184 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OF THE [1786 



And in Hymn IX (the first for the Ascension) which I consider as 

 one of the most beautiful and animated in the whole collection — nay, 

 even sublime — the first and second verses taken from Psalm xxiv, and 

 connected with verses that follow, which follow in double rhymes, should 

 for uniformity, had it been attended to in due season, have been changed 

 into double rhymes also, which might easily have been done as follows, 

 viz., for the words '■'■ eternal gates,'" in the first line, putting ^'■eternal 

 domes,'" and for the words " his foes" in the third line of verse second 

 putting " his foe," which would have been much stronger in the singu- 

 lar number than the plural, in making it applicable to the one great foe, 

 whom Christ came to subdue. As the hymns are of different metres, 

 they might have been marked as such; but being all I think of the first 

 and second metre, the clerks cannot well mistake them. I would ob- 

 serve too that in singing or metre psalms, instead of putting the num- 

 bers of the psalms, as the running title at the top of each page, the top 

 of the page, or running title, had perhaps better have been the subjects 

 or heads under which they are classed, as '■^Psalms of Praise and Ador- 

 ation," ^^ Psalms of Prayer," etc. Thus at every opening of the book, 

 the clerks or ministers would know the subject, without turning back to 

 the title or heads at the beginning of each class or set of psalms; and 

 these titles would have stood in as little room at the top of each page 

 as " Psalms II. III. — Psalms V. VI," which are of little use on the fop, 

 as a glance of the eye shows the number, in the body of the pages. But 

 all these little amendments (the last of which is an afterthought) are 

 too late for the present, even if they should be deemed amendments. 



In that part of the preface which speaks of the failure of the great 

 work of the review at the Revolution in 1689, I would have wished to 

 have said a little more concerning the reasons of that unhappy failure; 

 and that in the words of Dr. Warner, from the preface to his commen- 

 tary on the Common Prayer, a very excellent and judicious work to 

 which I had not attended when I drew up the preface to our bock. It 

 might yet be added in a note upon the word '■'■miscarried" in the fol- 

 lowing paragraph of the preface, which you can easily find. In my 

 rough copy it runs thus, which is all that is said, viz. : 



But this great and good work miscarried at that time; and the civil authority of 

 Great Britain hath not since thought proper to revive it by any new commission. 



The note on the foregoing is as follows, or it might have been inter- 

 woven with the text, or stood altogether instead of the paragraph just 

 quoted, viz. : 



After giving an account of the alterations intended at the Revolution, 

 much as I have stated them from the same authors, as he had to follow, 

 he concludes thus : 



But while this important affair was carrying on, the p.irty which was now at work 

 for the abdiialed King, took hold on this occasion to inlLune men's minds. It was 



