SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
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Tbe devices of Robert Wyer consisted of two or three representations of Su John the divine writing, attended by an eagle balding his ink- horn; he is seated upon a small rock in the middle of the sea, intending to represent the isle of Patinas. A hif^ rock rises above bim on the left hand, and on the ri^t appears a city and momitains. The whole is contained in a paral- lelogram, surrounded by double lines, of which the outside one is the thichest, and below the cat k the following mark.
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Another of his devices was the same in shape and subject, but much smaller. The saint crowned with a nimbus of glory, is there placed beneath a tree, and the eagle, with his wings npread, stands upon the broken trunk of another. The back-ground is richly stellated with clouds, rosettes, and stars cut in white. He sometimes, though rarely, used a representation of the saint without the eagle. The following is given from Home's Introduction to Bibliography.
1542. A French version of the Psalnu, or rather part of them, by Clement Marot,* claims particular notice, not so much from its intrinsic excellence, as for its being the foundation of the psalmody adopted iu the ritual of the reformed churches ; and in its popular reception, strongly exhibiting the levity of the French court and nation.
The history of psalm-singing is a portion of the history of the Reformation, — of that great religious revolution which separated for ever, into two unequal divisions, the sects of Christi- anity. It seems, however, that this project was adopted accidentally, and was certainly promo- ted by the fine natural genius of Marot. In this attempt, he was assisted by Francis Melin de S. Gelays, and other learned men, from whose prose
- neraent Mmrot wua native of Cahon, nnrTooloiue,
■od born In UP9. He was the flkvonrlte poet at France, and in the earlj part of hii life wb> eminent for hi> paito- rali, ballads, fiiblei, elegies, epigrams, and poetical trans- lation*. He was accnied before the lieutenant-crimind, on acoDont of his ineligion, and the licentiouBneas of his vrltinrs, and imprisoned at Chartres. In this state of confinement he wrote his En/er, a severe and pointed ■attie, and revised the celebrated Roman de la Rote, He was kept in prison till after the deliverance of Flancis 1. from Spain, in I5KI, when he obtained bis liberty; but was afterwards oblifed to flee to Geneva, from whence he I to Tnrin, where he died In indigence. In 1144.
translations |ie farmed his poetical version. His first edition contained only thirty psalms, and was dedicated to his patron Francis I. He afterwards proceeded in his work till he had completed twenty more psalms, which, with the former thirty, and eight more, the translators of which were never well known, were printed at Rome, in 1542, by the command of pope Paul III.* by Theodore Drust, a German, printer in ordinary to his holiness. This edition was printed in the gothic character, in octavo.
In one of the psalms Marot breaks forth with that enthusiasm, which perhaps at first conveyed to the sullen fancy of the austere Calvin the project he so successfully adopted, and whose mfluence we are still witnesdng.
Thrice happy they who shall behold. And listen in that age of pdd I As by the ploagh the labourer itiays. And carman nud the public ways, And tradesman in his shop shall swell Their voice In Pialm or Canticle, Singing to solace toil ; again. From woods shall come a sweeter attain '. Shepherd and shepherdeas shall vie In many a tender Psalmody i And the Creator's name prolong A* rock and stream return their aongt
Begin then, ladies fair I begin The age renewed that knows no sin I And with light heart, that wants no wing, Sing I from this holy song-book, sing If
This "holy song-book" for the harpsichord or the voice, was a gay novelty, and no book was ever more eagerly received by all classes than Marot's "PsaJms." In the fervour of that day, they sold faster than the printers could take them off their presses; but as they were understood to be longi, and yet were not accompanied by music, every one set them to favourite tunes,com- monly those of popular ballads. Each of the royal family, and every nobleman, chose a psalm or a song, which expressed his own personal feelings, i^pted to his own tune. The Dau- phin, afterwards Henry II., a ^[reat hunter, when he went to the chase, was singmg Aimi qu'on vit U cerf bruyre. " Like as the hart desireth the water-hrooKs." There is a curious portrait of the mistress of Henry II. the famous Diane de Poictiets, on which is inscribed this verse of the psalm. Diaue, however, in the first stage of their mutual attachment, took Du fond de ma pemee, or, " from the depth of my heart." The queen's favourite was, A'e veuilles jxu, O sire ; that is, "Rebuke me not in thy indignation," which she sang to a fashionable jig. Anthony, king of Navarre, sung Revenge moy, pren le que- relle ; or, "Stand up, Lord, to revenge my quarrel," to the air ol a dance of Poitou.
Beside Uie poetical dedication to Francis I. Marot accompanied his version with an epistle
- Paul III. died November 10th, IMS).
t In the curious tract already refened to, the fdUowlnc quotation is remarkable ; the scene the fancy of Marot pictured to him, had ancient^ occurred. St Jerome, in his seventeenth Epistle to Marcellus, thus describes it: " In Christian vlllagea little else Is to be heard bat Psahns i for which way soever yon torn yoorad/, either you have the ptoagbman at his plongh singinc Batletujaht, the weary brewer refreshing himself with a pialwi, or the vine^lresaer chanting forth scmewhat of DaM't."
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