Heber,) when he sustained the office of a private clergyman. From the publication of this collection public feeling began to change decidedly. From this period the singing of hymns in churches has ceased to be esteemed a spot of the conventicle, and the use of them has gone on increasing ever since. No party in the Church now refuses them--the only important difference being the source from which they are derived.

And yet to any one who will look carefully over Bishop Heber's collection, it seems wonderful, both that he should have made such a collection, (we believe he never authorized the publication,) and that it should have taken such hold, even for a time, on the public mind. Beyond a few old favourites of Addison's and others, and one or two translations from the Breviary, there seems surprisingly little of any great value. The metres of several are unusual and fantastical; the poetical merit is but slight; and the general tone is more fitted for the drawing-room than the plain, manly character of our parish churches so that, if there had not been a silent change going on in public feeling, and if the publication had not been graced by the name of a bishop, and that bishop Heber, and if it had not been suited to the seasons observed by the Church, it seems scarcely conceivable that it should have had the powerful effect we are disposed to attribute to it.

Two effects, however, appear to have been produced which were not at first contemplated. There are hymns in that collection expressly appointed for the holy days of the Church, and there can be but little doubt that the countenance thus given by this popular prelate to the public observance of the feasts and fasts of the Church, and the enshrining them in the popular feeling, by giving hymns expressly for them, has greatly tended to dispose many persons to their revival who would otherwise have been averse to them.* The other effect is still more unexpected. For three of those occasions it was seen that the bishop had recourse to Drummond; - and who was Drummond? It turned out that he was a gentleman who had translated these hymns from the Breviary, in the time of Charles the First. It was seen that these hymns exceeded the

It seems to be scarcely known, that a collection of original compositions was previously published by the Rev. Samuel Rickards, which, although not as a whole adapted or intended for public use, contain great beauty and true Church piety, and (what they are particularly mentioned for in this place) have special hymns for the saints' days. Their defects are the want of freedom; and, in the case of the Sunday hymns, their being merely an expansion of the collect for the day; but Mr. R. was so desirous of bringing the holy days into notice, and yet so sensible how few persons would sympathize with him, that he intermixed the hymns for those days with those for the Sundays, although by that means they must most frequently be out of their proper place. In fact, he was one of those persons, in various parts of the kingdom, who were preparing men's minds for the movement which has since taken place.

rest in point and manly vigour, and greatly rose above the ordinary style of their time; then the inquiry came - why not go to Drummond for others? The rest, however, did not appear of equal merit; they had the point and vigour, but they did not run smoothly. But if Drummond translated from the Breviary, and some of his translations were so admirable, even still why should not the Breviary contain other specimens equally good, and why should not some hand be found to render them into English verse.

And accordingly hands and hearts have both been found. Bishop Mant set the example by translating from the Roman Breviary. Mr. Newman, in the "Tracts for the Times," has given a few from the same source; Mr. Williams followed in the British Magazine, and subsequently in a separate volume; and, lastly, Mr. Chandler, of Witley. Both these latter gentlemen have followed the Parisian Breviary, excepting that Mr. Chandler has taken some hymns from the Roman, and a few proses from missals, as well as one or two hymns from the old English service-books. Meanwhile, Mr. Dodsworth, in publishing a new collection of hymns for his church (No. 3 in our list), has availed himself of the translations of Bishop Mant and Mr. Chandler; and the latter has published a selection likewise, in which his own translation (a good deal altered, but not at all improved) has furnished the larger portion, the rest being made up of modern hymns. Thus the example set by Bishop Heber has been followed much earlier and more largely than any one could have calculated upon when his collection was published.

We will now briefly point out the principles upon which we think a collection of hymns for the Church of England ought to be formed, and indicate the means we have of acting upon those principles.

The principle upon which a collection of hymns ought to be made, is the same upon which our collection of prayers has been formed. The basis of our Prayer-book is the old service-book which existed before the Reformation. Additions have been made to it, both from other liturgical sources and by modern compositions. We therefore conclude, that the basis of a hymnbook, ought to be the hymns which were in use in the Church of England before the Reformation; and that we may lawfully add to that store from the hymns in use in foreign churches, and from compositions of more recent date.

We do not know what can with any justice be objected to these principles. They have the great advantage of having been sanctioned and acted on already, not only in our Church, but also by the body of the Church; and no other principles have that advantage. The only other principle we know, which has been acted upon in the Church, in regard to hymns, with any thing like unanimity, is that of every clergyman selecting, from

any and every quarter, such hymns as approved themselves to his own taste and judgment, or that of his own congregation. We do not expect that any churchman will defend such a principle, unless for want of a better. It is essentially opposed to the principles upon which the Church of England generally acts. The only valid objections we can imagine any person making are, that there are no ancient hymns (or at least but few) which are not superstitious or worthless, and that we have no means of putting them into English verse, suitable to the tunes in common use. They are both utterly baseless; for the ancient hymns which are perfectly scriptural are numerous and of high value; and, as we have already intimated, they have been translated by persons of acknowledged poetical talent, and most of them in such metres as suit our congregational tunes. *

The ancient hymns in use in the Church of England before the Reformation, are, for the most part, the same as those in the Roman Breviary at the same period. The latter have since that period undergone revision, with the view of removing the baldness and incorrect metre of the old verses. They are certainly more correct than those which our forefathers used, and in some respects fuller of thought; but some of them correction has rendered more frigid. The difference, however, to a translator would be very trifling, because it would be impossible to keep strictly to the exact expressions, or even thoughts of the old hymns. Some latitude must be allowed. Our old national collection is richer than the Roman in hymns, for the various christian seasons, to be used at Compline, or the last evening service. It has likewise two beautiful hymns for the day of the dedication of a Church, which we have not met with in the Roman Breviary. Mr. Newman has published a collection of Latin hymns from the Roman and other Breviaries; and at the end may be found those of the Church of England which are essentially different from the Roman. The rest may be taken for granted to have been substantially the same.

These, then, should form the basis of any collection of hymns for general use in our churches. They furnish three separate hymns for each day of one week; one each for the first, third, sixth, and ninth hours, and for the last service of the day; three each for Advent, for the Christmas season, for Epiphany season, for Lent, for the Sundays after Easter, for the day of an Apostle, and for the day of an Evangelist; and two each for Passion Week, Ascension Day, Whitsunday, Trinity Sunday,

* Of these tunes there is, as is well known, a considerable variety extant; and in that ancient and solemn style which would admirably suit such a Collection of Hymns as is here supposed. Some fine ones will be found in the Volume of Sacred Music, by Tallis and others, which we noticed in our August number; and more may be found in the old works of D'Este, Ravenscroft, &c.

Michaelmas day, All Saints' day, the day of a Martyr, Lady day, and the day of the Dedication of a Church. All these are almost entirely free from objectionable matter. It will be seen that, by this arrangement, the same hymns are expected to serve for all the Sundays in each season,-and, excepting where a holy day comes in, for all Sundays, from Trinity Sunday to Advent; and, moreover, that there are hymns provided for hours of the day at which we have no public worship. Upon this we have two remarks to make; first, that if it should be thought undesirable to have the same hymn in use for so long a period, we can point out sources from which the deficiency can be supplied; and secondly, that we think that the hymns should not be appropriated to a different part of the day from that for which they are written. That was one mistake made at the Reformation in regard to the prayers. The division of the hours of prayer had been practically forgotten in most churches before the Reformation, and the services of the day were reduced to three; and our reformers (instead of casting back their eye to the system and theory of the Church services, and thinking it possible that the ancient devotional habits might one day be revived, and so leaving alone altogether the portions of them which did not suit the hours at which divine service was then held) took the services as they then existed in practice, viz., many separate services read continuously one after the other, and from each of these formed a new service. The result is, that now,-when we want a separate evening service, we have not the old Latin Compline to draw from, as we ought to have had; and the probability therefore is, that if we do have an evening service drawn up by authority, it will not be so good as those we now have. Now, if we avoid this error in regard to the hymns, and only take (for the present) such as suit the hours of the day in which we at this day assemble for worship,-then, if at any future period, either in collegiate societies, or in private families, a greater frequency of devotional exercises should be observed, the proper hymns will remain to be incorporated with these services.

We have said that the Roman hymns were, for the most part, those of the ancient English Church, and that they consequently should form the basis of the English hymn-book. But the Gallican hymns are, for the most part, quite distinct from them, and as a whole, of a higher and deeper character; nor can there be any reason why, upon sufficient ground, we should not draw from their stores; the more especially, as it has so happened, that more translations have been made from them into our language, than from the Roman. And surely the German and the Spanish service-books must have hymns of their own, with which our collection might be enriched.

The portions of the services of the Greek Church which most

nearly answer to our hymns, viz., those which are so constructed that many of them may be sung to the same tune, are so different in genius and structure from the Western hymns, that we apprehend little or nothing can be borrowed from them. They contain lofty thoughts, and occasionally poetical language, but they have nothing akin to our stanza, and they appear to us to be altogether wanting in feeling and sentiment.

But these collections will all be found deficient in two points, at least according to our ideas. They have no variety of hymns between Trinity Sunday and Advent, to say nothing of shorter periods in the winter and spring; nor have they any variety (or at least very slight) for the various Saints' days. And here more modern collections would come in. Bishop Mant has laid a foundation of hymns for the unoccupied periods, in a collection of metrical meditations on the various privileges we have, and duties we are bound to, as members of the Church; and he has likewise supplied a nucleus for hymns for the Saints' days, in the hymns attached to his sermons for those days.

Bishop Heber has likewise furnished a few, which might perhaps, bear examination. Keble's Christian Year will furnish some, and would have furnished more, if it had been less obscure, and written in more common measures. Rickards would likewise have been of more service, if he had composed more in the ordinary metres. But it cannot be expected that one or two persons should be able to furnish the whole of these compositions. Others, no doubt, exist, or would exist, if it was found that they were wanted.

The

And now a word or two on the immense mass of hymns which are already collected, and are more or less in use. greater portion of these are so deficient in good taste, in christian sobriety, or in manly piety, (and, often we may add, so incorrect in point of theology,) that they give many persons a disgust at the very thought of hymns. To prove this, we have only to instance the two collections which stand last in our list. Many, again, are suitable for private use, but not for public. But some, no doubt, might be selected which might be very suitable for use in the Church.

And here it will be asked, will you make any use of those which have been written by persons who have been the promoters or followers of schisms? We shall not answer this by the vulgar declamation on the illiberality of setting aside the compositions of persons of such piety and poetical taste as Wesley, Doddridge, Montgomery, &c. We conceive the objection that these eminent persons were more or less schismatical to be valid, so far as it goes; i. e. that it might be wrong to appear to show indifference to schism, by using the compositions of schismatics. But we do not hesitate to reckon Tertullian amongst the Fathers of the Church, although he died in heresy