Page:The seven great hymns of the mediaeval church - 1902.djvu/84

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54
The Dies Iræ.

VII.

The verſion of Dr. W. J. Irons may be regarded as the accepted verſion of the preſent day in Great Britain, and is the one ſelected by the Hymnal Noted. It is in the double rhyme and meaſure of the original, and parts of it bear a ſtriking reſemblance to the American verſion of General Dix. But a much more curious coincidence in conception, with an abſolute identity of language in many parts, exiſts in the unpubliſhed verſion of an accompliſhed tranſlator (Mr. A. Périès, of Philadelphia), wherein ſeveral ſtanzas differ but little from thoſe of General Dix. The eleventh ſtands as follows:

"Righteous Judge of retribution,
Grant us ſinners abſolution.
Ere the day of diſſolution!"

VIII.

It is a notable fact in the hiſtory of the Dies Iræ, that the beſt Engliſh tranſlations which we poſſeſs are not the work of our