n in Shirley, Mass., 1765, and bred to the carpenter's trade. The
little pipe organ on which tradition says he struck the first notes of
the famous tune is now in the Historical rooms of the Old State House,
Boston, placed there by its late owner, Mrs. Fanny Tyler, the old
musician's granddaughter. Its tones are as mellow as ever, and the times
that "Coronation" has been played upon it by admiring visitors would far
outnumber the notes of its score.

Holden wrote a number of other hymn-tunes, among which "Cowper,"
"Confidence," and "Concord" are remembered, but none of them had the
wings of "Coronation," his American "Te Deum." His first published
collection was entitled _The American Harmony_, and this was followed by
the _Union Harmony_, and the _Worcester Collection_. He also wrote and
published "Mt. Vernon," and several other patriotic anthems, mainly for
special occasions, to some of which he supplied the words. He was no
hymnist, though he did now and then venture into sacred metre. The new
_Methodist Hymnal_ preserves a simple four-stanza specimen of his
experiments in verse:

They who seek the throne of grace
Find that throne in every place:
If we lead a life of prayer
God is present everywhere.

Sacred music, however, was the good man's passion to the last. He died
in 1844.

"Such beautiful themes!" he whispered on his death bed, "Such beautiful
themes! But I can write no more."

The enthusiasm always and everywhere aroused by the singing of
"Coronation," dates from the time it first went abroad in America in
its new wedlock of music and words. "This tune," says an accompanying
note over the score in the old _Carmina Sacra_, "was a great favorite
with the late Dr. Dwight of Yale College (1798). It was often sung by
the college choir, while he, catching, as it were, the music of the
heavenly world, would join them, and lead with the most ardent
devotion."

"AWAKE AND SING THE SONG."

This hymn of six stanzas is abridged from a longer one indited by the
Rev. William Hammond, and published in _Lady Huntingdon's Hymn-book_. It
was much in use in early Methodist revivals. It appears now as it was
slightly altered by Rev. Martin Madan--

Awake and sing the song
Of Moses and the Lamb;
Join every heart and every tongue
To praise the Savior's name.

* * * * *

The sixth verse is a variation of one of Watts' hymns, and was added in
the