Introduction
Born: June 16, 1806, Witley, Godalming, Surrey, England (Findagrave says 1802)
Died: July 1, 1876, Putney, Wandsworth, Surrey, England.
Buried: All Saints churchyard, Witley, Waverley Borough, Surrey, England.
Born: June 16, 1806, Witley, Godalming, Surrey, England (Findagrave says 1802)
Died: July 1, 1876, Putney, Wandsworth, Surrey, England.
Buried: All Saints churchyard, Witley, Waverley Borough, Surrey, England.
Son of the vicar of Witley, Chandler was educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford (BA 1827, MA 1830).
He took Holy Orders in 1831, and became vicar of Witley in 1837.
He was one of the earliest and most successful translators of Latin hymns. His translations arose out of a desire to see the ancient prayers of the Anglican liturgy accompanied by hymns of a corresponding date of composition. In the preface to his Hymns of the Primitive Church, he said:
My attention was a short time ago directed to some translations [by Isaac Williams] which appeared from time to time in the British Magazine, very beautifully executed, of some hymns extracted from the Parisian Breviary, which originals annexed.
Some indeed, of the Sapphic and Alcaic and other Horatian metres, seem to be of little value; but the rest, of the peculiar hymn-metre, Dimeter Iambics, appear ancient, simple, striking, and devotional—in a word in every way likely to answer our purpose.
So I got a copy of the Parisian Breviary, and one or two other old books of Latin Hymns, especially one compiled by Georgius Cassander, printed at Cologne, in the year 1556, and regularly applied myself to the work of selection and translation. The result is the collection I now lay before the public.