with such intensity
that only a year later he was able to invite subscriptions on the first
part of his work. The complete collection was published in 1837 under the
title: _Songs of the Danish Church_. It contains in all 401 hymns and
songs composed of originals, translations and adaptations from Greek,
Latin, German, Icelandic, Anglo-Saxon, English and Scandinavian sources.
The material is of very unequal merit, ranging from the superior to the
commonplace. As originally composed, the collection could not be used as
a hymnal. But many of the finest hymns now used in the Danish church have
been selected or adapted from it.

Although _Songs for the Danish Church_ is now counted among the great
books in Danish, its appearance attracted little attention outside the
circle of Grundtvig's friends. It was not even reviewed in the press. The
literati, both inside and outside the church, still publicly ignored
Grundtvig. But privately a few of them expressed their opinion about the
work. Thus a Pastor P. Hjort wrote to Bishop Mynster, "Have you read
Grundtvig's _Songs of the Danish Church_? It is a typical Grundtvigian
book, wordy, ingenious, mystical, poetical and full of half digested
ideas. His language is rich and wonderfully expressive. But he is not
humble enough to write hymns."

Meanwhile the demand for a new hymnal or at least for a supplement to the
old had become so insistent that something had to be done. J. P. Mynster
who, shortly before, had been appointed Bishop of Sjaelland, favored a
supplement and obtained an authorization from the king for the
appointment of a committee to prepare it. The only logical man to head
such a committee was, of course, Grundtvig. But Mynster's dislike of his
volcanic relative was so deep-rooted that he was incapable of giving any
recognition to him. And so in order to avoid a too obvious slight to his
country's best known hymnwriter, he assigned the work to an already
existing committee on liturgy, of which he himself was president. Thus
Grundtvig was forced to sit idly by while the work naturally belonging to
him was being executed by a man with no special ability for the task. The
supplement appeared in 1843. It contained thirty-six hymns of which six
were written by Kingo, seven by Brorson, and one by Grundtvig, the latter
being, as Grundtvig humorously remarked, set to the tune of the hymn,
"Lord, I Have Done Wrong."

Mynster's influence was great enough to secure the supple