BULL. 



truth be faid, that the lofs, to reffned cars, would not be very 

 grtat, if they Ihoiild for ever retiuiiii uiiplayed and luidc- 

 cyphercd. For being generally built on fonic old and vulgar 

 pfalmodic tu"es, unmeaning in themfelves, the crowded har- 

 mony and ni'.iltiplied notes with which they arc loadtd, have 

 not rendered them more pleafmg. Indeed the infallible 

 coiifequences of a young pradtitiimcr bellowing fuch time 

 and labour on them as may be necell'iiy to fnbdue the diffi- 

 culties of execution thev contain, would be corrup'.icn of 

 talle, and negletl of more ufcful lluJies. 



The inllrumental mnlic of queen Elizabeth's reign feems 

 to partake of the pedantry and foppi-ry of the times : 

 eternal fugues upon dry and unmeaning ful)je(fls were the 

 means of eitabiilhing reputation for Laming and contrivance ; 

 as dull divifions and variations, in which the change was 

 generally from bad to worfe, feem to have been the only 

 qualifications which entitled a profcfTor to eminence ior tiijle 

 and invi'ntion. 



The very terms of cation and fugue imply reftraiiit and 

 labour. Handel was perhaps the only great fughill, exempt 

 from pedantrj'. He feldom treated barren or crude fubjec^s; 

 his themes being almoft always natural and plealing. Sc- 

 bailian Bach, on the contrary, like Michael Angtlo in 

 painting, difdained facility fo much, that his genius never 

 (looped to the eafy and graceful. We never have feen 

 a fugue by this learned and powerful author upon a motivo, 

 that is natural and chantant ; or even an eafy and obvious 

 paflage, that is not loaded with crude and difficult accompa- 

 niments. 



As the youth of Bull muft necefrarily have been fpent in 

 fubduing the difficulties of other compofers, he feems, in his 

 riper years, to have made the invention of new difficulties of 

 every kind, which could impede or difmay a performer, his 

 fole iludy. It Icldom happens that thofe poff^cffed of great 

 natural force of hand, on any inlbument, fubmit to the 

 drudgery of much dry iludy ; but this gift was fo far from 

 relaxing the labour and diligence of Dr. Bull, that he entered 

 deeper into all the arcana of the art, and pedantry of the 

 times, than moll of his cotemporaries. That he was " ex- 

 qulfitely flcilled in canon," has been given as one of the mod 

 irrefragable proofs of his being a great mufician ; and canons, 

 rede et relro, and per arfin et thejin, in triangular, and other 

 fantaftical forms, are carefully prefervcd, as ftupendous fpe- 

 cimens of his abilities. 



li^alfingham has been a fubjeA upon which Dr. Bull and 

 Bh-d have exercifed their abilities in the moll elaborate man- 

 ner. In the fifteenth century, popular tunes were the 

 foundations upon which the greatell contrapuntillsconllrufted 

 even the niafles which they fet to mufic ; and in the next, 

 the Englifh, no longer in want of thcle tunes \n the church, 

 polifhed and tricked them up for the chamber, with every art 

 and embellilhment they could devife. 



Both Bird and Bull have likewife worked on the hexa- 

 chord, ut re mi fa fol la, afcending and defccnding ; upon 

 which theme they have conftrufted elaborate and ingenious 

 leffbns, of the moft difficult execution. That of Bull has 

 pafTages for the left hand, which perhaps none but himfelf 

 could play during his own time, and which we have never 

 feen introduced in any compofitions of the prefent century, 

 except thofe of Sebatlian Bach ; or heard executed, buL by 

 Palfcha, near forty years ago; who mull have vanquilhed 

 them by the incelTant labour of feveral years, out of his (hort 

 life ; for he was then but eight years old. A new, but 

 fimilar difficulty, has lately been devifed tor keyed-inllru- 

 ments, in the rapid divifions for one hand, in oda^'cs, which 

 great application only can vanquifli. The execution of long 

 and rapid diviHons of thirds and ii.'cths, and even of common 



chords, is not fr^quenlly wanted in nr.ndern mufic, and there^ 

 lire they would baffle and cmbarrafs thegrcatell pcrforniris, 

 who have not worked at fuch pafT.igis with unremittiig 

 labour. But befules thefe difficnltic-i, there are othiis of 

 mcifure, in Bull's Lcflons, where, in Icur parts, the left land 

 has t«<) of fix crotchets in a bar, while the right plzys nine 

 to each feniibrtve of the hexachoid. 



Specimens of the difficulties abounding in the compofitions 

 of the polden age of queen Elizabelli, may be feen in the 

 IJill. of Muf. vol. iii. in orde.r to invalidate the vulgar cai:t 

 of fuch as are delenv.ined to blame wiiatevcr is modern, ami 

 who, equally devoid of knowledge ar.d feeling, nprobate .-<i 

 trn/h the ir.oll elegant, ingenious, and often fiibliirc compo- 

 fitions, that have ever been produced lince the laws of har- 

 mony were firll ellablllhed. 



Indeed we fliould fuppofc that the pieces of Bull were 

 compofed to be trieil, not played, for private pracu'ce, net 

 public ufe ; as they fnrpafs every idea of difficnlty that can 

 be fonned from the Icilons of Handel, Scarlatti, \Siballian 

 Bach ; or, in more modern times, Emanuel Bach, Miitlcl, 

 Mozart, Clementi, Duprc, Cramer, and Beiflhoven. 



Bull, George, an Englifh prelate, was dcfcended of an 

 ancient family feated at Shapwlck in Somerfetihire, and 

 born at AVclls in that county, in 1634. Having Hnilhed 

 his courfe of claffical learning at Wells and at Tiverton, he 

 was entered a cimmoner of Exeter college, Oxford, in 

 1648; where, iiotwilhllanding the lofs of time incurred by 

 the purfuit of pleafures and diverlions, he acquind the re- 

 putation of an acute d'fputant, and attracled the notice of 

 his luperiors. In 1641;, refi.ling to take the oath to the 

 commonwealth of England, he retired to North Cadbury in 

 Somerfetdiire ; and having applied with diligence to the" 

 (ludy of divinity, he took orders, and accepted the finall 

 benefice of St. George's, near Brillol, where he maintained 

 an exemplary charaifler, and was eminently uftful, preach- 

 ing twice every Sunday, and performing the devotional fer- 

 vice by the aid of the common prayer, though the regular 

 ufe of the liturgy was prohibited. After the relloration in 

 1662, he was prefented by the lord chancellor, earl of 

 Clarendon, to the redlory of Suddington, St. Peter, near 

 Cirenceller, having been inflituted, by the reccinmerdation 

 of lady Pool, to the adjoining redtory of Suddington, St. 

 Mary, in i6jS. In this litnation he remained twtnty-feven 

 years ; difcharging his palloral funilions with affidnity, and 

 profecuting his Ihidies with indefatigable application. ' Moll 

 of his works were compofed during this period of his life. 

 In i66y he publilhed his " Harmonia Apoitolica," or 

 " Apollolical Harmony," in two diiTcrtations, in the firft 

 of which St. James's doftrine of jullilicalion by works is 

 explained and defended ; in the fecond, the argument of St. 

 Paul with St. James is clearly demonllratcd. This work, 

 which was written in Latin, excited great oppofitiun, and 

 was attacked by feveral divines, both among epifcopalians 

 and nonconformills. The author's reply to his advcrfaries 

 was contained in his " Examen Cenfurie, &c. ;" and his 

 " Apologia pro Harmonia, &c. ;" publiflied together in 

 1675. In 1678 he was promoted to a prebend in the church 

 of Glouceller ; and in 16S0 he finiflied his "Defence of 

 the Nicene Faith," which was printed at the Oxford theatre 

 in 1685, with the fpecial approbation, and at the fole ex- 

 pence of bifliop Fell, under the title of " Defenfio Fidei 

 Nicenx, ex Scriptis qu2 extant Catholicorum Doftorum, 

 qui intra tria prima Ecclefis Cliriftianx Sxcula floruerunt." 

 This book is written, in a pure Latin llyle, againfl the 

 Arians and Socinians on the one hand, and the Tritheiils and 

 Sabellians on the other: and it was received with great ap. 

 plaufe both at home, and in foreign countries. It did not, 



I however, 



