to procure, if you have not already procured, the new book, and lay aside the old? I will tell you. You know the look of those black square notes that you meet in this and in every liturgical book. You may have remarked that some of those square notes have lines or "tails" erect or dependent. Well, these tailed notes are the long or accentuated notes, and show that the syllables to which they belong are those on which the reading accent falls. In this they are like the accents placed over the text of your missals and breviaries. Now, in the old Exequiae book, these tailed notes were placed very often over the syllables on which no correct reader would lay the accent. In the new book these tailed notes, or accent notes, are made to correspond with the accentuated syllables. The version in the old notation is:

Dies iraé, dies illá

Solvet saeclum in favillá
Teste David cum Sibylla.

In the new we read:

Dies írae, dies illa,

Solvet saeclum in favilla,

Teste David cum Sibylla.

That is to say, the main advantage of the new book is, that the notes in it help you to read correctly, while in the old book they did not, but rather led you to put the accents in the wrong place. I tell you that, Gentlemen, not because you will look much at the notes, even in the new book; but because the change made points to the importance of this first and greatest rule of plain chant, Sing as you read.'

The next rule I would give you (I am choosing such rules as suit Incurables) is keep together. I need not tell you that no prize awaits him who is "first in " at the end of a psalm-verse; nor is he more deserving whose drawling piety keeps him behind the rest. The choir is a place for the practice of every Christian virtue. Humility will prevent that ruinous ambition of being first in the race—or, rather of making a race, that one may be first in it. Piety will suggest such a reverent reading of the words as will make it easy for the singers to hear one another; and charity will rejoice at the unity of voice and heart of those who chant the Divine praises together. Listen while you sing, especially you, Incurables; by doing so you will come

1 Cantabis syllabas sicut pronuntiaveris. Guidetti. Directorium Chori.

to know how fast or how slow your neighbours are singing, and you and they will keep together.

Again, sing gently. How many an office would have been saved, had Incurables kept that rule! By gentle singing, your untaught and, as we suppose, unteachable voices, will insensibly assume the pitch and tones of the others, and will not, at any rate, lead them astray and spoil their singing and their tempers. You may be as distinct as you like, the more so the better; a well-articulated whisper travels farther with its word-burden than any amount of shouting. Besides, gentle singing is very seldom nasal. The voice does not go into the nose unless forced there, and we all know what it is to hear singing or reading through the nose. Lip service may be condemned; but it is piety compared to nose service! Avoid, then, these trumpetings by singing gently.

Well, Gentlemen, I have kept you long enough, and have, I am sure you feel, lectured you sufficiently. Remember those three simple rules; they are sufficient for Incurables-Sing as you read. Keep together. Sing gently. If you sing thus, the chant of the Incurables will cease to be a sorrow to those who hear, and will be, by reason of its humility and earnest care, a song, weak and harsh perhaps on earth, but strong and harmonious in A. RYAN.

heaven.

"CATHOLIC PHILOSOPHY AND THE ROYAL UNIVERSITY PROGRAMME."

VE were all prepared for Dr. McGrath's pamphlet1 by the article which he published in the RECORD a short time ago. We expected much; and the highest hopes have not been disappointed. The gifted writer shows the same grasp of the question at issue, the same power of clear statement, the same calm moderation; whilst his views are advocated with even greater force of reasoning, and his present subject supplies a much larger field for the display of extensive and accurate reading in Philosophy.

The question which he discusses is this: "What form of programme in the department of Philosophy at the Royal University would be, all circumstances considered,

1 Catholic Philosophy and the Royal University Programme. By the Rev. Thomas McGrath, D.D., Holy Cross College, Clonliffe. Dublin: M. H. Gill and Son.

the best calculated to protect and promote the great Catholic interests here at stake?" He asks no favour for Catholics; he wants but a fair field; and he is confident that, on these conditions, the students of our colleges will give as good an account of themselves in Philosophy as they have given in the other subjects.

Very little consideration is required to convince one's self of the difficulty of the question. A slight acquaintance with the works of Mill, or Bain, or Spencer, will show how totally different their Philosophy is from ours.

The matter

is different; so is the manner of treatment; but particularly so is the terminology. Take up any of the leading reviews, read one of the philosophical essays, and, except you are an expert, you will soon be lost in a maze of words. How many fairly well-instructed readers can follow the philosophy of even "Daniel Deronda ?

I am not now concerned with apportioning blame; it is no matter whose fault this may be; we are dealing with facts; and it is an admitted fact that the two systems are almost as different as two distinct sciences. The difficulty of finding a programme which shall give each a fair field and no favour is to be measured by the difference between the systems themselves.

There are three questions to be considered: The programme, the examination papers, and the prizes. The first two are discussed very fully in Dr. McGrath's pamphlet. He is engaged for the most part in pulling down; and so indeed every true reformer must begin, nor is it the duty of a private individual to propose a working system. Nevertheless, Dr. McGrath contributes most valuable suggestions as to what we should try to set up again.

That some reform was needed has been acknowledged even by the Senate, for they changed the programme at their last meeting. It does not come within the scope of this notice to inquire how the change will work; Dr. McGrath published his pamphlet before the change, and must have very largely contributed to bring it about.

He brings two grave charges against the old programme; that it was incomplete, and that it was anti-Catholic. Let us see how they are sustained.

And first, was the programme incomplete? Philosophy is divided into four great branches; Logic, Metaphysics, Ethics, and History of Philosophy.

LOGIC.-Here, of course, at least in Formal Logic, the Catholic and non-Catholic systems do not differ so much as they do in other branches of Philosophy. Yet they

differ most materially. Catholics lay special stress on Truth and its criteria; non-Catholics on Induction and its Methods. The University programme provided pretty equally for both, if the examinations were fairly conducted.

METAPHYSICS.-Catholic Philosophers divide this subject into four branches: Ontology, Psychology, Cosmology, and Natural Theology. Let us take them in order. Ontology.-The University programme was sufficiently complete; we shall see further on whether the examiners have been equally fair.

Psychology. Here the programme was very imperfect, as indeed might be expected. For, on the one hand, those psychological works which non-Catholics usually study, do not pretend to deal with the subject as Philosophy; they treat of phenomena. Thus, for instance, Mr. Sully tells us in his "Outlines of Psychology "1-outlines, by the way, which cover 700 pages--that "what mind is in itself as a substance is a question that lies outside psychology, and belongs to philosophy." Catholics take a very different view; they teach not only that the soul is a substance, but that it has distinct faculties; and they devote a very considerable part of their text-books to an explanation of these doctrines. The Senate drew up a programme which was to satisfy both paties; the result is shown in the following table. Terms expressing mere operations are of course omitted in both columns.

Cosmology. Here again the University programme was deplorably defective. It is needless to dilate on the importance of this branch; it embraces many, if not most, of the great questions of the day. And yet read this table:-(1)

How charmingly vague that reference is to "Matter and its different Modes and Qualities," especially in relation to Mind!

Natural Theology. This most important and extensive branch of Metaphysics is considered by Catholics most worthy of their study. They make perfect happiness consist in the knowledge and the love of God. The Beatific Vision is the heaven of the supernatural; but if we had never been raised to the higher state, we might

'All the tables, except this, are drawn up by Dr. McGrath.