The  exact  date  of  his  birth  is  not  known,  but  it
was  approximately  1630.  Matthew  Locke  laid
the  foundation  of  his  art  as  a  chorister  in  an
English  Cathedral,  and  at  Exeter  there  is  evi-
dence that  he  occupied  that  position  in  1638.
The  evidence  cannot  be  disputed,  as  it  is  graven
in  the  very  fabric  of  the  old  Cathedral.  The
embryo  musician  took  the  trouble,  upon  two
occasions,  to  inscribe  his  name  upon  the  walls  of
the  Cathedral,  together  with  the  dates.  Upon
the  inner  side  of  the  old  organ  screen  runs  the
legend  "  Matthew  Lock,  1638,"  and  in  a  more
abbreviated  form  at  a  later  date  "  M.  L.,  1641."
As  a  boy  he  seems  to  have  been  content  with  a
name  of  four  letters  Lock  ;  in  his  later  years  he
always  attached  a  final  "  e  "  to  his  patronymic.
At  Exeter  he  had  the  advantage  of  being
trained  by  Edward  Gibbons,  brother  of  the  great
Orlando,  and,  in  addition  to  Gibbons'  share  in
84


IX.  MATTHEW  LOCKE  85

his  training,  he  owed  much  to  William  Wake,
Organist,  for  whom  he  wrote  one  of  his  first
published  works.
The  period  following  Locke's  later  inscription
— 1641 — was  one  not  calculated  to  encourage
or  foster  the  art  of  music  ;  the  country  was  in  a
state  of  civil  war,  the  soldiers  of  Cromwell
wrought  sad  havoc  in  the  Cathedrals,  and  the
musical  portions  of  those  establishments  came
in  for  no  small  share  of  their  destroying  wrath.
At  Westminster  Abbey  we  are  told  "  the
soldiers  brake  down  the  organs  for  pots  of  ale,"
and  the  Cathedral  at  which  Locke  served  his
pupilage  fared  very  badly  at  the  hands  of  the
Roundheads.
