There came a little Child to earth. Emily E. S. Elliott. [Christmas.] First published in 1856 in Matty's Missionary Box (London: T. Nelson & Son), and since included in Miss Elliott's Chimes for Daily Service, 1880, p. 97, in 4 stanzas of 8 lines. It has appeared in the Church Sunday School Hymn Book, 1868, Scottish Presbyterian Hymnal, 1876; Allon's Children's Worship, 1878, &c.; and is included in full and unaltered (save stanzas ii. 1. 8) as No. 373 in the Scottish Free Church Hymn Book, 1882. Its use is extensive. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)