270 OUR HYMNS r
Selection of 700 Evangelical Hymns for Private, Family, and Public Worship (many original), from more than 200 of the best authors in England, Scotland, Ireland, and America ; arranged in alphabetical order, intended as a Supplement to Dr. Watts s Psalms and Hymns." The preface is dated Poole, Dorset, March 1st, 1806. It explains that many of the hymns were taken from manuscripts which Mr. Dobell deemed too valuable to be suffered to remain in obscurity, and that some of the hymns were supplied by friends. He had laboured at his book for years, and selected from thousands of hymns. He had altered some of the hymns, sometimes omitting verses and sometimes adding new ones ; and he contributed about twenty of his own hymns, which are plain and evangelical, and make no pretension to high poetic excellence. In his collection, Mr. Dobell did an important service by giving the names of the authors. He gives the com plete list separately, at the beginning of his collection, and also adds the name to each hymn as far as he could, and in most instances correctly. He has thus become a valuable pioneer in this interesting branch of study, and has preserved some elements of information that might have now become irrecoverable. In its enlarged form, his collection included seven hundred hymns, fifteen choruses, and a long hymn on " Heaven," by Erskine. It passed through several editions.
Conspicuous in the congregation that assembled at Skinner Street Chapel, Poole, more than fifty years ago, was the tall form of Mr. Dobell, a somewhat eccentric and remarkable man. During the long pastorate of the Rev. Edward Ashburner, and during the greater part of that of his successor, the E,ev. Thomas Durant, he attended there, his wife being a church member, though there is no record of his being in union with the church. There his collection was used, there many came to call him familiarly " Old Dobell," (pronouncing his name with the accent on the first syllable, as if it were spelt " Doble ) ; and there he was buried, June 1st, 1840, by Dr. A. Morton Brown, who was then co-pastor there.
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