ADDISON AND HIS HYMNS.
(Vol. v., p. 439.)
Any attempt to divorce Addison from his hymns in the Spectator, and to ascribe them to any other writer, is so great a wrench to the feelings of a sexagenarian like myself, that the question must at once be set at rest.
In reply to J. G. F.'s inquiry, these hymns, or a portion of them, were claimed for Andrew Marvell by Captain Edward Thompson, the editor of Marvell's works; but a writer in Kippis's edition of the Biographia Britannica remarks:
"We shall content ourselves with observing, that any man who can suppose that the ease, eloquence, and harmony of the ode, 'The Spacious Firmament,' &c., could flow from Marvell's pen, must be very deficient in taste and judgment."
This claim on Captain Thompson's part was to have been considered under the article "Marvell," but the second edition of the Biographia did not, as we well know, extend beyond the letter F.
But though we cannot concede these hymns to Marvell, he must not be underrated. His downright honesty of character and purpose must ever excite respect. His biographer strangely introduces him to us as "A witty droll in the seventeenth century, the son of a facetious gentleman at Hull." In one respect he resembled our gifted essayist; his style in prose was so captivating that we are told
"From the King down to the Tradesman, his Rehearsal Transposed was read with great pleasure; he had all the men of wit on his side."
To return to the hymns and the just claims of Addison to the whole of them.
In the Spectator, No. 453., Addison says,
"I have already communicated to the public some pieces of divine poetry, and as they have met with a very favourable reception, I shall from time to time publish any work of the same nature which has not yet appeared in print, and may be acceptable to my readers."
Then follows the hymn "When all Thy Mercies," &c. Coming from such a man as Addison, this
must be considered as pretty strong evidence of authorship.
In the Spectator, No. 441., when introducing the hymn "The Lord my Pasture," &c., Addison observes—
"As the poetry of the original is very exquisite, I shall present my readers with the following translation of it."
With respect to this composition Bishop Hurd remarks, that Addison's
"True judgment suggested to him that what he drew from Scripture was best preserved in a pure and simple expression, and the fervour of his piety made that simplicity pathetic."
No doubt seems to have crossed the Bishop's mind as to the authorship. Sometimes Addison thought fit to throw a little mystery over these hymns. In Spectator, No. 489., after alluding to Psalm cvii. v. 23., "They that go down to the sea," &c. (which Addison says gives a description of a ship in a storm, preferable to any other that he has met with), he subjoins his "divine Ode made by a Gentleman on the conclusion of his travels," "How are Thy servants blest," &c.
The verses 4 to 8 are said to refer to the storm which Allison himself encountered on the Mediterranean, after he embarked at Marseilles in 1700.
The hymn "When rising from the bed of death," Spectator, No. 513, "a thought in sickness," is contained in a supposed letter from a Clergyman, viz. one of the club, "who assist me in my speculations."
Tickell, in his exquisite elegy, so worthy of its subject, when asking,
"What new employments please the unbody'd mind?"
adds,
"Or mixed with milder cherubim to glow,
In hymns of love, not ill essayed below."
Were not the very hymns which we are speaking of in Tickell's mind?
Addison's piety, we may well gather from his writings, was, as Mr. Macaulay observes, of a cheerful character. The feeling which predominates in all his devotional papers, is that of gratitude; do we not find it also strikingly developed in his hymns? We all remember the beautiful lines,
"Ten thousand thousand precious gifts
My daily thanks employ,
Nor is the least a cheerful heart,
That tastes those gifts with joy."
Let Bishop Ken and Addison retain their divine hymns—dear as they are, and let us hope ever will be, to man, woman, and child—whilst the English language is read or spoken. How greatly is their sublimity heightened, and their beauty enhanced, when we associate with them the purity of character and the assemblage of virtues which distinguished their excellent authors!
J. H. Markland.