"At the
first, as in Syllables, so in Notes, there were but 2 Quantities,
(a Long and a Short, or Brief: [
] )
...
But Musicians finding afterward that in that short time they might pass 2 Notes, divided the Short into two Half-shorts or Semibriefs...
"Philippus
de Vitriaco, not long since*, divided the Semibrief
also into two Notes, which he called Minims, or least
of all: persuading himself that this short or brief time
could not contain a greater number of Notes than 4: ...
... But succeeding ages have gone far beyond Philip,
who thought he was at the farthest. For they have moreover
devised not only a less than the least, but also a less
than the less than the least, yea and a less than that too...
And yet when all is done, they may seem to have done, in
effect, as much as nothing... For in these New Notes, they
are fain [forced] to keep minim-time... : and so the New
Quaver [eighth-note] will be no swifter indeed, than the
old Minim was...
(CB.27-28)
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*
only 300 years - Philip lived 1291-1361
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