CHAPTER CXCIV.
A MUSIC LESSON FROM MASTER THOMAS MACE TO BE PLAYED BY LADY FAIR:—A STORY, THAN WHICH THERE IS NONE PRETTIER IN THE HISTORY OF MUSIC.
What shall I say? Or shall I say no more?
I must go on! I'm brim-full, running o'er.
But yet I'll hold, because I judge ye wise;
And few words unto such may well suffice.
But much—much more than this I could declare;
Yet for some certain reasons I'll forbear.
But less than this I could not say; because,
If saying less, I should neglect my cause,
For 'tis the Doctor's cause I plead so strong for,
And 'tis his cause compleated that I long for,
And 'tis true doctrine certainly I preach,
And 'tis that doctrine every priest should teach.
THOMAS MACE, TO ALL DIVINE READERS.
O Lady fair, before we say,
Now cease my lute; this is the last
Labour that thou and I shall waste,
And ended is that we begun;
My lute be still, for I have done:1
before we say this, O Lady fair, play I pray you the following lesson by good Master Mace. It will put you in tune for the story “not impertinent” concerning it, which he thought fit to relate, although, he said, many might chuse to smile at it. You may thank Sir John Hawkins for having rendered it from tablature into the characters of musical notation.
