Part 15

3. There is no laguage tong or speche where theyr sound is not heard, In al the earth and coastes thereof theyr knowledge is conferd.

4. In them the lord made royally a settle for the sunne Where lyke a Gyant joyfully he myght his iourney runne.

5. And all the skye from ende to ende he compast round about No man can hyde hym from his heate but he wll fynd hym out

In order to show the liberties taken with the text we can compare with it the Genevan edition printed in 1556. The second verse of that presumptuous rendering reads,--

"The wonderous works of God appears by every days success The nyghts which likewise their race runne the selfe same thinges expresse."

The fourth,--

"In them the lorde made for the sunne a place of great renoune Who like a bridegrome rady-trimed doth from his chamber come."

The expression "rady-trimed," meaning close-shaven, is often instanced as one of the inelegancies of Sternhold, but he surely ought not to be held responsible for the "improvements" of the Genevan edition published after his death.

The Genevan editors also invented and inserted an extra verse:--

"And as a valiant champion who for to get a prize With joye doth hast to take in hande some noble enterprise."

The fifth verse is thus altered:--

"And al the skye from ende to ende he compasseth about, Nothing can hyde it from his heate but he wil finde it out."

I cannot express the indignation with which I read these belittling and weakening alterations and interpolations; they are so unjust and so degrading to the reputation of Sternhold. It seems worse than forgery--worse than piracy; for instead of stealing from the defenceless dead poet, it foists upon him a spurious and degrading progeny; there is no word to express this tinkering libellous literary crime.

Cromwell had a prime favorite among these psalms; it was the one hundred and ninth and is known as the "cursing psalm." Here are a few lines from it:--

"As he did cursing love, it shall betide unto him so, And as he did not blessing love it shall be farre him fro, As he with cursing clad himselfe so it like water shall Into his bowels and like oyl Into his bones befall. As garments let it be to him to cover him for aye And as a girdle wherewith he may girded be alway."

Another authority gives the "cursing psalm" as the nineteenth of King James's version; but there is nothing in "The heavens declare the glory of God," &c. to justify the nickname of "cursing."

It is said when the tyrannical ruler Andros visited New Haven and attended church there that (Sternhold and Hopkins' Version being used) the fearless minister very inhospitably gave out the fifty-second psalm to be sung. The angry governor, who took it as a direct insult, had to listen to the lining and singing of these words, and I have no doubt they were roared out with a lusty will:--

1. Why dost thou tyrant boast thyself thy wicked deeds to praise Dost thou not know there is a God whose mercies last alwaies?

2. Why doth thy mind yet still deuise such wisked wiles to warp? Thy tongue untrue, in forging lies is like a razer sharp.

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4. Thou dost delight in fraude & guilt in mischief bloude and wrong: Thy lips have learned the flattering stile O false deceitful tongue.

5. Therefore shall God for eye confounde and pluck thee from thy place. Thy seed and root from out the grounde and so shall thee deface;

6. The just when they behold thy fall with feare will praise the Lord: And in reproach of thee withall cry out with one accord.

When the unhappy King Charles fled from Oxford to a camp of troops he also was insulted by having the same psalm given out in his presence by the boorish chaplain of the troops. After the cruel words were ended the heartsick king rose and asked the soldiers to sing the fifty-sixth psalm. Whenever I read the beautiful and pathetic words, as peculiarly appropriate as if they had been written for that occasion only, I can see it all before me,--the great camp, the angry minister, the wretched but truly royal king; and I can hear the simple and noble song as it pours from the lips of hundreds of rude soldiers:

1. Have mercy Lord on mee I pray for man would mee devour. He fighteth with me day by day and troubleth me each hour.

2. Mine enemies daily enterprise to swallow mee outright To fight against me many rise O thou most high of might

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5. What things I either did or spake they wrest them at thier wil: And all the councel that they take is how to work me il.