Let sighing cease and woe.

Let sighing cease and woe. Charles Coffin* (1676-1749), translated by William John Blew* (1808-1894). Coffin’s hymn, ‘Iam desinant suspiria’* was written for Matins on Christmas Day. Blew’s translation was dated 1852 by JJ, p. 577, where it was stated as ‘not in C.U.’ It was rescued from oblivion by the editors of EH, probably influenced by Percy Dearmer*, who, as a Christian Socialist, and a lover of the childlike, would have admired some of the stanzas, such as 4, 6 and 7 (the last):   We enter – at the door   What marvel meets the eye? A crib, a mother pale and poor,   A child of poverty…   Chaste be our love like thine,   Our swelling souls bring low, And in our hearts, O Babe divine,...