Barton, Bernard, widely known as the "Quaker Poet," was born in London January 31, 1784, and was educated at a Quaker school at Ipswich. In 1810 he was employed at a local bank at Woodbridge, Suffolk, where he remained forty years. He was the author of eight or ten small volumes of verse between 1812 and 1845. From these books some twenty pieces have come into common use as hymns. He died at Woodbridge in 1849. His daughter published his Poems and Letters, 1849, after his death. His writings show a familiarity with the Scriptures and a love for good men. "Light" is the keynote to each of his three hymns found in this volume:

Lamp of our feet, whereby we trace 205
Walk in the light, so shalt thou 361
We journey through a vale of tears 447