RHYTHMICAL
27
RHYTHMICAL
which they ignore who say that the singing of psalma
in EngUsh began with the Reformation. Sir Thomas
Wyat (d. 1521) is said to have done the whole psalter.
We have only "Certayne Psalmes chosen out of the
Psalter of David, commonlye called the VII Peni-
tential Psalmes, Drawen into English metre ". Henry
Howard, Earl of Surrey (d. 1547), translated Pss.
Iv, Ixxiii, Ixxxviii into English verse. Miles Cover-
dale (d. 1567) translated several psalms in "Goastly
psalmes and spirituall songs drawen out of the Holy
Scripture ". The old Version of the Anglican Church,
printed at the end of the Prayer Book (1562) con-
tains thirty-seven rhyming psalms translated by
Thomas Sternhold, fifty-eight by John Hopkins,
twenty-eight by Thomas Norton, and the remainder
by Robert Wisdom (Ps. cxxv), William Whittingham
(Ps. cxix of 700 lines) and others. Sternhold's
psalms had been previously published (1549).
Robert Crowley (1549) did the entire psalter into
verse. The Seven Penitential Psalms were trans-
lated by very many; William Hunnis (1583) entitles
his translation, with quaint Elizabethan conceit,
"Seven Sobs of a Sorrowful Soul for Sinne". During
the reign of Edward VI, Sir Thomas Smith translated
ninety-two of the psalms into English verse, while
imprisoned in the Tower. A chaplain to Queen Mary,
calling himself the "symple and unlearned Syr
William Forrest, preeiste", did a poetical version of
fifty psalms (1551). Matthew Parker (1557), later
Archbishop of Canterbury, completed a metrical
psalter. The Scotch had their Psalmes buickes from
1564. One of the most renowned of Scotch versifiers
of the Psalms was Robert Pont (1575). Zachary
Boyd, another Scotchman, published the Psalms in
verse early in the seventeenth century. Of English
rhyming versifications of the Psalms, the most charm-
ing are those of Sir Philip Sidney (d. 1586) together
with his sister. Countess of Pembroke. This com-
plete psalter was not published till 1823. The rich
variety of the versification is worthy of note; almost
all the usual varieties of lyric metres of that lyric age
are called into requisition and handled with elegance.
The stately and elegant style of Lord Bacon is
distinctive of his poetical paraphrases of several
psalms. Richard Vcrstegan, a Catholic, published
a rhyming version of the Seven Penitential Psalms
(1601). George Sandys (1636) published a volume
containing a metrical version of other parts of the
Bible together with "a Paraphrase upon the Psalmes
of David, set to new Tunes for Private Devotion,
and a Thorow Base for Voice and Instruments";
his work is touching in its simplicity and unction.
The Psalm Books of the various Protestant churches
are mostly rhyming versions and are numerous:
New England Psalm Book (Boston, 1773); Psalm
Book of the Reformed Dutch Church in North
America (New York, 1792); The Bay Psalm Book
(Cambridge, 1640). Noteworthy also, among the
popular and more recent rhymed psalters are:
Brady and Tate (poet laureate), "A new Version of
the Psalms of David" (Boston, 1762); James Mer-
rick, "The Psalms in English Verse" (Reading,
England, 1765); I. Watts, "The Psalms of David"
(27th ed., Boston, 1771); J. T. Barrett, "A Course
of Psalms" (Lambeth, 1825); Abraham Coles, "A
New Rendering of the Hebrew Psalms into English
Verse" (New York, 1885); David S. Wrangham,
"Lyra Regis" (Leeds, 1885); Arthur Trevor Jebb,
"A Book of Psalms" (London, 1898). Such are the
chief rhyming English psalters. Other parts of
Holy Writ done into rhyming English verse are:
Christopher Tye's "The Acts of the Apostles trans-
lated into English Metre" (1553); Zachary Boyd's
"St. Matthew" (early seventeenth cent.); Thomas
Prince's "Canticles, parts of Isaias and Revelations"
in New England Psalm Book (1758); Henry Ains-
wort, "Solomon's Song of Songs" (1642); John
Mason Good's "Song of Songs" (London, 1803);
C. C. Price's "Acts of the Apostles" (New York,
1845). The French have had rhyming psalters since
the "Sainctes Chansonettes en Rime FranQaise" of
Clement Marot (1540). Some Italian rhymed ver-
sions of the Bible are: Abbate Francesco Rezzano,
"II Libro di Giobbe" (Nice, 1781); Stefano Egidio
Petroni, "Proverbi di Salomone" (London, 1815) j
Abbate Pietro Rossi, " Lamentazioni di Geremia, i
Sette Salmi Penitenziali e il Cantico di Mose"
(Nizza, 1781); Evasio Leone, "II Cantico de'
Cantici" (Venice, 1793); Francesco Campana,
"Libro di Giuditta" (Nizza, 1782).
Bibliotheca Sussexinna, II (London, 1839) ; Warton, History of English Poetry (1774-81); Holland, The Psalmists of Britain (London, 1843). WALTER DruM.
Rhythmical OfUce. — I. Description, Develop- ment, AND Division. — By rhythmical office is meant a liturgical horary prayer, the canonical hours of the priest, or an office of the Breviary, in which not only the hymns are regulated by a certain rhythm, but where, with the exception of the psalms and lessons, practically all the other parts show metre, rhythm, or rhyme; such parts for instance as the antiphons to each psalm, to the Magnificat, Invitatorium, and Benedictus, likewise the responses and versicles to the prayers, and after each of the nine lessons; quite often also the benedictions before the lessons, and the antiphons to the minor Horce (Prime, Terce, Sext, and None).
The old technical term for such an office was Historia, with or without an additional "rhytmata" or rimala, an expression that frequently caused mis- understanding on the part of later writers. The reason for the name lay in the fact that originally the antiphons or the responses, and sometimes the two together, served to amplify or comment upon the history of a saint, of which there was a brief sketch in the readings of the second nocturn. Grad- ually this name was transferred to offices in which no word was said about a "history", and thus we find the expression "Historia ss. Trinitatis". The structure of the ordinary office of the Breviary in which antiphons, psalms, hymns, lessons, and re- sponses followed one another in fixed order, was the natural form for the rhythmical office. It was not a question of inventing something new, as with the hymns, sequences, or other kinds of poetry, but of creating a text in poetic form in the place of a text in prose form, where the scheme existed, definitely arranged in all its parts. A development therefore which could eventually serve as a basis for the division of the rhythmical offices into distinct classes is of itself limited to a narrow field, namely the ex- ternal form of the parts of the office as they appear in poetic garb. Here we find in historical order the following characters: (1) a metrical, of hexameters intermixed with prose or rhymed prose; (2) a rhyth- mical, in the broadest sense, which will be explained below; (3) a form embellished by strict rhythm and rhyme. Consequently one may distinguish three classes of rhythmical offices: (1) metrical offices, in hexameters or distichs; (2) offices in rhymed prose, i. e., offices with very free and irregular rhythm, or with dissimilar assonant long lines; (3) rhymed of- fices with regular rhythm and harmonious artistic structure. The second class represents a state of transition, wherefore the groups may be called those of the first epoch, the groups of the transition period, and those of the third epoch, in the same way as with the sequences, although with the latter the characteristic difference is much more pronounced. If one desires a general name for all three groups, the expression "Rhymed Office", as suggested by ^'His- toria rimata" would be quite appropriate for the pars major et potior, which includes the best and most artistic offices ; this designation : ' 'gereimtes Officium "
