Tenor Bafsus

P.17.

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Praise ye & Lord ye Gentils all, whath brougyou into his light: Opraifehin all people morta, as it is most worthy&right

words were written many years prior to the melody, and that Ken, a musician, wrote other words to the same melody, upon the same subject, in consequence of the uncouthness of the words and the beauty of the air, adapting his own words to the same air.*

I thought it not uninteresting to say thus much on the subject of the air and words of these most beautiful and popular compositions. It will be more interesting to think, that when, to this day, the same words are sung, to the same tune, every Sunday, by the parish-children, in the parish-church of Frome, they are sung over his grave who composed the words, who sung them himself, to the same air, one hundred and sixty years ago, and who lies in the church-yard, without an inscription or name. He was buried under the Eastern window, by his own direction, "AT SUNRISE."+

* I think I can put this conjecture beyond a doubt. My grandfather was the chaplain of that identical Bishop Crewe who, in Anthony Wood's concerts, always "played out of tune, as having no good ear." Dr. Grey, author of "Memoria Technica," was himself a performer and musician, whether of Bishop Crewe's "good ear," I have no means of ascertaining; but his daughter, my mother, taught me the words to the same tune as, I believe, they were taught her by her father; and if this were so he must have learnt them, a boy, before Ken's death. Crewe died 1722, Dr. Grey 1771.

I have thought it best to set before the musical reader the original air of Tallis, with the words to which the air was set. It will be observed that the tenor part of the composition is the air, and that there is a slight variation from the present tune in the fifth bar.

In reference to the words of his morning hymn:

"Awake, my soul, and WITH THE SUN."

CHAPTER II.

KEN LEAVES WINCHESTER ON HIS TRAVELS

TO ITALY,

WITH HIS NEPHEW, ISAAC WALTON, IN THE YEAR OF THE PAPAL JUBILEE, 1675

RETURNS THE SAME

FROM the year 1669, when he was raised to the dignity of prebendary in Morley's cathedral-church, to the commencement of the year 1675, the life of Ken was unvaried and uniform. We may presume that he fulfilled the duties of his ecclesiastical station, not only with propriety and dignity, but that his virtuous and christian life was in every respect answerable. It appears that he was as pleasing and delightful a companion, as he was a sincere christian. The clergy now "sat every one under his own vine and fig-tree," but most unjust is the reflection, that they, as a body, partook of the libertinism of the times. As "cast down, but not destroyed," they lived to refute the calumnies of Milton, now grown old and blind, and resting from his “noblest task."* Among those whose piety, and pains, and learning, distinguished this period, we may proudly adduce the name and example of our Wycchamical Ken. He now began to be more

* Paradise Lost was finished in 1667.

publicly distinguished for his peculiar eloquence in the pulpit. Pepys, in his singular Memoirs of the time, has often spoken of his impressive oratory.

For the last five years, such as we have described was Ken's social and professional life. His patron Morley, never seen but "in his square cap," if not resident at Winchester, must have been frequently among his clergy there. On all public occasions at least, if not oftener, he doubtless filled his episcopal throne in the cathedral, sojourning sometimes with Ken, and sometimes with the prebendary Dr. Hawkins, who had married the daughter of his oldest and most valued friend, Piscator; whilst the placid old man, chiefly living with the Bishop, had his occasional home with Ken or Hawkins, when he devoted the morning or evening to his "contemplative recreation" on the banks of the clear Itchin.

Let us now look back a little. It should seem, from what is stated by Wood, that Ken's first step in promotion was his being made chaplain to the Comptroller of the Royal Household, Lord Maynard. I think it right to obviate this misconception, as from Lord Maynard's connection with the court of Charles II. it might be thought that our Prebendary's rise in the church might have been owing to this courtly influence.

But Lord Maynard was not made Comptroller of the Household till 1672. As the name of Lord Maynard is connected with the life of Ken, we may take this opportunity of saying a few words

on the character of the nobleman who at this time filled that office, to whom it is far more honourable to have had such a clergyman his chaplain, than it could be to Ken to have had the name and warmest interest of such a courtier.

Immediately after the Restoration, this office was conferred on sir John Berkeley. His appointment bears date June 1, 1660. In this office he continued till the year 1670, when he was made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He was succeeded by Francis Newport, Earl of Bradford, who resigned in 1672. William Lord Maynard succeeded the Earl of Bradford.

Maynard had been very zealous in the royal cause, and was impeached in 1647 by the Commons; but he was forgotten at the Restoration, not being distinguished, except for his unshaken fidelity and attachment. We find nothing respecting him in Evelyn, Pepys, or Burnet, and he had not gallantry to recommend him to such a prince as Charles, for he is unnoticed even by Grammont. He shines most with those whom Gibbon facetiously calls "the good-natured historians," the heralds. His uncle, Sir John Maynard, had distinguished himself in Parliament, in generous defence of Lord Strafford, and was sent to the Tower for this defence, and for the speech he made in Parliament. He afterwards published a spirited memorial, on a single sheet, preserved among various other pamphlets of that date in the British Museum. It bears the impres