church, which not only kept alive the enthusiasm of the reformers, but formed a rallying point for his followers. This practice spread in all directions; and it was not long ere six thousand persons were heard singing together at Paul's Cross in London. Luther was a poet and musician: but the same talent existed not in his followers. Thirty years afterwards, Sternhold versified fifty-one of the psalms; and in 1562, with the help of Hopkins, he completed the psalter. These poetical effusions were chiefly sung to German melodies,* which the good taste of Luther supplied: but the Puritans, in a subsequent age, nearly destroyed these germs of melody, assigning as a reason, that music should be so simplified as to suit all persons, and that all voices may join. As a specimen of puritanical gaiety, we copy the following strain from Dr. Burney. *These ancient airs, so expressive of religious solemnity, were 'originally applied in the French court to licentious songs, and the 'hundredth psalm, written long before Luther's time, was a love ditty. 'The Queen of Henry II. sung her favorite psalm, " Rebuke me not in "thy indignation," to a fashionable jig; and Anthony, King of Navarre, 'sung "Stand up, O Lord, to revenge my quarrel," to the air of a 'dance of Poitou. This infectious frenzy of psalm singing at length 'reached our island, and Sternhold, an enthusiast in the reformation, 'being much offended at the lascivious ballads which prevailed among 'the courtiers, with a laudable design to check these indecencies, pro'vided the courtiers with his psalms, "thinking thereby," says Anthony "Wood, "that they would sing them instead of these sonnets; but they "did not." At one time, such was the rage, that psalms were sung 'by soldiers on march and parade, and at lord mayors' dinners, and 'city feasts.' o do dedo d 20020,000 || Since this time, psalmody has ever proved a bond of union among Christians; yet as it forms no part of the established church, it has received but little improvement from our able church professors, and its progress has been left in the hands of illiterate musicians. As the service of the church can only be performed in cathedrals, where there is an efficient choir, sacred music must be altogether excluded in the parish church, unless it be introduced in the way of psalmody. But no good psalmody can possibly take place, till the doggrel lines of Sternhold and Hopkins are removed, and something like poetry placed in their stead.* Dissenters have greatly surpassed the church divines in furnishing poems for this part of our worship. The psalms as translated by Watts, Cowper, and Mrs. Steel, are Besides that disagreeable hissing which takes place in our psalmody before alluded to, it has been remarked, that when the clerk gives out the psalm, a general fit of coughing takes place, as a clearing up previous to holding forth. In a French church, a general blowing of the nose is the first operation to clear away the snuff, that being the organ through which they commonly chant. Larriveè, one of their principal singers, was remarkable for this horrid defect. A wag who heard him for the first time, exclaimed, 'Voila un nez qui a une belle voix ;' (that nose has a fine voice.) euphonious, sweet, and flowing; but those by Tate, Merrick, and even the pious Doddridge, by their ill chosen words, refuse all alliance with musical sounds. Had the poetry of Watts called forth the strains of the royal organists Croft, Green, and Boyce, we should have had a psalmody that would have lived for ages; instead of which, the piety of the Nonconformists has been married to the most unholy strains, and we have been deluged with a psalmody composed of light and impious trash. As an instance, we may quote the following strain from an expensive work, published by a person of character, but, upon this subject, certainly possessing not the least sense of propriety; we have the words of the Easter Hymn affixed to the Tyrolese Waltz : To correct such levity and want of reverence, the author of these essays had the sanction of the late king, George IV., to make a selection of the best poetry, conjoined to the finest music, as a standard book of psalmody, which has been published under the title of the Sacred Melodies; but another age must pass away before the divine strains of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, can be appreciated by a taste so low as that which at present prevails in our churches. From these two hundred and twenty pieces, chiefly taken from these authors, we select the following. We are indebted to the Catholics for the great improvement in sacred compositions. Had not Palestrini, Carissimi, Leo, and Pergolesi written, it is doubtful if we could have boasted of our English composers, Purcel, Croft, Green, and Boyce. Though psalmody does not enter into the high mass, yet it has great solemnity in their vespers and processions. The author of the German Ramble, speaking of a procession on the feast of Corpus Christi at Cologne, says, On these occasions the streets are strewed 'with rushes, so that the performers glide along 'noiseless as ghosts, and nothing interrupts the 'solemnity of the harmony. The singers consisted 'of young girls and boys, youths and maidens; and 'lastly, of consummate men, walking in double rows ' of immense length, accompanied by bands of wind 'instruments. The simple hymn sung by the girls ' in three parts, pitched in a low key, nicely in tune ' and without vociferation; this replied to by the 'men's voices, and then in return by those of the 'youths; produced the most affecting appeal to the 'feelings of which music is capable. Tears came 'unbidden. The pauses in the music, the large |