As the prefatory letter to his poems "The Author to his Loving Cousin" implies, Southwell seems to have composed with musical setting in mind. One such contemporary setting survives, Thomas Morley's provision of music for stanzas from "Mary Magdalen's Complaint at Christ's Death" in his "First book of ayres" (1600). Elizabeth Grymeston, in a book published for her son (1604), described how she sang stanzas from "Saint Peter's Complaint" as part of her daily prayer. The best known modern setting of Southwell's words is Benjamin Britten's use of stanzas from "New Heaven, New War" and "New Prince, New Pomp", two of the pieces in his "Ceremony of Carols" (1942).