econd group of uses that of the ecclesiastical dignitary (see below),
that of the list of the names of those persons recognized as saints by
the Church (see CANONIZATION), and that of the authoritative body of
Scriptures (see below) are examples.

_Music._--A canon in part-music is the form taken by the earliest
compositions in harmony, successive or consequent parts having the same
melody, but each beginning at a stated period after its precursor or
antecedent. In many early polyphonic compositions, one or more voices
were imitated note for note by the others, so that the other parts did
not need to be written out at all, but were deduced from the leaders by
a rule or canon. Sir Frederick Bridge has pointed out that in this way
the term "canon" came to supersede the old name of the art-form, _Fuga
ligata_. (See also under FUGUE, CONTRAPUNTAL FORMS and Music.) When the
first part completes its rhythmical sentence before the second enters,
and then continues the melody as an accompaniment to the second, and so
on for the third or fourth, this form of canon in England was styled a
"round" or "catch"; the stricter canon being one in which the succession
of parts did not depend on the ending of the phrase. But outside England
catches and canons were undifferentiated. The "round" derived its name
from the fact that the first part returned to the beginning while the
others continued the melody; the "catch" meant that each later part
caught up the tune. The problem of the canon, as an artistic
composition, is to find one or more points in a melody at which one or
more successive parts may start the same tune harmoniously. Catches were
familiar in English folk music until after the Restoration; different
trades having characteristic melodies of their own. In the time of
Charles II they took a bacchanalian cast, and later became sentimental.
Gradually the form went out as a type of folk music, and now survives
mainly in its historical interest. (H. Ch.)

_The Church Dignitary_.--A canon is a person who possesses a prebend, or
revenue allotted for the performance of divine service in a cathedral or
collegiate church. Though the institute of canons as it at present
exists does not go back beyond the 11th century it has a long history
behind it. The name is derived from the list (_matricula_) of the clergy
belonging to a church, [Greek: kanon] being thus used in the council of
Nicaea (c. 16). In the synod of Laodicea the adject