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PBAUia 



larg* a milliter to oouJuct business conveniently, every fifty was 

 divided "it-, fire bodies of ten each, who presided for seven il.i. 

 the nMt, and were therefore called pnvdri (wpAttfti) and from then 

 proedri an iturrieris was chosen for one day to preside at chairman in 

 the senate and the assembly of the people ; during hi* day of office he 

 wu entrusted with the keys of the treasury and archive office, and 

 with the state seal 



The prytaoea had a buiMing to hold their meetings in, where they 

 were entertained at the public expense during their pryUny. This 

 building wa* called the Prytaneion (wfvrai/tuai), and wan used for a 

 variety of purpose*. (Henuauii, ' Political Antiquitiea of Qreoce/ 



I '> ALMODY, in iU widest scnae, signifies the Psalms of David set to 

 music and sung, lint from the early part of the 16th century the 

 term has been applied only to metrical versions of the Psalms to which 

 short grave airs are either set or adapted. 



practice of psalm-singing may be traced to a very remote date, 

 but we need not refer to any period anterior to that of our Saviour. 

 hi >t. Matthew's and St Mark's gospels (xxvi. SO; xiv. '26), we find 

 that, after the last supper, Christ and his disciples " Sung an liymu " 

 (" or /iMi/m," says the marginal note), previously to their going " out 

 into the Mount of Olives." St. Paul exhorts the Epheaiaos (v. 19) to 

 " sing psalms and spiritual songs ; " and St James (v. 13) recommends 

 those who are " merry " to do the like. The corroborative passage in 

 tin- K-tU-r of the younger Pliny to Trajan (' Kp.,' x. "7) st.-iting that the 

 ( 'hnitLuu sang hymns to their Christ before daybreak, in well known. 

 The bUhopa Klavianus and Diodorus ordained that the Psalms of 

 David should be sung by the choir, in the manner of the antiphons. 

 [ANTiruoxY.l Among the inferior orders of clergy in the church of 

 Home were the PsalniisUc, whose first institution appears to have been 

 at the commencement of the 4th century. It is believed that this 

 order was established for the purpose of encouraging and regulating 

 the ancient psalmody ; for, says Bingham, "from the first and apos- 

 tolical age, singing was always a part of divine service, in which the 

 whole body of the church joined." (i. 295, et teg.) The service of the 

 ancient church usually began with psalmody, according to St Jerome. 

 lHivrun.. Kp..' 22, 'Ad Kustach.') It was also the exercise and 

 recreation of the Eastern churches in their nocturnal vigil* ; and, 

 indeed, at all times in the church, St. Augustine remarks, was psalmody 

 used to fill up vacant intervals. (Aug., ' Kp.,' 119, 'Ad. Januar.') 



By degrees the greater part of the psalm-tune waa surrendered to a 

 angle voice, the congregation joining only at the close. This led to a 

 more scientific and perhaps a more refined mode of singing, requiring 

 superior knowledge; and thus, the body of the people becoming 

 incapable of taking a share of the performance, the service was left in 

 the hands of professed musicians. This was encouraged by the Church 

 of Rome, during her long dominion, because it still farther divided the 

 clergy and laity : but HUBS, and afterwards Luther and Calvin, 

 restored to the people then: share in the divine service, furni.-liing 

 them at the same time with the means of performing it in a manner 

 agreeable to themselves, and conformably to what they conceived to 

 be the true principles of public worship. With this view the Psalms 

 were turned into metre, tunes were composed or adapted, and the 

 practice of psalmody soon became a marked distinction of those who 

 departed from the Church of Rome. Luther, however, was friendly to 

 harmony, or music in parts; the severe Calvin, on the contrary, 

 sternly refused to admit anything but simple unaccompanied melody. 

 The design of the reformers was seconded by Clement Marot, who 

 translated the first fifty Psalms into French verse. These, adapted to 

 popular airs, became exceedingly fashionable, and the length to which 

 the new amusement of singing sacred songs was carried by the monarch 

 of France and his courtiers, is fully described by Bayle (in a note on 

 Marot), and after him by Worton (' Hist of Poet,' sect xlv.), as well 

 as others. Theodore Beza, by his version of those Psalms which Marot 

 left untouched, completed the hundred and fifty. Most of the 

 melodies to these, as used by the first Calvinists, are commonly attri- 

 buted to Claude Goudimel and Claude Le Jeune, distinguished French 

 composers ; but Bayle, on apparently good authority, ascribes them to 

 :ilbume Franc; while some think that they were chiefly German. 

 It seems almost certain that a few owe their birth to the great 

 reformer himself, of whose musical knowledge undoubted proofs 

 remain ; and it is equally clear, for the reason before menti. nod, that 

 muuircil tunes of Goudimel and Le Jeune were not admitted 

 into Calvin's places of worship, though probably their melodic.- 



At nearly the time that Marat's translation of tho Psalms appeared, 



::..Mand 1 1 opkins, with several coadjutors, produced an English 



. to which were adapted many of the best German and French 



tunes; and Strype says, "it is certain that Sternhold composed 



several at first for his own solace. For he set and sung them to hi 



own vTffui, which music King Edward VI. sometime hearing (for he 



wasa nil, nun of the Privy Chamber), was much delighted with 



C Historical Memorials,' bk. i., chap. 11.) But if this versifier 



possessed as little musical as poetical taste, it U fortunate for him that 



inpositious do not remain to demonstrate that ho was no less 



UukUfnl in one art than in tho other. It is, however, to be pre- 



Fninrd that there having been many very able musicians in the sen-ice 



of the y.nitli/ul Kdward, they contributed something in aid of Stern- 



hold's design. But it is now generally supposed that for the majestic 



melody to h-,-h our loOth Psalm is adapted, wo are indebted : 

 I- I.e Jeuue. Thin forms the taitl< . or tenor part, 

 134th Psalm, ax printnl in the l.eyden edition of 

 necessary to remark that he, u well as others in his time, made a 

 practice of giving the subject, or sir, u a kind of run/in nnnta, to the 

 : : . : \ . . 



The first complete collection of psalm tunes for four voices deserving 

 notice was published in 1'i'JI , by Thomas Kavenacroft, Mus. Buc., to 

 whi.-h T.illi-. Moiley. H.v.l aid, and all the great masters of the day 

 i\nitribiit<-d ; tin name of John Milton, <' i Uic poet, also 



appears there, as the composer of )"./. anu ; ,iuos. The 



editor supplied many, some of which are still in use ; and to his collec- 

 tion all tin- iiuim-rous works of the kind since printed have been much 

 indebted. About the year 1671, John Play ford, a good musician, and 

 a most useful industrious editor, printed, in 8vo, ' The Whole Hook of 

 Psalms in three parts,' in which he has judiciously given the tn.!-. !y 

 to the soprano voice, to which it naturally belongs, and it ever since 

 has retained its place. A few of the tunes in that collection are 

 mip]K>.cd to have been composed by Play ford himself, whom Sir John 

 Hawkins considenas " the father of modern psalmody." Subseq- 

 to the last edition of his work, valuable additions were made to the 

 stock of genuine English psalmody, by Dr. Croft, Courteville, Carey, 

 &c., and Handel is the reputed composer of the sweet mimic to tho 

 104th Psalm, which still continues in our chimes, and at i 

 the soldier's funeral. Dr. Miller, of Doucaster, effected a 

 improvement in psalmody by his 'Psalms of David fur the use of 

 Parish Churches,' in which the version of Tate and Brad;, 

 employed, and drove Stemhold and Hopkins from many of their 

 strongest positions. The extraordinary success of that work, which 

 mode its way into tho remotest parts of Great Britain, rained up a host 

 of rivals and tho number of publications and of new tunes has since 

 increased beyond calculation. The popular works of all foreign com- 

 posers have been made contributory to that love of novelty whieh 

 carries its influence even into the temples of religion, and 

 organists have fancied themselves qualified and privileged to print a 

 collection for the use of the church or chapel in which th< y 

 Hence the music which had become almost a |>art of our Liturgy is 

 falling into desuetude, and modem hymns not always the 

 appropriate or the best in point of composition threaten finally to 

 banish the fine characteristic harmony of our ancient pan! 

 (Bingharn's ' Antiq. ; ' Bayle; Strype; Wortou's 'Hist of ]' 

 Mason's ' Essay ;' Hawkins; Burney; Dr. Vincent ' On Psalmody.') 



PSALMS (^oAjiol, from </*\AM, tu ttriice yt-utly, and so, to play on a 

 stringed instrument) denote generally the poems which form one of 

 the canonical books of the Old Testament. This book is called in 



Hebrew D^bri^l "155 (tf^cr tcliilllm), ' the book of praises.' Except 



in thirty-four cases, the Psalms have titles, which, though they are no 

 ]>art of the original, are of great antiquity. Some designate the writer 

 or the subject, or the occasion, and some are not to be understood. 



The book of Psalms is often called the ' Psalms of David,' though 

 many of them were not written by him. The authors of the Psalms 

 named in tho titles are Moses, David, Solomon, Asaph, Heman, Ethan, 

 Jeduthun, and the sons of Korah. Between the earliest and latest of 

 the Psalms, a period of about one thousand yean seems to have inter- 

 vened. 



According to the Mosorites, the Psalms are divided into five books, 

 of which the first ends with Psalm xli., the second with I'.-alm h.\ii., 

 the third with Psalm Ixxix., the fourth with Psalm cvi., ami thr fifth 

 with Psalm cl. The first three books end with ' Amen and Amen ; ' 

 the last two with ' Hallelujah.' This division existed in tho time of 

 Jerome, but how long before is uncertain. It is thought to have been 

 made for the purpose of rendering the Psalms in this respect like the 

 Pentateuch. The collecting of the Psalms into one book is generally 

 attributed to Ezra. 



The Psalms afford an exemplification of every variety of Hebrew 

 metre, and they are pervaded by the* highest poetic feeling. They 

 were designed to be rehearsed in the worship of God with the aid of 

 instrumental music. David appointed the singing of the Psalms by a 

 company of persons, trained for this purpose, in tin- worship of the 

 tabernacle. (1 Chron., vi. 31 ; xvi. 4-8.) This practice was continued 

 by Solomon in his Temple (2 Chron., v. 11-13), and, after the 

 ruption occasioned by the Captivity, it was renewed by K/.ra. 

 iii. 10, 11.) The New Testament furnishes evidence that Psalmody 

 formed, in the time of Christ and his Apostles, a part of the worship 

 of God, and the Christian church lias in all ages followed the example. 

 The book of Psalms obtained extraordinary attention among the early 

 Christians. Theodoret, who wrote in the first half of the 5th century, 

 says ('Preface to the Psalms') that while most men paid little or no 

 attention to the rest of ,the Scriptures, they were so familiar with the 

 Psalms, that in their houses, in tho streets, and in the highways, they 

 enjoyed profit and delight by the singing of these divine odes. 



The canonical authority of the book of Psalms has never been 

 disputed. There have been many works written as comments! 

 explanations of the Psalms, and more than one translation. I 

 tlie version in the authorised translation of the Bible and that in thu 

 Prayer Book vary, though not much. Among the best works on the, 

 subject may be mentioned Tholuck, ' Uebersetzung uud Ausleguiig do- 



