Psalms of David Imitated

The words

1. Asaph

   A biblical psalm writer named in Watts’s explanation of his method.

   CCEL: Preface to the Psalms of David Imitated (opens a new tab)

2. Ben Franklin

   Benjamin Franklin as Philadelphia printer and seller of Watts’s Psalms. Early American printer and seller of the book.

   cdss.org: The Performing Arts in Colonial (opens a new tab) · cdss.org: The Performing Arts in Colonial (2) (opens a new tab)

3. Cruttenden

   R. Cruttenden, one of the London booksellers named in the 1719 imprint.

   Internet Archive: The Psalms of David (opens a new tab)

4. Darby

   A previous psalm versifier whom Watts names and discusses in his preface.

   CCEL: Preface to the Psalms of David Imitated (opens a new tab)

5. Hartford

   Connecticut city where Barlow’s revision was published.

   rbc-cataloging-manual.beinecke.library.yale.e (opens a new tab)

6. Imitation

   Watts’s method of recasting psalms for Christian singers.

   CCEL: Preface to the Psalms of David Imitated (opens a new tab)

7. Joel Barlow

   American poet who revised Watts’s Psalms for Connecticut churches (1785). Americanizing reviser who removed the references to Britain and the king.

   rbc-cataloging-manual.beinecke.library.yale.e (opens a new tab)

8. John Hatton

   Composer credited with DUKE STREET, the usual tune for Watts’s Psalm 72 ‘Jesus shall reign’.

   Hymnology Archive: Jesus shall reign where’er (opens a new tab)

9. Milbourn

   A previous psalm versifier whom Watts names and discusses in his preface.

   CCEL: Preface to the Psalms of David Imitated (opens a new tab)

10. Patrick

    A previous psalm versifier whom Watts names and discusses in his preface.

    CCEL: Preface to the Psalms of David Imitated (opens a new tab)

11. Philadelphia

    City where Franklin printed and sold Watts’s Psalms. Place of an early American printing.

    cdss.org: The Performing Arts in Colonial (opens a new tab)

12. Psalmist

    Writer of psalms (David, Asaph), as Watts uses the word in his preface. Watts’s own term for the voice he re-imagined.

    CCEL: Preface to the Psalms of David Imitated (opens a new tab)

13. Psalmody

    The singing of psalms in worship. The practice Watts set out to reform.

    CCEL: Preface to the Psalms of David Imitated (opens a new tab) · Hymnology Archive: Joy to the world (opens a new tab)

14. Timothy Dwight

    Yale president who prepared ‘Dwight’s Watts’ (1801). Second American reviser; added the psalms Watts had left out.

    Hymnology Archive: I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord (opens a new tab)

15. Yale

    Yale College, of which Dwight was president.

    Hymnology Archive: I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord (opens a new tab)