Mortality and immortality blend their charms in the next stanza. The
unfailing beauty of the vision will be dwelt upon with delight so long
as Christians sing on earth.

The hill of Sion yields
A thousand sacred sweets,
Before we reach the heavenly fields,
Or walk the golden streets.


_THE TUNE._

"St. Thomas" has often been the interpreter of the hymn, and still
clings to the words in the memory of thousands.

The Italian tune of "Ain" has more music. It is a fugue piece
(simplified in some tune-books), and the joyful traverse of its notes
along the staff in four-four time, with the momentum of a good choir, is
exhilarating in the extreme.

Corelli, the composer, was a master violinist, the greatest of his day,
and wrote a great deal of violin music; and the thought of his glad
instrument may have influenced his work when harmonizing the four voices
of "Ain."

Arcangelo Corelli was born at Fusignano, in 1653. He was a sensitive
artist, and although faultless in Italian music, he was not sure of
himself in playing French scores, and once while performing with Handel
(who resented the slightest error), and once again with Scarlatti,
leading an orchestra in Naples when the king was present, he made a