Neale, John Mason, an eminent English clergyman and author, the son of Rev. Cornelius Neale, was born in London January 24, 1818; was graduated at Cambridge in 1840, and the following year entered the ministry; was appointed warden of Sackville College, Sussex, an institution for aged women, in 1846, which office he continued to fill until his death, in 1866. He was the author of numerous published volumes, many of them evincing his antiquarian and ritualistic tastes. Among his works are fifteen volumes of hymns and translations. He is perhaps the most successful of all modern translators of hymns from the Latin and Greek. In translating the hymns of the Greek Church especially Dr. Neale's work is not only more extensive than, but incomparably superior to, that of any other translator. Indeed, this field is one which he occupies almost alone. The two original hymns and seven translations by Dr. Neale in this volume are scarcely surpassed for poetic merit by any hymns in the entire collection.