FOREWORD

My friend Mr. Pilcher's Passion-Hymns of Iceland finds at least one deeply interested welcomer in myself. From early youth till now the great northern island, with its natural wonders, its population of hardy and educated peasants and fishermen, and its practical retention, through a thousand years, of its ancient speech, has had for me a peculiar fascination. To be thus introduced to the spiritual life of Iceland, as embodied in and fostered by its hymnody, is no common delight accordingly. That delight, I am confident, will be shared by a large circle of readers.

To the believer whose anchor-hold is settled for life and death at the foot of his Redeemer's Cross, it is cheering indeed to see in these beautiful English renderings, by a scholar whose sympathies are complete with the faith and hope of the Norse psalmists, how Icelandic hearts have in the past beat true to the Gospel of Calvary, and how they do so still in these days so often troubled by alien thinking.

The Introduction is rich throughout in historical and biographical interest, and greatly helps the reader to a true appreciation of the hymns, full as these are, in their setting, of the air and landscape of Iceland.

HANDLEY DUNELM.

Auckland Castle,
January 25, 1913.