It is a peculiar coincidence that in 1759, the same year in which Hopkinson's first songs were written, an ode, set to music by James Lyon, a student at Nassau Hall, was performed at the college commencement. This, perhaps the earliest of American commencement-odes, is unfortunately not extant. Lyon was graduated from Princeton in 1759 and took up his residence in Philadelphia. There he seems to have founded or taught in a singing school where one of his anthems was performed in 1761--'an elegant anthem,' according to the 'Pennsylvania Gazette.' In 1762 he received the degree of M.A. from Princeton and perhaps wrote the music for an entertainment entitled 'The Military Glory of Great Britain' which was performed at the commencement. Subsequently he was ordained a minister in the Presbyterian church and preached the gospel in Nova Scotia, Maine, and elsewhere until his death in 1794. We have already adverted to Lyon's 'Urania, or a choice Collection of Psalm-Tunes, Anthems and Hymns from the most approved Authors, with some entirely new.' This collection exercised an important influence on subsequent early American psalmodists.[23] The six tunes marked as new were composed by Lyon. These, together with settings of the 17th and 19th psalms, a setting of one of Watts' lyric poems, 'Friendship,' and a 'Marriage Hymn,' are all the known works of Lyon still extant. 'Their study,' says Mr. Sonneck, 'will induce no critic to call Lyon a composer of real merit or even a musician fully conversant with musical grammar. His music, viewed from an æsthetic standpoint, is in no way remarkable. He certainly gave his best in the Hymn to Friendship, the minor movement of which contains a few unexpected rays of beauty. This movement, and the fact that Lyon energetically occupied himself with music, when music was in its infancy in colonial America, prove that he possessed some inborn musical talent. For nobody will compose in a musical wilderness, no matter how valueless the compositions may be, if not forced to do so by latent creative powers. Had Lyon been educated in England, Germany, or Italy his talents would have developed to greater advantage, and his name might figure in musical dictionaries, these mausoleums of celebrity, none of which to-day mentions him. But his importance lies not in the sphere of æsthetics; it lies rather in the sphere of retrospective history. Not the absolute, but the relative merits of his music attract our attention. He was a pioneer and thereupon rests his lasting glory.' In 1746 was born in Boston a man who bore the undistinguished name of William Billings. Billings was a tanner by profession and a musician by instinct. It is unfortunate that this pioneer American composer should have become the butt of so much ridicule; yet one must admit that he invited ridicule. There was something ludicrous even in his personal appearance.