ted English hymns, by far the greater
number of them not only pitiable as efforts of human intelligence, but
absolutely worthless as vocal material for melodic treatment, one
wishes that all this effort had been directed to supply a real want. E.
g. the two Wesleys between them wrote thirteen octavo volumes, of some
400 pages each, full of closely printed hymns. One must wish that
Charles Wesley at least (who showed in a few instances how well he
could do) had, instead of reeling off all this stuff, concentrated his
efforts to produce only what should be worthy of his talents and useful
to posterity.

[18]If old tunes are modernized out of a fine rhythm, a curious result
would be likely to come about; viz. that modern tunes might be written
in the old rhythm for the sake of novelty, while the old were being
sung in the more modern way for the sake of uniformity.

[19]This fact is of course generally recognized. The explanation in the
text is one which was elaborately illustrated by the Slade Professor at
Oxford, in his last course of lectures on painting.

[20]There is one point which I cannot pass over. It has become the
practice in modern books to put marks of musical expression to the
words, directing the congregation when to sing loud or soft. This
implies a habit of congregational performance the description of which
would make a companion picture to the organ gallery of 1830. It seems
to me a practice of inconceivable degradation: one asks in trembling if
it is to be extended to the Psalms. It is just as if the congregation
were school-children singing to please a musical inspector, and he a
stupid one.

[21]It must be due to unwillingness that comparatively so few of our
clergy can take their part in the service when it is musical. Village
schoolmasters tell me that two hours a week is sufficient in a few
months to bring all the children up to a standard of time and tune and
reading at sight that would suffice a minor canon.

PREFACE TO THE
YATTENDON HYMNAL

Among the old melodies which it is the chief object of this book to
restore to use, some will be found which will be quite new to the
public, while others will be familiar though in a somewhat different
form; and since the sources whence all the tunes are taken are well
known, and have been already largely drawn upon by the compilers of
Psalters and Hymnals, any melody which is new in this