The second verse beginning—"To Thee the hoary head," has this note—" Composed on seeing an Aged Saint and a Youth taken into Church communion together.
[2] In a manuscript in the library of Yale College, Franklin Bowditch Dexter tabulated the hymns.
Prefixed to the Hymns and Poems there is, however, a long and very tenderly written dedication (in prose) 'To my much Rever'd, much Lov'd, Father', this signed 'E.
[5] In a second manuscript headed "Poems on Several Occasions by Miss Scott of Norwich, who married to Mr. Williams of New England, January 1750/1."
At the end, this is written, "These transcribed from Maj. Williams' Manuscript, Feb. 27, 1751, the week before she left Norwich to go to New England."
and "Hail, King supreme, all wise and good", both of which are given anonymously in the Unitarian Acu» CW.
He had at that time a manuscript of Scott's hymns with a Dedication to her father prefixed thereto and signed "Eliz Sc—tt."
From this manuscript, he sent "Why droops my soul with guilt oppressed" (Christ, the Great Physician) to the December number of the magazine; "Evil and few our mortal days" (Vanity of human Life), to the February number, 1764, and "What finite power with ceaseless toil ("Praise for Temporal Blessings"), to the April number of the same year.
"[5] The hymn referred to in this note was, "Great God, Thy penetrating eye" (God pervading all things), which appeared in the January number of the Christian Magazine, 1784, without signature or acknowledgement of any kind.
[5] From these facts, it is clear that before departing for the United States, Scott allowed copies of her hymns to be made from her manuscripts, and it was mainly from these copies that those of her hymns composed before her marriage were printed in the English hymnbooks.
Of the 90 hymns in the Yale manuscript, in addition to those annotated elsewhere in Julian's Dictionary of Hymnology, there are also in collections:—[5] i.
Scott refused marriage to but retained the friendship of Doddridge, who made her acquainted with Colonel Elisha Williams (1694–1755), an American Congregational minister,[4] who was, from 1726 to 1739, Rector of Yale College.
She married him in 1751 in Norwich, emigrated with him to Wethersfield, Connecticut in March 1772,[1] and survived him after his death, three years later.
[5] In 1769, when she was for the second time a widow, she returned to Wethersfield, residing at the home of Ezekiel Williams (1729-1818), Elisha's nephew.