The text of Thomas Caustun’s
Yield unto God the mighty Lord, is a version of Psalm 150, recast—at times rather poorly—into metrical English (for instance, ‘Whatever hath the benefit of breathing’, whereas the prose version in the 1549 Book of Common Prayer reads ‘Let everything that hath breath’). It is probably one of the oldest pieces in the Chirk Castle manuscript, written in a strictly syllabic style, relieved by simple imitative passages which serve to emphasize the exuberance of the text.
from notes by David Evans © 2009
