272 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2°d S. VII. April 2. '59. 



the Lord's Prayer is sufficient : in others, it is still re- 

 jected as a form ; and he that should make it part of his 

 supplication would be suspected of heretical pravity. 



" The principle upon which Extemporary Prayer was 

 originallj- introduced is no longer admitted. The minis- 

 ter formerly, in the eflfusion of his prayer, expected imme- 

 diate and perhaps perceptible inspiration, and therefore 

 thought it his duty not to think before what he should 

 say. It is now universally confessed, that men pray as 

 they speak on other occasions according to the general 

 measure of their abilities and attainments. Whatever 

 each may think of a form prescribed by another, he can- 

 not but believe that he can himself compose by study and 

 meditation a better prayer than will rise to his mind at a 

 . sudden call ; and if he had any hope of supernatural help, 

 why may he not as well receive it when he writes as 

 when he speaks? 



" In the variety of mental powers, some must perform 

 extemporarj' prayer with much imperfection ; and in the 

 eagerness and rashness of contradictory opinions, if pub- 

 lick liturgy be left to the private judgment of every 

 minister, the congregation may often be offended or mis- 

 led."— Cf. £p. W., pp. 60-68. 



From the treatise Of the Gift and Duty of Sing- 

 ing to God, I may quote a passage to serve as a 

 reply to a query lately made relative to Gregorian 

 music : — 



" The next advance I can perceive Song to have had 

 in Church Use, falls into the end of the sixth century. 

 About that time flourished Gregory the Great, a man 

 whom none of his successours ever equalled. . . . He 

 stored his Church with Antiphons, and, amongst other 

 things, wrote Antiphonarium. diuturnum et nocturnum ; 

 as I conceive sets of Antiphons for day and night : Then 

 as to Musick, the Tones in which we commonly chant the 

 Psalms, if we may believe Tradition, are most of them of 

 his composure, and indeed the whole body of the old 

 Plain-song in our Cathedral use. The Centuriators of 

 Magdeburg report out of Joannes Diaconus, who writ his 

 life, that he set up a singing-school at Rome and taught 

 therein himself. But whoso considers all musical Monu- 

 ments of his left, which the Romish Quires pretend for 

 the main to exhibit and follow, must still acknowledge 

 nothing of his above meer Plain song ; All notes of the 

 same measure and power. (Musices Choralis Medulla, 

 site Cantus Gregoriani Traditio. Colonice, 1670.) Not- 

 withstanding, that both still in his dayes, and some time 

 before, it was not otherwise, I cannot impute to want of 

 Will, but of Skill : So mean was the progress most arts 

 yet had made, so low their flight, in the Christian World." 

 — P. 299. 



At pp. 404—422. we have an account " of the 

 Book of Psalms as they stand butchered into Eng- 

 lish- Metre;" and, in particular, an indignant 

 criticism on the "intolerable barbarity or non- 

 sense" of Sternhold and Hopkins. After quoting 

 a number of piquant and " graceful" passages, the 

 Bishop remarks with quiet humour : " Certainly 

 people might be very merry at singing these 

 Psalms." 



At pp. 249. 422—426. we have a most graphic 

 sketch of parochial singing and parish clerks. 



At pp. 355—379. may be found a " large and 

 particular discussion of the reasonableness of sing- 

 ing David's Psalms ;" showing that " The Book of 

 Psalms, if sung with understanding, are pertinent 

 enough to the Evangelical state, and of excellent i 



use in the publick dayly Service." The Bishop 

 wisely makes a proviso that the Psalms be sung 

 with understanding ; for, as has been well observed, 

 " There are many passages in the Psalms to which 

 if we dealt honestly with ourselves, we should 

 most of us confess that we simply attached no, or 

 scarcely any, meaning, as we read them again and 

 again,"* Bp. Wetenhall's "Discussion" is well 

 worth the attention of all commentators on the 

 Book of Psalms, as he deals in a very able manner 

 with those difficulties which force themselves alike 

 on the attention of the most thoughtless and the 

 most thoughtful, e. g. the " imprecations, and very 

 dismal curses" contained in the Psalms. 



This treatise Of the Gift and Duty of Singing 

 to God, contains many valuable and practical re- 

 marks on church music, musicians, and choristers. 

 The author is keenly alive to the besetting sin of 

 choirs : — 



" The levity and nnconcernedness that some of our 

 Quiresmen discover in the performance of their office, and 

 their precipitant posting over the Psalms, and the like 

 parts of their duty, as if weaiy thereof, and desirous to 

 have them at a speedy end." — P. 534. 



He gives various reasons " why many of our 

 Church-musicians are nothing but Musicians," and 

 continues: — 



" Besides this I do not know whether there be not 

 some little fate, or secret fascination in the case, that 

 those who intimately study and understand musick, 

 without great importunity never give themselves to the 

 study of anything else, and admire no excellencies so 

 much as those of their own art. I confess myself tq ad- 

 mire Musick as much, I think, as any man ought to do : 

 but notwithstanding all the value I have for it, I cannot 

 think this alone is a sufficient accomplishment for a 

 rational creature, or ought to be made as it were the sole 

 business of a man's life : and it would really move lamen- 

 tation in any considerable man, to see how ill very great 

 skill in Musick oftentimes dwells." — P. 540. 



" The redress of these defects," says the good Bishop, 

 " lies in taking care for the future of better educating our 

 Choristers, and of supplying vacancies, as they fall, at 

 present with men of more solid learning, tho' not of so 

 exquisite voices and skill; Music moderately good is 

 best, perhaps, to all intents and purposes. . . .' But espe- 

 cially that our Choristers be well instructed in Religion. . . 

 And 'tis certain there is no surer way to make men 

 serious and sincere in Religion, than by bringing them 

 to a clear and good understanding of it." — Pp. 542 — 3. 



" The severest expressions which have fallen from my 

 pen," says the Bishop in conclusion, "are leveld against 

 meer lip-labour, and contenting ourselves with outward 

 Melodies, when the heart is no whit at all engaged in the 

 Divine Praise." And he exhorts " all of what rank so- 

 ever in our Quires ... to be of God's mind, by all their 

 art and power designing above all, the Melody of the 

 heart; and ■ to employ the utmost intention of Under- 

 standing, Will, and Affections therein, which is our rew 

 sonable Service," S^c. — Pp. 573 — 57G. 



Bp. Wetenhall's treatise Of the Office and Duty 

 of Preaching opens thus : — 



" In relation to what we now call Preaching, the senti- 

 ments of all sorts who pretend to be serious in Religion 



• Literary Churchman, Aug. 8, 1857, vol. iii. p. 309. 



