Very, Jones, Salem, Massachusetts, August 28, 1813—May 8, 1880, Salem, Massachusetts. He was brother of Washington Very, _q.v._ He graduated from Harvard College in 1836, and served as tutor in Greek there for two years. Although Julian, _Dictionary_, p. 1219, says that he entered the Unitarian ministry in 1843, he was never ordained as a settled minister though he served frequently as an occasional lay preacher. Most of his life was given to literary pursuits. In 1839 he published _Essays and Poems_, and thereafter was a frequent contributor in prose and verse to periodicals, including _The Christian Register_ and the _Monthly Magazine_. The following hymns by him have passed into various American Unitarian collections. 1. _Father! I wait Thy word_, (Waiting upon God) 2. _Father, there is no change to live with Thee_ (Peace) 3. _Father! Thy wonders do not singly stand_ (The Spirit Land) 4. _Wilt Thou not visit me?_ (The Divine Presence) These four, from _Essays and Hymns_, were included in Longfellow and Johnson’s _Book of Hymns_, 1846, as were also three from other sources:— 5. _I saw on earth another light_ (The Light Within) 6. _The bud will soon become a flower_ (Sowing and Reaping) 7. _Turn not from him who asks of thee_ (Kind Words) Longfellow and Johnson’s second book, _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1864, also included 8. _One saint to another I heard say, How long_ (The Future) Most of these hymns are in Lyra Sacra Americana and in Putnam’s Singers and Songs, etc. Two other of his hymns have been published in later collections, viz: 9. _O heavenly gift of love divine_, (Divine assistance) from his _Essays and Poems_ is included in the _Pilgrim Hymnal_, 1904; and 10. _We go not on a pilgrimage_ (This earth as holy land) is included in the _New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914 and in _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937. Of the hymns listed above nos. 2 and 3 are included in the _Isles of Shoals Hymn Book_, and in other publications. Another hymn beginning _There is a world eye hath not seen_ (The Spirit World) included in Longfellow and Johnson’s _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1864, and there marked _Anon._, is attributed to Very in Julian’s _Dictionary_. The hymn is an abbreviated and mutilated version of the beautiful poem beginning _There is a world we have not seen_ in A. M. Buchanan’s _Folk Hymns of America_, pp. 80-81. (See H. W. Foote, _Three Centuries of American Hymnody_, p. 173). The original form is in three stanzas of eight lines, long metre. The very inferior re-written form is in four stanzas, four lines, common metre. Some of the lines are unchanged from the original, others altered, and the last stanza is a didactic addition. It is altogether improbable that this was done by Very. J. 1219, 1721 H.W.F.