was a room 'up one pair of stairs next the Queen's Head Tavern over against the Middle Temple Gate.' His name appears on the fifth edition of 'The Pleasant Musical Companion,' dated 1707, but as a rule these publications were antedated; and his name does not occur again in advertisements or on title-pages. He died between 1706 and 1721, when his will was proved. He left a legacy to Henry Purcell, and the bulk of his property to his wife Ann, daughter of Thomas Baker of Oxford, whom he married in December 1688.
His chief collective publications were:
- 'The Theatre of Musick,' three books, 1685; fourth book, 1687.
- 'Harmonia Sacra,' first book, 1688, 1703; second book, 1693; supplement, 1700.
- 'The Banquet of Musick,' a collection of songs sung at court and at publick theatres; first and second books, 1688; third and fourth books, 1689; sixth book, 1694.
- 'The Sprightly Companion, a Collection of best Foreign Marches,' 1695.
- 'Directions to learn the French Hautboy, with outlandish Marches and other Tunes,' 1695.
- 'Deliciee Musicae, a Collection of Songs,' four books in one volume, 1696; first and second parts of vol. ii. 1697.
- 'The New Treasury of Musick, a Collection of Song-books published for Twenty Years past,' 1 vol. in folio, with a title-page, about 1696.
- 'The Alamode Musician, a Collection of Songs.'
- 'Orpheus Britannicus,' 1698 [see Purcell, Henry]
- 'Wit and Mirth, or Pills to purge Melancholy … Ballads and Songs,' 1699; second part, 1700; third book, in the press, 1702; continued by other publishers, 1712.
- 'The Psalmody: Directions to play the Psalm Tunes by Letters instead of Notes, with an Instrument, the Invention of John Playford,' 1699.
- 'Mercurius Musicus, a Monthly Collection of New Teaching Songs, composed for the Theatres and other Occasions, January 1698-9, to December 1699,' 1700, 1701; announced to be printed in future in single songs, with the former title.
- 'Original Scotch Tunes,' 1700; 2nd ed. 1701.
- 'Amphion Anglicus,' 1702 [see Blow, John].
- 'The Divine Companion, a Collection of Easie Hymns for One, Two, and Three Voices,' 1701; editions by other publishers, 4th, 1722.
- Announced, 'The Lady's Banquet … Lessons for Harpsichord or Spinet,' 1702; to be continued yearly.
The music printer, John Playford the younger (1656–1686), son of Matthew Playford, rector of Stanmore Magna, Middlesex, by his wife Eleanor Playford, and nephew of John Playford the elder, entered in 1679 into partnership with Ann, the widow of William Godbid, in the printing-house at Little Britain, 'the ancient and only printing-house in England for variety of musick and workmen that understand it.' It was also the chief printing-house for setting up mathematical works.
Playford's firm printed the sixth edition of 'The Dancing Master' in 1679, and other musical publications. In 1684 Mrs. Godbid's name disappeared, and Playford continued the business alone. His last work for his uncle was the seventh edition of 'The Dancing Master,' dated 1686; he printed only one of Henry's publications, 'The Theatre of Musick,' 1685. He died in that year, and was buried in Great Stanmore church, where a stone on the floor of the nave bears his name (Lysons, Environs, iii. 398). He describes himself in his will (signed 20 April, proved 29 April 1685), as a citizen and stationer of London. Playford left his property to his mother Eleanor, then married to Randolph Nichol, and to his two sisters, Anne, the wife of William Killigrew, and Eleanor, who afterwards married William Walker. The printing-house was advertised for sale in the 'London Gazette' of 6 May 1686. It included a dwelling-house, in which Eleanor, her brother's executrix was then living.
[Manuscript notes from North Walsham Manor rolls, kindly supplied by Mr. Walter Rye; London Gazette and other papers, 1648-1709 passim; Hawkins's History of Music, pp. 687-94, 733; Burney's History of Music, iii. 59, 417, 464; Pepys's Diary, ii. 68, iv. 18; registers of Stanmore Magna, of the Temple Church, of St. Mary's, Islington, of St. Clement Danes, of St. Dunstan's, and of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge; ChappeH's Popular Music, vol. i.p. xvi; Lysons's Environs, iii. 398; Chester's Westminster Abbey Registers, pp. 353, 364; Marriage Licenses, Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury, p. 192; Marriage Allegations, registers of the Vicar-general of the Archbishop of Canterbury; registers of St. James's, Clerkenwell (Harleian Soc.); Hon. Roger North's Memoires of Musick, p. 107; Horsfield's History of Lewes, ii. 218; Foster's Alumni Oxon. early ser. iii. 1171; Notes and Queries, 8th ser. vii. 449, 494 (for the Playford family); Grove's Dictionary of Music, iii. 2, iv. 749; Registers of Wills, P. C. C., Penn, 93, Box, 196, Cann, 48, Archdeaconry of Middlesex, December 1721; Playford's publications. Messrs Barclay Squire and Julian Marshall have rendered assistance in the preparation of this article.]
PLEASANTS, THOMAS (1728–1818), philanthropist, was born in co. Carlow in 1728. He was educated for the bar, but did
