There is much difference shown in the wording of these various editions of Sternhold and Hopkins' Psalms. The earlier ones were printed as Sternhold wrote them; but with the Genevan editions began great and astonishing alterations. Warton, who was no lover of Sternhold and Hopkins' verses, calling them "the disgrace of sacred poetry," said of these attempted improvements, with vehemence, that "many stanzas already too naked and weak like a plain old Gothic edifice stripped of its signatures of antiquity, have lost that little and almost only strength and support which they derived from ancient phrases." Other old critics thought that Sternhold, could he return to life, would hardly know his own verses. This is Sternhold's rendering of the Psalm in the edition of 1549:-- 1. The heavens & the fyrmamente do wondersly declare The glory of God omnipotent his workes and what they are. 2. Ech daye declareth by his course an other daye to come And By the night we know lykwise a nightly course to run. 3. There is no laguage tong or speche where theyr sound is not heard, In al the earth and coastes thereof theyr knowledge is conferd. 4. In them the lord made royally a settle for the sunne Where lyke a Gyant joyfully he myght his iourney runne. 5. And all the skye from ende to ende he compast round about No man can hyde hym from his heate but he wll fynd hym out In order to show the liberties taken with the text we can compare with it the Genevan edition printed in 1556. The second verse of that presumptuous rendering reads,-- "The wonderous works of God appears by every days success The nyghts which likewise their race runne the selfe same thinges expresse." The fourth,-- "In them the lorde made for the sunne a place of great renoune Who like a bridegrome rady-trimed doth from his chamber come." The expression "rady-trimed," meaning close-shaven, is often instanced as one of the inelegancies of Sternhold, but he surely ought not to be held responsible for the "improvements" of the Genevan edition published after his death. The Genevan editors also invented and inserted an extra verse:-- "And as a valiant champion who for to get a prize With joye doth hast to take in hande some noble enterprise." The fifth verse is thus altered:-- "And al the skye from ende to ende he compasseth about, Nothing can hyde it from his heate but he wil finde it out." I cannot express the indignation with which I read these belittling and weakening alterations and interpolations; they are so unjust and so degrading to the reputation of Sternhold. It seems worse than forgery--worse than piracy; for instead of stealing from the defenceless dead poet, it foists upon him a spurious and degrading progeny; there is no word to express this tinkering libellous literary crime.