FAITHFULL TEATE.
(Vol. vii., p. 529.)
The Ter Tria[[3]], about which your correspondent J. S. inquires, is neither a rare nor a very valuable book; and if his copy has cost him more than some three and sixpence, it is a poor investment of capital. Mine, which is of the second edition, 1669, has the following book-note:
"The worthy Faithfull Teate indulges himself in the then prevailing bad taste of anagramising his name: see the result after the title. A better play upon his name is that of Jo. Chishull, who, in lashing the prophane wits of the day, and eulogising the author, has the following comical allusion thereto:
'Let all wise-hearted sav'ring things divine
Come suck this Teat that yields both milk and wine,
Loe depths where elephants may swim, yet here
The weakest lamb of Christ wades without fear.'"
The Ter Tria was originally published in 1658; its author, F. T., was the father of the better known Nahum Tate, the co-translator of the last authorised version of the Psalms,—a Teat which, following the metaphor of Mr. Chishull, has nourished not a few generations of the godly, but now, like a sucked orange, thrown aside for the more juicy productions of our modern Psalmists. Old Teate (or Tate, as the junior would have it) is styled in this book, "preacher at Sudbury." He seems subsequently to have removed to Ireland, where his son Nahum, the laureat, was born.
J. O.
Footnote 3:[(return)]
"Ter Tria; or the Doctrine of the Three Sacred Persons: Father, Son, and Spirit. Principal Graces: Faith, Hope, and Love. Main Duties: Prayer, Hearing, and Meditation. Summarily digested for the Pleasure and Profit of the pious and ingenious Reader. By F. T. Tria sunt omnia."