eral use. Four years after
this event, on the accession of Mary, the "old worship" was again
restored. But when, at length, the reformed religion was firmly
established by Elizabeth, and the ritual permanently changed, the music
of the old masses, suited to the genius and structure of the Romish
service, was no longer available for the simpler forms of worship by
which it was replaced. During the holiest and most solemn portions of
the ancient worship, the organ had for centuries been heard in the
cathedrals, while the choruses of praise and adoration resounded through
the aisles. Men's opinions may undergo a change, but the feelings and
ideas created by early association, and fostered by habit, are far more
lasting and enduring. The poet must have lamented the loss of the music,
which, in the stern ascetic spirit of Puritanism prevailing at a later
period of our history, he assisted to banish from our churches, as he
sang--

"But let my due feet never fail
To walk the studious cloisters pale,
And love the high embowed roof,
With antique pillars, massy proof,
And storied windows richly dight,
Casting a dim religious light,
There let the pealing organ blow
To the full-voiced choir below,
In service high, and anthem clear,
As may with sweetness, through mine ear,
Dissolve me into extasies,
And bring all heav'n before mine eyes."

At the period of which we speak, the want of music in the services of
the church seems to have been severely felt, though perhaps the simpler
forms of the new ritual were comparatively but little adapted for
musical display. Great exertions were made throughout the kingdom by the
deans and chapters to restore the efficiency of the choirs; and
Elizabeth, in the exercise of what then appeared an undoubted
prerogative of the crown, issued her warrant for the impressment of
singing men and boys for the castle of Windsor. The churches and
cathedrals still, indeed, retained their organs; "the choirs and places
where they sing" were still in being; all the _materiel_ was at hand;
but, with the exception of the production of John Marbeck, called "The
Book of Common Prayer Noted," which was printed in 1550, there was as
yet no music for the new services in the English language. Two years
after the accession of Elizabeth, and one year after the bill for the
uniformity of common prayer had passed the legislature, a choral work,
"very necessarie for the