He who would valiant be

He who would valiant be. Percy Dearmer* (1867-1936) and others (?). First published in EH (1906). It is described there as by ‘J. Bunyan, 1628-88, and others’, presumably because it was the result of Dearmer’s consultations with his colleagues on the EH committee, who wanted to use the tune MONKS GATE (newly found by Vaughan Williams*) but who wished to reject some of Bunyan*’s 17th-century diction. It is based on Bunyan’s ‘Who would true valour see’*, which it follows in many places. It is a softened and modernised version of Bunyan’s poem, replacing the archaic opening of stanza 1, losing the lion of stanza 2 (but keeping the giant), and disposing of the hobgoblin in stanza 3. It proved...