Everyone who knows anything about hymns knows something about Julian—not
the Apostate, but the author of the classical Dictionary of Hymnology. That notable work, which stands alone in its own field, was first published nearly sixty years ago—in 1891— and the latest edition extant dates from 1907 ; there have since been two supplements, which have brought the work fairly up to date. Now the question of publishing a new and revised Julian, for which there is abundant new matter available, has arisen, and the Hymn Society, a useful, interesting, but tolerably impecunious, body, has courageously decided to shoulder the labour and face the expense— which is L4,000, of which the publisher, John Murray, is with con- siderable public spirit undertaking to bear half. Hymns play a great part, greater than is commonly realised, in public worship. Someone has described them as embodying the plain man's theology (some indeed are too theological to be well fitted for congregational use). But their value is increased immensely by knowledge of their history and of the part they played in individual lives. A book which would do for hymns what R. E. Prothero did for Hebrew hymns in his Psalms in Human Life would be making a notable addition to English literature, but probably the material is hardly sufficient. Meanwhile the prospect of a new edition of Julian raises lively expectations.
* * * *
Previous page
