336 On the Music of the Middle Ages. 
the poetic metre; but so far from this being true of them, I should 
say that by prolonging and extending the musical measure, they 
have imparted a solemn and majestic movement to the Hymns, 
which the mere syllabic form is quite inadequate to supply. In 
these Hymns the metrical and the tonic accent are never to be 
sacrificed, whilst the musical phrases themselves must be regulated 
by the principles of musical Rhythm already explained. 
It has formed no part of my plan either to explain the mode of 
harmonizing medizval Music, or to describe the gradual introduc- 
tion of modern measured Music, as indicated by the various forms 
of notes which we find gradually growing into use between the 
13th and 16th centuries. The former I have shown, not only 
theoretically but practically, in publications of some years’ standing; 
and with regard to the latter the examples are so few, and so ex- 
ceptional, that I should scarcely be justified in detaining you with 
them. 
With these remarks I bring my long and probably uninteresting 
Paper to a conclusion. 
Independently of the pleasure of complying with the request of 
your Committee, I should have felt it to be my duty, asa native of this 
County, to lay before its Archeological Society the first-fruits 
of my researches into an art which, if not emanating from, 
at least was matured by the same genius as that to which we owe 
all the glories of Christian Architecture; and, although many may 
feel that my subject is not interesting, or that it has been unskil- 
fully treated, still I must remind them that at the best garnished 
banquet there are, of necessity, some dishes of a less savoury kind 
than others, and even those may not always display the genius of a 
Soyer or a Francatelli. 
But there is one fault, perhaps, of which all may complain, viz:, 
the length of my Paper, for which I have no other apology to offer 
than that of Pascal, who excused a long letter by saying that he 
had no time to make it shorter. 
J. L. 
