454 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[So* S. VI. 153., Deo. 4. '58. 



is the often quoted version of the xviii. psalm, be- 



ginninor at 



" God, my strength and fortitude," 

 to the second verse of the second part. He had 

 finished about forty psalms when he died. His 

 work was taken up and continued by John Hop- 

 kins, schoolmaster. Several of hi^s versifications 

 deserve revival, especially the xlii. psalm. The 

 C. psalm : 



" All people that on earth do dwell," 

 is too well known to need a word of reference. 

 AV. Whittingham, Dean of Durham, was another 

 who took part in this version. His renderings are 

 somewhat peculiar, from his employing several 

 uncommon measures. He has left little that is 

 worthy of commendation. Neither Norton, nor 

 any other of its contributors, deserve special no- 

 tice. Although of necessity there is a roughness 

 about many of the pieces in this collection, they 

 are marked by homely vigour and pure Saxon 

 language. 



Francis Davidson, son of the Secretary of State, 

 employed his poetic powers upon the Psalms. 

 Many of his renderings are very beautiful, and 

 well repay the modern reader. Queen Elizabeth 

 tried her abilities at versification, and has left us 

 the xiv. psalm as a specimen. The Earl of Surry, 

 Bishop Coverdale, Hunnis, Bishop Hall, Lord 

 Bacon, Sir Philip Sidney, with his sister the 

 Countess of Pembroke, AVither, Sandys, Phineas 

 Fletcher, George Herbert, and Druramond of 

 Hawthornden, all contributed more or less to this 

 kind of literature. In 1640, the first colonial 

 book was printed in New England : it was a me- 

 trical version of the Psalms by John Eliot, Thomas 

 Welde, and Richard Mather. In 1641, Francis 

 Eouse, a Member of the Long Parliament, and 

 Provost of Eton, published the Psalter in verse. 

 The AVestminster Assembly of Divines adopted it 

 as the foundation of a national psalmody : by them 

 it was revised, and published in 1645. For a 

 time the Church of Scotland kept to its own trans- 

 lation ; but in 1649, the Assembly's version was 

 made the basis of their new rendering, and was 

 universally adopted in the following year. Its 

 chief interest arises from its associations, thoujih 

 some of its verses possess a simple beauty, as in 

 the beginning of the xxiii. psalm : — 



" The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want: 

 He makes me down to lie 

 In pastures green ; he leadcth me 

 The quiet waters by." 



Many a time have the hills and glens of Scot- 

 land echoed to such lines as these, when sung by 

 the hunted Covenanter. Barton, AVhite, and 

 AVoodford published their versions soon after the 

 Scotch. Baxter, not willing to leave any subject 

 untouched, tried his powers upon this business. 

 His paraphrase was not published till after his 



death, and is a dry and formal thing. Milton has 

 left nineteen psalms " done into verse." One of 

 his renderings : — 



" Let us with a gladsome mind," 

 is still found in most hymn-books. Sir John 

 Denham is smooth, neat, and sometimes pleasing. 

 Tate and Brady are too well known to need re- 

 mark. Watts published his Psalms in 1719. They 

 were not intended to be a literal versified trans- 

 lation, but are " imitated in the language of the 

 New Testament." Though now the style in 

 some parts may be stiff and antiquated, they 

 excel anything that preceded, or, with one or 

 two exceptions, has yet succeeded them. Addi- 

 son has given us two specimens of his own in the 

 Spectator : — 



. " The Lord my pasture shall prepare," 

 and 



" The spacious firmament on high." 



Both deserve the highest praise, and make us 

 wish that he had left us the whole Psalter in the 

 same style. The AVesleys, father and sons, have 

 given us several spirited translations ; but their 

 followers have not adopted any entire versions of 

 the Psalms. 



Such are a few of the older English psalmists. 

 Nearly fifty entire metrical renderings of the 

 Psalter appeared from the reign of Edward VI. 

 to the end of the eighteenth century. More than 

 seventy other translators have left us smaller 

 collections. Of course many are unfit for singing. 

 Some are written in blank verse, some in heroics, 

 and numbers in the dullest style of Pindaric 

 odes. 



The nineteenth century has contributed its 

 share. If the Psalter be required in metre, — and 

 many still think it is,— an ample stock of material 

 is at the service of the compiler. By selecting 

 from many of the writers enumerated, and only 

 by selection, a worthy version may be made. But 

 no single versifier, or company of versifiers, can 

 produce what is needed. The store is super- 

 abundant ; but it is a mine that has never yet 

 been worked. Until some bolder editor than any 

 who has yet appeared is willing to go down into 

 the sea of mud, and pick up whatever he may 

 find valuable in it, — and it has pearls not a few, — 

 we shall not have a psalm-book that will meet 

 with very general approval. Hubert Bowee. 



Surnames. — In the town and county of Leices- 

 ter are living numerous families whose surnames 

 end in t or it. AVe have Brewitt, Barratt, Eve- 

 rett, Garratt, Hackett, Hewitt, Kellett, Marriott, 

 JNIallet, Paget, Trivett, AVillett, AValiett, and 

 others. It would almost seem most of them were 

 originally of foreign extraction. I have known. 



