Introduction

Biography

Norris’ fa­ther was a cler­gy­man of the par­ish where he was born.

He was edu­cat­ed at Win­ches­ter, and Exe­ter Col­lege, Ox­ford, sub­se­quent­ly be­com­ing a Fel­low of All Souls.

From Ox­ford he passed, in 1689, to the rec­to­ry of New­ton St. Loe, Som­er­set­shire, and thence, in 1691, to Be­mer­ton, near Sal­i­sbu­ry (once the home of George Her­bert), where he spent the rest of his life.

Norris was not­ed as a theo­lo­gian and me­ta­phys­i­cal writ­er, with ma­ny works on those sub­jects. In 1687 he pub­lished A Col­lect­ion of Mis­cel­la­nies, in prose and verse, in which four ver­sions of in­di­vi­du­al psalms were giv­en.

A spe­ci­men from these is found in Hol­land’s Brit­ish Psal­mists, and the whole were re­print­ed in 1871, with Nor­ris’ oth­er po­ems, in Al­ex­an­der Gros­art’s Full­er Wor­thies’ Mis­cel­la­nies. From his Col­lect­ion of Mis­cel­la­nies, some passed in­to James Mar­tin­eau’s Hymns of Praise and Pray­er, 1873.