every crevice and corner recognized the present God. "Thou art Peter and on this rock will I build my Church." We were standing upon Peter's grave, this was that Church, against which the gates of hell had not prevailed, for to that hour it was believed that what his successors willed on earth, the same should be done in heaven. The daily services are performed in a chapel apart from the body of the Cathedral, but the famous ceremonies on Easter Sunday, Christmas Day and other great holidays, take place at the High Altar and directly under the dome. I went to see the celebration on Christmas Day. The central aisle was occupied by soldiery, who formed in two lines a pathway to receive the procession of the Pope and Cardinals. On this occasion official persons are expected to appear in full uniform. Military men displayed their stars and medals, while civilians were dressed in black evening suits. The ladies sat alone, apart from the crowd, on both sides of the altar, all dressed alike in black gowns, with bare heads and veils; such being the costume which they are appointed to wear, and without which they cannot obtain admittance to the seats reserved for their use. Then the music and the chants began, simple, grand and mournful, never loud, but reaching everywhere, and so sweet that no believer could listen to them without tears. As the sound of the organ swelled up and floated down the aisles, at last it was answered by the soldiery with a gentle blowing of silver trumpets, here and there and everywhere, till the whole Cathedral was filled with exquisite melody Hark, the Herald angels sing Glory to the new born King.— The angels themselves could never have sung more sweetly. It was a fit commemoration for the first day of that grand simple life, made up of sorrow and suffering and peace at last. The service was not meant to be mournful, but in its effect it was so, owing partly to its own exquisite sweetness, and partly to the remembrance that all was in honour of the birth of a little child, who was only allowed to grow up in order to renounce his life for men. And here in turn was a world devoted to him-Bishops and Cardinals grown old in every earthly honour, dedicating all their gifts of fame and fortune-ladies, many of them amongst the noblest in Europe, seen now in the lowly garb of nuns, and who were supposed to be offering to the Lord their purity, the best thing that they had the soldiery too were present, to consecrate all : their strength and valour to the same great service. When the celebration was over, the Pope was borne down the aisle under a silver canopy, and so slowly that he appeared to float over the heads of the people, while with closed lips he waved a benediction. Soon the whole Piazza outside resounded with the rolling of drums and the rattle of wheels, as the carriages of the Bishops and Cardinals drove away, making a long line of purple and gold, up the street and across the Tiber, while the flags flew and the music played and the people rejoiced, the great Cathedral all the time standing out gigantic against a perfect sky. Pilgrims go from all parts of Europe to witness these celebrations at Rome; they are rewarded for their labour, and no wonder, for if the service had such an effect on me, how much greater must be its force for a true disciple of the " Catholic Church": I should gladly see the Papal power overthrown to-morrow, and yet I thought the services of Christmas Day and Easter Sunday the most sublime acts of devotion which I had ever known. A FEW WORDS ABOUT CHURCH PSALMODY. FEW things are easier to a musician than to write a Psalm tune; few things are more difficult than to write a good one. Apparently one of the easiest forms of Musical Composition, it is in reality one of the hardest. The truth of this assertion is perceived at once when we look at the vast number of Psalm-tunes issued from the press every year and see the loose, vague, unmeaning character of the great part of them. The difficulties of Psalm-tune writing are of quite an opposite character to those belonging to other forms of Musical Composition in the one the writer is curbed and checked at every turn, in the other he is bewildered by the absence of any kind of restraint. Thus each requires abilities of a very different order; the one requires persevering plodding industry, the other natural musical genius of no common quality. In other forms of Musical Composition the composer chooses the words that happen to suit his fancy best, he may repeat particular clauses and words just as he pleases, and provided he renders the spirit of the words, he may take many little liberties with them. His fancy must not be curbed nor his imagination restrained in the slightest degreethe one great thing to be considered is the musical effect. But it is not so with the Psalm-tune writer. A few fixed forms of words are given to him to which he is to write music. He may not repeat clauses or words, he may not in any way alter them, if he would perform his task properly he must write no more or no less than one note to one syllable,* It is gratifying to find that the views on this subject which the writer expressed in a former number of The Eagle are confirmed and borne out by the writers of the Reformation age. Here is a passage from Bishop Coverdale: "And at the quire door, beside the table of the Lord, stand two good sober singing men which (commonly a quarter of an hour afore the sermon) begin a psalm, and all the people, both young and old, with one voice do sing with them, after such a fashion that every note answereth to a syllable and every syllable to one note commonly and no more, so that a man may well understand what they sing." and he must render the spirit of the words generally. But a very limited range is allowed to his fancy beyond which it is not on any account to stray. There must be no new or startling effect in his music, it must be uniform and sober throughout, never gay or boisterous, but cheerful and dignified. The harmonies which he uses must be of the simplest character possible, but they must never degenerate and become poor and barren. In all this, if there is Scylla on the one hand, Charybdis is on the other, and it is no easy matter to steer between them. Now with all these restraints and checks which ought to be absolutely binding and imperative (for to break them is to sacrifice a great principle) it is no easy task to write a good Psalm-tune. It requires a thoroughly sound and accurate knowledge of the progression, combination and effect of musical sounds. To acquire such knowledge requires years of patient study devotedly applied to this one object. A slight knowledge of the general rules of Harmony and thorough bass is not a sufficient qualification for the task of Psalm-tune writing. There is a distinctive and individual character in Psalm-tunes, and they ought to be studied as such. Psalmody is an art in itself, and in order to excel in it, it must be thoroughly worked out. "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing," says the proverb—and so it is in this case. It is impossible to over-estimate the harm which a slender and superficial knowledge of the subject together with a fair proportion of assurance, has done to the cause of Psalmody for the People. Many conclusions have been jumped at and many unwarrantable assumptions made, which a little more thought would have shewn to be altogether false. But it is the fault of the age. tionalism and showiness now pervade almost everything that is said or done, and Psalmody has not escaped the disease. The style that is in greatest repute now is gaudy and flaring: its chief characteristic is showiness under the garb of simplicity. If this showiness lay on the surface there would not be so much danger in it; but it lies deeper, it lies close to the root and is gradually eating it away. The showiness of the old part-tunes, as they were often called, was merely froth on the surface, and as such was soon perceived and easily taken away. But in the style of Psalmody now in fashion there is absolute rottenness. For this there is no cure or remedy, the only thing to be done is to throw it completely away. shall see the truth of these remarks by comparing the two styles briefly. No feature was more marked in the Psalmody of the 18th century than the showiness and elaboration of the |