Favourite Welsh Hymns / Translated into English |
PREFACE. To those who are no strangers to the Language and Spirit of the Originals, and who would feel disposed to welcome their adaptation to changed circumstances, the Author submits these Translations:[1] and he does so with a measure of trust that they may not be altogether powerless in renovating and sustaining impressions produced by those Originals. And believing that there are others—English Christians—who confidently anticipate good to the Church from any reciprocation of the diversely-developed expressions of One Spirit, this introductory effort at presenting, in their language, a specimen of Welsh Devotional Song (in which a few English Originals are included), as illustrating its characteristic genius, is, to them also, respectfully offered, with the view of realising, in however humble a degree, the Desired Good. An Index of the First Lines of the original Welsh Hymns, arranged in the order of the Translations, will be found at the end of the Work. The Metres of the Originals are retained in every case where a departure from them, is not specified. Their own thrilling minor MELODIES ought to accompany them. [1]The principle adopted in the preparation of this Work may be aptly expressed, with slight modifications, in the language of a late Translator of Horace: “I [have endeavoured] to give not only the exact sense, but also the manner, the spirit, and [generally] the numbers of the original; while I have also aimed at giving [the] performance the freedom and ease of native compositions in [the English] language.”—Preface to “Arundines Devae;” by a Scotch Physician: Edin. |
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