(Vol. vii., p. 529.)
The _Ter Tria_[3], about which your correspondent J. S. inquires, is
neither a rare nor a very valuable book; and if his copy has cost him more
than some three and sixpence, it is a poor investment of capital. Mine,
which is of the second edition, 1669, has the following book-note:
"The worthy Faithfull Teate indulges himself in the then prevailing bad
taste of _anagramising_ his name: see the result after the title. A
better play upon his name is that of Jo. Chishull, who, in lashing the
prophane wits of the day, and eulogising the author, has the following
comical allusion thereto:
'Let all wise-hearted sav'ring things divine
_Come suck this_ TEAT that yields both milk and wine,
Loe depths where elephants may swim, yet here
The weakest lamb of Christ wades without fear.'"
The _Ter Tria_ was originally published in 1658; its author, F. T., was the
father of the better known Nahum Tate, the co-translator of the last
authorised version of the Psalms,--a _Teat_ which, following the metaphor
of Mr. Chishull, has nourished not a few generations of the godly, but now,
like a sucked orange, thrown aside for the more juicy productions of our
modern Psalmists. Old Teate (or Tate, as the junior would have it) is
styled in this book, "preacher at Sudbury." He seems subsequently to have
removed to Ireland, where his son Nahum, the laureat, was born.