Frances Ridley Havergal published three books of poetry, The Ministry of Song (1869), Under His Shadow (1874), and Loyal Responses (1878). She had not finished her next book of poems when she died on June 3, 1879; in her final illness, she and her sister Maria discussed this book, and Maria posthumously edited and published this collection later that same year with the title Under His Shadow The Last Poems of Frances Ridley Havergal. Most or nearly all of F.R.H.'s poems were published in The Poetical Works of Frances Ridley Havergal (London: James Nisbet & Co., 1884). In the Nisbet edition, the section entitled Under His Shadow is very different from the original book both in the order (sequence) of poems and in the inclusion or exclusion of several poems: various poems were placed in different sequences (very possibly because more was known when the later Nisbet edition was prepared), other poems were added, and other poems were removed from the original Under His Shadow (because those poems were placed elsewhere in the much larger, more comprehensive Nisbet edition). This is not said to disparage the Nisbet Poetical Works edition at all: that is a sterling compilation, very finely prepared. Very possibly or likely Maria realized more (about titles, sequences, texts, etc.) after the original Under His Shadow was published and before the finalized Nisbet edition was published. This is said to explain that this small volume of Under His Shadow follows the original 1879 sequence (placement of the poems) of that book, though the titles and texts of the individual poems in the 1884 Nisbet edition (later prepared, and likely more accurate than the earlier, original book) are copied here. This book is another collection full of true treasure.
Author Biography:
About the Author Frances Ridley Havergal's formal education ended when she was seventeen, with one term at a young women's school in Dusseldorf, Germany, yet she was a true scholar all her life. Fluent in German and French and nearly so in Italian, she read and loved the Reformers in Latin, German, and French. Knowledge was never an end in itself, only a means to know better her Lord and Saviour and to help to bring others to know Him. The Bible was her only Book, and she studied deeply the Hebrew and Greek texts of Scripture, memorized nearly all the New Testament and large portions of the Old Testament, and loved the Author with all her being. Frances was brought to a saving knowledge of Christ when she was fourteen, and the rest of her life was consecrated to her Savior, the Lord Jesus. Keenly aware of her own sinfulness and inability, her sole desire was to please and glorify Him alone. Very finely gifted, she was truly diligent with her gifts: her poetry is among the finest Christian verse in the English language, after George Herbert; her prose works are deeply beneficial; a musician to the core, she left behind important compositions. Like her works, her life richly touched the ones near her and countless many who met or heard her. The Lord Jesus Christ was her alone, only beauty, and she glowed Him and His truth. These books are taken from the newly prepared edition of The Complete Works of Frances Ridley Havergal. Never wanting attention to herself, Frances' desire of her heart was for herself and for others to know her King, the Lord Jesus Christ. Her works are a gold-mine of help and enrichment. As her sister Maria, wrote, Knowing her intense desire that Christ should be magnified, whether by her life or in her death, may it be to His glory that in these pages she, being dead, "Yet speaketh !" David L. Chalkley and Glen T. Wegge, editors
![Life Echoes [Verse] by F.R. Havergal, with a Few Selected Pieces by W.H. Havergal [Ed. by M.V.G. Havergal] on Hardback by Frances Ridley Havergal](https://d3fa68hw0m2vcc.cloudfront.net/images/autosize/18860077.jpeg?width=228&height=285&format=jpeg "Life Echoes [Verse] by F.R. Havergal, with a Few Selected Pieces by W.H. Havergal [Ed. by M.V.G. Havergal] on Hardback by Frances Ridley Havergal")
!['under His Shadow', the Last Poems of Frances Ridley Havergal [Ed. by M.V.G. Havergal] on Hardback by Frances Ridley Havergal](https://d3fa68hw0m2vcc.cloudfront.net/images/autosize/46909709.jpeg?width=228&height=285&format=jpeg "'under His Shadow', the Last Poems of Frances Ridley Havergal [Ed. by M.V.G. Havergal] on Hardback by Frances Ridley Havergal")
