'
Also in his Hymn on the Nativity, verse ix., he has 'stringed
_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.
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