Francis Rouse
1579–1659
Provost of Eton; metrical psalmist; Speaker of Barebones Parliament.
Biography
Of Broadgates Hall Oxford and the Middle Temple, then a long parliamentary career and the Provostship of Eton (1644-1659). Rouse's Booke of Psalmes in English Meter (1643, revised by the Westminster Assembly 1646 and approved in Scotland 1650) became the basis of the Scottish Metrical Psalter — sung continuously in Reformed Scottish congregations to the present. He was Speaker of Barebones Parliament (1653) and a member of Cromwell's Other House. A devout moderate Independent, he wrote mystical-experimental devotional works (The Mysticall Marriage, 1631) before his political career. Died at Eton in January 1659.
Principal works
- The Booke of Psalmes in English Meter (1643)
- The Mysticall Marriage (1631)
Lay Assessor — House of Commons
Parliament seated lay assessors alongside the divines to represent its interest and keep it informed of the Assembly's progress. The ordinance of 1643 named thirty members of the House of Commons as assessors; they could take part in debate but were not among the voting divines, and their attendance was often occasional as the war and parliamentary business pressed on them.