Ride on, ride on in majesty

‘Ride on’ says Psalm 45:5, ‘because of the word of truth, of meekness and righteousness’; whether or not this phrase from Henry Hart Milman’s Prayer Book consciously prompted his most celebrated hymn, all these elements find a place in it. It is both dramatic and ‘romantic’ in the best sense as well as deeply theological; Dearmer calls it ‘one of the very finest poems in our hymn-books’, and Routley, with some poetic licence, ‘surely the finest lyric written in the whole of the 19th century’. The still youthful Milman was already an established author, and Oxford’s Professor of Poetry, when Reginald Heber requested new work from him and other poets for a projected quality hymn-book. Though Heber’s call to India changed all that, he could still acknowledge this offering by writing, some time before 1824, ‘A few more such hymns and I shall neither need nor wait for the aid of Scott and Southey’. Milman wrote a dozen others, but none has succeeded as this one, the second ‘natural’ choice for the Sunday before Easter. It first appeared in Heber’s posthumous collection in 1827, and 10 years later in the author’s own Selection of Psalms and Hymns. Changes from the original in this (mainly) Jubilate text include those in stz 1, from ‘Hark, all the tribes hosanna cry;/ thine humble beast pursues his road/ with palms and scattered garments strowed.’ 3.2 read ‘The wingèd squadrons’; 4.2, ‘Thy last and fiercest strife is nigh’ and 4.4 ‘expects’. Notably, PHRW omits both these Palm Sunday hymns, while most books introduce changes to this one or omit stzs. Here as elsewhere it seems sad that the crucial donkey has been excluded from both, where he was originally present in prophecy, fulfilment and hymn. Among other ‘Ride on’ hymns are A&M’s Ride on triumphantly, and the translation from Welsh, Ride on, Jesus, all-victorious; see also 45 stz 2; 734 stz 4; 68, and Revelation 6:2. The alternative WINCHESTER NEW (see 348) is a popular and appropriate choice of tune, but ST DROSTANE a more distinctive one. John B Dykes composed it for the hymn, with which it was published in Chope’s Congregational Hymn and Tune Book in 1862; by 1875 it had entered the A&M sequence. Its contrasting halves, first triumphant, then thoughtful, have often been noted; the difference is not necessarily a sign of weakness, but suggests the paradoxes in the text and the gospel. Among composers who have given the text a new feel with rather different music is David Wilson, in Youth Praise (1966).

b St James’s, Middx (London), 1791, d Sunninghill nr Ascot, Berks 1868. Dr Burney’s Academy at Greenwich; Eton Coll; Brasenose Coll Oxford, later a Fellow. While a student his many honours included the Newdigate Prize for poetry; he was ordained (CofE) in 1817, becoming Vicar of St Mary’s Reading until 1835, meanwhile being Oxford’s Prof of Poetry 1821–1831 and writing the poem Belshazzar in 1822. He then became a Canon of Westminster and Rector of St Margaret’s, until moving east across the city to be Dean of St Paul’s in 1849, where he contributed much to the musical services. As a boy he had watched Nelson’s funeral; in old age he officiated at that of the Duke of Wellington. Known as ‘the great Dean’ in his lifetime; now remembered almost solely for one unique hymn, from the 13 written some time before 1823 and published in Heber’s (qv) posthumous collection of 1827. But his own Selection of Psalms and Hymns followed in 1837, and among other texts is the outstanding Bound upon the accursèd tree. H Leigh Bennett (in Julian) compares his writing to Heber’s, since both aimed at ‘higher literary expression and lyric grace’; Milman’s is credited with excellent structure and greater ‘burning, sometimes lurid force’. Refrains are more common with him than among his hymnwriting peers. His verse dramas for the stage included the successful Fazio (1815), a neo-Jacobean tragedy set in Italy; his Miltonic-style epic Samor (1818) featured 5th-c Britain. Among several prose writings in fine style, far eclipsing his hymns in their day, were historical studies including The Fall of Jerusalem, 1820; the German-influenced and controversial History of the Jews, 1829; and his greatest work, A History of Latin Christianity, 1854. From his everyday talk he was also called by a contemporary ‘the last of the great conversers’. No.408.