CopenhagenAndItsEnvirons_A

188

5 o}clock.

Je su , T h o u M orning S ta r! w e now resign T o T h y protection, cheerfully, our K in g ; Be T hou his Sun an d Shield ! A nd thou, b rig h t O rb o f D ay, begin th y course, And, risin g from the M ercy -seat o f God, T h y ra d ia n t lustre y i el d !

^

The Author of the Original Song was Thomas Kingo, Bishop of Fyen, born at Slangerup in Sealand, 15th. Deer. 1634, and son of John King, a native of Scotland, whose father, Thomas King, grandfather of the Bishop, came over to Denmark with his son, and settled at Elsinore as Ta- pestry-weaver to Christian IV. John King was a poor but respectable and honest Damask-weaver of Slangerup, as is impressively stated in some pious verses by his son; and a tablet is still extant to his memory in Slangerup church, where he was buried. The Bishop, Thomas Kingo, is unquestionably the most admired psalmist ever known in Denmark, and his Psalm Book, all his own composition, is even now the ordained and authorized Psalm Book of Christiania in Norway. The change of the name of King to Kingo is most naturally accounted for by the habit, prevalent with Students in the 17th. century, of latinizing their names.

*