Anthems are of two sorts--simple Anthems and compound Anthems. A simple Anthem is one or more verses (often from Holy Scripture), used to give character to a Psalm. A compound Anthem is a Hymn or Psalm followed by a Verse, Respond, and Prayer. A simple Anthem was used, for example, to give an Easter, Advent, &c. character to _Venite_. Thus Dec. 16 is marked in the Calendar as _O Sapientia_ because on that day the following Anthem was used with Magnificat: O Wisdom, which camest forth out of the mouth of the Most High, and reachest from one end to the other, mightily and sweetly ordering all things; Come and teach us the way of prudence. These words are taken, with some alteration, from Wisd. viii. 1. On each of the seven days which follow, until Dec. 23, a different Anthem was used with Magnificat; and forasmuch as these eight Anthems begin with O (O Wisdom, O Lord, O Root of Jesse, &c.), they were known as the O Anthems. Similarly on The Epiphany, S. Matth. ii. 1, 2, 11 was sung as an Antiphon to Magnificat; and on Whitsunday S. John iv. 23. {147} These are instances of the use of simple Anthems in the Services before 1549. The following illustrates the purpose for which they were appointed. It will be observed that the Advent thought was made to pervade the whole Psalm. ADVENT SETTING OF VENITE. Behold the King cometh. Let us go to meet our Saviour. O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our Salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving: and shew ourselves glad in him with Psalms. Behold the King cometh. Let us go to meet our Saviour. For the Lord is a great God: and a great King above all gods. In his hand are all the corners of the earth: and the strength of the hills is his also. Let us go to meet our Saviour. The sea is his, and he made it; and his hands prepared the dry land. O come, let us worship, and fall down: and kneel before the Lord our Maker, for he is the Lord our God: and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Behold the King cometh. Let us go to meet our Saviour. To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts: as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness. When your fathers tempted me: proved me and saw my works. Let us go to meet our Saviour. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said; It is a people that do err in their hearts, for they have not known my ways. Unto whom I sware in my wrath: that they should not enter into my rest. Behold the King cometh. Let us go to meet our Saviour. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Let us go to meet our Saviour. Behold thy King cometh. Let us go to meet our Saviour. {148} THE COMPOUND ANTHEM. The Prioress, in Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_, relates that a