From Mr Tim Field SIR -The bowdlerisation of hymns remarked

upon by Peter McGauley (Letters,August 14) is nothing new. One of the greatest hymns ever written in English is Newman's "Praise to the Holiest in the Height", part of his poem The Dream of Gerontius.Yet when Liturgical Hymns Old & New was reprinted several years ago the editor unerringly picked out the finest verse in the hymn and removed it. The offending verse is a small miracle of poetic diction: 0 generous love! That He who smote In man for man the foe The double agony in man For man should undergo; Apart -from the beauty of the verse, excising it destroys the balance and flow of the hymn. In an attempt to conceal the crime the first verse is now pointlessly repeated at the end. No reason was given for this act of barbarism but I think I can guess.
Yours faithfully, TIM FIELD Solihull, West Midlands