John Milton, the poet, was born in London, the son of the John Milton, who had turned from the Roman Catholic Church to become a Protestant. The future poet went to Christ’s College, Cambridge, where he received his B.A. in 1628 and M.A. in 1632. His short poems and paraphrases were written at an early age and constitute some of his best work. The second period of his literary career was given almost entirely to writings on political subjects for he lived in the day of the controversies which led to Civil War and the establishment of the Commonwealth in England. Milton joined Oliver Cromwell as his secretary for foreign tongues to the Council of State, a position he held until the eve of the Restoration, when he barely escaped the scaffold. For years he had suffered from poor eyesight and became totally blind in his forty-fourth year. The third period of his life, after the Restoration of the Monarchy, was lived in close retirement. During this time he produced his greatest writings: _Paradise Lost_, _Paradise Regained_, and _Samson Agonistes_, all of them dictated to others. He ranks second only to Shakespeare among English poets. He translated 19 psalms into meter. Being the scholar’s rather than the people’s poet, he, however, had no great influence on hymnology. His version of Psalm 84 is found at No. 592. _MUSIC._ INNOCENTS appeared, anonymously, in the _Parish Choir_, 1850, a publication issued by members of the Oxford Movement in England who went by the name of “The Society for Promoting Church Music.” The “Society” laid down the following principles for singing: 1. Congregational singing should be in unison. 2. The melody should be clearly marked. 3. The compass should be within the natural limits of the human voice. 4. Metrical psalmody should be confined to tunes in common time, as being more simple and solemn than triple time. After three years of precarious existence, 1846-49, the _Parish Choir_ was discontinued. INNOCENTS appeared at the end of Volume III amongst a number of old psalm tunes, appointed to be sung to a hymn for Innocents Day, hence the name. Lightwood attributes the tune to Joseph Smith, born in 1800, near Birmingham, England. Smith was not a professional musician but very fond of music, an excellent singer, and composer of many hymn tunes and other pieces. The editor of the _Parish Choir_ altered the original to the present form. It made its way into _Hymns Ancient and Modern_, 1861, and is now found in many modern hymn books. JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD—HIS ADVENT 65. Hail to the Lord’s Anointed _James Montgomery_, 1771-1854