Nicholas Brady

Who was Nicholas Brady?

Nicholas Brady, Anglican divine and poet, was born in Bandon, County Cork, Ireland. He received his education at Westminster School and at Christ Church, Oxford; he graduated from Trinity College, Dublin.

Brady was a zealous promoter of the Glorious Revolution and suffered in consequence. When war broke out in Ireland in 1690, Brady, by his influence, thrice prevented the burning of the town of Bandon, after James II gave orders for its destruction. The same year he was employed by the people of Bandon to lay their grievances before the English parliament. He soon afterward settled in London, where he obtained various preferments. At the time of his death, he held the livings of Clapham and Richmond.

Brady's best-known work, written with his collaborator Nahum Tate, is New Version of the Psalms of David, a metrical version of the Psalms. It was licensed in 1696, and largely ousted the old Sternhold and Hopkins Psalter. He translated Virgil's Aeneid and wrote several smaller poems and dramas, as well as sermons.