This poem was written in 1816 by James Montgomery (1771-1854), and printed in the December 24 issue of the newspaper Sheffield Iris, when he was a member of the staff. The title was “Nativity.” It first appeared in print as a hymn in Thomas Cotterill’s Selection of Psalms and Hymns, eighth edition, 1819. It was printed in Montgomery’s Christian Psalmist, 1 825, with very few changes but a different title, namely: “Good Tidings of Great Joy to All People.”

REGENT SQUARE was composed specially for a hymn by Horatius Bonar (see SDAH 79) entitled “Glory Be to God and Father,” in Psalms and Hymns for Divine Worship, 1867, of which Henry Thomas Smart was the music editor. This was a Presbyterian hymnal edited by James Hamilton, minister of St. Philip’s Presbyterian Church in Regent Square, London. Smart named the tune after the location of his church, which is known as the “cathedral of London Presbyterianism.” Smart had been organist there for five years.

Smart, born October 26, 1813, in Marylebone, London, had a musical father. As a boy he was very much interested in organ construction and in playing the organ. He was mainly self-taught, and after practicing law for four years, gave that up and devoted his life entirely to music. Unfortunately, his sight began to dim at the early age of 1 8, but nevertheless he was appointed as organist in Blackburn in Lancashire. After five years there, he received other appointments, all in London, as church organist in several different places. One of them was St. Philip’s, where he served for seven years. In the early 1860s he became blind, but his remarkable memory and his gift for improvisation and composition enabled him to retain his position as organist for another five years. Smart designed and built organs, was a music critic and music editor, and composed numerous cantatas and two operas. He is chiefly remembered, however, for his tunes contributed to Hymns Ancient and Modern, 1861, for his organ music, and for his church choral music. He died in Hampstead, London, on July 6, 1879.

Another tune by Smart is LANCASHIRE, SDAH 619.