Kidderminster.
_Misquotation._--In an article entitled "Popular Ballads of the English
Peasantry," a correspondent of "N. & Q." (Vol. v., p. 603.) quotes as "that
spirit-stirring stanza of _immortal John_," the lines:
"Jesus, the name high over all," &c.
These lines were not written by _John_, but by _Charles Wesley_. Here is
the proof:
1st. A hymn of which the stanza quoted is the first, appears (p. 40.) in
the _Collection of Hymns_ published by John Wesley in 1779; but in the
preface he says, "but a small part of these hymns are of my own composing."
2nd. In his _Plain Account of Christian Perfection_, he says:
"In the year 1749, my brother printed two volumes of _Hymns and Sacred
Poems_. As I _did not see them_ before they were published, there were
some things in them which I did not approve of; but I quite approved of
the main of the hymns on this head."--_Works_, vol. xi. p. 376., 12mo.
ed. 1841.
3rd. The lines quoted by your correspondent form the ninth stanza of a hymn
of twenty-two stanzas (which includes the six in John Wesley's
_Collection_), written "after preaching (in a church)," and published in
"_Hymns and Sacred Poems_. In two volumes. By Charles Wesley, M.A., Student
of Christ Church, Oxford. Bristol: printed and sold by Felix Farley, 1749."
A copy is in my possession. The hymn is No. 194.; and the stanza referred
to will be found in vol. i. p. 306.