'
Brant had no great opinion of the music provided either. He describes
their singing before their lady's window--
'One barketh, another bleateth like a shepe;
Some rore, some _counter_, some their _ballads fayne_:
Another from singing geveth himself to wepe;
When his soveraigne lady hath of him disdayne.'
Finally--a Parthian shot--
'Standing in corners like as it were a spye,
Whether that the wether be whot, colde, wet, or dry.'
Thus, one hundred years before Shakespeare was born, Serenades of
voices and instruments were common, and in general practice by all
classes of young men, and not only laymen, but also yonge fooles of
the spiritualtie.
The instruments mentioned are such as were still in use in
Shakespeare's time--viz., harp, lute, 'foolish' pipe, bagpipe, and
'foolish' flute, besides the several varieties of song, which
evidently included both solo and part singing--'feigned' ballads for a
single voice [ballads, that is, in the more refined 'keys' of 'Musica
Ficta'], and 'Countering,' which implies that two voices at least took
part.
The following passage is an example of this nocturnal serenading by a
company of gentlemen.
_Two Gent._ III, ii, 83.
_Proteus_ (advises Thurio)
'Visit by night your lady's chamber window
With some _sweet concert_: to their _instruments_
Tune a _deploring dump_:'
_Thu.
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