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EBENEZER ELLIOTT
(1781 - 1849)


 

The  Corn Law Rhymer As A Writer Of Hymns

Elliott is well known for his "Corn Law Rhymes," but the similar titled "Corn Law Hymns" are virtually unknown. This article therefore looks at Elliott's hymn writing with specific reference to his "Corn Law Hymns."

As for why Elliott took an interest in writing hymns, the reasons are fairly obvious. Firstly, his times were much more religious than ours. Secondly, the bard was an Unitarian by faith and was raised by a father zealously keen on religion. Elliott looked up to his father who had a significant impact on the young man's outlook. Two more influences can be added. The Rotherham minister, Jacob Brettell, was a huge influence on Elliott when he was a teenager. Later in life, the Sheffield newspaper editor & poet, James Montgomery, was an important influence on "the rabble's poet," even though they were never close friends.  Elliott, for instance, dedicated his poem "Spirits and Man" to Montgomery. The poetry of James Montgomery is forgotten today, but 20 of the 400 hymns he composed are still in use, the best known being the celebrated "Angels From The Realms of Glory."

Faced with these good examples, it was inevitable that Elliott should write hymns. Elliott also liked to write songs; these were nearly always lighter in tone than the hymns which were more serious. The tone of the hymns is rather surprising as shall be seen later.

The Poet of the Poor had a musical voice and when reciting his verse, he used a sing-song voice. Indeed, the "Corn Law Rhymes" themselves were meant to be sung. Music was thus something important to the Rhymer when he was composing poetry. On searching the "Poetical Works," we note that eleven items are entitled "Hymn" while a further twentyone are called "Song." To these can be added "Battle Song," "Funeral Hymn," "The People's Anthem" and "Farewell to Rivilin." The last two items were "written for music, at the request of W. T. Wood Esq." A similar comment appears in "Song" (They say I'm old, because I'm grey) which bears a note that it was "Set to music by Mr. Smith, of Portobello" - Portobello being a district of Sheffield. This poem, which is one of Elliott's best, was written in 1838 when the bard was 57. There is an interesting story about the origin of the poem. A radical Chartist from Birmingham, Pearce by name, had referred in a speech to "The Venerable Elliott." The Corn Law Rhymer was irritated by the remark & was provoked to write the poem in response.

In the "Poetical Works" a number of poems include mention of the tune to be sung with them. "The Triumph of Reform," for instance, was to be sung to "Rule Britannia" and the "Song" (Child, is thy father dead?) was sung to "Robin Adair," as was the "Song" (When the pale worker faints). The "Hymn" (Written for the printers of Sheffield in 1833) was accompanied by the "One Hundredth Psalm." Several other songs indicated the tunes to be used, from "God Save The Queen" to "Auld Lang Syne."

The appropriate tune for the hymn "The Poor Man's Day" was "Grahame." It is worth taking a look at "The Poor Man's Day" since it shows how Elliott worked on his hymns, returning to this one several times. The first version was originally called "Lyric From An Unpublished Opera Called 'Life According To Law.'" This was six verses long. The second version appeared in 1840 in the issue for June of the Sheffield Mechanics Institute Magazine; this version added three more verses and presented a new title "Hymn, The Poor Man's Day." The final version was simply called "The Poor Man's Day." The extra three verses were dropped from the final version but an extra verse was added to the end. The final version can be seen in the "Poetical Works" while the three dropped verses are recorded below:-


Tyrants curse ye,
While they nurse ye,
Life for deadliest wrongs to pay;
Yet, O Sabbath! bringing gladness
Unto hearts of weary sadness,
Still art thou "The Poor Man's Day."

Sabbath's Father!
Would'st thou rather
Some should curse than all be blessed?
If thou hate not fruit and blossom,
Bring the poor man's day of rest,-

With its healing,
With his feeling,
With his humble trustful bliss;
With the poor man's honest kindness,
Bless the rich man's heart of blindness - 
Teach him what religion is!



A recently discovered hymn can be seen in the article New Poems (1). This is called "Hymn of the Bread-Taxed" and was written in 1839. It can be found by clicking  New Poems (1).

CORN LAW HYMNS

Turning to the "Corn Law Hymns," these first appeared in 1835 and were meant to latch on to the success of the "Corn Law Rhymes." In this they failed since they are virtually unknown today. When the "Corn Law Hymns" were published, they were found to be too political for most people; indeed they received a hostile reception from the clergy.

Like the "Corn Law Rhymes," Elliott gave his "Corn Law Hymns" a Preface. In this, no references were made to religion or worship at all. The first sentence begins "If we are still to be cursed with Corn-Law" and continues in similar style. Elliott foretells ruin for everyone & claims that paper money must bring about a devaluation of the currency. And, as he does so often, the Rhymer clamours for free trade. If the bard's readers expected to find a religious reason in the Preface for writing the hymns, then they were in for a shock. The unexpected tone of the hymns could well explain why the "Corn Law Hymns" apparently disappeared.

Elliott dedicated his "Corn Law Hymns" to the author of "Popular Political Economy," a writer called Thomas Hodgkin, "with many thanks for his masterly work." The collection totalled twenty hymns of varying length, some just a few lines long. Oddly, the hymns were not given specific titles (apart from two) but were numbered instead.

A few of the "Corn Law Hymns" actually do appear in the "Poetical Works," though they are not acknowledged as coming from the "Corn Law Hymns." This was probably meant to ignore their existence. "Corn Law Hymns No. 2" appears as "Hymn"(Lord! to the rose thy light and air). No. 9 appears as "Hymn"(The present, future, past). No. 14 is "Hymn"(Wrong not the labouring poor), no. 17 is "Hymn" (Lord! not for vengeance), while no. 20 claims the title "The Unwritten Word." Finally, no. 18 is called "Stanza;" this is only recorded in Keith Morris's book, "People, Poems and Poetry of Ebenezer Elliott, Corn Law Rhymer."

As we have seen already, Elliott's Preface is not a statement of intent about the Rhymer's hymn writing: it is simply an affirmation of the poet's political views. Readers might just turn to the first hymn for some sort of explanation from the writer about his religious viewpoint - they would be disappointed here, too.


Corn Law Hymns 1

If he who kills the body

A murderer's death shall die;

If he who slays the human soul

Would hurl God from on high;

Then they who make our hopes, our lives,

Our children's souls their prey,

Unforgiven, loathed of heav'n,

 In life and death are they;

Who kill the body and the soul,

But first the spirit slay!

Behold the flag of England,

In tyrant's battles rent!

 We fought for Britain's locustry,

 And, self-o'ercome, lament.

 They summ'd their debt at Mont Saint Jean,

 They paid at Peterloo,

 With a yell that, in hell,

Turn'd meeker demons blue;

For we had crush'd their hated foe,

And England's freedom too!


The hymn is truculent and resentful; it is not about praising the Lord & could not be suitable for a church service. It is a loud cry from the heart of the Poet of the Poor. The style makes it more appropriate for the "Corn Law Rhymes" than for a collection of hymns. It is safe to conclude that at this time in his life, Elliott had a greater interest in politics than in religion. Which may be the reason for some of his detractors claiming he was against religion.

"Corn Law Hymns 3" is another short verse. While No. 3 is forceful, it is more acceptable as a hymn, since the poet sees a positive role for the almighty in the political battle of life: God is on the side of the poor & will punish their oppressors.


Corn Law Hymns 3


"Wrong not the poor," ye mighty,

"For God will plead their cause!"

The prayer of curses "God will hear,

And judge ye by your laws."

Your evil deeds "will fight for them

Whose labour is their life.
"For the right, in their might,

 They will meet you in the strife,

With "God for us!" and "wrath for you,
Who take our bread, our life!"



"Corn Law Hymns 4" has a milder tone though the message is still political: "God of the poor! shall labour eat?" The bard then asks if God sees "Our war for bread?" and notes that the status quo ends unchanged. This makes the tone of the hymn (eight verses long) seem pessimistic. The implication is that God sees the plight of the poor but takes no action; this makes the hymn appear to have an anti-religious sentiment.

"Corn Law Hymns 6" appears to predict an uprising. Hymn no. 7 argues for self-sufficiency - "man shall labour for his daily bread" but should not "toil and sweat for nought."

"Corn Law Hymns 8" would fit easily in the "Corn Law Rhymes" with its sentiments and language. The only ways to escape famine and despair are to turn to crime, to emigrate or to use prayer. The penultimate verse has a strong Christian statement, but the final two lines of the hymn suggest that prayer is ineffective.


Corn Law Hymns 8


Lord! bid our palaced worms their vileness know!

Bleach them with famine till they earn their bread,

And, taught by pain to feel a brother's woe,

Marvel that honest labour toils unfed.

They never felt how vain it is to seek

From bread-taxed trade its interdicted gain,

How hard to toil from dreary week to week,

And, ever labouring, labour still in vain.

They never heard their children's grim despair

Cry, "Give us work, ere want and death prevail,"

Then seek in crime or in desponding prayer

A refuge from the bread-tax-crowded gaol;-

They never saw the matron's breaking heart

Break slowly oe'r her son's desponding sigh,

Nor watched her hopeless mate, when glad to part

From all he loved and left beneath the sky.


They heed not, though the widow wring her hands

Above her wo-worn husband's nameless grave,

When her last boy departs for distant lands,

Rather than live or die a bread-taxed slave.

But, Lord! thou hearest when the sufferer cries;

Thou markest when the honest heart is rent,

Thou heedest when the broken-hearted dies;

And thou wilt pardon - when thy foes repent.

Then let them kneel - oh! not to us, but thee;

For judgement, Lord! to thee alone belongs.

But we are petrified with misery,

And turned to marble by a life of wrongs.



"Corn Law Hymns 10" picks up the "palaced worms" of hymn no. 8, but ends optimistically. (The term "palaced worms" means those influential but despised people who live in grand mansions).


Corn Law Hymns 10

Behold, 0 Lord! the worms that bind,

In loathsome bonds, the sea and wind!

To reign like death, and frown alone,

Those worms would overturn thy throne.

Teach them - but not too sternly teach -

­That each on all, and all on each,

Depend alike, for weal or wo,

Because the Lord hath will'd it so.

0 give thy toil-redeemer birth!

Let slaves be men! enfranchise earth!

Let commerce plough unchain'd the main,

That sinking hope may rise again!



More worms appear in the next hymn, too! No. 11 is hardly a hymn, more like a political slogan.


Corn Law Hymns 11

Could Love divine, and boundless Might,

Bid sail-less worlds plough seas of light,

That pride might gloat on servile forms,

And reptiles feast on angel worms?

No! Let all lands exchange with all

The good which freights this foodful ball;

Then will the strife of millions cease;

For Free Exchange is Peace! is Peace!

                                

 


"Corn Law Hymns 12" is six verses long and is a strange poem. It looks at a star and contrasts it's serenity with the strife on earth. The tone is sorrowful and pessimistic: "A world where wretches curse their birth." There is nothing at all in the hymn about God and worship.

"Corn Law Hymns 16" reads more fluently than most of the other hymns, and ultimately God triumphs.  


 

Corn Law Hymns 16

The locustry of Britain
Are gods beneath the skies;

They stamp the brave into the grave;

They feed on Famine's sighs;

They blight all homes, they break all hearts,

Except, alas, their own!

While a moan and a groan,

That move th' Almighty's throne,

Bring angels' tears in pity down,

And move th' Eternal throne!

The breadtaxry of Britain,
What awful powers they are!

They make a league with Want and Crime!

On Plenty they wage War!

They curse the land, the winds, the seas;

Lord! have they conquer'd thee?

        With a frown, looking down,

While they curse the land and sea,

They rival hell, and libel heav'n,

But have not vanquish'd thee.


                     


As mentioned earlier in the article, some of the "Corn Law Hymns" actually appeared in the "Poetical Works" without any indication that they were part of the "Corn Law Hymns." These were nos. 2, 9, 14, 17 & 20 of the "Corn Law Hymns." It is reasonable to suppose that the editor of the "Poetical Works" thought that a few of the "Corn Law Hymns" were worth including but the others were best left alone. The ones chosen to be included were all milder & less political. As the editor of the "Poetical Works" was a minister, he would not promote hymns with a strong political theme, even though they were by his father! The best "Hymn" is the one shown below.

 

Corn Law Hymns 17


Lord! not for vengeance rave the wrong'd,
The withering hopes, the woes prolong'd!
Our cause is just, our Judge divine;
But judgment, God of all! is thine.
We call not on thy foes the doom
That scourged the proud of wretched Rome, 
Who stole, for few, the lands of all,
To make all life a funeral.
But not in vain thy millions call
On thee, if thou art Lord of all;
And, by thy works, and by thy word,
Hark! millions cry for justice, Lord! 


 




THE FULL TEXTS OF ALL THE CORN LAW HYMNS

ARE AVAILABLE AS A FREE PDF DOWNLOAD

FROM GOOGLE BOOKS

(Try searching for "Kerhonah" by Ebenezer Elliott and when downloaded, see page 163)


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