Centenary of a Hymn

New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 439, 21 November 1947, Page 16

Centenary of a Hymn

| Written for "The Listener"

by

URAMAO

T is questionable if a great many of the millions who sing the hymn and derive consolation from the beauty of the sentiments expressed in Abide With Me know much of the authoror even his name. On November 20, 1847, the Rev. Henry Francis Lyte died, his wish fulfilled. It was that he might’ be allowed to write one message of consdlation to humanity that would endure for ever. Henry Francis Lyte was an Ulster--man, and his schooling was obtained at’ Portora Royal School, Enniskillen. He went later to Trinity College, Dublin, where he won prizes-on three occasions for his peems. When earth’s vain shadows were fleeing, and heaven's -morn breaking in the skies for him, Lyte was suffering from consumption and knew journey’s end was approaching. At the time of writing the great hymn he was Vicar of Lower Brixham, Devonshire, a beautiful little fishing village, on the shores of Torbay. His labours in the parish told on his health and in the autumn of 1847, under medical advice, he decided to go to Nice, in France, for a rest. There is something pathetic about the circumstances leading to the writing of the hymn. It was the spiritual outpouring of one borne down by ill-health, with the inevitable end in view. . Toward Evening The hymn was founded upon the Scriptural passage addressed to the Master by two disciples: "Abide with us; for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent." Lyte wrote it under what appeared to be divine inspiration one beautiful evening. He had preached his farewell sermon in the little Lower Brixham Church under great mental strain and with some difficulty. It was one of those lovely evenings irt Devonshire when the sun was playing the alchemist, Nbie the meagre cloddy earth to glittering gold," suffusing thesea at Torbay and the little harbour in the foreground, while the skies were a blaze of colour. The poet in Lyte was roused and many times in the walk to his home

at Barry Head he stopped to admire the vaulted arch and the rich crop of sea and land under the setting sun. He recalled his congregation to whom he had just addressed what he believed to be his last personal message. On arriving at his house he went to his study and in less than an hour put into words his own feelings, of which so many parttake whenever they sing or hear the immortal hymn. . The music as we know it to-day was composed by Dr. W. H. Monk. With Sir Henry Baker, his: collaborator in editing Hymns Ancient and Modern, he was out walking when the subject of a musical setting for Abide With Me was discussed. Dr.: Monk returned to his home and, despite a music lesson that was ,going on, he sat down and in 10 minutes’ time had the music written for the great hymn. In Hymns Ancient and Modern, Lyte’s two hymns Praise My Soul the King of Heaven and Pleasant Are Thy Courts Above are included, but it was Abide With Me that established his fame, and+that will endure es long as the English language does. In 1939 there was some keen competition for a note-book containing an original transcript of the hymn. Lady Perry purchased it for £76, another competitor for it being Dr. Thrift, of Trinity College, Dublin, where Lyte was a pupil. His old school of Portora, in Enniskillen, where many famous Irishmen were educated, was also bidding for the possession of the original transcript. At the time, Sir Henry Maxwell-Lyte, a grandson of the hymnologist, and Deputy Keeper of the Records at the Public Records Office, claimed to possess another transcript of the eight original verses of the hymn, and that a third copy was owned by another descendant. In these three versions there are variants, one of the most important being in the line: "Hold Thou Thy Cross" which appears in one transcript: "Hold Then Thy Cross." Se A OT LS ~ ~~