'Of the eight tunes by Orlando Gibbons, two only (and these altered both in rhythm and harmony) appear in the common books. All Gibbons' tunes are given in the Y. H. with his own bass, the inner parts being supplied. 'There is a complete list of the music in the word-book of the Yattendon Hymnal, which is published by Mr. Blackwell of Broad Street, Oxford, and may be bought for 1_s._ 6_d._' THE PREFACE TO THE NOTES The origin of this book was my attempt, when precentor of a village choir, to provide better settings of the hymns than those in use. When I gave up my office, I printed the first twenty-five hymns for the convenience of the choir, and also for the sake of the tunes by Jeremy Clark, which I had been at some pains to restore, and for the preservation of the tunes composed on our behalf by Professor Wooldridge. My choice of music had so far been limited to tunes, for which suitable words were to be found in _Hymns Ancient & Modern_; but by the time that these first tunes were printed, I determined to continue the book free of this restriction, and, from whatever source, to provide words for tunes which I had hitherto been unable to use. I then became aware of a real cause for the absence of most of these tunes from the common hymnals: _there were no words of any kind to which they could be sung_. Having already translated some of the old Latin hymns for their proper melodies, I was thence led on to the more difficult task of supplying the greater need of these other tunes; the result being that over forty of these hundred hymns have english words newly written by myself. Almost all of these new hymns are in some sense translations, for even where an original hymn could not be followed in its entirety, as an old Latin hymn generally may be, there was usually a foundation to begin upon, and I never failed to find the music conditioning, dictating, or inspiring the remainder. I did not willingly engage in this, nor until I had searched word-books of all kinds; a fruitless labour, unless for the hope begotten thereof that my practice in versifying and my love for music may together have created something of at least relative value.