"An Englishe man, by name _William Birde_, for his skill, Which I shoulde have sett first, for so it was my will, Whose greate skill and knowledge dothe excell all at this tyme, And far to strange countries abroade his skill doth shyne. Famous men be abroade, and skilful in the arte, I do confesse the same, and will not from it starte, But in Europp is none like to our English man, Which doth so farre exceede, as trulie I it scan, As ye cannot finde out his equale in all thinges, Threwghe out the worlde so wide, and so his fame now ringes. With fingers and with penne he hathe not now his peere; For in this worlde so wide is none can him come neere: The rarest man he is in Musick's worthy arte That now on earthe doth live, I speak it from my harte, Or heere to fore hath been, or after him shall come, None such I feare shall rise that may be calde his sonne. O famous man! of skill and judgemente great profounde, Let heaven and earthe ringe out thy worthye praise to sounde; Nay, lett thy skill it selfe thy worthye fame recorde To all posteritie thy due desert afforde; And let them all which heere of thy greate skill then saie, Fare well, fare well, thou prince of musicke, now and aye; Fare well, I say, fare well, fare well, and here I ende, Fare well, melodious _birde_; fare well, sweet musick's frende. All these things do I speak not for rewarde or bribe, Nor yet to flatter him, or sett him upp in pride; Not for affection, or ought might move there too, But even the truth reporte, and that make known to you. So heere I end: fare well, committinge all to God, Who kepe us in his grace, and shilde us from his rodd." As regards the ancient notation of _Lady Nevill's Music-book_, I will now say a few words. In the most ancient music for keyed instruments, such as the organ, virginals, harpsichord, spinet, &c., a staff consisting of _eleven_ lines was used, that is, five lines for the treble, and five lines for the bass, and a _centre_ line, being the note C. This was improved upon by dividing the staff into two sixes, and repeating the C line twice over, viz. in the _lower_ part of the treble staff, and in _upper_ part of the bass staff. As music progressed, and performers required more scope for the movement of the hands, the staff of twelve lines was rent asunder, and the middle C line excluded altogether. It then became the custom to print the five upper lines and the five lower lines much more widely apart, as is now done in modern music. But it ought not to be forgotten that there is only one line really between them; that is to say, there are only three notes between the two sets of five lines, viz. the note _below_ the upper five, the note _above_ the lower five, and the note on that middle line, and that note is middle C, or, more properly, _tenor_ C. A knowledge of this important fact would much facilitate the student in learning to read in the tenor cleff.