HYMN, an ode in praise of the Deity, or some divine personage. The earliest Greek hymns are those attributed, prob ably without foundation, to homer: imi tated by Can machus. They are in heroic verse, except one of Carnal:mits in hex ameters and pentameters; and their con tents, for the most part, are narrations of the events in the mythological history of the respective gods and goddesses to whom they are dedicated, related in an encomiastic strain. The ehoric strains of some of the tragedians in honor of dei ties, introduced into their dramas, appear also to have the character of hymns; es pecially as dramatic performances among the Greeks, had something of a religious solemnity attached to them. The Theur gie hymns were strains uP a higher charac ter, and intended only for these who were initiated into certain mysteries supposed to have for their object the diffusion of more exalted notions of the divinity.
Those which are falsely attributed to Or pheus, and pass by his name, are said to be of this class ; but, except from their obscurity, it is difficult to say from what reason. Philosophical_ hymns, intended for the use of the followers of a still high er species of worship, are mentioned in the division of ancient hymns; but we have no genuine examples of such com positions. In modern literature, hymns are pieces of sacred poetry intended to be sung in churches, of which the Psalms of David, the most ancient pieces of po etry, properly so called, on record, (ex cept the book of Job,) furnish the chief example and model. St. Ililary, bishop of Poitiers, is said to have been the first who composed hymns to be sung in churches. The Latin hymns of the Ito man Catholic church are well known from the exquisite music to which they have been united.