_Pan._ ... Come, _give me an instrument_. [And at Helen's
request, Pandarus sings, 'Love, love, nothing but love.']
The custom of having instrumental music in taverns has already been
referred to in the Introduction, near the end, where we learn that the
charge for playing before the guests was twenty shillings for two
hours in Shakespeare's time; also that a man could hardly go into a
public house of entertainment without being followed by two or three
itinerant musicians, who would either sing or play for his pleasure,
while he was at dinner. Accordingly, we find Sir John Falstaff
enjoying such a performance at the Boar's Head, Eastcheap.
_H. 4. B._ II, iv, 10.
_1 Drawer._ Why then, cover, and set them down: and see if
thou canst find out _Sneak's noise_; Mistress Tearsheet
would fain have _some music_. (After supper, in a cooler
room.)
_Id._ l. 227.
_Page._ The _music_ is come, sir.
_Falstaff._ Let them _play_.---- _Play_, sirs.
_Id._ l. 380.
_Fal._ _Pay the musicians_, sirrah.
The term 'Sneak's noise' is most interesting. 'Noise' means a company
of musicians, and Mr Sneak was the gentleman who gave his name to the
particular band of instrumentalists who favoured the Boar's Head.
Milton uses the word, in this sense, in the poem 'At a Solemn Music,'
where the 'saintly shout' of the seraphic choir, with 'loud uplifted
angel-trumpets,' 'immortal harps of golden wires,' and the singing of
psalms and hymns, are collectively called 'that melodious _noise_.'
Also in his Hymn on the Nativity, verse ix., he has 'stringèd
_noise_'--_i.e._, band of stringed instruments. The Prayer-book
Version (Great Bible) of the Psalms, which was made in 1540, has the
word in Ps. lxxxi. 1, 'Make a cheerful _noise_ unto the God of
Jacob,' and this in the next verses is said to consist of various
musical instruments--_e.g._, the tabret, harp, lute, and trumpet. Also
in the Authorised Version of 1611, Ps. xxxiii. 3, 'play skilfully with
a loud _noise_,' which was the instrumental accompaniment to a 'new
song.' The same word is used in several other places, with the meaning
of 'music'--_e.g._, Pss. lxvi. 1; xcv. 1, 2; xcviii. 4, 6; c. 1; where
'to make a joyful noise' is represented in the original by the same
verb, except in one of the two cases in Ps. xcviii. 4.
The word was still in use in 1680, when Dr Plot was present at the
annual Bull-running held by the Minstrels of Tutbury, one of the
features of which festivity was a banquet, with 'a Noise of musicians
playing to them.'
The reputed cure of the Tarantula's bite by music has already been
mentioned. The next three examples are of somewhat similar cases.
In the first, Henry IV. in sickness asks for music; the second is an
account of Cerimon's attempt to rouse the half-drowned Thaisa with at
least partial assistance from music; while the third represents
Prospero using a solemn air to remove the magic spell which he had
cast on Alonso and his other enemies.
_H. 4. B._ IV, iv, 133. K. Hen. on his sick-bed.
_K. Hen._ Let there be no noise made, my gentle friends;
Unless some _dull and favourable hand_
Will _whisper music_ to my wearied spirit.
_Warwick._ Call for the _music_ in the other room.
_Pericles_ III, ii, 87. Cerimon's house at Ephesus. Thaisa, cast up by
the sea, is brought to life by his directions.
_Cerimon._ Well said, well said; the fire and the cloths.
The _rough and woful music_ that we have,
_Cause it to sound_, beseech you.
The vial once more;--how thou stirr'st, thou block!--
_The music there!_ I pray you, give her air.
_Tempest_ V, i, 51. Prospero employs music to disenchant Alonso,
Antonio, etc.
_Pro._ ... and, _when I have required
Some heavenly music_ (which even now I do),
_To work mine end upon their senses_....