Henry Francis Lyte

1793-1847. Born near Kelso in Scotland, he was educated at Enniskillen and Trinity College, Dublin, where he three times won the prize for an English poem. In 1815 he became curate at Taghmon, near Wexford. In 1817 he moved to Marazion, Cornwall, where he underwent a great spiritual change after attending a friend's deathbed. His whole outlook was altered, and his preaching revitalized. After various curacies he went as perpetual curate to Lower Brixham, Devon, in 1823 and remained until his delicate health broke down. He died at Nice. His main works were Tales on the Lord's Prayer in Verse (1826); Poems, chiefly Religious (1833; 2nd ed., 1845); The Spirit of the Psalms (1834), consisting of paraphrases, e.g., “God of mercy, God of grace,” and “Pleasant are Thy courts above”; also an edition of The Poems of Henry Vaughan (1846). Among his many hymns were “Abide with me,” and “Praise, my soul, the King of Heaven.”