Introduction

Biography

Joel was the son of Sa­mu­el Bar­low and Es­ther Hull, and hus­band of Ruth Bald­win.

While in col­lege, he fought in the 1776 Bat­tle of Long Is­land, New York.

He grad­u­at­ed from Yale Un­i­ver­si­ty in 1778, and was a well known au­thor and pol­i­ti­cian dur­ing and af­ter the Am­er­i­can re­vo­lu­tion.

U.S. Pres­i­dent James Mon­roe made him Am­er­i­can am­bas­sa­dor to France.

Works

In 1785, at the re­quest of the (Con­gre­ga­tion­al) Gen­er­al As­so­ci­a­tion of Con­nec­ti­cut, he cor­rect­ed and en­larged Is­aac Watts’ Psalms of Da­vid, sup­ply­ing those omit­ted by Watts, and ad­apt­ing it to Am­er­i­can tastes.

The re­sult, pub­lished in 1786, went through va­ri­ous ed­it­ions for ma­ny years. Its cu­ri­ous ti­tle is: Psalms Car­eful­ly Suit­ed to the Chris­tian Wor­ship in the Unit­ed States of Am­er­i­ca, Be­ing Dr. Watts’ Im­i­ta­tion of the Psalms of Da­vid, as Im­proved by Mr. Bar­low.

Other works by Bar­low in­clude:

• Has­ty Pud­ding
• Co­lum­bia
• The Vi­sion of Co­lum­bus, an ep­ic po­em