Hymns Adapted for the Young

W. (William) Fletcher (fl. 1825–1850).
Hymns for Children.
London: Printed for N. Hailes, 1831.

William Fletcher served as master of Woodbridge Grammar School and was a prolific author of works for children. In the preface, he writes that while hymns by Dr. Watts and Mrs. Barbauld are very well-known, there is a need for hymns better “adapted to the understandings, feelings, and perceptions of the young . . . to prepare them for the reception of those great and all important truths.” His intention is to provide a series of hymns, “in the composition of which, I have used ‘great plainness of speech,’ endeavouring as far as is possible to unite the utile with the dulce, the simple with the solid.”