In the most ancient music for keyed instruments, such as the organ, virginals, harpsichord, spinet, &c., a staff consisting of eleven lines was used, that is, five lines for the treble, and five lines for the bass, and a centre line, being the note C. This was improved upon by dividing the staff into two sixes, and repeating the C line twice over, viz. in the lower part of the treble staff, and in upper part of the bass staff. As music progressed, and performers required more scope for the movement of the hands, the staff of twelve lines was rent asunder, and the middle C line excluded altogether. It then became the custom to print the five upper lines and the five lower lines much more widely apart, as is now done in modern music. But it ought not to be forgotten that there is only one line really between them; that is to say, there are only three notes between the two sets of five lines, viz. the note below the upper five, the note above the lower five, and the note on that middle line, and that note is middle C, or, more properly, tenor C. A knowledge of this important fact would much facilitate the student in learning to read in the tenor cleff.
In decyphering the old virginal music, all we have to do is to leave out the lower line of the upper staff, and the higher one of the lower staff. It then reads like our modern music.
Edward F. Rimbault.
SCARFS WORN BY CLERGYMEN.
(Vol. vii., p. 143.)
The statement made in the Quarterly Review for June, 1851, p. 222., referred to in "N. & Q.," is very inadequate. The scarf now worn by many clergymen represents two ornaments very different, though now generally confounded, viz. the broad and the narrow scarf. I can well remember, in my boyhood, hearing mention made of the distinction between the broad and narrow scarf, then customarily observed by many; and this at a time when the res vestiaria, and matters connected with the ritual, had not become objects of public attention. The broad scarf was the distinction (of what standing I cannot pretend to say) used by chaplains of the king, and of privileged persons, by doctors in divinity, and by the capitular members of collegiate churches. It was worn with the surplice and gown; and, by doctors in divinity only, with the scarlet academical robe. The narrow scarf has been immemorially used by clergymen, whether priests or deacons, in many large towns, and by the clergy in some cathedrals, and not unfrequently by country clergymen. By custom, those who serve, or have served, the office of junior dean in Trinity College, Dublin, wear a scarf. In fact, it represents the stole, or that ornament (under whatever various names it was known) which, all through Christendom, had been a badge of the three orders of bishop, priest, and deacon. In the Church of England, however, none of those variations in its mode of arrangement, which elsewhere discriminates these three orders, have been retained. Is there any proof that it has not been used ever since the Reformation? And may not its very frequent disuse within memory
be attributable to that well-known slovenliness in ritual matters which was but too characteristic of the last century?
John Jebb.
Peterstow Rectory, Ross.