Rhodes's successor in the days of Elizabeth was Richard Edwards, a man
of literary taste and the compiler of a "Paradise of Dainty Devices."
The Master had now a salary of forty pounds a year; the Gentlemen
nineteen pence a day, in addition to board and clothing; and the
Children received largesse at high feasts and on occasions when their
services were used for purposes apart from their ordinary duties. In
this way the Chapel Royal is closely connected with the rise of the
English drama. Edwards wrote light pieces for the children to act before
Her Majesty, and, encouraged by success, fell to composing set comedies,
which were also performed by the boys, under his instructions, in the
presence of the Court.
We have limited our retrospect mainly to the Tudor period. As an
extension of the subject would call for more space than we have at our
disposal, those who desire more information concerning the "Children of
the Chapel" will do well to consult a recent work entitled "The King's
Musick" (edited by H. C. de Lafontaine: Novello & Co.), which carries on
the record into the age of the Stuarts. Entries cited in this excellent
compilation relate to eminent English composers. In December, 1673, for
example, there was a "warrant to pay Henry Purcell, late one of the
children of his Majesty's Chappell Royall, whose voyce is changed and
gone from the Chappell, the sum of L30 by the year, to commence
Michaelmas, 1673.
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