Nicholas Brady

Brady, Nicholas, Rev., was born at Bandon, 28th October 1659. His father was a royalist officer. When twelve years old he was sent to Westminster School; he subsequently graduated in Trinity College (M.A. in 1686), and obtained a prebend in the cathedral at Cork. At the time of the Revolution he made himself conspicuous as an adherent of William III. Being sent by his fellow-townsmen of Bandon on a mission to London, he settled in England, and was appointed chaplain to the Duke of Ormond, and afterwards to the King and Queen. Although in receipt of £600 a year, he found it necessary to set up a school at Richmond to enable him to meet his engagements. He died 20th May 1726, aged 66. He is remembered as the joint author, with Tate, of a version of the Psalms, which took the place of that of Sternhold and Hopkins, and was for a long period used by the Church of England. This work was first published in 1695. Dr. Beattie says: "Tate and Brady are too quaint, and where the Psalmist rises to sublimity . . are apt to sink into bombast; yet Tate and Brady have many good passages, especially in those psalms that contain simple enunciations of moral truth." A play by him, entitled The Rape, acted in London in 1692, with fair success, was of a character that would not now be tolerated on the stage.

Sources

16. Authors, Dictionary of British and American: S. Austin Allibone. 3 vols. Philadelphia, 1859-'71.

42. Biographical Dictionary: Rev. Hugh J. Rose. 12 vols. London, 1850.

116. Dublin University Magazine (45). Dublin, 1833-'77.

151. Graduates of the University of Dublin, to 16th December 1868: Rev. James H. Todd, D.D. Dublin, 1869.