The Scottish Psalter in Metre begins the fourth century of its use in the Church of Scotland on 1 May 1950. The occasion has been deemed by many to demand that some account of a book which has played no small part in Scottish Church history should be written, for the lack of knowledge about it is widespread.<br><br>The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, on the recommendation of the Chalmers Trust, appointed the present writer to prepare 'a historical survey of Scottish Psalmody', with special reference to the 1650 Psalter. The Church Hymnary Trust had previously encouraged the preparation of a book on the Psalter corresponding to the Handbook to the Church Hymnary. And the late Sir Richard Terry, in the preface to his reprint of the music of Dr. Neil Livingston's great monograph on the 1635 Psalter, intimated his intention of leaving an account of the historical setting of that Psalter to be furnished by the writer of these pages.<br><br>It became apparent that nothing short of a historical narrative covering the whole history of Scottish Psalmody would answer all these purposes.