Mant was ed­u­cat­ed at Win­ches­ter and Trin­i­ty, Ox­ford (BA 1797, MA 1799). At Ox­ford, he won the Chan­cel­lor’s prize for an Eng­lish es­say; he was a Fel­low of Or­i­el, and for some time Coll­ege Tu­tor. Af­ter tak­ing Ho­ly Or­ders, he was suc­cess­ive­ly cur­ate to his fa­ther, then of one or two other plac­es; Vi­car of Cog­ges­hall, Es­sex, 1810; Do­mes­tic Chap­lain to the Arch­bi­shop of Can­ter­bu­ry, 1813; rec­tor of St. Bo­tolph, Bi­shops­gate, Lon­don, 1816, and East Hors­ley, 1818; Bi­shop of Kil­la­loe, 1820; of Down and Con­nor, 1823; and of Dro­more, 1842. He was al­so Bamp­ton Lec­tur­er in 1811.

Mant is known chief­ly through his trans­la­tions from La­tin. John El­ler­ton, in his Notes on Church Hymns, 1881, said:

Mant had lit­tle know­ledge of hymns, and mere­ly took those of the ex­ist­ing Ro­man Bre­vi­a­ry as he found them; con­se­quent­ly he had to omit ma­ny, and so to al­ter others that they have in fact be­come dif­fer­ent hymns; nor was he al­ways hap­py in his ma­nip­u­la­tion of them. But his book has much good taste and de­vout feel­ing, and has fal­len in­to un­de­served ne­glect.

Mant’s other works in­clude:

• The Country Cur­ate, 1804
• Po­ems in three Parts, 1806
• The Slave, 1807
• The Book of Psalms as an Eng­lish Met­ric­al Ver­sion, 1824
• The Book of The Ho­ly­days of the Church, 1831
• The Gos­pel Mir­a­cles in a Ser­ies of Po­et­ic­al Sketch­es, 1832
• The Bri­tish Months, 1836
• Ancient Hymns from the Ro­man Bre­vi­a­ry, for Do­mes­tick Use, 1837
• History of the Church in Ire­land, 1840
• The Hap­pi­ness of the Bless­ed Dead, 1847

Sources

Hymns

1. Before Thy Mercy’s Throne
2. Blessed Be the Lord Most High
3. Bright the Vision That De­light­ed
4. Father of All, from Whom We Trace
5. For These Who First Pro­claimed Thy Word
6. For Thy Dear Saints
7. God My King, Thy Might Con­fess­ing
8. Lo, the Day the Lord Hath Made
9. Lord, Thy Glo­ry Fills the Hea­ven
10. Lord, to Thee I Make My Vows
11. My Trust Is in the High­est Name
12. No! When He Bids Me Seek His Face
13. Oft as in God’s Own House We Sit
14. Put Off Thy Shoes, ’Tis Ho­ly Ground
15. Reign, Je­ho­vah, King Su­preme
16. Savior of Men, Our Hope and Rest
17. Savior, Who Exalted High
    • Son of Man, to Thee I Cry
18. There Is a Dwell­ing Place Above
19. Thy House Each Day of Hal­lowed Rest
20. Thy Listening Ear, O Lord, In­cline
21. To God My Ear­nest Voice I Raise
22. To Jehovah Hymn the Lay
23. We Bless Thee for Thy Church, O Lord
24. We Deem and Own It, Lord, a Proof

Translations

1. Come Ho­ly Ghost, Creator Blest
2. Let the Round World with Songs Re­joice, Let All on Earth Their Voices Raise
3. See the Des­tined Day Arise