ABSTRACT
This chapter describes Samuel Woodford's poem', To the Honourable Sir John Denham, upon his new Version of the Psalms', and Woodford's influential role in Denham's translation. Seen through Woodford's eyes, Denham has not only accomplished a radically new version of the Psalms, but also fashioned a fresh image as a serious poet. The task of editing Denham's Psalms fell not to Woodford himself but to his son, Heighes of Wadham College, Canon of Chichester, Vicar of Epsom in Surrey, and domestic chaplain to Lord Anglesey. The signal importance of Woodford, however, is that 'by some modest Expressions in his Preface, he seems to invite, or indeed to provoke me to a new Attempt'. The chief culprit is the Sternhold and Hopkins version: 'the vulgar Translation of the Psalms, which we keep in use, may have promoted this bold and most profane Licentiousness'.
