeftion, and havse 

 attentively perufcd his choral compofition in the coUeftions 

 of Dr. Tudway and Dr. Boycc, which is the fame veife 

 anthem, with different words, for two voices, with a cliorus. 

 In all this vocal mufic that we have feen, there feems to be 

 much more labour and ftudy than genius. Tallis and Bird 

 had fo long accuftomed themfelves to write for voices, that 

 the parts in their compofitions are much more natural and 

 flowing than thofe of Bull. In looking at the Cngle parts 

 of Talhs and Bird, there are notes and paflagcs which ap- 

 pear wholly infipid and unmeaning, as melody ; but which, 

 when heard in harmony with any other part, produce ad- 

 mirable effefls. 



Indeed, poflefled as he was of fuch extraordinary powers 

 of execution on keyed ir.ftniments, we have been frequently 

 aitonifned, in peruling Dr. Bull's lefTons, at the few new and 

 pleafing paflages which his hand fuggefted to his pen. It 

 has been faid, that Dr. Pepufch preferred Bull's compofition^s 

 to thofe of Couperin and Scarlatti, not only for harmony and 

 contrivance, but air and modulation : an affertion which 

 rather proves that the doftor's tafte was bad, than Bull's 

 mufic good. Though we ftiould greatly admire the hand, 

 as well as the patience, of any one capable of playing his 

 compofitions ; yet, as mufic, they would afford us no kind of 

 pleafure : ce font dcs notes, et risn que des notes ; there is no- 

 thing in them which excites rapture. They may be heard 

 by a lover of mufic with as httle emotion as the clapper of a 

 mill, or the rumbling of a poft-chaife. 



After fuch frequent mention of the extreme difficulty of 

 thefe old pieces, in mercy to modern performers, it may with 



truth 



