In conjunction with his sacred music, these amply justify the claim made for Purcell that he was, from whatever point of view he may be judged, the greatest of all English composers. FOOTNOTES: [6] The word ballad comes from _Ballare_, to dance. [7] "Shakespeare in Music." Louis C. Elson. L. C. Page & Co., Boston. [8] Cockle hat and staff were distinguishing marks of a pilgrim. [9] It may be mentioned that there are numerous variations of these, as of all traditional melodies. [10] Burton: "Anatomy of Melancholy," 1621. [11] William Chappell's "Music of the Olden Time." [12] "That will draw three souls out of one weaver" is a line of peculiar interest. Although it shows a distinct lack of reverence, it is quite typical of the spirit of the time. The "weavers" were mostly Calvinist refugees settled on the East Coast, whose austere manners and mode of life made them a constant source of ridicule to the people among whom they had taken shelter. The imperious will of the Tudor monarchs had, hitherto, prevented the dissemination of Calvinism in England, and so, to the boisterous, happy-go-lucky temperament of the Elizabethan Englishman, the ostentation of religious phraseology, added, probably, to their quaint pronunciation of the language, made them at once a butt of scorn and contempt. The expression used, too, by the clown "By'r lady" shows that Protestantism had as yet made little inroad on the life of the people. It is worthy of note that it was from this part of England sailed the first batch of emigrants to the new world in the "Mayflower," now immortalised in history. [13] A canon is a form of composition in which a melody is started by one voice and followed by another, one or more bars later (or even less) in strict imitation of it. CHAPTER III EARLY ENGLISH COMPOSERS THOMAS TALLIS (OR TALLYS) Most of the pre-Reformation music destroyed--Tallis, the oldest English musician of which anything certain is known--Organist of Waltham Abbey at time of the suppression of the monasteries--Date of his birth unknown--Favourite of King Henry VIII. and Queen Elizabeth--State of difficulty and danger in intervening reigns--Chaotic state of things in the Church--Queen Elizabeth's policy--View of it taken by the present Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral--Greatness of Tallis as a composer--His death. We are, unfortunately, not able to write of the earliest English composers, as much of their work (and with their work their very names) perished at the time of the destruction of the monasteries by King Henry VIII. in 1540, and what was left of it was destroyed by fire during the sacking of the cathedrals by the Puritans in the Commonwealth period. We are, then, obliged to begin with the _early_ English composers, who date no further back than the sixteenth century and the Reformation.