Francis Rous

Francis Rous (1579–1659) was an English Puritan religious writer, parliamentarian, and metrical psalm versifier whose work became a major source for the Scottish Psalter of 1650. Born at Dittisham in Devon, he studied at Broadgates Hall, later Pembroke College, Oxford, and at Leiden. He also entered the Middle Temple before turning much of his attention to theology and public affairs. His devotional and controversial writings included The Arte of Happines and Testis Veritatis, and he served repeatedly in Parliament during the reign of Charles I and the Commonwealth.

Rous was named a lay assessor of the Westminster Assembly in 1643 and became Provost of Eton College in 1644. His metrical version of the Psalms, issued in the 1640s, was chosen by the Westminster Assembly as the principal basis for a new psalter and was extensively revised there. Scottish church committees then subjected that text to further revision before the version authorized for Church of Scotland worship in 1649 and introduced in 1650. The final Scottish Psalter therefore should not be treated as Rous's unaltered individual work.

Rous's religious alignment also changed during the political upheavals of the period. He was associated first with the Presbyterian party and later with the Independents, while continuing to write on practical and devotional theology. He served as Speaker of the nominated assembly commonly called Barebone's Parliament in 1653 and remained Provost of Eton until his death.

Later hymnological sources credit Rous, sometimes together with William Barton, in connection with the metrical Psalm 103 beginning “O thou my soul, bless God the Lord.” His broader historical significance, however, lies in providing a foundational psalm version that was reshaped by collective Westminster and Scottish revision into one of the most durable English-language metrical psalters.