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John Aikin

1747 - 1822 Hymnal Number: 350 Author of "For a fast day in time of war" in A Selection of Hymns and Psalms, for Social and Private Worship. (11th ed.) Aikin, John, M.D., 1747-1822. The brother of Mrs. Barbauld,son or Dr. Aikin of the Warrington Academy. As a physician he practised at Warrington and Yarmouth, and from 1798 till the time of his death lived at Stoke Newington. Author (with his sister), of Evenings at Home, editor of the General Biographical Dictionary, and for some time of the Monthly Magazine. His hymn In time of war, "While [what] sounds of war are heard around," was very popular. It is in Kippis and Martineau’s Hymns for the Christian Church and Home. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

John Dryden

1631 - 1700 Person Name: J. Dryden Hymnal Number: 15 Author of "O Source of uncreated light" in A Selection of Hymns and Psalms, for Social and Private Worship. (11th ed.) Dryden, John. The name of this great English poet has recently assumed a new importance to the students of hymns, from a claim made on his behalf in regard to a considerable body of translations from the Latin published after his death (1701), in a Primer of 1706. The discussion of this point will preclude us from giving more than an outline of his life. i. Biography.—John Dryden was the son of Erasmus, the third son of Sir Erasmus Dryden, and was born at Aid winkle, All Saints, Northants, Aug. 9, 1631. He was educated under Dr. Busby at Westminster, and entered Trip. College, Cambridge, in 1650. He took his B.A. in 1654, and resided nearly 7 years, though without a fellowship. He was of Puritan blood on both his father's and mother's side, and his training found expression in his first great poem, Heroic Stanzas on the death of Oliver Cromwell, 1658. In 1660, however, he turned, like the bulk of England, Royalist, and in his Astraea Redux, and in A Panegyric on the Coronation (1661), celebrated the Restoration. In 1663 he married Lady Elizabeth Howard. The marriage was apparently not a happy one; and there seems to be plain proof of Dryden's unfaithfulness. In 1670 he was made Poet Laureate and Historiographer Royal, and he retained these posts until the accession of William (1688). He had joined the Roman Church in 1685, and remained steadfast to it at the fall of James II. This change is of special significance, as will appear below, in regard to his translations from the Latin. It greatly straitened his means, and compelled him to great literary exertion in his closing years. He died May 18, 1701, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. The poems of Dryden show high excellence in fields widely different from another. He was for years the leader of the English stage, as a writer of tragedy, comedy, and tragi-comedy. The specialities of his plays were a large substitution of the heroic couplet for blank verse, in imitation of Corneille, plots full of exaggerated passion, intrigue, and rant, and a catchword dialogue. These features were caricatured by Buckingham and others in the Rehearsal (acted 1671). The gross immorality of his dramas has long made them unreadable; but his influence on poetry has been enduring. No metre so long dominated style as his heroic couplet, which, though inferior to Pope's in polish and precision, excels it in resonance, freedom and audacity, "The long resounding march and energy divine." He was the first to make poetry a lucid vehicle for political and religious discussion, in the Religio Laid (1682), and The Hind and Panther (1687). The finest satires in English are Absalom and Acnitophel (Part i., 1681; Part ii., 1682, to which he contributed only a portion, the rest being by Nahura Tate), The Medal, and Mac Flecknoe (1682). He gave a new energy and fulness of meaning to the work of translation through his classical reproductions, of which his Virgil is the finest specimen (published in 1697). Alexander's Feast remains one of the most brilliant English odes. His prefaces and dedications had a large influence on our prose style, and are the first material efforts in the province of poetical criticism. The salient points of his genius are a transcendent literary force continually exerting itself in fresh forms; and that narrowing of the work of poetry to matters of political, social, human interest, which ruled supreme in Pope and his followers. (See Dryden by Mr. G. Saintsbury, Men of Letters Series.) ii. Hymn Translations. — Until recently, Dryden's known contributions to hymnody consisted of only three pieces. The best known of these is the translation of “Veni Creator," published in vol. iii. of his Miscellanies, in 1693. Sir Walter Scott, in his Life of Dryden, 1808, published a translation of the "Te Deum " ("Thee Sovereign God our grateful accents praise"), and a translation of "Ut queant laxis," the hymn at Evensong for St. John the Baptist's Day (Scott calls it "St. John's Eve") ("O sylvan Prophet "). Mr. W. T. Brooke has pointed out one or two facts that slightly shake Scott's attribution of these two pieces to Dryden. He has discovered the translation of the "Te Deum” in Dodd's Christian's Magazine, 1760, contributed by J. Duncombe, and attributed to Pope. And Scott's account of the two pieces is confused. He received them from a Mrs. Jackson, who told him that they were mentioned in Butler's “Tour through Italy," and that after Butler's death they passed into the hands of the celebrated Dr. Alban, and so came to hers. They are not however mentioned in the published edition of Butler's Tour; and "Butler" and "Dr. Alban" are the same person—-Dr. Alban Butler, author of The Lives of the Saints. Alban Butler's Tour was edited and published by Charles Butler, his nephew, who also wrote a Life of Alban Butler. The confusion cannot now be unravelled: but is not enough to discredit Scott's decision, which may have rested on the handwriting. The translation of the "Te Deum" is not like Pope, and has a Drydenesque Alexandrine in it, and other marks of Dryden's manner. One great Roman Catholic poet was perhaps confused with the other. These three pieces, however, with slight variation of text, have been discovered independently by Mr. Orby Shipley and Mr. W. T. Brooke, in The Primer, or Office of the B. V. Mary, in English, 1706; and the discovery has led them to a strong conviction that the bulk of the 120 translations of Latin hymns in this book are also Dryden's. It is shown under Primers, that there are remarkable evidences of unity of hand in these translations. Is this hand Dryden's? The case for Dryden is a constructive one, and may be thus summarised:— The translation in Scott, "0 sylvan Prophet," is in a metre unknown to previous editions of the Primer; and there are altogether 11 translations generally representing Latin Sapphics, in the book in this metre. Five of these translations have a further internal link in having the same gloria, three in having another common gloria. The presumption is irresistible that they are all by the author of "0 sylvan Prophet." Again, the translation of the "Te Deum " (also in Scott) is one of 8 pieces in Dryden's great metre, which is also new to the Primers' heroic couplets. Though not linked by common glorias, the tone of all these is Drydenesque, especially the translation of "Sacris Solemniis," which has these characteristic lines, "They eat the Lamb with legal rites and gave Their mother synagogue a decent grave," and closes with an Alexandrine. The translation "Creator Spirit, by Whose aid" is followed by two others in the same metre, which have a variation (in a single word) of its gloria. The three known hymns of Dryden are thus heads of groups presumptively of the same parentage. Proceeding further in the book, the large group of 8-syllable hymns exhibits 35, which are curiously marked as by a single band through their glorias (see Primers). They have several Drydenesque phrases (e.g. "noon of night,” “gleamy white," a technical use of "yielding," “liquid," "equal"), turns of expression and cadences, and a significant link with the translation of the "Te Deum" in the term “vocal blood" (cf. "vocal tears" in 2 other translations) found in the translation of "Deus tuorum militum." This technical method of inquiry when applied still further to other groups linked by a single gloria certainly points in the same direction; Drydenisms, links with groups already named, an occasional appearance of layman freedom of expression, and in one case (“Audit tyrannus" tr.), an echo of the heroic plays, emerge. The least characteristic group is that containing translations of "Ave maris stella" and "Jesu dulcis memoria," in C.M.; and the latter translation ("Jesu, the only thought of Thee"), beautiful as it is, is in the main only the translation from the Primer of 1685 recast in C.M. But the adoption of C.M.—-a new metre in these Primers—-would be natural in one previously long familiar with the metrical Psalms; the translation of “Ave maris stella" has the recurrent use of "equal," which is a mannerism of Dryden: and the word "way " in the translation of "Jesu dulcis memoria" is used similarly in that of "Immense coeli conditor." The result of a minute investigation, purposely conducted on somewhat mechanical lines, is a presumption almost amounting to proof, that the bulk of these 120 translations are not only by the same hand, but by the hand of Dryden. A measure of doubt must however attach to the least characteristic pieces, from the following considerations:— (1) The translations of "Stabat Mater " and "Dies Irae" are reprinted from the Primer of 1687. This fact is of course not decisive against their parentage by Dryden, as it may be argued, that the Primer of 1687 also contains Dryden translations. But (2) the translation of the "Dies Irae "seems to be, notwithstanding some Drydenesque phrases, by Lord Roscommon. It is found in a text considerably varied from that of 1706 in Tate's Miscellanea Sacra 1696 and 1698); and is there attributed to Lord Roscommon. It appears also, but in a text identical with that of 1706, in Tonson's Poems by The Earl of Roscommon, 1717, which professes to give only the "truly genuine" poems of the Earl. If this translation is not Dryden's, others also may not be his. And (3) the Primer of B. V. M. in which these translations are found did not appear till five years after Dryden's death; and may have been edited by some one else. Mr. W. T. Brooke has drawn attention to variations in the text of Scott from that of the Primer; which may be accounted for by editorial revision; and the editor may have had blanks to fill in which Dryden had left. It would be most natural to suppose that the Primer would be edited by a priest; but the fact that it is difficult to say whether the text in Scott or in the Primer is the more characteristic of Dryden either points to the existence of two authentic texts of the poet, or a revision by someone thoroughly intimate with Dryden's manner, e.g. (as Mr. Brooke acutely conjectures), Charles Dryden, who may have taken his father's manuscripts with him to Rome. The argument in favour of Dryden is presented with great force and skill by Mr. Orby Shipley in the Dublin Review, October, 1884, and in the preface to his Annus Sanctus. In corroboration of the evidence given above, Mr. Shipley has collected some Roman Catholic traditions, which ascribe to Dryden "a considerable number" of Latin translations “Jesu dulcis memoria" and "Dies Irae" are said to have been translated as penances. These traditions are however very indefinite; in some cases they do not date earlier than the present century; and in some (see Preface to Annus Sanctus) they are mistaken. He seeks a further corroboration of the theory from the appearance of several of these translations in editions of The Manual of Prayers, 1750, and The Garden of the Soul, 1737. But it is shown under Primers that these books afford no real evidence on this subject. [Rev. H. Leigh Bennett, M.A.] - John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Ottiwell Heginbotham

1744 - 1768 Hymnal Number: 225 Author of "God the Christian's refuge" in A Selection of Hymns and Psalms, for Social and Private Worship. (11th ed.) Heginbothom, Ottiwell, born in 1744, and died in 1768, was for a short time the Minister of a Nonconformist congregation at Sudbury, Suffolk. The political and religious disputes which agitated the congregation, in the origin of which he had no part, and which resulted in a secession and the erection of another chapel, so preyed upon his mind, and affected his health, that his pastorate terminated with his death within three years of his appointment. His earliest hymn, "When sickness shakes the languid corse [frame]," was printed in the Christian Magazine, Feb. 1763. In 1791 the Rev. John Mead Ray communicated several of Heginbothom's hymns to the Protestant Magazine; and in the same year, these and others to the number of 25, were published as:— Hymns by the late Rev. Ottiwell Heginbothom of Sudbury, Suffolk. Sudbury, Printed by J. Burket, mdccxciv. These 25 hymns were repeated in J. M Ray's Collection of Hymns from various authors in¬tended as a Supplement to Dr. Watts's Psalms and Hymns, 1799, and 12 in Collyer's Collection, 1812. In modern collections in Great Britain and America the following are in common use in addition to those annotated under their respective first lines:— 1. Blest Jesus, when my soaring thoughts. Jesus, most Precious. 2. Come, humble souls; ye mourners come. Good Hope through Grace. 3. Come saints and shout the Saviour's praise. The Second Advent. 4. Come, shout aloud the Father's grace. Praise to God the Father. 6. Father of mercies, God of love. God the Father. 6. God of our life! Thy various praise. New Year. 7. Great God, let all our [my] tuneful powers. New Year. 8. Hark, the loud trumpet of our God. National Fast. 9. Hark, 'tis your heavenly Father's call. A Prayer to be used by the Young. 10. I ask not [honour] wealth, nor pomp, nor power. Wisdom and Knowledge desired. 11. Now let my soul, eternal King. Praise of the Gospel. Sometimes given as "To Thee, my heart, eternal King." 12. See, mighty God, before Thy throne. Fifth of November; a National Hymn. 13. Sweet peace of Conscience, heavenly guest. A good Conscience. 14. To Thee, my Shepherd, and my Lord. The Good Shepherd. 15. Unhappy city, hadst thou known. Christ weeping over Jerusalem. From this the cento, "And can mine eyes without a tear?" is taken. 16. When sickness shakes the languid corse [frame]. Resignation. Printed in the Christian's Magazine, Feb. 1763, and again in Hymns, &c, 1794. 17. Yes, I will bless Thee, O my God. Praise of the Father. The text is often altered. The cento "My soul shall praise Thee, O my God," in the Unitarian Hymn land Tune] Book, &c, Boston, 1868, is from this hymn. Most of these hymns are in Collyer's Collection, 1812. There are also 8 in Hatfield's Church Hymn Book, N.Y., 1872, and 7 in the Songs for the Sanctuary, N.Y., 1865. [William T. Brooke] -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology

Joseph Hancox

1780 - 1824 Hymnal Number: 79 Author of "Father in heaven, thy sacred name" in A Selection of Hymns and Psalms, for Social and Private Worship. (11th ed.) Hancox, Joseph, 1780-1824. A Liverpool merchant, of fine poetical taste, four of whose hymns are in Martineau’s Hymns for the Christian Church and Home, Martineau’s Hymns of Praise and Prayer, also in the Norwich Collection, ed. 1826:— 1. Father in heaven, thy sacred name. The Lord's Prayer. 2. How welcome thy returning beams. The Lord's Day. 3. O for a faith in God's decrees. The shelter of faith. 4. Yon glorious orbs that gild the sky. New heavens and new earth. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

James Merrick

1720 - 1769 Hymnal Number: 100 Author of "How vast thy works, almight Lord" in A Selection of Hymns and Psalms, for Social and Private Worship. (11th ed.) Merrick, James , M.A., was born in 1720, and educated at Oxford, where he became a Fellow of Trinity College. He entered Holy Orders, but his health would not admit of parish work. He died at Reading, 1769. His publications include:— (1) Messiah, a Divine Essay. Humbly dedicated to the Reverend the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford and the Visitors of the Free School in Reading. By James Merrick, Ætat. 14, Senior Scholar of the School at their last Terminal Visitation, the 7th of October, 1734. Reading. (2) The Destruction of Troy. Translated from the Greek of Tryphiodorus into English Verse, with Notes, &c. 1742. (3) Poems on Sacred Subjects. Oxford . 1763. (4) The Psalms of David Translated or Paraphrased in English Verse. By James Merrick, M.A., late Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford. Reading. J. Carnan and Co. 1765. 2nd ed. 1766. A few only of these paraphrases were divided into stanzas. In 1797 the Rev. W. D. Tattersall pulished the work "Divided into stanzas for Parochial Use, and paraphrased in such language as will be intelligible to every capacity . . . with a suitable Collect to each Psalm from the Works of Archbishop Parker." Merrick's paraphrases, although weak and verbose, were in extensive use in the early part of the present century, both in the Church of England and with Nonconformists. They have, however, fallen very much into disuse. Those in modern hymn-books, mainly in the form of centos, include:— 1. Blest Instructor, from Thy ways. Ps. xix. 2. Descend, O Lord! from heaven descend. Ps. cxliv. (In time of National Peril.) 3. Far as creation's bounds extend. Ps. cxlv. 4. God of my strength, the wise, the just. Ps. xxxi. 5. He who with generous pity glows. Ps. xli. 6. How pleasant, Lord.Thy dwellings are. Ps. lxxxiv. 7. Lift up your voice and thankful sing. Ps. cxxxvi. 8. Lo, my Shepherd's hand divine. Ps. xxiii. 9. Lord, my Strength, to Thee I pray. Ps. xxviii. 10. My heart its noblest theme has found. Ps.xlv. 11. O let me, [gracious] heavenly Lord extend. Ps. xxxix. 12. O turn, great Ruler of the skies. Ps. li. 13. Praise, O praise the Name divine. Ps. cl. 14. Sing, ye sons of [men] might, O sing. Ps. xxix. 15. Teach me, O teach me, Lord, Thy way. Ps. cxix. 16. The festal morn, my [O] God, is come. Ps. cxxii, (Sunday Morning.) 17. The morn and eve Thy praise resound. Ps. lxv. (Harvest.) 18. To Thy pastures, fair and large. Ps. xxiii. From his Poems on Sacred Subjects, 1763, the following centos have also come into common use: -- 19. Author of good, to Thee we turn. Resignation. 20. Eternal God, we look to Thee. Resignation. 21. 'Tis enough, the hour is come. Nunc Dimittis. John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Daniel Turner

1710 - 1798 Hymnal Number: 244 Author of "Faith adds new charms to earthly bliss" in A Selection of Hymns and Psalms, for Social and Private Worship. (11th ed.) Turner, Daniel, M.A., was born at Blackwater Park, near St. Albans, March 1, 1710. Having received a good classical education, he for some years kept a boarding-school at Hemel Hempstead, but in 1741 he became pastor of the Baptist church, Reading. Thence he removed, in 1748, to Abingdon, and continued pastor of the Baptist church there until his death on Sept. 5, 1798. He was much respected throughout his denomination, and was the friend and correspondent of Robert Robinson, Dr. Rippon, and other eminent men of that day. He probably received the honorary degree of M.A. from the Baptist College, Providence, Rhode Island. Turner was the author of works on Open Communion and Social Religion; also of Short Meditations on Select Portions of Scripture. His Divine Songs, Hymns and other Poems were published in 1747, and his work, Poems Devotional and Moral, was printed for private circulation in 1794. Four of his hymns are in the Bristol Baptist Collection of Ash & Evans (1769), and eight (including the four already named) in Rippon's Baptist Selection 1787). Only the following are now in common use:— 1. Faith adds new charms to earthly bliss (1769). Excellence of Faith. 2. Jesus, full of all compassion (1769). Sinner's appeal to Christ. 3. Lord of hosts, how lovely fair (1787). Divine Worship. Altered in Baptist Psalms and Hymns, 1858, to “Lord of hosts, how bright, how fair!" The well-known hymn "Beyond the glittering starry skies," in its enlarged form of 28 stanzas, was the joint production of Turner and his brother-in-law, the Rev. J. Fanch. [Rev. W. R. Stevenson, M.A.] -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

William Hamilton Drummond

1778 - 1865 Person Name: William H. Drummond Hymnal Number: 233 Author of "He healeth the broken in heart and bindeth their wounds" in A Selection of Hymns and Psalms, for Social and Private Worship. (11th ed.) Drummond, William Hamilton, D.D., son of an Irish physician, was born at Ballyclare, Antrim, Ireland, 1772, and died at Dublin, Oct. 16, 1865. Educated for the ministry at the University of Glasgow, he became, in 1793, the pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, Belfast, and in 1816, of the Strand Street Chapel, Dublin. His poetical works include:— (1) Juvenile Poems, 1797; (2) Trafalger, 1805; (3) The Giant's Causeway, 1811; (4) Clontarf, 1817; (5) Who are the Happy? a Poem, on the Christian Beatitudes, with other Poems on Sacred Subjects, 1818. In 1818 A Selection of Psalms & Hymns for the Use of the Presbytery of Antrim, and the Congregation of Strand Street, Dublin, was published at Belfast. This Selection was probably edited by Dr. Drummond. It contained several of his hymns. Five of these (Nos. 84, 190, 201, 236, 264) were contributed to that edition. From Who are the Happy? the following hymns have come into common use:— 1. A voice from the desert comes awful and shrill. Advent. This is in extensive use in the Unitarian hymn-books of America. 2. Come, let us sound her praise abroad. Charity. 3. Father, I may not ask for less. Charity. This is stanzas ii.-v. of No. 2, with a new introductory stanza. In this form the hymn was given in the Leeds Hymn Book, 1853. 4. Give thanks to God the Lord. Victory through Christ. Limited in use, although a hymn of much spirit. It appeared in the Belfast Psalms & Hymns, 1818. 5. O had I the wings of a dove. Retirement. This hymn is not suited to congregational use. It appeared in the Belfast Psalms & Hymns, 1818. The original texts of these hymns are in Lyra Britannica, 1867, from whence also most of the biographical facts have been taken. A few of Drummond's hymns, in addition to those named, are found in some American Unitarian collections. -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) ====================== Drummond, William, p. 312, ii. In the British Museum there is a copy of Drummond's Poems as fol¬lows :— Poems by William Drummond of Hawthornedene. The second Impression, Edinburgh. Printed by Andro Hart, 1616. Neither the Flowers of Zion, nor the translations from the Latin are therein. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)

Alexander Pope

1688 - 1744 Hymnal Number: 78 Author of "O Lord, to earth's contracted span" in A Selection of Hymns and Psalms, for Social and Private Worship. (11th ed.) Alexander Pope was born in London, in 1688. His parents were Roman Catholics. He had a feeble constitution, was deformed in person, and attained the age of only fifty-six. He early acquired the means of independence by his literary gifts, and purchased his celebrated villa at Twickenham, whither he went to reside at the age of thirty. Of his many published works, his translation of the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" of Homer has given him the greatest reputation. As an English satirist, also, he stands very high. Nearly all his works, however, are imitations. He died at Tickenham, in 1744. --Annotations of the Hymnal, Charles Hutchins, M.A., 1872 ======== Pope, Alexander, the poet, son of a wholesale linen merchant in Lombard Street, London, was born in Plough Court, Lombard Street, May 21, 1688. His father being a Roman Catholic, he was first placed under the charge of Father Taverner, who taught him the rudiments of Greek and Latin. Later he attended a school at Winchester, and then at Hyde Park Corner. When about twelve he retired with his parents to Binfield, in Windsor Forest, and from thenceforth his education was mainly in his own hands. His subsequent success as a writer and poet is a matter of history, and has been dealt with in detail by Dr. Johnson in his Lives of the Poets, and by others. He died May 30, 1744, and was buried in a vault in Twickenham Church. For distinct public use, so far as we are aware, Pope wrote no hymns. His "Messiah"; his "Universal Prayer"; and his "Vital Spark" (q.v.), have been made use of for congregational purposes, but as a Roman Catholic he had no object in writing a hymn in a language which, at that time, his Church would refuse to use. In modern hymn-books his name is identified with the following pieces:-- 1. Father of all, in every age. Universal Prayer. The Lord's Prayer. This Prayer was published in 1738, as a conclusion to his Essay on Man, in 13 st. of 4 1. Warburton in his Advertisement of the 1748 ed. of the Essay, says:— "Concerning the Universal Prayer which concludes the Essay, it may be proper to observe that some pas¬sages in the Essay having been unjustly suspected of a tendency towards Fate and Naturalism, the author composed that Prayer as the sum of all, to show that hi a system was founded in Freewill, and terminated in Piety: that the First Cause was as well the Lord and Governor as the Creator of the Universe; and that by submission to His will (the great principle enforced throughout the Essay) was not meant the suffering ourselves to be carried along with a blind determination; but a religious acquiescence, and confidence full of hope and immortality. To give all this the greater weight and reality, the Poet chose for his model The Lord's Prayer, which of all others best deserves the title prefixed to his Paraphrase." The title here referred to is "The Universal Prayer, Deo Opt. Max." The hymn is found in common use in the following forms:— (1.) Father of all in every age. This is an abbreviated form, and has been in use, especially in Unitarian hymnbooks, from an early date. (2.) Father of all, [and] Thou God of love. This cento was given in 6 st. of 4 1. in the 1815 edition of Cotterill's Selections, No. 2; again in the 1819 ed., 141; in Stowell's Psalms & Hymns, 1831, No. 179; and again in later collections. (3.) Not to this earth's contracted span. In Collyer's Collection 1812, No. 629, in 4 st. of 4 1., and others. (4.) Teach me to feel another's woe. Also in Collyer's Collection, 1812, No. 630, in 4 st. of 4 1., and others. (5.) Thou Great First Cause, least understood. Also in Collyer's Collection, 1812, No. 628, in 4 st. of 4 1., and later hymnals. (6.) When I am right Thy grace impart. Given in Kennedy, 1863, No. 1166. 2. Ye nymphs of Solyma! begin the song. The Messiah. In No. 378 of the Spectator for Wednesday, May 14, 1712, Addison gave this poem with the introduction :— "I will make no apology for entertaining the reader with the following poem, which is written by a great genius, a friend of mine, in the country, who is not ashamed to employ his wit in the praise of his Maker." Then follows the poem with the heading, “Messiah. A Sacred Eclogue, composed of several passages of Isaiah the Prophet. Written in imitation of Virgil's Pollio." It consists of 107 lines. When republished by Pope this heading was expanded into a paragraph as an "Advertisement." As a poem it is unknown to the hymn-book; but from it the following centos have passed into common use:-- (1.) As the Good Shepherd tends his fleecy care. This was given in Collyer's Collection, 1812, No. 626, in 6 st. of 4 1., and has been repeated in later hymnals, but usually in an abridged form. (2.) From Jesse's root, behold a branch arise No. 624 in Collyer's Collection, 1812, in 5 st. of 4 1.; and again in later hymnals. (3.) Hark! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers. No. 625 in Collyer's Collection, 1812, in 4 st. of 4 1.; in Bishop Heber's posthumous Hymns, &c, 1827, p. 106; and again in later collections. (4.) Rise crowned with light, imperial Salem rise. In the Leeds Hymn Book, 1853, No. 687, in 3 st. of 8 1., and several later collections. (5.) The Saviour comes! by ancient seers foretold. In Mercer's Church Psalm & Hymn Book, 1864, and others. It may be noted that 1. 46 of The Messiah reads in the original "He wipes the tears for ever from our eyes." This was altered by Pope at the suggestion of Steele, made to Pope in a letter dated June 1, 1712, to "From every face He wipes off every tear." This latter is the poet's authorized reading, is given in his Works, and is found also in the book form reprints of the Spectator. -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

John Taylor

1750 - 1826 Person Name: J. Taylor Hymnal Number: 170 Author of "Father divine, before thy view" in A Selection of Hymns and Psalms, for Social and Private Worship. (11th ed.) Taylor, John, born July 30, 1750, was the son of Richard Taylor, of Norwich, and grandson of Dr. John Taylor (1694-1761, the eminent Hebrew scholar, who was for many years minister of the Octagon Chapel, Norwich, and afterwards Divinity tutor at the Warrington Academy. Dr. Taylor published A Collection of Tunes in Various Airs, one of the first collections of its kind, and his grandson was one of the most musical of Unitarian hymn-writers). Young Taylor, after serving his apprenticeship in his native place, was for two years in a banking house in London, at which time he was an occasional poetical contributor to the Morning Chronicle. In 1773 he returned to Norwich, where he spent the rest of his life, first as a manufacturer, and afterwards as a wool and yarn factor. For nearly fifty years he was a deacon at the Octagon Chapel. At the time of the French Revolution he joined in the support of The Cabinet, a periodical brought out by the Liberals of Norwich, in conjunction with Dr. Enfield, William Taylor, Miss Alderson (Mrs. Opie), and others, and, as a "poet of the olden time," he contributed five poems thereto. These, and other political songs and poems relating to family events, &c, together with 50 hymns, were collected in Hymns and Miscellaneous Poems, Reprinted for Private Distribution, 1863, with a Memoir taken from the Monthly Repository of Sept. 1826, by his son, Edward Taylor, then Gresham Professor of Music. An earlier and less complete edition, containing 43 hymns, he had himself caused to be printed by his sons, Richard and Arthur Taylor, London, 1818. He died June 23, 1826. Of his hymns the following 9 were contributed to Dr. Enfield's Selection of Hymns for Social Worship, Norwich, 1795:— 1. Far from mortal cares retreating. Divine Worship. 2. Father divine, before Thy view. Divine Providence. 3. Father of our feeble race. Christian Love. This begins in Horder's Congregational Hymns, 1884, and others, with st. ii., "Lord, what offering shall we bring?" 4. Glory be to God on high. Divine glories celebrated. The first stanza is by C. Wesley, and the rest are by Taylor. 5. God of mercy, God of love [grace], Hear our sad repentant song. Penitence. 6. 0 sing to the Lord a new song. Praise to the Supreme Ruler and Judge. 7. Praise to God, the great Creator. Praise to the Father. The hymn "Saints with pious zeal attending" in Hatfield's Church Hymns, &c.,N.Y., 1872, begins with line 4 of stanza i. of this hymn. 8. Raise your voice and joyful sing. Praise. 9. Rejoice, the Lord is King. Providence acknowledged in the Seasons. The first stanza and 11. 5 and 6 of all are by C. Wesley, and the rest are by Taylor. J. Taylor edited Hymns intended to be used at the Commencement of Social Worship, London, 1802. To that collection he contributed 10 hymns, including:— 10. At the portals of Thy house. Divine Worship. In a few American collections a cento from this hymn is given as, "Lord, before thy presence come." 11. Blessed Sabbath of our [the] Lord. Sunday. 12. 0 how delightful is the road. Divine Worship. 13. Supreme o'er all Jehovah reigns.. Divine Worship. All the foregoing, except No. 8, were re-published in the Norwich Collectionof 1814. That edition contained 33 of Taylor's hymns. To the 2nd ed., 1826, he added 9 more. To R. Aspland's Selection of Psalms and Hymns for Unitarian Worship, Hackney, 1810, he contributed 26 hymns, old and new, including :— 14. Like shadows gliding o'er the plain. Time and Eternity. 15. The Mighty God who rolls [rules] the spheres. God the Preserver of Man. These 15 are the best known of Taylor's hymns, and are largely found in Unitarian collections. See especially Dr. Martineau's Hymns, &c, of 1840, and of 1873. [Rev. Valentine D. Davis, B.A.] -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Nathaniel Cotton

1707 - 1788 Hymnal Number: 17 Author of "This is the day the Lord of life" in A Selection of Hymns and Psalms, for Social and Private Worship. (11th ed.) Cotton, Nathaniel, M.D., born in 1707, and educated for the medical profession at Leyden. Giving his attention more especially to brain diseases, he first assisted a physician, who devoted his attention to the insane, at Dunstable; and they erected a large Asylum at St. Albans. In 1763 the poet Cowper became one of his patients, and, on his recovery, conceived a warm attachment for his medical friend. Dr. Cotton died at St Albans, Aug. 2, 1788. Several of his hymns appeared from 1760 onwards in Dr. Dodd's Christian's Magazine, some signed "Dr. Cotton, St. Albans," some “N.," and some without signature. His poetical works were published posthumously:— Various Pieces in Verse and Prose, 2 vols., Lond., Dodsley, 1791; and Visions in Verse, &c, with Memoir, 1808. His hymns came into use through Collyer's Collection, 1812. They are:— 1. Amid the various scenes of ill. Affliction Sanctified. From Various Pieces, &c, 1791. 2. Tell me, my soul, O tell me why. Sin the cause of fear. From Various Pieces, &c, 1791. 3. This is the day the Lord of Life. Sunday. From Various Pieces, &c, 1791. 4. While sorrow wrings my bleeding heart. Suffering. From his version of Ps. xiii., "Offended Majesty, how long ?" in the Christian's Magazine, Feb. 1761. 5. With fierce desire the hunted hart. Ps. 42. Dr. Cotton's most widely known hymn is, “Affliction is a stormy deep," q. v. It is a port of No. 5. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)