VII. How much better was the church with the plain chant, the only one known in it for many ages, and which, for the most part, was composed by the monks of St. Benedict, who were the greatest masters in the world at that time, among whom, should be first reckoned Gregory the Great, and the celebrated Guido Aretinus; after them came John Murs, a doctor of the Sorbonne, who invented the notes, which mark the various duration of the points; and truly, the simplicity of that chant, was not deficient in melodies, capable of moving the passions, and sweetly suspending the hearers. The compositions of Guido Aretinus were reckoned so pathetic, that cardinal Baronius tells us, that, in the year 1022, pope Gregory VIII. sent for him from his convent of Arezzo, and would not let him depart his presence, till he had taught him to sing a short verse of his Antiphonario. This was the person who invented the modern system of music, or artificial progression, which is now used, and called the scale of Guido Aretinus. He also contrived the harmonious combination of voices, in different tones; which art, was in all probability known to the antients, but all traces of it were then lost. VIII. The plain chant, executed with proper pauses, has a peculiar excellence for the use of churches, which is, that being incapable of exciting such affections as are raised by theatrical music, it necessarily follows, that it must be the best adapted to induce such as are proper for the church. Who, by the sonorous majesty of the hymn _Vexilla Regis_, by the festive gravity of the _Pange Lingua_, by the mournful tenderness of the _Invitatorio de Difuntos_, would not feel himself excited to veneration, devotion, and contrition? We hear these chants every day, notwithstanding which, they always seem pleasing; when at the same time, after half a dozen repetitions, modern compositions grow tiresome and unsavoury to us. IX. I would not however, on this account, quarrel with the figured, or, as it is commonly called, the organ chant; as I am sensible, it has great advantages over the plain; because it preserves and marks the accents on the words, which in the plain chant is impossible; and because the different duration of the points, produce to the ear that agreeable effect, which is caused to the sight, by a well-proportioned inequality of colours. It is only the abuse that has been introduced in the organ chant, which makes me prefer the plain one; and am in this respect, like a man who anxiously covets plain food, and avoids the more delicate, when he knows it is corrupted. SECT. IV.