Hymns Ancient & Modern

Contributed by Valerie Kerslake for St Peter's Church Millennium Festival, 2000

Numerous hymn-books were still being published in England but the appearance of Hymns Ancient & Modern with music in 1861 was something of a landmark; for the first time hymns and their individual tunes appeared in one volume. Previously books of all-purpose tunes were published separately and any tune might be chosen to fit any hymn, sometimes resulting in the most extraordinary stretching or squeezing of the words. Leading musicians and composers were now invited to contribute tunes and they did so gladly, writing music to match and enhance the particular hymns. The compilers of A & M realised that always singing a hymn to the same tune deeply reinforced its message, and editors of other hymn-books soon followed this custom.

The eleven clergymen who compiled — and owned — A & M were anxious to have as broad and diverse a selection of hymns as possible, which of course brought complaints of its being both too evangelical and too Romish, too literary and too full of sentimentality and doggerel. The compilers took great pains to replace unacceptable lines or words. Those who deplore the modifications to hymns today for politically correct or other reasons may be surprised to know how often hymns were rewritten in the 19th century. Caswall had 23 hymns in the 1861 edition, but the last verse was removed from Days and moments quickly flying after it had appeared in the 1868 edition; for some it carried the whiff of purgatory. In addition, his eucharistic hymn Now my tongue the mystery telling (from St Thomas Aquinas) caused one member of the committee to resign, believing that it hinted at transubstantiation. Caswall was also criticised for his sensuous and emotional language, though he was himself uneasy about the subjectivity and emotionalism of some modern hymns, believing the ancient Latin office hymns to be the only wholly satisfactory ones. They were designed, he said in Lyra Catholica, "to take the individual out of himself; to set before him, in turn, all the varied and sublime objects of the faith; and to blend him with the universal family of the Faithful."

fainted away and died so peacefully

Caswall suffered from heart trouble for several years towards the end of his life. In January 1878 he said "I think I'll go to bed," and Newman recorded, "He fainted away and died so peacefully that we could not tell when he went." He was remembered as a gentle man with a stammer, devoted to his clerical duties and greatly concerned for the poor, the sick and little children. He died at the age of 63 and was buried in the private cemetery belonging to the Birmingham Oratory.

Written and researched by Valerie Kerslake, The Yateley Society

Additional research by Jean McIlwaine, The Yateley Society and formerly St Peters Church Archivist