7. There is not any Musicke of Instruments whatsoever comparable to that which is made of the voices of Men, where the voices are good and the same well sorted and ordered. 8. The better the voice is the meeter it is to honour and serve God therewith, and the voice of man is Chiefly to be imployed to that End." To the above is added the following couplet: Since Singing is so good a thing I wish all men would learne to sing. In the same year appeared a work which was {15} destined to wield tremendous influence upon English Musical Art. This was a collection of Madrigals called _Musica Transalpina_. _Madrigals translated out of_ 4, 5, _and_ 6 _parts, chosen out of divers excellent Authors, with the first and second parts of La Virginella made by MAISTER BYRD upon two stanzas of Ariosto and brought to speak English with the rest_. The inclusion of his name in this connection gives Byrd the claim to be considered one of the first, if not the first, of English Madrigal writers. And the fact that he contributed to this work may have possibly been the cause of the absence of his name from the collection made by Morley--which, of course, was an imitation of the publication which had appeared some twelve years before. This is merely a supposition, but there must be some reason for the exclusion of such a distinguished composer, and one already famous as a Madrigal writer. It is the more remarkable from the fact that Morley spoke of Byrd with the greatest respect and even affection.[2]