(Vol. ix., p. 373.)
After the correspondence that took place ("N. & Q.," Vol. v.), I had hoped
that Addison would have been left in peaceable possession of those "divine
hymns" ascribed to his pen; but this is not to be. A former correspondent,
J. G. F., doubted whether they were not composed by Andrew Marvell? This
inquiry was, I hope, satisfactorily answered, by myself in the first
instance, and afterwards by MR. CROSSLEY, Vol. v., pp. 513, 548.
In No. 234. a later correspondent, S. M., asks whether the hymn "When
rising from the bed of death," which he says is "taken from the chapter on
'Death and Judgment,' in Addison's _Evidences of the Christian Religion_,"
was written by Addison or Dr. Isaac Watts? In what edition of the
_Evidences_ does S. M. find either the chapter he speaks of, or this hymn?
The place which it occupies is in No. 513. of the _Spectator_. As I have
elsewhere stated, Addison was accustomed to throw a little mystery over
these poems; and "the excellent man in holy orders," to whom this hymn is
attributed, is unquestionably the ideal clergyman, the occasional visitor
of the club, spoken of in the second number of the _Spectator_.