What is one to make of a man described as strangely compounded, peculiarly constituted, and oddly framed ? It conjures up in the mind an image of Stevenson s Mr. Hyde, or Shelley s Frankenstein, or Hugo s Quasimodo. But such is J. C. Ryle s (1816-1900) description of Augustus Montague Toplady (1740-1778), author of what has been called the best-loved English hymn. One wonders why someone would bother writing a biography or reading one about a strange, peculiar, odd person. Nevertheless, Ryle declared that no account of Christianity in England in the 18th century would be complete without featuring remarkable Toplady.