UNITARIAN HYMN-BOOKS.
[To ruz EDITOR OF TEE " SPECTATOR."' SIR,—In the article on "Hymnology," in the Spectator of January 9th, speaking of hymns beginning with " 0 " or " Oh," you say :—" We turn to one of the best and most beauti- ful of the selections of English hymns known to us,—that arranged by the Rev. John Hamilton Thom for his Renshaw Street congregation, originally in 1836 (to which we are sur- prised to find no reference in the article on 'Unitarian Hymnology '), and we find only 33 out of nearly 700 hymns beginning with the exclamatory monosyllable."
Will you allow me to point out that this book is referred to, although not further described, in my article on "Unitarian Hymnody," on page 1,193 P It is a selection of 270 hymns, containing the 33 to which you allude. It was made in 1836 by Mr. Thom, in conjunction with William Stanley Roscoe and F. B. Wright, as a supplement to the Renshaw Street collection of 1818, made by William Roscoe, the historian, and others. The whole collection (with supplement) of 683 hymns contains 67 of the sort in question.
In 1858, the Rev. John Hamilton Thom made a new selection of hymns for his congregation, also mentioned in my article, in which, out of 597 hymns, 66 begin with the monosyllable the too frequent use of which you deprecate.—I am, Sir, &c., V. D. DAvni.
[The collection is, we see, mentioned in a single line as that of Renshaw Street, but not as Mr. Thom's ; nor is the character of the book which preceded Dr. Martineau's "Hymns for the Christian Church and Home," and was in some respects superior to it, in any way emphasised. We were in error as to the pro- portionate number of what we termed " exclamatory " hymns.–+ ED. Spectator.]
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