a-" s. VI. 137., Aug. M. '58.1 NOTES AND QUERIES. 



129 



The foregoing extracts, together with the Epi- 

 taph, may so far serve as a mirror to Lord Ma- 

 caulay in which to see himself and the period in 

 relation to the despised Covenanters, who were 

 good stuff, and not men to be meddled with. 



These extracts and foot-notes may be rather 

 lengthy, but I think the old soldier such a verit- 

 able fac-simile of those who so gallantly behaved 

 at the battle of Drumclog, that to do him and his 

 party justice scarcely less could be said ; and he 

 is well worth mustering to public view, even in 

 the days of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. He had 

 been a native of Lanarkshire. 



Jn the Churchyard of HamUtOH. 



" At Hamilton 



lie the heads of 



John Parker, Gavin Hamilton 



James Hamilton 



and 



Christopher Strang 



who suffered at 



Edinburgh 



Dec. 7. 1G66 



(_four sculpttired heads in a line) 



Stay, passenger take notice 



what thou reads ; 



At Edinburgh lie our bodies 



here our heads ; 



Our right hands stood at Lanark, 



these we want ; 



Because with them we sware 



the Covenant. 



Benewed 



MDCCCXVHI." 



G.N. 



NOTES ON HYMN-BOOKS AND HYMN WRITEHS. NO. I. 



The English churches are rich in hymns. Since 

 the Reformation a great amount of religious 

 poetry has got into circulation. Some of it is trans- 

 lated, some of it consists of paraphrases of scrip- 

 ture ; but the greatest part is original. Hymns, 

 properly so called, these pieces are not. Many of 

 them are prayers in verse. Many describe the 

 spiritual conflicts of the writers. All are curious 

 as marks of the depth of feeling of their ages. It 



speak Calumniously, and with Bitterness against the 

 Work of the Spirit of God at Cambuslang, Kilsyth, and 

 Cadder, and other places in the Land ; by one who loves 

 to have the Mediator's Kingdom and Glory advanced, in 

 gaining of Souls to him, by Gospel Means, according to 

 his Will in his Word.— N.B. By the Author of the Warm 

 and Seriou.i Address. Glasgow: printed by William 

 Dancau, in Salt-mercat, 1742," 12mo. pp. 24. In addition 

 there are " Observations in Defence of the Work at Cam- 

 buslang against the Malicious Spirit of the Act of the 

 Associate I'rcabytery Anent their Late Fast, written by a 

 Soldier. Glasgow: printed by R. Smith, 1742," 12mo., 

 pp. 8. Here, with martial fire.'he speaks of " King George 

 my Maater." In all probability he was connected with 

 the first raised Cameronian Regiment, and who, at the 

 date of these eflusions, must have seen at least his four- 

 score years. These tracts are from a collection relating 

 to those times in my possession. 



would be a work of interest to trace them to their 

 sources. But from their bein^ imputed to vari- 

 ous writers, it is often very difficult to find out 

 their true authors. Our hymn-books are innu- 

 merable. Their quality, however, is far inferior 

 to their quantity. Frequently the writers' names 

 are not attached to their compositions. The col- 

 lections used by the Church of England are "e- 

 nerally very meagre : the collections used by 

 dissenters are often filled with mere religious 

 rhymes. In some of the former the editors only 

 admit what has been written by their own ortho- 

 dox divines ; in many of the latter they insert 

 much that is unpoetical and uutasteful. Many 

 hymns have been so altered that it is impossible 

 to find out their originals. John AA'^esley, in his 

 preface to the ilethodist collection, begs that all 

 compilers who may wish to borrow any composi- 

 tions from it will do so without alteration, because 

 they cannot improve upon what the authors meant 

 to express. But though no selector has a right to 

 alter, he may omit or choose particular verses. 

 To this, the most severe writer can have no ob- 

 jection. 



Real hymns, that is songs of adoration, we have 

 few. But nominal hymns, many of which possess 

 great beauty, are very plentiful. The true gold 

 needs to be carefully melted out from the masses 

 of dross with which it is mixed. It will well re- 

 pay the trouble taken to separate it, and yield a 

 rich reward. Our hymns are the heirlooms of 

 the Church and nation : as much a part of their 

 wealth as cathedrals and castles ; as much a part 

 of their glory as martyrs and poets. They .should 

 therefore be duly cared for. 



The monks of Britain seem to have had but 

 little of the spirit of poetry. Caius Sedulius, a 

 native of Scotland, who lived about 340, and who 

 is said to have become Bishop of Achaia, wrote a 

 hymn beginning : — 



" A solis ortus cardine." 



But no very good translation of it has been 

 made. Beda, also, was the writer of several. 



" Hymnum canamus gloriae," 



is perhaps his best. Of this we have no worthy 

 English version. 



Cffidmon the cowherd rendered portions of the 

 Bible into Anglo-Saxon verse. He also composed 

 some hymns that were extensively sung by the 

 people. But interesting as they are as relics of a 

 by-gone age, they are but of slight use to a 

 modern hymnist. 



Up to the time of the Reformation, the sacred 

 poetry of the Church is common property. It 

 should, therefore, when translated, find a place in 

 every hymn-book that makes a chiiiu to complete- 

 ness. Many of tlicse translations from the Latin 

 arc finding their way into general use. A few of 

 the compositions of the best writers — all of wlilch, 



