they were used, they were worn according to the Canon by the Epistoler and Gospeller. Mention also occurs of their use in a Bishop's private chapel, viz., in that of Durham House, at the Consecration of a Bishop of Carlisle in 1626, on which occasion the Epistle and Gospel were read by the Archdeacons of York "in the King's Copes." "12

FOR THE

f OR, THE PORTION OF SCRIPTURE APPOINTED EPISTLE.]—These words were inserted at the last Review in compliance with a request of the disaffected at the Savoy Conference, that "no portion of the Old Testament, or of the Acts of the Apostles, be called Epistles and read as such."3 It may be remarked, however, that the name of Epistle was thus given to the first lesson read at the Celebration, whencesoever taken, many centuries before. For example, in the Sarum Missal, the first Lessons for the Wednesday and Friday of the Second Week in Advent, are headed respectively, Epistola. Lectio Zachariæ Prophetæ, and, Epistola. Lectio Esaia Prophetæ.1

4

It may be mentioned here that the old Liturgy of the Irish Church, of which a single copy only is known to exist, orders but one Epistle for every Celebration, viz., the account of the institution of the Eucharist from the eleventh chapter of S. Paul's first Epistle to the Corinthians.5

There is but one provided in the Liturgy of Malabar, as it was used when the Christians of S. Thomas became known to Europeans. It is composed of two passages of Scripture, 2 Cor. v. 1-10, and Heb. iv. 12, 13.

We learn from Gerbert that there remained in his time many ancient MS. copies of the Epistles translated into German for public use at the Celebration. One version, of which the extant copy was written in 1210, is "in great part rhythmical." The MSS. are separate, not forming part of the Latin Sacramentaries. Ducanges tells us that during the

1 See many extracts in Hierurgia Anglicana, pp. 138-173, respecting Copes possessed and used by Cathedral Chapters and Collegiate bodies, both before and after the passing of the Canon.

2 See Cosin's Works, vol. i. p. 85; Oxf. 1843.

3 Hist. of Conf. p. 308.

4 Coll. 25, 6.

5 See a description of the мs. by O'Conor, in App. to vol. i. of the Catal. of Mss. at Stowe, p. 45; or in the Preface to the Liber Eccl. B. Terrenani de Arbuthnott, p. xxiv. (Burntisland, 1864). It is now in the possession of Lord Ashburnham.

6 Raulin, p. 305; see Le Brun, Diss. xi. Art. xii. tome 6, p. 487. 7 Disq. ii. c. ii. § v. p. 125. 8 In v. Farcitæ (Epistola).

earlier part of the last century the Epistle for S. Stephen's Day used to be read, clause for clause, in Latin and French, at Aix in Provence and Dijon. This practice was apparently the origin of the usage of farced1 Prophecies and Epistles; or rather it was the earliest mode of farcing them. When a Lesson was thus rendered, the several sentences of the Latin text were followed by a vernacular paraphrase or exposition, which was called the ornatura or farcitura,2 i.e. the garnishing or stuffing. Sometimes the Lesson itself was thus read in periods by one Clerk, and the running commentary by another.3 I do not know if any example is extant in English. Two copies of Farced Epistles are mentioned in the record of the Visitation of the Treasury of S. Paul's, London, A.D. 1295. One set was at the end of a Tropary, the other at the end of a Gradual.4 Martene gives the beginning of one in old French from a MS. of the thirteenth century, belonging to the Church of S. Gatian at Tours, and another of the same age from a MS. at Sens, has been published by M. Edelestand du Meril."

SECTION V. Of the Gradual, Tract, and Sequence.

* THEN HE SHALL READ THE GOSPEL.]-Before 1549 the Gradual (or Responsory) and its verse followed the Epistle, except from the eve of Low Sunday to that of Trinity Sunday, both included. Example.—“ Grad. All they that hope in Thee, O Lord, shall not be ashamed. Vers. Show

1 It has been supposed that in the name of the modern scenic farce we have a direct allusion to the farced Lessons of the Medieval Church. This however is improbable, as the word may be applied to any piece, in prose or verse, filled out, or interpolated, with other matter of any kind, as properly as to an Epistle so treated. Ménage, as quoted by Ducange (v. Farsa), explains a Farce to be "a poem filled or stuffed (farcitum) with things many and diverse."

The Prophecy is a Lesson from Isaiah, and is sung by two Clerks, so that both together begin A Lesson of the Prophet Isaiah. Then let each sing his verse by himself, so that one of them sing the text of the prophecy and the other the ornatura, or farcitura" (and sim. the Epistle). From the rites of Christmas in an Ordinary of the Church of Narbonne of the fourteenth century. Martene, L. iv. c. xii. n. xxii. tom. iii. p. 35. 3 See last note. Sim. in an Ordinary of Chalons-sur-Saone :-"The farced Epistle (on S. Stephen's Day) is said by two Deacons in Copes." Martene, u.s. c. xiii. n. vii. p. 39. Again :-"The Epistle with farce (cum farsia) shall be said by two in silk Copes." Odo, Ep. Paris, A.D. 1198. Ducange in Farsia.

4 Dugdale's S. Paul's, p. 220. The Tropary is described as having "all the Epistles farced; "the Gradual, "the Epistles farced."

5 L. i. c. iii. Art. iii. n. xi. tom. i. p. 102. This also was for S. Stephen's Day.

6 Christian Remembrancer, vol. xx. p. 302; where Dr. Neale gives an mitation in English. 7 Missale Sarisb. col. 379-452.

me Thy ways, O Lord, and teach me Thy paths." The Gradual was repeated in England after its verse, except on certain festivals, the Ember Seasons, Thursday and Friday in Easter Week, and when a Tract was to be said.2 Elsewhere its repetition had long become obsolete. The Gradual seems to have originated in a Psalm that was sung after the Epistle at a very early period. S. Augustine alludes to it as an established custom :-" Which the Apostolical Lesson before the canticle of the Psalm signified, saying, Put off the old man," etc. Again:"4 etc. Again:-"We heard the first Lesson of the Apostle .. we next sang a Psalm . . . after these the Gospel Lesson showed the cleansing of the Ten Lepers." Similarly in France, Gregory of Tours speaks of a Deacon who had "said the Responsory Psalm at Masses."6

"5

The Gradual was so called, because it was sung from the steps of the Ambo or Pulpit. It was called the Responsory or Response, because sung in alternate parts by one singer and the choir.8

The Gradual and Tract were in all probability only different forms to which the Eucharistic Psalmody of the primitive Church had been reduced. The latter was especially for seasons of humiliation and repentance." For more solemn effect it was sung by one voice 10 without break (tractim), and thence acquired the name."1 In course of time, however, a notion sprung up that the Tract was so called because it was to be sung slowly and mournfully;12 and then the rule that it should be sung by one fell into desuetude,13 and a Tract was often sung after the Gradual.1 Nor

14

1 Grad. for the First Sunday in Advent; Missale Sarisb. col. 8. 2 Ibid. col. 8. 3 Durand. L. iv. c. xix. n. 9.

4 Serm. xxxii. c. iv. tom. vii. col. 160.

Serm. clxxvi. c. i. col. 839; see also Serm. clxv. c. i. col. 796.

6 Hist. Franc. L. viii. c. iii. col. 378.

7 Raban. Maur. de Instit. Cler. L. i. c. 33; Hittorp. col. 585. This is the derivation approved by modern writers, as e.g. Martene, L. i. c. iv. Art. iv. n. viii. Le Brun, Explic. P. ii. Art. vi. Gerbert, Disq. iv. c. ii. n. xvi. Bona, Rer. Lit. L. ii. c. vi. n. i. The Ordo Romanus (ii. n. 7) orders the Gradual to be sung, where the Epistle is read; i.e. from the lower step of the Ambo.-Mus. Ital. tom. ii. p. 45. So Amalarius, Ecloga, n. xiv. Ibid. 552.

8 Gemma Animæ, L. i. c. 96; Hitt. col. 1208.

9 Amal. de Eccl. Off. L. ii. c. 3; Hitt. col. 378.

10 Amal. u.s. L. iii. c. 12, col. 409.

11 Gemma, L. i. c. 96, col. 1208.

12 Durand. Rat. L. iv. c. xxi. n. 1; pseudo-Hugo, Specul. Eccl. c. 7, in Hitt. col. 1351.

13 The Sarum Missal sometimes has the express order

say the Tract alternately."-Coll. 136, 263, 288.

:- "Let the Choir See col. 167, etc.

14 Missale Sarisb. coll. 142, 148, 150, etc. A Gradual always precedes

did its original solemnity always attach to it.

"Sometimes,"

says Amalarius,1 "the Tract means tribulation, sometimes joy." The following is an example:-" Tract. O praise the Lord, all ye heathen; praise Him, all ye nations. V. For His merciful kindness is ever more and more towards us, and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever." 2

The versicles sung after the "Prophecy" in the Mozarabic Liturgy at penitential seasons are called the Tract, being sung, like the Roman Tract in its first period, by one singer in a sustained voice, without any interruption.*

From Easter Eve to Trinity Eve 5 inclusive, that being a season of joy, the Gradual was superseded by the Alleluia, with its verse or verses. The Alleluia is evidently very ancient, for we find Gregory the Great accused of innovation, because he had caused the Alleluia to be said at Masses out of the season of Pentecost, which custom, however, he affirmed to have been derived from the Church at Jerusalem through S. Jerome." S. Augustine, two hundred years before Gregory, speaks of it as an "ancient tradition," and intimates the reason of its use at Easter-tide:-"The days are come for us to sing Alleluia. .. Singing in your heart unto the Lord, in all things giving thanks; and praise ye God, for this is [the meaning of] Alleluia. . . . By the Fifty Days after the Lord's Resurrection, during which we sing Alleluia, is signified . . . that blessed eternity."8 From Trinity Sunday to Advent, and on Festivals generally, the Alleluia followed the Gradual. On Easter Eve, a day of mourning mingled with joyful expectation, both Tract and Alleluia were appropriately said.10 The following example is the Sarum Alleluia for the Fifth Sunday after Easter:"Alleluia. V. Hitherto ye have asked nothing in My name: ask, and ye shall receive. Alleluia. V. Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more: death hath no more dominion over Him."11

The Mozarabic Missal has neither Gradual nor Sequence:

the Tract in the Antiphonary ascribed to Gregory 1.-Pamel. tom. ii. pp. 81-109.

1 De Eccl. Off. L. iii. c. 14; Hitt. col. 410.

2 Easter Eve, Missale Sarisb. col. 355.

3 Leslie, pp. 98, 101, etc. (The Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent.) Leslie, tom. ii. p. 506, note.

5 Missale Sarisb. coll. 355-450.

6 Epp. L. vii. E. lxiv. tom. iv. col. 275.

7 Enarr. in Ps. cvi. n. 1, tom. vi. col. 530.

8 In Ps. cx. n. 1, col. 582. Sim. in Ps. cxlviii. nu. 1, 2, col. 1147.

9 Missale Sarisb. col. 453-535.

10 Ibid. col. 355.

11 Ibid. col. 405.

and the Alleluia is sung after the Gospel, while the elements are being offered. In the seventh century some Churches in Spain sung it before the Gospel; but this was forbidden by the Fourth Council of Toledo, A.D. 633, on the ground that "the Canons ordered that after the Apostle, not Lauds but the Gospel be proclaimed." 3

The old Missals for a long period directed that the Alleluia should be sung with a Neuma, or more correctly Pneuma.1 This was a note or series of notes on which the final vowel of that word was sung.5 The Pneuma was employed to give a more jubilant character to the chant, and was in fact often called the Jubilatio, or Jubilus. It was also called the

1 Leslie, pp. 2, 223. It is sung throughout the year, except in Lent. In the Missal (Leslie, pp. 91, 5), however, it is marked to be sung on Ash-Wednesday and the First Sunday in Lent.

26 Lauds, that is, the singing of the Alleluia."-Isidore of Seville, De Eccl. Off. L. i. c. 13; Hitt. col. 187. A versicle is always sung, which, when the Alleluia is dropped in Lent, is still called Lauda.-Leslie, pp. 99, 102, etc.

3 Can. xii. Labb. tom. v. col. 1709.

4 It is the Greek Tveûμa, though often treated as a feminine noun. "Neuma of the feminine gender," says Beleth, "is a jubilation (jubilus), as at the end of Antiphons, but Pneuma of the neuter gender is the Holy Ghost."-Div. Off. Explic. c. xxxviii. Sim. Durand. Ration. L. v. c. ii. n. 33.

5"We jubilate rather than sing and draw out one short syllable of suitable discourse into many Neumes (Neumas) or variations of Neumes." -Rupert, Tuit. De Div. Off. L. i. c. 35; Hitt. col. 867. Sim. Durand. L. iv. c. xx. n. 5 (copying Rupert). Elsewhere the latter says, "The Neuma is made on a single and that the last letter of the Antiphon."L. v. c. ii. n. 32.

6 Amalarius, De Eccl. Off. L. iii. c. 16; Hitt. col. 411 :—“ This Jubilatio, which the singers call the Sequence." Sim. pseudo-Alcuin, De Div. Off. col. 277. The earlier printed copies of Ordo Rom. ii. (Mus. Ital. tom. ii. p. 45) had the clause Sequitur jubilatio, quam Sequentiam vocant, which Mabillon omitted, because he only knew of the rhythmical Sequences of Notker, etc., and because Amal. does not notice it in his Ecloga.— Note, u.s.

4

7 See Joh. Beleth and Durand. as in note above; Honorius, Gemma, L. i. c. 88; Hitt. col. 1206. Jubilation, according to S. Augustine, is the modulated utterance of a cry of joy, not expressing itself in words :"Those who sing in the harvest-field or vineyard, or at any other earnest work, when they have begun to exult with joy in the words of their songs, as if filled with so great a joy that they cannot express it by words, quit the syllables of the words, and go off into a sound of jubilation." In Ps. xxxii. Serm. i. § 8; tom. v. col. 255. Sim. Ps. xcix. n. 4; tom. vi. col. 355. Hence the Medieval Ritualists constantly explain the Neuma as an emblem addressed to the ear of the unspoken praises of Paradise or Heaven :-"It brings to our mind that state in which the utterance of words will not be needed."-Amalar. De Eccl. Off. L. iii. c. 16; Hitt. col. 411. Pseudo-Alcuin, De Div. Off. ibid. col. 277. Sim. Hildebert in the text. Robertus Paululus, De Off. Eccl. L. ii. c. 19; Hitt. col. 1398, etc.