Little more than a century ago--in the year 1818, to be exact--there was born in the great city of London a child who was destined to become an unusual scholar. He was christened John Mason Neale, a name that may be found today throughout the pages of the world's best hymn-books. When he was only five years old, his father died, and, like so many other men who have achieved fame, he received the greater part of his elementary training from a gifted mother. At Cambridge University, which he entered at an early age, he became a brilliant student, leading his classes and winning numerous prizes. After his graduation he was ordained as a minister in the Church of England. His interest in the ancient hymns of the Christian Church led him to spend much time in the morning lands of history, particularly in Greece. To him, more than any one else, we owe some of the most successful translations from the classical languages. By his sojourn in eastern lands, he seems to have been enabled to catch the spirit of the Greek hymns to such a degree that his translations read almost like original poems. For instance, in order to do justice to the famous Easter hymn of John of Damascus, written some time during the eighth century, Neale celebrated Easter in Athens and heard the "glorious old hymn of victory," as he called it, sung by a great throng of worshipers at midnight. The result is his sublime translation: The day of resurrection! Earth, tell it out abroad! The Passover of gladness, The Passover of God! From death to Life eternal, From earth unto the sky, Our Christ hath brought us over, With hymns of victory. Another very famous translation from the Greek by Neale is the hymn: Art thou weary, art thou languid, Art thou sore distressed? "Come to me," saith One, "and, coming, Be at rest." This hymn is often regarded as an original by Neale, but the author was St. Stephen the Sabaite, a monk who received his name from the monastery in which he spent his life, that of St. Sabas, near Bethlehem, overlooking the Dead Sea. St. Stephen, who was born in 725 A.D., had been placed in the monastery at the age of ten years by his uncle. He lived there more than half a century until his death in 794 A.D. Neale was equally successful in the translation of ancient Latin hymns. Perhaps the most notable is his rendering of Bernard of Cluny's immortal hymn: Jerusalem, the golden, With milk and honey blest! Beneath thy contemplation Sink heart and voice oppressed: I know not, O I know not, What blissful joys are there, What radiancy of glory, What light beyond compare!