PREFACE

So far as is known to the writer of this thesis there has appeared hitherto no attempt to treat comprehensively and in detail the subject of the direct and indirect influence of Paul Gerhardt's hymns upon English and American sacred song. That there exists a very real influence is universally known, but how widely it has made itself felt is apparently a matter of little concern on the part of many, because we often find hymnals accrediting a hymn to the English translator with no mention of its original author. The present dissertation has been prompted by a desire to make some contribution to the subject of the relation of English and German hymnody in general, and in particular to show the great debt which the hymnody of England and America owes to the poetry of Paul Gerhardt. It was presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Yale University in candidacy for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in June, 1917.

For great assistance rendered to me by way of suggestion of sources I am under obligation to Dr. Bernard C. Steiner of the Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore, Professor Gustav Gruener of Yale University, Professor Waldo S. Pratt of the Hartford Theological Seminary, Professor H. C. G. von Jagemann of Harvard University and to Professor John G. Robertson of the University of London; for help not only in this phase viii of the work but also in the general treatment of the subject I am deeply indebted to the counsel of my father, Professor Emeritus John H. Hewitt of Williams College and to Professor Arthur H. Palmer of Yale University.

New Haven, Connecticut,
      April 9, 1918.