h in 1846, and she died of decline in 1848.

Her poetic genius found expression both in the drama and in hymns. Her
play, 'Vivia Perpetua' (1841), tells of the author's rapt aspiration
after an ideal, symbolized in a pagan's conversion to Christianity. She
published also 'The Royal Progress,' a ballad (1845), on the giving tip
of the feudal privileges of the Isle of Wight to Edward I.; and poems
upon the humanitarian interests which the Anti-Corn-Law League
endeavored to further. Her hymns are the happiest expressions of the
religious trust, resignation, and sweetness of her nature.

'Nearer, my God, to Thee,' was written for the South Place Chapel
service. There are stories of its echoes having been heard from a
dilapidated log cabin in Arkansas, from a remote corner of the north of
England, and from the Heights of Benjamin in the Holy Land. But even
its devotion and humility have not escaped censure--arising, perhaps,
from denominational bias. The fault found with it is the fault of
Addison's 'How are thy servants blessed, O Lord,' and the fault of the
Psalmody begun by Sternhold and Hopkins, which, published in Geneva in
1556, electrified the congregation of six thousand souls in Elizabeth's
reign,--it has no direct reference to Jesus. Compilers of hymn-books
have sought to rectify what they deem a lapse in Christian spirit by the
substitution of a verse begining "Christ alone beareth me." But the
quality of the interpolated verse is so inferior to the lyric itself
that it has not found general acceptance. Others, again, with an excess
of zeal, have endeavored to substitute "the Cross" for "a cross" in the
first stanza.

An even share of its extraordinary vogue must in bare justice be
credited to the tune which Dr. Lowell Mason has made an inseparable part
of it; though this does not detract in the least from its own high
merit, or its capacity to satisfy the feelings of a devout soul. A
taking melody is the first condition of even the loveliest song's
obtaining popularity; and this hymn was sung for many years to various
tunes, including chants, with no general recognition of its quality. It
was Dr. Mason's tune, written about 1860, which sent it at once into the
hearts of the people.

HE SENDETH SUN, HE SENDETH SHOWER

He sendeth sun, he sendeth shower,
Alike they're needful to the flower;
And joys and tears alike are sent
To give the soul fit nourishment.
As comes to me or cl