chanting as it is frequently heard in the present day!

There are many persons who prefer the Gregorian tones to any of the more modern chants, on the ground of their antiquity, simplicity, and supposed facility of attainment. But the objections to their use are so many, and have been so ably stated by Mr. Jebb in his valuable book on the Choral Service (p. 285), that I shall here quote them.

"In the ancient breviaries and missals no other chants but the Gregorian are used for the Psalms.1 From their extremely ancient and continued use in the western churches, many have insisted that they ought to be sung, to the exclusion of all others, in the performance of our Liturgy. To this dogma, however, of novel assumption in the Church of England, many objections may be made.

"In the first place, the implied assumption of their catholicity, as the argument for their exclusive use, is untenable. The utmost that can be affirmed of the Gregorian chants, as they at present exist, is, that they have been of an

1 The music to the Romish service was issued by authority from Rome, at different periods, to preserve unanimity in its performance. The editor has one of the authorised copies in his possession.

cient use throughout the western portion of the Church. But the Church of England has never bound herself down to the employment of western forms only: in her Liturgy she has, since the Reformation, taken large advantage of the eastern ritual. She is far from confounding that agreement in matters circumstantial, which she long preserved with the other churches of the west, and which was enforced by the unlawful authority of the Bishop of Rome, with that agreement in matters essential, which she continues to maintain with all churches throughout all the world, and this in many important particulars wherein the other western branches have broken through the requirements of primitive and catholic consent. Now, in the details of ecclesiastical music we have already seen that catholic consent does not exist. The Greek Church (or at least that portion of it which adopted the system of Ignatius) rejects the five plagal tones of Gregory. If, then, according to the judgment of the Church of England, greater edification may be promoted by the superaddition of the expressive and varied resources of a more scientific music to the melodies of ancient

1 There is no authority to prove that the tones which are at present called Gregorian are precisely the same as those composed by Gregory.

times, the ministers of her communion have been acting in strict accordance with their duty, in taking advantage of the providential improvements of art to adorn and illustrate the service of God.

"The paucity of the ecclesiastical tones is owing to the imperfection of musical knowledge in the age when they were arranged. In the infancy of every art the effects must of necessity be timid, and of limited extent; and the ancient musical scale was so extremely defective, that it was impossible to take a wide range. Besides, the laws of harmony, unknown to the Greeks, were not discovered till ages after the time of Gregory, and were long in advancing to perfection. The chants were consequently sung in unison. It has been sometimes urged of late, not only that the Gregorian chants ought to be exclusively used, but that they ought also to be sung in unison. Those who require this ought also, in consistency, to require the rigid adherence to the defects of their melodies, and the rejection of their B flat, which was not introduced till the middle ages, and of accidental sharps, which never occur in the breviaries. But is this scrupulous regard, not to the excellences but to the defects of antiquity, worthy of God's service, to which the perfection of every art that

can be legitimately employed ought to be dedicated? If the laws of harmony and modulation, which suggest (as every musician knows they do) a variety of melody unattainable in the time of Ignatius, Ambrose, or Gregory, are founded in nature, is it not most right that the sublime art, which since the creation has been dedicated to the praise of God, should receive all the aid which obedience to those laws produces?"

It is the custom at most places where chanting is included in the service, for the organist to play the chant through once before the singing begins. And this is necessary where the daily Psalms are chanted, on account of the variety of chants which the different character of the various Psalms requires. In some Psalms it is requisite that the chant selected should be one

1 To this may be added, that the Gregorian tones were intended for Latin words, and they are peculiarly adapted to the character of that language, inasmuch as the number of open vowel-sounds allows much more liberty in apportioning the accent to the emphatic word. Any one who has given the subject consideration, and had opportunities of contrasting the effect in the two languages, must admit the truth of this.

2 In the service of the Jews, they had a precentor or chanter, whose business it was to sing the first verse, or at least the first part thereof, that the rest of his brethren might know what tune to sing, and what pitch to take. (See Bedford's Temple Music.) This evidently continued after their captivity, vide Nehemiah xi. 17.

which can be played in the major or minor key, as in the Psalms for the first evening of the month, where the first portion is mournful and supplicatory, and the latter jubilant. Much judgment is required in selecting chants appropriate to the words of the Psalms. A major chant should be used to those which are of a cheerful character, and in general a minor chant to those which are mournful or penitential. Some major chants, however, may be used to those which are of a solemn nature, provided they be in accordance with the words. Where the Psalms are of a mixed kind, if the chant selected is not a changeable one, two chants may be used, a major and a minor; but they must be selected in keys that accord with each other, so that the laws of harmony may not be violated in passing from the one to the other; and it should be remembered that the Gloria Patri should be always, if possible, in the major key.

During Lent, the Psalms should not, as is the opinion of some, be all in the minor key; but if it is considered advisable to make any difference at that time, they may be chanted without the organ.

There does not appear to be any authority in the rubric for the priest giving out the Psalms of the day. Every one ought to know the day