2"'« S. VII. April 2. '69.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



271 



BISHOP WBTENHALLS WORKS. 



I have lately come across a book by Dr. Weten- 

 hall, Bishop of Kilraore, which I think deserves a 

 Note, both from its intrinsic value and from its 

 being (if I mistake not) little known. It is a sex- 

 todecimo volume, containing 805 numbered, and 

 32 unnumbered pages.* Three treatises with sepa- 

 rate title-pages are comprised in it. They are 

 thus entitled : — 



1. " Of the Gift of Prayer. Dublin : printed anno 

 dom. M.nclxxviii." 



2. " Of the Gift and Duty of Singing to God. Dublin : . 

 1676." 



3. " Of the Office and Duty of Preaching. Dublin : 

 1678." t 



The following note is written on a fly-leaf of 

 the copy before me : — 



" Dr. Wetenhall published the Works of Dr. Ezekiel 

 Hopkins, Bishop of Derry, and wrote the Epistle prefixed 

 to them, which is dated from Park Lane Place, Jul}' 3, 

 1671. This Prelate dying in England, was burled in 

 Westminster Abbey, where is this modest memorial of 

 him: — 



" H. S. J. Depositura Rev*' admodum In Christo 

 Patris, Edwardi Wetenhall, S. T. P. Prirao Corcagiensis, 

 an. 20. Deinde Kilmorensis et Ardaghensis, an. 14. In 

 Regno Hiberniaj Episcopi. Obiit 12™" Nov. An. Dni. 

 1713, yEtatis suae 78." 



Any farther particulars respecting Bp. Weten- 

 hall and his Works would be very acceptable.} I 

 dare say some information may be found in Mr. 

 Pratt's " Life of Bp. Hopkins," prefixed to his 

 edition of that prelate's Works, published in 1809 

 in 4 vols. 8vo. 



Bp. Wetenhall's letter " To the Learned and 

 truly Venerable Dr. Richard Busby, my ever 

 Honoured Master," which is prefixed to the first 

 treatise, may perhaps be worth quoting : — 



" I have oftentimes reproached myself of ingratitude, 

 in that I never 5-et in any of those things which I ex- 

 posed to the world, have made publick acknowledgement 

 how much I owe to you : Sincerely, therefore, now re- 

 penting, I reform, and own myself to have received from 

 you not onely excellent Rudiments of good Literature, but 

 the first Rational Impressions of Religion. 



" I rather prefix this Recognition to the ensuing Dis- 

 course, than to either of the other in its company, because, 



[* There should be sixteen pages of prefatory matter 

 to this volume, with the following general title-page : 

 Of Gifts and Offices in the Publick Worship of God. A 

 Treatise in Three Parts. Endeavouring an Impartial 

 Account, What was in the Inspired Age of the Church. 

 What succeeded in the more Ordinary State. What 

 reasonably may be allowed now, in Prayer, Singing, 

 Preaching. Designed to make People more Sober, Re- 

 gular, and Serious in Publick Worship. T3y Edward 

 Wetenhall, ' D.D., Chanter of Christ Church, Dublin. 

 Dublin, Printed by Benjamia Tooke, Printer to the 

 King's most Excellent Majesty, m.dc.lxxix. Then 

 follows a Dedication to the Abps. of Canterbury and 

 Dublin, and the Contents, pp. xii. — Ed.] 



t The pagination extends throughout : Prayer, pp. 1 — 

 203. ; Singing, pp. 204 — 57G. ; Preaching, pp. 677 — 805. 



[J See Chalmers's Biog. Dictionary. 



ing, pp. 

 ■,s.v.\ 



Sir, it was truly the sense I had of your piety, which first 

 operated towards the reconciling me to Church-Musick. 

 1 came to you with prejudices (very unreasonable, such 

 as commonly all prejudices are,) against it. The first 

 Organ 1 ever saw or heard was in your House, which was 

 in those dayes a more regular Church than most we had 

 publicklj'. I then thus judged, if a man of such real 

 Devotion, as I knew you to be of, would keep an Organ 

 for sacred use, even when it was interdicted and of dan- 

 gerous consequence, there was certainly more of reason 

 for it, and serviceableness in it, than I apprehended. 

 When afterwards God was pleased to bring again the 

 Captivity of our Mother the English Church, my own 

 experience soon convinced [me] that those my favourable 

 thoughts were most just: and now I have thought my« 

 self concerned to tell the prejudicate world so much . . . • 

 " In confidence that j'ou will acquiesce herein as a 

 plenary satisfaction, I will dare to sign myseUi 

 " Sii', 



" Your very thankful scholar, 

 " And ever humble servant, 

 " Edward Wetenhall." 



In "The Review" which follows, the Bishop 

 bewails the state of the Irish Press in his day : — 



" Every man's eye will inform him that the Character 

 which the Printer had to use being somewhat old and 

 worn, there are several letters and syllables very blind, 

 or scarce appearing, some not at all . . . To the same ori- 

 ginal, many ill Punctations are to be referred; for not 

 having sufficient variety of points of the same size with 

 the letter, the Printer has used sometimes those belonging 

 to another letter. . . , Again, as to our Greek Character, 

 it is very small, blind and old ... . Also in what Hebrew 

 words occur, there are some mistakes .... Further, our 

 Paper being somewhat of the least, and the Margin very 

 small, the Citations which are in the Margin are often 

 imperfect, and sometimes by the Printer totally omitted." 



On this forlorn state of things he pithily re- 

 marks : '• Had the Press here more incourage- 

 ment, it would be better furnished." 



The treatise Of the Gift of Prayer is directed 

 against extempore, or (as the writer styles it 

 throughout) " Conceived Prayer." He gives a de- 

 finition of the latter phrase at p. 134. Why he 

 uses it, I cannot conceive ; especially as, at p. 136., 

 after quoting from the Preface to Calvin's Lectures 

 on the Minor Prophets, he obseives: "It would 

 seem hereby that the name Extemporary Prayer 

 was more ancient than Conceived" The use of 

 public extemporary prayer, he asserts, originated 

 with Calvin " in the year 1550, or thereabouts. 

 Behold then here the first instance of this kind of 

 publick prayer in the Christian Church, since the 

 cessation of miracles." 



Besides a learned historical account of prayer, 

 the Bishop appeals to the common sense of the 

 matter. His argument may be excellently ex- 

 pressed and summed up by quoting a passage from 

 Dr. Johnson's Journey to the Hebrides, written at 

 Ostig in Sky : — 



" The ancient rigour of Puritanism is now very much 

 relaxed, tho' all are not equally enlightened. . . . Reason 

 and truth will prevail at last." The most learned of the 

 Scotch doctors would now gladly admit a form of prayer, 

 if the people would endure it. The zeal or rage of con- 

 gregations has its difi'ereut degrees. In some parishes 



