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William Croft

1678 - 1727 Person Name: W. Croft, 1678-1727 Composer of "CROFT'S 136TH" in Songs of Praise William Croft, Mus. Doc. was born in the year 1677 and received his musical education in the Chapel Royal, under Dr. Blow. In 1700 he was admitted a Gentleman Extraordinary of the Chapel Boyd; and in 1707, upon the decease of Jeremiah Clarke, he was appointed joint organist with his mentor, Dr. Blow. In 1709 he was elected organist of Westminster Abbey. This amiable man and excellent musician died in 1727, in the fiftieth year of his age. A very large number of Dr. Croft's compositions remain still in manuscript. Cathedral chants of the XVI, XVII & XVIII centuries, ed. by Edward F. Rimbault, London: D. Almaine & Co., 1844

John Darwall

1732 - 1789 Person Name: J. Darwall, 1731-89 Composer of "DARWALL'S 148TH" in The Cambridge Hymnal John Darwall (b. Haughton, Staffordshire, England, 1731; d. Walsall, Staffordshire, England, 1789) The son of a pastor, he attended Manchester Grammar School and Brasenose College, Oxford, England (1752-1756). He became the curate and later the vicar of St. Matthew's Parish Church in Walsall, where he remained until his death. Darwall was a poet and amateur musician. He composed a soprano tune and bass line for each of the 150 psalm versifications in the Tate and Brady New Version of the Psalms of David (l696). In an organ dedication speech in 1773 Darwall advocated singing the "Psalm tunes in quicker time than common [in order that] six verses might be sung in the same space of time that four generally are." Bert Polman

Isaac Watts

1674 - 1748 Person Name: Isaac Watts 1674-1748 Author (stanzas 2-4) of "The Lord of heaven confess" in The Australian Hymn Book with Catholic Supplement Isaac Watts was the son of a schoolmaster, and was born in Southampton, July 17, 1674. He is said to have shown remarkable precocity in childhood, beginning the study of Latin, in his fourth year, and writing respectable verses at the age of seven. At the age of sixteen, he went to London to study in the Academy of the Rev. Thomas Rowe, an Independent minister. In 1698, he became assistant minister of the Independent Church, Berry St., London. In 1702, he became pastor. In 1712, he accepted an invitation to visit Sir Thomas Abney, at his residence of Abney Park, and at Sir Thomas' pressing request, made it his home for the remainder of his life. It was a residence most favourable for his health, and for the prosecution of his literary labours. He did not retire from ministerial duties, but preached as often as his delicate health would permit. The number of Watts' publications is very large. His collected works, first published in 1720, embrace sermons, treatises, poems and hymns. His "Horae Lyricae" was published in December, 1705. His "Hymns" appeared in July, 1707. The first hymn he is said to have composed for religious worship, is "Behold the glories of the Lamb," written at the age of twenty. It is as a writer of psalms and hymns that he is everywhere known. Some of his hymns were written to be sung after his sermons, giving expression to the meaning of the text upon which he had preached. Montgomery calls Watts "the greatest name among hymn-writers," and the honour can hardly be disputed. His published hymns number more than eight hundred. Watts died November 25, 1748, and was buried at Bunhill Fields. A monumental statue was erected in Southampton, his native place, and there is also a monument to his memory in the South Choir of Westminster Abbey. "Happy," says the great contemporary champion of Anglican orthodoxy, "will be that reader whose mind is disposed, by his verses or his prose, to imitate him in all but his non-conformity, to copy his benevolence to men, and his reverence to God." ("Memorials of Westminster Abbey," p. 325.) --Annotations of the Hymnal, Charles Hutchins, M.A., 1872. ================================= Watts, Isaac, D.D. The father of Dr. Watts was a respected Nonconformist, and at the birth of the child, and during its infancy, twice suffered imprisonment for his religious convictions. In his later years he kept a flourishing boarding school at Southampton. Isaac, the eldest of his nine children, was born in that town July 17, 1674. His taste for verse showed itself in early childhood. He was taught Greek, Latin, and Hebrew by Mr. Pinhorn, rector of All Saints, and headmaster of the Grammar School, in Southampton. The splendid promise of the boy induced a physician of the town and other friends to offer him an education at one of the Universities for eventual ordination in the Church of England: but this he refused; and entered a Nonconformist Academy at Stoke Newington in 1690, under the care of Mr. Thomas Rowe, the pastor of the Independent congregation at Girdlers' Hall. Of this congregation he became a member in 1693. Leaving the Academy at the age of twenty, he spent two years at home; and it was then that the bulk of the Hymns and Spiritual Songs (published 1707-9) were written, and sung from manuscripts in the Southampton Chapel. The hymn "Behold the glories of the Lamb" is said to have been the first he composed, and written as an attempt to raise the standard of praise. In answer to requests, others succeeded. The hymn "There is a land of pure delight" is said to have been suggested by the view across Southampton Water. The next six years of Watts's life were again spent at Stoke Newington, in the post of tutor to the son of an eminent Puritan, Sir John Hartopp; and to the intense study of these years must be traced the accumulation of the theological and philosophical materials which he published subsequently, and also the life-long enfeeblement of his constitution. Watts preached his first sermon when he was twenty-four years old. In the next three years he preached frequently; and in 1702 was ordained pastor of the eminent Independent congregation in Mark Lane, over which Caryl and Dr. John Owen had presided, and which numbered Mrs. Bendish, Cromwell's granddaughter, Charles Fleetwood, Charles Desborough, Sir John Hartopp, Lady Haversham, and other distinguished Independents among its members. In this year he removed to the house of Mr. Hollis in the Minories. His health began to fail in the following year, and Mr. Samuel Price was appointed as his assistant in the ministry. In 1712 a fever shattered his constitution, and Mr. Price was then appointed co-pastor of the congregation which had in the meantime removed to a new chapel in Bury Street. It was at this period that he became the guest of Sir Thomas Abney, under whose roof, and after his death (1722) that of his widow, he remained for the rest of his suffering life; residing for the longer portion of these thirty-six years principally at the beautiful country seat of Theobalds in Herts, and for the last thirteen years at Stoke Newington. His degree of D.D. was bestowed on him in 1728, unsolicited, by the University of Edinburgh. His infirmities increased on him up to the peaceful close of his sufferings, Nov. 25, 1748. He was buried in the Puritan restingplace at Bunhill Fields, but a monument was erected to him in Westminster Abbey. His learning and piety, gentleness and largeness of heart have earned him the title of the Melanchthon of his day. Among his friends, churchmen like Bishop Gibson are ranked with Nonconformists such as Doddridge. His theological as well as philosophical fame was considerable. His Speculations on the Human Nature of the Logos, as a contribution to the great controversy on the Holy Trinity, brought on him a charge of Arian opinions. His work on The Improvement of the Mind, published in 1741, is eulogised by Johnson. His Logic was still a valued textbook at Oxford within living memory. The World to Come, published in 1745, was once a favourite devotional work, parts of it being translated into several languages. His Catechisms, Scripture History (1732), as well as The Divine and Moral Songs (1715), were the most popular text-books for religious education fifty years ago. The Hymns and Spiritual Songs were published in 1707-9, though written earlier. The Horae Lyricae, which contains hymns interspersed among the poems, appeared in 1706-9. Some hymns were also appended at the close of the several Sermons preached in London, published in 1721-24. The Psalms were published in 1719. The earliest life of Watts is that by his friend Dr. Gibbons. Johnson has included him in his Lives of the Poets; and Southey has echoed Johnson's warm eulogy. The most interesting modern life is Isaac Watts: his Life and Writings, by E. Paxton Hood. [Rev. H. Leigh Bennett, M.A.] A large mass of Dr. Watts's hymns and paraphrases of the Psalms have no personal history beyond the date of their publication. These we have grouped together here and shall preface the list with the books from which they are taken. (l) Horae Lyricae. Poems chiefly of the Lyric kind. In Three Books Sacred: i.To Devotion and Piety; ii. To Virtue, Honour, and Friendship; iii. To the Memory of the Dead. By I. Watts, 1706. Second edition, 1709. (2) Hymns and Spiritual Songs. In Three Books: i. Collected from the Scriptures; ii. Composed on Divine Subjects; iii. Prepared for the Lord's Supper. By I. Watts, 1707. This contained in Bk i. 78 hymns; Bk. ii. 110; Bk. iii. 22, and 12 doxologies. In the 2nd edition published in 1709, Bk. i. was increased to 150; Bk. ii. to 170; Bk. iii. to 25 and 15 doxologies. (3) Divine and Moral Songs for the Use of Children. By I. Watts, London, 1715. (4) The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament, And apply'd to the Christian State and Worship. By I. Watts. London: Printed by J. Clark, at the Bible and Crown in the Poultry, &c, 1719. (5) Sermons with hymns appended thereto, vol. i., 1721; ii., 1723; iii. 1727. In the 5th ed. of the Sermons the three volumes, in duodecimo, were reduced to two, in octavo. (6) Reliquiae Juveniles: Miscellaneous Thoughts in Prose and Verse, on Natural, Moral, and Divine Subjects; Written chiefly in Younger Years. By I. Watts, D.D., London, 1734. (7) Remnants of Time. London, 1736. 454 Hymns and Versions of the Psalms, in addition to the centos are all in common use at the present time. --Excerpts from John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) ================================== Watts, I. , p. 1241, ii. Nearly 100 hymns, additional to those already annotated, are given in some minor hymn-books. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907) ================= Watts, I. , p. 1236, i. At the time of the publication of this Dictionary in 1892, every copy of the 1707 edition of Watts's Hymns and Spiritual Songs was supposed to have perished, and all notes thereon were based upon references which were found in magazines and old collections of hymns and versions of the Psalms. Recently three copies have been recovered, and by a careful examination of one of these we have been able to give some of the results in the revision of pp. 1-1597, and the rest we now subjoin. i. Hymns in the 1709 ed. of Hymns and Spiritual Songs which previously appeared in the 1707 edition of the same book, but are not so noted in the 1st ed. of this Dictionary:— On pp. 1237, L-1239, ii., Nos. 18, 33, 42, 43, 47, 48, 60, 56, 58, 59, 63, 75, 82, 83, 84, 85, 93, 96, 99, 102, 104, 105, 113, 115, 116, 123, 124, 134, 137, 139, 146, 147, 148, 149, 162, 166, 174, 180, 181, 182, 188, 190, 192, 193, 194, 195, 197, 200, 202. ii. Versions of the Psalms in his Psalms of David, 1719, which previously appeared in his Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1707:— On pp. 1239, U.-1241, i., Nos. 241, 288, 304, 313, 314, 317, 410, 441. iii. Additional not noted in the revision:— 1. My soul, how lovely is the place; p. 1240, ii. 332. This version of Ps. lxiv. first appeared in the 1707 edition of Hymns & Spiritual Songs, as "Ye saints, how lovely is the place." 2. Shine, mighty God, on Britain shine; p. 1055, ii. In the 1707 edition of Hymns & Spiritual Songs, Bk. i., No. 35, and again in his Psalms of David, 1719. 3. Sing to the Lord with [cheerful] joyful voice, p. 1059, ii. This version of Ps. c. is No. 43 in the Hymns & Spiritual Songs, 1707, Bk. i., from which it passed into the Ps. of David, 1719. A careful collation of the earliest editions of Watts's Horae Lyricae shows that Nos. 1, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, p. 1237, i., are in the 1706 ed., and that the rest were added in 1709. Of the remaining hymns, Nos. 91 appeared in his Sermons, vol. ii., 1723, and No. 196 in Sermons, vol. i., 1721. No. 199 was added after Watts's death. It must be noted also that the original title of what is usually known as Divine and Moral Songs was Divine Songs only. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907) =========== See also in: Hymn Writers of the Church

W. H. Havergal

1793 - 1870 Person Name: William Henry Havergal (1793-1870) Composer (attributed to) of "ST. JOHN (Havergal)" in Church Hymnary (4th ed.) Havergal, William Henry, M.A, son of William Havergal, was born at High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, 1793, and was educated at St. Edmund's Hall, Oxford (B.A. 1815, M.A. 1819). On taking Holy Orders he became in 1829 Rector of Astley, Worcestershire; in 1842, Rector of St. Nicholas, Worcester; and in 1860, Rector of Shareshill, near Wolverhampton. He was also Hon. Canon in Worcester Cathedral from 1845. He died April 18, 1870. His hymns, about 100 in all, were in many instances written for special services in his own church, and printed as leaflets. Several were included in W. Carus Wilson's Book of General Psalmody, 1840 (2nd ed., 1842); and in Metrical Psalms & Hymns for Singing in Churches, Worcester, Deighton, 1849, commonly known as the Worcester Diocesan Hymn Book, and of which he was the Editor. In Life Echoes, 1883, his hymns are given with those of Miss Havergal. Of those in common use the greater part are in Mercer, and Snepp's Songs of Grace & Glory. Although his hymns are all good, and two or three are excellent, it is not as a hymnwriter but as a musician that Canon Havergal is best known. His musical works and compositions included, in addition to numerous individual hymn tunes and chants, the Gresham Prize Service, 1836; the Gresham Prize Anthem, 1845; Old Church Psalmody, 1849; History of the Old 100th Psalm tune, 1854, &c. He also reprinted Ravenscroft’s Psalter of 1611. His hymns in common use include:— 1. Blessed Jesus, lord and Brother. School Festivals, 1833. Published in Life Echoes, 1883. 2. Brighter than meridian splendour. Christ the glory of His Church. 1830. Published in W. C. Wilson's Book of General Psalms, 1840; the Worcester Psalms & Hymns, 1849, &c. 3. Christians, awake to joy and praise. Christmas Carol, c. 1860. Printed on broadsheet, with music by the author, and sold on behalf of the Lancashire Cotton Distress Fund. 4. Come, Shepherds, come, 'tis just a year. Christmas Carol. 1860. Published in Snepp's Songs of Grace & Glory, 5. For ever and for ever, Lord. Missions, 1866, for the Church Mission Society. Published in Snepp's Songs of Grace & Glory, 1872, and the Life Echoes, 1883. 6. Hallelujah, Lord, our voices. Sunday. 1828. Published in W. C. Wilson's Book of General Psalms, 1840; the Worcester Psalms & Hymns, 1849; Life Echoes, 1883, &c. 7. Heralds of the Lord of glory. Missions. First sung in Astley Church, Sep. 23, 1827. Published in Miss Havergal's Starlight through the Shadows, 1880; Snepp's Songs of Grace & Glory, 1872, &c. 8. Hosanna, raise the pealing hymn. Praise to Christ, 1833, and first sung in Astley Church, June 9, 1833. Published in W. C. Wilson's Book of General Psalmody, 1840; the Worcester Psalms & Hymns, 1849; Life Echoes 1883, &c. 9. How vast the field of souls. Missions. 1858. Printed for Shareshill Church Miss. Anniversary, 1863, and published in Snepp's Songs of Grace & Glory, 1872, and the Life Echoes, 1883. 10. In doubt and dread dismay. Missions. Written in 1837, and published in W. C. Wilson's Book of General Psalmody, 1840; the Worcester Psalms & Hymns, 1849, &c. 11. Jerusalem the golden, The home of saints shall be. Heaven. Published in Life Echoes, 1883. 12. My times are in Thy hand, Their best, &c. 1860. Published in Snepp's Songs of Grace & Glory, 1872, the Records of the author's life and work, and Life Echoes, 1883. The editor of the Records says (p. 159) "this hymn has been much appreciated, and well illustrates the devotional and cheerful spirit of the writer." 13. No dawn of holy light. Sunday. 1825. Printed in 1831 on a leaflet, and published in W. C. Wilson's Book of General Psalmody, 1840; the Worcester Psalms & Hymns, 1849; Life Echoes, 1883, &c. 14. Our faithful God hath sent us. Harvest. Written at Shareshill in 1863, for a Harvest Festival. Published in Snepp's Songs of Grace & Glory 1872, and Life Echoes, 1883. 15. Shout, 0 earth! from silence waking. Praise to Jesus for Redemption. 1841. Published in the Worcester Psalms & Hymns, 1849; Snepp's Songs of Grace & Glory, 1872, &c. 16. So happy all the day. Christmas Carol, c. 1834. Published in Snepp's Songs of Grace & Glory, 1872. 17. Soon the trumpet of salvation. Missions. 1826. Published in Snepp's Songs of Grace & Glory, 1872. 18. To praise our Shepherd's [Saviour's] care. The Good Shepherd. Written after witnessing the death of Elizabeth Edwards, aged 12, of St. Nicholas, Worcester, and printed as a leaflet. Published in W. C. Wilson's Book of General Psalmody, 1840; the Worcester Psalms & Hymns, 1849; Life Echoes, &c, 1883. The author also published a Memoir of the child. 19. Widely 'midst the slumbering nations. Missions. 1828. Published in the Worcester Psalms & Hymns, 1849; Snepp's Songs of Grace & Glory, 1872, &c. In addition to these hymns, his carols, "How grand, and how bright," "Our festal morn is come," and others are annotated under their respective first lines. Most of these carols and hymns were reprinted in Christmas Carols & Sacred Songs, Chiefly by the Rev. W. H. Havergal, London, Nisbet, 1869. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) ===================== Havergal, W. H., p. 498, i. Other hymns are: — 1. Lord, if judgments now are waking. Second Advent. Published in W. Carus Wilson's Book of General Psalmody, 1840; in Kennedy, 1863, &c. 2. Remember, Lord, Thy word of old displayed. Missions. "Composed for a special prayer-meeting for missionary labourers, held in the author's schoolroom, in the parish of St. Nicholas's, Worcester." (W. F. Stevenson's Hymns for Church and Home, 1873, where the original text is also given.) It must be noted that No. 17, at p. 498, ii., "Soon the trumpet of salvation," was first published in A Collection of Original Airs adapted to Hymns, &c, 1826. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)

George Wither

1588 - 1667 Person Name: George Wither, 1588-1667 Author of "The Lord of Heav'n confess" in The Cambridge Hymnal Wither, George, or Wyther—spelled in both ways by himself, the first usually, the second occasionally, e.g. in Prince Henrie's Obsequies (1612), and erroneously Withers, was born on June 11th, 1588, at Bentworth, near Alton, Hampshire. He was the only son of George Wither, of Bentworth. His early education was at the Grammar School of Colemore or Colemere, under its celebrated master; John Greaves. After thorough training and discipline here he was entered in 1604 at Magdalen College, Oxford. His tutor was John Warner, subsequently D.D. and Bishop of Rochester. He had only been three years at the University when malicious and ignorant persons persuaded his father that more learning was not required. And so, as he modestly tells us in his Abuses Stript and Whipt (1613), he was withdrawn "without taking any degree," being now destined, as he moderately puts it, "for the plough," that is, for rustic employment on the paternal estate. This proved utterly uncongenial. He is found next at one of the Inns of Chancery, afterwards at Lincoln's Inn, and intimate with William Browne, the poet, of Britannia's Pastorals. His title-pages from 1617 to 1620 self-describe him as "Gentleman,” and as "of the Societie of Lincoln's Inne" (Fidelia (1617), and 1st Psalme (1620), and Workes (1620)). But Anthony a-Wood informs us:— "still his geng after things more smooth and delightful, he did at length make himself known to the world (after he had taken several rambles therein) by certain speci¬mens of poetry, which being dispersed in several hands, he became shortly after a public author and most admired by some in that age for his quick advancement in that faculty " (Athenae. Oxon. s. n.). How uncritical was this miserable criticism, will be understood when it is recalled that amongst these "certain specimens" was the Shepherds Hunting under the first form of "A new song of a young man's opinion of the difference between good and bad women" (Pepysian, ad Percy MS.), Prince Henries Obsequies (1612), Epithalamia (1612), and his stinging and patriotically outspoken Abuses Stript and Whipt. The last drew down upon him the wrath of the monarch (James i.) and nobles, and cast him prisoner into the Marshalsea. Four large editions within a year, and numerous others up to 1622 and continuously onward (exclusive of the reproductions in his Workes) was the answer of the People to the Upper Ten. While in prison he wrote some of the most delicious of his verse. He likewise composed A Satyre to the King (1615). The wisest fool in Christendom was shrewd enough to perceive that it would be safer to make such a subject a friend than an enemy. He had deftly signed the dedication to the king "his Majesty's most loyall Subiect, and yet Prisoner in the Marshalsey." It procured him his release. From this time onward he was perpetually printing something, now in verse and now in prose, until the aggregate exceeded a hundred of books and pamphlets. There are several fairly accurate enumerations of them, e.g. British Bibliographer, i. 174-205, 305-32,417-40; ii. 17-32,378-91; Sir Egerton Brydges' Censuria and Restituta; Hazlitt's Bibliography (1867). The Spenser Society re¬printed a large portion of the Works in prose and verse; but there was really no editing and no annotation. His successive books are the main facts of Wither's life; yet was he an active member of the nation. Spite of his hard usage and imprisonments, he was loyal as any cavalier. When Charles i. proceeded to declare and carry war into his native Scotland against the Covenanters in 1639, George Wither served his Majesty as a captain of horse and quarter-master of his regiment under the Earl of Arundel. How sorrowful the wrongheadedness of the king who compelled such a true man as Wither to forsake him and prefer the kingdom to the king, as many others who with pathetic reluctance became Roundheads! In 1641-2 he sold his hereditary estates and raised a troop of horse for the Parliament, in whose army he was promoted to be major. On his colours he carried this motto, Pro Rege, Lege, Grege. Having been taken prisoner by the Royalists, a good-humoured jest of Sir John Denham it is alleged saved his life, to wit, that "his Majesty really must not hang George Wither, for so long as he lives no one will account him [Sir John] the worst poet in England." He was set free. Not long after he was constituted by the Long Parliament a Justice of Peace in quorum for Hampshire, Surrey and Essex. This he held for six years, and afterwards was made by Cromwell Major-General of all the horse and foot in the County of Surrey. On the title-page of his Boni Ominis Votu (1656) in the British Museum there is a contemporary manuscript note, "lately made Master of the Statute Office." At the Restoration he was shamefully dealt with, and by a vote of the Convention Parlia¬ment, was committed to Newgate because of his Vox Vulgi —a noble piece of fiery and idiomatic English, and manly pleading for respect to pipular rights and liberties. For his Prisoner's Plea humbly offered (1661) he was again imprisoned, this time in the Tower. He married (Aubrey informs us) Elizabeth, eldest daughter of H. Emerson of South Lanuk, who, he says, was "a great wit and could write in verse too," and was of the same English Emersons from whom the great American Ralph Waldo Emerson descended. He had issue. He was at liberty when he died on 2nd May, 1667. Aubrey states that he was buried within the east doorway of Savoy Church in the Strand, having apparently lived near it, and either died in the church or in his own house (the phrasing being ambiguous). James Montgomery, in his admirable Lectures on Poets and Poetry, thus sums up his estimate of him and them:— "There are scattered throughout his multifarious and very unequal productions, many passages of great beauty and excellence. He was avowedly a Christian poet, though he frequently lost his Christian meekness in the heat of polemics; but his zeal carried with it every evidence of honesty; and he was a sufferer almost to martyrdom, both for his loyalty and his orthodoxy, in the troublous times in which he lived. That he was a poet can never be questioned by any reader who has taste and sensibility enough to understand and enjoy the exquisitely affecting confession of his obligations to the Muse. That he was a Christian will be as little questioned by those who are most extensively acquainted with the character of his religious compositions" (s. n.). Archbishop Trench, in annotating a charming sacred song entitledVanished Blessing ("No voice which I did more esteem, Than music in her sweetest key," &c), thus annotates:— "I have detached these two stanzas from a longer poem of which they constitute the only valuable portion[?]. George Wither (‘a most profuse pourer forth of English rhyme,' Philips calls him) was indeed so intolerable a power in verse, so overlaid his good with indifferent or bad, that one may easily forget how real a gift he possessed, and sometimes showed that he possessed" (Household Book of English Poetry, 1865). Mrs. Masson says of him—"he is remembered now-a-days as pre-eminently the Puritan poet, whose irrepressible Muse made herself hsard even amid the din of civil war" (Three Centuries of English Poetr, p. 375). She quotes his delightful "Christmas" ("So now is come our joyfullest part"), and "Of Poesy" (which Milton did not disdain to utilize), and his "Shall I, wasting in despair." With reference to the "irrepressible Muse" of Wither, it is a felicitous characterisation however regarded, inasmuch as so "irrepressible " was he that he actually set up the types and printed off at least one of his bulkier books. Withers contributions to hymnology are to be found chiefly in the following:— (a) Exercises Upon the First Psalme......(1620). At the close is a metrical paraphrase of Ecclcsiastes xii. 1-8; (b) Paraphrase on the Creed and the Lord's Prayer (in Workes 1620; separately 1688 and misasserted to be now “first printed“); (c) The Songs of the Old Testament, Translated into English Measures: preserving the Naturall Phrase and genuine Sense of the Holy Text ...... To every Song is added a new and easie Tune.....(1621); (d) The Hymnes and Songs of the Church (1623). This was published Cum Privilegio Regis Begalu . It was reprinted like c.; (e) The Psalmes of David translated as Lyrick Verse, according to the scope of the Original......(1632). Gutch had an autograph manuscript of an alleged different text of the versified Psalmes which passed into the Caesar Library; (f) A Collection of Emblemes, Ancient and Modern, quickened with Metrical Illustrations both Morall and Divine......(1635). This was a special favourite of Elia; (g) Haldviah; or Britans Second Remembrancer, bringing to Remembrance (in praisefull and poenitentiall Hymns, Spirituall Songs, and Morall-Odes......(1641). This was reprinted like c and d; (h) Three Graines of Spiritual Frankincense infused into Three Hymnes of Praise (1651). It is discreditable to the Church of England, of whom he was a devoted son to the close of his life, and to Nonconformity alike, that many, very many more of his Hymnes and Spiritual Songs have not found their way into their hymnals. A critical yet sympathetic reader would easily find a golden sheaf of musical, and well-wrought sacred song. [Rev. A. B. Grosart, D.D., LL.D.] -- Excerpts from John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) ================== Wither, G., p. 1289, i. Another of his psalm versions, "The Lord is King, and weareth" (Ps. xciii.), from his The Psalmes of David, &c, 1G32, is in the Hymn Book for the Use of Wellington College, 1902. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)