She died without iffuc. Among the Bridgewater manufcripts is a short poem, entitled "A Hymeneall Song, or a Celebration of the Nuptials of the Right Honble. John Lord Brackley and his vertuous Lady, after the byrth of their first fone. Performde by the Lady Alice Egerton, his Lordship's fifter, and Henry Lawes, an humble fervant to that Honble. Family." TODD. Henry Lawes. HENRY LAWES, who compofed the mufick for Comus, and performed the combined characters of the Spirit and the shepherd Thyrfis in this drama, was the fon of Thomas Lawes, a vicarchoral of Salisbury cathedral. He was perhaps at first a choirboy of that church. With his brother William, he was educated in mufick under Giovanni Coperario, (fuppofed by Fenton in his Notes on Waller to be an Italian, but really an Englishman under the plain name of John Cooper) at the expence of Edward earl of Hertford. In January, 1625, he was appointed Pistoler, or Epiftoler1, of the royal chapel; in November following he became one of the Gentlemen of the choir of that chapel; and foon afterwards, clerk of the cheque, and one of the court-muficians to king Charles the firft. In Robert Herrick's Hefperides, or Poems, are three or four Christmas Odes, fung before the king at Whitehall, compofed by Lawes, edit. Lond. 1648. 4to. p. [ad. calc.] 31. feq. And in the fame collection, there is an Epigram To Mr. HENRY LAWES, the excellent Compofer of his Lyricks, by which it appears that he was celebrated no lefs as a vocal than an inftrumental performer, ibid. 326. p. "Touch but the lire, my Harrie, and I heare k Coperario,] Dr. Boyce, in his account of Lawes and his brother, Cath. Music. vol. ii, and Mr. Granger in his Biog. Hift. vol. ii, call Coperario an Italian. Cooper having travelled into Italy, italianized his name. TODD. 1 Epiftoler,] This Officer, before the Reformation, was a Deacon; and it was his bufinefs to read the Epiftle at the altar." T. WARTON. "There, if thy voice commingle with the ftring, "I heare in thee the rare Laniere to fing, "Or curious Wilson, &c." Lawes, in the Attendant Spirit, fung the last Air in Comus, or all the lyrical part to the end, from v. 958. He appears to have been well acquainted with the best poets, and the most respectable and popular of the nobility, of his times. To fay nothing here of Milton, he fet to musick all the Lyricks in Waller's Poems, first published in 1645, among which is an Ode addreffed to Lawes, by Waller, full of high compliments. One of the pieces of Waller was fet by Lawes in 1635. He compofed the Songs, and a Mafque, in the Pocms of Thomas Carew. See third edit. 1651, p. ult. The Mafque was exhibited 1633. In the title page to Comedies, Tragi-comedies, and other Poems, by William Cartwright, published in 1651, but written much earlier, it is faid, that the "Ayres and Songs were fet by Mr. Henry Lawes," and Lawes himself has a commendatory poem prefixed, infcribed, "To the memory of my most deserving and peculiar friend, Mr. William Cartwright." See Note on Com. v. 86. The mufick to Lovelace's Amarantha, a Pastoral, is by Lawes. Wood, Ath. Oxon. ii. 229. He published " Ayres and Dialogues for one, two, and three voyces, &c. Lond. 1653." fol. They are dedicated to Lady Vaughan and Carbery, who had acted the Lady in Comus, and to her fifter Mary, Lady Herbert of Cherbury. Both had been his fcholars in mufick. "To the Right Honorable the two moft excellent Sifters, Alice, Counteffe of Carbery, and Mary, Lady Herbert of Cherbury and Castle-island, daughters to the Right Honorable John, Earl of Bridgewater, Lord Profident of Wales, &c.—No fooner I thought of making these publick, than of infcribing them to your Ladiships, most of them being compofed, when I was employed by your ever honoured parents to attend your Ladishipps' education in mufick: who (as in other accomplishments fit for perfons of your Quality) excelled most ladies, especially in Vocall Mufick, wherein you were so abfolute, that you gave life and honour to all I fet and taught you; and that with more Vnderstanding, than a new Generation [of compofers] pretending to Skil, (I dare fay) are capable of." I differ from Mr. Warton; as I fuppofe the allufion is not to the compofers but (as is noticed in the Topographer vol. ii. p. 151.) to the fanaticks of those Sce Com. v. 86, and the Note. The words of the numerous fongs in this work, are by fome of the most eminent poets of the time. A few young noblemen are also contributors. The compofers are not " only Henry and William Lawes, but Wilfon, Colman, Webb, Lanier, &c. One of the pieces by H. Lawes, is a poem by John Birkenhead, called an "Anniversary on the Nuptials of John, Earl of Bridgewater, July 22, 1642.” See Wood, Ath. Oxon. ii. 640. This was the young Lord Brackley, who played the First Brother in Comus, and who married Elizabeth, daughter of William, Duke of Newcastle. Another is the Complaint of Ariadne, written by Cartwright, and printed in his Poems, p. 238. Sce Milton's Sonn. xiii. 11. For a compofition to one of the airs of this piece, which gained exceffive and unusual applaufe, Lawes is faid to be the first who introduced the Italian ftyle of mufick into England. In the Preface he fays, he had formerly compofed airs to Italian and Spanish words: and, allowing the Italians to be the chief masters of the musical art, concludes that England has produced as able musicians as any country of Europe, and cenfures the the prevailing fondnefs for Italian words. To this Preface, among others, are prefixed times, who confidered Mufick as an unchriftian recreation. See alfo the Dedication of his Third Book of Ayres 1658 to Lord Colrane, in which he fays S “I with those who fo warinly pretend the Common Benefit, would not take upon them to mend the world, till they have fome call to it. This my Profeffion (as well as others) may fairly complain of; for none judge fo fowerly on us and our labours, as they who were never born to be Muficians." ToDD. n I prefume Mr. Warton means " Select Ayres, and Dialogues by Dr. Wilson, Dr. Colman, Mr. Henry Lawes, and others: Printed 1652:" a year before Lawes's firft Book of Ayres (which neither in the title, nor in the preface mentions thefe co-adjutors) was published. This firft book was printed in 1653, the Second in 1655, the third in 1658. To the fecond are prefixed two Copies of Verfes by "John Wilfon Doctor in Mufick," and "Charles Colman Doctor in Mufick," addreffed to Lawes on his Ayres." TODD. • I will add, to Mr. Warton's remark, Lawes's own words: "To make them fenfible of this ridiculous humour, I took a Table or Index of old Italian Songs, and this Index (which read together made a firange medley of Nonfence) I fet to a varyed Ayre, and gave out that it came from Italy, whereby it hath paffed for a rare Italian Song. This very Song I have now here printed." Preface to his First Book of Ayres. Again, But (to meet with this humour of lufting after Novelties) a friend of mine told fome of that company" [who had concluded, that the fongs to which Lawes had fet Italian words, were of ́ Italian birth], " That a rare new Book was come from Italy, which taught the Waller's verfes abovementioned; and two copies by Edward and John Phillips, Milton's nephews. There are alfo "Select Ayres and Dialogues to fing to the Theorbo-lute, or Bafs-viol, compofed by Mr. Henry Lawes, late fervant to his Majefty in his publick and private Muficke, and other excellent mafters. The fecond Book. Lond. Printed by W. Goodbid for John Playford, and to be fold at his shop in the Temple near the Church-dore, 1669.” Here is the Song, called The Earl to the Countess of Carbery. Befides his Pfalms, printed for Mofely, 1648, in conjunction with his brother William, and to which Milton's thirteenth Sonnet is prefixed, To Mr. H. Lawes on the publishing his Airs, dated in the Trinity manuscript, Febr. 9, 1645, Lawes compofed tunes to Sandys's admirable Paraphrase of the Pfalms, first published in 1638. I know not, if any of these Psalm-tunes were ever popular: but Lawes's feventy-fecond Pfalm was once the tune of the chimes of St. Lawrence Jewry. Wood fays, that he had feen a Poem written by Sir Walter Raleigh, "which had a mufical compofition of two parts fet to it by the incomparable artist Henry Lawes," Athen. Oxon. ii. p. 441. num. 510. See alfo vol. i. F. p. 194. More of Lawes's works, are in the Treafury of Mufick, 1669. In the Mufical Companion, 1662. In Tudway's Collection of British Musick. And in other old and obfolete mufick mifcellanies. Cromwell's ufurpation put an end to Masks and Mufick: and Lawes, being difpoffeffed of all his appointments, by men who defpifed and difcouraged the elegancies and ornaments of life, chiefly employed that gloomy period in teaching a few young ladies to fing and play on the lute. Yet he was ftill greatly refpected: for before the troubles began, his irreproachable life, ingenuous deportment, engaging manners, and liberal connections, had not only established his character, but raised even the credit of his profeffion. Wood fays, that his most beneficent friends, during his fufferings for the royal caufe, in the rebellion and afterwards, were the ladies Alice and Mary, the Earl of Bridge reason why an Eighth was the fweetest of all Chords in Mufick; because, (said he) Jubal who was the Founder of Musick was the Eighth man from Adam ; and this went down as currant as my Songs came from Italy." Pref. to his Second Book of Ayres. He has alfo fet to Mufick the firft Ode of Anacreon, both in Greek and Roman characters, and another Ode in Roman characters only, by way of keeping up the humour for novelties. TODD. water's daughters, before mentioned. MSS. Muf. Ashmol. D. 17, p. 115. 4to. But in the year 1660, he was restored to his places and practice; and had the happiness to compofe the coronation anthem for the exiled monarch. He died in 1662, and was buried in Weftsinfter-abbey. Of all the teftimonies paid to his merit by his contemporaries, Milton's commendation, in the thirteenth Sonnet and in fome of the speeches in Comus, must be esteemed the most honourable. And Milton's praife is likely to be founded on truth. Milton was no fpecious or occafional flatterer; and, at the fame time, was a fkilful performer on the organ, and a judge of mufick. And it appears probable, that, even throughout the rebellion, he had continued his friendship for Lawes ; for, long after the King was restored, he added the Sonnet to Lawes in the new edition of his Poems, printed under his own direction, in 1673. Nor has our author only complimented Lawes's excellencies in mufick. For in Comus, having faid that Thyrfis with his foft pipe, and Smooth-dittied fong, could fill the roaring winds, and hufh the waving woods, he adds, v. 88. "nor of lefs faith." And he joins his worth with his skill, Sonn. xiii. v. 5. In 1784, in the house of Mr. Elderton, an attorney at Salifbury, I faw an original portrait of Henry Lawes on board, marked with his name, and, "ætat. fuæ 26, 1626." This is now in the bishop's palace at Salisbury. It is not ill painted; the face and ruff in tolerable prefervation; the drapery, a cloak, much injured. Another in the Mufick-School at Oxford; undoubtedly placed there before the rebellion, and not long after the institution of that school, in 1626, by his friend Dr. William Heather, a gentleman of the royal chapel. And among the mutilated records of the fame School, is the following entry; "Mr. Henry Lawes gentleman of his Majefty's Chapell royall, and of his private mufick, gave to this School a rare Theorbo for finging to, valued at ..... with the Earl of Bridgewater's creft in braffe juft under the finger-board, with its cafe: as alfo a fett of . . . . .' The Earl of Bridgewater is the fecond Earl John, who acted the part of the First Brother in Comus, being then Lord Brackley. Henry's brother William, a compofer of confiderable eminence, was killed in 1645, at the fiege of Chefter: and, it is said, that the King wore a private mourning for his death. Herrick has cominemorated his untimely fate, which fuddenly filenced every violl, lute, and voyce, in a little poem Upon Mr. William Lawes |