1. William Henry Harris (1883–1973), composer, organist and choir-master, was Organist at New College and Christ Church, Oxford, before moving to St George’s Chapel, Windsor, in 1933, where he composed many of his finest works. He wrote music for the Three Choirs Festival, conducted at the 1937 and 1953 coronations, and was appointed KCVO in 1954. He also composed the lovely hymn tune Alberta, for John Henry Newman’s ‘Lead, Kindly Light’ – see p. 423.

1. durable, enduring.

2. giving birth to (punning on ‘conceiue’).

3. give out in various directions; share.

4. breathe desire towards.

5. makes an impression in.

6. intact organs.

7. tendencies.

8. of marriage.

1. The poem illustrates the teaching of Castiglione’s Cortegiano, 4: 338: ‘To escape the torment caused by absence and to enjoy beauty without suffering, with the help of reason the courtier should turn his desire completely away from the body to beauty alone […], creating it in his imagination as an abstract distinct from any material form.’

2. presence.

1. emblem of Juno as goddess of marriage.

2. Cupid.

3. antiphonal song rather than songs of praise: the cuckoo’s song echoes.

4. owed.

5. rule.

6. encouraging indolence.