232 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



[2»* S. VIII. Sept. 17. '59. 



sembly." Again, on 10th Aug. 1648, "The As- 

 sembly recommends to Mr. John Adamson and 

 Mr. Thomas Craufurd, to revise the labours of 

 Mr. Zachary Boyd upon the other Scripturall 

 Songs." We hear no more of the subject, till in 

 this, as in respect to the Psalms, he is thanked by 

 the Assembly, in the Minute of 1650, above cited. 

 Were it not that the author has been so distinct 

 in the Preface to the edition of his Psalms in 

 1648, in adverting to '■''former editions" of them, 

 so as almost to preclude our conjecture, I have 

 sometimes been tempted to think that, by a possi- 

 bility, through a certain loose form of expressing 

 himself, he may have meant to include as his 

 Psalms the two editions of the Holy Songs of 

 1645 and of 1646, and that the latter may have 

 led to the supposition held of there being two edi- 

 tions of the Psalms previous to 1646. It will be 

 observed, moreover, that he held these Songs in 

 as high estimation as the Psalms of David. 



With regard to peculiarities in his metrical ren- 

 derings of both the Psalms and the Songs, there 

 will be seen, on comparing the two different edi- 

 tions mentioned, as he went along, considerable 

 variations. Whether that one class of them was 

 more happy than another, he had at least thought 

 so. The rules by which he had tied himself down 

 may here be slightly abridged from the " Epistle 

 Dedicatory" of 1648, and which are now so pre- 

 cious and interesting to be perused. 



" First. That the interpretation approven and received 

 by our Church be not changed in the verse by any par- 

 ticular man's * opinion, &c. Secondly. That all difficile 

 words be shunned, by reason that many people and chil- 

 dren must sing that are unlearned. Thirdly. That so far 

 as is possible no words of the Text be wanting, for in the 

 Text there be no idle words, or superfluities to be re- 

 trinched as in men's discourse. Fourthly. If any words 

 be added, that they be pertinent to make the sense clear, 

 &c. Fifthly. A special care would be had that the verse 

 be very clear, and easie to be understood by the most 

 ignorant, that unlearned people and children may, as 

 God's Word directs, Psalm 47. 7. Sing with understanding. 

 It is better pertinently to adde some words for explication, 

 as we see done in the Text itself, then without them to 

 leave the matter so obscure that the people and children 

 should sing they know not what . . . Saint Paul is a 

 great enemie to obscurity, and all faithfull Pastours must 

 and will set their face against it in all things that con- 

 cerne the soules that their Master hath bought with his 

 bloud, and concredited to them ; Let therefore all difficile 

 words be shunned that are not in the Bible ; as for the 

 words of the Bible, all should understand them. Sixthly. 

 A speciall care would be had that, so far as may be, the 

 words of the Text be not changed with any other, that 

 those that have their Bibles before them may read the 

 words of the Text in the song ; when other words are in 

 the verse, the Text seemeth uncouth to him that readeth 

 or singeth. Seventhly. He that medleth with such a 

 work should have good understanding in the Hebreiu, 

 which is the Originall and fountaine. The want of this, 

 or the not taking heed, hath made all English verse that 



* Probably he had here in view Baillie, who had a pre- 

 dilection for the MS. version of Sir William Mure of Row- 

 alien, also before the Assembly. 



I have seen, make a very great fault, in mistaking that 

 which is said of God himself in the Fsal. 82. 1. where it 

 is said, God standeth in the congregation of the miqhty, he 

 judgeth among the gods : All the Psalmes in English verse 

 that I have seen, by the mighty there understand itiighty 

 men, which is a very great mistake . . . Our English 

 version in this verse would be mended ; whereas it hath 

 God standeth in the Assembly of the mighty, it were better 

 and more clear to put God standeth in the Assembly of 

 God." 



The foregoing remarks are a few of the more 

 salient points of Mr. Zachary's travails, but do 

 not pretend to be any history either of them or of 

 his books of Psalms and Songs. They may have 

 a little exceeded the Query of J. O. I, however, 

 throw myself on the principle of the adage that 

 " the abundance of the law never breaks it." 

 From his critical and literary investigations, with 

 a more enlarged field for information, perhaps he 

 may excuse me for being so avaricious as yet to 

 expect to hear some report of his own " ti-avells in 

 this line," or in any other matter anent the author 

 and his works in general. G. N. 



MALABAE JE^S. 



(2"<» S. iv. 429.) 



Only a few days ago I discovered a stray 

 number of the Algemeene Konst-en Letterhode (for 

 1857, Nov. 14), which, though directed to me, 

 had been mislaid amongst other papers and had 

 slumbered there for about two years, only to re- 

 appear at the very moment when the writer of 

 the article I am going to translate breathed his 

 last. It contains a reply to a question put by me 

 in the same periodical (p. 346), and inserted in 

 "N. & Q." as an appendix to a Query proposed 

 to the Navorscher by Dr. Todd of Dublin. 



The Konst-en Letterhode says : — 



" Mr. S. de Wind, LL.D., writes us as follows from 

 Middelburg, in reply to the queries of Mr. J. H. Van 

 Lennep, on p. 346 of this volume : 



"'Mr. V. L. will find his inquiries fully illustrated in 

 the first series of the Works published by the Zealand 

 Society of Sciences (^Oudere Werken van het Zeeuwsch 

 Genootschap der Wetenschajrpen), vol. vi. (Middelburg, 

 1778) and ix. (1782), which thoroughly investigate the 

 history of the Gochim Jews. 



" ' The first-mentioned volume contains a Treatise, en- 

 titled " Historical Particulars regarding the White and 

 Black Jews at Cochim on the Coast of Malabar, extracted 

 from a Correspondence with the Governor and Director of 

 that Coast, Mr. Adriaan Moens, Counsellor Hn extraor- 

 dinari' of the Dutch East Indies; collated with the 

 Accounts of several Writers, by Adrianua 's Gravezande." 



" ' This treatise amply discusses Hamilton's account, a 

 number of statements from Dutch and Portuguese writers, 

 Mr. Van Rheede's " Extract " ( UittrehseT), and A. Moens's 

 communications : whilst a fac-simile is added of the two 

 brass plates mentioned by Hamilton. 



" 'In the ninth volume occurs, on p. 515 and following, 

 a paper, inscribed "Appendix to the Historical Particulars 

 regarding the White and Black Jews at Cochim, by 

 A. 's Gravezande," and then comes a "Postscript, re- 



