Dowland, writing in 1610, speaking of the 6th course of a 9c lute, says:
Secondly, for on your Bases, in that place which you call the sixt
string, or r ut - these Bases must be both of one bignes, yet it hath
been a generall custome (although not so much used anywhere as here in
England) to
Well, I just went back to Martin's interesting discussion on the use of
Octaves around the 1590s and he gives good arguments for their use in
John Johnson, Francis Cutting and Anthony Holborne, so perhaps I should
attempt to move to Bass and octave on C5 whatever the difficulty.
