subject. Readings, which may not be thought correct, will be generally found to have at least the merit of smoothness and of ease in execution; which, for congregational chanting, is an important consideration.

With regard to the manner of performance, MR. JEBB again remarks:

"The correct recitation of the Chant, that is, the singing of the words upon the holding note, is a matter of considerable difficulty. It is essential that a good chanter should be a good reader also. No mechanical rule can be given for its performance. But decorum, gravity, and due expression will be best secured by attending strictly to the punctuation of the Psalter, not merely to the colon which marks the pause, but to all the other stops, and to the emphatic words of the sentence. But the accentuation ought to be very slight, just sufficient to mark the sense. Anything like declamation in the recitation not only sins against good taste, but causes indistinctness; since it cannot be expected that any two men can exactly agree in their emphasis: and bad taste defies all rules, and varies in each individual.

"A great anxiety is often shown so to regulate the recitation as that each word and syllable may be pronounced at the same time by the whole Choir. It would be impossible, or at least a work of extreme difficulty, to make or enforce any such rule. But it is not in fact desirable. A certain degree of license ought to be permitted, in this part of the Chant, to each singer, so as to allow of that devotional freedom and elasticity which gives so much life to the Chant, and which distinguishes it from metrical Psalmody. This is quite consistent with sufficient distinctness, as will be found in the practice of all Choirs (the admirable one of Canterbury, for example,) who have been taught to observe the rules of punctuation and accent; and I confess I should be sorry to exchange for a correct, but tame and mechanical performance, that majestic roll of the Chant, which resembles the voice of many waters. This method, admitting of no accurate definition, best accords with the saluto oratio, yet rhythmical flow of the holy songs themselves.

"But the general fault of Choirs in their recitation has been

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to neglect punctuation altogether, and to hurry through it as if they were going to take a running leap at the tune or air, which, indeed, they perform with a jerk or jump. In truth, many seem to think the air to be everything. The fact is, if the recitation is properly attended to, and the reading studied, the air will take care of itself."

The use of figures, to correspond with the notes of a chant, was employed at St. Paul's College, long before it was known to be common elsewhere. The system, as applied in the present work, is believed to be the easiest yet invented for the promotion of chanting in our congregations.

The colon () which divides the verse throughout the Psalter, has been strictly kept to its position in the English Prayer Book.

The selection of chants, which follows, though limited, may add something to the convenience of the book. Several of the Gregorian tones will be found in the form in which they are now generally used. In this form they are a simple style of the ordinary English chant. It is doubtful whether the Gregorian tones can be applied to our English Psalter, and retain much of their original character; and if they can, still there is no good reason why they should be used to the exclu sion of the English chant, which, when not disfigured by unseemly melody, has a character of its own, decidedly ecclesiastical. The Anglo Catholic Church has surely as good a right to its own music, as the Roman Catholic Church; and this species of chant, consisting of a recitative and a plain and short melody, has been the peculiar song of the Church of England, ever since she has used an English Psalter. It is adapted to the structure of our language, and ought to be retained, as belonging to the celebration of Divine worship in the vernacular tongue.

Church of the Holy Communion,

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NEW YORK, June, 1847.

W. A. M.