Hymn Writers of the Church

Tate, Nahum, the English poet, was the son of an Irish clergyman, and was born at Dublin in 1652. After his graduation at the University of Dublin he settled in London and entered upon a literary career. He soon won reputation as a poet, publishing successive volumes from time to time. In 1692 he became Poet Laureate. In 1696 he published, in connection with Rev. Nicholas Brady (1659-1726), Chaplain in Ordinary, a New Version of the Psalms of David Fitted to the Tunes Used in the Church. This version supplanted, by royal and episcopal authority, the "old version" by Sternhold, Hopkins, and others, and is to this day the authorized version of the Church of England found in the Prayer Book. It is not known which of the Psalms were translated by Brady and which by Tate; but as Tate was Poet Laureate, he is supposed 439 to have done the greater part of the work. In addition to this joint work, he published several volumes of poetry. He died August 12, 1715.