PREFACE.
V
voices( treble, alto, tenor, and bass), written in two instead of four staves. In the upper staff, the treble occupies the higher range, with the stems of the notes upwards, and the alto or second treble the lower range, with the stems downwards. On the lower staff ( with the bass cleff), the tenor occupies the upper, and the bass the lower range, with the stems upwards and downwards respectively. The advantages of this mode of printing chant and psalm music are so numerous and obvious, as to need neither enumeration nor explanation.
THE PSALTER.
The system of punctuation adopted is that commonly used in our Cathedrals. Great care has been taken to attain the proper coincidence of the musical and rhetorical accent, so as not to sacrifice the one to the other.* The Chants chosen are the best of those in ordinary use in our Cathedrals. Most of them are already well known in our parochial Churches, and consequently will not have to be learnt for the first time. In selecting them, special attention has been paid, first, to the practicability of the reciting note; secondly, to simplicity and ecclesiastical character. It will be seen, moreover, that transitions in the same Chant, from the major to the minor key, and vice versa, have been avoided. When a change in the character of the Psalm required it, another chant has been introduced.
THE HYMNS.
These are 400 in number. Some may possibly deem this number beyond the requirements of a congregation. It should, however, be borne in mind that it includes some of the Metrical Psalms: not a few, again, are required for occasional use, whilst others have become so enshrined in popular sympathies and affections, that to omit them in any collection would be fatal to its success, however high the authority which endorsed it. In making this selection, the Compiler has most carefully consulted integrity of doctrinal
* See" Explanatory Marks of Psalter." + See Second Preface