among Christians of former ages, which appeared suited to his purpose, without probably troubling himself to inquire by whose authority it had been introduced. He also reformed the chant, which, since the time of Ambrose, had undergone very little alteration, and introduced what has since been known as the Gregorian, or Plain Chant. He was opposed to the lively airs of the Pagan music, which had come into the church along with the lyric hymns, and attempted to substitute something more grave in its place. Undoubtedly he laid the foundation for an improved style, and deserves to be considered as a benefactor to sacred music, however barbarous some of his changes may have been pronounced at the time, or since. If he simplified the music of the church in some respects, however, in others he was accused of encumbering it. Some of his friends were disgusted with the new forms he adopted, particularly his imitation of the customs of the church of Constantinople. They disliked exceedingly his frequent introduction of " Hallelujahs," with various ascriptions, invocations, and phrases, to which their ears had been heretofore unaccustomed, the repetition of the Lord's Prayer, and other innovations, as they termed them. In favor of most of his changes he contrived to allege some pretence of antiquity, particularly the repetition of "Hallelujahs," which, he says, Jerome took from the church of Jerusalem, and brought to Rome in the time of Pope Damasus, in the fourth century.

It is asserted on the authority of John, a deacon of Rome, who wrote his life, that the original Antiphonarium, or choral book of Gregory, was in existence in his time, near three hundred years after Gregory's death, as also the bed on which the old invalid pope lay, and the whip "wherewith he threatened the young clerks, and the singing boys, when they were out, or failed in the notes; for he instituted a school for the education of his choir, and did not consider it as derogating from the dignity of his office, it seems, to superintend it in person.

Having stated these few general facts relating to the mode of singing in the ancient churches, we proceed to give a brief account of the writers of the old hymns, so far as known to us. We begin by observing, that we find no mention of any writer of hymns, by name, till near the expiration of the second century from the birth of Christ, and have no remains of the hymns used during that period, nor do we know anything of their nature, except what Pliny, referring to his own time, tells us in

his well-known letter to Trajan, that they were sung in honor of Christ. Origen, too, says, that Christians were accustomed to sing hymns to God and to his only Son, as the Pagans to the sun, moon, and stars; and others have expressed themselves in similar general terms. The author of an anonymous treatise against the heretic Marcion, quoted by Eusebius, appeals to the "Psalms and Hymns of the brethren, written at the beginning, by the faithful," and "setting forth the praises of Christ, the word of life."* But no authors are named, and, as we have said, no fragment of the hymns is left us.

The earliest writers of hymns, whose names are preserved, belonged to the Syrian church. The first of any note is Bardesanes, the Heresiarch, a subtle, learned, and eloquent writer, near the end of the second century. He is said, on the authority of Ephrem, the Syrian, to have written one hundred and fifty psalms or hymns, in elegant verse, in imitation of the psalms of David, which contributed greatly to the diffusion of his errors. He corrupted the faith of the young in particular, says Ephrem, by the "sweetness and beauty of his verses." Harmonius, his son, inherited his father's genius for poetry, and, after his example, composed a great number of hymns and odes adapted to the lyre, by which he charmed the ears of the people. From these sources, the Syrians eagerly drank in the poison of heresy. Unfortunately, however, the hymns are lost, and we have no means therefore of ascertaining how far the praises bestowed on them were deserved. The infusion of heresy they contained, it appears, caused them to be proscribed, and, no doubt, hastened their destruction. They must have been in use, however, among the Syrians for a century, or a century and a half; for they retained their popularity in the time of Ephrem, the Syrian, above alluded to, who flourished about A. D. 370, and whose writings were in such esteem, says Jerome, that they were sometimes read in the churches after the Scriptures.

Ephrem wrote hymns and odes by thousands. He diligently studied the poetical productions of Bardesanes and Harmonius, who were his models, and whose sweetness he attempted to emulate, in the hope of inducing his countrymen to lay aside those

* Euseb. L. V. c. 28.

† See Sozomen, L. III. c. 16. Beausobre, Hist. de Manichée et du Manicheisme, T. II. p. 140. Also, Bardesanes Gnosticus Syrorum Primus Hymnologus: by Hahn. Lips. 1819.

pernicious compositions, and sing his own more orthodox lays.* Many of his hymns were of necessity of a controversial character. His design was to set the Eastern world right, on certain points of doctrine, in regard to which the above-named writers had led it astray. He succeeded in excluding their hymns, and causing his own to be substituted in their place. Their beauty was much vaunted by the Syrians, and they are said to be used in their churches to the present day. Multitudes of his hymns, or hymns attributed to him, on various incidents in our Saviour's history and life, his passion, resurrection, and ascension, on the dead, and in celebration of the martyrs, and on other subjects, are still preserved among his works. But whatever sweetness they possessed, or may possess, to the Syrian ear, modern lovers of poetry among us, we fear, will find in them few charms.†

The connexion of Ephrem with Bardesanes has led us to anticipate a little. Returning to the beginning of the third century, it is only necessary to mention a hymn found among the writings of Clement of Alexandria, and by some attributed to him, though it may be doubted, perhaps, whether he was the author. + Passing by Hippolytus, who wrote odes on the Scriptures, which are lost, and Athenogenes, the martyr, who is reported by Basil to have been the author of a hymn, which he delivered to the bystanders at the moment of his death, and which is also lost, we come to Nepos, an Egyptian bishop, who flourished a little before the middle of the third century. Nepos wrote a treatise on the millennium, in reply to which Dionysius of Alexandria, in a passage preserved by Eusebius,§ and written after the death of Nepos, speaks of him with affection, and mentions among his other merits, that he composed "much Psalmody," with which many of the brethren continued

* Soz. III. 16; Theod. IV. 29. See also Asseman. Biblioth. Orient. T. I. art. Ephrem, who was called the prophet of the Syrians, and harp of the Holy Spirit.

† A selection of them has recently been published in Germany, with a Glossary for the use of students in Syriac, under the following title: Chrestomathia Syriaca, Sive S. Ephraemi Carmina Selecta. Ediderunt Notis Criticis, Philologicis, Historicis, et Glossario Locupletissimo. Illustraverunt A. Hahn, et Friedricus Ludovicus Sieffert. Lipsiæ. 1825.

See Fabricius, Biblioth. Græc. L. V. c. 1. Fabricius gives two hymns reported to be ancient; the authors of which are not known. We pass over two or three Syriac writers about the time of Bardesanes, or a little later, as not of sufficient importance to require notice. § L. VII. c. 24.

to be delighted. The character of his productions, however, is matter of conjecture, no fragment of them having been preserved.

We come next to the famous Paul of Samosata, who appeared on the stage a few years later. Of Paul we know little, except from the representations of his enemies, which are to be listened to with great distrust. That he enjoyed the friendship of Zenobia, the celebrated Queen of Palmyra, and found an unrelenting foe in Aurelian, the murderer of Longinus, is certainly no discredit to him. That he was too fond of pomp and display, and in other respects exhibited an inordinate vanity, is not to be doubted. To his many popular qualities, and eminent gifts of intellect, he added the zeal of a reformer, which, after all, we suspect, was his great crime in the eye of the bishops, an offence they could never forget nor forgive. He contended for what he regarded as the ancient simplicity of the doctrine of Christ. He undertook also to reform the psalmody of his church, abolishing the psalms and hymns then in use, as recent, and the compositions of modern men." It is added, that on a certain occasion, the festival of Easter, he appointed women to sing psalms in his own commendation in the body of the church." But this, it must be recollected, is the charge of his enemies, and is to be taken, it may be presumed, with some grains of allowance. As none of the hymns alluded to remain, we cannot judge of their import for ourselves. It can hardly be supposed, however, that one zealous, as was Paul, to restore the old doctrine, and old music, who rejected the hymns in use in his church, on the ground that they were novel; and, as we may suppose, in his opinion, inculcated sentiments at variance with the ancient faith, would be guilty of all the innovations and extravagance attributed to him.*

66

Paul is not the only heretic, or reformer, by whichsoever name he may be called, who was accused of making use of music or hymns to captivate the popular ear, or to serve as a channel to convey his private sentiments. We have mentioned Bardesanes, and might add Valentine, Marcus, his disciple, and Faustus. Arius, too, was reproached for writing doctrinal hymns, particularly for mariners, and those employed at the mill, or who were travelling; and his followers, at a subsequent period,

* See Letter of the Bishops, Euseb. L. VII. c. 30.

as we shall hereafter see, availed themselves of the charms of melody, to win the fickle multitude at Constantinople.

Cotemporary with Arius, we find Juvencus, by birth a Spaniard, of noble extract, according to Jerome. Du Pin pronounces him an "excellent poet; "and other writers have attributed to him no small portion of poetic genius. He wrote the life of Christ, in Hexameter verse, without wandering from the text of the four Evangelists. He also wrote hymns, which are now lost.

Hilary of Poictiers, a little later, a learned, but obscure and inflated writer, was also, according to Jerome, the author of a book of hymns; but the productions of his muse fared no better than those of his predecessors. Envious time has devoured all.

Ambrose, too, wrote several hymns; among which Augustine mentions the "Deus Creator Omnium."* The others, which sometimes go under his name, and some of which are found in the Breviaries, are of uncertain authorship.t

Among the early Christian poets, the best known and most esteemed, perhaps, is Prudentius. The extravagant praise be

* Conf. L. X. c. 12.

The tradition, which makes the "Te Deum Laudamus," the joint production of Ambrose and Augustine, first sung by them at the baptism of the latter by Ambrose, or which asserts, (for such is one version of the story,) that it was received by Augustine, while at the font as the effect of sudden inspiration, has been long exploded. By common consent of critics, it is referred to a later age. Archbishop Usher states some reasons for ascribing it to Nicetius, bishop of Treves, a hundred years after Augustine's death, or to another of the same name, though some fragments of old hymns may have entered into its composition. De Symbolis, p. 3. See also Bingham, Antiquities of the Christian church, L. XIV. c. 11, § 9, and Tentzel referred to by Le Clerc. Biblioth, Univ. et Hist. T. XXV. p. 57.

Augustine, though no poet, yet occasionally, it seems, tried his hand at writing hymns. He has one on the Donatist controversy. Gray, the poet, quotes some jingling lines of Augustine, in which rhyme occurs in the middle of the verse, to show that rhyming verses were known in the church as early as about A. D. 420. The most ancient instance of rhyming, however, he observes, after Sir William Temple, is that of the Emperor Adrian, A. D. 137. Gray's Works, by Mathias, Vol. II. p. 31.

The old Christian poetry was partly metrical, and partly rhythmical, which disregards in a great measure the quantity of syllables, though it aims at a certain uniformity of cadence. This was the more popular species, and was very early introduced into the church. For some remarks on this subject, see Hallam, Introduction to the Literature of Europe, Vol. I. p. 23, Ed. Par.