THE VIRGIN'S CRADLE-SONG.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " ETECTATOR.1
Sin,—I may add, over and above the reasons I gave against. the antiquity of the " Virgin's Cradle-Song," whose literary merit I fully allow—namely, the recent form of the verse, the- absence of all ancient MSS. or early printed copies, the lack of any quotation in pro-Reformation literature, and the failure of II. A. Daniel, the most learned and eager hymnologist of this century, to discover any traces of it other than modern—this further objection, that I have had occasion, in writing commen- taries on two books of Scripture, the Psalter and the Canticles,. to read extensively in patristic and mediaeval theology, and that I have never come across anything in Western literature resembling the special tone of the lullaby earlier than the thirteenth century ; whereas, ideas of the sort are always found. in prose treatises and sermons long before they are popularised into hymns. I do not gather from your correspondent's letter that Cardona, Pollen, and F6tis have produced any documentary evidence which overthrows all this negative criticism. That would, of course, decide the matter.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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