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Page:The seven great hymns of the mediaeval church - 1902.djvu/27

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Introduction.

"Chriſtian Life in Song." But here again the two renderings illuſtrate how the more free is occaſionally the more literal; how it may give the leading thought or image of the author which the more critical may overlook. Thus the

Come, Thou Father of the poor,
Giver from a boundleſs ſtore
Light of Hearts, O ſhine!

of Mrs. Charles, miſſes the impreſſive Veni, Veni, Veni of the original, which is ſplendidly rendered by Miſs Winkworth:

Come, Father of the poor, to earth;
Come with Thy gifts of precious worth;
Come, Light of all of mortal birth!

V.

The Veni Creator Spiritus has been aſcribed to Charlemagne, and in the firſt edition it was ſaid, with ſome reſervation, that his authorſhip is not impoſſible. I have allowed his name to remain at the head of it, but my preſent concluſion is that it was written before the time of the Great King. Mr. Benedict, judging from internal evidence alone, aſcribes it to St. Ambroſe, who

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