"Walker polished it up, named it “New Britain,” " Which leads one to ask, why call it by that name? One assumes it was a reference to New Britain, Connecticut or Pennsylvania, or to Labrador in Canada. There is a Papua New Guinean island, but it seems to have been left untouched-ish by Europeans till rather later. At the time of the tune's transfer to the hymn, both the US locations seem to have been relatively obscure places, but the Labrador location was the site of some Moravian settlements. I wonder if I can find some 18th century Moravian hymnbooks with music?
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