ALL SAINTS' PSALTER AND CANTICLES Pointed and Divided for Chanting. BY C. A. STEVENS, M.A., PERPETUAL CURATE AND VICAR OF ALL SAINTS', BLACKHEATH. AT THE NATIONAL SOCIETY'S DEPOSITORY, THE SANCTUARY, WESTMINSTER. 1877. "I will sing with the Spirit; I will sing with the understanding also."-1 Cor. xiv. 15. "When we sing Psalms, let all sing. When we pray, let all pray."-St. Nicetius, A.D. 568. "Let the Minister of Christ so sing that, not the voice of the singer, but the words which are read, may delight."-St. Jerome, A.D. 386. "When the song moves me more than the matter sung, I confess that I GREATLY SIN; and then I had rather not hear singing."-St. Augustine, A.D. 400. ALL SAINTS' PSALTER AND CANTICLES. "IN all parts of the service, whether of Reading, Psalmody, or Singing, both the accent and the concent of the words must, as far as possible, be observed; because by this it is chiefly that the Sense is exhibited."— St. Benedict, A.D. 529. "That a simple and devout melody be used, according to the custom of the Church."-Canon of Anglo-Saxon Council of Cloveshoo, A.D. 747. "The song should not be full of notes, but, as nearly as may be, for every syllable a note, so that it be sung distinctly and devoutly."-Cranmer, a.D. 1545. "And that there be a modest and distinct song so used in all parts of the Common Prayer in the Church, that the same may be as plainly understanded as if it were read without singing."-Queen Elizabeth's Injunctions, A.D. 1559. "The Common Prayer shall be said or sung distinctly and reverently."-Canon of 1604. To the Psalter as now marked, a "simple and devout melody," a "modest and distinct song," whether of the Gregorian or of the ordinary English form of Chant, is applicable. Chants "full of notes," or containing crotchets, or jumping intervals, or high reciting notes, are not suitable. Unless the words are noted at length, a chant melody is necessarily written for use in a compressed and fixed formula. In applying this formula to fit verses varying in length and rhythm, its notes, |