Tate, NAHUM, was son of Faithful Tate, D.D., and was born in Dublin in 1652. He had his education at Trinity College, Dublin, succeeded Shadwell as poet-laureate in 1690, is described by Oldys as 'a free, good-natured, fuddling companion,' and died August 12, 1715, in the precincts of the Mint at Southwark, then a sanctuary for debtors. His writings include ten dramatic pieces, one of them an adaptation of King Lear; Panacea, or a Poem on Tea; various birthday odes, and an elegy on the death of Queen Mary; Miscellanea
Sacra; the Innocent Epicure, or Art of Angling. But his name alone survives from the metrical version of the Psalms, which he executed in conjunction with Nicholas Brady (q.v.). The whole was completed as early as 1696, and slowly made its way into general use in the Church of England, supplanting the older version made in the reign of Edward VI. by Sternhold (q.v.) and Hopkins. The work as a whole was poor, but portions are not without poetic quality. The Supplement to the New Version (1703) was most probably the work of Tate alone; one thing in it, 'While shepherds watched,' has travelled over the Christian world.