Fig. 19.
[25.]—The stems of rests are always turned downwards.
[26.]—There is also a definite rule as to the side of a note at which the stem should be placed: stems turned upwards should be at the right-hand side of the note-head, those downwards, at the left. This rule is observed less in the case of half notes than of shorter notes—for what reason the writer is unable to say.
[27.]—At one time whole notes and shorter notes were not round, but lozenge-shaped, the longer notes being square, and the stem was then in the middle, thus
. These gave way to round notes about the seventeenth century. Playford's well-known Whole Booke of Psalms, published about 1675, was probably one of the earliest books printed wholly with round notes.