The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) eBook

Theodore Watts-Dunton
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 353 pages of information about The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753).

The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) eBook

Theodore Watts-Dunton
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 353 pages of information about The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753).

His compositions in poetry are chiefly these,

1.  A New Version of the Psalms of David, performed by him, in conjunction with Mr. Tate, soon after he settled in London; now sung in most churches of England, and Ireland, instead of that obsolete and ridiculous Version made by Sternhold, and Hopkins, in the reign of King Edward VI.  As the 104th Psalm is esteemed one of the most sublime in the whole book, we shall present the reader with the two first Parts of his Version of that Psalm as a specimen.  There have not been less than forty different Versions, and Paraphrases of this Psalm, by poets of very considerable eminence, who seem to have vied with one another for the superiority.  Of all these attempts, if we may trust our own judgment, none have succeeded so happily as Mr. Blackclock, a young gentleman now resident at Dumfries in Scotland.  This Paraphrase is the more extraordinary, as the author of it has been blind from his cradle, and now labours under that calamity; it carries in it such elevated strains of poetry, such picturesque descriptions, and such a mellifluent flow of numbers, that we are persuaded, the reader cannot be displeased at finding it inserted here.

Dr. Brady also translated the AEneid of Virgil, which were published by subscription in four volumes octavo, the last of which came out in 1726, a little before the author’s death.

He also published in his life-time three Volumes of Sermons in 8vo. each consisting of 14, all printed in London; the first in 1704, the second in 1706, and the third in 1713.  After the Dr’s. death, his eldest son, who is now a clergyman, published three other Volumes of his father’s Sermons, each also consisting of 14, printed in London 1730, 8vo.  Amongst his sermons there is one preached on St. Cecilia’s day, in vindication of Church-music, first printed in 1697, in 4to.

  Psalm CIV.

  1.  Bless God my soul; thou, Lord alone,
    Possessest empire without bounds: 
  With honour thou art crown’d, thy throne
    Eternal Majesty surrounds.
  2.  With light thou dost thy self enrobe,
    And glory for a garment take;
  Heav’n’s curtain stretch’d beyond the globe,
    The canopy of state to make.

  3.  God builds on liquid air, and forms
    His palace-chambers in the skies: 
  The clouds his chariots are, and storms
    The swift-wing’d steeds with which he flies.
  4.  As bright as flame, as swift as wind
    His ministers Heav’ns palace fill;
  To have their sundry tasks assign’d,
    All proud to serve their Sovereign’s will.

  5., 6.  Earth on her center fix’d he set,
    Her face with waters over spread;
  Not proudest mountains dar’d as yet
    To lift above the waves their head!
  7.  But when thy awful face appear’d,
    Th’ insulting waves dispers’d; they fled
  When once thy thunder’s voice they heard,
    And by their haste confess’d their dread.

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The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.