See, amid the winter's snow

If the problematic 1st line can be accepted, and a text extended by its refrain to 48 lines appreciated, this can be a popular and nourishing addition to the Christmas repertoire. It was written by Edward Caswall and published in his Easy Hymn Tunes (1851) and Masque of Mary … (1858). Several attempts have been made, published or otherwise, to make the opening words more dependent on Scripture and less on Christmas cards: ‘See in yonder manger low’ (as used in Scotland since 1898), ‘See in darkness here below’, or line 2 promoted to begin the hymn, with other consequent changes. None has proved wholly convincing; in the heat, Australians sing happily of snow— see D and J Wright, 30 Christmas Hymns, 1989. Like most editors, therefore, the Praise! team reluctantly bowed to the inevitable rather than lose the hymn or provoke more derision than devotion. (The original final stz, addressed to ‘Virgin Mary, mother blest’, has usually been judged more disposable.) The same decision was made by CH, GH and HTC; surprisingly the hymn is not found in EH, nor in A&M until 2000, when Common Praise found room for 5 stzs. At least the refrain has useful content; it is a pity if current calls for brevity mean that the hymn is either overlooked or shortened. Perhaps a rubric should note ‘stzs 2 and 5 must be included’; 5 is certainly crucial. Changes include the dropping of ‘tender Lamb’ (1); ‘Lo’ and ‘sits’ (2); ‘holy’ (shepherds) and ‘Wherefore’ (3); ‘Lo’(4); ‘What a tender love was thine’ (5); ‘by thy face’ and ‘to resemble thee’ (6). In spite of such a list, the essential truth and poetic flow of the original have been preserved in this version.

HUMILITY is the tune composed by John Goss for these words and has as yet no rivals. It was published in Christmas Carols, New and Old in 1871, and named from its final word (chorus excepted). The accented high notes of its refrain, higher than anything else in the tune, suggest an exuberant conclusion to each of its stzs. If the resulting length requires greater variety, this can be gained by dividing (eg) stzs 3 and 4 between different parts of the congregation, or singing stzs 2 and 5 unaccompanied or with different instruments.

b Yateley, Hants 1814, d Edgbaston (nr Birmingham), Warwicks 1878. 4th son of the Vicar of Yateley; Chigwell Grammar Sch, Essex; Marlborough Coll, Wilts; Brasenose Coll Oxford (BA 1836, MA). As a student he issued a witty academic pamphlet ‘after the fashion of Aristotle’. He was ordained (CofE) in 1838; served in the parishes of Bishop’s Norton nr Gloucester; Milverton nr Warwick; and from 1840 at Stratford-sub-Castle, nr Salisbury. But in 1846, in his early 30s, he resigned his living, and a few months later became a Roman Catholic, Jan 1847. From then on his work of translating Lat hymns, already well advanced, gathered momentum; he published nearly 200 in Lyra Catholica (etc) in 1848, and ten years later The Masque of Mary and other poems. Other books of verse and drama followed. Widowed in 1849, he moved to J H Newman’s ‘Oratory’ in Birmingham, where in 1852 he was ordained as an RC. He remained there for the rest of his life; his collected hymns and poems were published posthumously, with a biographical preface, in 1908. He became one of those Roman converts of whom Ellerton, possibly a little biased, judged that ‘it can scarcely be said that they contributed much to the strength of the church of their adoption’. Of the 250 English hymn texts in The Westminster Hymnal of 1912, more than 50 are by Caswall, mostly translations. He is often the best-represented RC author in protestant hymn-books (5 in CH2004, 12 in The BBC Hymn Book of 1951, 9 in the 1965 Anglican Hymn Book and 13 in Common Praise 2000). As a Victorian hymntranslator he has been praised for the ‘great spirit and facility’ of his work; he ranks second only to the masterly and generally more accurate J M Neale, qv. Nos.217, 337, 347, 376, 421, 741.