2»'» S. VI. 156., Dec. 25. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



531 



editor of the Baptist Register, and of a hymn-book, it ap- 

 pears that one or two hymns in that collection were com- 

 posed by Robinson. These had appeared before in Dr. 

 Evans's and George Whitfield's hymn-books, and were 

 written by him when among the Methodists. One is well 

 known .... it begins thus : — 



' Come thou fount of every blessing.' " 

 Robinson was first settled at Norwich, where he 

 preached at the Tabernacle to a congregation of 

 Methodists. He was then very young, only about 

 twenty-two. He became the pastor of the church 

 at Stoneyard, Cambridge, in the spring of 1761. 

 The hymn was therefore written some time during 

 the three years its author was at Norwich, 1758 — 

 1761. 



The hymn-book so well known in the Baptist 

 connexion as Rippon's Selection contains both the 

 hymns quoted by Flower, and with Robinson's 

 name afiixed to them. 



This matter reminds me of another connected 

 with hymns ; and I hope the difficulty, if there be 

 one, may be cleared up as easily. 



Some months ago a friend mentioned to me that 

 he had great doubts about the authorship of some 

 justly popular hymns, which have always been at- 

 tributed to Addison.* The best known, and which 

 are to be found in almost every ^collection of 

 hymns, are those beginning, — 



" The spacious firmament on high." 

 " When all thy mercies, O my God." 

 " How are thy servants bless'd, O Lord." 

 " When rising from the bed of death." 



My friend told me that he had, whilst in Dub- 

 lin, a copy of Andrew Marvell's Works shown 

 him, and the gentleman to whom it belonged di- 

 rected his attention to the hymns above referred 

 to (and probably some others which, at the mo- 

 ment, I do not remember), and stated that An- 

 drew Marvell was certainly the author of the 

 hymns, although, from their appearance in the 

 Spectator, they were always considered to have 

 been written by Addison. No doubt there are 

 many readers of " N. & Q." who can enlighten us 

 on the question, and for the required information 

 no one will be more thankful than J. 0. N. 



THE FINE OLD I£ISH GENTLEMAN. 



(2'"' S. vi. 246.) 



As none of your readers appear to know a song 

 of this title, I send one which came from Ame- 

 rica. I can find no Irishman who has any know- 

 ledge of it, so I suppose it was either made in the 

 United States, or carried there from Ireland, and 

 forgotten in its native country. The last verse is 

 a modern addition, from internal evidence. The 



[* If our correspondent will refer to the valuable arti- 

 cles on Addison's Ilyinns in the 5th and 9th volumes of 



lOur 1" Series, by Mit. Marki^nu and Mr. Ckosslky, 

 Tie will, we think, leave Addison in peaceable possession 



lof the divine hymns attributed to his pen. — Eu, " N. & 



tune is the common chant to which all the " fine 

 old " songs go. I do not attempt to spell the pro- 

 nunciation : — 



" I'll sing you a fine old Irish song, made by a fine old 

 Paddy's pate, 



Of a fine old Irish gentleman who had devil a bit of 

 an estate. 



Except a fine old patch of potatoes he liked exceed- 

 ingly to eat. 



For they were beef to him and mutton too, and (bar- 

 ring a red herring or a rusty rasher of bacon now 

 and then) almost every other kind of meat, 



For this fine old Irish gentleman was of the real old 

 stock. 



" His cabin walls were covered o'er with fine old Irish 



mud, 

 Because he couldn't afford to have any paper hangings, 



and between you and I he wouldn't give a pin for 



them if he could. 

 But just as proud as -Julius Cssar, or Alexander the 



Great, this independent ragamuffin stood, 

 With a glass of fine old Irish whiskey in his fine old 



Irish fist, which he's decidedly of opinion will do a 



mighty deal of good 

 To a fine old Irish gentleman of the real old stock. 



" Now this fine old Irish gentleman wore mighty curious 



clothes, 

 Though for comfort I'll be bail they'd beat any of your 



fashionable beaux. 

 For when the sun is very hot, the gentle wind right 



through his ventilation garments most beautifully 



blows. 

 And he's never troubled with any corns, and I tell you 



why, because he despises the weakness of wearing any 



thing so hard as leather on his toes. 

 For this fine old Irish gentleman was of the real old 



stock. 



" This fine old Irish gentleman had a mighty pleasant 

 knack 



Of flourishing a tremendous great shillaly, and letting 

 it fall down with a most uncompromising whack. 



But of most superior shindies you may take your oath, 

 if you happen to be called upon for it, he very nearly 

 never had a lack ; 



And it's most natural, and not at all surprising to sup- 

 pose, that the fine old Irish mud was well acquainted 

 with the back 



Of this tine old Irish gentleman of the real old stock. 



" Now this fine old Irish gentleman was once out upon 

 a spree. 



And as many a fine old Irish gentleman has done, and 

 more by token will do to the end of time, he got 

 about as drunk as he could be : 



His senses were completely mulvathered, and the con- 

 sequence was that he could neither hear nor see ; 



So they thought he was stone dead and gone entirely, 

 and the best thing they could do would be to have 

 him waked and buried decently, 



Like a fine old Irish gentleman of the real old stock. 



" So this fine old Irish gentleman was laid out upon a 



bed. 

 With half a dozen candles at his heels, and two or 



three dozen, less or more, about his head. 

 But when the whiskey bottle was uncorked he couldn't 



stand it any longer, so he riz right up, and said, 

 By St. Patrick, when such mighty fine stuff as that is 



going about, d'ye think I'm such a softheaded fool 



as to be dead ? 

 I, a line old Irish gentleman of the real old stock. 



