Chapter XVIII

[1]The condition of congregational singing at this time is reported by
Rev. Thomas Walter as follows: “Our tunes are left to the mercy of
every unskilful throat to chop and alter, to twist and change,
according to their infinitely diverse and no less odd humors and
fancies. I have myself paused twice in one note to take breath. No
two men in the congregation quaver alike or together; it sounds in
the ears of a good judge like five hundred tunes roared out at the
same time with perpetual interferings with one another.”

[2]It is related of a New England minister, Rev. T. Bellamy, that
after the choir had outdone all its past discord and blundering in
rendering the Psalm, he announced another and admonished his
choir, “You must try again, for it is impossible to preach after
such singing.”