commonly called prebendary, a person who possesses a prebend, or revenue allotted for the performance of divine service in a cathedral or collegiate church. Originally, canons were only priests, or inferior ecclesiastics, who lived in community, residing near the cathedral church to assist the bishop, depending entirely on his will, supported by the revenues of his bishopric, and living in the same house as his domestics or counsellors, &c. By degrees these communities of priests, shaking off their dependence, formed separate bodies; in time they freed themselves from their rules, and at length ceased to live in a community. It is maintained, that the colleges of canons, which have been introduced into each cathedral, were not in the ancient church, but are of modern appointment.
In the Romish church, when a person is promoted to the office of a canon, he must be presented in a very ceremonious manner to the chapter, who assemble in the cathedral, in order to receive him: he kisses the altar thrice, after which he goes and takes his place in the choir; he afterwards makes his confession of faith aloud, and swears to observe the ordinances of the church and his holiness the pope: being thus solemnly installed, he is empowered to assist at the chapter, to chant the office of the choir, &c.
Canons are of various kinds; as,
Cardinal Canons, those attached, or, as the Latins call it, incardinati, to a church, as a priest is to a parish.
Domiciliary Canons, young canons, who, not being in orders, had no right in any particular chapters.
Expectative Canons were such as, without having any revenue or prebend, had the titles and dignities of canons, a voice in the chapter, and a place in the choir, till such time as a prebend should fall.
Foreign Canons, such as did not officiate in the canonnries to which they belonged. To these were opposed missionary canons.
Regular Canons, those who still live in community, and who, like religious, have, to the practice of their rules, added the solemn profession of vows.
Tertiary Canon, a person who had only the third part of the revenues of the canonicate.
an ecclesiastical sense, a law, rule, or regulation of the policy and discipline of a church, made by councils either general, national, or provincial.
Canons of the Apostles, a collection of ecclesiastical laws, which, though very ancient, were not left us by the apostles. It is true, they were sometimes called apostolic canons; but this means no more than that they were made by bishops, who lived soon after the apostles, and were called apostolical men. They consist of regulations, which agree with the discipline of the second and third centuries: The Greeks generally count 85; but the Latins receive only 50, nor do they observe all these.
Canon of Mass, in the Romish church, the name of a prayer which the priest reads low to himself, the people kneeling.
In this part of the mass, the priest particularly mentions some persons for whom he is going to offer the sacrifices, and prays to God for the redemption of their souls, the hopes of their salvation, &c.
Paschal Canon, a table of the moveable feasts, showing the day of Easter, and the other feasts depending on it, for a cycle of 19 years.
Canon of Scripture, a catalogue or list of the inspired writings; or such books of the Bible as are called canonical, because they are in the number of those books which are looked upon as sacred, in opposition to those which either are not acknowledged as divine books, or are rejected as spurious, and are called apocryphal.
The canon of Scripture may be considered either as Jewish or Christian, with respect to the sacred writings acknowledged as such by the Jews, and those admitted by the Christians.
The first canon, or catalogue of the sacred books, was was made by the Jews; but who was the author of it, is not so certain. The five books of Moses were, questionless, collected into one body within a short time after his death; since Deuteronomy, which is an abridgement of the other four, was laid in the tabernacle near the ark, according to the command he gave to the Levites: so that the first canon of the sacred writings consisted only of the five books of Moses. There were no more added to them till the division of the ten tribes; since the Samaritans acknowledged none else. However, since Moses, there were several prophets and other writers divinely inspired, who composed either the history of their own times, or prophetical books, and divine writings, or psalms to the praise of God; but it cannot be discovered that, any time before the captivity, they were collected into one body, and comprised under one and the same canon. It is evident that, in our Saviour's time, the canon of the Holy Scripture was already drawn up, since he cites the laws of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, which are the three sorts of books of which that canon is composed, and which he often styles the Scripture, or the Holy Scripture.
It is generally received, that Ezra was the principal author of this canon, though Nehemiah had some share in it; and that he re-established, corrected, and ordered the sacred books to be written in new characters.
The Jewish canon is generally called the canon of Ezra; but it is certain, that all the books were not received into the canon of the Scriptures in his time; for Malachi, it is supposed, lived after him; and, in Nehemiah, mention is made of Jaddua the high priest, and of Darius Codomannus, a king of Persia, who lived at least 100 years after his time. Dr Prideaux, with great appearance of reason, says, it is most probable, that the two books of Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, as well as Malachi, were afterwards added in the time of Simeon the just; and that it was not till then that the Jewish canon of the Holy Scripture was fully completed. And, indeed, these last books seem very much to want the accuracy and skill of Ezra, in their publication; for they fall short of the exactness found in the other parts of the Hebrew Scriptures. There are some authors who pretend, that the Jews have made one or more canons; and that they have added to the former the books of Tobit, Judith, Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom, and the Maccabees; but it is most evidently true, that the Jews had no other canon but that of Ezra, nor confessed any other books for sacred but those it contains. The two assemblies of the synagogue, which, as it is pretended, were held for that purpose, are mere chimeras; nor have any ancient writers said anything of them.
As for the Christian church, there is no doubt but it acknowledged those books to be canonical, which were cited as of divine authority, by Christ and his apostles: the ancient catalogues of the canonical books of the Old Testament, which are to be met with in Christian writers, are conformable to the canon of the Jews, and contain no other books; the Christian church, for several of the first ages, receiving the inspired writers no further than the Jewish canon. The first and most ancient catalogue of this kind, is that of Malito, bishop of Sardis, who flourished in the reign of Marcus Antoninus. It agrees with the Jewish canon, excepting his omission of Esther, and that he makes Ruth and Judges two books. Origen has given us a list of the sacred books, in which he takes in Esther, and joins Ruth with Judges. St Gregory Nazianzen divides the books of Scripture into historical, poetical, and prophetical; he reckons 12 historical books, viz. the five books of Moses, with Joshua, Judges, Ruth, the two books of Kings, Chronicles, and Ezra. Five poetical books, Job, Daniel, and the three books of Solomon. Five prophetical books, viz. four great prophets, and 12 small ones. The council of Laodicea was the first synod in which the number of the canonical books was ascertained: this council assigns only 22 books to the Old Testament, including Esther, and joining Baruch and the Lamentations with Jeremiah. St Epiphanius reckons 27 canonical books of the Old Testament; yet he admits no more than are in the catalogue of Origen, and observes that the Jews had reduced them to 22. The third council of Carthage, in the year 397, admitted the books of Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Tobit, Judith, and the two books of Maccabees, into the canon. The church of Rome has agreed herein with that of Africa: for Innocent I. in his letter to Exuperius, places the same books in the canon of Scripture, as pope Gelasius, in the council held in the year 494; and the decree of pope Eugenius, and the canon of the council of Trent, agree with the canon of the council of Carthage. That the council of Trent had no prior authority to proceed on, excepting some slender pretence from the council of Carthage above mentioned, appears from the current testimony of the Latin church.
As to the canon of the New Testament, it is to be observed, that the four Evangelists, the Acts of the Apostles, all the Epistles of St Paul except that to the Hebrews, and the first Epistle of St Peter and St John, have been received as canonical by the unanimous consent of all the churches in all times: the Epistle of St James, that of St Jude, the second Epistle of St Peter, and the second and third Epistles of St John, were not received by all the churches from the beginning, as canonical; but have since been acknowledged as genuine, and therefore admitted into the canon.
We must observe, that the canon of the New Testament was neither settled by any synod, or single authority: this collection was formed upon the unanimous consent of all the churches, who, by constant tradition, reaching to the apostolical age, had received such a number of them as were written by inspired authors.
monastic orders, a book wherein the religious of every convent have a fair transcript of the rules of their order, frequently read among them, as their local statutes.
Canon is also used for the catalogue of saints acknowledged and canonized in the Roman church.
music. In modern music it is a kind of fugue which they call a perpetual fugue, because the different parts, beginning one after another, repeat incessantly the same air.
Formerly, says Zarlino, they placed, at the head of perpetual fugues, particular directions which showed how this kind of fugues was to be sung; and these directions being properly the rules by which perpetual fugues were composed were called canons, rules or canons. From this custom, others taking the title for the thing signified, by a metonymy, termed this kind of composition canon. Such canons as are composed with the greatest facility, and of consequence most generally used, begin the fugue either with the octave or the unison; that is to say, that every part repeats in the same tone the melody of the preceding; in order to form a canon of this kind, it is only necessary for the composer to make an air according to his taste; to add in score as many parts as he chooses, where the voices in octave or unison repeat the same melody; then forming a single air from all these parts successively executed, to try whether this succession may form an entire piece which will give pleasure, as well in the harmony as the melody.
In order to execute such a canon, he who sings the first part begins alone, and continues till the air is finished; then recommences immediately, without any suspension of sound or interruption of time; as soon as he has ended the first couplet, which ought to serve for the perpetual subject upon which the whole canon has been composed, the second part begins and repeats the same couplet, whilst the first who had begun pursues the second; others in succession begin, and proceed the same way, as soon as he who precedes has reached the end of the first couplet. Thus, by incessantly recommencing, an universal close can never be found, and the canon may be repeated as long as the fingers please.
A perpetual fugue may likewise consist of parts which begin with the intervals of a fourth or fifth; or, in other words, every part may repeat the melody of the first, a fourth or a fifth higher or lower. It is then necessary that the whole canon should be invented di prima intensione, as the Italians say; and that sharps or flats should be added to the notes, whose natural gradations do not answer exactly, by a fourth or fifth, to the melody of the preceding part, and produce the same intervals with itself. Here the composer cannot pay the least regard to modulation; his only care is, that the melody may be the same, which renders the formation of a canon more difficult; for at every time when any part resumes the fugue, it takes a new key; it changes the tone almost at every note, and what is still worse, no part is at the same time found in the same tone with another; hence it is that this kind of canons, in other respects, far from being easy to be performed, never produces a pleasing effect, however good the harmony may be, and however properly it may be sung.
There is a third kind of canon, but very scarce, as well because it is extremely difficult, as because it is for the most part incapable of giving pleasure, and can boast no other merit but the pains which have been thrown away in its composition. This may be called a double canon inverted, as well by the inversions which are practised in it with respect to the melody of the parts, as by those which are found among the parts themselves, in singing. There is such an artifice in this kind of canon, that, whether the parts be sung in their natural order, or whether the paper in which they are set be turned the contrary way, to sing them backward from the end to the beginning, in such a manner that the bass becomes the upper part, and the rest undergo a similar change, still you have pretty harmony, and still a regular canon. The reader may consult Rousseau's Dictionary in this article, where he is referred to plate D fig. 11, for two examples of canons of this sort extracted from Bontempi, who likewise gives rules for their composition. But he adds, that the true principle from which this rule is deduced will be found at the word Systeme, in his account of the system of Tartini, to which we must likewise once more refer the reader; as a quotation of such length must have protracted our article to an enormous extent.
To form a canon in which the harmony may be a little varied, it is necessary that the parts should not follow each other in a succession too rapid, and that the one should only begin a considerable time after the other. When they follow one another so immediately as at the distance of a semibreve or a minim, the duration is not sufficient to admit a great number of chords, and the canon must of necessity exhibit a disagreeable monotony; but it is a method of composing, without much difficulty, a canon in as many parts as the composer chooses. For a canon of four bars only, will consist of eight parts if they follow each other at the distance of half a bar; and by each bar which is added, two parts will constantly be gained.
The emperor Charles VI. who was a great musician and composed extremely well, took much pleasure in composing and singing canons. Italy is still replete with most beautiful canons composed for this prince, by the best masters in that country. To what has been said by Rousseau, we need only subjoin, that the English catch and the Italian canon are much the same; as any intelligent reader may perceive, from comparing the structure and execution of the English catch with the account of canons which has now been given.
Canon-Law, a collection of ecclesiastical laws, serving as the rule and measure of church-government.
The power of making laws was exercised by the church before the Roman empire became Christian. The canon-law that obtained throughout the West, till the 12th century, was the collection of canons made by Dionysius Exiguus in 520, the capitularies of Charlemagne, and the decrees of the popes from Sirsicus to Anastasius.
The canon-law, even when papal authority was at its height in England, was of no force when it was found to contradict the prerogative of the king, the laws, statutes, and customs of the realm, or the doctrine of the established church.
The ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the see of Rome in England was founded on the canon-law; and this created quarrels between kings and several archbishops and prelates who adhered to the papal usurpation.
Besides the foreign canons, there were several laws and constitutions made here for the government of the church; but all these received their force from the royal assent; and if, at any time, the ecclesiastical courts did, by their sentence, endeavour to enforce obedience to such canons, the courts at common law, upon complaints made, would grant prohibition. The authority vested in the church of England of making canons, was ascertained by a statute of Henry VIII., commonly called the act of the clergy's submission; by which they acknowledged, that the convocation had always been assembled by the king's writ; so that though the power of making canons resided in the clergy met in convocation, their force was derived from the authority of the The old canons continued in full force till the reign of James I., when the clergy being assembled in convocation, the king gave them leave to treat and consult upon canons; which they did, and presented them to the king, who gave them the royal assent: these were a collection out of the several preceding canons and injunctions. Some of these canons are now obsolete. In the reign of Charles I., several canons were passed by the clergy in convocation.