Part 2 (1/2)

Not only n.o.blemen, but the Princes of the Church had their private chapels, for which the services of children were retained. George Cavendish, in his ”Life of Wolsey,” gives a glowing account of the Cardinal's palatial appointments, in the course of which he observes: ”Now I will declare unto you the officers of his chapel and singing men of the same. First he had there a dean, a great divine, and a man of excellent learning; and a sub-dean, a repeater of the choir, a gospeller and epistler of the singing-priests, and a master of the children [therefore, of course, children]; in the vestry a yeoman and two grooms, besides other retainers that came thither at princ.i.p.al feasts.... And as for the furniture of the chapel it pa.s.seth my weak capacity to declare the number of the costly ornaments and rich jewels that were occupied in the same, for I have seen in procession about the hall forty-four rich copes of one settle worn, besides the candlesticks and other necessary ornaments to the furniture of the same.” Such were the sumptuous surroundings in which ”children of the chapel” were wont sometimes to perform their office.

An element of distinction enjoyed by peer and prelate was not likely to be absent from the first estate of the realm; and, in point of fact, the phrase ”children of the chapel,” so far as it is known, is more commonly a.s.sociated with the King's court than any of the castles or episcopal palaces of the land. Certain of the King's ”Gentlemen of the Chapel”

seem to have received payment in money, including extraordinary fees, and provided for themselves, whilst others had board and lodging. The following table, though less complete than the Northumberland accounts, throws light on the rate of requital:

_ s. d._

Master of the children, for his wages and board wages 30 0 0

Gospeller, for wages, 13 6 8

Epistoler, ” ” 13 6 8

Verger, ” ” 20 0 0

Yeomen of the Vestry {10 0 0 {10 0 0

Children of the Chapel, ten 56 13 4

Another ordinance states that ”The Gentlemen of the Chapell, Gospeller, Episteller, and Sergeant of the Vestry shall have from the last day of March forward for their board wages, everie of them, 10_d._ per diem; and the Yeomen and Groomes of the Vestry, everie of them, 2_s._ by the weeke.” When not on board wages, they had ”Bouche of Court,” like the physicians. ”Bouche of Court” signified the daily livery or allowance of food, drink, and fuel, and this, in the case of the Master of the Children, exceeded that of the surgeons to the value of about 1 1_s._ per annum. Thus it will be seen that the style ”Gentlemen,” as applied to the grown-up members of the choir, was not merely complimentary, but indicative of their actual status.

Meals were served at regular hours. ”It is ordeyned that the household, when the hall is kept, shall observe certyne times for dinner and souper as followeth: that is to say, the first dynner in eating dayes to begin at tenn of the clock, or somewhat before; and the first souper at foure of the clock on worke dayes.”

The duties of the choir also are plainly laid down: ”Forasmuch as it is goodly and honourable that there should be alwayes some divine service in the court ... when his grace keepeth court and specially in riding journeys: it is ordeyned that the master of the children and six men ...

shall give their continual attendance in the King's court, and dayly in the absence of the residue of the chappell, to have a ma.s.se of our Lady before noone, and on Sundayes and holy dayes ma.s.se of the day besides our Lady ma.s.se, and an anthem in the afternoone.”

It was part of the business of the Master of the Children to instruct his young charges in ”grammar, songes, organes, and other vertuous things”; and, on the whole, the lot of the choristers might have been deemed enviable. It is evident, however, that it was not always regarded in that light, for a custom existed of impressing children. This practice was authorized by a precept of Henry VI. in 1454, and one of its victims was Thomas Tusser, afterwards author of ”Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry,” who thus alludes to the matter:

There for my voice I must (no choice) Away of force, like posting horse; For sundry men had placards then Such child to take.

Moreover, it has been shrewdly suspected that the whipping-boy, who vicariously atoned for the sins of a prince of the blood--in other words, was thrashed, when he did wrong--was picked from the Children of the Chapel. Certainly Charles I. had such a whipping-boy named Murray; and judging from this instance the expedient was not commended by its results.

Members of the choir were expected to be persons of exemplary life and conversation, to ensure which state of things there was a weekly visitation by the Dean. Every Friday he sought out and avoided from office ”all rascals and hangers upon thys courte.” The tone of discipline, to conclude from the poems of Hugh Rhodes, was undoubtedly high; and, whatever difficulties he may have encountered in training the boys to his own high standards, his ”Book of Nurture” must always possess considerable value as a reflex of the moral and social ideals of a Master of the Children in the sixteenth century.

Rhodes's successor in the days of Elizabeth was Richard Edwards, a man of literary taste and the compiler of a ”Paradise of Dainty Devices.”

The Master had now a salary of forty pounds a year; the Gentlemen nineteen pence a day, in addition to board and clothing; and the Children received largesse at high feasts and on occasions when their services were used for purposes apart from their ordinary duties. In this way the Chapel Royal is closely connected with the rise of the English drama. Edwards wrote light pieces for the children to act before Her Majesty, and, encouraged by success, fell to composing set comedies, which were also performed by the boys, under his instructions, in the presence of the Court.

We have limited our retrospect mainly to the Tudor period. As an extension of the subject would call for more s.p.a.ce than we have at our disposal, those who desire more information concerning the ”Children of the Chapel” will do well to consult a recent work ent.i.tled ”The King's Musick” (edited by H. C. de Lafontaine: Novello & Co.), which carries on the record into the age of the Stuarts. Entries cited in this excellent compilation relate to eminent English composers. In December, 1673, for example, there was a ”warrant to pay Henry Purcell, late one of the children of his Majesty's Chappell Royall, whose voyce is changed and gone from the Chappell, the sum of 30 by the year, to commence Michaelmas, 1673.” This was in consequence of the sensible custom of retaining as supernumeraries boys who had given evidence of musical ability. Such is certainly true of Purcell, who, at the early age of eleven, had shown promise of his future career by an ode called ”The Address of the Children of the Chapel Royal to the King and their Master, Captain Cooke, on His Majestie's Birthday, A.D. 1670, composed by Master Purcell, one of the Children of the said Chapel.”

ECCLESIASTICAL

CHAPTER V

THE BOY-BISHOP

Mention has been made of Hugh Rhodes and his ”Book of Nurture.” It is pretty evident that this master of music was attached to the older form of faith, since he published in Queen Mary's reign a poem bearing the extravagant t.i.tle: ”The Song of the Chyld-Bysshop, as it was songe before the Queen's Maiestie in her priuie chamber at her mannour of Saint James in the feeldes on Saynt Nicholas' Day and Innocents' Day this yeare now present by the chylde bisshop of Poules church with his company. Londini in aedibus Johannis Cawood typographi reginae, 1555.”

This effusion Warton derides as a ”fulsome panegyric” on the Queen's devotion; and the censure is not wholly unjust, since the author, without much regard for accuracy, likens that least lovable of our sovereigns to Judith, Esther, and the Blessed Virgin. Meanwhile, who or what was the ”Chyld-Bysshop,” or, as he is usually styled, the Boy-Bishop?

In the first place it may be noted that the Latin equivalent of the phrase was not, as might be expected, _Episcopus puerilis_, but _Episcopus puerorum_, suggesting that the boy, if boy he was, was elevated above his compeers and possessed perhaps some jurisdiction over them. There is no question of the access of dignity, but the amount of authority enjoyed by him would have depended on the humour of his fellows, and boys are not always docile subjects even of rulers of their own election. This, however, is a minor consideration, since the Boy-Bishop, when we first make his acquaintance, has already emerged from the obscurity of school and playground, and made good his claim to the homage of superiors in age and station. Hence the term ”Boy-Bishop”

appears to define more accurately than its Latin a.n.a.logue the rank and privileges of the immature prelate.