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fte.s./*'// 

7.      '     /; 


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THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE. 


"  Howsoever  these  things  are  in  men's  depraved  judgments  and  affections. 
yet  Truth  which  only  doth  judge  itself,  teacheth  that  the  inquiry  of  truth, 
which  is  the  love-making  or  wooing  of  it,  and  the  belief  of  truth,  which  is  the 
enjoying  of  it,  is  the  sovereign  good  of  human  nature." — BACON. 

"The  Jesuit  reasons  thus  :  if  the  scriptures  should  be  read  by  the  people  in 
the  vulgar  tongue,  then  new  versions  should  be  made  in  every  age,  because 
languages  are  changed  every  age.  But  this  would  be  impossible,  because  there 
would  be  a  lack  of  persons  fit  to  make  the  versions  ;  and,  if  it  were  possible, 
it  would  be  absurd  that  the  versions  should  be  so  often  changed.  Therefore 
the  scriptures  ought  not  to  be  read  in  the  vernacular  tongue. 

"  I  answer,  this  argument  is  ridiculous.  For,  in  the  first  place,  it  is  false 
that  languages  change  every  age  ;  since  the  primary  tongues,  the  Hebrew. 
Greek,  and  Latin,  have  not  undergone  such  frequent  alterations.  Secondly, 
there  is  never  in  Christian  churches  a  lack  of  some  sufficient  interpreters,  able 
to  translate  the  scriptures  and  render  their  genuine  meaning  in  the  vulgar 
tongue.  Thirdly,  no  inconvenience  will  follow  if  interpretations  or  versions  of 
scripture,  when  they  have  become  obsolete  and  ceased  to  be  easily  intelligible. 
be  afterwards  changed  and  corrected." — WHITAKEH,  1588. 


0*  j/»U- 

Qcw*  <x" 

*r 

THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 


AN  EXTERNAL  AND    CRITICAL  HISTORY   OF  THE 

VARIOUS  ENGLISH  TRANSLATIONS 

OF  SCRIPTURE, 

WITH  REMARKS  OX  THE  NEED  Ol<' 
REVISING  THE  ENGLISH  NEW  TESTAMENT. 


JOHN  EADTE,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

PROFESSOU    OF    BIBLICAL    LITERATURE    AND    EXEGESI* 
UNITED    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 


IN  TWO  VOLUMES. 
VOL.    I. 


MACMILLAN    AND    CO. 

187G. 


rit/ht*  rexeri't'd. 

•^  J 


TO 

THE  RIGHT  REVEREND  CHARLES  J.  ELLICOTT,  D.D. 

BISHOP  OF  GLOUCESTER  AND  JUtrSTOL, 
CHAIRMAN  : 

AND    TO    THE    OTHER    MEMBERS    OF    THE    COMPANY 

ENGAGED    IN     THE    REVISION    OF    THE 

ENGLISH    NE"\V   TESTAMENT, 

THESE     VOLUMES     ARE     VERY     CORDIALLY 

INSCRIBED. 


PREFACE. 


THE  following  pages  have  been  written  to  tell  the 
story  of  the  English  Bible,  and  it  is  a  story  of  singular 
interest  to  all  who  speak  the  English  tongue.  No 
pains  have  been  spared  to  present  the  narrative  in  its 
truth,  and  to  disentangle  it  from  conflicting  statements 
and  traditional  errors. 

Many  thanks  are  due  to  those  who  have  gone  before 
me.  Mr.  Lewis,  in  his  "  Complete  History  of  the 
several  Translations  of  the  Holy  Bible  and  New  Testa 
ment  into  English,"  published  in  1731,  pointed  the 
way.  Yet,  so  little  interest  was  the  public  supposed 
to  feel  in  such  a  work,  that  his  first  edition  consisted 
only  of  140  copies  in  folio  ;  and  the  presentiment  was 
verified,  for  the  sale  was  so  very  slow  that  the  second 
edition,  in  octavo,  did  not  appear  till  eight  years  after 
wards.  His  book  has  many  merits ;  its  defects  may 
be  ascribed  to  the  scantier  knowledge  of  his  time ;  but 
its  blunders  have  led  some  noted  historians  far  astray. 
Other  writings  on  the  same  special  theme,  as  those  of 


PREFACE. 

Johnson,  Newcome,  Whittaker,  Walter,  Conant,  and 
the  "  Brief  Account "  prefixed  to  Bagster's  "  Hexapla," 
though  they  are  of  varying  value,  are  not  without 
their  use. 

But  the  publication  of  Christopher  Anderson's 
•'Annals  of  the  English  Bible/'  in  1845,  formed  an 
epoch;  for  the  work  was  the  fruit  of  independent  in 
vestigation,  and  its  author  brought  to  light  some  new 
facts  about  Tyndale,  and  discovered  some  unsuspected 
editions  of  his  New  Testament.  Mr.  Anderson's 
original  purpose  had  been  to  compile  a  biography  of 
the  martyred  translator,  and  had  that  purpose  not 
been  partially  abandoned,  or  rather  supplemented,  his 
volumes  might  have  possessed  more  compactness  and 
symmetry.  His  '•Annals,"  however,  are  wholly  ex 
ternal  in  character,  for  he  never  attempts  to  give  any 
critical  estimate  of  Tyndale's  version,  either  of  its 
English  style,  its  fidelity  to  the  original  Greek,  or  its 
nearer  or  remoter  relation  to  Luther  and  the  Vulgate. 
The  work,  indeed,  grew  under  his  hand  to  a  great  size, 
for  it  is  filled  to  overflowing  Avith  extraneous  or  col 
lateral  matter,  and  every  page  might  have  been  printed 
in  three  parallel  columns,  headed  in  succession — "  His 
tory  of  the  EnglisrrNation,"  "History  of  the  English 
Church/"  "  History  of  the  English  Bible."  Now  and 
then  the  good  man  is  swayed  by  prejudice,  as  when  he 
avers  that,  from  principle,  Tyndale  would  not,  and  did 
not,  translate  any  portion  of  the  Apocrypha,  though 
the  evidence  to  the  contrary  wras  lying  before  his  eyes, 


PREFACE. 


IX 


in  the  "Epistles"  for  Church  Service,  taken  from 
Esther,  Wisdom,  and  Ecclesiasticus,  attached  to  his 
famous  revised  edition  of  1534.  So  jealous  was  he  for 
Tyndale's  fame  and  honour  that  he  studiously,  and  on 
every  occasion,  depreciates  Coverdale,  who,  though  he 
was  not  endowed  with  Tyndale's  high  nobility  of 
nature,  yet  possessed  eminent  qualities,  and  did  a 
good  secondary  work  when  no  one  else  thought  of 
attempting  it.  I  have  endeavoured  to  weigh  the 
merits  of  each  translator,  or  company  of  translators, 
with  open  impartiality. 

Special  and  grateful  reference  cannot  but  be  made 
to  Canon  Westcott's  very  able,  accurate,  and  scholarly 
"  General  View  of  the  History  of  the  English  Bible," 
1868  ;  to  Prebendary  Scrivener's  careful  and  thorough 
11  Introduction  "  to  the  Quarto  Paragraph  Bible,  Cam 
bridge,  1873  ;  to  some  papers— too  few  and  too  brief- 
by  Dr.  Moulton  in  the  "Bible  Educator";  and  to 
several  volumes  of  minute  and  patient  labour,  in  the 
form  of  elaborate  collations  and  fac-simile  reproduc 
tion,  by  the  esteemed  and  obliging  Mr.  Francis  Fry, 
of  Bristol. 

I  have  tried  to  trace  the  English  Bible  down  from 
Anglo-Saxon  times,  and  have  added  a  very  few  re 
marks  on  the  changes  which  passed  over  the  old 
language  in  those  distant  centuries.  "Wycliffe  has 

o       o  •• 

been  often  portrayed  as  a  Reformer,  but,  as  it  was 
more  to  my  purpose,  I  have  sketched  him  as  a 
Translator,  divined  his  motives,  and  thrown  into 


X  PREFACE. 

relief  the  fresh  and  graphic  English  of  his  wonderful 
version.  The  reader  will  find  brief  biographies  of 
the  men  who  engaged,  at  different  periods,  in  the 
Avork  of  translation — a  work  sometimes  perilous,  and 
always  very  responsible ;  and  that  work  is  candidly 
judged  in  itself,  as  well  as  in  its  connection  with 
previous,  and  its  influence  upon  subsequent,  versions. 
The  introduction  into  Scotland  of  the  various  edi 
tions,  and  their  effect  on  that  kingdom,  have  not 
been  overlooked.  Considerable  space  is  devoted  to 
our  present  Bible,  usually,  though  not  with  strict 
accuracy,  called  "  The  Authorized  Version,"  and  I 
have  entered  into  some  points  of  its  history  as  a 
printed  volume  after  its  publication  in  1611. 

The  old  spelling  is  given  where  it  is  characteristic; 
and  as  the  book  is  not  meant  for  scholars  only,  but 
also  for  persons  of  ordinary  education  and  intelligence, 
Latin  and  Greek  terms  are,  for  the  most  part,  printed 
at  the  bottom  of  the  pages.  Errors  are  unavoidable 
in  such  a  multifarious  work,  but  it  is  hoped  that 
none  of  them  are  unpardonable.  No  verses  are 
marked  in  Tyndale,  Coverdale,  and  the  Great  Bible, 
and  the  attempt  to  facilitate  reference  by  numbering 
them  according  to  the  Authorized  Version  may  have 
led  to  some  discrepancies. 

In  fine,  some  chapters  in  the  concluding  portion  of 
the  second  volume  discuss  the  subject  of  Revision, 
showing  that  there  is  a  general  necessity  for  it,  and 
that  no  one  needs  either  to  be  startled  by  it,  or  to  be 


PREFACE.  xi 

suspicious  about  its  results ;  for  through  successive 
revisions  our  Bible  has  come  to  be  what  it  is,  as  a 
faithful  and  popular  translation.  May  the  rich  and 
suggestive  History  that  has  wreathed  itself  round  our 
Book  of  books  stir  up  a  profounder  thankfulness  to 
the  Giver  of  all  good,  and  may  its  own  truths  live  in 
the  hearts  of  all  who  read  it ! 

L  tender  my  best  thanks  to  my  friend  the  Rev. 
William  Young,  Parkhead,  for  looking  over  the 
sheets,  and  especially  for  compiling  the  accurate  and 
complete  Index. 


0  THORNVILLE  TERRACE,  BILLHEAD, 
GLASGOW,  March,  1876. 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTORY. 

Old  Versions  of  the  Scriptures  in  Keltic  Dialects  of  Britain — in  Anglo-Saxon — 
The  English  Tongue— Saxon  Element. — First  Period — Csedmon — Guthlac 
—  Ylclhelni — Bede — King  Alfred — Anglo-Saxon  Glosses — ^Elfric. — Second 
Period — The  Normans — Introduction  of  French — Two  Languages — Ascend 
ancy  of  English — Effects  of  the  Norman  Conquest  upon  the  English  Tongue 
— Translations  into  Early  English  —  The  Ormulum  —  Schorham  and 
Hampole — Gospels  and  Psalms  first  selected  for  Translation — Popularity  of 
the  Psalter — Anglo-Saxon  and  Old  English  in  Scotland,  .  Page  3 


WYCLIFFE. 

CHAPTER    I. 

.Reasons  why  Men  should  have  the  Word  of  God  in  their  own  Tongue — Time 
and  Place  of  Wycliffe's  Birth — Academic  Life — Preferred  to  Eectory  of 
Lutterworth — His  Doctrines  condemned — Death  from  Paralysis — Literary 
Works — Three  Epochs  in  his  Life,  .....  37 


CHAPTER  IT. 

Various  Influences  which  led  Wycliffe  to  translate  the  Scriptures — Papal  Rapacity 
— The  Great  Schism — Degeneracy  of  Mendicant  Orders — Alarming  Con 
dition  of  the  State  and  the  Church— -The  Black  Death— Wat  Tyler's 
Revolt — Not  connected  with  Wycliffe's  Teachings — Wycliffe  no  Demagogue 
— Polemical  Tractates — An  English  Bible  the  Nation's  Need — His  Purity  of 
Character — His  Aim  in  translating  the  Scriptures — The  First  Translator 
of  the  Entire  Bible  into  English — Trevisa's  Claims — Groundless  Assertions 
of  More  and  others — His  Eulogy,  .....  44 


xiv  CONTENTS, 

CHAPTER  III. 

Wycliffe's  Personal  Work  in  the  Translation — Nicholas  de  Hereford — -The 
Continuator — Purvey — His  Prologue  and  Revision— Spread  of  Education — 
English  of  "\Vycliffe — Still  easily  read — Obsolete  Terms — Similar  Terms 
which  still  survive  in  Scotch — Slight  Change  of  Spelling  gives  Modern 
Aspect  to  many  of  his  Words,  .....  G-t 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Rapid  Diffusion  of  Wycliffe's  Bible — Great  Interest  of  Surviving  Copies — 
Hostility  to  Wycliffe's  Bible — His  Writings  and  his  Bones  condemned  to 
the  Flames — Persecution  of  his  Followers — The  Term  "  Lollard  " — Act  de 
Heretico  Comburendo — Passed  at  the  Instigation  of  Archbishop  Arundel — 
Fires  of  Smithfield — Execution  of  Lord  Cobham — The  Arundel  Constitu 
tions — The  Commons  address  the  King  on  the  Wealth  of  the  Church — 
War  with  France — Stealthy  Reading  of  the  Bible — Cost  of  a  Bible — A 
Crime  to  possess  a  Copy — Nefarious  Means  of  Detection — Attachment  of 
Wyclifntes  to  Scripture— The  "  Bible  Readers  " — Influence  of  Wycliffe 
had  not  ceased  when  that  of  Tyndale  began — Translations  in  Scotland — 
The  Old  Scottish  Tongue  7i> 


TYNDALE. 
CHAPTER    V. 

Wycliffe's  Bible  only  a  Version  from  a  Version — Knowledge  of  Greek  in 
Britain — Early  Teachers  of  Greek — Influence  of  the  Knowledge  of  Greek 
upon  the  Study  of  the  Scriptures — Invention  of  Printing — Gutenberg — 
Caxton,  ........  101 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Date  and  Place  of  Tyndale's  Birth  disputed — Goes  to  College  at  an  Early  Age — 
Early  Devotion  to  the  Scriptures — Excellence  of  his  Character — May  have 
studied  under  Erasmus  at  Cambridge — Was  Tyndale  ordained  ? — Tutor  in 
the  House  of  Sir  John  Walsh — His  Translation  of  the  Enchiridion  of 
Erasmus — Railed  at  by  the  Clergy — Leaves  the  Family  of  Sir  John  Walsh — 
Asks  Admission  into  the  Household  of  Tunstall — Humphrey  Mumnouth's 
Kindness  to  him — His  Manner  of  Life  in  London — The  Value  of  Money 
then— The  Title  "  Sir  "  as  given  to  Tyndale,  .  .  107 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Tyndale  leaves  England — Takes  up  his  Residence  at  Hamburg — Not  a  Lutheran 
— His  Work  different  from  that  of  Luther — Did  he  visit  Wittemberg  ? — 


CONTENTS.  xv 

Connection  with  Luther — Knowledge  of  German — Leaves  Hamburg  for 
Cologne — Flight  to  Worms — Printing  of  Octavo  and  Quarto  Editions  of  his 
New  Testament,  .  .  .  120 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Tyndale's  Noble  and  Disinterested  Motives — Sacrifices — Modesty — Scholarship 
— Sole  Translator — -Friar  Roye — Grammars  and  Lexicons  within  his  Reach 
— Greek  Testament  of  Erasmus — Tyndale  translated  directly  from  the 
Greek,  133 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Relation  of  Tyndale's  New  Testament  to  German  Version  of  Luther — Alleged 
Germanisms  merely  Old  English — Did  not  translate  from  the  Vulgate — 
Blunders  of  Macknight  and  others  on  this  point — Tyndale's  Untrammelled 
Use  of  the  Vulgate — -It  suggests  many  Renderings  to  him — Defects  of  the 
Version — Neglect  of  Connecting  Particles — Occasionally  Paraphrastic — 
Quaint  and  Homely  Renderings — Happy  and  Pithy  Phrases — Fuller's 
Eulogy — Archaic  Forms  and  Irregular  Spelling — Tyndale's  Volumes  de 
spatched  to  England,  ......  143 


CHAPTER  X. 

Date  of  the  Arrival  of  Tyndale's  New  Testaments  in  England — Reasons  against 
date  assigned  by  Anderson  and  others — Testimony  of  Cochlseus — Activity 
of  Garret — Cottysford — Henry's  Letter  to  Luther — Seizure  of  Garret  at 
Oxford — Trial  of  Prior  Barnes — Necton's  Confession — Circulation  of  the 
New  Testament,  .......  161 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Fierce  Opposition  to  the  New  Testament  by  Men  in  authority — Position  of 
Wolsey — Tunstall's  Manifesto — Archbishop  Warham's  Mandate — Bishop 
Nikke's  Letter — Third  Edition  of  New  Testament  issued  at  Antwerp — 
Conveyed  to  England  along  with  Cargoes  of  Wheat — Secret  Circulation — 
Detection  and  Arrests — Efforts  to  check  the  Torrent  at  its  Source  in 
Antwerp — Copies  of  New  Testament  collected  and  burned — Harman 
— Racket's  Zeal  gets  him  into  Trouble — Herman  Rinck  of  Cologne — 
Treaty  of  Cambray — Tunstall  outwitted  by  Packington — George  Constan 
tino — More's  Perplexity — Bishop  Nikke's  Despair — Another  Condemnation 
of  the  New  Testament — Prohibitions  and  Burnings  of  New  Testament 
ineffectual  —  Charged  by  Tunstall  with  more  than  Two  Thousand 
Errors,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .171 


CONTEXTS. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Critical  Vituperation  of  More — Tyndale's  Answer — The  two  Men  did  not 
understand  each,  other — More's  Anomalous  Character — His  Zeal  against 
Heretics — His  Outrageous  Railing — His  Opinion  with  regard  to  Transla 
tions — His  Criticism  of  Tyndale's  English — His  Confession  of  Defeat,  187 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Tyndale's  whole  Nature  filled  with  his  Work — Rebuts  Objections  against  an 
English  Translation — Prior  Buckenham's  Reply  to  Latimer — Tyndale  joined 
by  Fryth  at  Marburg — Translates  the  Pentateuch  and  Jonah — His  Ex 
positions — Bilney's  Martyrdom — How  Tyndale  acquired  his  Knowledge  of 
Hebrew — Translated  directly  from  the  Hebrew — Token  of  his  Love  of 
Hebrew  Study — Proofs  of  his  Knowledge  of  Hebrew — Quaint  and  Homely 
Renderings  in  his  Pentateuch,  .....  200 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Tyndale  takes  up  his  Final  Abode  at  Antwerp — Fryth  wins  the  Crown  of 
Martyrdom — Tyndale's  Desire  to  improve  his  Translation  of  Xew  Testa 
ment — George  Joye's  Edition — -Tyndale's  Revised  Translation — Warns 
against  Joye's  Production — Joye's  Duplicity — His  Apology — His  Account 
of  the  Spurious  Editions-^Joye's  Change  of  the  Word  "Resurrection"  into 
"Life  after  this" — Joye  rebuts  the  Charge  of  Covetousness — His  Am 
bition  and  Spite — Xot  privy  to  the  Plan  for  apprehending  Tyndale — 
Titles  and  Prologues  of  Tyndale's  Second  Edition — His  Protestation — 
The  Revision  thorough — Collation  of  the  Two  Editions — Terms  changed 
in  course  of  Successive  Editions — Harman  released  from  Prison — Tyn 
dale  presents  Queen  Anne  with  Copy  of  his  Revised  Edition — Tyn 
dale's  Third  Edition — Collation — Edition  of  1535  marked  by  Peculiar 
Spelling,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .216 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Vaughan's  Interviews  with  Tyndale — Tyndale's  Manner  of  Life  at  Antwerp — 
Sir  T.  Elyot  undertakes  the  Task  of  seizing  Tyndale — Thomas  Poyntz — 
Philips  and  Donne  win  Tyndale's  Confidence  and  betray  him — His  Im 
prisonment  in  Castle  of  Vilvorde — Vain  Efforts  of  Poyntz  and  Tibold  to 
procure  his  Release — Tyndale's  Xew  Testament  printed  in  England — 
Crumwell  writes  twice  in  his  Favour — Touching  Letter  of  Tyndale  to 
Marquis  of  Bergen-op-Zoom — His  Trial — His  Martyrdom  and  Last  Words 
— Tyndale's  Independence  of  Wycliffe,  ....  235 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Tyndale's  New  Testaments  find  their  way  into  Scotland — Patrick  Hamilton — 
Letter  of  Ales  to  James  V. — Henry  Forrest  of  Linlithgow  condemned 
and  burned,  ........  245 


COVERDALE. 

CHAPTER    XVII. 

Comparison  of  the  Characters  of  Tyndale  and  Coverdale — Coverdale's  Birth 
and  Early  History — Patronage  of  Crunrwell — Connection  with  Barnes — 
Influence  on  Thomas  Topley — Association  with  Tyndale — In  Obscurity — 
Decision  of  Council  at  Westminster,  in  regard  to  Question  of  Authorized 
Bible — Latimer's  Letter  to  the  King — Convocation  of  1534 — Cranmer's 
Project — Bishop  Gardyner's  Part  in  the  Work — Coverdale's  Translation 
steals  as  a  Stranger  into  the  Country — Time  eventful — Title-page,  Dedica 
tion,  and  Prologue — Preface  to  the  Apocrypha — Probably  printed  by 
Froschover,  of  Zurich — All  Divinity  Lectures  shall  be  on  the  Scriptures,  251 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Change  in  Title  from  Queen  Anne  to  Queen  Jane — Coverdale  not  self-moved, 
but  urged  by  Others,  to  the  Work  of  Translation — Fronde's  Error  in 
representing  the  King  as  originating  the  Version — Coverdale  the  One 
Workman — Errors  of  Whittaker,  Blunt,  arid  Others — Coverdale's  Views 
on  Translation — His  Version  taken  from  German  and  Latin — "  Used  Five 
Sundry  Interpreters  " — Error  in  Title-page  of  "Bagster's  Second  Modern 
Edition"  of  Coverdale — Blunders  of  Whittaker — Ginsburg's  Remarks — 
Coverdale's  Old  Testament  based  chiefly  on  Zurich  Bible,  .  .  '272 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Coverdale's  Notes — Whence  Derived — Examples  in  Detail — Collation  of  some 
Verses  of  Genesis  as  found  in  Tyndale  and  Coverdale — Coverdale's  New 
Testament  Based  on  Tyndale's,  with  many  Variations — Renderings  of 
Coverdale  retained  in  Authorized  Version,  ....  286 


CHAPTER  XX. 

Quaint  and  Antique  Renderings  in  Coverdale — Obsolete  Terms — Coverdale 
always  musical — New  Editions — The  Diglott — Coverdale's  Bible  printed 
at  Zlirich,  published  in  London,  .....  298 


CONTENTS. 


THOMAS   MATTHEW'S   BIBLE. 

CHAPTER   XXI. 

This  Bible  a  Compilation — Title-page  and  Dedication — The  Compiler  John 
Hogers — Thomas  Matthews  an  Assumed  Name— Personal  History  of 
Ilogers — Quits  England  for  Antwerp — Intimacy  with  Tyiidale — Marriage — 
Origination  of  the  Volume  not  known — Grafton  and  AVhitechurch  assume 
the  burden  of  Printing — Inaccurate  Statements  in  regard  to  this  Bible  by 
Grafton  and  Others,  .  .  309 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

Matthew's  Bible  made  up  of  the  Translations  of  Tyiidale  and  Coverdale — 
Respective  Parts  of  each — Mr.  Fry's  Collation — The  First  Authorized 
Version,  ........  319 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

The  Work  of  Rogers  not  merely  Mechanical — 'Prefatory  Matter — Rogers  did 
not  attempt  a  thorough  Revision — Differences  between  Coverdale  and 
Matthew — Notes  at  the  Ends  of  the  Chapters— Anti-Papal  Notes, .  320 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Cranmer's  Connection  with  Matthew's  Bible — His  Letters  to  Crumwell — 
Royal  Proclamation — Peculiar  Decision  and  Boldness  implied  in  licensing 
Matthew's  Bible  at  such  a  time — The  Dedication — Graftou's  Fortune 
embarked  in  the  Enterprise — His  Fear  of  Rival  Editions — The  Age  of 
Hand-Bibles  not  yet  come,  ......  335 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

Revised  Edition  of  Matthew's  Bible — Richard  Taverner — Dedication —His 
Scholarship — Changes  made  by  him — Other  Editions  of  Matthew's  Bible — 
Rogers  returns  to  England — Obtains  Preferment — Re-establishment  of 
Popery  under  Mary — Rogers  a  Prisoner  in  his  own  House — Sent  to 
Newgate — Examined  before  the  Privy  Council — Condemned  along  with 
Hooper — His  Martyrdom — His  Descendants — Marbeck's  Concordance — 
Marbeck  condemned,  but  not  executed —  "Servant"  altered  into 
"  Knave,"  ........  343 


THE    GREAT    BIBLE. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Coverdale  chosen  by  Crumwell  to  revise  Matthew's  Bible — Errors  of  Hume  and 
Others  in  regard  to  Origin  of  this  Revision — Printed  at  Paris — Coverdale 
and  Grafton — Bonner's  Intercourse  with  them — The  Work  forbidden,  and 
the  Printer  cited  before  the  Inquisitor-General — Finished  in  London — 
The  Title — Holbein's  Frontispiece — Apology  for  Want  of  Notes — Cover- 
dale's  Pliancy — Crumwell's  Injunction  for  the  Circulation  of  the  Bible — 
Collation  of  Tyndale  and  Great  Bible — Latin  Version  of  Erasmus  consulted 
for  New  Testament — Miinster  and  Pagninus  for  Old  Testament — Collation 
of  Second  and  Twenty-third  Psalms — Attempts  of  Clergy  to  frustrate 
Crumwell's  Proclamation — The  Bible  welcomed  by  the  People,  .  355 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

Cranmer's  Interest  in  a  New  Edition  of  the  Bible — His  Letter  to  Crumwell — 
Royal  Patent — Fulke's  Story — Coverdale  Editor  of  the  Second  Great  Bible 
as  well  as  of  the  First — Cranmer's  Prologue — Title — William  Barlow,  372 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

Changes  in  Edition  of  1540  mainly  suggested  by  Miinster's  Latin  Version — 
Examples — Collation — Successive  Editions  of  Great  Bible — The  Authorized 
Bible — Examples  of  its  Inferiority  as  a  Translation — Period  of  Stormy 
Transition — Scenes  at  Bible  Readings — Demand  for  an  English  Bible  the 
Political  Cry  of  the  Age — Heresy  and  Treason — Crumwell's  Fall — First 
Edition  bearing  the  Names  of  Tunstall  and  Heath — Anthony  Marler — 
Royal  Proclamation  ordering  all  Churches  to  provide  themselves  with  a 
Bible  of  the  Largest  Volume — Royal  Warrant  for  Price  of  Bibles,  370 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Bonner's  Injunction  in  favour  of  Bible  Circulation — Abuses — Reaction — 
Proposed  Revision  in  the  interest  of  Ecclesiastical  Intolerance — Gardyner's 
List  of  Latin  Words  to  be  retained — Cranmer  defeats  Gardyner's  Schemes 
— Reading  of  the  Bible  to  be  placed  under  legal  restraint — Various  Abuses 
— Cruel  and  Absurd  Restrictions — Martyrdom  of  Anne  Askew — "The 
Supplication  of  the  Poor  Commons,"  ....  400 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

Enmity  of  Ecclesiastics  in  Scotland  to  English  Bible — Beaton's  List  of 
Intended  Victims — Trial  of  Thomas  Forrest,  Vicar  of  Dollar,  and  others — 
Lord  Maxwell's  Motion — Chancellor  Dunbar's  Dissent— Every  Man  free 
to  read  the  Scriptures  in  his  own  Tongue — Regent's  Proclamation — Work 
of  Murder  recommenced — George  Wishart,  .  .  41!- 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

Accession  of  Edward  VI.- — Kemoval  of  all  Restrictions  on  Bible  Heading- 
Opposition  to  English  Bible  in  various  Parts  of  the  Country — Insurrection 
in  Devonshire — Sir  John  Cheke's  Translation — Numeroiis  Editions  of  the 
Bible  in  the  Reign  of  Edward — Cranmer  and  the  Burning  of  Joan  of  Kent 
— Accession  of  Mary — Gardyner  and  Bonner — Character  of  Gardyner — 
Heath — The  Bible  even  in  Effigy  not  to  be  endured  now — Nor  any  Frag 
ment  or  Text — Bonner's  wrathful  Mandate — Numbers  who  perished  during 
Mary's  Reign — Proclamation  against  Reading  and  Importation  of  Scriptures 
— John  Rogers  the  first  to  die  under  Mary — Cranmer,  Ridley,  Hooper,  and 
Others  follow — Life  of  Coverdale  after  Publication  of  Great  Bible — Sum 
moned  before  Mary's  Council  and  made  a  Prisoner  at  large — Macalpine  and 
Coverdale— Danish  King's  Letters  in  favour  of  Coverdale — His  Release 
and  Departure  to  Denmark — Gardyner's  Death — Persecution  carried  on  by 
Bonner  and  Pole — Coverdale  returns  Home  after  Accession  of  Elizabeth — 
Public  Merits  not  rewarded — The  Living  of  St.  Magnus — His  Poverty — 
Death — Character — Unjustly  disparaged  by  Anderson — His  Epitaph,  420 


ERRATA. 

Page    77,  line  10  from  top,  for  "we  also,"  read  "we  have  also." 
193,     ,,     5        „         for  "picquant,"  read  "piquant." 
215,     ,,     3  from  bottom,  for  "  Deutoronomos,"  read  "Deuteroiiomos." 
298,     ,,     9  from  top,  for  "Judges  x,"  read  "  Judges  ix." 
380,  note  5,  for  "  nos,"  read  "  vos." 

385,  line  9  from  top,  for  "a  mothre  [putting  a  garment],"  read   "a  moth   [fretting 
garment]." 


INTRODUCTORY. 


VOL.   T. 


<dffor  it  is  not  tntwh  abone  one  hunbreth  jjearc  ago,  sens  scripture 
hath  not  bcne  accnsiomcb  to  be  rebbe  in  the  iralgar  tongc  toithin  this 
wahnc,  anb  mang  hnnowb  jieares  before  that,  it  teas  transJateb  anb  rebbf 
in  the  cSaxcnes  ionge,  tohgch  at  that  t^mt  teas  onrc  mothers  tongc, 
tohercof  there  remagneth  get  bibers  eopges,  founbe  latclg  in  olbe  Jlbbeis 
of  soch  antique  maners  xjf  turitgnge  anb  speaking  that  feiue  men  note 
ben  abk  to  reabe  anb  nnberstonbc  them. 

Cranmer's  Preface  to  Great  Bible,  1540. 


INTRODUCTORY. 


Christianity  is  first  introduced  into  a  country,  there 
is  ever,  on  the  part  of  those  who  accept  it  from  oral  teaching, 
a  strong  craving  to  possess  its  written  Kecords  in  their  own 
tongue.  According  to  several  of  the  Early  Fathers,  a  similar 
desire  had  been  felt  and  gratified  in  Britain  on  its  reception 
of  the  Gospel,1  though  Latin  was  well  understood  by  the 
educated  classes  during  the  period  of  Roman  supremacy,  and 
was  also  the  language  of  the  earliest  Western  translation  of  the 
Bible.  But  while  copies  of  the  Scriptures,  as  Gildas  records, 
were  burned  in  the  streets  of  British  towns  during  the  perse 
cution  under  Diocletian,  no  fragments  of  any  old  version  in 
the  Keltic  dialects  of  England  or  Scotland  have  been  preserved.2 
After  the  legions  were  called  away,  bands  of  fierce  warriors, 
— Jutes,  Saxons,  and  Angles, — from  the  shores  of  the  Eider,  the 
Elbe,  the  Weser,  and  the  Baltic,  crossing  the  sea  at  various 
times,  invaded  and  occupied  the  country,  dispossessed  the 
natives,  and  swept  away  civilization  and  Christianity.  This 
barbarian  dominion  had  lasted  several  dark  and  dismal  years, 
when  the  mission  of  Augustine  led  to  the  conversion  of  Ethelbert, 
king  and  Bretwalda,  in  A.D.  597.  The  result  was  that  the 
public  services  of  religion  were  gradually  organized  among  the 
pagan3  settlers;  the  Keltic  tribes  which  had  been  driven  into 

1  Chrysostomi     Opera,    vol.     Ill,  3  The  poem   of   Beowulf  had  its 
p.  86.     Ed.  Benedict.  Parisiis,  1837.  origin    among   the    pagan    Saxons. 

2  Opera,    English   Trans.,    Giles,  Edited  by  Kemble,  London,  1837. 
p.  10.     London,  1844. 


4  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [INT. 

"Wales,  Ireland,  and  the  Hebrides,  having  preserved  no  little  of 
their  earlier  ecclesiastical  institutions.1 

While  the  Catholic  Church  had  its  grand  and  impressive 
service,  it  was  early  and  often  felt  desirable  to  attempt  a  trans 
lation  of  the  Latin  Bible  into  the  speech  of  common  life. 
Such  a  translation  might  be  sometimes  a  solitary  experiment, 
or  it  might  proceed  from  a  generous  wish  to  bring  those  who 
did  not  understand  Latin  face  to  face  with  the  divine  truth 
vailed  in  it.  The  Psalms,  the  Ten  Commandments,  and  the 
Lord's  Prayer  were  in  this  way,  and  from  time  to  time,  ren 
dered  into  the  mother  tongue,  and  those  fragments  appear  to 
have  been  cherished  as  monastic  treasures,  or  carefully  kept  as 
literary  curiosities.  Theodore  of  Tarsus,  seventh  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  on  his  first  visitation,  enjoined  parents  to  see 
that  "  their  children  were  taught  to  say  the  Creed  and 
the  Lord's  Prayer  in  the  vulgar  tongue." 2  In  the  same  spirit 
Bede  writes  to  Egbert  who  had  been  recently  raised  to  the 
primacy  of  York,  exhorting  him  to  cause  the  Lord's  Prayer 
and  the  Creed  to  be  turned  into  Anglo-Saxon  for  the  use  of 
the  priesthood,  as  well  as  of  the  laity,3  and  he  appeals  to  his 
own  example,  for  he  had  prepared  such  a  translation  for  native 
teachers,  ignorant  of  Latin.  Aidan,  the  meek  and  pious 
Scottish  Bishop  of  Lindisfarne  (A.D.  635),  who,  according  to 
Bede,  "  had  a  zeal  of  God  "  not  quite  according  to  knowledge, 
since  he  kept  Easter  according  to  the  custom  of  his  own 
country,  employed  all  his  associates,  whether  monks  or  laymen, 
in  reading  the  Scriptures  or  in  learning  psalms.4  The  state- 

1  So  few  Keltic  words  have  beeii  wedding    form    was    no    doubt    in 
preserved,  that  they  give  no  appro-  Anglo-Saxon,  and  its  hearty  sound 
ciable  colouring  to  our  language,  ex-  and   simple   sterling  substance   are 
cept  in  names  of  localities,  of  which  preserved  in  the  English  ritual  to 
a     considerable     number     survive,  the    present    day."       Lappenberg's 
Morley's    English    Writers,    vol.   I,  History    of     England     under     the 
Pt.  I,  p.  163.  Anglo-Saxons,      vol.     I,      p.      202. 

2  Hook's  Archbishops   of  Canter-  Thorpe's     Trans.,      London,     1845 
bury,  Vol.  I,  p.  150.    London,  1860.  Palgrave's  England  and  Normandy, 

3  Opera,     vol.     I,    p.     14.        Ed.  vol.  II,  p.  cxxxvi. 

Giles.     "  Even  the  mass  itself  was         4  Bede,    Works,    vol.  II,    p.   276. 
not  entirely  read  in  Latin.       The     Ed.  Giles,  London,  1843. 


INT.]  ANGLO-SAXON  OR  EARLIEST  ENGLISH.  5 

ment  seems  to  imply  the  existence  and  use  of  oral  or  written 
Northumbrian  versions.  Ussher  records  of  Edfrid,  of  Lindis- 
farne  (A.D.  710),  that  he  translated  most  of  the  books  of 
Scripture  into  Anglo-Saxon ; *  but  the  tradition  lacks  proof. 
Aldhelm,  of  Sherborne,  in  his  treatise  De  Laudibus  Virgini- 
tatis,  praises  some  nuns  for  their  earnest  and  continuous 
study  of  the  Scriptures  ;  and  his  eulogy  seems  to  suggest  that 
the  sacred  sisters  possessed  some  portions  of  the  Bible  in  their 
Anglo-Saxon  or  birth  tongue.2  The  reading  of  Scripture  was 
in  those  earlier  times  regarded  as  harmless,  at  least  it  was  not 
frowned  upon  as  perilous,  for  there  was  no  popular  restlessness 
under  the  established  faith.  Most  of  the  older  fragmentary 
Bibles  have  perished  in  the  lapse  of  centuries,  and  in  the 
destruction  of  the  religious  houses,  when  valuable  libraries 
were  dispersed  as  waste  paper,  or  sold  as  fuel.  The  use  of 
books,  it  is  evident,  must  have  been  confined  very  much  to 
the  clergy,  and  the  possession  of  them  to  the  more  wealthy 
and  cultured  of  the  laity.  These  early  versions  had  no  imme 
diate  bearing  on  the  later  English  translations  of  the  Bible,  and 
therefore  a  history  of  them  in  merest  outline  only  is  sketched 
in  the  following  pages ;  but  as  some  readers  may  be  interested 
in  a  brief  account  of  the  changes  which  at  sundry  times  have 
passed  over  the  old  Saxon  tongue,  moulding  in  various  ways 
the  language  of  Qedmon  and  Alfred  into  that  of  Wycliffe  and 
Tyndale,  a  very  few  remarks  on  these  successive  alterations 
have  been  given — all  tending  to  prove  that  the  first  so-called 
Anglo-Saxon  translation  was  as  truly  an  English  Bible  as  is 
the  present  Authorized  Version  of  1611. 3 

Now,  the  common  and  convenient  epithet  Anglo-Saxon,  as 
applied  to  these  native  translations,  though  it  may  be  rather 
apt  to  mislead,  easily  explains  itself:  its  first  part  indicating 
those  invaders  who  took  possession  of  the  country,  and  called 
it,  after  themselves,  Engla-land,  England  ;  and  the  second  part 

1  Usslier,  Works,  vol.  XII,  p.  3  Research  among  Anglo-Saxon 

282.  Ed.  Elrington,  Dublin,  1847-  MSS.  on  the  part  of  patient  and 

64.  skilled  collators  is  yet  greatly  needed 

a  Opera,  p.  2.  Ed.  Giles,  Oxon.  to  give  us  their  history,  and  a  critical 

1 844.  estimate  of  their  age  and  value. 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 


[INT. 


yet  surviving  in  the  names  of  separate  provinces  or  kingdoms 
as  Essex,  Wessex,  and  Sussex.  While  there  was  only  one 
settlement  of  Jutes,  there  were  three  settlements  of  Saxons,  and 
four  of  Angles ;  and  the  Angles  and  the  Saxons,  from  proximity 
of  territory,  were  soon  regarded  as  one  people.  Though  the 
compound  name  is  found  in  some  old  charters,  the  people  called 
themselves  and  their  tongue  English.1  This  Anglo-Saxon- 
tongue  was  therefore  our  English  tongue  in  its  earlier  and 
rougher  form  ;  and  what  Alfred  called  English3  has  continued 
to  be  spoken  in  our  land  by  successive  generations  for  fourteen 
hundred  years,  and  still  lives  in  the  power,  character,  and 
beauty  of  our  modern  language — gifts  which  have  come  to  us 
by  natural  inheritance.  Perhaps  not  much  more  than  a  fifth 
of  its  original  vocabulary  has  fallen  out  of  use,  and  though 
many  changes  have  passed  over  it  since  the  Norman  conquest, 
it  is  yet  read  and  relished  in  our  present  Bibles.  In  many 
sections  of  Scripture  only  about  one  word  in  forty  is  not  Anglo- 
Saxon.  Thus  in  Gen.  xlii,  21-29,  there  are,  with  the  exception 


1  Turner,  History  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxons,     vol.    I,    p.     298,       Bede 
speaks  of  five  languages  as  spoken  in 
the  island  ;  but  two,  if  not  three,  of 
those  referred  to  are  merely  dialects. 

2  The  term,  according  to  Lappen- 
berg,  occurs  first  in  Paul  Waruefrid 
(cap.    vi,    p.  15) — "  Ceodaldus    rex 
Auglorum-Saxouum/'     See  History 
of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  vol.  I,  p.  97, 
&c.,  Thorpe's  Translation,  and  Free 
man's  Norman  Conquest,   vol.  I,  p. 
529.  London.      Ine,   who   began  to 
reign  A.D.  700,  at  the  beginning  of  his 
laws    is    called   King   of  the   West 
Saxons,   but  in  the  Code  itself  his 
subjects  are  named  Englisc,  English, 
as  opposed  to  Wealhas  or  Welshmen, 
this  term  meaning  foreigners  or  the 
ancient  British.     Saxon  and  Norman 
are  not  opposed  as  national  epithets, 
and  even  at  the  period  of  the  Conquest 
the  terms  are  French  and  English, 


and  sometimes  Normans  and  Eng 
lish.  Angli  was  the  common  Latin 
name,  though  the  people  did  not  call 
themselves  Angles,  or  their  tongue 
Anglian,  and  even  the  Latin  name 
is  "  English  "  in  slight  disguise.  An- 
glorum  is  the  epithet  used  in  the 
title  of  Bede's  History,  in  the  desig 
nation  of  the  first  Christiau  king,  on 
the  great  seals  of  the  Confessor  and 
the  Conqueror,  while  on  the  Bayeux 
tapestry  Harold  is  called  Dux 
Angiorum. 

3  In  the  preface  to  his  translation 
of  Gregory's  Pastoralis  Eegula,  he 
uses  several  times  the  term  Euglisc 
to  denote  his  own  language,  and  says 
that  the  name  of  Gregory's  book  is 
in  Latin  Pastoralis,  and  in  English 
en  Englisc  hirde-boc,  herdmau's  book. 
Alfred's  Welsh  biographer  Asser 
calls  it  Saxon,  as  do  still  the  Kelts 
both  in  England  and  Scotland. 


INT.]  THE  SAXON  ELEMENT.  7 

of  the  proper  names,  only  seven  words  which  are  not  native  ; 
in  the  Parable  of  the  Sower,  Matt,  xiii,  3-9,  there  are,  out  of  10G 
words  employed,  only  three  foreign  ones ;  in  John  i,  1-10,  only 
one  Latin  verb  occurs ;  and  in  John  xi,  27-46,  there  are  not 
more  than  four  or  five  non-English  terms,  with  the  same  excep 
tion  of  proper  names. 

Some  grammatical  peculiarities  of  this  Old  English  may  be 
briefly  noted,  and  many  of  them  yet  survive  with  more  or  less 
distinctness,  as  the  names  of  objects  of  sense,  of  domestic  rela 
tions,  and  of  things  of  common  life.  If  English  word-books 
proper  contain  38,000  words,  then  about  five-eighths  are  Saxon, 
and  the  same  average  is  true  of  the  10,000  terms  in  continual 
literary  use.  But  in  the  5,000  words  of  common  living  speech 
the  small  connective  words  which  occur  so  frequently  are  Saxon, 
and  the  proportion  is  therefore  greatly  more  than  is  to  be  found 
in  dead  dictionaries.1 

This  ancestral  tongue  had  two  forms  for  the  two  sounds 
of  th.2  It  spelled  its  relative  with  an  initial  and  vocal  h. 
Its  monosyllabic  particles  are  immortal— such  as  its  articles, 
pronouns,  auxiliary  verbs,  prepositions,  and  conjunctions.  It 
had  its  seed  within  itself,  and  by  simple  inner  changes,  some 
times  not  unlike  those  of  the  Semitic  dialects,  it  expressed  new 
and  varying  shades  of  meaning,  as  may  be  still  seen  in  our 
so-called  defective  and  irregular  verbs.3  Its  noun  had  its 


1  Thommerel,   Recherches   sur   la  like  may  be  said  of  words  into  the 

fusion    du   Franco-Normand   et  de  composition  of  which  enter  re-,  com-, 

1'Anglosaxon.     Paris,  1841.     Thorn-  con-,  inter-,  sub-,  ex-,  &c.     The  old 

merel    found   in    Richardson's   and  tongue  has  lost  its  power  of  expansion 

Webster's       English       Dictionaries  and  self-development,  and  the  new 

42,684  words,  only  13,334  of  them  words  assumed  into  it  are  nearly  all 

being  of  native  origin,  and  29,354  of  classic  birth.      In  Milton's  stock 

from  a  foreign  source.     But  English  of  8;000  words  there  are,  as  might 

dictionaries  now  contain  an  immense  be    expected,    more    than   5,000    of 

variety  of  technical  terms,  relating  foreign  origin,  but  in  an  actual  and 

to  trade,  science,  and  art.     In  such  ordinary  page  of  his  poetry  there  are 

collections,    too,    compound     terms  80  per  cent,  of  Saxon  words, 

swell  the  list.     Words  compounded  2  As  "  thin  "  and  "  thine." 

with  the  non-English  particle  "dis-"  3  As  in  float,  fleet;  stud,  steed;  sop, 

amount  in  Webster  to  1,334,  and  the  sup;  sing,  song;  wake,  woke. 


^  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [INT. 

regular  case-endings,  which  differed  according  to  the  gender  of 
the  word,  and  as  the  nominative  ended  in  a  vowel  or  a  con 
sonant  ;l  and  plurals  were  formed  by  the  addition  of  -as,  -is,  -s, 
-n,  -er,  or  by  an  internal  vowel  change.2  Nouns  often  ended  in 
syllables  now  represented  by  -hood,  -head,  -ship,  -dom;  diminu 
tives  in  -ing,  -kin  -ock,  -let ;  and  gender  was  often  marked  by  a 
different  termination,  as  the  feminine  ending  -ster  or  -in.3  Verbs 
were  usually  conjugated  by  strong  preterites,  which  have  an 
expressive  force  not  found  in  the  more  recent  and  effeminate 
suffix  of  -ed ;  and  they  had  both  a  common  and  a  gerundial 
infinitive.4  The  third  person  singular  indicative  and  the 
plural  indicative  also  ended  in  -th,  &c.5  Numerous  adverbs 
were  formed  from  adjectives  by  the  addition  of  "lie  (-ly),"  some 
were  taken  from  verbs  and  nouns,  and  many  are  original 
monosyllables.  Adjectives  often  ended  in -ful, -less, -er.  Many 
nouns  were  also  used  as  adjectives,  often  with  the  addition  of 
a  syllable  ;  and  many  verbs  are  also  nouns,  sometimes  unaltered, 
and  sometimes  with  the  added  syllable  -an,  or  -ian.  The  Anglo- 
Saxon  verb  had  no  future  form,  and  we  now  use  the  auxiliaries 
"  shall "  and  "  will " — "  shall "  being  originally  an  expression  of 
duty,  and  "  will  "  of  desire  or  purpose.  In  this  way  an  Anglo- 
Saxon  sentence  was  as  firmly  knitted  together  by  the  gender 
and  cases  of  nouns  and  adjectives,  and  by  the  tenses  and  moods 
of  verbs,  as  one  in  modern  German.  Compound  words  G  are 

1  The  genitive   in  -s  is   still  pre-  the  phrases,  "  apt  to  teach,"  "  I  need 

served   in  the  's  "of    our  possessive  money  for  to  go." 

case,  and    in  such  words  as  twice,  5  Another  verbal  plural  in  -en  is 

thrice,  whose,  towards ;  that  in  -an  often  found   in  Shakespeare,    espe- 

r  -n  in  mine,  thine;  and  the  dative  cially  in  the  folio.    Of  this  old  form, 

plural  in  -om  lives  in  seldom,  whom,  which  had  begun  to  disappear  after 

tfcc.  the  time   of  "Wycliffe,  Ben  Jonson 

-  One  form  is  found  in  the  common  says,   "  I    am   persuaded   that    the 

English  plural,  and    the   others  in  lack  thereof  will  be  found  a  great 

such  words   as   oxen,    hosen,    kine,  blemish  to  our  tongue." 

child-er-eu,  geese,  feet.  6  Some  of  these  are  very  signifi- 

3  Darling,   lambkin,  hillock,  ham-  cant — Rhetoric  being  flyt-crceft,  the 
let,  spinster,  foster  (foodster),  vixen,  art    of    flytiug  ;     Grammar,    sta}f- 
carlin.  crreft,   the,   art   of    letters  ;    Music, 

4  Ending  in  -enue  or  -anne,  being  son-craft,  the  art  of  sound  ;  Arith- 
a  dative  with  "  to  "  prefixed,  as   in  metic,  rim-craft,  the  art  of  numbers, 


INT.]  C^EDMON.  9 

numerous,  expressive,  and  self-evident  in  meaning,  and  usually 
they  are  not  hybrids.  More  especially  in  the  Anglo-Saxon 
Gospels,  we  have  Godspel,  good  news,  the  gospel ;  reste-dreg, 
day  of  rest,  or  Sabbath ;  domes-dseg,  domesday ;  big-spel, 
parable ;  tungel-witegan,  star  knowers,  the  magi ;  stoop-cild, 
step-child,  or  orphan  (John  xiv,  18)  ;  sunder-halgan,  separate 
holy,  the  Pharisees ;  bocere,  bookman,  or  scribe ;  leorning- 
cnicht,  a  disciple ;  wseter-seocman,  one  having  dropsy;  hun- 
dredes  ealdor-man,  a  centurion ;  geriht-wisian,  to  justify ; 
manfulle  and  synfulle,  publicans  and  sinners.  As  was  to  be 
expected,  Latin  terms  found  their  way  from  the  Vulgate  into 
the  Anglo-Saxon  New  Testament,  as  sacerd,  biscop,  calic, 
martyr,  &c. 

FIRST  PERIOD. 

The  earliest  specimen  of  an  effort  to  unseal  the  sacred  volume 
is  not  a  translation,  but  a  paraphrastic  poem,  and  it  shows  at 
least  a  willingness  to  present  to  the  unlearned  the  truths  and 
facts  of  Scripture.  The  poet  did  not  feel  that  the  sacred 
narrative  suffered  any  degradation  from  being  told  in  the 
familiar  syllables  of  the  hearth  and  the  field.  Towards  the 
close  of  the  seventh  century,  and  in  the  time  of  St.  Hilda, 
Caedmon,1  originally  a  cow-herd,  and  afterwards  a  monk  of 
Streaneshalch,2  composed  a  metrical  history  of  the  Creation  and 
the  Exodus,  the  incarnation,  death,  resurrection,  and  ascension 
of  the  Saviour,  the  gift  of  the  Spirit,  and  the  solemn  realities 

folk-land  being  public  land,  and  as,  -citizen,  -prisoners,  -servant, 
boc-land,  land  in  private  possession,  -soldier  ;  and  words  compounded 
Agen-bite  is  remorse,  as  "  Agen-  with  sheep — sheep-master,  sheep- 
bite  of  Inwit,"  remorse  of  conscience,  cote,  &c. 

the    name    of    Dan    Michel's    well  l  Edited     by     Junius      (Francis 

known   poem    in    the    southern   or  Duyou),  1655 ;  Thorpe,  1832;  Grein, 

Kentish  dialect.    Hunger-bitten  sur-  Gottingeu,   1857  ;   and  Bouterwek, 

vives  in  the  Authorized  Version  (Job  Elberfeld,  1849. 

xviii,  12),  as  also  do  hand-breadth,  2  Now  known  by  its  Danish  name 

hand-weapon,  hand- writing,  handy-  of  Whitby.    If  not  a  cowherd,  he  had 

work,  a  form  found  in  Milton's  "  star  occasional  charge  of  jumenta  during 

ypointing     pyramid " ;     child-bear-  night, 
ing;  words  compounded  with  fellow, 


10  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [INT. 

of  Eternity.  Sonic  sentences  are  rendered  with  considerable 
accuracy,  and  the  poem  shows  the  force  and  style  of  the  current 
tongue  of  the  period — a  tongue  somewhat  rude  but  robust, 
like  a  wall  built  of  rugged,  unhewn  stones,  fresh  from  the 
quarry.  As  Csedmon  could  not  himself  translate,  he  only 
versified,  with  occasional  felicity  and  glow,  what  others  inter 
preted  for  him.  Bcde1  speaks  of  his  songs  as  composed  with 
much  sweetness  and  humility,  and  affirms  that  he  was  divinely 
helped,  so  that,  having  received  the  gift  of  poetry  in  a  dream, 
he  could  never  afterwards  tune  his  cithard  to  any  secular 
mirth.2  The  brethren  taught  him  sacred  history  which,  after 
meditation,  he  put  into  verses  sometimes  of  Miltonic  gran 
deur,  and  in  turn  made  his  teachers  his  hearers.  Though 
Csedmon's  poems  are  loose  in  their  structure  as  being  the 
rhythmic  paraphrase  of  an  oral  version,  and  though  they, 
in  the  course  of  transmission,  have  been  altered  and  injured 
both  in  alliteration  and  sense,  they  are  to  be  commended  in 
their  purpose,  for  they  sprang  from  an  earnest  desire  to  impart 
sacred  knowledge  in  a  popular  and  memorable  form. 

About  the  same  time  a  version  of  the  Psalms  is  supposed 
to  have  been  made  by  Guthlac,3  the  earliest  Saxon  anchoret  at 
Croyland.  This  version,  or  a  similar  one,  is  preserved  between 
the  lines  of  a  very  old  Roman  psalter,  the  MS.  itself  appar- 
ently  written  in  Italy,  and  being  as  some  suppose  one  of  the 
books  which  Gregory  sent  to  Augustine,  Archbishop  of  Can 
terbury.  This  opinion  is  so  far  confirmed  by  the  fact  that 
while  the  Gallican  psalter  was  used  in  the  other  parts  of  the 
island,  the  Roman  psalter  was  read  and  sung  in  the  Primate's 
own  Cathedral.4  Aldhelm,  allied  to  the  royal  blood,  born  in 

1  Bede    wrote  about    sixty    years  still  preserved  among  the  Cottoniau 
after  Coedmon's  death.     See  Bouter-  MSS.,  and  was  edited,  in  1843,  for 
wek,    De    Cedmone     poeta    Anglo-  the  Surtees  Society  by  J.  Stevenson, 
Saxonum,  &c.     Elberfeld,  1845.  "Anglo-Saxon    and    early   English 

2  Quasi  mundum    animal    runiin-  Psalter;"  the  volume  also  contains  an 
ando      Bedaj     opera,     vol.     Ill,   p.  early  Northumbrian  version.       An 
116.     Ed.  Giles,  London,  1843.  Anglo-Saxon  version  of  the  life  of 

3  Died  A.D.  714.  Guthlac  was  edited  from  a  MS.  in 
4Baber,    preface    to    "VVycliffe,    p.     the  Cottonian  collection,  by  E.  II. 

Iviii.      This   venerable   document   is     Goodwin,  London,  1848. 


INT.]  BEDE.  11 

Wessex,  and  one  of  the  earliest  erudite  clergy,  first  abbot  of 
Malmsbury,  and  then  Bishop  of  Sherborne,  produced  another 
Anglo-Saxon  version  of  the  Psalms  about  the  year  TOG.  This 
version  has  been  identified  with  one  found  in  the  Royal 
Library  at  Paris  at  the  beginning  of  this  century.  The  first 
fifty  psalms  are  in  prose,  and  the  rest  in  verse;  but  the  whole 
translation,  however,  can  scarcely  be  Aldhelm's.1  Aldhelm  had 
studied  under  the  Abbot  Adrian  who  had  come  over  to 
England  with  Archbishop  Theodore.  Though  he  wrote  so  much 
in  Latin,  he  was  fond  of  his  native  tongue;  and  we  are  told  on 
the  authority  of  King  Alfred,  that  when  he  was  at  Malmsbury, 
he  composed  songs  in  it,  and  sang  them  as  a  minstrel  on  a 
bridge  frequented  by  the  people,  that  they  might,  while  they 
enjoyed  his  ballads,  be  inclined  to  listen  as  he  introduced 
spiritual  themes. 

About  a  quarter  of  a  century  after  this  period  the  venerable 
Bede  of  Jarrow  was  engaged  in  the  work  of  translation.  The 
region  in  which  this  monastery  was  situated  is  now  planted 
with  a  forest  of  furnaces,  throwing  out  fire  and  smoke,  and 
soiled  with  unsightly  mounds  of  cinders  and  igneous  refuse, 
while  the  din  of  heavy  hammers  is  ever  resounding,  as  great 
iron  vessels  are  built  in  succession,  by  swart  and  busy  myriads. 
But  in  Bede's  time  it  was  quiet,  lone,  and  thinly  peopled,  and 
the  Tyne  ran  through  miles  of  solitary  and  monotonous  moor 
land,  with  occasional  patches  of  trees  on  its  banks.  Amidst 
his  numerous  literary  toils — his  History,  Commentaries,  and 
Controversial  Tracts — Bede  found  time  for  rendering  portions 
of  the  Scriptures  into  his  mother  tongue,  and  he  had  great 
delight  in  the  occupation.  While  he  appears  to  have  had  only 
some  slight  acquaintance  with  Hebrew,2  he  knew  Greek,  and 

1  Edited  by  Thorpe,  Liber  Psalm-  siastical   History,   in  A.D.   731.     Ill 
orum,    versio  autiqua    Latina,  cum  his  Tract  De  Arte  Metrica  he  shows 
paraphrasi       Anglo-Saxonica,      &c.  acquaintance  with  a  metrical  peculi- 
Oxon.    1S35.  arity  of  Homer,  saying  that  it  is  to 

2  The  Tract,  "  De  Interpretatione  be  used  sparingly,  that  in  Virgil  it 
Nominum  Hebraicorum,"  is  not  in-  occurs  non   rarissimum,    apud   Ho- 
cluded  in  his  own  list  of  his  thirty-  merum  nou  frequentissimum.  Opera, 
eight  works  appended  to  his  Eccle-  vol.  VI,  p.  6.     Ed.  Giles. 


12  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [INT. 

he  had  in  his  possession  a  Greek  Codex  of  the  Acts,  to  the 
readings  of  which  he  frequently  refers  in  his  Review1  of  his 
Commentary  on  that  book.  According  to  some  of  his  biogra 
phers,  Bede  translated  the  whole  Scripture;  but  the  assertion 
is  devoid  of  authority.  There  is,  however,  no  doubt  that  he 
translated  the  Gospel  of  John,  and  that  as  the  concluding 
verses  were  rendered  by  him  he  expired.  The  fourth  Gospel 
in  its  pathos  and  subjectivity,  its  rich  theology  and  profound 
spiritual  experience,  must  have  had  a  special  charm  for  the 
holy  and  susceptible  soul  of  Bede.  His  last  task  had  been  an 
English  version  of  some  extracts  from  Isidore,  but  the  transla 
tion  of  the  Gospel  of  John  filled  all  his  closing  moments.  It 
had  been  his  study  and  delight,  his  spirit  was  in  loving  fellow 
ship  with  Him  whom  it  enshrines,  and  as  he  finished  its  trans 
lation  he  pillowed  his  dying  head  on  the  Lord's  bosom  and  fell 
asleep.2  The  translator  was  revered  in  long  subsequent  times; 
and  Purvey,  the  reviser  of  Wycliffe's  version,  looks  back  to  him 
as  a  bright  example  and  leader.3 

During  the  next  century  the  great  and  good  King  Alfred,  as 
he  surveyed  and  lamented  the  ravages  of  the  Danish  invasion, 
says,  in  the  preface  to  his  translation  of  the  Pastoral  of  Pope 
Gregory,  "  I  thought  how  I  saw,  before  it  was  all  spoiled 
and  burned,  how  the  churches  were  filled  with  treasures  of 
books,  and  also  with  a  great  multitude  of  God's  servants ;  yet 
they  reaped  very  little  fruit  of  these  books,  because  they  could 

1  Liber    Iletractationis     iu    Acta  Archbishop  Theodore.     It  was  pub- 

Apostolorum.      Opera,   vol.  XII,  p.  lished  by  Hearne  in  1715,  ami  more 

!)6.     Ed.  Giles.     Mill  in  his  Prolego-  recently  by  Tischendorf,  Monumeuta 

mena  to  his  New  Testament,  p.  99,  Sacra  Inedita,  vol.  IX,  Appendix. 
§  1022-26,  collects  some  of  the  install-         -  Died    27th   May,    735    A.D.,    at 

ces  of  agreement,  and  his  conclusion  the  age  of  fifty-nine.     The  story  of 

is  that  Bede's  MS.   was   either  the  his  end  is  told  in  a  vivid  letter  of  his 

Laudian  Codex,  aut  ej-us  plane  gemcl-  pupil  Cuthbert  to  his  fellow-scholar 

lum.     AVoide,  in  his  Notitia  Codicis  Cutluvin. 

Alexaudrim,  p.  156,  &c.,  has  adduced        ;i "  Bede  translated  the  Bible,  and 

above  thirty  additional  examples  in  expounded  much  in  Saxon,  that  was 

proof.    This  Latin-Greek  codex,  now  English  or  common  language  of  this 

in  the  Bodleian   Library,  was  pro-  land  at  his  time."— Preface, 
bably  brought  into  the  country  by 


INT.]  KING  ALFRED.  1$ 

understand  nothing  of  them,  as  they  were  not  written  in  their 
own  native  tongue.  Few  persons  south  of  the  Humber  could 
understand  the  service  in  English,  or  translate  Latin  into 
English.  I  think  there  were  not  many  beyond  the  Humber,  .  .  . 
and  none  to  the  south  of  the  Thames,  when  I  began  to  reign." 
Religious  life  had  nearly  died  out ;  but  it  revived  under  him, 
and  his  patriotic  valour  kept  his  kingdom  from  relapsing  into 
Pagan  darkness  and  savagism  through  the  inroads  of  the 
Danes,  who  were  characteristically  called  the  "  heathen  men," 
— as  wild  followers  of  Odin,  as  Hengist  and  Horsa,  and  the 
early  Saxon  invaders.  Alfred  intimates  also  that  he  some 
times  rendered  word  for  word,  and  sometimes  meaning  for 
meaning.1  To  create  a  native  literature,  and  infuse  a  taste  for 
it,  he  translated  many  treatises  as  the  histories  of  Orosius 
and  Bede,  Boethius  de  Consolatione,  and  some  of  Augustine's 
Soliloquies ;  and  crowned  his  labours  by  prefixing  to  his 
body  of  laws  a  translation  of  the  Decalogue  called  "Alfred's 
Dooms,"  with  portions  of  the  three  following  chapters  of 
Exodus,  abridged  and  so  altered  that  the  fourth  command 
ment  reads,  "  for  in  six  days  Christ  wrought  the  heavens  and 
the  earth."  The  extent  of  his  Biblical  labours  has  been 
greatly  exaggerated  ;  and  Spelman,  on  the  authority  of  Arch 
bishop  Parker,  asserts  that  Alfred  translated  the  New  Testa 
ment,  and  some  portion  of  the  Old.  At  the  time  of  his  death 
(A.D.  901)  he  was  engaged  on  a  version  of  the  Psalms  ;  but  the 
work  was  left  incomplete.  There  lives,  however,  his  patriotic 
wish  that  all  the  free-born  youth  of  his  kingdom  should 
employ  themselves  on  nothing  till  they  were  able  to  read  well 
the  English  Scriptures.  Such  is  at  least  the  familiar  form  of 
quotation ;  but  the  last  words,  '•  Englisc  ge-writ  anedan,"  most 
probably  mean  simply,  to  read  English  writing,  as  indeed  the 
context  so  plainly  implies.2 

Besides  fragmentary  versions  of  Scripture,  glosses  were  also 

1  "Hwilum  word  be  worde,  hwilum  "Obedience  of  a  Christian  Man," 

andgit  of  andgite." — Preface  to  his  says  vaguely  that  "  King  Athelstane, 

translation  of  the  "  Pastoral,"  from  exhorted  by  the  bishops,  caused  the 

the  copy  sent  to  Bishop  Wulfsige.  Holy  Scripture  to  be  translated  iuto- 

'Tyndale,  in    the  preface  to   the  English."    Foxe   repeats   the  state- 


1 4  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [INT. 

in  common  use,  the  Latin  text  being  accompanied  by  an  in 
terlinear  vernacular  translation.1  One  of  these  Evangelisteria, 
beautifully  written,  exists  among  the  Cotton  MSS.  of  the 
British  Museum  (Nero,  D,  iv) — sometimes  called  the  Durham 
Book,  as  it  belonged  to  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Durham  ;  and 
sometimes  the  Cuthbert  Gospels,  as  the  MS.  is  supposed  to 
have  been  used  by  St.  Cuthbert.  It  was  adorned  with  gold, 
pictures,  and  precious  jewels  by  Bishop  Ethelwald  and  Bell- 
frith  the  anchoret,  and  it  had  quite  a  romantic  history.  The 
Latin  of  these  four  Gospels  was  written  by  Eadfrith,  Bishop  of 
Lindisfarne,  about  A.D.  G80,  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  gloss  was 
added  by  Aldred,  a  priest  of  Holy  Isle,  between  the  years  946 
and  968,  who  calls  himself  "  indignissimus  et  miserrimus."  In 
the  Bodleian  Library  there  is  another  similar  MS.,  of  probably 
the  same  period — the  Rushworth  Gloss  or  Gospels,  so  named 
after  its  donor,  the  well  known  author  of  the  voluminous 
"  Historical  Collections,"  relating  to  the  period  of  the  Common 
wealth.2  The  book  was  written  by  an  Irish  scribe,  MacRegol, 
and  the  interlinear  version  was  inserted  in  the  ninth  or  tenth 
century,  the  authors  of  it  presenting  their  claim  on  those  who 

ment ;  but  there  is  nothing  to  justi-  1865 — the  three   last  edited   by  G. 

fy  it.  Waring.      Four    Saxon   translations 

1  Glossing  was  a  very  common  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  Matthew  were 
practice  at  that  period.  The  pro-  printed  side  by  side  in  one  volume, 
cess  was  applied,  not  only  to  the  begun  by  Mr.  Kemble  and,  after 
Scriptures,  but  to  other  books,  as  his  death,  finished  by  Mr.  Hard- 
Prosper,  Prudentius,  Sedulius,  Dun-  wicke,  Cambridge,  1858.  One  text 
stan's  "Rule  for  English  Monks,  &c.  is  from  a  MS.  in  Corpus  Christi 
The  gloss  was  neither  a  free  nor  College,  the  second  text  is  from  the 
yet  a  literal  translation,  but  the  Hatton  MS.  in  the  Bodleian,  the 
interlinear  insertion  of  the  verua-  third  is  the  interlinear  Lindisfarne 
cular,  word  against  word  of  the  gloss,  and  the  fourth  is  the  Kush- 
original,  so  that  the  order  of  the  worth  version  without  its  Latin 
former  was  really  irrespective  of  text.  The  Gospel  of  St.  Mark  was 
idiom  and  usage.  published  by  the  Eev.  Walter  Skeat, 

"The   Gospels    have    been    pub-  M.A.,   Cambridge,    J871,    with    an 

lished  by  the  Surtees  Society — St.  introduction   of  great  interest   and 

Matthew,  in  1854,  under  the  care  of  utility.      Various  readings  are  also 

J.  Stevenson  ;  St.    Mark,  in  1861 ;  given. 
St.  Luke,  in  1863;  and  St.  John,  in 


INT.]  ANGLO-SAXON  GLOSSES.  15 

use  it,  to  be  remembered  by  them  in  prayer.  "  Farmen  pres 
byter  thas  boc  thus  gleosede  " — this  book  thus  glossed ;  and  the 
book  ends  with  a  prayer,  "  he  that  of  mine  profiteth,  pray  he 
for  Owun  that  this  book  glossed,  and  Farmen,  the  priest  at 
Harewood,  who  has  now  written  the  book."  MacRegol  also 
adds  a  prayer  for  himself.  The  Rushworth  St.  Matthew, 
which  is  not  in  the  proper  Northumbrian  dialect,  is  rather 
an  independent  translation  than  a  copied  gloss ;  but  the  other 
three  Gospels,  with  short  exceptions,  are  transcripts  of  the 
Durham  Book.  Glosses  of  a  similar  nature  were  made  on 
the  Psalter :  one  of  them,  probably  of  the  ninth  century,  was 
published  by  the  younger  Spelman  in  1640.  There  are  in 
existence  other  manuscript  glosses,  and  their  number  shows 
that  this  form  of  presenting  vernacular  Scripture  must  have 
been  a  favourite  labour  of  Biblical  scribes  and  scholars ;  but 
such  bilingual  versions  could  not  from  their  nature  have  had  a 
very  wide  circulation.  Among  the  forms  of  penance  enjoined 
by  St,  Dunstan  upon  the  unworthy  King  Edgar,  is  an  in 
junction  that  he  was  to  be  at  the  expense  of  transcribing 
copies  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  transmitting  them  to 
churches  in  various  parts  of  the  kingdom  for  the  instruction  of 
the  people. 

^Elfric,  Abbot  of  Peterborough  in  1004,  and  Archbishop  of 
York1  in  1023,  translated  large  portions  of  Scripture,  the 
greater  part  of  the  Pentateuch,  Joshua,  Judges,  Kings,  Esther, 
Job,  Judith,  and  Maccabees.  yElfric  translated  with  a 
patriotic  purpose,  and  English  is  the  name  which  he  usually 

1  According  to  many  authorities,  Grammarian  was  the  Primate  of 
not  to  be  confounded  with  ^Elfric,  York ;  and  he  was  replied  to  at 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  who  died  length  by  Mores  in  a  volume  edited 
in  1005;  but  the  settlement  of  this  by  Thorkelin,  London,  1789.  Leland 
personal  question  is  not  in  our  made  three  ^Elfrics,  but  Ussher 
province.  William  of  Malmsbury  united  them  into  one.  See  also 
and  Matthew  Paris  got  into  con-  Norman's  preface  to  his  edition  of 
fusion  about  the  JElfrics,  and  Le-  the  Anglo-Saxon  version  of  the 
land,  Bale,  Parker,  Ussher,  and  Hexameron  of  St.  Basil,  2nd  Ed., 
Spelman  have  taken  part  in  the  London,  1849 ;  and  Hook's  Arch- 
discussion.  Henry  Wharton  (An-  bishops  of  Canterbury,  vol.  I,  p. 
glia  Sacra,  p.  125)  held  that  the  439. 


10 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 


[INT. 


gives  to  his  native  speech.1  Of  his  version  of  Joshua  he  says, 
"  This  book  I  turned  into  English  for  Ealdorman  Ethehvard,  a 
book  that  a  prince  might  study  in  times  of  invasion  and  turbu 
lence."  Of  Judith  he  records,  "Englished  according  to  my 
skill,  for  your  example,  that  you  may  also  defend  your 
country  by  force  of  arms  against  the  outrage  of  foreign  hosts." 
These  translations  are  marked  by  abridgment  and  omissions.2 
Thus  the  Anclo-Saxon  Church  had  native  versions  and 


1  The  versions  of  Moses,  Joshua, 
Judges,  Kings,  and  Esther  were 
published,  under  the  title  of  Hepta- 
teuchus,  by  Thwaites,  Oxford,  1698. 
./Elfric  also  composed  a  brief  account 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  ; 
published  by  W.  L'Isle,  in  1623; 
and  eighty  of  his  Homilies  have  been 
published,  under  the  editorial  care 
of  B.  Thorpe,  by  a  society  which 
takes  /Elfric's  name. 

From  a  MS.  belonging  to  Arch 
bishop  Parker,  which  is  still  pre 
served  in  the  Bodleian  Library, 
were  published,  under  the  editorial 
care  of  John  Foxe,  "  The  Gospels 
of  the  fower  Evangelistes  translated 
in  the  Olde  Saxon's  tyme  out  of 
Latin  into  the  vulgare^toung  of  the 
Saxons."  London,  1571,  printed  by 
John  Daye.  The  volume  is  printed 
in  the  same  type  as  ^Elfric's  sermon 
on  Easter-day,  which  was  the  first 
Anglo-Saxon  book  that  issued  from 
the  English  press,  1567.  The  Anglo- 
Saxon  of  the  Gospels  fills  about  two- 
thirdsof  thepage,and  the  other  third 
is  occupied  with  the  correspondent 
verses  of  the  Bishops'  Bible,  which  is 
now  and  then  changed  into  harmony 
with  the  earlier  version.  It  was 
dedicated  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  and 
"  given  into  her  own  hands  by  her 
Father  Foxe."  Marshall  conjectures 


that  this  book  contained  Bede's  ver 
sion  of  St.  John's  Gospel.  An  edi 
tion,  based  on  that  of  1571,  was  pub 
lished  by  Juuius  the  Younger  and 
Marshall,  London,  1638;  and  then  in 
a  more  correct  form,  along  with  the 
Gothic  version,  Dordrecht,  1665;  and 
Amsterdam,  1684.  A  small  and 
useful  edition  of  the  Gospels  ap 
peared  in  1842,  edited  by  B.  Thorpe, 
London  and  Oxford. 

2  A  very  accurate  and  complete 
edition  of  the  Gospels  was  published, 
under  the  care  of  Bosworth  and 
Waring,  in  1865.  It  contains  in 
parallel  columns  the  Gothic  version 
of  Ulphilas,  the  first  version  of 
Wycliffe,  and  the  first  of  Tyndale, 
1526.  For  the  Anglo-Saxon  great 
pains  were  bestowed  on  a  collation 
of  the  best  MSS.  In  connection  with 
this  Polyglott  may  be  commended — 
Helfensteiirs  Comparative  Grammar 
of  the  Teutonic  Languages,  Mac- 
millan  &  Co.,  1870.  Loth's  Etymolo- 
gische  Augelscechsisch  -  englische 
Grammatik,  Elberfeld,  1870. 
March's  Comparative  Grammar  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  Language,  &c., 
New  York,  1871.  Stratmann's 
Dictionary  of  Old  English,  Krefeld, 
1867.  Bosworth's  Origin  of  English, 
&c.,  London,  1847. 


INT.]  ANGLO-SAXON  MSS.  17 

glosses,  though  not  in  wide  diffusion;  but  the  wreck  only  of 
such  treasures  has  come  down  to  us.  Many  copies  must  have 
perished  in  the  Danish  invasion ;  and  afterwards,  through  the 
neglect  and  contempt  of  the  Norman  nobility  and  ecclesiastics, 
Saxon  manuscripts  were  often  tossed  aside  as  old  and  useless.1 
We  have  no  proof  that  the  ability  to  read  had  been  generally 
acquired  by  the  masses — and  these  extant  volumes  and  all 
others  which  they  represent — "what  are  they  among  so  many?" 
But  the  men  who  translated  Scripture  into  English  syllables 
for  Englishmen,  felt  that  in  this  patriotic  labour  so  far  from 
unhallowing  it,  they  were  only  giving  it  the  greater  glory  of 
adaptation  and  living  power,  and  they  are  to  be  honoured  as 
national  benefactors. 

In  a  word,  these  Anglo-Saxon  manuscripts2  were  all  of 
necessity  translated  from  the  Latin  ;  the  era  of  Greek  scholar 
ship  lay  still  in  a  remote  futurity.  The  Latin  version  existed 
in  two  different  forms — the  familiar  Vulgate,  as  partly  revised 
and  partly  translated  by  Jerome,  and  the  prior  old  version, 
often  named  the  Vetus  Itala,  which  is  found  in  the  Latin  of 
the  Codex  Bezse — D  of  the  Gospels  and  Acts;3  in  the  Codex 
Palatinus  recently  edited  by  Tischendorf4;  and  on  the  left- 
hand  page  of  Blanchini's  Evangeliarium  Quadruplex.  From 
this  Ante-Hieronymian  version  some  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  ren 
derings  were  taken.  It  is  followed  where  the  Vulgate  differs 
from  it,  in  Matt,  xxiii,  14,  a  verse  being  omitted  which  the  Vul 
gate  has;  and  Matt,  xx,  28,  the  old  Latin  having  an  addition 
of  some  verses  chiefly  taken  from  Luke  xiv,  7-10.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  Anglo-Saxon  version  often  agrees,  not  with 
the  Clementine  text,  but  with  the  best  readings  of  the  Vulgate 
as  preserved  in  the  Codex  Amiatinus. 

1  Thus  in  Wanley's  Introduction  to  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  versions  in  con- 

a  catalogue  made   in  A.D.  1248,  of  nection  with  textual  criticism. 

Saxon  books  in  the  library  at  Glas-  3  This  Codex,  presented  to  Cam- 

tonbuiy,    this    entry    appears — duo  bridge  by  Beza,  was  edited  by  Dr. 

Anglica,  vetusta  et  inutilia.  Scrivener,  in  1864. 

a  Both  Mill  and  Tischendorf  refer  4  Lipsise,  1847. 


VOL.  I. 


18  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [INT. 

SECOND  PERIOD. 

Scandinavian  pirates  had  ravaged  the  northern  shores  of 
France  for  several  years,  when  Jarl  Oscar,  in  May,  841,  sailed 
up  the  Seine  and  plundered  Rouen.  The  same  process  was 
repeated  by  the  sea  king  Regnar  Lodbrog  and  his  lawless 
followers  within  a  brief  period.  These  successes  brought  another 
band  which  in  87G,  under  Rolf  or  Duke  Rollo,1  a  Norwegian  rover, 
conquered  and  took  possession  of  Neustria,  which  at  length  was 
formally  ceded  in  912  to  the  victorious  invaders  by  Charles  the 
Simple.  The  descendants  of  these  Northmen  or  Normans  soon 
came  to  speak  the  tongue  of  the  people  among  whom  they 
dwelt,  for  the  warriors  took  native  wives,  who  were  not  pure 
Kelts,  but  had  a  large  admixture  of  Roman  and  Frankish 
blood.  The  children  naturally  used  the  speech  of  their 
mothers.  Scandinavian  manners  and  dress  were  abandoned  as 
well  as  the  Scandinavian  tongue,  so  that,  a  few  years  after  the 
death  of  Duke  Rollo,  William  (Longsword),  the  second  duke,  was 
obliged  to  send  his  son  to  Bayeux2  to  learn  Danish,  as  the 
Langue  Romane3  was  almost  the  only  dialect  spoken  in  his 
capital  city  of  Rouen.  At  the  council  of  Mouson-sur-Meuse  in 
995,  the  Bishop  of  Verdun  spoke  in  French.  When,  under  the 
seventh  Duke  William,  the  illegitimate  son  of  Robert  the 
Devil,  these  Normans  invaded  England  scarcely  two  centuries 
after  their  settlement  in  France,  they  brought  with  them  their 
new  language. 

But  French  was  not  introduced  into  the  island  by  the 
conquerors ;  for,  in  fact,  French  influence  had  been  at  work  in 

1  Or  Eou,  as  in  "Wace's  poem,  in  the  south  of  France  the  form 

Roman  de  Eou.  Rolf  (Hwrolf)  fol-  known  as  the  Provenjal  or  Langue- 

lowed  the  example  of  his  old  ally  d'Oc,  and  that  in  the  north  became 

Guthrun,  whom  he  had  helped  to  Langue-d'Oyl,  the  progenitor  of 

ravage  the  English  coast,  and  was  modern  French;  Oc  and  Oyl  (oui) 

baptized.  being  the  different  ways  of  making 

8  Dudo  de  St.  Quentin,  lib.  iii,  affirmation.  Useful  information  on 

p.  112.  Bayeux  and  its  territory,  the  Romance  languages  will  be  found 

the  Bessin,  had  enjoyed  at  least  a  in  Essays  on  their  "  Origin  and  For- 

double  infusion  of  Teutonic  blood,  mation "  by  Sir  George  Cornwall 

3  This   Langue   Romaiie    assumed  Lewis,  London,  1862,  2nd  edition. 


INT.]  INTRODUCTION   OF  FRENCH.  19 

England  for  a  considerable  time.  Cnut,1  the  Danish  king,  had 
married  the  widow  of  ^Ethelred,  Emma,  the  "  gem  of  the  Nor 
mans";  and  children  were  often  sent  out  of  England  to  be 
educated  in  French  monasteries.  Edward,  the  last  king  of  the 
old  line,  was  the  son  of  a  Norman  princess,  and  cousin  of  Duke 
William  who  put  forward  a  claim  to  the  throne  of  England, 
based  on  his  childless  kinsman's  promise.  Called  to  the  throne 
as  an  Atheling,  or  a  descendant  of  the  royal  house  of  Cerdic,  at 
the  death  of  Harthacnut,  third  and  last  of  the  Danish  kings, 
the  Confessor,  who  had  been  educated  in  Normandy,  brought 
the  French  language  into  his  court,  and  surrounded  himself 
with  Norman  ecclesiastics  and  officers.  Important  fortresses 
on  the  Welsh  borders  were  occupied  by  foreign  soldiers,  and, 
under  royal  encouragement,  many  Normans  had  planted  them 
selves  in  the  cities  as  merchants.  Robert  of  Jumiege  held 
the  primacy  of  Canterbury ;  and  a  faction  of  the  king's  French 
favourites  was  able,  in  1051,  to  drive  Godwin,  the  great  Earl 
of  the  West  Saxons,  out  of  the  kingdom  for  a  time. 

The  defeat  of  Harold,  on  the  hill  of  Senlac  behind  Hastings, 
introduced  a  great  and  terrible  revolution.  In  the  general 
confiscation,  the  English  secular  clergy  and  not  a  few  mitred 
dignitaries  were  gradually  set  aside ;  the  domains  of  the  higher 
classes  were  abruptly  torn  from  the  most  of  them,  the  others  being 
forced  to  hold  their  property  by  a  new  tenure  as  vassals,  nay, 
some  of  them  became  socagers,  or  sank  into  villeins.2  The 
more  daring  spirits  rose  in  revolt  like  Hereward,  adventurous 
bands  wandered  as  far  as  Constantinople  and  entered  the 
famous  Varangian  guards,  and  a  fraction  of  the  more  reckless,  of 
whom  Robin  Hood  is  the  popular  representative,  fled  in  a 
spirit  of  wild  revenge  to  the  shelter  of  the  forests,  and  lived  as 
outlaws  and  robbers. 

It  was  natural  for  the  victorious  Norman  nobility  and  their 
retainers  to  cherish  their  own  dialect  and  disparage  that  of  the 
humbled  and  beaten  islanders.  Lanfranc,  who  had  been  trans- 

1  Latinized  into  Canutus  by  Pope  !  History  of   the   Norman   Kings 

Paschal    II,   who    could    not    pro-  of  England,  by  Thomas  Cobbe,  Bar- 

nouuce     the     thick     Scandinavian  rister  of  the  Inner  Temple,  &c.,  p.  43, 

monosyllable.  London,  1869. 


2Q  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [INT. 

lated  to  Canterbury,  scorned  the  native  saints ;  and,  under  him, 
the  Abbot  Paul  threw  down  the  tombs  of  his  English  predeces 
sors  in  the  abbey  of  St.  Albans.  But,  while  French  influence 
so  proudly  predominated  at  the  court,  in  towns,  and  wherever 
the  Norman  grandees  in  the  church,  the  state,  and  the  army 
had  sway,  the  people  clung  to  their  own  speech.  The  situation 
favoured  the  success  of  this  popular  conservatism.  The  lower 
classes,  serfs,  herdsmen,  tillers  of  the  earth,  "  hewers  of  wood 
and  drawers  of  water,"  suffered  little  by  the  Conquest.  What 
befell  them  was  simply  a  change  of  masters.  They  lived  on  the 
soil  as  in  former  times,  and  were  contented  to  speak  the  tongue 
which  their  fathers  had  spoken  before  them.  Besides,  the 
conquerors  were  only  a  small  minority,  originally  an  army  of 
sixty  thousand  now  dispersed  among  two  millions,  so  that  they 
could  not  colonize  the  country,  or  mingle  largely  with  the 
native  race.  Many  of  the  victorious  strangers  coveted  compar 
ative  isolation  by  fortifying  themselves  in  castles — eleven 
hundred  of  which  were  built  in  the  reign  of  Stephen.  The 
government  was,  in  fact,  a  military  occupation,  which  had 
displaced  the  nobility  and  gentry — introduced  a  new  dynasty 
and  a  foreign  aristocracy.  The  immediate  result  was  that  two 
languages  were  spoken  side  by  side,  French  and  English,  the 
former  by  the  governing  faction,  and  the  latter  by  the  masses 
of  the  people,  thousands  of  whom  could  have  little  personal 
intercourse  with  the  knights  and  barons  of  the  Conqueror.1 
There  occurred  in  this  way  the  phenomenon  described  by  Robert 
of  Gloucester  in  his  metrical  Chronicle,  belonging  to  the  latter 
half  of  the  thirteenth  century — "The  Normans  spoke  French  and 
taught  it  to  their  children,  and  the  high  men  of  the  land  did 
the  same,  whereas,  low  men  held  to  English  and  their  natural 
speech  yet ;  it  is  advantageous  to  know  both."2  Trevisa,  in 
his  translation  of  Higden's  Polychronicon,3  laments  that  against 

1  Palgrave's  Rise  aud  Progress  of  3  Vol.  II,  p.  9,  Eolls  edition.     See 
the  English  Commonwealth,  vol.  I,  introduction  to  the  Eolls  edition  of 
j).  56.      King  William,  immediately  Higdeu.       Ed.  Churchhill  Babing- 
after  the  Conquest,  gave  an  English  ton,   B.D.,  F.L.S.,   &c.,   Cambridge, 
charter  to  the  city  of  London.  vol.    I,    London,    1865.        Eariulph 

2  Hearne's  edition,  p.  364.  Higden  was  a  Benedictine  monk  of 


INT.]  TWO    LANGUAGES.  21 

the  manners  and  usage  of  all  other  nations,  children  at  school 
had  to  leave  their  own  tongue,  and  "construe  lessons  and 
thinges  in  French,"  ever  since  the  Normans  came  first  into 
England ;  and  that  "  uplandish  people  "  who  would  be  gentle 
men,  were  making  great  efforts  to  master  French. 

There  is  no  proof  whatever  of  the  common  accusation  that 
William  forbade  the  use  of  English1  to  the  people,  though  he 
enacted  that  French  should  be  spoken  in  seats  of  learning. 
On  the  other  hand,  he  tried  to  master  English  himself,  but  at 
the  age  of  forty-three  he  found  the  task  too  hard  and  irksome 
for  him.2  His  purpose  was  to  understand  the  causes  brought 
before  him  for  judgment,  and  these  must  have  been  presented 
in  English.  What  was  impossible  to  the  father  was  apparently 
achieved  in  part  by  two  of  his  sons.  William  Rufus  gained  the 
help  of  a  portion  of  his  subjects  against  some  Norman  rebels  in 
the  midst  of  them,  by  addressing  to  them  some  pithy  English 
words.  Henry  I  (Beauclerc),  the  Conqueror's  youngest  son. 
seems  to  have  been  taught  Englishes  he  was  born  in  the  country, 
and  got  the  education  of  an  English  prince,  the  son  of  a  crowned 
king;  and  he  was  sometimes  left  in  England  when  his  father 
and  brothers  went  to  Normandy.  He  is  said  to  have  translated 
^Esop's  Fables3  into  English.  But  French  was  the  tongue  of 

St.  Werburgh's  Abbey,  Chester.  The  greatest  and  best  part  of  our  lan- 

Polychronicon  is  a  universal  history,  guage." — History,    vol.  I,    p.     259. 

brought  down  to    the    year   1342.  London,    1825.       See    also    Henry, 

But  the  manuscripts  somewhat  vary  History,  vol.  VI,    p.  319,    London, 

as  to  the  date  of  termination.  1814. 

1  Palgrave's  England  and  Nor-  2  Odericus  Vitalis  (Ecclesiast. 
mandy,  vol.  Ill,  p.  627.  Thus  Hist.,  lib.  iv,  cap.  7)  gives,  as  the 
Thorpe  asserts  that  "William  and  his  cause  of  his  failure,  durior  aetas  et 
fawning  courtiers  tried  in  vain  to  tumultus  multimodarum  occupation- 
thrust  their  French  into  the  mouths  urn. 

of  the   English  people." — Analecta         3The  authority  for  the  statement 

Saxonica,    Preface,    p.    5.       Hume  is  Mary  of  France,  who  translated 

writes  that  William  had  even  enter-  the  English  Fables  into  French — 
tained  the  difficult  project  of  totally         De  Griu  en  Latin  le  turna 
abolishing    the    English    language,         Li  rois  Henris,  qui  moult  1'ama, 
but  adds,  what  his  own  style  con-         Le  translata  puis  en  Engleiz. 

tradicts,     "  that     the     mixture    of  Freeman's    Norman    Conquest,    vol. 

French  introduced  by  William  is  the  IV,  p.  792. 


22  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [INT. 

the  court  and  the  aristocracy,  and  the  medium  of  intercourse  in 
universities.  There  was  also  a  close  connection  with  the  con 
tinent  for  many  reigns.1  Kings  of  England  married  French 
wives.  Stephen  wedded  a  daughter  of  the  Court  of  Boulogne ; 
Maud,  Stephen's  rival,  chose  a  Plantagenet,  Earl  of  Anjou; 
Henry  the  Second  espoused  Eleanor  of  Aquitaine,  the  divorced 
wife  of  Louis  the  Seventh,  and  by  her  obtained  large  posses 
sions,  in  addition  to  Touraine  and  Anjou,  which  he  held  from 
his  father.  ~  Richard  the  First  married  a  daughter  of  the  king 
of  Navarre;  John,  a  daughter  of  the  Count  of  Angouleme;  and 
Henry  the  Third,  a  daughter  of  the  Count  of  Provence.  The 
second  wife  of  Edward  the  First  was  a  sister  of  the  King  of 
France ;  and  Edward's  son  married  Isabella,  daughter  of  the 
French  monarch.  A  single  sentence  of  English  is  ascribed  to 
Richard  I ;  his  chancellor,  however,  avers  that  he  was  wholly 
ignorant  of  the  island  torgue;  he  was,  in  fact,  a  true  Provei^al 
poet. 

But  there  had  been  an  incipient  coalition  of  races  going  on 
for  a  considerable  time — even  while  distinction  of  language 
remained.  The  author  of  the  "  Dialogue  on  the  Exchequer  " — 
who  mentions  that  he  began  this  work  in  A.D.  1177,  and  asserts 
that  he  had  seen  Chief  Justice  Robert,  Earl  of  Leicester,  in 
11G8,  and  conversed  with  Robert  of  Blois,  Bishop  of  Win 
chester,  who  died  in  1171 — records  of  his  own  knowledge, 
"  already  by  English  and  Normans  cohabiting  and  taking 
wives  from  each  other,  the  nations  are  so  thoroughly  mixed 
that  at  this  day  it  can  hardly  be  discovered  (I  speak  of  the 
children)  which  is  of  England  and  which  is  of  Norman  race, 
excepting  those  who  are  bound  to  the  soil,  and  who  are  called 

1  Henry      married      Edith,      the  and  his  use  of  English  speech,  was 

daughter     of    the    Scottish    Queen  sneered  at  by  the  Normans  as  Gaffer 

Margaret,  the  sister  of  the  Atheliug  Goodrich,   his   queen    being    called 

Edgar,  her  name  being  changed  into  Cummer  Godgifu. 

Matilda.     She  had  been  trained  by  - "  It  was  not  the  Englishman  who 

her  English  mother  in  the  palatial  reigned  over  Anjou,  but  the  Ange- 

Abbey   of    Dunfermline,    and    was  vine    who    reigned  over  England." 

loved  as  the  "good"  Queen  Maud.  Freeeman's     Historical    Essays,    p. 

The  king,  from  his  English  likings  194. 


INT.]  ASCENDANCY   Of    ENGLISH.  23 

villeins." 1  In  Magna  Charta  no  mention  is  made  of  different 
races,  the  nation  is  regarded  as  a  homogeneous  unity,  and 
this — 149  years  after  the  conquest.  In  the  reign  of  King 
John,  Normandy,  which  had  been  held  for  four  centuries 
by  the  House  of  Rolf  the  Ganger,  was  lost,  and  one  result 
was  that  this  island  became  more  and  more  a  home  to  the 
Normans,  and  French  became  more  and  more  of  a  foreign 
tongue  to  them.  English  had  not  only  survived,  but  was 
spreading  itself  through  the  upper  classes.  Norman  children 
could  not  be  kept  from  learning  it;  and  the  higher  ranks,  being 
a  minority,  felt  the  necessity  of  acquiring  it.2  By  the  end  of  the 
thirteenth  century  English  seems  to  have  become  the  mother 
tongue  of  the  aristocracy  ;  their  children  being  taught  French 
as  a  foreign  language,  and  as  an  accomplishment  befitting  their 
rank. 

Thus  all  the  while  the  English  tongue  had  preserved  itself, 
and  even  asserted  its  national  pre-eminence.  Of  this  wondrous 
vitality  there  was  a  remarkable  proof  and  example  when,  in 
1258,  Henry  III,  in  the  forty-second  year  of  his  reign,  issued 
in  the  form  of  letters  patent  a  Proclamation  in  French  and 
English,3  the  first  language  for  the  nobility  and  the  second  for 
the  body  of  the  people.  This  is  the  first  specimen  of  popular 
English  since  the  Conquest;  and  the  "folk"  must  have  felt  that 
such  appeal  to  them  in  their  own  tongue  betokened  the  dawn 
ing  of  a  new  era. 

Mandeville  in  his  preface  to  his  Travels,  published  in  1356, 
says  that  he  wrote  his  book  first  in  Latin  which  he  rendered 
into  French,  and  then  translated  it  "out  of  Frensche  into 
Englysch,  that  every  man  of  my  nacion  may  understond  it." 
In  1362  an  Act  of  Parliament,  itself  written  in  French, 
ordained  that  all  pleadings  in  courts  of  law  should  be  in 

1This   work,    Dialogus  de    Scac-  de   Billesworth,  compiled  a  treatise 

cario,  has  been  ascribed  to  Gervase  for  teaching  French  to  the  children 

of  Tilbury,  and  to  Richard,  Bishop  of  the  nobility,  the  French  text  of  the 

of  London.  work   being    accompanied    with  an 

*  Preface   to   Wright's  edition  of  interlinear  English  gloss. 

the  Chronicle  of  Pierre  de  Laugtoft,  3  Edited  by  Alex.  J.  Ellis,  Philo- 

p.  xxvii.     A  knight,  named  Walter  logical  Society.  Asher  &  Co.,  London. 


24  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [INT. 

English,  as  suitors  no  longer  knew  French.  In  the  same  year 
the  first  king's  speech  was  delivered  to  the  representatives  of 
the  people  in  English;  but  the  first  statutes  recorded  and  printed 
in  English  are  those  of  Richard  III,  though  they  were  entered 
on  the  Rolls  of  Parliament  in  French.1  Pierre  de  Langtoft 
wrote  his  Chronicle2  in  French  ;  but  in  a  brief  space  he  appears 
as  Peter  Langtoft  in  Brunne's  English  Translation.  Edward 
III  commonly  used  French,  but  in  1346  he  rebuked  "such  as 
would  wish  to  blot  out  the  English  tongue  "  ;  and  in  1349  he 
appeared  at  a  tournament  with  an  English  legend  on  his  shield. 
Froissart  notes  as  singular  the  knowledge  of  French  possessed 
by  his  grandson,  Richard  II,  who  spoke  to  the  rebels  under 
Wat  Tyler  in  their  birth  tongue,  and  easily  pacified  them. 
Gower,  who  wrote  the  last  work  in  Frencli  of  any  importance — 
Speculum  Meditantis — virtually  apologizes  for  writing  in  that 
tongue ;  and  in  his  preface  to  his  English  poem,  written  at  the 
request  of  King  Richard — the  Confessio  Amantis 3 — though  he 
styles  himself  a  "  borel  clerke,"  he  professes  to  set  an  example 
by  writing  in  "  oure  Englisshe."  Trevisa,4  in  1387,  remarking 
on  the  change  that  had  taken  place  in  the  relative  position  of 
the  two  languages,  says,  in  his  own  quaint  way,  "  that  the  old 
custom  had  been  reversed  in  a  great  measure  through  the 
effort  of  John  Cornwaile,  maister  of  gramer,"  so  that  now,  "in 
the  year  of  our  Lord  1385,  in  all  the  gramer  scholes  of  England 
children  leave th  Frensch  and  construeth  and  learneth  English  " 
— the  advantage  being  that  pupils  make  speedy  progress,  and 

1  Rymer     mentions    an    English  lish,  and  finished  his  translation,  as 
statute  of    1368,   and  there   is   an  he  intimates  himself,  on  Thursday, 
English  contract  connected  with  the  the  18th   of  April,    1387.     It    was 
Convent  of  Whitby  of  1343.  written    at    the    request   of     Lord 

2  See  Preface  to  Wright's  edition  Berkeley,  and  dedicated  to  him  in 
of  the  Chronicle  of  Pierre  de  Lang-  an  epistle  beginning  thus — "  I,  John 
toft.  Trevisa,  your  prieste  and  bedeman, 

3  Printed   by  Caxton,    1493,   and  obedyent  and  buxom,  to  worke  your 
edited  by  Pauli,  London,  1857.  wylle."     It  was  printed  by  Caxton 

4  Trevisa,  a  native   of   Cornwall,  in  1482,  but  "he  somewhat  chaunged 
and  fellow  of  Queen's  College,  Ox-  the  rude  and  Old  Englysch."     Tre- 
ford,     translated     Higden's    Poly-  visa's  name  will  occur  again  in  the 
chronicon  out   of  Latin  into  Eng-  next  chapter. 


INT.]  CHANGES   IN  ENGLISH.  25 

the  disadvantage  being  that  ignorance  of  French  becomes  a 
great  bar  to  travel  in  foreign  countries.  But  French  itself 
had  suffered  by  its  transplantation  into  England,  and  Chaucer 
ridicules  the  French  learned  by  young  ladies  at  school.1  The 

same  poet  also  counsels,  "Let  clerkes  endyten  in  Latyn and 

Frenchmen  in  their  French  also  endyte  theyr  quaint  termes,  for 
it  is  kyndly  to  theyr  mouths,  and  let  us  show  our  fantasyes  in 
such  wordes  as  we  learneden  of  our  dames'  tonge." 

Though  the  language  was  still  the  old  English  tongue,  it 
came  out  of  all  this  turmoil  and  conflict  wondrously  trans 
figured.  It  once  had  a  homogeneous  vocabulary,  but  foreign 
words  had  now  crept  into  it;  and  it  had  a  synthetic  structure, 
but  its  precise  and  self-adjusting  syntax  had  passed  out  of  use. 
It  was,  however,  touched  in  structure  before  its  substance  was 
added  to.  In  the  proclamation  of  Henry  III,  already  referred 
to,  there  are  but  two  foreign  words — terms  of  rank  or  office — 
Duke  and  Marshall.  In  the  5,700  lines  of  the  two  texts  of 
Layamon's  Brut,  though  it  was  translated  from  French  and  Latin, 
there  are  not  more  than  a  hundred  words  of  Latin  or  Norman 
origin.  Out  of  2,300  words  of  the  Ormulum,  not  more  than  sixty 
are  foreign,  and  of  these,  ten  are  from  Latin  and  not  one 
from  Norman.  In  Mandeville's  Prologue  of  1,200  words,  only 
130  are  of  Latin  origin,  and  thirty  of  them  are  new.  Several 
words  of  his  coinage  have  kept  their  place.2  In  many  of  the 
authors  of  the  thirteenth  century  the  new  words  do  not 
amount  to  more  than  five  per  cent.  According  to  Coleridge's 
Glossarial  Index,  the  entire  stock  of  words  in  literary  use  in 
the  same  century  amounted  to  8,000,  and  only  about  1,000 
of  them  are  of  Latin  or  Romance  origin.  About  Chaucer's 
period,  English  began  to  receive  many  additions  to  its  stock.3 

1  And  French  she  spake  full  fayre  cover,  faithful,  inspiration,  obstacle, 
and  fetisly,  quantity,  temporal,  testament,  sub- 
After  the  scole  of  Stratford  atte  jection. 

Bow,  3The   Danes  had  neither  an  ac- 

For  French  of   Paris  was  to  her  knowledgecl  grammar  nor  any  litera- 

unknowe.  ture,  aud  there  was  an  antipathy  in 

JAs     abstain,     abundant,     cause,  Norse  or  Danish  to  final  syllables 

calculate,  contrary,  convenient,  dis-  employed  to  mark  cases  and  conju- 


20  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [INT. 

But  English  is  not  in  the  strict  sense  a  composite  language, 
nor  is  it  the  mere  result  of  the  fusion  of  Saxon  or  Norman ; 
for  its  grammar  in  its  essential  elements  is  Saxon,  modified 
in  many  ways  and  simplified,  all  its  auxiliary  verbs  and 
its  particles,  "  the  bolts,  pins,  and  hinges,"  being  of  native  origin. 
But  what  is  first  apparent  after  the  Norman  Conquest  is  not  so 
much  the  introduction  of  new  terms  as  the  destruction  of  the 
numerous  inflectional  terminations  of  the  older  Saxon  tongue, 
a  change  which  might  to  some  extent  have  passed  over  it  in 
course  of  time  though  the  Conquest  had  never  taken  place.  A 
similar  change  was  at  that  period  passing  over  the  other 
dialects  of  Germanic  stock;  for  such  disintegration  is  inherent 
in  language  and  was  becoming  apparent  before  the  year  1066. 
Price,1  Guest,2  Hallam  and  others  make  this  innate  tendency  the 
sole  cause  of  the  linguistic  revolution  in  England.  The  state 
ment  is  as  extreme  as  the  other  theory,  which  supposes  that 
the  Norman  Conquest,  merely  by  the  inbringing  of  another 
dialect,  effected  the  decomposition  of  the  older  tongue.  But 
the  Norman  Conquest  wrought  in  this  way :  it  broke  up  that 
form  of  civilization  to  which  the  Anglo-Saxon  speech  belonged 
as  its  creation  and  representative.  The  social  changes  were 
extreme  and  irresistible,  and  they  swept  the  upper  ranks  into 
universal  ruin.3  Books  could  have  no  charms  for  the  churls 

gations.      This  influence  had  been  2  English    Rhythms,    vol.   II,     p. 

felt    during   three  reigns,  and  the  105.     See  also  Murray's  History  of 

Danelagh  comprised  the  larger  por-  European  Languages.     Craik's  His- 

tion  of  Mercia,  Northumberland,  and  tory  of  English  Literature,  &c.,  vol. 

East  Anglia.     The  reader  will  find  I,  p.   150.      Yet    Icelandic  has  re- 

admirable  lists  of  native  and  foreign  mained   unchanged    for   seven   cen- 

terms  in  the  "Historical  Outlines  of  turies. 

English  Accidence,"  pp.  35  and  377,  3  Ordericus     Vitalis,    lib.    iv,    p. 

by  Richard  Morris,  LL.D.,  London,  323.     Thierry's  History  of  the  Nor- 

1873.     Dr.  Morris  shows  that  for-  man      conquest,     Vol.    I,    p.     193, 

eign  terms  are  more  numerous  than  Bohn.       Twenty     years    after    the 

they  are  sometimes  alleged   to  be,  Conquest,  when   William   in    1086, 

there  being  in  the  Ancren   Riwle,  summoned  his  great  council  at  Salis- 

428,  and  in  Robert  of  Gloucester's  bury,   there   was   not  one   English 

Chronicle,  570.  earl,  and  only  one  English  bishop, 

1  Preface  to  Warton's  History  of  to  respond  to  the  summons.      The 

English  Poetry,  pp.  85,  86,  &c.  ecclesiastics  were  more  rancorous  in 


INT.]  THE  NORMAN   CONQUEST.  27 

and  villeins  who  were  thrust  unceremoniously  under  a  foreign 
yoke.  Many  of  the  best  born  ladies  became  the  prey  "par 
marriage/'  or  "par  amours,"  of  the  lowest  of  the  Bastard's 
followers.  "Ignoble  grooms  did  as  they  pleased  with  the 
noblest  women,  and  left  them  nothing  but  to  weep  and  wish 
for  death." l 

This  sweeping  territorial  revolution  broke  the  spirit  of  the 
people,  chilled  free  thought  and  culture,  destroyed  all  impulse 
to  write  in  the  native  tongue  and  all  pride  in  preserving  its 
purity.  The  result  of  this  abrupt  and  violent  cessation  of 
Anglo-Saxon  literature2  was,  that  the  language,  left  to  itself  as 
simply  a  spoken  language,  began  to  alter  and  work  itself  free 
from  its  more  exact  grammatical  intricacies.  Probably  the 
people  never  spoke  the  older  tongue  as  it  was  written  in 
books ;  and  their  freer  speech,  unchecked  by  any  literary 
models  or  contrasts,  and  in  the  absence  or  displacement  of 
the  educated  thanes  or  gentry,  came  to  be  at  length  the 
prevailing  tongue.  Normans  and  Saxons  were  of  necessity 
obliged  to  make  themselves  understood  to  one  another,  and 
both  were  naturally  content  to  use  a  few  words  of  the  other's 
vocabulary  without  any  great  regard  to  the  grammar  on 
either  side.  Prior  to  the  Conquest  care  had  been  taken  in 
literary  composition  of  terminations  indicating  gender  and 
case,  number  and  tense,  and  of  other  minute  and  elaborate 

their    hostility    than   the    soldiers,  being  put  in  possession  of  over  800 

Stigand  was  deposed  from  the  prim-  in   nineteen   counties,   and    another 

acy  to  make  way  for  Lanfranc,  who  having     nearly    500    in    seventeen 

is   said   also   to   have   seized  many  counties;  and   hundreds  were  pos- 

copies  of  the  Scripture  and  corrected  sessed  by  other  favourites — all  lands 

them  with  his  own  hand,  on  the  pre-  of  the  nation,  both  of    tenants    in 

tence    that  the   Saxon    scribes  had  capite  and  their  sub-tenants,  being 

corrupted  them.  at  the  same  time  vested  ia  William 

1  As  a  specimen  of  the  displace-  as  supreme  Over-Lord, 

meiit  of  native  proprietors,  it  may  2  The  Saxon  Chronicle  itself  ceased 

be  mentioned  that  60,000    knights'  about  a  century  after  the  Conquest, 

fees  were  established  by  the  Con-  1154.     Edited  by  Edmund  Gibson, 

queror,  that  the  crown  lands  were  A.B.,   e    Collegio    Reginse,  Oxonii, 

made  up  of  more  than  1,400  manors,  1692  ;    and    more   recently    by    B. 

one    of    the    Conqueror's    brothers  Thorpe,  Eolls  edition. 


28  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [INT. 

peculiarities ;  but  such  niceties  were  so  embarrassing  in  con 
versation,  that  they  soon  came  to  be  slipped  over  and  finally 
put  aside.  So  that  what  happened  to  the  Greek  language 
after  the  fall  of  Constantinople,  and  to  the  Latin  after  the 
overthrow  of  the  Empire,  happened  in  a  similar  way  to  the 
tongue  of  the  Saxon  races  in  these  islands  after  Duke 
William's  invasion.1 

In  the  times  after  the  Conquest  the  article  se,  seo,  thset, 
with  its  five  cases,  lost  the  first  two  forms,  and  finally 
passed  into  the  simple  indeclinable  definite  article.  The 
conventional  genders  and  the  declensions  of  nouns  faded 
away;  the  cases,  with  the  exception  of  the  -'s  of  the  geni 
tive,  sank  out  of  view;  relations  were  expressed  by  pre 
positions;  and  the  "-e"  that  marked  the  dative  became 
first  silent,  as  in  Wycliffe,  and  then  was  dropped.  When 
the  earlier  terminations  were  all  merged  in  -e,  person,  case, 
number,  and  tense  soon  ceased  to  be  individually  represented. 
Adjectives  lost  all  distinction  of  number,  gender,  and  case; 
the  interrogative  and  relative,  retaining  only  a  genitive  and 
accusative,  became  the  same  in  singular  and  plural ;  whereas 
the  demonstratives  "  this  "  and  "  that,"  while  they  preserved  a 
plural  form,  lost  all  difference  of  case.  The  plural  endings  in 
-a,  -e,  -en,  save  in  a  few  words,  were  superseded  by  the  Norman 
termination  "-s."  Adjectives  which,  as  in  modern  German,  had 
declensions  and  grammatical  genders,  passed  through  the  same 
changes  as  the  nouns.  The  dual  of  the  pronoun  grew  obsolete  '•> 
and  "  heo,"  feminine  of  "  he,"  was  altered  into  "  she."  Many 
strong  preterites  became  weak  ;  conjugations  were  formed  by 
means  of  auxiliaries ;  the  infinitive,  which  had  ended  in  -an  or 
-en,  first  losing  the  -n,  prefixed  "to,"  and  latterly  "for  to" ;  the 
third  person  singular,  being  still  found  in  the  "-eth  "  of  the  old 

1  Some  of  the  gradual  changes  from  indolence,  as  man  has  an 
may  be  seen  by  comparing  the  second  "instinctive  disposition  to  seek  re- 
column  of  Skeat's  Anglo-Saxon  Mark  lief  from"  the  effort  to  articulate, 
with  the  earlier  text  in  the  one  by  its  or  to  do  it  with  the  least  possible 
side.  See  also  his  Preface,  p.  xxvii.  trouble.  Language  and  the  Study 
Prof.  Whitney  justly  remarks  that  of  Language,  p.  195,  New  York, 
such  vocal  changes  proceed  usually  1872. 


INT.]  LINGUISTIC   REVOLUTION.  29 

and  the  Biblical  English,  while  "-ath "  of  the  plural,  which 
Norman  lips  "  could  not  frame  to  pronounce,"  disappeared,  and 
-en  for  a  while  took  its  place.  The  participle  was  no  longer 
declined.  Participial  and  infinitival  endings  were  confounded, 
and  the  gerundial  infinitive  crumbled  away.  Both  modes  of 
comparison  have  however  been  preserved — the  Anglo-Saxon  by 
"-er,"  "-est,"  and  an  imitation  of  Norman  by  "  more "  and 
"  most."  The  Norman  preposition  "de"  with  the  genitive  was 
not  adopted,  the  Anglo-Saxon  "of"  was  accepted,  and  the  -'s 
was  also  retained.  One  regrets  that  the  plural  "-en  "  of  verbs 
has  been  lost,  and  indeed  Spenser  was  unable  to  preserve  it. 
One  is  sorry  too  that  -s,  with  its  hissing  sound,  should  so  often 
occur;  for  it  has  superseded  not  only  the  -eth  of  the  third 
person  singular,  but  also  the  old  plural  termination  of  nouns 
and  verbs,  while  at  the  same  time  there  are  many  words  ending 
in  -ess.  In  Anglo-Saxon  the  plural  of  masculine  nouns  only 
ended  in  -s;  but,  with  few  exceptions,  all  plurals  in  French  were 
so  formed,  and  the  terminations  passed  into  English.1  Special 
feminine  forms,  like  -ster  (spinster),  have  come  to  end  in  -ess, 
or  are  retained  as  exceptional.2 

Such  is  a  brief  and  imperfect  sketch  of  the  gradual  altera 
tions  which  passed  over  the  old  Anglo-Saxon  during  two 
centuries  and  a  half,  when  our  modern  English  was  "in 
making."  Though  the  process  lopped  off  many  branchlets  and 
twigs,  it  left  the  living  trunk  which  soon  renewed  its  youth, 
and  putting  forth  fresh  vigour  and  beauty,  formed  a  national 

1  In  Jeremy  Taylor's  famous  image  have  "  to  "  prefixed,  weak  tenses  are 

of  the  lark,  there  are  eleven  sibilants  introduced,  "  a  "  is  used  as  an  article, 

in  the  first  thirty-one  words.  genders  and  inflections  are  not  care- 

3  The  Priest  Layamon's  Brut  or  fully  observed,  -en  supersedes  -on  in 

Chronicle  of  Britain,  written  before  the  plural  of  verbs.  Similar  tran- 

A.D.  1200,  is  a  translation  of  the  sitional  style  is  found,  with  some 

Norman  Wace's  Brut,  and  was  variations,  in  Havelok,  and  in  Piers 

edited  by  Sir  Frederick  Madden,  Ploughman,  the  Ancren  Piiwle 

London,  1847.  It  is  in  the  dialect  (Anchoresses'  Rule),  edited  by  Mor- 

of  North  Worcestershire,  and  marks  ton,  1853,  and  a  later  poem,  the 

a  period  of  transition  when  the  Harrowing  (harrying)  of  Hell.  See 

written  language  had  been  loosened  Dr.  Angus's  Handbook  of  the  English 

by  the  spoken  tongue.  Infinitives  Tongue,  London,  1869. 


30  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [I.NT. 

tongue  in  which  Wycliffe  was  able  at  length  to  give  an 
English  Bible  to  the  English  people.  In  fine,  it  was  surely 
natural  that  the  early  English  tongue,  in  spite  of  exotic 
additions  and  changes  in  spelling  and  structure,  should  cling 
to  an  Englishman  throughout  his  national  history,  and  that  to 
it  should  belong  the  terms  which  tell  what  he  sees  above  him 
and  around  him,  in  fruits,  flowers,  and  seasons,  which  describe 
his  own  physical  organs  and  his  inner  emotions,  the  weapons  he 
wields,  the  tools  he  handles,  the  products  of  his  handy  work,  and 
the  animals  about  him  in  pasture  and  tillage,  and  which  name 
the  close  and  familiar  relations  of  life,  his  heart  and  his  home, 
and  his  surroundings  from  birth  to  death. 

In  this  old  tongue,  which  some  in  its  first  shape  have  called 
Anglo-Norman  or  early  English,  we  have  a  Psalter  in  prose, 
with  the  Canticles  of  the  Church,  before  the  year  1200,  and  a 
prose  translation  of  a  large  portion  of  the  Bible  before  1360. 
Among  these  early  translations  one  is  distinguished  as  the 
Ormulum,1  after  its  author  Orm  or  Ormin,  a  canon  of  the 
Order  of  St.  Augustine,  and  is  probably  of  northern  origin. 
He  dedicates2  to  his  brother  his  poem,  which  is  a  versified 
paraphrase  of  the  Gospels  and  Acts  in  the  style  of  Latin  tetra 
meter  iambics,  and  consists  of  20,000  lines.  Though  it  is  a 

'  O 

specimen  of  the  tongue  of  the  time  of  Henry  II,  the  older 
case  endings  have  almost  disappeared.  About  his  orthography 
the  author  is  very  careful,  and  forewarns  all  transcribers  to 
maintain  literal  accuracy,  as  if  he  had  felt  that  the  English  of 
his  day  needed  a  special  and  intelligent  guardianship,  that 
amidst  growing  changes  it  might  not  degenerate.  A  similar 

1  The   author  himself    intimates,        Ice  hafe  wemid  inntill  Ennglissh, 
"  This   book    is    named    Ormulum,  Goddspelless  hallghe  lore. 

for  that  Orm  it  wrought   (made)."         I  have  turned  into  English 
The    Ormulum     was     edited    from  Gospel's  holy  lore. 

MSS.  in  the  Bodleian,  with  a  glos-         He  spells  with  a  single  consonant 

sary  and  notes,  by  Robert  Meadows  after  a  vowel  which  has   its  name 

White,   D.D.      Two    vols.,   Oxford,  sound,  but   doubles    the   consonant 

1852.  after  a  vowel  otherwise  pronounced, 

2  In  the  dedication  to  his  brother,  as  we  similarly  do  in  such  forms  as 
he  says—  tale,  tall,  mute,  dull. 


INT.]  SC HO  REAM  AND  H AMP  OLE.  31 

work — "  Story  of  Genesis  and  Exodus  " — is  preserved  in  the 
library  of  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge ; l  and  in  the 
Bodleian  at  Oxford  is  a  long  poem  called  Salus  Animi  (Sowle- 
hele),  soul-health,  a  diffuse  paraphrastic  version  of  Scripture. 
There  is  also  a  Psalter  in  verse,  dated  at  the  conclusion  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  which  is  fairly  translated,  and  is 
characterized  by  its  expressive  simplicity ;  and  as  six  copies 
are  still  extant,  it  must  have  enjoyed  some  circulation. 
There  exists  a  prose  translation  of  the  Psalms  into  this  old 
English,  by  William  de  Schorham,2  who  in  1320  became  vicar 
of  Chart-Sutton,  in  Kent.  The  Latin  and  English  are  verse 
for  verse,  and  the  version  in  the  southern  dialect  is  remarkably 
good.3  A  manuscript  of  a  Psalter  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
giving  the  name  of  John  Hyde  as  its  owner,  and  lying  in  the 
Library  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  appears  to  be  a  revised 
edition  of  Schorham.  Numerous  copies,  either  fragmentary  or 
complete,  exist  of  another  version,  in  the  northern  dialect,  of 
the  Psalms,  made  by  Richard  Rolle,  Chantry  priest  of  Hampole, 
near  Doncaster,  and  often  called  the  Hermit  of  Hampole.  He 
seems  to  have  been  a  recluse  of  the  Order  of  St.  Augustine,  and 
he  died  in  1349  in  the  odour  of  sanctity.  According  to  Baber, 
"  his  life  was  devotion,  and  his  amusement  study."  Having 
written  a  Latin  commentary  on  the  Psalms,  he  afterwards 
translated  them  into  English  with  an  English  commentary. 
The  existing  manuscripts  vary  much — the  commentary  in  some 
is  very  short,  and  in  others  is  of  undue  length ;  but  the  preface 
is  the  same  in  all.  The  shorter  commentary  probably  repre 
sents  the  original  form,  and  the  number  of  the  existing  copies 
and  the  frequent  revisions  show  that  the  work  must  have  had  a 
considerable  circulation.  The  spelling  and  language  have  been 
retouched  from  time  to  time.  Prefixed  to  a  copy  in  the 
Bodleian  Library  are  some  verses  of  a  later  age,  which  describe 
the  origin  of  the  work,  and  this  MS.  is  probably  of  the  period 
of  Henry  VI.  The  writer  asserts  that  the  version  was  made  at 

1  Edited  by  Eichard  Morris,  Lon-  3  He  adopts  in  the  1st  verse  of 

don,  1865.  Psalm  i,  the  reading  or  gloss  judicio 

a  Forshall  and  Madden's  Introduc-  fcdsitatia  instead  of  cathedra  pes- 

tion  to  "VVycliffe,  p.  iii.  tilentice. 


32  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [INT. 

the  request  of  Dame  Margaret  Kirkby,  and  that  the  original 
copy  was  still  kept  in  the  nunnery,  chained  to  Hampole's  tomb, 
but  adds 

"  Copyed  has  this  Sauter  been,  of  yvil  men  of  Lollardry. 
And  aftimvards  hit  has  bene  sene  ympyd  in  with  eresy." 

Hampole  thus  describes  his  own  procedure  :  "  In  this  werke  I 
seke  no  strange  ynglys,  but  lightest  and  communest,  and  swilk 
is  most  like  unto  the  Latyne,  so  that  thai  that  knowes  noght 
the  Latyne  be  the  ynglys  may  come  to  many  Latin  wordis. 
In  the  translacion  I  feloghe  the  letter  als-mekille  as  I 
may,  &c." 

It  was  very  natural  that  the  Gospels  should  be  so  often 
selected  for  translation  and  for  glossing,  and  indeed  the  very 
name  of  the  Saviour  as  Hselend  (Healer)  must  have  come  home 
with  a  thrill  to  many  souls,  on  which  the  stately  Latin  terms 
could  make  no  impression  ;  for  the  Healer  had  delivered  from 
all  maladies,  had  revealed  the  Divine  Fatherhood,  and  lifted 
the  burden  from  broken  hearts,  binding  up  their  wounds,  and 
filling  them  with  power  and  life.  But  the  favourite  portion 
of  Scripture  first  selected  for  translation  in  these  times  as  in 
all  times,  was  the  Psalms,  and  one  can  scarcely  wonder  at  the 
preference ;  for  this  Hebrew  anthology  contains  hymns  of 
earnest  aspiration,  thanksgiving,  and  self-communing,  in  which 
the  devout  spirit  finds  a  second  self.  The  melody  of  the 
Psalmist  has  many  moods,  but  the  song  is  ever  the  genuine 
outburst  of  his  heart,  and  the  reader  is  lured  into  living  sym 
pathy  with  it — nay,  as  it  throbs  underneath  the  page,  he  is 
brought  into  immediate  fellowship  with  the  singer,  and  not 
with  his  shadow.  For  himself,  in  his  various  changes,  is 
embodied  in  his  Psalms,  whether  he  sinks  in  deep  contrition 
or  soars  away  in  spiritual  rapture,  whether  he  extols  mercy  or 
sinks  into  awe  before  judgment,  or  whether  he  lays  his  sword 
and  sceptre  at  the  foot  of  the  Throne  in  offer  of  suit  and 
service  or  in  acknowledgment  that  the  kingdom  and  the  victory 
are  alike  from  God.  The  Psalter  is  the  poetry  of  the  spiritual 
life ;  its  beauty,  power,  and  freshness  never  fail,  for  it  does  not 
consist  of  abstract  and  impersonal  effusions,  or  of  objective 


INT.]  POPULARITY  OF  THE  PSALTER.  33 

theological  dogmas.  Difference  of  age  and  country  at  once 
fades  away.  In  the  sorrows  of  this  representative  bard  many 
a  soul  has  seen  its  own,  and  has  felt  the  load  lightened  by  its 
share  in  his  recorded  consolations ;  while  his  loftier  strains  so 
glide  in  to  the  "  merry  heart "  that  it  sings  them  without  any 
sense  of  strangeness,  without  any  consciousness  of  formal 
appropriation.  Therefore  the  Psalms  have  always  been  very 
cherished  companions,  not  simply  because  they  are  a  body  of 
divine  truth  bearing  on  man's  highest  interests,  but  because 
they  come  home  to  human  experiences  and  tenderly  touch 
them  on  so  many  points,  because  they  are  not  only  the  true 
elements  of  public  worship,  but  may  also  be  murmured  in 
earnest  soliloquy  as  the  spirit  in  confidence  and  joyousness 
lifts  itself  to  God.  Many  of  these  lyrics  also  bear  a  national 
character,  and,  in  those  old  days  of  constant  battle  and 
frequent  disaster,  they  must  often  have  inspired  courage, 
hope,  and  renewed  trust  in  Him  who  is  King  of  all  people, 
and  the  Lord  of  armies.  Though  they  sometimes  present 
in  mournful  tones  the  wanton  desolation  brought  in  by  a 
foreign  foe,  they  at  the  same  time  pour  comfort  into  the 
ear  of  the  forlorn  daughter  of  Zion,  covered  with  sackcloth 
and  sitting  in  the  dust.  So  that  their  peculiar  adaptation 
to  the  numerous  national  changes  and  adversities  of  these 
early  periods  was  often  felt;  and  they  must  have  revived 
many  saintly,  and  cheered  many  patriotic  mourners. 

We  know  not  how  far  Anglo-Saxon  or  Old  English  literature, 
common  or  Biblical,  spread  into  Scotland.  In  547,  Ida  estab 
lished  himself  with  a  band  of  Angles  in  Northumberland,  or 
rather  in  the  old  British  province  of  Bernicia  of  which  Barn- 
borough  was  the  capital.  This  territory  of  Bernicia  soon 
extended  through  the  country  between  the  Tweed  and  the 
Forth  which  was  then  called  the  "  Scots'  water,"  Scotland 
proper  lying  to  the  north  of  it.  One  of  the  kings  gave  his 
name  to  a  town  and  castle  lying  at  the  northern  extremity  of 
his  dominion — Edwin-burgh — Edinburgh.  About  the  middle 
of  the  tenth  century  the  Lothians  were  formally  given  over  to 
Kenneth  by  Edgar  and  his  Witan  on  condition  that  the 
inhabitants  should  be  allowed  their  laws,  language,  and 

VOL.  I.  c 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 


[INT. 


customs.  As  Anglo-Saxon  literature  was  earnestly  cultivated 
in  the  north  of  England  which  possessed  the  nourishing- 
monasteries  of  Jarrow,  Wearmouth,  and  Hexham,  and  as  the 
Christianity  of  Northumberland  had  a  close  connection  with 
lona,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  some  copies  of  Scripture 
would  find  their  way  across  the  border,  and  in  that  language 
svliich  has  kept  its  hold  on  the  Lowlands,  and  yet  survives  so 
fully  in  the  people's  tongue.  Norman  settlers  formed  also  in 
the  course  of  time  a  distinct  and  important  element  of  the 
Scottish  population.1  The  changes  that  passed  over  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  tongue  in  England  must  have  been  felt  also  in  Scotland ; 
but  no  specimen  survives  save  in  the  popular  dialect.2  The 
King  of  Scots  sometimes  reigned  over  all  the  inhabitants,  but 
the  Scots  proper,  and  their  tongue,  the  Gaelic,  is  yet  far  from 
extinct/5 


name  and  language  with  them.  In 
the  time  of  James  VI,  the  islanders 
of  the  Hebrides  are  called  Irishmen 
in  an  Act  of  Parliament  of  1593,  and 
in  an  Act  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  Kirk,  1717,  Gaelic  is  called 
Irish,  the  commoner  form  being 
Erse. 

3  So  that  the  words  of  the  old 
Latin  hymn  of  Bothe,  Archbishop  of 
York  (1476),  are  still  true  to  some 
extent — 

"  In    cuuctis     plauis     Anglorum 

lingua  choruscat, 
Ast  in  moutanis  barbara  Scota 
sonat.'' 


1  The  king's  writs,  about  the  time 
of  William  the  Lion,  were  addressed 
to  Franks  and  Angles,  Scots  and 
Galwegiaus.  A  coin  of  William  of 
Scotland,  in  1105,  bears  ou  it  a 
French  inscription.  Alexander  III, 
in  1249,  took  the  coronation  oath  in 
Latin  and  in  French.  Wallace, 
Bruce,  Comyu,  Baliol,  and  the 
Stewarts,  were  of  Norman  lineage. 

"•  Interesting  information  may  be 
found  in  Murray's  "  Dialect  of  the 
Southern  Counties  of  Scotland/'' 
Transactions  of  the  Philological 
Society,  1870,  part  II,  London, 
1873.  The  Scots  came  originally 
from  Ireland,  and  brought  their 


WYCLTFFE 


Then  from  the  dawn  it  seemed  there  came,  but  faint, 

As  from  beyond  the  limit  of  the  world, 

Like  the  last  echo  born  of  a  great  cry, 

Sounds,  as  if  some  fair  city  were  one  voice 

Around  a  king  returning  from  his  wars. 

Thereat  once  more  he  moved  about,  and  clomb 

E'en  to  the  highest  he  could  climb,  and  saw, 

Straining  his  eyes  beneath  an  arch  of  hand, 

Or  thought  he  saw,  the  speck  that  bare  the  king 

Down  that  long  water  opening  on  the  deep 

Somewhere  far  off,  pass  on  and  on,  and  go 

From  less  to  less  and  vanish  into  light, 

And  the  New  Sun  rose,  bringing  the  Xew  Year. 


CHAPTER    I. 


is  surely  every  reason  why  all  men  should  have 
the  Word  of  God  in  their  own  tongue  so  as  not  to  be  wholly 
dependent  on  oral  instruction.  For  the  Bible  contains  not 
only  the  seminal  truths  of  theology  and  those  higher  doctrines 
which  find  fitting  expression  in  service  and  worship,  but  it 
takes  up  the  relations,  duties,  and  trials  of  social  and  public 
life.  It  has  a  loving  edict  for  the  parent,  and  another  for 
the  child.  It  offers  a  word  to  the  master,  with  a  reciprocal 
word  to  the  servant  ;  and  it  contains  a  directory  for  the  hearth 
and  household.  It  breathes  promises  of  special  tenderness 
to  the  widow  and  orphan,  and  presents  indescribable  comfort 
and  hope  to  the  bereaved.  It  dwells  on  patience  and  humility, 
condescension  and  self-denial,  disinterested  love  and  unwearied 
beneficence,  as  charactei-istic  graces.  Buyer  and  seller  are  in 
cluded  in  its  equitable  precepts  ;  tilling,  sowing,  and  reaping 
find  a  place  among  its  allusions  ;  and  even  the  animals  yoked 
to  labour  are  not  forgotten  in  its  pervading  kindness.  It 
sanctions  the  sword  of  the  magistrate,  and  enjoins  the  "  quiet 
and  peaceable  "  life  of  the  citizen.  The  wages  of  the  soldier, 
the  hire  of  the  workman,  the  thirst  and  weariness  of  the 
traveller,  the  care  of  the  poor  and  the  stranger,  are  not  beneath 
its  notice.  The  maiden  is  wedded  with  its  blessing,  and  the 
grave  is  closed  under  its  comforting  assurances.  In  hallowing 
the  "  life  that  now  is,"  it  shows  the  pathway  to  "  that  which  is 
to  come."  In  the  entire  range  of  literature,  no  book  is  so  fre 
quently  quoted  or  referred  to.  The  text  of  no  ancient  author 
has  summoned  into  operation  such  an  amount  of  labour  ; 
and  it  has  furnished  occasion  for  the  most  masterly  examples 


;}S  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

of  criticism  and  comment.  The  fathers  of  the  first  centuries 
expounded  it,  and  the  divines  of  the  middle  ages  refined 
upon  its  statements.  It  whetted  the  penetration  of  Abelard, 
and  exercised  the  keenness  and  subtlety  of  Aquinas.  It  gave 
life  to  the  revival  of  letters,  and  Dante  and  Petrarch  revelled 
in  its  imagery.  Our  New  Testament  has  inspired  the  English 
muse  with  her  loftiest  strains.  It  does  effective  service  in 
many  of  the  dialogues  of  Shakespeare ;  its  beams  gladdened 
Milton  in  his  darkness,  and  cheered  the  soul  of  Cowper  in 
his  sadness.  Among  the  Christian  classics  it  opened  up 
spheres  of  thought  and  research  to  Ussher,  Jewel,  and  Lard- 
ner;  it  charged  the  fulness  of  Hooker,  barbed  the  point  of 
Baxter,  gave  colours  to  the  palette  and  sweep  to  the  pencil  of 
Bunyan,  and  enriched  the  fragrant  fancy  of  Taylor. 

The  Bible  is  thus  a  people's  book,  overshadowing  with  its 
authority  individuals,  households,  churches,  and  kingdoms ; 
including  in  its  jurisdiction  persons  of  every  rank,  age,  and 
calling,  from  birth  to  death  ;  telling  all  men  what  to  believe, 
what  to  obey,  arid  how  to  suffer ;  developing  a  nation's 
wealth  in  its  truest  form,  and  fostering  liberty  and  fraternity 
in  their  only  genuine  merit  and  meaning.  The  people  of 
this  country  were  naturally  very  glad  to  have  such  a  volume 
in  their  common  speech ;  and  when  they  got  any  fragment 
of  it  they  cherished  it  with  reverential  fondness,  and  in  days 
when  it  was  forbidden  to  have  it  or  read  it,  they  secreted 
it  with  jealous  care,  and  in  a  quiet  hour  took  it  from  its  con 
cealment  and  stealthily  pondered  over  it.  No  wonder  that  so 
many  men  and  women  suffered  all  penalties  rather  than  give 
it  up  or  confess  that  it  was  criminal  to  have  the  Psalter  or 
Gospels  in  their  "  own  tongue  wherein  they  were  born."  The 
man  therefore  who  first  gave  such  a  gift  in  its  integrity  to  his 
people  deserves  to  be  "  held  in  everlasting  remembrance." 

The  year  and  place  of  the  birth  of  John  of  Wycliff'e  cannot 
be  definitely  ascertained,  but  his  territorial  surname  was 
probably  taken  from  the  parish  of  his  birth,  in  the  vicinity 
of  Richmond,  Yorkshire.1  There  were  several  persons  who 

1  The  various  accounts  of  the  date  and  the  incidents  of  his  career,  may 
and  locality  of  the  Reformer's  birth,  be  found  in  the  various  chapters  of 


i.j  ACADEMIC  LIFE.  39 

bore  it :  a  William  de  Wycliffe,  one  of  the  fellows  of  Balliol, 
where  John  was  Master;  and  in  1363,  William  de  Wycliffe  was 
presented  by  a  John  de  Wycliffe  to  the  rectory  of  Wycliffe-on- 
Tees.  The  time  of  his  birth  also  can  only  be  conjectured. 
Probably  it  was  before  A.D.  1324.  Nor  do  we  know  when  ho 
entered  the  University  of  Oxford,  though  he  is  said  to  have 
been  enrolled  in  Queen's  College  in  the  very  year  of  its  founda 
tion.  But  this  date  of  1340,  commonly  assigned  as  the 
commencement  of  his  academic  life,  has  no  tangible  ground  of 
support.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  he  was  Master  of 
Balliol  in  1361.  On  the  4th  of  May  of  the  same  year,  he  was 
presented  by  his  College  to  the  rectory  of  Fylingham,  in 
Lincolnshire,  and  shortly  afterwards  he  went  to  reside  on  his 
living.  The  common  assertion  that  he  was,  in  December,  1365, 
appointed  Warden  of  Canterbury  Hall,  by  Archbishop  Islip 
its  founder,  rests  on  insufficient  evidence,  for  the  chronicles  are 
silent  about  it.  No  contemporary  mentions  it  but  Wodeford, 
and  Professor  Shirley  has  at  least  shaken  the  validity  of  his 
testimony.1  Besides,  the  Reformer  was  Doctor  by  1366  ; 
but  in  1365  the  Master  of  Canterbury  Hall  is  simply 
called  Master  of  Arts  in  his  deed  of  appointment.  Three 
years  afterwards  he  is  styled  Bachelor  of  Divinity  ;  while  the 
Reformer  had  been  a  Doctor  of  several  years'  standing  at  that 
period.  The  wardenship  of  Canterbury  Hall,  and  the  fellow 
ship  of  Merton  College,  may  therefore  belong  to  another  John 
Wycliffe,  or  Whyteclyve,  Vicar  of  Mayfield.  Islip,  according 
to  Archbishop  Parker,  intended  to  invest  his  hall  with  the 

his  life,  as  written  by  Lewis,  Lou-  spelt  iu  several  ways,  the  commoner 

don,     1720;      Gilpin,     Do.,     1766;  forms  being  Wiclif  and  Wyclif. 

Vaughan,    Do.,    1828,     1831  ;    and  :  Introduction  to  his  edition  of  the 

in   a    Monograph,    1853;     Le    Bas,  Fasciculi   Zizauiorum   Magistri   Jo- 

1832  ;   Baber  in  his  Preface  to  his  hannis  Wiclif  cum  tritico,  ascribed 

edition  of  the  New  Testament,  1810;  to  Thomas  Netter  of  Walden,  pub- 

and  Lechler's  Johannes  von  Wiclif,  lished   under  the    direction   of   the 

Leipzig,  1873.     Interesting  iuforma-  Master  of  the  Eolls,  London,  1858. 

tion  on  these  and  other  points  may  There  are  also  able  articles  on  Wy- 

be  found  in  Forshall  and  Madden's  cliffism  by  Lewald  and  Lechler,  in 

edition  of  the  Wycliffite  Versions.  Neidner's  Zeitschrift,  1846-47-53. 
Oxford,   1850.     The   name  itself  is 


40  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

patronage  of  Mayfield  ;  and  from  Mayfield  the  deed  of  appoint 
ment  to  the  wardenship  is  dated.1  Prior  to  1367  Wycliffe  had 
become  one  of  the  royal  chaplains  to  Edward  III,  and  in 
November,  1368,  he  exchanged  his  first  living  of  Fylingham 
for  that  of  Ludgershall  in  Buckinghamshire,  being  presented  to 
it  by  Sir  John  Pavely,  Prior  of  the  Knights  Hospitallers  of  St. 
John.  In  1374  he  was  preferred  by  the  king  to  the  rectory 
of  Lutterworth,  and  in  this  parish  he  laboured  till  his  death. 
He  was  also,  on  the  6th  of  November,  1375,  confirmed  by  the 
crown  in  the  prebend  of  Aust  in  the  collegiate  church  of 
"Westbury ;  but  in  the  same  month  he  resigned  the  appointment. 
It  would  seem  that  at  several  periods  in  1363-4,  1374-5,  and 
1380,  Wycliffe  rented  rooms  in  Queen's  College,  and  that  he 
often  preached  before  the  University.  He  was  never,  in  the 
modern  sense,  a  professor  of  divinity,  though  the  statement  has 
been  often  made ;  but  as  the  degree  of  Doctor  conferred  the 
privilege  of  lecturing,  the  title  in  Latin  being  Sacrce  Theologian 
Professor,  he  certainly  availed  himself  of  his  academic  position 
in  the  first  theological  school  of  Europe  to  expound  and  en 
force  his  views.  The  "word  of  the  Lord  was  as  a  fire  in  his 
bones,"  and  he  "could  not  refrain."  His  terseness  and  earnest 
ness  were  irresistible ;  his  power  and  popularity  produced 
abundant  fruit.  Any  detailed  account  of  his  doctrines,  or  of 
the  various  charges  and  prosecutions  to  which  they  led,  is  not 
necessary  to  our  present  purpose.  His  firm  and  avowed 
resistance  to  the  Romish  usurpation,  to  its  tyrannous  policy, 
its  crooked  diplomacy,  and  its  unscriptural  theology,  so  edged 
and  animated  his  sermons,  speeches,  and  publications,  both  in 
Latin  and  English,  that  he  could  not  be  overlooked  ;  for  he 
had  not  spoken  in  honeyed  words  or  in  whispered  rebuke, 
and  his  honest,  patriotic  wrath  had  boiled  over  in  racy  and 
unsparing  denunciation.  Though  he  was  a  realist,  he  had 
ventured  to  impugn  the  central  tenet  of  transubstantiation, 
affirming  that  the  body  of  the  Lord  is  spiritually  or  sacra- 

1  On  this  point  of  the  wardeuship  Wycliffes,  Dean  Milman  remained  in 

the  evidence  is  not  perfectly  satisfac-  doubt,  but  Dr.  Vaughan  held  with- 

factory.    Dean  Hook  accepts  at  once  out  hesitation  to  the  common  opinion. 

Professor    Shirley's   theory   of  two  Monograph,  c.  iii,  pp.  42-63. 


I.] 


DEATH  FROM  PARALYSIS. 


41 


mentally  present,  though  the  elements  of  bread  and  wine  remain 
unchanged.  At  length,  after  being  arraigned  several  times,  his 
doctrines  were  formally  condemned,  and  the  Reformer,  who  had 
experienced  the  fickleness  of  princes,  for  his  patron,  John  of 
Gaunt,1  had  deserted  him  in  the  crisis,  felt  it  necessary  to 
withdraw  finally  from  Oxford  to  his  parish  of  Lutterworth, 
where  he  spent  the  last  two  years  of  his  life.  Though,  accord 
ing  to  Dr.  Gascoigne,2  his  health  had  already  been  broken  by 
incipient  paralysis,  his  literary  industry  was  still  incessant, 
and  many  of  his  works,  including  his  noted  Trialogus,  were 
published  during  this  interval.  But  his  fertile  brain  sunk  at 
length  under  the  intense  and  continuous  pressure.  On  the 
29th  of  December,  1384,  as  he  was  officiating  at  mass,  he 
was  struck  with  palsy,  and  he  died  on  the  last  day  of  the 
year.3 

The  literary  works  of  "Wycliffe — the  longer  ones  in  Latin 
which  spoke  to  the  educated  mind  of  Europe,  and  the  shorter 
ones  in  English  — are  very  numerous ;  and  Professor  Shirley's 


1  At  his  trial  in  St.  Paul's,  before 
Courtenay,  then  Bishop  of  London, 
he  was  befriended,  with  some  bra 
vado,  by  John  of  Gaunt,  and  the 
Earl     Marshal    Lord    Percy,     the 
father    of    Hotspur.      The    further 
procedure     of      another     trial     at 
Lambeth    was    forbidden    by    Sir 
Lewis    Clifford,    in    name    of    the 
Dowager  Princess  of  Wales,  grand 
daughter  of  Edward    I,   and    now 
widow    of    the   Black   Prince    and 
mother  of  the  reigning  king.     Her 
first  husband  had  been  the  Earl  of 
Kent,   and  the    eldest    brother    of 
Courteuay  had  married   her  sister. 
Courtenay  himself  was  the  fourth 
son    of    the   Earl    of    Devon,     his 
mother,    Margaret  de   Bohun,   also 
being    a    grand-daughter    of     Ed 
ward  I. 

2  Cotton  MSS.,  Otho  14,  British 


Museum.  He  had  declined  on  ac 
count  of  physical  debility  to  obey  a 
summons  from  Urban  VI  to  appear 
at  Rome. 

3  "  In  the  ninth  yere  of  this  kyng, 
John  Wiclif,  the  orgon  of  the  devel, 
the  enmy  of  the  Cherch,  the  confu 
sion  of  men,  the  ydol  of  heresie,  the 
meroure  of  ypocrisie.  the  norischer 
of  scisme,  be  the  rithful  dome  of 
God,  was  smefc  with  a  horibil 
paralsie  threwoute  his  body."  "Wal- 
siugham,  Hist.  Angl.,  p.  119,  ed. 
by  Henry  F.  Eiley,  Rolls  ed.  Ac 
cording  to  Capgrave,  this  "rightful 
doom  of  God  "  was  very  visible,  for 
he  was  smitten  on  the  day  of  St. 
Thomas  (Becket),  and  he  died  on 
that  of  St.  Silvester,  and  both  saints 
he  had  treated  with  unbelieving 
scorn.  Chronicle,  p.  240,  edited  by 
H.  C.  Hingeston,  Rolls  ed.,  1858. 


42  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

catalogue,  of  more  than  sixty  octavo  pages,  does  not  contain 
nearly  the  whole  of  them.  There  are  many  copies  in  the 
British  Museum,  in  the  University  Libraries  of  Oxford,  Cam 
bridge,  and  Dublin,  in  the  library  of  Lambeth  Palace,  in 
the  Chapter  Library  at  Prague,  and  very  many  in  the 
Imperial  Library  of  Vienna.  Many  productions  have  been 
wrongly  ascribed  to  him  ;  and  the  genuineness  of  what  is  called 
his  first  work,  "  The  Last  Age  of  the  Church,"  is  liable  to  very 
grave  suspicions.  The  extreme  form  in  which  he  expressed 
some  of  his  opinions  might  tend  to  mislead  the  unwary,  who 
might  not  trace  his  own  fences,  or  follow  out  his  own  distinc 
tions.  Though  he  was  the  most  popular  writer  in  Europe,  ho 
was  often  obliged  to  explain  himself.  "  Many  lewd  opinions 
or  misconceptions  were  fathered  upon  him,"  while  men  like 
Melanchthon  misunderstood  both  his  politics  and  his  theology.1 
But  our  immediate  concern  is  not  with  'Wycliffe's  general 
works,  nor  with  the  harmony  of  his  views,  nor  the  consistency 
of  his  own  acting  with  his  avowed  opinions.  These  things 
belong  to  a  history  of  the  period.  Collier,  Milner,  Lewis,  Le 
Bas,  Lingard,  Gilpin,  Massingberd,  Vaughan,  and  Lechler  will 
be  found  to  differ  widely  in  their  estimate  of  the  Reformer's 
deeds  and  doctrines. 

Three  epochs  may  be  noted  in  Wycliffe's  life : — the  first 
during  which  he  published  logical,  physical,  and  philosophical 
treatises.  The  second  is  marked  by  his  works  as  a  reformer, 
given  more  to  destruction  than  re-organization.  The  third 
is  distinguished  by  productions  specially  polemical ;  and, 
indeed,  in  the  preface  to  the  "  De  Dominio  Divino  "  he  indi 
cates  his  intention  of  devoting  the  rest  of  his  time  and  labour 
to  theology.  Professor  Shirley  says,  "This  preface  seems  to 
me  the  true  epoch  of  the  beginning  of  the  English  Reforma 
tion,"  Wycliffe  translated  many  verses  and  clauses  for  his 

1  Luther  refers  to  him  as  spitzigen  tion,  and  insinuates  that  "  it  is  not 

Wycleff;  and  after  admitting  Inspexi  to    be   wondered    at   that    he   who 

]Yiylcphum  ta?ifr«ji,Melaiichthon  ac-  maintained   that   tithes   were   mere 

cuses     him     of     not    believing     or  alms "  should  be  accused  of  support- 

holdiug  the  righteousness  of  faith,  ing  Tyler  and  Straw.    Church  Hist., 

Miluer  virtually  accepts  the  accusa-  vol.  v,  pp.  120-130. 


i.]  WYCLIFFE  AXD   CHAUCER.  43 

"English1  Tracts";  and  such  renderings  made  by  him  for  an 
immediate  end  differ  often  from  his  formal  translation.  Others, 
to  serve  a  similar  purpose,  must  have  done  the  same — trans 
lated  for  themselves.  Thus  Chaucer,  in  his  "Parson's  Tale," 
rendered  for  himself;  and  the  majority  of  more  than  ninety  of 
his  quotations  bear  no  resemblance  to  Wycliffe's  version,  though 
a  few  have  the  unavoidable  similitude  of  two  versions  of  the 
same  easy  Latin. 

1  It  is  one  of  the  charges  of  Poly-  he  wrote  English  ones  also.  "Com- 
dore  Vergil  against  him  that,  not  mentarios  patria  lingua  couscriptos 
content  with  writing  Latin  tracts,  fecit."  Hist.  Anglios,  lib.  19. 


CHAPTER    II. 


TYTYCLIFFE  na(j  alwavs  valued  Scripture  far  above  tradition 
and  ecclesiastical  authority.  He  had  been  in  alliance  with 
it  during  all  his  public  career,  as  he  had  found  in  it  the  basis  of 
his  arguments  and  the  edge  and  power  of  his  rebukes.  He  had 
written  several  works  on  the  Gospels,  and  he  had  expounded 
other  sections  of  the  New  Testament,  especially  the  Apocalypse, 
a  book  which  sounded  like  a  trumpet  peal  in  those  days  of 
plague,  when  Death  on  the  pale  horse  seemed  to  be  careering 
through  the  land.  His  prelections,  sermons,  and  tracts  had 
ever  brought  him  into  connection  with  Scripture,  which  he — 
as  we  have  just  said — translated  on  quoting  it.  At  length, 
from  these  perpetual  fractional  renderings,  there  naturally  rose 
up  before  his  mind  the  project  of  preparing  a  full  translation, 
and  if  the  project  were  challenged,  he  had  but  to  reply,  Why 
should  not  every  man's  guide  be  in  every  man's  hand  ?  Before 
1378,  he  does  not  distinctly  dwell  on  the  duty  of  giving  to 
his  age  an  English  Bible,  but  after  that  year  there  are  in  his 
writings  allusions  which  imply  that  the  idea  was  growing  to 
be  a  fixed  and  familiar  one.  About  the  period  of  his  retire 
ment  from  Oxford  in  1381,  the  enterprise  involving  issues  so 
momentous  had  been  begun,  the  portions  translated  being  put 
into  immediate  circulation.  A  review  of  his  past  services,  with 
their  difficulties,  dangers,  and  obstacles ;  a  survey  of  the  civil 
and  ecclesiastical  condition  of  the  country ;  and  a  prophetic 
anticipation  of  the  benefits  to  be  derived  from  an  unfettered 
national  Bible,  strengthened  him  in  his  purpose,  and  enabled 
him  to  carry  it  through  before  his  death.  The  mind  of 
Wycliffe  was  thus  drawn  by  many  concurrent  influences  to 


PAPAL   CAPACITY.  45 

the  work  of  translation ;   and  his  translated  Scriptures    met, 
and  were  intended  to  meet,  the  great  want  of  his  time.1 

And,  first,  several  forms  of  agitation  and  conflict  were  tending 
to  unsettle  old  traditional  opinions  and  beliefs,  and  many 
inquirers  were  longing  for  the  possession  of  the  written  Verity 
in  the  language  of  their  own  day.  For  the  age  of  Wycliffe 
was  one  of  great  excitement ;  and  the  papal  supremacy  as  a 
foreign  usurpation  had  begun  to  encounter  stout  resistance. 
From  the  days  of  the  weak  King  John,  and  during  the  long 
reign  of  his  son,  Henry  III,  whom  Dante  has  put  into 
his  purgatory  as  an  idiot  or  simpleton,  the  Popes  had 
been  trafficking  largely  in  English  benefices.  Strangers 
held  rich  livings  and  did  no  duty,  as  they  were  either 
ignorant  of  the  language  or  were  absentees,  so  that,  besides 
the  payment  of  Peter's  pence,  large  sums  were  sent  abroad 
to  papal  courtiers  and  dependents,  who  plundered  the  country 
with  unwearying  and  unsatisfied  rapacity.  In  wantonness  of 
power,  Pope  Innocent  IV  had  commanded  Grosseteste,2  Bishop 
of  Lincoln,  to  induct  his  nephew,  Di  Lavagna,  into  one  of 
his  canonries,  "any  statute  of  the  church  notwithstanding." 
Pope  Honorius  asked  a  living  to  be  given  to  a  man  who  was 
deacon  of  Thessalonica,  and  insisted  that  two  prebends  in 
every  cathedral  should  be  held  in  perpetuity  by  his  nominees. 
The  deanery  of  Salisbury  was  held  by  the  Cardinal  of  St. 
Prassede,  that  of  Lichfield  by  the  Cardinal  of  St.  Sabina,  and 
that  of  York  by  the  Cardinal  of  St.  Angelo,  as  if  "  God  had  given 
his  sheep  not  to  be  pastured,  but  to  be  shaven  and  shorn." 
These  are  but  samples  of  the  papal  love  of  gold  and  power, 
taken  from  a  return  presented  to  the  crown  of  benefices  held 
by  aliens.  But,  in  1366,  Edward  III  and  his  parliament 
had  refused  to  pay  the  Italian  Pontiff,  Urban  V,  the  annual 

1  It  is  notable  that  at  this  time  Grosseteste's  Epistolse,  p.  432,  Rolls 
various  attempts  toward  a  transla-  ed.     His  friend,  Adani  de  Marisco, 
tion  were  made  by  different  parties,  praises   the     letter    as    "  powerful, 
Forshall   &   Madden's    preface,   pp.  fearless,  prudent,  and  eloquent";  but 
xi-xiv.  the  Pope,  on  receiving  it,  stormed  at 

2  The  letter  of  the  Pope,  making  the  writer  of  it  .as  insane — surdus  et 
the  request,  and  Grosseteste's  "bitter  absurdus.     Ibid.,  p.  Ixxx. 

pistle "  of  refusal    may  be  seen  in 


46  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

tribute,  which  had  not  been  sent  to  Rome  for  a  considerable 
period.  The  arrears  had  now  swelled  to  a  large  amount,1  and 
the  Reformer,  as  one  of  the  royal  chaplains,  supported  the  refusal 
in  A  terse  and  telling  tract,  written  under  the  form  of  a  report  of 
a  parliamentary  debate.2  There  had  been  also  the  seventy 
years'  captivity — from  1305  to  137G — from  Clement  V  to 
Gregory  XI,  and  there  ensued,  in  1378,  the  great  schism — one 
Pope  at  Rome  and  the  other  at  Avignon,  tossing  curses  at  each 
other;3  the  boast  of  one  living  head  and  vicar  disappearing 
in  storm  and  recrimination.  The  mitred  rivals  preached 
crusades  against  one  another,  and  prepared  to  decide  by  an 
appeal  to  arms  which  was  the  true  representative  of  the 
Prince  of  Peace.  In  defence  of  the  claims  of  the  Pope  at 
Rome,  Spencer  the  warlike  bishop  of  Norwich,4  actually  sailed 
with  an  army  across  the  Channel,  and  massacred  the  population 
of  Gravelines,  so  that  "not  even  an  infant  remained  alive." 
Four  thousand  Flemings  were  also  murdered  at  Dunkirk.  In 
dulgences  were  promised  to  all  that  joined  his  ranks,  and  to 
all  who  contributed  to  the  expense  of  the  expedition,  which 
miserably  failed.  Wycliffe  took  up  such  a  public  scandal, 
saying,  "Antichrist  puts  many  thousand  lives  in  danger  for 

1  That  the  Pope  derived  from  Eiig-     in     Foxe,    II,     p.      587,     London, 
land   every  year  a  sum  five   times     1837. 

larger  than  the  royal  revenue,  may  3  England  held  by  Urban,  the  Pope 

be  inferred  from  the  address  of  the  at  Rome  ;  and,  of  course,  Scotland 

"  good  parliament "  in  1376,  the  de-  held  by  his  rival  Clement,  at  Avig- 

cisions   of    that  parliament  having  non. 

been  guided  by  "  Lord  Edward  the  4  Eymer,  Fcedera,  VII,  41.     Speii- 

Prince,   who  gave   them    his  conn-  cer,  or  le  Despencer,  figures  among 

sel  and  aid  effectually."     Longman's  the  illustrious  Henrys  in  Capgrave's 

History  of  Edward  III,  vol.  II,  p.  volume.      He  first  tasted  blood  at 

249.    On  the  rapacity  of  the  Cardinal  the  time  of  Wat   Tyler's  uprising, 

of  St.  Prassede,  when  he  was  011  a  He  had  "  the  zeal  of  Phinehas,"  and, 

special  embassy  in  England,  see  Mil-  having    seized   three    depredators — 

man,  vol.  VIII,  p.  184.     Higden  and  Sceth,  Trunch,aud  Cubith — he,  with- 

Fabyan  ascribe  the  rapid  spread  of  out  any  trial,  had  them  executed, 

Wycliffe's  opinions    to    the    schism  confessos    fecit   decollari.     Jek    Lit- 

which  the  English  parliament  called  ster,  a  ringleader,  shared  the  same 

"  damnable."  fate.    De    Illust.    Henricis,   p.    171, 

2  The   document    may   be    found  Rolls  ed. 


n.]  MENDICANT  ORDERS.  47 

his  own  wretched  life.  Why,  is  he  not  a  fiend  stained  foul 
with  homicide  who,  though  a  priest,  fights  in  such  a  cause  ? " 

The  Pope,  in  spite  of  English  law,  was  still  disposing  of 
ecclesiastical  preferments  in  England;  and  WyclifFe  was  sent 
in  1375,  on  a  royal  commission  to  meet  the  papal  nuncio  at 
Bruges — the  other  delegates  being  the  Earl  of  Salisbury,  Sucl- 
bury,  Bishop  of  London,  and  John  of  Gaunt,  Duke  of  Lancaster.1 
After  long  deliberation  a  compromise,  or  rather  a  suspension 
of  hostilities,  was  agreed  to  ;  but  the  statutes  of  Provisors  and 
Prsemunire,  to  the  violation  of  which  penalties  increasing  in 
severity  had  from  time  to  time  been  annexed,  still  remained  in 
force. 

Now,  the  freedom  of  the  church,  the  kingdom,  and  the 
individual  conscience  from  all  foreign  control  was  a  first  prin 
ciple  in  WyclifFe's  patriotism ;  and  he  felt  that  the  possession 
and  study  of  Scripture  formed  the  truest  charter  and  safeguard 
of  national  and  ecclesiastical  independence.  Therefore  he  re 
solved  to  put  the  English  Bible  into  the  hands  of  the  English 
people ;  and  its  rapid  circulation  showed  that  many  good  and 
true  spirits  were  ready  to  give  it  cordial  welcome. 

At  the  same  time  the  Mendicant  Orders  which  had  been  estab 
lished  to  repress  evils,  that  neither  church  nor  cloister  seemed 
able  to  cope  with,  had  fallen  into  gross  degeneracy.  They  had 
become  so  numerous  and  so  violent  as  to  draw  upon  them  the 
reprobation  of  the  working  clergy,  whom  they  were  supplant 
ing  by  their  easier  and  cheaper  terms  of  confession  and  penance  ; 
and  the  University  of  Oxford  had  risen  in  rage  against  them, 
for  they  had  striven  hard  to  monopolize  the  education  of  young 
men ; 2  and  endeavoured  to  maintain  an  independent  and 
separate  jurisdiction  which  infringed  or  superseded  the  statutes. 
They  had  so  thwarted  and  opposed  the  academic  authorities, 

1  The    Exchequer    accounts   show  and  that  this  included  the  expenses 

that  Wycliffe  was  absent  from  the  of  the  journey. 

country  less  than  two  months —  2  Of  these  four  Orders  the  Domini- 
from  27th  July  to  14th  September  cans  or  Blackfriars  came  to  England 
— that  he  was  paid  at  the  rate  of  in  1212,  the  Franciscans  or  Grey- 
twenty  shillings  a  day;  that  the  friars  in  1224,  the  Carmelites  or 
total  money  paid  him  was  £52, 2s.  3d.,  Whitefriars  in  1250,  and  the  Augus- 
a  considerable  sum  in  present  value,  tines  in  1252. 


48  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

that  the  number  of  students  had  dwindled  down  to  0,000  ; 
while  according  to  Wood,1  there  had  been  30,000  in  the  days  of 
Henry  III.  Parents  alarmed  at  the  risk  to  which  their  sons 
were  exposed,  refused  to  send  them  to  college.  Convoca 
tion  had  been  obliged  to  pass  an  Act,  declaring  that  no  youth 
should  be  admitted  into  the  Order  of  Friars  under  eighteen 
years  of  age.  Wycliffe  on  behalf  of  his  AJma  Mater,  threw 
himself  into  the  contest  with  such  skill,  learning,  and  energy  as 
to  confound  his  antagonists.  But  over  and  above  his  own 
assaults,  and  the  satirical  scourgings  of  Chaucer  and  Langland,2 
Wycliffe  felt  that  the  most  effectual  exposure  of  these  cunning 
and  covetous  itinerants  and  "  pardoners  "  lay  in  presenting  to 
the  people,  in  their  own  tongue,  the  life  and  acts  of  our  blessed 
Lord  and  His  Apostles — the  true  patterns  of  all  evangelical 
labour  and  self-denial. 

Again,  the  ominous  and  alarming  condition  of  both  the  state 
and  church  must  have  filled  Wycliffe  with  profound  anxiety. 
At  one  period  of  Edward's  splendid  reign,  three  foreign  sovereigns 
did  him  homage.  The  king  of  France  and  the  king  of  Scotland 
had  been  carried  to  London  as  prisoners,  and  the  king  of  Cyprus 
was  imploring  help.  Cressy  had  been  fought  in  1346,  and  the 
imperial  crown  had,  in  1347,  been  offered  to  him.  Commerce 
had  nourished,  while  conquests  had  been  gained.  But  the 
glory  of  the  earlier  part  of  his  reign  had  passed  into  eclipse. 
His  allies  forsook  him,  and  there  were  great  military  reverses 

1  The    statement     is     made     by  "  Langland's     Vision      of      Piers 

Armachanus  (Richard  Fitzralph   of  Plowman      (1362)    was    edited     by 

Armagh,     the     Primate)     and     by  Skeat   for  the  Early  English  Text 

Gascon,  once  Chancellor  of  Oxford,  Society,     London,    1867.      Another 

who  referred   for   its   truth   to   the  poem    by    a    different   author,    and 

"rolls  of  the  Old  Chancellors."     In  somewhat   later  date   (1394),  Piers 

his  exposui-e  of  the  Friars,  Wycliffe  Plowman's    Crede,    flagellates      the 

had  been    preceded    by    Fitzralph,  religious   orders  with   still    greater 

who  delivered  an  "  Apology  "  against  severity.    Edited  also  by  Skeat  for 

them  to  the  Pope  at  Avignon,  1352,  the    Early    English    Text    Society, 

alluded     to     by     Wycliffe     in    his  London,   1867.      See    also    William 

Trial ogus,  and  he  preached  also  in  Langland,  a    grammatical   treatise, 

London    on   the   subject.     Died   at  by  Emil  Bernard,  Bonn,  1874. 
Avk'non  in  13GO. 


ii.]  THE  BLACK  DEATH.  49 

in  France.  He  had  been  saluted  by  his  people  and  by  "  all 
countries  "  as  king  of  the  sea  ;  but  his  navy,  which  had  achieved 
such  renown  off  the  Sluys  in  1340,andoff  Winchelseain  1350,  had 
perished.  There  were  also  growing  complaints  of  domestic 
confusion ;  the  Black  Prince,  the  hope  of  the  nation,  had  died  in 
137G;  and  the  king,  sinking  into  premature  dotage,  had 
become  the  victim  of  a  rapacious  and  shameless  concubine. 
Patriotic  men  felt  sad  misgivings,  and  were  alarmed  for  the 
stability  of  the  realm  amidst  the  animosity  of  contending 
factions,  for  the  Duke  of  Lancaster  was  filled  with  rancorous 
and  all  but  unaccountable  enmity  to  William  of  Wykeham. 
The  hierarchy  were  engaged  in  statecraft  and  diplomacy,  and 
the  wealth  and  splendour  of  churchmen  had  passed  into  a 
proverb.  The  relation  of  the  peasants  to  the  land  had  grown 
wholly  unsettled,  the  industrial  classes  were  being  pressed 
down  into  pauperism,  and  new  social  laws,  worse  than  the 
statute  of  "  Labourers,"  were  sharply  grinding  the  "  faces  of  the 
poor,"  and  subjecting  not  only  the  peasants,  but  "  artificers 
and  people  of  mysteries  "  to  annoying  restrictions  as  to  work 
and  wages.  The  downtrodden  masses  had  found  an  exponent 
in  Langland's  "  Vision  of  Piers  the  Plowman."  The  poet 
was  very  loyal  himself,  but  his  verses  told  the  peasant's  sense 
of  many  wrongs  in  the  peasant's  own  tongue,  gave  voice  to 
the  thoughts  of  myriads  writhing  under  misrule,  and  com 
bined  their  fragmentary  utterances  into  one  prolonged 
denunciation.1 

The  Black  Death  or  pestilence,  which  had  appeared  first  at 
Dorchester  in  1348,  and  swept  over  the  country  during  the 
next  year  and  a  half,  had  returned  in  13G1, 1369,  and  137o.  The 
first  outbreak  of  the  epidemic  had  carried  off  half  of  the  popula 
tion,  two  millions  and  a  half  out  of  five  millions,  the  mortality, 
being  greatest  among  the  poor  or  lower  orders,  or,  as  the  record 
of  the  king  and  council  calls  them,  "  workmen  and  servants." 
While  land  at  once  fell  in  value,  labour  rose  in  price,  and 

1  Langland,  a  secular  priest,  of  Reformer's  honesty  and  boldness, 
the  West  of  England,  belonged  to  and  the  ring  of  Caedmon's  allitera- 
n  period  somewhat  earlier  than  tive  metres  is  often  felt  in  his 
Wycliffe,  but  he  was  filled  with  the  verses. 

VOL.  I.  D 


50  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

the  numerous  efforts  of  the  legislature  to  neutralize  this 
inevitable  result  were  fruitless,  for  no  power  can  repeal  the 
divine  law  which  regulates  supply  and  demand.  Wages  were 
in  this  way  thrown  into  disorder,  and  capital  and  labour  came 
into  collision.  In  defiance  of  feudal  law,  labourers  left  their  lord's 
soil  and  took  refuge  in  the  towns  ;  many  of  the  serfs  detached 
from  the  land  became  paupers,  and  there  was  a  great  increase  of 
"  valiant  beggars  and  vagabonds."  Serfdom  was  everywhere, 
the  "  villeins  regardant  "  passing  to  a  new  owner,  like  the  trees 
on  the  estate,  and  villeins  "in  gross"  being  liable  to  be  sold  off 
the  property  like  the  cattle  reared  upon  it.1  Discontent  and 
poverty  so  naturally  created,  at  once  and  fiercely  traced  them 
selves  to  misgovernment  and  class  legislation.  In  1377,  the 
last  year  of  the  reign  of  Edward  III,  a  poll-tax  of  fourpence 
had  been  exacted  from  all  persons,  both  males  and  females, 
above  fourteen  years  of  age ;  and  in  1379  another  similar  tax 
had  been  imposed  with  a  scheme  of  graduation.  But  the  last 
grievance  of  a  third  poll  tax,  mercilessly  enforced,  led,  in  1380, 
to  a  terrible  uprising,  headed  by  Wat  Tyler.2  If  "  oppression 
makes  a  wise  man  mad,"  it  cannot  but  infuriate  such  as  have 
no  pretension  to  the  possession  of  wisdom,  or  of  any  acquaintance 
with  political  economy.  Struggling  for  freedom,  these  rebels 
blundered  into  communism,  and  advocated  the  abolition  of 
•social  ranks  and  distinctions,  so  that  those  above  them  should  be 
cast  down  by  force  to  their  own  low  level.3  After  the  revolt  had 
been  quenched,  the  executions  or  legal  murders  of  the  poor 
fugitives  ordered  by  Chief  Justice  Tressylian,  in  various  parts 
of  the  country,  amounted  to  1,500.4  As  the  causes  of  the 

1  Act     12     Richard      II,    c.     4,     seized    by    them,   and    barbarously 
complains    that    servants    will    not     murdered. 

work  "  without  outrageous  and  ex-  3  A  good  account  of  the  causes  of 

cessive     hire."      See     Pashley     on  the  revolt  will  be  found  in  Cartwright's 

Pauperism,  p.  163  ;  Eden's  State  of  Life  of  Gustave  Bergenroth,  Edin- 

the  Poor,  vol.  I,  p.  42.  burgh,  1870  ;  also  in  Creasy's  History 

2  Archbishop     Sudbury,   who,    as  of  England,  vol.  II,  chap.  iv. 
Chancellor,  had  carried  the  obnoxi-  4  Under  Lord  Chancellor  Arundel, 
ous  tax  through    Parliament,    and  Tressylian  himself  was,  on  a  charge 
who  had    scornfully  called    the  in-  of   treason,    hanged   at    Tyburn   in 
surgents     "shoeless     ribalds,"    was  1388. 


ii.]  WAT  TYLEfi'S  REVOLT.  51 

insurrection  had  been  deeply  seated  and  long  felt,  and  the 
movement  was  so  widely  spread,  it  was  not  easily  or  at  once 
suppressed.  The  serpent  in  its  agony  had  turned  round  and 
bitten  the  heel  that  was  heavily  treading  on  its  neck.  After 
the  convulsion,  Parliament  resolved  that  it  would  not  liberate 
the  villeins,  even  though  the  refusal  should  lead  to  its  own 
destruction ;  and  it  sanctioned  the  king's  revocation  of  all  the 
promises  which  he  had  solemnly  made  to  the  victors  during 
their  brief  hour  of  supremacy. 

But  there  is  no  proof  that  Wycliffe's  teaching,  or  his  Bible,  was 
connected  with  the  tumult,  though  the  accusation  has  been 
often  made  against  him,  as  by  Harpsfeld  (Alanus  Copus1) 
and  by  Lingard.2  The  charge  was  repeated  down  to  the  time 
of  Tyndale.3  "They  said  it  in  Wycliffe's  times,  and  the  hypocrites 
say  now  likewise,  that  God's  word  causeth  insurrection."  The 
judges  who  tried  the  rebels  never  blamed  Wycliffe ;  his 
patron,  the  Duke  of  Lancaster,  was  the  object  of  popular 
vengeance.  His  palace  was  burned,  and  when  the  insurgents 
swore  fidelity  to  the  sovereign,  they  took  an  oath  against 
accepting  any  king  whose  name  was  John,  referring  to  John  of 
Gaunt  who  was  suspected  of  aspiring  to  the  crown.4  Wycliffe's 
bitter  opponents  Walsingham  and  Knighton  are  silent  on  the 
point,  though  they  were  anxious  to  heap  all  kinds  of  accusa 
tions  on  his  head.  Walsingham  ascribes  the  revolt  to  the 
Mendicant  orders,  to  the  guilt  of  the  prelates  in  not  persecuting 
the  new  heresy,  to  the  bad  lives  and  atheistical  principles  of 
the  lords  and  their  tyranny  over  the  commonalty,  and  to  the 
general  depravity  of  the  people.  Nay,  he  says  that  a  leader  of 
the  rebels  admitted  that  the  object  of  their  attempt  to  over 
throw  the  hierarchy  was  to  establish  the  Mendicant  orders  in 
their  room  ;  and  certainly  Jack  Straw,  one  of  the  foremost 

1  Fuller's    Church  History,  vol.  I,  4  The  birth  name  of    Eobert  III 
p.  454.  of  Scotland   was  John,  and  it  had 

2  History,  vol.  Ill,  p.  143.  to    be    changed    on    his    accession. 

3  Preface  to  the  Exposition  of  St.  John  Baliol,  John  of  England,  and 
John,       p.     225,     Parker      Society  John    of    France     were    not   easily 
edition  ;     Forshall     and     Madden,  forgotten. 

preface  to  Wycliffe,  p.  15. 


•52  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

demagogues,  made  such  a  confession  before  his  execution.1 
With  such  a  project  certainly  Wycliffe  could  have  no 
sympathy.  John  Ball,  the  priest  orator  among  the  insurgents, 
is  stigmatized  by  Knighton  as  "the  forerunner  of  Wycliffe," 
thus  absolving  the  latter  from  all  participation,  direct  or  indirect, 
in  the  revolt.2  Wycliffe  in  fact,  as  being  a  royal  chaplain, "  stand 
ing  on  a  peculiar  footing"  with  the  crown,  and  from  his 
relationship  to  John  of  Gaunt,  belonged  to  the  very  class 
against  which  the  malcontents  had  risen ;  and  any  resort  to 
arms  in  order  to  redress  wrongs,  the  Reformer  steadily  discour 
aged.  The  "  moral  Gower,"  s  who  was  both  a  Kentish  squire 
and  a  beneficed  layman,  has,  in  his  poem  Vox  Clamantis* 
depicted,  both  simply  and  in  allegory,  the  character  of  the  ring 
leaders  and  of  the  mob,  but  he  makes  no  allusion  to  Wycliffe, 
and  yet  he  exposes  the  vices  of  the  clergy  with  earnest 
severity.  He  thus  photographs  Ball — 

"  Ball  was  the  preacher,  the  prophet,  the  teaclier, 

Inspired  by  a  spirit  of  bell, 
And  every  fool  was  advanced  in  his  school, 
To  be  taught  as  the  devil  thought  well." 

Froissart,  in  his  minute  history  of  the  insurrection,  does 
not  associate  Wycliffe  with  it  in  any  way,  the  chief  motive 
ascribed  by  him  to  the  armed  mob  being  the  plunder  of 
the  wealthy,  and  the  destruction  of  all  muniments  and 

1  The   attainder  of    Jack    Straw,  the  Duke  of  Lancaster,  the  head  of 
•'the  priest  of  the  men  of  Essex,"  the  four  orders  of  Mendicants  com- 
aud  of  Wat  Tyler,  John  Hancach,  and  plains  of  Hereford  and  others,  as  not 
Robert   Phipp,  may  "be  found  in  3  only  stirring  up  the  insurrection,  but 
Eot.  Parl.  175,  1385.,  as  laying  the  blame  of  it  on  those 

2  Veluti  Christus  Johannem  bap-  orders  themselves."   Walden,  p.  292, 
tistam.       Kiiightoirs     Hist.     Angl.  ed.  Shirley. 

Script.,  torn.   II,  p.  2644.      AValden  3  Gower  died  in  1408,  an  old  and 

describes  the   "Wycliffite   heresy   as  blind  man,  in  the  religious  house  of 

fomenting   dissensions    everywhere,  St.  Mary  Overies,  Southwark. 

but  does  not  charge  it  with  being  4  Edited  by   H.    0.    Coxe,    M.A., 

the   cause   of  the   uprising,  though  London,    1850,   for    the    Roxburgh 

from  its  spread  the  clergy  feai'ed  for  Society, 
a  future  insurrection.    In  a  letter  to 


ii.]  INNOCENCE  OF   WYCLIFFE.  53 

charters  which  might  prove  their  vassalage.1  There  had 
also  been  several  upheavings  of  a  similar  kind  on  the 
Continent,  and  these,  in  the  French  Chronicler's  opinion, 
encouraged  and  provoked  the  outbreak.2  Fabyan,  too,  in  his 
"  Chronicles  of  England,"  makes  no  mention  of  WyclifFe  in  con 
nection  with  the  Kentish  explosion.  The  Commons,  in  answer 
to  the  King's  address  commanding  inquiry  into  the  causes  of 
the  recent  troubles,  boldly  say,  after  a  long  enumeration  of 
abuses,  "  To  speak  the  truth,  these  injuries  lately  done  to  the 
poorer  commons,  more  than  ever  they  suffered  before,  caused 
them  to  rise  and  commit  the  mischief  done  in  the  late  riots." 
After  dwelling  on  the  great  hardships  inflicted  on  the 
commons,  such  as  subsidies,  tallages,  and  the  oppressive  prac 
tices  of  the  royal  purveyors,  they  added  that  justice  had  been 
so  badly  administered  that  "right  and  law  had  come  to  nothing.'' 
Thus  those  who  had  made  prolonged  official  inquiry  into  the 
origin  of  the  outbreak  assign  sufficient  causes  for  it  in  these 
memorable  words,  but  they  never  allege  that  Wycliffe's  Bible, 
or  Tracts,  or  "  preachers,"  had  any  hand  in  it.  In  fact,  Wycliffe's 
followers  were  not  found  among  the  villeins  and  serfs,  but 
rather  among  the  tradesmen  in  towns,3  and  among  the  middle 
classes.  He  said  himself  that  fully  a  third  of  the  clergy  agreed 
with  him  in  their  hearts,  and  Knighton  complains  that  "  of 
every  two  persons  you  met  in  the  street,  one  was  a  Lollard." 
In  the  document  issued  the  year  after  the  outbreak  by  the 
archbishop  to  Peter  Stokes  the  Carmelite,  detailing  the  errors 
of  "Wycliffe,  which  had  been  condemned  by  a  synod,  there  is  no 
allusion  to  the  insurgents  or  to  any  connection  of  Wycliffe  with 
them.  Heresies  alone  are  recorded,  and  these  are  vaguely  said 
to  threaten  "  to  subvert  and  enervate  the  peace  of  the  king- 


1  Chronicles,  vol.  I,  p.  041,   Lon-  floated    over   many  territories,  had 
don,  1812.  not  yet  been  unfurled. 

2  Thirteen  hundred  revolted  Swiss        3  Among  the  tradesmen  mentioned 
peasants  had  with  marvellous  skill  as  "Wycliflites  in  a  proclamation  of 
and    valour    broken    the    Austrian  20th  May  are  goldsmiths,  plumbers, 
power  at  the  memorable  battle  of  fleshers,   weavers,  coopers,    hosiers, 
Morgarten  in  1315,  but  the  terrible  houeymougers,  and  fl  etchers  or  arrow 
banner  of  ihefiundsc/tuh,  which  soon  makers.     Eymer,  Fcedera,  IX,  129. 


.-,-i  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

dom."  In  fact,  Wycliffe's  influence  was  seriously  injured  by 
the  rebellion,  and  it  interrupted  for  a  time  his  great  work. 
But  he  himself  was  no  demagogue,  for,  like  Occam,  he 
maintained  that  the  civil  power  must  ever  be  supreme.  John 
Ball  admitted  in  his  last  confession  that  he  had  been  a  disciple 
of  Wycliffe  for  two  years;  but  he  had  been  imprisoned  on 
several  previous  occasions  for  heretical  turbulence  by  the 
ecclesiastical  authorities,  and  he  had  been  under  Archbishop 
Langham's  censure  as  far  back  as  1366,  a  period  long  before 
the  "  poor  priests  "  were  heard  of.  He  made  frequent  use  of  the 
imagery  and  characters  of  Piers  the  Plowman ;  but  he  does 
not  seem  at  any  time  to  have  quoted  Wycliffe  or  his  books — his 
favourite  and  suggestive  text  being  the  familiar  couplet — 

"  When  Adam  dalve,  and  Eve  span, 
Who  was  then  the  gentleman  1 " 

Wycliffe's  theory  about  God  as  the  Lord  Paramount  is  only  a 
feudal  paraphrase  of  the  old  saying,  "  The  earth  is  the  Lord's, 
and  the  fulness  thereof,"  and  his  oft  quoted  sentiment  that 
dominion  is  founded  on  grace  has  no  more  political  heresy  in 
it  than  our  common  formula,  "  Victoria,  by  the  grace  of  God, 
Queen  of  Great  Britain."  But  his  ideal  dominion  founded  on 
grace  yielded  to  the  actual,  for  he  inculcated  passive  obedience 
on  the  part  of  Christians  to  the  powers  that  be,  even  "  though 
they  be  wicked  and  ungodly,"  and  this  he  advocated  so  extra 
vagantly  that  his  enemies  represented  him  as  teaching  that 
"God  ought  to  obey  the  devil" — quod  Deus  obcdire  debct  diabolo. 
His  disciple  Huss  held  a  similar  view.  He  launched  vehement 
invective  against  ecclesiastics  holding  lands  and  offices  of  state, 
as  against  William  of  Wykeham,  whom  he  characterized  as  one 
of  "  those  who  were  wise  in  building  castles." l  But  while  he 

1  There  was  certainly  good  ground  of  twenty-two,  were  priests  in  pos- 

for    complaint,   since   at   one   time,  session    of    benefices.      It   was   the 

about    1367,  from  the  Lord  Chan-  characteristic  policy  of  the  Duke  of 

cellor   down   to   the  Master  of  the  Lancaster's  party,  to  which  Wycliffe 

Wardrobe  and  Inspector  of  Build-  belonged,  to  have   such  churchmen 

ings,   all  the  higher  officers  in  the  superseded  by  laymen.     Little  more 

court  of  Edward  III,  to  the  number  than  a  century  ago,   the   Duke   of 


ii.]  NEED  OF  AN  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  55 

argued  that  temporal  property  should  not  be  protected  by 
spiritual  thunder,  he  was  no  leveller,  and  his  poor  priests  were 
on]y  a  provisional  measure,  though  they  exhibited  somewhat  of 
the  compactness  and  elasticity  of  an  ecclesiastical  order.1 

Though  Wycliffe  had  no  personal  nor  secondary  connec 
tion  with  the  outbreak,  he  must  have  been  greatly  distressed 
by  the  grievous  confusion  reigning  around  him.  His  numerous 
polemical  tractates  discussed  the  important  themes  and  ques 
tions  of  the  day,  and  by  a  wide  and  speedy  circulation  they 
must  have  excited  no  small  interest,  and  though  they  passed 
round  only  in  manuscript,  they  awakened  public  thought. 
Their  popularity  was  enhanced  by  their  clear  and  incisive  style ; 
and  though  they  are  composed  in  the  rudeness  of  an  unformed 
language,  they  still  charm  modern  readers  by  their  quaint  rus 
ticity,  their  vigorous  antithesis,  and  their  rugged  symmetry  of 
hearty  utterance.  But  while  these  publications  aimed  at  and 
pleaded  for  the  extinction  of  various  forms  of  injustice  and 
outrage,  there  was  still  needed  the  introduction  of  a  remedial 
power  mightier  by  far  than  "the  words  of  man's  wisdom,"  in  order 
to  restore  harmony,  and  raise  up  and  shield  "  the  poor  and  him, 
that  hath  no  helper."  And  thus  the  unsettledness  of  the  period 
with  its  bitter  strifes,  the  rooted  enmity  of  class  against  class,2 

York,   second   son  of    George   III,  well-known  tract,  "  Why  poor  priests 

was  in  his  infancy  made  Bishop  of  have    no    benefices."       The   "  poor 

Osnaburgh,  the  first  Saxon   diocese  priests,  clad  in  russet,  with  staff  in 

founded  by  Charlemagne.  hand,    scoured    the     country,     and 

1  One  is  almost  tempted  to  imagine  preached  "    daily  in   churches   and 

that  the  order  of  poor  priests  in  some  church-yards,  and   at  markets  and 

way  suggested  the  strange  misreu-  fairs,  "to  great  congregations."  Ano- 

deriug  in  both  versions  of  Matt,  xi,  ther  mistranslation  is  sometimes  said 

5,  "pore  men  ben  taken  toprechynge  to  be  polemical  in  aim,  1  Peter  iv, 

of  the  gospel" — the  note  in  the  first  12,  "  Nyle  ye  go  in  pilgrimage  in 

version  being  "  ben  madd  helpers  of  fervour  " ;  but  the  fault  lies  with  the 

the  gospel."    At  the  same  time  there  Latin    translation,  which    Wycliffe 

occurs  in  one  of  his  sermons  another  gives  literally. 

mistranslation,     "  pore      men     ben  3  A  straw  may  show  the  force  and 

preisid  of  God."      Select  Works  of  direction  of  the  current.  Seven  years, 

John    Wycliffe,    vol.  I,    p.  71,    ed.  at  least,  after  Lord  Mayor  Wai  worth 

Arnold,  Oxford,  1869.     Some  light  had  killed  Wat  Tyler,  the  common 

is  cast  on  the  subject  in  Wycliffe 's  Council  enacted — "  Dogs  are  not  to 


56  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

the  hardheartedness  of  statesmen,  and  the  ambitious  factions  of 
churchmen  with  their  worldliness  and  intrigues,  impressed 
Wycliffe  with  the  indelible  conviction  that  all  ranks  needed  to 
know  and  study  the  Divine  Word  in  the  tongue  intelligible  to 
them.  For  it  was  the  inspired  record  of  a  religion  which,  if  fully 
believed  and  acted  out,  sets  its  brightest  jewel  in  the  crown,  and 
guards  the  purity  of  the  ermine — breathes  a  just  and  generous 
spirit  into  legislation — gives  nobility  to  the  meanest,  and  the 
best  of  graces  to  the  highest — presents  every  one  with  an  aim 
worthy  of  his  nature — sanctifies  every  pursuit  as  a  "  calling  "  in 
which  he  may  "  abide  with  God  " — sends  a  cheering  influence 
through  all  the  relations  of  life — lifts  the  fallen  and  relieves  the 

O 

needy — visits  the  "  fatherless  and  widows  in  their  affliction  " — 
opens  up  a  widening  circle  of  spiritual  brotherhood,  arid  blends 
earth  with  heaven.  And  under  this  inspiration  he  became  the 
translator  qf  the  "  lively  oracles,"  which  lost  none  of  their  life  by 
being  told  in  the  homely  words  of  the  nation. 

Still  further,  though  Wycliffe  was  one  of  the  quaternion  of 
great  schoolmen,  and  takes  rank  with  Bradwardine,  Occam,  and 
Duns  Scotus,  yet  the  conceptions  which  he  had  formed  of  a  true 
theology  led  him  to  undertake  a  translation  of  Scripture.  The 
scholastic  divines  had  indeed  built  up  an  intricate  theology  with 
logic  and  metaphysics,  with  distinctions  of  marvellous  subtlety 
and  arguments  of  surpassing  ingenuity  and  ability;  but  the  Word 
of  God  was  allowed  to  fall  into  abeyance,  and  was  not  taken  as 
of  common  consent  to  be  the  ultimate  standard  of  appeal.1 
Some  polemics  rested  their  opinions  solely  on  ecclesiastical 
canons,  as  does  Walden,  who  avows — "  The  decrees  of  bishops 
in  the  Church  are  of  greater  authority  and  dignity  than  is  the 
authority  of  Scripture." £  Wycliffe  also  complains  that  "  Scrip 
ture  has  many  impugners  who  extol  the  power  of  the  Pope 
above  it  so  much  as  to  warrant  the  inference  that  he  may  take 

wander  about  the  city,  the  dogs  of  the  first  sentence  of  his  prologue,  lac 

the  gentry  excepted."     Liber  Albus,  parvulis,  "  milk  for  babes.''     Opera, 

p.  452,  ed.  Eiley.  vol.  i,  p.  458,  ed.  Migne,  Paris,  1841. 
1  The  Sumina,  or  compendium,  of        "  Walden,  Doct.  Tri.,  1st  Lib.,  c. 

Thomas  Aquinas,  consisting  of  1150  xxi.     Vaughan's  Wycliffe,  vol.  ii,  p. 

folio  pages,  is  called  by  its  author  in  49. 


ii.]  WYCLIFFES  PURITY  OF  CHARACTER.  57 

away  one  of  its  books  and  add  a  new  one."  So  that,  as  an 
ardent  lover  of  the  truth,  he  longed  that  the  people  should 
know  the  highest  style  of  all  truth  as  contained  in  the  Word 
of  God,  and  that  Word  no  longer  hidden  in  a  dead  and  foreign 
language.  He  "  rolled  the  stone  from  the  well's  mouth  "  that 
all  might  approach  and  drink  of  the  living  fountain,  since  the 
popular  systems  of  divinity,  furnishing  only  an  intellectual 
discipline,  and  reaching  not  to  the  depths  of  the  inner  nature, 
were  only  as  "  cisterns,  broken  cisterns,"  at  which  the  thirsty 
soul  could  not  satisfy  itself. 

WyclifFe  had  one  special  qualification  of  a  translator ;  for  he 
was  so  pure  in  heart  and  life  himself,  that  his  worst  enemies,  such 
as  Netter  de  Walden,  Wodeford,  Knighton,  and  Walsingham, 
never  uttered  a  whisper  against  his  character.  Arundel  him 
self  said,  on  Thorpe's  trial,  "  Wickliffe,  your  author,  was  a  great 
clerk;  many  men  held  him  a  perfect  liver."1  His  continuons 
opponent,  Kyningham,  confessor  to  the  Duke  of  Lancaster,  wrote 
a  series  of  tracts  against  Wycliffe  —  Ingressus,  Acta,  Deter- 
minationes — in  which  he  complains  of  his  personalities  and  of 
his  books,  but  he  does  not  assail  his  life.  He  was  even  re 
ported  to  be  "  a  ruly  man,  and  an  innocent  in  his  living."  The 
worst  said  of  him,  as  by  Anthony  Wood,  was,  that  he  became  a 
reformer  from  "  nothing  else "  than  spite  at  the  Pope's  treat 
ment  of  him  in  connection  with  the  wardenship  of  Canterbury 
Hall ;  but  the  assertion  cannot  be  borne  out,  as  the  warden  was 
probably  another  person  of  the  same  name.  It  was  also  in 
sinuated  by  Walden,  and  the  insinuation  was  repeated  down 
to  the  days  of  Polydore  Vergil,  that  his  zeal  against  the  ruling 
ecclesiastics  arose  from  his  disappointment  at  not  receiving 
the  see  of  Worcester ;  but  it  is  easy  to  suggest  and  propagate 
such  stories.  Knighton  admits  that  he  was  generally  an 
eminent  theologian,  and  that  he  was  unequalled  in  the  art 
of  scholastic  disputation.  Though  the  hostile  epithets  bestowed 
upon  him  are  wide  and  wild,  and  are  sometimes  thrown  up  in 
ludicrous  accumulation,  they  touch  not  his  personal  repute. 
Walsingham  calls  him  by  a  poor  pun,  "  Wickedbelief." 
Walden,  at  the  Cobham  trial,  named  him  the  "  mid-day 
1  Select  Works  of  Bishop  Bale,  p.  81,  Parker  Society  Ed. 


58  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE,  [CHAP. 

devil";1  and  another,  quoted  by  Fuller,  styles  him  "the  first 
unclean  beast  that  ever  passed  through  Oxenford.  "  Pecock's 
simple  reference  is  "  one  clerk  ;  but  verily  to  say,  one  heretic." 
According  to  the  testimony  of  his  contemporaries,  he  loved  the 
divine  law,  and  walked  by  its  light.  To  the  one  volume  he 
ever  turned  as  the  book  of  sole  and  supreme  authority ;  his 
instructions  and  invectives  were  alike  based  upon  it.  To  him  it 
was  the  rule  and  standard  of  faith ;  and  he  maintained  that  no 
conclusion  should  be  accepted  that  could  not  be  proved  out  of  it 
— for  he  held  that  the  authority  of  the  Bible  was  independent  of 
all  other  authority.  He  felt,  too,  that  it  was  an  awful  function 
to  translate  Scripture  so  that  the  true  sense  might  be  kept;  and 
he  exhorted  expositors  to  dwell  as  critics  on  the  text,  and  as 
grammarians  on  the  letter,  with  all  dependence  on  the  Primary 
Teacher,  lest  they  should  impose  a  meaning  not  intended  by  the 
Divine  Giver  of  revelation.  But  he  was  conscious,  at  the 
same  time,  that  his  labour  was  feeble  and  isolated,  so  long  as 
those  whose  welfare  he  studied  were  not  in  possession  them 
selves  of  the  Book.  His  own  use  of  quotations,  and  his  brief 
comments  on  parts  of  Holy  Writ,  had  been  only  opening  up 
a  single  fountain,  and  he  longed  that  every  one  should  so 
possess  the  blessing  that,  in  his  earnest  acceptance  of  it,  it 
might  "be  in  him  a  well  of  water  springing  up  into  ever 
lasting  life."3  Fully  aware  was  he,  in  his  own  words,  "that 
the  gospil  writuii  is  not  to  be  worschipid,"  that  the  possession 
of  vernacular  Scripture  could  not  of  itself  secure  spiritual 
blessing,  that  there  was  no  saving  charm  in  the  familiar  sounds 
and  syllables,  and  that  there  was  ever  need  of  divine  grace 
to  make  men  wise  unto  salvation.  The  changes  of  all  kinds 

1  Thomas  Xetter  of  \Valden,  that  General  for  England,  and  Confessor 

is  Saffron  Waldeu,  in  Essex,  author  to  Henry  V.     Died  1430. 

of    the  Fasciculus   Zizaniorum,  and  "  Fuller's   short    note  is    "  O  the 

numerous  treatises  against  the  Lol-  wit." 

lards,  was  one  of  the  most  accom-  3  The  opinions  of  some  contempor- 

plished  polemics  of  his  day.     Born  aries  on  the  necessity  and  benefit  of 

about     1380,    disputed    at    Oxford  translations    of    Scripture    may  be 

against  "Wycliffism,  provincial  of  the  found    in   Forshall    and    Madden's 

Carmelites  in  1414,  a  member  of  the  preface,  p.  xiv. 
Council    of    Constance,    Inquisitor- 


ii.]  HIS  AIM  IN  TRANSLATING  SCRIPTURE.  5$ 

which  he  coveted  could  only  be  brought  about  by  profound 
and  popular  impression,  and  that  impression  could  be  most 
easily  and  speedily  deepened  and  diffused  by  the  circulation  of 
an  English  Bible.  "All  secular  men,"  he  said,  "  ought  to  know 
the  faith  ;  so  it  is  to  be  taught  them,  in  whatever  language  is  best 
known  to  them." — "  Christ  and  his  Apostles  converted  the  world 
by  making  known  the  truths  of  Scripture  in  a  form  familiar  to 
them." — "  Honest  men  are  bound  to  declare  the  doctrine  which 
they  hold,  not  only  in  Latin,  but  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  that  the 
truth  may  be  more  plainly  and  more  fully  known." — "  Chris 
tian  men  and  women,  old  and  young,  should  study  first  in  the 
New  Testament,  should  cleave  to  the  study  of  it;  and  no  simple 
man  of  wit,  no  man  of  small  knowledge,  should  be  afraid  to 
study  immeasurably  in  the  sacred  text."  He  wished  especially 
for  a  full  and  literal  translation;  and  he  accuses  the  friars  of 
"  docking  and  clipping  the  Word  of  God,  and  tattering  it  by 
their  rime."  "  The  sacred  Scriptures"  he  held  to  "be  the  pro 
perty  of  the  people,  and  one  which  no  party  should  be  allowed 
to  wrest  from  them."  Therefore,  to  move  the  English  mind 
there  must  be  an  English  Bible,  a  gift  to  the  men  of  his  own 
time,  and  a  rich  inheritance  to  all  following  centuries;  and, 
such  being  his  conviction,  an  English  Bible  was  soon  provided 
by  him  and  his  devoted  assistants. 

It  may  now  be  admitted  that  Wycliffe  was  the  first  to  trans 
late  into  English  the  entire  Bible.  According  to  the  "Com 
pendious  Old  Treatise,"1  fragments  of  vernacular  versions  had 
been  in  circulation,  like  the  Ten  Commandments  and  the  Creed, 
that  formed  portions  of  a  book  "  drawn  into  English  under 
Thoresby,  Archbishop  of  York  (1348-56),  by  a  worshipful 
clerk,  named  Gattrick,  who  sent  them  in  small  pagines  to  the 
common  people  to  learn  and  know  it,  and  of  which  many  copies 
yet  be  in  England."  It  is  also  told  in  the  same  tract,  written 
about  1450,  that  a  man  of  London,  whose  name  was  Wyring, 
had  a  Bible  in  English,  of  northern  speech,  which  seemed  to  be 

1  Its  purpose  is  to  show  that  we  in  his  first  edition,  1563  ;  by  Arber, 

ought  to  have  the  Scriptures  in  Eng-  in  1871;  and  lithographed  in  fac- 

lysshe.     Printed   by  Hans  Luft,  at  simile  by  Mr.  Fry  of  Bristol. 
Marburg,  1530  ;  reprinted  by  Foxe, 


<]0  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

two  hundred  years  old  ;  the  allusion  being  probably  to  ^Elfric's 
Pentateuch.  Trevisa,  to  whom  reference  has  been  made 
already,  is  said  to  have  translated  the  Scriptures  into  English. 
But  Caxton  is  the  only  authority,  and  the  assertion  is  first 
made  in  an  off-hand  way  by  him  in  his  "  Prohemye "  to  his 
edition  of  the  Polychronicon — "at  the  request  of  Lord  Berkeley, 
Trevisa  translated  the  said  book,  the  Bible,  and  Bartholomseus 
de  Proprietatibus  Rerum." 1  Bale  simply  repeats  Caxton,  without 
any  additional  evidence;2  and  he  supposed,  apparently,  that  the 
epistle  prefixed  to  the  Polychronicon,  beginning  with  "  ego, 
Johannes  Trevisa,  sacerdos,"  was  the  dedication  of  a  Bible 
rendered  in  Anglicum  idioma.  Finally,  Ussher3  inserts  the 
statement  of  Bale,  and  Wharton  copied  Ussher,4  ascribing  the 
revised  version  of  Wycliffe  to  John  Trevisa.  The  tradition  sur 
vived  till  1611,  and  King  James's  translators,  referring  to  early 
versions  of  the  Scriptures,  say,  in  their  preface,  "  much  about  that 
time,  even  in  our  King  Richard  dayes,  John  Trevisa  translated 
them  into  English."  But  these  statements  are  not  to  be 
accepted,  for,  while  many  of  Tre visa's  translations  survive,  we 
have  no  fragment  or  specimen  of  an  English  Bible.  The  belief 
probably  arose  from  the  circumstance  that  Trevisa  was  vicar 
of  the  parish  of  Berkeley,  and  chaplain  to  the  fourth  Lord 
Berkeley,  and  that  on  the  roof  and  walls  of  the  private  chapel 
in  the  castle  are  inscribed  verses  from  the  Apocalypse  in  Latin 
and  Norman-French.  This  work  is  commonly  ascribed  to  the 
chaplain;5  but  the  opinion  that  he  translated  the  Scripture 
has  no  palpable  basis.  Arundel,  at  the  time  Archbishop  of 

1  Printed  by  "Wyiikyu.  de  "Worde  5  In  proof  of  this  belief,  reference 
in  1494.  has  been  made  to  the  Dialogue  be- 

2  Script.  Illustr.,  p.  518,  Basil,  1557.  tween  a  Lord  and  a  Clerk,  printed 
Trevisa  was  a  favourite  with  Bale,  as  also  by  Caxton,  in  which  the  former 
he  was  toward  the  monks  rigidus  ac  says,  as  if  noting  something  memor- 
tnordax.  able,  "  also  thou  notest  where   the 

3  Hist.    Dogrnat.,   p.    34G.     Opera  Apocalips  is  wryten  in  the  walles  and 
vol.  xii.     Dublin.  roof  of  a  chappel,  both  in  Latyn  and 

4  Auctar.,  p.  348.      Fuller  calls  the  in  Frensche."     The   letters  are  now 
.second    or  revised  Wycliffite  trans-  nearly    obliterated.      Lewis     Hist., 

ation  Trevisa's  masterpiece.    Church     p.  50.     Fuller  gives  the  story  out  of 
Hist.,  and  vol.  I,  p.  468.  Bale.    Church  History,  vol.  i,  p.  468. 


ii.]     THE  FIRST   TRANSLATION  OF  THE  ENTIRE  BIBLE.       Cl 

York,  in  his  funeral  sermon,  preached  at  Westminster,  3rd 
August,  1394,  for  Anne  of  Bohemia,  the  "good  queen"  of 
Richard  II,  extols  her  for  her  study  of  the  Gospels  in  English, 
"  though  she  was  a  stranger" ;  these  Gospels  being  sanctioned 
by  the  primate  himself,  who  had  examined  them,  and  found 
them  to  be  "good  and  true."  But  he  intimates  nothing  as  to 
their  age,  origin,  or  literary  characteristics,  and  they  may  have 
been  one  or  other  of  the  two  Wycliffite  versions,  which  had 
been  some  years  in  circulation.  The  Constitutions  of  Arundel, 
enacted  at  Oxford  in  1408,  prohibited  all  translations,  "such  as 
that  lately  set  forth  in  Wycliffe's  time,  or  since,  if  they  have 
not  the  approval  of  the  bishop  of  the  diocese,  or  of  a  provincial 
council."  Whatever  the  canonist  Lyndwood1  might  infer,  two 
Bibles  only  are  mentioned — Wycliffe's  own  version,  in  his 
own  time,  and  the  version  "  since,"  or  after  his  death,  viz.,  the 
revision  made  by  Purvey.  Sir  Thomas  More,2  writing  about 
]  530,  affirms  that  "  the  whole  Bible  was,  long  before  Wycliffe's 
days,  by  virtuous  and  well-learned  men,  translated  into  the 
English  tongue;  and  by  good  and  godly  people,  with  devotion 

and  soberness,  well  and  reverently  read For  as  for 

old  translations,  before  Wycliffe's  time,  they  remain  lawful  and 
be  in  some  folks'  hands.  Myself  have  seen  and  can  show  you 
Bibles,  fair  and  old,  which  have  been  known  and  seen  by  the 
bishop  of  the  diocese,  and  left  in  layman's  hands  and  woman's, 
to  such  as  he  knew  for  good  and  catholic  folk,  that  used  it  in 
much  soberness  and  devotion."  It  is,  however,  to  be  borne  in 
mind  that  these  striking  statements  were  made  by  More  in 
artful  depreciation  of  the  versions  of  Wycliffe  and  Tyndale; 
that  his  language  is  as  vague  as  it  is  boastful,  for  he  was  "  in  a 
strait "  since  he  was  trying  to  show  that  translation  in  general 

1  Lyndwood,  bishop  of  St.  David's,  one  could   have  placed  great  confi- 
made  a  digest  of  the  Constitutions  of  deuce  in  Trevisa  as  a  translator  ;   he 
fourteen  Archbishops  of  Canterbury,  complains  of  the  difficulty  of  Hig- 
from   Langton   down   to   Chichele  ;  den's  very  easy  Latin,  and  examples 
printed  at  Paris,  1505,  at  the  expense  of  odd  mistakes  made  by  him  are 
of  William  Brettou,  a  merchant  of  given  in  Babington's  preface  to  the 
London.  Eoils  edition. 

2  Dyalogues,  p.  138,  &c.,  1530.    No 


02  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

was  not  forbidden,  with  the  exception  of  these  two  versions,  and 
yet  these  were  the  only  ones  in  existence  in  early  English.  He 
gives  us  no  means  of  testing  his  accuracy  by  any  references  to 
the  style,  history,  and  locality  of  such  Bibles;  and  no  volumes 
corresponding  to  his  description  have  come  down  to  us.1  To  one 
like  More,  writing  more  than  a  hundred  years  after,  the  Wycliffite 
translations  might  appear  to  be  a  venerable  relic  of  an  earlier 
time,  preserved  and  read  by  devout  Christians.  Cranmer,  in  his 
preface  to  the  Great  Bible  of  1540,  vindicates  the  reading  of  the 
English  Bible  by  alleging  the  more  ancient  custom  which  had 
been  interrupted  not  "  much  above  a  hundred  years  ago  "  by 
the  Arimdelian  Constitutions,  and  says  that  the  Bible  was  trans 
lated  into  the  "  Saxon's  tongue,  at  that  time  our  mother  tongue, 
which  few  men  are  now  able  to  read  and  understand ;  and  that 
when  this  older  tongue  became  obsolete,  Scripture  was  again 
translated  into  newer  language,  whereof  many  copies  remain, 
and  be  daily  found  " — the  Wycliffite  versions  being  referred  to. 
Foxe  affirms  that  "  before  John  Wycliffe  was  born  the  whole 
body  of  the  Scripture  by  sundry  men  was  translated  into  our 
country  tongue."  But  there  is  no  proof  whatever  that  any 
"  whole  "  Anglo-Saxon  Bible  ever  existed,  and  the  martyrologist 
presents  neither  proof  nor  sample.  Other  inexact  statements 
have  been  made  on  the  subject.  Ussher  repeats  the  assertion  of 
Thomas  James  about  a  manuscript  Bible  in  the  English  tongue, 
which  long  preceded  Wycliffe's  translation,  and  assigns  it  to 
1290 ;  but  Wharton  corrects  the  mistake  in  his  Auctarium. 
In  a  word,  the  enemies  of  Wyclifte's  Bible  regarded  it  and 
branded  it  as  an  attempt  of  unexampled  audacity,  and  its 
friends,  like  the  Bohemian  Huss,2  extolled  it  as  an  unpre 
cedented  gift  to  the  English  nation.  When  the  Lollards  were 
assailed  by  ecclesiastics  who  denounced  the  version,  had  there 
been  any  earlier  example  they  would  have  appealed  to  it 

1  There  is  the   metrical   story   of  -  Wycliffe's     writings,  carried    to 

Genesis   and   Exodus,   probably   of  Bohemia,  produced  wide   and  deep 

date  1250;  but  this  "song,"  as  its  impression.  The  marriage  of  Richard 

author  styled  it,  could  not  be  called  II   to  the  sister    of   the   Bohemian 

a   translation.      Edited  by  Morris,  sovereign  had  no  small  influence  in 

London,  1865.  fostering  such  tendencies. 


ii.]  HIS  EULOGY.  63 

in  self-vindication.  The  prologue  to  the  second  or  revised 
translation,  while  it  refers  to  older  Anglo-Saxon  Scriptures,  ex 
presses  the  belief  that  no  translation  had  been  published  in  the 
language  of  its  own  time,  and  censures  the  "  falseness  and  neg 
ligence  of  clerks "  for  not  having  provided  an  English  Bible 
for  English  men.  Wycliffe  therefore  enjoys  the  priority,  and  to 
him  may  be  applied,  in  the  words  of  his  own  version,  what  is 
said  of  the  son  of  Onias — "  As  the  dai  sterre  in  the  myddes 
of  a  cloude,  and  as  a  ful  moone  schyneth  in  hise  daies,  and 
as  the  sunne  schynynge,  so  he  schynecle  in  the  temple  of 
God." 


CHAPTER  III. 


greater  part  of  the  translation  of  the  New  Testament  is 
apparently  Wycliffe's  personal  work,  and  it  may  have  been 
finished  by  1381.  There  were  in  circulation  also  separate 
books,  one  Gospel  or  two  Gospels,  the  Epistles  of  Paul  in 
whole  or  in  part,  the  Apocalypse,  the  Epistle  of  James, 
the  Ten  Commandments,  and  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 
Nicholas  de  Hereford  translated  the  earlier  portion  of  the 
Old  Testament  from  Genesis  to  Baruch  iii,  20,  and  the  re 
mainder  is  ascribed  to  Wycliffe.  The  work  of  Hereford, 
two  manuscripts  of  which  are  preserved  in  the  Bodleian 
Library,  stops  after  the  two  first  words  of  the  verse, 
Baruch  iii,  20, l  for  he  was  suddenly  summoned  before  a 
synod  of  preaching  friars  in  1382,  and  at  an  adjourned 
meeting  held  at  Canterbury,  on  the  1st  day  of  July,  he 
was  excommunicated.  Of  these  two  interesting  and  valuable 
manuscripts,  the  one  is  a  copy,  with  a  note  ascribing  it  to 
Hereford,  and  the  other  is  apparently  the  original  work  of 
the  translator,  the  process  of  translation  being  visible  in  the 
changes  made;  a  portion  of  a  word  being  sometimes  erased 
before  it  was  fully  written.  Later  hands  have  corrected  it,  and 
several  of  these  revisers  may  be  traced.  On  appealing  to  the 
Pope,  Hereford  was  sent  to  Rome,  and,  after  trial,  was  im 
prisoned  ;  but  he  contrived  to  effect  his  escape,  although  he 
does  not  seem  to  have  returned  to  England  during  the  life  of 

1  The  19th  verse  ends  with  "  place     begins  with  "  The  yunge."  .  .  . 
of  hem  risen/'  and  the  20th  verse 


in.]  HEREFORD  AND  THE  CONTINUA  TOR.  (35 

Wycliffe.1  There  are  variations,  however,  in  the  part  usually  as 
signed  to  him,  as  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  2  Chronicles 
the  active  participle  usually  ends  in  yngc,  but  afterwards  in  ende. 
The  MSS.,  however,  in  the  Bodleian  Library  have  been  corrected 
by  a  contemporary  copyist.  Between  Hereford's  part  and  the 
other  sections  of  Scripture  there  are  characteristic  differences. 
As  a  rule,  he  has  no  textual  glosses,  while  the  continuator  ad 
mits  nine  in  the  very  next  chapter ;  but  some  in  the  MSS.  are 
the  additions  of  transcribers.  Hereford  renders  so  literally  as  to 
keep  the  order  of  the  original,  and  preserve  uniformity  of 
translation ;  but  the  continuator  absolves  himself  at  once  from 
such  strictness.  For  Hereford's  "Mawmet,"  (Mahomet)  he  prefers 
"  idol";  and  Hereford  never  employs  "  damsel  "  or  "wenche,"  so 
common  in  the  later  books,  and  in  the  New  Testament.  "  Se- 
cundum  is  uniformly  rendered  "after,"  and  vultusloy  "cheer"  : 
but  these  renderings  are  not  followed  beyond  Baruch.  Here 
ford,  by  the  close  copying  of  his  text,  introduced  several  Latin- 
isms,  as,  "and  him  seen,"  et  viso  eo,  but  such  forms  occur  also 
in  Wycliffe's  own  portion.  He  renders  ridebatur  "  it  was 
seen,"  viso  somnio  "  a  seen  vision  " ;  and  he  thus  expresses  the 
accusative  before  the  infinitive,  "  I  dreamed  us  to  binden 
sheaves."  But  we  have  also  in  other  parts  of  the  older  ver 
sion  such  phrases  in  close  keeping  to  the  Latin  as  "  the  hand 
of  her  taken"  (Mark  i,  31)  ;  "  the  knee  folden"  (i,  40) ;  "yet  him 
speaking"  (v,  35) ;  "  the  Saboth  made"  (vi,  2) ;  "A  manqueller 
sent"  (vi,  27) ;  all  in  literal  reproduction  of  the  ablative 

1  Hereford,  Vice-Chancellor  of  At  length,  in  advanced  years,  and 
Oxford,  was  among  the  party  a  perhaps  ill  at  ease  in  his  mind,  he 
superior  scholar,  and  though  he  entered  the  Carthusian  Monastery 
shrank  from  martyrdom,  he  endured  of  St.  Anne,  Mother  of  the  Virgin, 
great  suffering  along  with  Purvey  in  at  Coventry,  and  there  died.  Eep- 
Saltwood  Castle.  He  not  only  re-  ingdon,  another  associate  of  Wycliffe. 
canted, but  in  1393  sat  in  judgment  on  also  submitted,  and  as  a  reward  of  his 
a  famous  Lollard,  Walter  Brute.  In  conformity  became,  in  1405,  Bishop 
1391  he  had  got  from  the  Crown  let-  of  Lincoln.  Being  a  persecutor  of 
tersprotectinghim  from  trouble  on  ac-  those  who  held  his  old  opinions,  la- 
count  of  his  earlier  views.  He  became  rose  in  1408  to  be  a  Cardinal.  Folk- 
Chancellor  of  the  Cathedral  of  Here-  stone  Williams'  Lives  of  the  English 
ford  in  1394,  and  Treasurer  in  1397  Cardinals,  vol.  1 1,  p.  30,  London, 

VOL  T.  E 


66  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

absolute.  We  have  also  such  other  Latinisms  as  "  to  make  a 
soul  safe"  (Mark  iii,  4)  ;  "  saw  noise"  (v,  38).  Hereford  also 
retains  several  Anglo-Saxon  idioms,  omits  the  "  s  "  as  the  sign  of 
the  possessive  case,  employs  "  be  "  in  a  future  sense,  keeps  the  old 
feminine  termination  in  -ster,  but  he  has  the  ending  in  -inge 
for  the  earlier -eime  with  "to"  prefixed.  Nay,  so  very  sharp  is 
the  contrast  between  him  and  his  successor,  that  while  the 
participial  termination  ende  is  found  after  2  Chronicles  and 
up  to  Baruch  iii,  19,  "  goende  doun  to  hell,"  it  is  immediately 
changed  into  -ing  and  -ynge,  as  in  verse  26,  "  wityinge 
bataile."  Wycliffe' s  rendering  had  also  been  very  close,  so  close 
as  often  to  be  almost  a  counterpart.  Thus,  in  the  first 
five  chapters  of  John  we  have  such  extreme  litcralness  as 
(i,  5)  derkn esses ;  (G)  to  whom  the  name  was  John ;  (13) 
bloodis;  (14)  dwellid  in  us;  (21)  what  therefore?  (26)  the 
myddil  man  of  you  stood  ;  (45)  whom  Moses  wroot  in  the  lawo  ; 
(46)  some  good  thing  be  ?  (ii,  3)  wyne  failinge  ;  (22)  from  dead 
men  ;  (24)  beeleved  not  himself  to;  (iii,  18)  believeth  in  to  him  ; 
(29)  joyeth  in  joy ;  (33)  hath  markid;  (34)  forsooth  not  to  mesure; 
(iv,  8)  should  buy  metis  ;  (11)  neither  thou  hast ;  (21)  wominan 
believe  thou  to  me,  for ;  (23)  forwhi  and  the  father  seeketh ; 
(26)  I  am;  (45)  some  little  king;  (47)  bigan  to  die  ;  (51)  came 
agens  him  ;  (52)  had  him  better  ;  (v,  2)  little  gatis  ;  (5)  having 
eight  and  thritty  years  in  his  sicknesse ;  (28)  all  men  that  ben  in 
buriels  ;  (41)  I  take  not  clereness  of  men. 

The  translation  therefore  was  soon  found  to  be  imperfect,  for 
it  wanted  self-consistence,  and  its  various  parts  needed  to  be 
brought  into  harmony  of  style.  A  careful  revision  was  accord 
ingly  at  once  commenced,  but  Wycliffe  had  died  before  it  was 
brought  to  a  conclusion,  probably  about  1388-1390.  This  edition 
bears  the  marks  of  a  very  thorough  work,  which  was  carried 
through  by  Purvey,  the  curate,  and  intimate  friend  of  Wycliffe 
and  a  leader  of  the  Lollards.  According  to  Knyghton,1  Purvey 
boarded  with  Wycliffe,  and  thus  "drunk  more  plentifully  of 
his  instructions,  and  to  his  dying  day  he  followed  his  master/' 
He  was  a  native  of  Lathebury,  near  Olney,  Buckinghamshire. 
After  Wvcliffe's  death,  he  removed  to  Bristol,  and  preached  so 

V  i. 

1  De  Event.  Angliae  Coll.,  2GGO. 


in.]  PURVEY'S  PROLOGUE.  (J7 

zealously  as  to  provoke  the  resentment  of  the  Bishop  of  Wor 
cester.  He  was  at  length  apprehended;  but  terrified  by  the 
fate  of  Sautre,  he  openly  recanted  at  Paul's  Cross  in  1400,  and 
immediately  afterwards  he  was  promoted  by  Archbishop 
Arundel  to  the  vicarage  of  Hythe  which  he  resigned  in 
1403.  He  was  confined  a  second  time  by  Archbishop 
Chichele  in  1421,  was  alive  in  1427,  and  perhaps  he  died 
in  prison.  After  giving  in  his  prologue  l  an  abstract  of 
the  books  of  the  Bible,  and  dwelling  on  the  spiritual  benefit 
to  be  got  from  reading  it,  and  defending  in  a  variety  of  ways 
the  right  of  the  people  to  have  it  translated  for  them,  Purvey 
proceeds  to  describe  his  own  method  of  procedure  :  "  For  these 
resons  and  othere,  with  comune  charite  to  saue  all  men  in  oure 
rewme,  whiche  God  wole  haue  sauid,  a  symple  creature  hath 
translatid  the  bible  out  of  Latyn  into  English.  First,  this 
symple  creature  hadde  myche  trauaile,  with  diuerse  felawis  and 
helperis,  to  gedere  manie  elde  biblis,  and  othere  doctouris,  and 
comune  glosis,  and  to  make  oo  Latyn  bible  sumdel  trewe  ;  and 
thanne  to  studie  of  the  newe,  the  texte  with  the  glose,  and 
othere  doctouris,  as  he  mighte  gete,  and  speciali  Lire  on  the  elde 

testament,  that  helpide  ful   myche  in   this   werk 

First,  it  is  to  knowe,  that  the  best  translating  is  out  of  Latyn, 
into  English,  to  translate  after  the  sentence,  and  not  oneli 
after  the  wordis,  so  that  the  sentence  be  as  opin,  either 

openere  in   English   as  in    Latyn In  translating 

into  English,  many  resolucions  moun  make  the  sentence  open,2 
as  an  ablatif  case  absolute  may  be  resoluid  in  these  thre 
wordis,  with  couenable  verbe,  the  while,  for,  if,  as  gramariens 
seyn ;  as  thus,  the  maistir  redinye,  I  stonde,  may  be  resoluid 

thus,  ivhile  the  maistir  redith,  I  stonde Also  a 

participle  of  a  present  tens,  either  preterit,  of  actif  vois,  either 

1  The  prologue  was  printed  in  not,parrot-like,spoken  his  own  words, 

1 536  with  the  title  "  the  door  of  and  lost  yourself  in  a  Latin  echo, 

Holy  Scripture,"  and  in  1550  as  the  rendering  him  precisely  verbatim, 

"Pathway  to  perfect  knowledge/'&c.  as  if  tied  to  his  tongue."  Letter  in 

8  Nigh  three  hundred  years  after-  preface  to  English  Translation  of  the 

wards,  a  scholar  thus  wrote  to  Lodge,  Works  of  Seneca,  second  ed.,  Lou- 

the  translator  of  Seneca,  "Ye  have  don,  1620. 


(J8  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

passif,  may  be  resoluid  into  a  verbe  of  the  same  tens,  and  a 
coniunccioun  copulatif,  as  this,  dicens,  that  is,  seiynge,  mai  be 
resoluid  thus,  and  seith,  either  that  seith ;  and  this  wole,  in 
manic  placis,  make  the  sentence  open,  where  to  Englisshe  it 
aftir  the  worde,  wolde  be  derk  and  doubtful.  Also  a  relatif 
mai  be  resoluid  into  his  antecedent  with  a  coniunccioun 

copulatif,  as  thus,  which  renneth,  and  he  renneth 

Also  whanne  rightful  construccioun  is  lettid  bi  relacion,  I 
resolue  it  openli,  thus,  where  this  reesoun,  Dominum  forbid- 
abunt  adversarij  ejus,  should  be  Englisshid  thus  bi  the  lettre, 
the  Lorde  his  aducrsaries  shiden  drede,  I  Englishe  it  thus 
bi  resolucioun,  the  aduersaries  of  the  Lord  shiden  drede  him. 
At  the  begynnyiig,  I  purposide,  with  Goddis  helpe,  to  make 
the  sentence  as  trewe  and  open  as  it  is  in  Latyn ;  and  I 
preie  for  charite  and  for  comoun  profyt  of  cristene  soulis,  that 
if  ony  wiys  man  fynde  ony  defaute  of  the  truthe  of  translacioun, 
lette  him  sette  in  the  trewe  sentence  and  opin  holi  writ,  but 
loke  that  he  examyne  truli  his  Latyn  bible,  for  no  doute,  he 
shal  fynde  ful  manye  biblis  in  Latyn  ful  false,  if  he  loke  manie, 
nameli  newe ;  and  the  comune  Latyn  biblis  hau  more  nede  to 
be  correctid,  as  manie  as  I  liaue  seen  in  my  lif,  than  hath  the 
English  bible  late  translated  ;  and  where  the  Ebru,  by  witnesse 
of  Jerome,  of  Lire,  and  other  expositouris  discordith  from  our 
Latyn  biblis,  I  haue  set  in  the  margyn,  bi  manor  of  a  glose, 
what  the  Ebru  hath,  and  how  it  is  vnderstondun  in  the  same 
place ;  and  I  dide  this  most  in  the  Sauter,  that  of  all  oure  bokis 
discordith  most  fro  Ebru.  But  in  translating  of  wordis  equiuok, 
that  is,  that  hath  manie  significacions  vnder  oo  lettre,  mai  lightli 

be  pereil Therefore  a  translatour  hath  greet  nede 

to  studie  wcl  the  sentence,  both  before  and  aftir,  and  loke  that 
equiuok  wordis  acorde  with  the  sentence,  and  he  hath  nede 
lyue  a  clene  lif,  and  be  ful  deuout  in  preiers,  and  haue  not  his 
wit  ocupied  about  worldli  thingis,  that  the  Holi  Spiryt,  autour 
of  wisdom,  and  kunnyng,  and  truthe,  dresse  him  in  his  werk, 

and  suffre  him  not  to  erre God  graunte  to  us  alle 

grace  to  kunne  wel  and  kepe  wel  holi  write,  and  suffer  ioiefulli 
sum  peyne  for  it  at  the  last." 

Nicholas  de  Lyra,  mentioned  in  Purvey's  prologue,  and  to 


in.]  PURVETS  REVISION.  60 

whom  Luther  also  was  greatly  indebted,  was  of  Jewish  blood,  and 
had  his  surname  from  the  place  of  his  birth.  His  Postillse,  or 
brief  comments  on  the  Bible,  are  often  quoted  in  the  Wycliffite 
versions.  Lyra  is  not  used  by  Hereford  in  the  earlier  portion 
of  the  Old  Testament  which  he  translated  ;  but  "  Lire  here " 
occurs  frequently,  and  "  Lyra "  is  often  referred  to,  both  in 
regard  to  text  and  version,  the  references  being  more  frequent 
in  some  books  than  in  others.  The  glossa  ordinaria  so  often 
cited  is  the  compilation  of  Walafrid  Strabo ;  and  another,  the 
compilation  of  Anselm,  a  deacon  of  the  church  of  Laon,  is 
quoted  as  the  "  gloss  interlineary."  But  these  notes  are  very 
unequally  distributed,  and  a  few  of  the  Fathers  also  are 
sometimes  appealed  to. 

Purvey's  manuscript  is  preserved  in  the  library  of  the  Dublin 
University.1  Forshall  and  Madden  give  many  illustrations  of 
his  critical  selection  of  a  Latin  text,  of  idiomatic  renderings  as 
opposed  to  too  literal  ones,  of  the  resolution  of  the  very  frequent 
ablative  absolute,  and  of  the  present  or  preterite  participle  by 
the  use  of  a  conjunction,  of  the  repetition  of  a  word  for  the 
sake  of  perspicuity,  of  the  changes  demanded  by  difference  of 
idiom,  and  of  the  varying  meanings  assigned  to  the  Latin 
particles.  Purvey  has  made  many  changes  on  the  first  version. 
The  word  "  forsooth,"  representing  the  Latin  "  autem,"  occurs 
perpetually — forty  times  in  the  first  chapter  of  Matthew  ;  but 
Purvey  does  not  employ  it  at  all. 

The  second  version  was,  for  a  long  period,  not  carefully  dis 
tinguished  from  the  first,  though  Henry  Wharton  had  correctly 
noted  them,  and  the  New  Testament  was  printed  as  Wycliffe's 
own  version  by  Lewis  in  1731,  by  Baber  in  1810,  and  in  the 
first  column  of  Bagster's  English  Hexapla.  The  New  Testa 
ment  proper  of  Wycliffe  was  published  by  Lea  Wilson  in  1848, 
by  Bosworth  and  Waring  in  18G5,  and  at  an  earlier  period 
the  Song  of  Solomon  had  been  edited  by  Adam  Clarke,  in  the 
third  volume  of  his  Commentary.  At  length  the  entire  original 
version  and  revision  appeared  in  four  magnificent  quartos,  by 
Forshall  and  Madden,  Oxford,  1850 — the  fruit  of  twenty-two 

1  An  account  of  an  unfinished  revi-     Forshall   and   Madden's   edition   of 
ion   of    Purvey  may  be  found   iu     Wycliffe,  p.  xxxi. 


70  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 

years'  labour,  and  an  appropriate  honour  to  Wycliffe's  Uni 
versity.  Thus  the  Wycliffite  translations  kept  their  written  form 
for  nigh  five  hundred  years.  Froude,  indeed,  says  that,  "  before 
the  Reformation  two  versions  existed  of  the  Bible  in  English 
— one  was  Wycliffe's,  another  based  on  Wycliffe's,  but  tinted 
more  strongly  with  the  peculiar  opinions  of  the  Lollards,  fol 
lowed  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century.1  But  the 
second  version  has  no  deeper  Lollard  tint  than  the  first  which 
it  revises,  removing  Anglo-Saxon  archaisms  with  many  Latin- 
isms,  and  giving  a  more  English  aspect  to  the  entire  translation. 
The  second  version  must,  to  a  large  extent,  have  superseded 
the  first;  and  Bishop  Pecock,  in  his  "  Represser  of  the  overmuch 
blaming  of  the  Clergy,"  a  book  written  about  1449  avowedly 
against  Wycliffe's  followers,  always  uses  it  in  his  quotations.2 
There  have  been  preserved  at  least  one  hundred  and 
seventy  copies,  all  of  them  written  before  1430,  and  they 
were  carefully  examined  and  collated  by  Forshall  and 
Madden. 

One  characteristic  of  Wycliffe's  epoch  was  the  spread  of 
education,  and  in  his  own  period  several  colleges  had  been 
founded — Exeter,  Oriel,  Queen's,  and  New  College,  at  Ox 
ford  ;  and  Gonville,  Trinity  Hall,  and  Corpus  Christi  at  Cam 
bridge.  We  have  referred  to  the  effect  produced  in  course  of 
time  by  the  Norman  invasion  and  other  causes,  on  the  older 
Anglo-Saxon  speech.  The  two  races  had  been  at  length  perfectly 
united  under  Edward  III,  and  new  mental  activity  in 
stinctively  developed  a  new  outgrowth  of  expression,  filled 
with  life  and /reshness,  and  bearing  the  dew  of  its  youth  upon 
it.  One  consequence  was  a  double  stock  of  words,  Saxon  and 
Norman,  so  that  we  possess  not  a  few  of  that  class  which  are 
commonly  termed  synonyms,  of  which  the  Anglo-Saxon  had 
almost  none.3  While  the  older  tongue  keeps  its  place  in  our 

1  History  of  England,  vol.  iii,  p.  3  Yet    ^Elfric,    in    his  grammar, 
77,  fourth  edition.  managed    to   translate   into   Anglo- 

2  Examples   may   be   seen  in   the  Saxon   such   Latin  terms   as   actio, 
Represser,  vol.  I,  i,  p.  470,  &c.,  ed.  passio,  modus,  accidentia,  conjugatio, 
Churchill  Babington,  B.D.,  London,  &c.,  with  many  other  abstract  and 
1860.  technical  words. 


in.]  ENGLISH  OF  WYCL1FFE  71 

monosyllables,  as  well  as  in  words  denoting  objects  of 
sense  and  relations  of  domestic  and  common  life,  general 
or  abstract  terms  came  from  the  Latin,  and  evidently 
through  the  Norman  when  the  original  spelling  is  changed. 
The  English  kept  the  predominance,  and  the  Norman  fell  into  a 
subordinate  place.  In  the  conferences  that  followed  the  battle 
of  Agincourt,  it  was  ordered  by  the  conqueror  that  docu 
ments  should  be  written  in  Latin,  as  his  ambassadors  did  not 
know  French ;  and  writing  to  the  Company  of  Brewers  in  Lon 
don,  he  assures  them  that  "  the  English  tongue  hath  in  modern 
days  begun  to  be  honorably  enlarged  and  adorned  for  the  better 
understanding  of  the  people,  and  that  the  common  idiom  is  to 
be  exercised  in  writing."  Chaucer,  Gower,  Mandeville,  Trevisa, 
and  Langland  were  virtually  contemporaries.  It  is  very  wonder 
ful,  and  it  shows  Chaucer's  acuteness  of  philological  instinct,  that 
not  more  than  a  hundred  of  his  Romance  terms  have  fallen  into 
disuse,  though  a  great  many  more  of  his  Anglo-Saxon  words 
have  perished.  He  introduced  such  words  as  advantage,  person, 
glory,  divine,  disciples,  confound,  return,  reasonable,  renown, 
vain,  victory,  &c.,  and  through  him  and  Wycliffe  the  Midland 
dialect  became  standard  English.  This  national  language  was  in 
Wycliffe's  time  greatly  advanced  in  growth,  having  "  the  blade, 
the  ear,  and  the  corn  in  the  ear,"  though  not  in  maturity.  His 
English  is  racy,  homely,  familiar,  and  picturesque,  the  lan 
guage  of  his  own  age,  but  far  simpler  and  more  intelligible  than 
that  of  Chaucer.  Wycliffe  translated  for  the  people,  not  for 
the  aristocracy  ;  for  the  nation,  and  not  for  its  more  educated 
nobility.  The  tongue  in  currency  around  him  was  therefore 
the  fitting  vehicle,  every-day  language  for  every-day  use. 
His  translation  is  really  better  in  style,  more  lucid  and  idio 
matic,  less  tortuous  and  laboured,  than  his  own  original 
writings,  in  which  he  expresses  freely,  frankly,  and  vehemently 
his  readiest  thoughts  when  he  was  writing  in  his  own  name  in 
defence  of  truth,  or  was  inveighing  against  error,  venerable 
through  age  or  fortified  by  authority.  The  quotations  in  his 
homilies  and  tracts  agree  neither  with  the  first  nor  the  second 
version.  But  as  a  translator  he  was  on  his  guard  in  rendering 
the  divine  volume  into  the  people's  speech,  for  he  was  virtually 


72  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

speaking  to  the  people  in  the  name  of  the  Blessed  One.1  His 
version  has  a  grandeur  unaffected  by  its  quaintness,  its  famili 
arity  of  tone  does  not  in  any  way  derogate  from  its  dignity. 
Though  the  stiffness  of  the  Latin  text  often  shines  through, 
the  Bible  is  remarkably  free  from  many  of  the  affectations 
which  abound  in  contemporary  writers.  It  keeps  the  old 
spelling  of  him  and  her  for  the  more  modern  them  and 
their,  and  restricts  th  to  the  third  person  singular  of  verbs, 
and  does  not  employ  it  in  the  plural  or  in  the  impera 
tive.  The  participle  that  had  ended  in  -ende  is  formed 
by  -ing,  the  prefix  y-  is  used  in  connection  with  the  past 
participle,  the  plural  of  verbs  terminates  in  -en,  ye  and  you  are 
not  used  as  singulars,  and  the  possessive  your  has  an  objective 
sense,  as  in  the  phrase  "  your  fear  and  your  dread,"  for  the  fear 
of  you  and  the  dread  of  you.  '•'  Either  "  is  often  a  disjunctive, 
"  that  ben  in  erthis,  either  that  ben  in  heauenis."  "  Will  not " 
is  expressed  often,  as  in  Chaucer,  by  nyl,  nold,  nolden.  The 
verb  is  is  used  for  yes,  as  if  "  is  "  affirmed  the  fact,  as  in  James 
v,  12,  "forsothe  be  your  is,  is,  nay,  nay."  The  marks  of 
punctuation  make  up  for  the  loss  of  the  earlier  inflexions, 
for  they  are  necessary  when  the  cases  have  only  one  form  ; 
and  some  of  the  persons  of  the  verb  are  undistinguished 
by  terminations.  A  synthetic  sentence  is  independent ;  for 
principal  and  secondary  clauses,  wrought  out  into  a  long  and 
complicated  paragraph,  have  their  meaning  and  connection 
determined  by  the  syntax.  But  the  sense,  by  means  of  the 
points  or  stops,  becomes  at  once  apparent  to  the  eye,  without 
minute  analysis,  and  is  not  suspended  till  you  come  to  the  last 
word  governing  many  terms  before  it.  In  an  uninnected 
sentence,  the  meaning  depends  on  the  order  of  the  words ;  and 
that  order,  as  the  grammatical  terminations  fell  into  disuse, 
required  nice  arrangement. 

One  is  surprised  to  see  how,  when  Wycliffe's  work  is 
modernized  in  spelling,  it  so  closely  resembles  subsequent  trans 
lations  in  the  general  aspect  of  the  version,  in  the  flow  and 

1  It  is  strange  that  Foxe,  in  his  great  work,  the  translation  of  the 
long  and  multifarious  history  of  Bible  —  a  work  which  sowed  the 
Wycliffe,  gives  no  account  of  his  seeds  of  the  greater  Reformation. 


in.]  PECULIAR  RENDERINGS.  73. 

position  of  the  words,  in  the  distinctive  terms  and  connecting 
particles,  in  the  rhythm  of  its  clauses  and  the  mould  of  its 
sentences.  Several  of  its  phrases  must  have  passed  early  into 
the  language,  especially  those  which  from  their  currency  had 
acquired  a  kind  of  proverbial  power,  such  as  "  strait  gate,"  and 
"narrow  way"  (Matt,  vii,  14),  "beam  and  mote"  (v,  3),  and 
being  adopted  by  Tyndale,  they  have  kept  their  place  "  unto 
this  present."  Through  these  translations  the  rich  and  beauti 
ful  old  English  was  sanctified  for  all  time,  and  with  many  minor 
variations,  not  a  few  of  them  traceable  to  the  Greek  original,  it 
reappears  in  its  essential  and  characteristic  features  in  the 
independent  translation  of  Tyndale,  which  again  is  so  largely 
retained  and  embedded  in  the  Authorized  Version. 

Wycliffe  is  easily  read,  though  not  a  few  of  his  words 
are  obsolete.  His  theological  nomenclature,  part  of  which 
he  had  learned  from  Bradwardine,  has  not  been  changed 
to  any  great  extent,  and  many  of  the  terms,  explained 
in  the  margin  of  the  MSS.  as  if  needing  explanation,  are 
now  part  of  the  language,  while  the  explanatory  terms 
have  themselves  disappeared.  Such  are  yvil-fame  ex 
plained  by  schenship,  libel  by  litel-boke,  unquieted  by 
diseased.  In  other  cases  both  the  original  text  and  the  ex 
planation  are  still  in  use,  as  affection,  explained  by  love, 
benignity  by  goodwill,  detractors  by  open  bakbyters,  alive  by 
quick.  Some  renderings  are  prompted  or  moulded  by  the 
current  phrases  or  customs  of  his  century.  The  clause  2  Tim.  ii, 
4,  "  no  man  that  wareth  entangieth  himself,"  he  gives  as  "  no 
man  that  holdeth  knighthood  to  God  inwlappith  him  silfe,"  the 
feudal  form  of  the  idea ;  2  Kings  xv,  20,  "and  Menahem 
exacted  the  money  of  Israel,"  he  renders,  "and  Menahem 
settled  the  tallage  of  silver  on  Israel,"  tallage  being  a  common 
term  in  those  days;  1  Peter  ii,  13,  "be  ye  suget  .  .  . 
other  to  the  king,  other  to  dukis ;  Matt,  xxvii,  27,  "  token 
Jhesu  in  the  moot  hall,"  a  word  that  came  down  from  remote 
times.  In  the  same  verse  the  second  version  has  "  knights  of 
the  justice,"  and  similarly  in  Luke  ii,  2,  "  Cyrys  justice  of  Syrie," 
the  official  title  being  familiar  in  England ;  Judges  xx,  28, 
"  provost  of  the  house  stood  before  it  (the  ark)  in  those  days." 


74  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

Presbyter  he  renders  by  "  priest,"  its  contracted  form,  seniors  by 
"  eldre  men,"  and  Levite  by  "  deken  "  (deacon)  in  Luke  x,  32. 
Pontius  Pilate  is  Pilate  of  Pounce,  then  a  common  form  of 
surname  ;  and  he  is  called  meire  (mayor)  in  the  first  version 
and  ''justice  "  in  the  second,  Matt,  xxvii,  2. 

It  is  really  amazing  that  so  little  of  WyclifFe's  language 
has  passed  away,  though  many  foreign  terms  torn  from  his  Latin 
text  and  thrust  into  his  version  never  took  root.  Some  of  these 
are  apert ;  balistis,  balistse ;  calue,  bald ;  cardue,  thistle ; 
castel,  town  ;  capret,  a  wild  goat ;  cenefectorie,  tent-making ; 
cocco,  coccus,  scarlet ;  cirogrille,  choirogrillus,  hedgehog ; 
colirie,  eyesalve ;  cofin,  cophinus,  a  basket ;  cultre,  knife ; 
cubicularies,  chamberlains ;  diversory,  an  inn ;  exces,  in  the 
sense  of  ecstacy  ;  faculty,  in  the  sense  of  goods,  or  means  and 
substance  ;  figarde,  pygargus,  a  roebuck ;  gemmarye,  a  jeweller  ; 
galban,  gum ;  gemels,  twins ;  jument,  jumentum,  beast  of 
burden  ;  lacert,  a  lizard  ;  lare,  larus,  a  sea-gull  ;  maal, 
a  fir ;  margarite,  a  pearl ;  nablis,  nablum,  musical  instru 
ments  ;  plaag,  plaga,  side  ;  proterve,  froward ;  platan,  a  plane 
tree ;  pursirioun,  porphyrio,  a  cormorant ;  sambuke,  sam- 
buka,  a  musical  instrument ;  sellis,  sella,  chairs ;  symulacre, 
idol;  spelonk  or  spelunk,  a  cave;  stater,  a  piece  of  money; 
symfonie,  a  musical  instrument ;  sanguyns,  blood-coloured ;  scra- 
broun,  hornet;  stable,  inn  (Luke  x,  34);  strucioun,  an  ostrich  ; 
sendcl,  sindon,  a  linen  cloth ;  sudarie,  napkin ;  universite, 
world  (James  iii,  6);  veer,  spring;  volatil,  a  bird.  Comfort 
is  used  by  him  in  its  literal  Latin  sense,  "  And  he  com 
forted  him  (the  idol)  with  nailes  " — "  fastenede  him  "  in  the 
second  version  (Isai.  xli,  7) ;  and  in  both  versions,  Philip. 
iv,  13,  "I  may  alle  thingis  in  him  that  comforteth," 
that  is  strengthened!  me.  Not  a  few  of  his  other 
Latin  terms  have  perished  in  the  struggle  for  existence 
as  jecturing,  compunct,  corumpe,  collation  (conference), 
off'encioun,  defencioun,  conspiracioun,  coniectynge,  repugne, 
recompensacioun,  dignacioun,  federed  (bound  by  covenant.) 
Many  of  his  native  or  Saxon  words  have  also  died 
out.  The  following  verbs  have  an  active  sense  which  has 

o 

long    since   passed   away    from    us  : —  Afear,    agast,    alarge, 


in.]  OBSOLETE  TERMS.  75 

bitake  (to  deliver  up),  childen,  crooken,  drunkne,  feren,  gilten 
(to  sin),  honesten,  leechen  (to  heal),  lette,  longen,  meeken,  nak- 
enen,  nakyn,  nighen,  noyen,  pungeden,  richeth,  sacren,  softeth, 
sorowen,  stithie  (to  forge),  trumpe.  Many  other  like  vocables 
have  not  come  down  to  us,  as — abie,  to  endure ;  agregge,  to 
make  heavy ;  biclippe,  to  embrace  ;  bihete,  to  promise  ;  buffere, 
one  that  stutters ;  clepe,  to  call ;  culver,  a  dove,  found  in 
Spencer;  dome,  doom,  to  judge  ;  echen,  to  add  ;  eren,  to  plough 
(earing  in  the  Authorized  Version) ;  rich,  to  enrich ;  frote,  to 
rub ;  gab,  to  lie ;  gnaste,  to  creak ;  grucchen,  to  murmur ; 
heelden,  to  pour ;  herie,  to  praise ;  such  a  phrase  as  "  Takest 
thou  no  kepe  ?  "  (Luke  x,  40).  These  words  have  also  long 
ceased  to  be  used : — Knowleche,  to  confess  ;  lesid,  gleaned ; 
oker,  to  lend  on  interest  ;  gnappe,  to  struggle  ;  schende,  to 
confound ;  stie,  to  go  lip  ;  unknowe  ;  alblasters,  crossbowmen  ; 
buxum1,  obedient ;  bruk,  a  locust  ;  comelying,  a  stranger ; 
customableness,  custom  ;  crasyng,  a  cleft ;  ferr-floun,  a  fugitive ; 
feerly,  suddenly  ;  fardel,  burden,  which  occurs  in  Shakespeare ; 
dwelstere,  a  female  dweller  ;  fraiel,  a  basket  of  figs ;  gelding,  a 
eunuch  ; 2  gilteris,  sinners  ;  galoun  of  water,  pitcher  of  water  ; 
grisful,  grisly;  genderers,  parents;  hatesum,  hateful;  cheer, 
countenance  ("  the  cheer  of  the  Lord  is  upon  them,"  Pet.  iii,  12); 
layner,  a  garter;  leche,  a  physician  (Luke  viii,  43,  "which 
hadde  spendid  all  her  catel  in  to  lechis " ) ;  lovesum  ;  leep, 
a  basket ;  leasing,  lying  (occurs  in  the  Authorized  Version) ; 
lewd,  unlearned  (the  old  contrast  being  lerid  and  lewid, 
learned  and  unlearned) ;  manquellere,  a  murderer ;  manassis, 
threatenings ;  mesel,  a  leper ;  menie,  household ;  mynde,  a 
memorial ;  more,  for  elder ;  nappen,  to  slumber — Ps.  cxx,  4, 

1  In   a  form  of  abjuration,   1395,  called  the  gelding — "  and  Philip  and 
the  promise  is,  I  will  be  buxum  to  the  gelding  went    down    into    the 
"  the  law  of  Holy  Church."  water."     The  literary  curiosity  was 

2  Evelyn  notes  in  his  Diary,  llth  one  or  other  of  the  Wycliffite  ver- 
July,   1654,  that,  when   at   Oxford,  sions,  for  both  have  that  rendering 
Barlow,     "the    bibliothecarius     of  Tyndale    in    his  first    edition   had 
the  Bodleian  Library,"  showed  him  "  gelded  man,"  but  preferred  cham- 
among   the   MSS.  an   old    English  berlain     in      his     second     edition. 
Bible,   wherein    the    eunuch    men-  Eunuch  came  in  with  the  Genevan 
tioned  to  be  baptised  by  Philip  is  version. 


76  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

"  ho  (God)  shall  not  nappe,  ne  slepeii"  ;  nol,  head  or  neck  ;  peis, 
weight ;  porail,  the  common  people  ;  ripynge,  harvest ;  shame- 
fast,  which  was  originally  in  the  Authorized  Version  (1  Tim.  ii, 
9),  and  ought  to  have  been  kept ;  schrewid,  depraved ;  scheltrun, 
an  army  ;  sothsaw,  a  proverb  ;  sumdel,  partly ;  scrippe,  wallet ; 
shewers,  mirrors ;  sparlyvers,  calves  of  the  leg ;  therf,  un 
leavened  ;  thirs  or  thrisse,  a  fabulous  beast ;  toukere,  a  fuller ; 
welsum,  prosperous  ;  unsad,  unstable. 

But  a  great  number  of  similar  words  still  survive  in  Scotch 
so  nearly  allied  to  the  Platt-Deutsch  and  northern  English, 
though  they  have  ceased  to  occur  in  ordinary  English. 
Attercop,  a  spider ;  axtre,  for  axletree ;  baili  (Luke  xvi,  1), 
bailie  being  still  the  name  of  a  magistrate  in  a  Scotch  borough  ; 
big,  to  build,  "  auld  clay  biggin'  "  (Burns) ;  beel,  suppuration  ; 
bylyve,  forthwith ;  biiie,  (in  Scotland  to  contribute  money  for 
drink)  ;  birr,  force,  rush ;  brokskin,  badgerskin,  brok  being 
the  common  name  for  the  animal ;  brunston,  brimstone ;  chopin, 
denoting  a  measure,  a  word  in  daily  use ;  dicht,  to  prepare, 
applied  to  the  winnowing  of  grain ;  draf,  well  known  to  keepers 
of  cattle  and  dairies  in  Scotland ;  egge,  to  edge  or  push  on ; 
fell  for  skin,  "  between  the  fell  and  the  flesh  " ;  gowling,  howl 
ing  ;  grene  for  gin,  the  poacher  sets  a  girn ;  hyne,  a  labourer — 
hind,  a  common  name  for  farm  servants  in  Berwickshire ; 
croket-rigged,  hunchback,  shoulders  and  back  being  called  in  old 
Scotch  riggin ;  cod  for  pod,  "  to  fill  his  wame  with  the  coddis 
the  hoggis  did  ete  "  (Luke  xv,  16) ;  keetling,  a  whelp,  the  Scotch 
familiar  word  for  kitten ;  kouthly,  kouthy,  very  intimate  ;  rue, 
to  repent ;  segge,  sedge  ;  stithie,  anvil,  pronounced  often  study  ; 
smekede,  smoked ;  sowel,  sowens,  a  kind  of  gruel  made  from  the 
finer  flour  of  oats  ;  tollbooth,  prison ;  puddock,  frog  ;  edwite,  to 
upbraid  (wite  in  Scotch  signifies  blame ;  the  original  title  of 
Pecock's  book  is  "  Represser  of  the  overwyting  of  the  Clergy"); 
lout  (pronounced  loot),  to  stoop  ;  hooled,  having  the  hull  or 
shell  taken  off;  snapere,  to  stumble;  sour-doug,  leaven, applied 
in  some  parts  of  Scotland  to  buttermilk ;  sowk,  suck — Acts 
xiii,  1,  "  Manaen  that  was  the  sowk}mge  feere  of  Eroud " 
(Herod) ;  sparplyd,  sparpled,  scattered ;  stike,  stick,  to  pierce  ; 
tungy,  tonguy,  talkative ;  toun,  a  common  name  for  farm 


in.]  COMPOUND  WORDS.  77 

buildings  (Luke  xiv,  18,  "I  have  bought  a  toun");  trows, 
artificial  conduit  to  serve  a  mill-wheel ;  to  wauke,  to  full,  so 
waukmill ;  wod,  mad  ;  yett,  gate  ;  yowl,  to  howl ;  tak  tent,  tak 
heed  (Acts  xx,  28) ;  wook,  week,  but  now  nearly  out  of  use ; 
sled,  sledge ;  slidery,  from  slide,  used  for  slippery ;  and  speels, 
meaning  chips  or  splinters.  The  distinction  of  genders  is  well 
sustained,  and  both  terminations  are  used,  -ster  and  -ess  (issa 
in  mediaeval  Latin)  ;  spouse,  spousess ;  purpuresse,  applied  to 
Lydia  in  Acts  xvi;  cousyness,  a  female  cousin;  discipless; 
daunstere,  or  daunceress ;  sleestere  and  sleeresse,  a  female 
murderer;  syngster  and  syngeress,  devouress,  servauntess, 
lecheresse,  synneresse,  thralesse,  weileresse,  a  female  wailer ; 
chesister,  cheseresse,  a  female  chooser  ;  leperesse,  a  female 
dancer.  The  feminine  termination  -ster  was  beginning,  how 
ever,  to  yield,  so  that  sometimes  it  represents  the  masculine 
also.  The  first  version  has  webstres  in  a  general  sense, 
(1  Kings,  xvii,  7),  and  spinster  yet  survives,  but  songster  is 
feminine  in  Ben  Johnson  ;  songster-ess  being  a  double  feminine. 
We  also  richess,  richessis  in  the  plural ;  almesse,  almessis. 
Some  adjectives  of  material  have  not  been  retained.  We 
still  possess,  however,  golden,  brazen,  wooden,  flaxen,  woolen, 
but  Wycliffe  has  silvern,  reeden,  treen,  stonen,  hairen,  bricken, 
horn  en,  &c. 

Wycliffe  had  great  wealth  of  compound  words,  though  very 
many  have  not  survived.  His  prefixes  are — above-,  after- 
(which  he  couples  with  forty  different  wrords),  again-  (Titus  iii.  6, 
"  bi  waischyng  of  agen  bigetyng  and  agen  newying  of  the 
Hooli  Goost"),  at-,  alto-,  before-  (which  he  couples  with  thirty- 
two  different  words),  bi-,  dis-,  en-,  even-,  ever-,  for-,  fore-,  ful-, 
in-,  mel-,  mis-,  o-,  if-,  on-,  over-,  out-,  through-,  to-,  un-, 
under-,  up-,  with-.  There  was  the  less  difficulty  in  translating 
when  words  could  be  so  easily  coined,  and  compounds  were  of 
the  genius  of  the  Saxon  language.  If  a  distinctive  word  for 
things  having  life  could  not  be  found,  then  soul-havers  was  at 
hand  ;  if  helm  meant  a  warlike  headpiece,  then  steer-staff  might 
be  used  for  the  instrument  that  guides  a  ship  ;  erthe-movynge 
is  an  earthquake. 

And  yet  a  slight  change  of  spelling  gives  many  of  Wycliffe's 


78  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

words  a  modern  aspect  —  abaished,  abashed ;  aish,  ashes ; 
abregge,  abridge;  abite,  habit;  axe,  ask;  brid,  bird;  brisse, 
bruise  ;  breste,  burst ;  bigge,  buy  ;  bocherie,  shambles ;  boyschel, 
bushel;  bottler,  butler ;  brenne,  burn  ;  caitiff,  captive ;  coryour, 
currier  ;  coz,  kiss  ;  drede,  dread  ;  fait,  fauld,  folded  ;  gree,  degree  ; 
hole,  whole  ;  carkeis,  carcass ;  hoxe,  hough  ;  ligge,  lie  ;  parfyt, 
perfect ;  pistil,  epistle ;  raied,  arrayed ;  rede,  read ;  scrowis, 
scrolls  ;  suget,  subject ;  snybbe,  snub,  reprove;  sorwe,  sorrow  ; 
spitele,  hospital ;  treede,  tread  ;  weilen,  to  wail;  wilden,  to  weild; 
wlaten,  to  loathe;  yuel,  evil;  wrethen,  wreath  ;  "tweye  minutis," 
"  two  mites,"  the  second  word  being  only  the  contraction  of  the 
former  (Mark  xii,  42).  Not  many  years  ago  when  the  experi 
ment  of  reading  Wycliffe's  translation  aloud  was  tried  in  York 
shire,  there  was  hardly  a  word  or  an  expression  which  seemed 
at  all  peculiar.1 

1  The   statement  is  given  in  the     1856,  and    is    said   to   rest  cm    the 
Christian  Anuotator,  vol.  Ill,  p.  58,     authority  of  Dr.  Tregelles. 


CHAPTER    IV. 


Bible  in  the  "  modir  tongue  "  must  have  been  speedily 
diffused,  at  first  in  fragments  copied  and  carried  through 
the  country  by  Wycliffe's  poor  priests,  and  many  other  agents. 
Without  such  a  circulation  the  first  version  could  not  have 
made  the  impression  ascribed  to  it  before  the  Reformer's  death, 
and  it  could  only  have  been  completed  shortly  before  that 
event.  Among  these  poor  priests  Swinderby  was  noted  for 
preaching  any  where  and  at  any  time;  his  pulpit  on  one 
occasion  being  set  between  two  millstones.  Those  preachers 
also,  according  to  Knyghton,  or  pseudo-Knyghton,  maintained 
stoutly  that  they  were  true  evangelists,  because  they  possessed 
"  the  Gospel "  or  English  Bible.  The  manuscripts  remaining  are, 
of  course,  only  a  very  small  remnant,  and  most  of  them  seem  to 
have  been  written  within  forty  years  of  its  publication,  or 
between  1420  and  1450.  The  handsome  appearance  of  many 
of  them  shows  that  the  wealthier  classes  appreciated  them,  and 
that  the  scribes  who  bestowed  such  time  and  skill  on  them  felt 
assured  of  disposing  of  their  labour  at  a  good  remuneration. 
There  was  a  great  demand,  and  a  corresponding  supply. 
Among  Wycliffe's  followers  there  were  not  a  few  knights  and 
"  soldiers,  with  dukes  and  earls," — the  strenuous  supporters  and 
defenders  of  the  new  sect,  according  to  Knyghton,  and  that 
sect,  "like  suckers  growing  out  of  the  root  of  a  tree,  filled  every 
place  within  the  compass  of  the  land,"  and  brought  over  to  it 
"  the  greater  part  of  the  people."  "  Both  men  and  women,"  he 
adds,  on  turning  Wycliffites,  "became  too  eloquent  and  too 
much  for  other  people  by  word  of  mouth,  and  they  all  ex 
pressed  profound  respect  for  Goddis  law  "  or  the  English  Bible" 


SO  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

Therefore  there  were  copies  not  only  in  folio  and  quarto  for  the 
higher  classes,  but  there  were  copies  also  of  a  smaller  size ;  and, 
indeed,  nearly  all  of  those  extant  are  of  this  last  kind,  meant 
not  for  a  place  of  honour  in  a  library,  but  for  individual  daily 
consultation.  But  it  need  not  surprise  us  that  so  few  MSS. 
have  come  down  to  our  time.  Many  must  have  perished  from 
use,  others  were  destroyed  in  a  season  of  panic,  or  injured  by 
the  means  taken  to  conceal  or  preserve  them,  and  not  a  few 
were  burned,  as  the  most  unscrupulous  measures  were  taken 
to  suppress  the  version. 

Many  of  these  written  Bibles  are  of  great  interest  from  the 
persons  who  had  them,  and  the  dates,  curious  notes,  and 
references  found  in  them.  Lewis  refers  to  a  copy  of  the  New 
Testament  in  Emmanuel  College,  Cambridge,  which  has  on  a 
spare  leaf  at  the  end — "Finished  1382,  this  copy  taken  1397." 
There  is  one  in  the  library  of  Cambridge  University,  written 
about  1430,  which,  along  with  some  personal  allusions,  has  a 
note  amidst  rich  ornamentation — "  The  true  copy  of  a  prologe 
which  John  Wickliffe  wrote  to  this  Bible,  which  he  translated 
into  English  about  two  hundred  years  past;  that  was  in  the 
tyme  of  Kinge  Edwarde  the  Thyrd,  as  may  justly  be  gathered 
of  the  mention  that  is  had  of  him  in  divers  ancient  cronicles, 
Anno  Domini  1550."  Upon  the  second  of  two  inserted  leaves 
of  vellum  is  printed  in  large  capitals  of  gold,  Edoverdus  Sextus ; 
this  Bible  may  have  belonged  to  the  young  king  who  died  in 
1553.  In  the  library  of  Westminster  Abbey  there  is  another 
copy,  written  about  1450,  given  by  the  Duchess  of  Richmond 
to  Henry,  Earl  of  Arundel,  and  by  him,  in  September,  1576,  to 
Richard  Wiclif.  Another  MS.  in  the  old  library  of  the  British 
Museum,  in  two  volumes,  is  very  neatly  and  carefully  written, 
probably  before  1420;  it  has  also  been  diligently  gone  over 
by  another  and  nearly  contemporary  reviser,  and  is  the  second 
text  of  the  edition  so  well  printed  by  Forshall  and  Madden. 
A  copy,  belonging  to  Mr.  Bannister,  of  the  Inner  Temple,  has 
on  the  first  page,  in  an  old  hand  of  the  fifteenth  century,  an  in 
scription  showing  that  probably  it  belonged  to  the  Duke  ot 
Gloucester,  Richard  the  Third.  Another  is  also  said  to  have 
belonged  to  Duke  Humphrey,  another  to  Henry  VI,  who  gave 


iv.]  HOSTILITY  TO  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  gl 

it  to  the  Charterhouse,  another  to  Henry  VII,  and  one  was 
also  given  by  her  chaplain  to  Queen  Elizabeth  as  a  birth-clay 
present.  In  the  Wardrobe  Accounts  of  Edward  IV,  there  are 
entries  for  binding  his  Titus  Livius,  his  Froissart,  his  Josephus, 
and  his  Bible. 

Wycliffe 's  work  as  a  translator  brought  upon  him  special 
hostility,  for  the  idea  of  an  English  Bible  filled  the  clergy  with 
alarm  and  indignation.  He  knew,  as  he  tells  us,  that  the  priests 
declared  it  to  be  "  heresy  to  speak  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  in 
English,"  and  he  adds  in  his  Wicket  that  "  such  a  charge  is  a 

O  '  O 

condemnation  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  first  gave  the  Scriptures 
in  tongues  to  the  Apostles  of  Christ,  to  speak  that  word  in  all 
languages  that  were  ordained  of  God  under  heaven."  He  boldly 
dared  to  say  of  Courtenay,  self-named  "  Chief  Inquisitor,"  that 
the  episcopal  prosecution  of  some  of  his  followers  had  its 
origin  in  this — "  because  God's  law  was  written  in  English  to 
lewd  men  " — "  He  pursueth  a  certain  priest  because  he  writeth 
to  men  in  English,"  the  allusion  being  probably  to  Hereford. 
Knyghton,  the  able  and  well-known  canon  of  Leicester,  thus 
delivers  himself:  "This  Master  John  Wycliffe  translated  it 
out  of  the  Latin  into  the  Anglican,  not  the  Angelic  tongue,  and 
thus  laid  it  more  open  to  the  laity  and  to  women  who  could 
read,  than  it  had  formerly  been  to  the  most  learned  of  the 
clergy — even  to  those  of  them  that  had  the  best  understanding. 
And  in  this  way  the  Gospel  pearl  is  cast  abroad,  and  trodden 
under  foot  of  swine ;  that  which  was  before  precious  both  to 
clergy  and  laity  is  rendered  as  it  were  the  common  jest  of 
both.  The  jewel  of  the  Church  is  turned  into  the  common 
sport  of  the  people,  and  what  was  hitherto  the  principal 
gift  of  the  clergy  and  divines  is  made  for  ever  common  to 
the  laity." 

Sudbury  and  Courtenay,  the  two  highest  ecclesiastics,  who 
were  from  their  position  obliged  to  take  action  against  Wycliffe, 
had  not  the  smallest  pretensions  to  scholarship  or  to  a  know 
ledge  of  theology.  Nor  had  Arundel,1  who  had  been  so  instru- 

1  To  create  a  vacancy  in  Canter-  St.  Andrews,  a  transference  which 

bury,  Pope  Boniface  IX  pitched  he  indignantly  repudiated.  He  has 

Arundel  into  the  Scottish  see  of  however,  a  peculiar  connection  with 

VOL.  I.  F 


82  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

mental  in  dethroning  one  king  and  netting  up  another  in  his 
room,  any  higher  qualification ;  but  he  could  lose  his  temper, 
and  say  to  Thorpe,  "  a  poor  priest,"  when  under  examination, 
"  By  God,  I  shall  set  upon  thy  shins  a  pair  of  pearls,  that 
thou  shalt  be  glad  to  change  the  voice."  He  had  presented  to 
the  Pope  a  list  of  2G7  errors  and  heresies  out  of  the  writings  of 
the  Reformer;  and  he  had  sunk  so  low  in  his  ecclesiastical 
enmities  as  to  present  a  request  that  his  holiness  would  order 
Wycliffe's  body  to  be  exhumed,  taken  out  of  consecrated  ground 
and  buried  in  a  dunghill.  The  Pope,  however,  declined  to 
command  this  posthumous  degradation.  But  the  Council 
of  Constance,  which  burned  Huss  and  Jerome,  met  in 
1415,  and  condemned  both  the  writings  and  the  bones  of 
Wycliffe  to  the  flames;  and  in  1428,  fourteen  years  after 
Arundel's  death,  the  decree  was  carried  out  in  the  primacy 
of  Chichele,  and  under  Bishop  Richard  Flemmyng  of  Lin 
coln,  in  earlier  days  himself,  like  his  predecessor  in  the 
same  see,  a  keen  Wycliffite.  His  remains  were  solemnly 
"ungraved,"  and,  in  the  oft-quoted  words  of  Fuller,  "they 
took  what  was  left  of  his  bones,  and  burned  them  to  ashes, 
and  cast  them  into  the  Swift,  a  neighbouring  brook  running 
hard  by.  Thus  this  brook  hath  conveyed  his  ashes  into 
Avon,  Avon  into  Severn,  Severn  into  the  narrow  seas,  they 

Scotland.  His  family,  named  Alan,  France,  and  in  the  infirmity  of  the 
came  over  with  the  Conqueror  in  French  alphabet.  In  1405  Henry 
1066.  Of  the  first  Alan's  two  sons,  IV  kidnapped  the  Prince  of  Scot- 
Walter  Fitzallan,  the  second  sou,  land,  afterwards  James  I,  and 
wandered  north  into  Scotland,  and  Arundel  might  have  recognized  in 
purchased  of  the  Scottish  king  the  the  prisoner  so  long  kept  in  captivity 
hereditary  office  of  High  Steward,  a  "  nineteenth"  Scotch  cousin.  Lord 
One  of  his  descendants,  the  sixth  of  Campbell  (Lives  of  the  Chancellors, 
the  family  who  had  held  the  office,  vol  X,  p.  312,  4th  edition)  commits 
wedded  Marjory,  only  child  of  a  strange  blunder  when  he  assigns 
Kobert  Bruce  by  his  first  marriage,  Archbishop  Arundel's  chancellorship 
and  their  only  child  Eobert,  High  to  the  Wars  of  the  Eoses;  for  the 
Steward  and  Regent,  succeeding  first  of  the  thirteen  battles  was 
his  uncle,  David  II,  in  1370,  became  fought  in  May,  1455,  and  Arundel 
Eobert  II,  the  first  of  the  Steward  died  in  February,  1414.  Arundel, 
or  Stewart  dynasty,  the  popular  five  times  Chancellor,  could  have 
form  Stuart  having  its  origin  in  little  leisure  to  study  theology. 


iv.]  PERSECUTION  OF  THE  WYCLIFFITES.  S3 

into  the  main  ocean.  And  thus  the  ashes  of  "Wycliffe  are  the 
emblem  of  his  doctrine,  which  now  is  dispersed  all  the  world 
over." 

The  posthumous  indignity  done  to  Wycliffe  was  paralleled 
in  1538,  when,  by  a  writ  Quo  Warranto,  Becket  was  formally 
summoned,  and,  after  he  had  been  discanonized,  his  shrine  was 
profaned  and  demolished,  and  its  costly  ornaments  of  gold 
and  precious  stones  were  removed.  Not  only  so,  but  the  bones 
of  the  Saint,  which  had  attracted  myriads  of  devotees  for  so 
many  years,  were  plucked  from  their  resting-place,  burned  to 
ashes,  and  scattered  to  the  four  winds  of  heaven.  This  deed  of 
spoliation  gave  a  greater  shock  to  Europe  than  the  execution 
of  Fisher  and  More. 

But  while  Wycliffe,  who  seems  to  have  expected  martyrdom, 
escaped  himself  so  marvellously  from  the  grasp  of  his  enemies, 
persecution  of  uncommon  severity  fell  upon  his  followers,  who 
had  waxed  so  formidable  from  their  possession  of  an  English 
Bible.  He  had  said  in  his  lifetime,  "  The  friars  pursue  priests, 
for  they  reprove  their  sins  as  God  bids,  to  brenne  them  and  the 
Gospel  of  Christ  written  in  English  to  most  learning  of  our 
nation."1  Purvey  had  also  divined  coming  peril,  and  in  the 
conclusion  of  his  Prologue  had  prayed  that  "  God  would  grant  us 
all  grace  to  have  well  and  keep  well  Holy  Writ,  and  to  suffer  joy 
fully  some  pain  for  it  at  the  last."  In  1387  he,  Hereford,  and 
Ashton  were  forbidden  to  preach  in  his  diocese  by  the  Bishop 
of  Worcester.  Commissions  were  issued  on  the  30th  March 
and  16th  April,  1388,  to  seize  the  writings  of  Wycliffe  and 
Hereford,  and  they  were  repeated  several  times  in  that  and  the 
following  year.  In  1391  a  bill  was  brought  into  Parliament  to 
forbid  the  circulation  of  the  English  Scriptures ;  but  it  was 
rejected  through  the  influence  of  the  Duke  of  Lancaster,  who 
answered  "  right  sharply,  we  will  not  be  the  refuse  of  all  other 
nations ;  for  since  they  have  God's  law,  which  is  the  law  of  our 
belief,  in  their  own  language,  we  will  have  ours  in  English 
whoever  say  nay.  And  this  he  affirmed  with  a  great  oath.'* 
Knyghton,  in  an  account  of  Archbishop  Courtenay's  visita- 

1  Treatise  against  the  Order  of  Friars,  cap.  36. 


84  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

tion  of  Leicester  in  1392,  describes  a  man  called  William 
Smith  as  compelled  to  do  penance  in  the  market-place,  and  to 
deliver  up  English  copies  of  the  Gospels  and  Epistles  which  he 
had  written,  and  the  culprit  confessed  that  for  eight  years  he 
had  diligently  employed  himself  in  such  transcriptions. 

Various  conjectures  have  been  made  with  regard  to  the 
origin  of  the  term  Lollard,  so  familiarly  given  to  Wycliffe's 
followers.  Some  suppose  it  to  have  been  derived  from  Walter 
Lollard,  who  was  burned  at  Cologne  in  the  fourteenth  century. 
Others  derive  it  from  lollen  or  lullen,  to  sing  with  a  low 
voice.1  From  the  title  of  Netter  do  Walden's  book  (Fasciculi 
Zizaniorum),  it  would  seem  that  in  England  it  was  supposed  to 
come  from  lollium,  tares,  as  opposed  to  the  true  wheat ;  and 
Knyghton  describes  Wycliffe  as  mingling  tares  with  wheat  in 
his  sermons.  A  similar  allusion  occurs  in  a  Bull  of  Gregory  XI, 
sent  to  Oxford,  lamenting  that  by  Wycliffe  tares  were  allowed 
to  spring  up  among  the  wheat.  The  doctrines  themselves  are 
also  called  Lollards.  Gower,  an  anti-Lollard,  and  Chaucer,  a 
sympathizer,  also  seem  to  refer  to  this  origin  of  the  term.  The 
name  had  already  been  applied  to  the  Bcghards  of  the  Nether 
lands,  to  the  Cellites  of  Antwerp,  and  to  the  brethren  of  the 
""  Free  Spirit."  In  Piers  the  Ploughman's  Crede,  it  is  said  of 
Wycliffe's  opponents  that  they  "  overal  lollede  him,"  accused 
him  of  lollino- — a  loller  meaning  a  sluggard ;  and  in  the 

o  o  oo  * 

Complaint  of  the  Ploughman  the  term  loller  is  given  to  the 
friars. 

Arguments  against  Lollardism  and  the  turning  of  the 
Bible  into  the  mother  tongue  were  quite  legitimate  as  a  free 
expression  of  opinion,  and  works  and  fragments  of  works 
against  translation  are  still  in  existence.  John  of  Bromyard 
(a  small  town  in  Herefordshire),  a  theologian  of  Cambridge,  and 
a  Doctor  of  Laws,  was  noted  about  1 390  as  a  resolute  opponent 
of  Wycliffe  and  his  views.  Capgrave,  Knyghton,  Wodeford, 
Walden,  and  Walsingham,  all  of  them  able  and  learned  divines, 
threw  themselves  into  the  great  controversy  with  characteristic 
keenness  and  power.  Reginald  Pecock,  Bishop  of  Chichester,  in 
his  "Represser"  (1449), presents  a  very  able  and  strange  combina- 
1  Dn  Gauge,  sub  voce. 


iv.]  ACT  DE  HERETICO  COMBUREXDO.  85 

tion  of  what  now  would  be  called  rationalism  and  ultramon- 
tanism.  Those  whom  he  defended  so  gallantly  against  the  Bible 
men,  met  in  Council,  Archbishop  Bourchier  and  Bishop  Wayn- 
flete  being  present,  and  not  only  spurned  him  as  a  heretic,  but 
condemned  him  to  degradation  and  confinement;  and  to  the 
end  of  his  life  he  was  a  prisoner  in  the  Abbey  of  Thorny  in 
Cambridgeshire,  ink  and  paper  being  denied  him.  His  rational 
ism  was  provoked,  and  so  far  justified,  by  the  application  of 
Scripture  on  the  part  of  the  Lollards  to  uses  which  it  was 
neither  fitted  nor  intended  to  serve  ;  and  he  analyzes  and  con 
demns  the  three  "  Trowings  "  of  the  "  pulpit  bawlers  "  on  these 
points.  His  ultramontane  leanings  are  modified,  however,  by 
his  repudiation  of  "  fire,  sword,  and  hangment "  as  means  of 
conversion,  and  by  the  avowal  of  his  intense  desire,  that 
"  Scripture  were  lerned  of  the  comon  people  in  their  modir 
language." 

If  some  of  the  Lollards  cherished  extreme  political  views,  or 
propounded  socialist  notions,  it  is  strange  that  in  the  legislative 
measures  taken  against  them,  they  are  stigmatized,  not  as 
traitors  and  anarchists,  but  as  religious  heretics.  The  Act  de 
Heretico  Combureiido  (2  Henry  IV,  cap.  15),  passed  in  1401, 
speaks  of  "  divers  false  and  perverse  people  of  a  new  sect ;  they 
make  unlawful  conventicles,  they  hold  and  exercise  schools, 
and  make  and  write  books."  The  books  must  have  included 
the  English  Bible,  from  which  the  innovators  drew  their 
courage  and  strength ;  but  it  seems  to  be  classed  with  other 
productions,  as  if  it  had  been  profane  to  call  an  English  version 
by  the  same  appellation  as  would  be  conferred  on  the  Latin 
Vulgate.  The  allusion  in  the  statute  to  civil  riots  and  discon 
tent  is  only  secondary  and  subordinate.  By  this  Act,  the  lives 
of  the  subjects  were  put  under  the  control  of  the  bishops,  who 
got  power  to  fine  and  imprison  all  heretics,  and  all  possessors 
of  heretical  books,  while  obstinate  and  lapsed  heretics  were 
handed  over  to  the  sheriff,  to  be  burned  at  once,  "  in  a  high 
place  before  the  people,  that  they  might  take  salutary 
warning."  The  Act  bears  the  title — "  The  Orthodoxy  of  the 
Faith  of  the  Church  of  England  asserted,  and  provision  made 
against  oppugners  of  the  same,  with  the  punishment  of 


86  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

hereticks."  J  The  church  was  now  dominant,  and  the  civil  power 
was  bound  to  execute  without  hesitation  or  loss  of  time  the 
bishop's  sentence.  Offenders  were  at  once  thrust  beyond  the 
protection  of  the  common  law,  and  the  prelates  were  forced 
to  have  prisons  of  their  own.  A  similar  law  had  been  made  in 
Germany  in  1244  by  Frederick  II ;  but  Louis  would  not  permit 
its  enactment  in  France.  The  common  belief  asserted  by  Foxe, 
Burnet,  and  Collier,  that  the  Act  de  Heretico  Comburendo 
was  an  entire  novelty  in  the  law  of  England,  does  not  seem  to 
rest  on  good  foundation.  The  Act  itself  presupposes  the 
existence  of  its  penalty,  and  only  ordains  that  it  be  inflicted 
uberius  et  celerius,  "  more  fully  and  more  swiftly."  The  earlier 
civil  law  of  England,  it  would  seem,  had  sometimes  taken  cog 
nizance  of  heresy  as  a  crime.  Bale  notes,  from  a  London 
Chronicle,  that  an  Albigensian  was  burned  in  London  in  1210.2 
Bracton3  tells  of  a  deacon  burned  at  Oxford  in  1223,  for  having 
gone  over  to  Judaism  from  love  of  a  Jewess,  and  getting  himself 
"circumcided."  And  in  his  laws  of  England,  a  treatise  written 
about  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Henry  III,  he  mentions  burning 
as  the  punishment  of  heresy.  It  is  stated  in  the  Chronicle 
of  Meaux,4  that  in  1303  fifty  men  and  eight  women  were 
burned  in  England.  In  Piers  the  Ploughman's  Crede,  the  friars 
are  accused  of  executing  heretics,  "  First  to  brenne  the  bodyo 
in  a  bale  of  fire."  But  such  an  old  law  had  long  been  obsolete, 
and  no  death  Avarrant  would  have  been  issued  on  a  mere  ecclesi 
astical  sentence. 

Though  such  penalties  may  have  been  inflicted  on  heretics 
at  an  early  time,  the  punishment  was  only  occasional,  and  the 
civil  law  intervened;  but,  now,  a  simple  decree  of  a  bishop 
sufficed  to  send  a  man  to  the  stake,  and  the  accusation  of 
heresy  became  sufficiently  elastic  to  bring  within  it  a  consider 
able  variety  of  offenders.5  "  The  Commons  petitioned  for  a 
mitigation  of  the  terms  of  the  Act,  but  the  royal  reply  was, 

1  Coram  populo  in  eminent!  loco.  4  Bond's  edition,  vol.  ii,  p.  323. 
The    Act  did    not   remain   a   dead  5  Coke,  Institutes,    pt.    iii.    Coke 
letter.  maintains   "  that  the  man  who  has 

2  Cent.  Ixiii,  c.  C5.  the  soul's  leprosy,  being  convicted  of 

3  De  Legibus  Anglite,  folio,  124.  heresy,  should  be  cut  off." 


iv.]  FIRES  OF  SMITHFIELD.  §7 

that  the  law  should  be  made  more  severe.1  This  statute  was  ap 
parently  passed  by  Parliament  at  the  instigation  of  the  clergy,  led 
by  Archbishop  Arundel,  who  had  a  special  claim  on  the  Sovereign, 
for  he  had  been,  as  much  from  motives  of  a  personal  as  of  a 
patriotic  nature,  a  chief  adviser  and  actor  in  deposing  the  weak 
and  capricious  Richard  II,  and  securing  the  throne  to  Henry 
IV.  He  was,  besides,  a  near  relation  by  blood  of  the  king,  his 
mother  being  the  daughter  of  Henry  Plantagenet,  Earl  of  Lan 
caster.  Feeling  his  infirmity  of  title,  and  his  obligation  to 
his  cousin  the  primate  and  to  the  church,  the  king,  in  the  first 
year  of  his  reign,  announced  to  the  clergy  his  determination  to 
support  them  against  any  threatened  aggression,  and  to  co-operate 
with  them  in  the  extirpation  of  heresy.  In  the  second  year  of 
his  reign,  Sautre,  priest  of  St.  Osyth,  London,2  was  sent  to  the 
stake,  and  Bradbee,  an  uneducated  tailor,  but  "  really  a  great 
man,"  as  Dean  Hook  calls  him,  was  roasted  in  a  barrel,  a 
portion  of  the  process  being  endured  in  the  presence  of  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  soon  to  be  Henry  V.  Occleve,  an  orthodox 
and  frigid  poet3  (born  about  1370),  sings  of  this  terrible  martyr 
dom,  but  with  no  sympathy  for  the  poor  sufferer.  Another  minor 
bard,  Lydgate,  ordained  priest  in  1397,  and  patronized  by 
Henry  V,  though  he  lived  in  the  midst  of  the  Lollard  agita 
tion,  does  not  seem  to  have  committed  himself  in  any  way. 
Thirty  of  the  more  prominent  Lollards  were  put  to  death 
at  various  times,  and  without  mercy  Then  followed,  on 
Christmas,  1417,  the  terrible  execution  of  Oldcastle,  Lord 
Cobham,4  "  a  person,"  in  the  language  of  Lord  Brougham, 

1  See  remarks  of  Lord  Brougham  a  Bill  to  confiscate  the  revenues  of 
on  this  statute  in  his  "  England  and  the    church,  which,  after  some  cal- 
France  under  the  House  of  Lancas-  culations,  goes  on  to  say  that,  over 
ter."     London,  1861.  and  above  the  said  sum  of  322,000 

2  The  church,  situated  on  the  north  marks,  the  result  of  appropriation, 
side  of  St.  Pancras  Lane,  was  burned  several  houses  of  religion  possessed 
at  the  great  fire,  and  the  parish  was  as    many    temporalities    as    might 
united  to  that  of  St.  Stephen  Wai-  suffice    15,000   priests,  every  priest 
brook.  to  be  allowed  for  his  stipend  seven 

3  De  Kegimiue  Priucipum,  Intro-  marks  a  year.    Hook's  Archbishops, 
duction.  vol.  IV,  p.  489. 

4  Cobham  had,  in  1410,  introduced 


88  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

"of  extraordinary  virtue  and  high  rank,  a  knight  greatly 
distinguished  in  the  wars,  a  gentleman  of  unsullied  re 
putation  for  honour,  the  head  of  an  ancient  house,  and  by 
right  of  marriage  a  peer  of  the  realm/' l  His  enthusiasm  may 
have  led  himself  or  incited  his  followers  to  some  political  indis 
cretions.  His  was  a  death  of  savage  cruelty,  for  he  was  hung 
in  chains  as  a  traitor,  in  order  to  be  burned  at  the  same  time 
as  a  heretic.  Horace  Walpole  says  of  him  that,  "  his  virtue 
made  him  a  reformer,  and  his  valour  made  him  a  martyr." 
There  were  other  executions  under  this  disgraceful  Act, 
of  which  little  record  has  come  down  to  us ;  for  WTC  find 
Henry  V  restoring  forfeited  property  to  the  widows  of 
four  persons,  who  had  been  martyred  before  his  accession. 

The  clergy  were  devotedly  loyal  to  their  protector.  When , 
after  the  accession  of  Henry  IV,  an  insurrection  in  favour  of 
Richard  had  been  put  down  at  Cirencester,  and  the 
head  of  one  of  its  promoters,  the  Earl  of  Salisbury,  a  noted 
Lollard,  was  carried  into  London  in  triumph,  the  procession 
was  met  by  eighteen  bishops,  and  thirty-two  mitred  abbots  in 
full  robes,  and  chanting  Te  Deurn.  By  a  statute  of  the  fifth 
year  of  Richard  II  (5  Rich.  II,  cap.  5),  confirmed  by  another 
of  the  second  of  Henry  V  (2  Henry  V,  cap.  7),  it  was 
ordained  to  be  part  of  the  oath  administered  to  a  sheriff  on 
his  acceptance  of  office,  that  he  should  "  seek  and  suppress  the 
errors  and  heresies  commonly  called  Lolleries."  This  portion  of 
the  oath  continued  in  use  till  Sir  Edward  Coke  objected  to  it, 
when  he  was,  in  1G26,  by  a  court  intrigue  to  keep  him  out 
of  Parliament,  appointed  Sheriff  of  Buckinghamshire,  —  his 
defence  being  that  it  was  an  oath  to  suppress  the  Established 
Church,  as  Lollard  was  only  another  name  for  Protestant. 

Yet  what  Parliament  might  not  venture  to  do,  was  done  in 
its  own  way  by  a  Convocation  which  met  at  Oxford,  in  July, 
1408,  and  Arundel  was  its  moving  spirit.  But  the  opposition 

1  Shakespeare  had  used  his  name  a  martyr,  and  this  is  not  the  man. 
in  Henry  IV,  First  Part,   "  my  old  A  line  of  limping  metre  in  the  last 
lad  of  the  Castle,"  but  afterwards,  passage  of  Act  ii,   Sc.  3,  is  the  re 
in  the  epilogue  to  the  Second  Part,  suit  of  the  change  of    name   from 
he   made  apology — "  Oldcastle  died  Oldcastle  to  Falstaff. 


iv.]  ARUNDEL  CONSTITUTIONS.  8D 

was  so  strong,  that  the  Constitutions  were  not  promulgated  till 
after  another  Convocation,  held  at  St.  Paul's,  in  January  of  the 
following  year.  The  new  English  Bible  was  directly  struck  at 
in  the  seventh  Constitution,  to  which  passage  reference  has 
already  been  made  :  "  We  therefore  decree  and  ordain  that  no 
man  shall,  hereafter,  by  his  own  authority,  translate  any  text 
of  the  Scripture  into  English,  or  any  other  tongue,  by  way  of  a 
book,  libel,  or  treatise,  now  lately  set  forth  in  the  time  of  John 
Wyckliff,  or  since,  or  hereafter  to  be  set  forth,  in  part  or  in  whole, 
privily  or  apertly,  upon  pain  of  greater  excommunication,  until 
the  said  translation  be  allowed  by  the  ordinary  of  the  place,  or, 
if  the  case  so  require,  by  the  ^council  provincial." l  Some 
authors  have  tried  to  apologize,  on  political  grounds,  for  this 
audacious  suppression  of  an  English  Bible  by  the  English 
clergy  ;  but  the  "  Constitution  "  itself,  resting  solely  on  ecclesi 
astical  bases,  assigns  no  reason  of  the  kind.2  Sir  Thomas  More, 
at  a  later  period,  records  that  Caxton  did  not  print  Wycliffe's 
translation  because  Arundel's  statute  would  bring  him  under 
penalty  for  issuing  an  English  Bible.3 

In  1404  and  1407,  the  Commons,  who  certainly  were  not  all 
Lollards,  addressed  the  king  on  the  enormous  wealth  of  the 
church;  for  half  the  land  of  England  belonged  to  it  and  to  the 
religious  houses :  but  he  at  once  forbade  them  to  discuss  such 
matters.  In  the  second  parliament  of  Henry  V,  in  1414,  the 
legislature  joined  in  asking  for  harder  measures  against  the 
Lollards,  perhaps  on  account  of  political  opinions.  After  a  sus 
pected  rising  of  the  Lollards,  a  law  was  passed,  declaring  that 
all  who  read  the  Scriptures  in  the  mother  tongue  should  "  forfeit 
land,  catel,  lif,  and  goods,  from  theyr  heyres  for  ever."  But  there 
was  also  in  this  parliament  a  revival  of  the  desire  to  secure  for 
the  revenue  of  the  state  some  portion  of  the  exorbitant  property 

1  Wilkin's   Concilia,   vol.    Ill,   p.  -  The  Bishop  of  Worcester,  in  1387, 

317.     There    had    been   an    earlier  told  his  clergy  that  the  Lollards  were 

canon    passed    at    the    Council    of  followers    of    Mahomet.      Wilkiu's 

Thoulouse,  iu   1229,  forbidding  the  Concilia,  vol.  Ill,  p.  202. 

possession  of   the  Scriptures  to  the  3  Crouica  de  Event.  Angliae,  torn 

laity,  and  strictly  forbidding  trans-  II,  London,  1652,  p.  2044. 
lations. 


90  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

of  the  church.  This  desire  was  apparently  cherished  by  many 
loyal  and  patriotic  churchmen;  and,  according  to  a  common  report 
which  Shakespeare  has  immortalized,  Archbishop  Chichele 
stirred  up  the  king  to  undertake  at  once  the  threatened 
invasion  of  France,  and  in  this  way  to  draw  the  attention  of 
the  people  away  from  schemes  of  ecclesiastical  reform.  The 
poet  makes  Chichele  say  to  the  Bishop  of  Ely : — 

"  That  self  same  bill  is  urged 

That,  in  the  eleventh  year  of  the  last  king's  reign, 
Was  like,  and  had,  indeed,  against  us  passed, 
But  that  the  scrambling  and  unquiet  time 
Did  push  it  out  of  further  question. 

If  it  pass  against  us, 
We  lose  the  better  half  of  our  possessions." 

The  statement  as  given  by  Halle,  Holinshed,  Fabyan,  and 
others,  that  the  clergy  suggested  the  war,  and  argued  the  king 
into  compliance,  may  perhaps  be  regarded  as  an  exaggeration; 
but  they  fanned  the  flame,  if  they  did  not  kindle  it.  This  war, 
which  was  in  unison  with  the  late  king's  policy,  was  utterly 
unjust;  for  the  claim  of  Edward  III  devolved  on  the  Earl  of 
March,  his  lineal  heir,  and  not  on  the  usurping  house  of 
Lancaster.  Every  one  knows  that  the  campaign  created  the 
greatest  enthusiasm,  for  the  wonderful  battle  of  Agincourt 
threw  unsurpassed  glory  round  the  English  hero — a  glory  that 
sometimes  dazzles  those  who  have  little  sympathy  with  the 
claims  or  conquests  of  Henry  V. 

The  English  Bible,  circulated,  expounded,  quoted,  and  applied, 
filled  the  ecclesiastics  with  terror.  To  have  it,  or  to  be  accused 
of  having  it,  put  a  man,  by  law,  into  extreme  jeopardy.  But 
the  word  of  the  Lord  Avas  not  thrown  away  or  lost.  Those 
who  felt  it  to  be  their  enlightenment  and  comfort  cherished  it 
with  intense  veneration.  The  danger  which  they  incurred  in 
keeping  it  only  enhanced  its  value,  for  there  was  a  possible 
martyrdom  behind  it ;  and  there  might  have  been  embossed  on 
its  boards  the  effigy  of  a  stake  and  a  chain,  a  fire  and  a  victim. 
The  great  majority  of  the  Wycliffite  Scriptures  still  preserved 
were  written  after  the  ban  of  Arundel  and  his  Convocation  had 


iv.]  STEALTHY  READING  OF  THE  BIBLE.  91 

been  issued.  Those  who  read  the  forbidden  volume  must  have 
felt  the  proverb  verified  in  its  richest  and  truest  sense,  "Stolen 
waters  are  sweet,  and  bread  eaten  in  secret  is  pleasant."  Many 
did  suffer  for  owning  a  Bible  in  their  spoken  tongue.  Foxe1 
gives  numerous  instances  of  persecution  in  various  dioceses. 
Some  persons  were  imprisoned,  and  others  were  burned.  In 
1519,  six  men  and  a  woman  perished  at  the  stake  at  Coventry, 
for  teaching  their  children  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  the  Ten 
Commandments  in  English.  The  point  of  the  charge  against 
the  "  examinates,"  or  accused  persons,  was  uniformly  not  the 
possession  of  a  Bible,  but  of  an  English  Bible,  or  "  book  of  the 
New  Law  in  English."  An  unintelligible  Latin  volume  of 
Scripture  was  felt  to  be  harmless  in  the  hands  of  the  people, 
though,  indeed,  William  Butler,2  a  Franciscan  adversary  of 
"Wycliffe,  hesitates  not  to  say,  "  The  prelates  ought  not  to  allow 
that  any  person  should  read  the  Scripture  translated  into  Latin 
at  pleasure."  3  There  was  a  great  desire  that  children  should 
not  be  taught  the  Lord's  Prayer  or  the  Beatitudes  in  English. 
Some  of  the  people  had  not  the  whole  New  Testament,  but 
only  the  Gospels  or  a  few  of  the  Epistles.  The  forbidden  book 
was  often  read  by  night,  and  those  who  had  not  been  them 
selves  educated  listened  with  eagerness  to  the  reading  of  others; 
but  to  read  it,  and  to  hear  it  read,  were  alike  forbidden.  Copies 
of  the  New  Testament  were  also  borrowed  from  hand  to  hand 
through  a  wide  circle,  and  poor  people  gathered  their  pennies 
and  formed  copartneries  for  the  purchase  of  the  sacred  volume. 
Those  who  could  afford  it  gave  five  marks  for  the  coveted 
manuscript  (about  £40  sterling),  and  others  in  their  penury  gave 

1  Iu  vols.  IV  and  V.    Seeley,  Lon-  ment  was  published,  says,   "  I  fear 
don.  two  things — I  fear  that  the  study  of 

2  Vaughan's  Wycliffe,  vol.  II,  p.  Hebrew  will  promote  Judaism,  and 
50.      Latin    Bibles  were  so   scarce  that  the  study  of  philology  will  re- 
that  Fitzralph,  primate  of  Armagh,  vive    paganism."     There  was  some 
complained  to  Pope  Innocent   that  ground  for  the  fears  of  Erasmus,  for 
four  of  his  chaplains,  on  going  to  it  was  said  of  some  of  the  Italian 
Oxford,  could  not  find  a  Bible.  scholars,   who    had   become    classic 

3  More  than  a  century  afterwards,  pagans,   that   they  had    a    chauut, 
Erasmus,  in  1516,  the  year  in  which  "  Come,  let  us  sing  a  new  song  unto 
his  first  edition  of  Greek  New  Testa-  Pope  Sixtus." 


92  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAV. 

gladly  for  a  few  leaves  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  a  load  of  hay. 
Nicholas  Bui  ward,  of  the  diocese  of  Norwich,  was  charged  "  that 
he  hath  a  New  Testament  which  he  bought  in  London  for  four 
marks  and  fourty  pence."  John  Colins  and  his  wife  were 
brought  up  for  buying  a  Bible  of  Stacey  for  twenty  shillings. 
In  1429  the  price  of  a  Bible  was  £2,  IGs.  8d. — a  great  price, 
and  probably  more  than  twelve  times  that  sum  in  our  current 
money ;  but  fragments  in  separate  books  would  be  proportion 
ately  cheaper.  Some  committed  portions  to  memory,  that  they 
might  recite  them  to  relatives  and  friends.  Thus  Alice  Colins 
was  commonly  sent  for  to  the  meetings,  "  to  recite  unto  them  the 
Ten  Commandments  and  the  Epistles  of  Peter  and  James." 
"  Understandest  thou  what  thou  readest?"  was  a  challenge 
wholly  fruitless  to  many  ;  but  they  enjoyed  the  benediction, 
"  Blessed  is  he  that  readeth,  and  they  that  hear  the  words  of 
this  prophecy."  In  1429  Marjory  Backster  was  indicted 
because  she  asked  her  maid  Joan  to  "come  and  hear  her 
husband  read  the  law  of  Christ  out  of  a  book  he  was  wont 
to  read  by  night."  Richard  Hun,  committed  to  the  Lollard's 
Tower  in  1514,  was  found  dead  in  his  cell,  there  being 
strong  suspicions  that  he  had  been  murdered.  His  indict 
ment  before  his  death  bore  that  he  "  had  in  his  keeping 
divers  English  books  prohibited  and  damned  by  the  law, 
as  the  Apocalypse  in  English,  and  Epistles  and  Gospels 
in  English."  One  of  the  "  new  articles "  brought  against 
him  after  his  death  was  "  that  he  defendeth  the  trans 
lation  of  the  Bible  and  of  the  Holy  Scripture  into  English." 
Between  1518  and  1521,  such  cases  are  recorded  as  Richard 
Collins,  accused  of  having  a  book  of  Luke  and  of  Paul ;  William 
Pope,  of  having  a  book  of  Paul  and  a  book  of  small  Epistles  ; 
Stacey,  brickmaker,  Coleman  Street,  of  having  a  book  of  the 
Apocalypse ;  Thomas  Colins,  of  having  a  book  of  Paul  and  ot 
James  in  English ;  and  John  Ledishall,  of  Hungerford, 
reading  the  Bible  at  Burford  upon  Holyrood  day ;  and  John 
Heron  of  having  "  a  book  of  the  exposition  of  the  Gospels  fairly 
written  in  English." 

The  means  employed  to  discover  the  readers  and  possessors 
of  Scripture  were  truly  execrable  in  character.     Friends  and 


iv.]  NEFARIOUS  MEANS  OF  DETECTION.  93 

relations  were  put  on  oath,  and  bound  to  say  what  they  knew 
of  their   own    kindred.     The  privacy  of  the  household  was 
violated    through    this    espionage;    and    husband   and    wife, 
parent  and  child,  were  sworn  against  one  another.     The  ties 
of  blood  were  wronged,  and  the  confidence  of  friendship  was 
turned   into  a  snare    in  this   secret   service.     Universal  sus 
picion  must  have  been  created ;  no  one    could  tell  who  his 
accuser   might  be,  for  the  friend   to  whom  he  had   read   of 
Christ's  betrayal  might  soon  be  tempted  to  act  the  part  ol 
Judas  towards  himself,  and  for  some  paltry  consideration  sell 
his  life  to  the  ecclesiastical  powers.     There  are  numerous  ex 
amples.     Robert  Colins  "  detected  "  or  informed  against  Richard 
Colins  of  Girge,  for  that  Richard  did  read  unto  him  the  Ten 
Commandments,  and  taught  him  the  Epistle  of  James ;  John 
Hakker  detected  Thomas  Vincent  for  giving  him  the  Gospel 
of  St.  Matthew  in  English ;  John  Steventon  detected  Alice 
Colins   for   teaching  the  Ten   Commandments   and   the    first 
chapter  of  St.  John  in  English  ;  Thomas  Colins  informed  against 
his  "  own  natural  father,"  because  his  father  had  taught  him 
the  Ten  Commandments ;    Robert  Pope  informed  against  his 
wife,  his  son,  and  his  father,  the  paternal  crime  being  that 
his   parent   had   listened   to    the    reading  of  the   Gospel   of 
Matthew.     Many  from  experience  must  have  become  so  cunning 
as  to  escape  detection,  and  others  may  have  secured  immunity 
by  an  organized  system  of  vigilant  sentinels,  and  private  tokens 
and  watchwords.     On  being  seized  many  abjured.      In  1519 
Roger  Parker  of  Hitchenden  said  to   John   Phip,   that   "for 
burning  his  books  he  was  foul  to  blame,  for  they  were  worth 
a   hundred  marks.      To  whom  John  answered,  that  he   had 
rather    burn    his   books   than    that    his   books    should   burn 
him."      On  one  occasion,  at  Amersham,  in  1506,  the  daughter 
of  the  martyr  William  Tylsworth  was  "compelled  with   her 
own  hands  to  set  fire  to  her  dear  father."      Foxe  intimates 
that  when  he  wrote  the  story,  there  were  persons  alive  who 
had   witnessed  such   a  refinement  of  cruelty.      When   John 
Scrivener  was  burned,  his  children  were  forced  to  light  the  fire 
that  consumed  him. 

The  attachment  of  the  Wycliffites  to  Scripture  was  notorious 


94  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

all  through  the  previous  century,  and  from  their  first  existence. 
An  old  satirical  song  complains  of  Lord  Cobham — 

"  Hit  is  unkyndly  for  a  knight, 
That  should  a  kinges  castel  kepe, 
To  bahhle  the  Bibel  day  and  night." 

Their  earlier  purity  of  conversation  is  brought  out  by  Chaucer 
in  his  Canterbury  Tales.  The  host  adjures  the  parson,  "for 
Goddes  bones,"  to  tell  a  story  in  his  turn ;  but  the  parson's 
surprise  at  the  sinful  oath  at  once  marked  him  out  as  a  Lollard — 
"  I  smell  a  Loller  in  the  wind."  To  prevent  him  from  talking 
Gospel,  the  shipman  struck  in,  "  He  shall  no  Gospel  giossen 
here,  nor  preach,  or  he  might  springen  cockle  in  our  cleane 
corn,"  an  allusion  to  lolia  (tares).  The  parson's  tale,  however, 
is  in  character,  being  a  long  sermon  filled  with  quotations 
from  Scripture,  the  Latin  clauses  being  rendered  by  the  poet 
himself. 

The  knowledge  of  divine  truth,  received  by  the  reading  of  the 
Scriptures,  was  transmitted  by  a  succession  of  pious  men  for 
more  than  a  century  after  Wycliffe's  death.  There  was  a 
revival  of  spiritual  life,  and  the  dim  mists  of  the  morning  were 
passing  away  at  the  rising  of  the  sun.  Readers  of  the  manu 
script  Bible  were  numerous  in  London,  where  they  had  several 
places  of  meeting  ;  and  they  abounded  also  in  the  counties  of 
Lincoln,  Essex,  Norfolk,  Suffolk,  Buckingham,  and  Hereford. 
The  Gospels,  especially  that  of  Matthew,  the  Beatitudes,  the 
Apocalypse,  and  very  frequently  the  Epistle  of  James,  are 
mentioned  in  the  informations  and  indictments.  In  1528, 
John  Tyball,  of  Steeple  Bumstead,  confessed  to  having  part  of 
Paul's  Epistles  after  the  old  translation.  John  Pykas,  in  1529, 
acknowledged  that  he  had  a  manuscript  of  the  Bible,  and  that 
he  had  been  studying  it  since  1512.  About  1520  and  1521, 
more  than  five  hundred  men  and  women  were  arrested  in  the 
one  diocese  of  Lincoln,  under  Bishop  Longland ;  and  there  was 
persecution  from  1509  to  1517  under  Fitzjames,  Bishop  of 
London.  Ammonius,  the  Latin  secretary  of  Henry  VIII,  writes 
in  grim  humour  to  Erasmus,  in  1511,  that  so  many  heretics 
had  been  burned  under  Bishop  Fitzjames  that  in  and  around 


iv.]  TYXDALE,  SUCCESSOR  OF  WYCLIFFE.  95 

London  fuel  had  become  scarce  and  dear.1  In  1529,  John 
Tewksbury,  citizen  and  leather  merchant,  on  examination 
before  Bishop  Tunstall,  deponed  that  he  had  been  studying  the 
Scripture  for  seventeen  years,  and  had  a  copy  of  the  "  Bible 
written."  These  Bible  readers  called  themselves  "  brothers  "  or 
"  sisters  "  in  Christ,  and  at  an  early  period  they  took  the  name 
of  "just-fast  men,"  "  known  men,"  and  "  known  women."  The 
title  was  based,  according  to  Reginald  Pecock,  on  Wycliffe's. 
unhappy  misrendering  of  the  last  clause  of  1  Corinthians  xiv, 
38,  "  If  eny  man  uuknowith  he  schal  be  unknown,"  Pecock's 
explanation  being  that  they  understood  the  clause  to  mean 
that  if  a  man  did  not  know  the  New  Testament,  he  should  be 
unrecognized  of  God  "  for  to  be  eny  of  hise."  In  talking  of  a 
third  party,  one  would  ask,  "  Is  he  a  known  man  ?  " — that  is,  Is 
he  one  of  the  party  characterized  by  their  reading  of  the 
written  New  Testament  ?  But  such  stealth  and  secrecy  were 
forced  upon  them — "  the  Word  of  the  Lord  was  precious  in  those 
days,  there  was  no  open  vision," — and  the  time  was  yet  distant 
when  the  circulation  and  reading  of  Scripture  should  be  without 
bar  or  proscription,  when  there  should  be  an  Authorized  Version. 
In  consequence  of  the  spirit  of  earnest  inquiry  which  was  shed 
abroad,  the  tyranny  of  the  spiritualty  was  seen  to  be  more 
glaringly  in  antagonism  with  inspired  teaching. 

In  fine,  there  is  no  doubt  that  "  this  dear  old  English  Bible  " 
kept  alive  the  knowledge  of  divine  truth  for  many  years.  The 
influence  of  Wycliffe  had  not  ceased  when  that  of  Tynclale 
began,  for  in  1529,  and  in  the  fierce  proclamation  of  that  year 
against  heretical  books — Tyndale's  Testament  occupying  the 
first  place  on  the  list — all  civil  officers  are  enjoined  at  the  same 
time  to  "destroy  all  heresies  and  errors  commonly  called 
Lollardies."  Wycliffe's  followers  were  therefore  still  of  such 
note  and  influence  as  to  obtain  a  place  in  this  royal  document. 
Even  so  far  on  as  1538,  Lambert  the  martyr,  in  reply  to  one  of  the 
articles  preferred  against  him,  admitted,  "  I  did  once  see  a  book 
of  the  New  Testament,  which  was  not  written  in  my  estimation 
this  hundred  years,  and  in  my  mind  right  well  translated  after 
the  example  of  that  which  is  read  in  the  Church  in  Latin." 

1  Epist.,  cxxvii. 


90  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [cnxr. 

Vernacular  translations  of  Scripture  were  usually  found  in 
connection  with  the  reformed  doctrines,  and  Scotland  was  no 
exception.  In  1408,  John  Resby,  a  follower  of  Wycliffe,  who 
had  strayed  down  to  the  North,  was  arrested  and  tried  under 
the  Regency  of  Albany,  and,  being  convicted  of  forty  heresies, 
was  burned  at  Perth.  The  Abbot  of  Inchcolm,  as  continuator 
of  Fordun's  Chronicle,  tells  the  story,  and  he  laments  that 
the  books  of  Wycliffe  are  possessed  by  several  Lollards  in 
Scotland,  and  kept  with  profound  and  "  devlish "  secrecy. 
The  same  chronicler  relates  that,  in  1431,  Paul  Craws  or  Crawar, 
a  Bohemian  Wycliffite,  was  convicted  and  burned  at  St.  Andrews. 
Such  had  been  the  increase  of  Lollardy,  and  such  the  dread  of 
it,  that  the  Scottish  Parliament,  meeting  at  Perth,  in  the  reign 
of  James  I,  passed  on  the  12th  of  March,  1424-5,  an  "Act  of 
Heretickis  and  Lollardis."  "  Item,  Anentis  Heretickis  and 
Lollardis,  that  ilk  Bischop  sail  ger  inquyr  be  the  Inquisicione 
of  Heresy,  quhar  ony  sik  beis  fundyne,  ande  that  thai  be 
punyst  as  Laive  of  Haly  Kirk  requiris ;  Ande,  gif  it  misteris 
(if  there  be  need)  that  secular  power  be  callyt  tharto  in 
suppowale  and  helping  of  Haly  Kirk." l  An  inquisitor 
had  also  been  appointed,  the  first  who  held  the  office 
being  Laurence  of  Lindores,  Abbot  of  Scone,  in  1411,  and  the 
first  Professor  of  Law  in  the  newly  established  University 
of  St.  Andrews.  It  was  enacted  by  this  University  in  1416 
that  all  who  commenced  Master  of  Arts  should  solemnly 
swear  to  resist  the  Lollards.  At  an  earlier  period,  in  1390,  a 
Scottish  book  was  written  against  the  disciples  of  Wycliffe. 
In  1494,  Robert  Blackadder,  Bishop  of  Glasgow,  and  first  Arch 
bishop,  "  delated  "  some  thirty  individuals  of  good  family — 
squires  with  considerable  property — principally  from  Kyle,  the 
central  district  of  Ayrshire ;  and  Lollards  of  Kyle  became  their 
common  designation.  Being  convicted  by  the  ecclesiastical  courts 
of  thirty-four  heresies,  they  were  sent  up  to  the  civil  authorities, 
but  they  declined  to  interfere.  One  of  the  culprits,  Campbell 
of  Cessnock,  had  a  priest  at  home  "  who  read  the  Bible  to  them 
in  their  vernacular."  Campbell,  feeling  himself  in  danger, 
appealed  to  the  king,  and  his  wife  made  an  eloquent  defence. 
1  Acta  Purl.  Scotiae,  vol.  II,  p.  7. 


TV.]  OLD  SCOTTISH  TONGUE.  97 

James  IV  at  once  acquitted  the  whole  party,  and,  as  Knox  adds, 
"  the  greatest  part  of  the  accusation  was  turned  to  lawchter." 

There  is  little  doubt  that  Wycliffe's  version  was  in  quiet 
circulation  in  several  parts  of  the  northern  country.  Its 
language  was  quite  intelligible  in  those  days  to  Scottish  readers, 
for  it  was  virtually  their  own.  Those  who  could  read  Fordun's 
Scoti-Chronicori,  Archdeacon  Barbour's  Bruce,  or  Blind  Harry's 
Wallace ;  or  the  Oryginal  Cronykil  of  Wyntoun,  Prior  of 
St.  Serf,  or  the  King's  Quhair  of  James  Prince  of  Scotland, 
could  easily  read  Wycliffe.  Barbour  calls  his  own  language 
"  English  "  ;  and  one  of  his  contemporaries  thanks  Chaucer  for 
improving  "  our  tongue."  Barbour  has  -and  often  for  the  ter 
mination  of  the  participle,  though  he  uses  also  -ing.  He  is  in 
some  things  more  modern  than  Chaucer,  for  he  has  they,  their, 
them,  while  the  English  poet  keeps  the  older  forms  of  the  pro 
nouns.  These  works  were  written  in  a  dialect  that  reached 
from  the  Trent  and  Humber  through  Lothian  and  the  East  of 
Scotland  to  the  Moray  Firth,  and  it  is  the  language  of  the 
Cursor  Mundi,  of  Hampole  and  of  his  "  Pricke  of  Conscience." 

In  a  volume  of  English  Metrical  Homilies  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  edited  by  Mr.  Small  from  manuscript  (Edin.,  1862),  the 
style  is  a  quarter  of  a  century  earlier  than  Wycliffe,  and  there 
are  several  allusions  to  the  right  of  the  people  to  have  and 
read  the  Bible  in  English — 

"  For  al  men  can  noht,  I  wis, 
Understand  Latin  and  Frankis." 

The  language  of  these  Homilies  is  the  Dano-Saxon  of  the 
North  of  England,  the  same  as  the  earlier  literary  language 
of  Scotland.  The  translation  of  Virgil  by  Gawaine  Douglas,1 
Bishop  of  Dunkeld,  is  called  by  L'Isle,  the  Anglo-Saxon  gram 
marian,  "  Virgil  Scottished  "  ;  but  the  poet  Dunbar  describes 
the  noble  translator  soon  after  his  death  as  being  "  in  our 
English  rhetoric  the  rose." 

An  account  of  the  examination  of  William  Thorpe,  "  the  poor 

1  The  poet  was  the  third  son  of     his  patron  saint  that  no  son  of  his 
old  grim    "  Bell   the  Cat,"    fourth      but  Gawaine  could  write  a  line. 
Earl  of  Angus,  who  used  to  thank 

VOL.  I.  G 


98  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 

priest,"  before  Archbishop  Arundel,  at  the'  Castle  of  Saltwood, 
in  1407,  was  written  by  himself,  and  afterwards  published  with 
an  advertisement  to  the  reader  by  Tyndale,  who  intimates  that 
he  had  modernized  the  older  style  "  for  our  southern  men," 
adding,  however,  "  I  intend  hereafter,  with  the  help  of  God,  to 
put  it  forth  in  his  old  English  (the  English  of  Wycliffe's  period) 
which  shall  well  serve,  I  doubt  not,  both  for  the  northern  and 
the  faithful  brethren  in  Scotland.1 "  Don  Petro  de  Puebla, 
Spanish  ambassador  at  Holyrood,  in  the  reign  of  James  IV, 
says,  in  a  dispatch,  his  (the  king's)  "  Scottish  language  differs 
from  English  as  Arragonese  from  Castilian." 

1  Two  Scottish  bards  of  the  period  bar,  calls  him  "  Lamp  Lollardorum," 

quarrelled,    and    one    of     them,    a  and    also    "  Judas,    Jow,    Juglour, 

younger  son  of  Lord  Kennedy,  in  Lollard  La wreat."     Duubar's  Poems, 

his  "Flyting"  with  the  poet  Dun-  vol.  II,  p.  85,  &c. 


The  lines  quoted  near  the  top  of  p.  94  are  from  Wright's  "  Political 
Songs,  from  Edward  II  to  Henry  VI,"  p.  244.  The  Lives  and  Acts  of 
Tyler,  Ball,  and  Oldcastle  are  illustrated  with  some  fulness  in  Maurice's 
"English  Popular  Leaders  of  the  Middle  Ages,"  vol.  II,  London,  18*75. 


TYNDALE. 


The  altitude  of  some  tall  crag 
That  is  the  eagle's  birthplace,  or  some  peak 
Familiar  with  forgotten  years,  that  shows 
Gnarled,  as  with  the  silence  of  the  thought, 
Upon  its  bleak  and  visionary  sides, 
The  history  of  many  a  winter  storm, 
Or  obscure  record  of  the  path  of  fire. 

There  the  sun  himself, 
At  the  calm  close  of  summer's  longest  day, 
Rests  his  substantial  orb  ;  between  these  heights, 
And  on  the  top  of  either  pinnacle, 
More  keenly  than  elsewhere  in  night's  blue  vault, 
Sparkle  the  stars,  as  of  their  station  proud. 


CHAPTER  V. 


only  Bible  of  the  English  people  had  been  for  a  century 
and  upwards  the  written  translation  of  Wycliffe  and 
Purvey.  The  Lollards,  as  a  distinct  party  in  the  realm,  had 
fallen  from  a  conspicuous  position,  but  "  the  word  of  the  Lord 
endureth  for  ever,"  and  in  many  homes  their  Book  must  have 
been  a  light,  and  in  many  hearts  the  hidden  spring  of  comfort 
and  power.  The  Wycliffe  Bible  was,  however,  only  a  version 
from  a  version,  yet,  as  Latin  was  the  language  of  the  church,  a 
translation  from  the  Vulgate  was  made  from  a  recognized 
source,  and  the  correctness  of  any  rendering  could,  therefore,  be 
easily  ascertained.  And  why  should  not  a  plain  rustic  or  a 
tradesman  have  his  English  Bible,  and  be  put  into  the  same 
position  as  a  gentleman  of  education  who  can  read  and 
understand  the  Latin  one  ?  Any  attempt  to  translate  from 
a  Greek  original  at  that  period,  had  it  been  practicable,  might 
have  led  to  confusion  and  misunderstanding;  for  ignorance 
would  have  branded  such  a  book  as  heretical  and  misleading,  if 
it  was  found  to  differ  in  any  way  from  the  ecclesiastical  text. 
The  common  people  could  not  have  appreciated  these  varia 
tions,  and  such  prejudices  would  have  been  created  against  the 
new  version  as  the  priesthood  could  easily  foster  and  spread. 
Yet  the  translation  of  the  Latin  Scriptures  had  been  a  first 
step  to  something  higher,  an  intermediate  gift  to  the  nation. 
The  effect  had  been  like  the  first  touch  of  the  Blessed  Hand 
upon  its  vision — "  it  saw  men  as  trees  walking ; "  and  when  at 
length  the  second  touch  passed  over  it,  it  looked  up,  and  then 
it  "  saw  every  man  clearly." 

As  early  as  the  seventh  century  some  knowledge  of  Greek 


102  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

must  have  been  diffused  in  the  island,  through  the  influence  of 
Archbishop  Theodore  of  Tarsus,1  who  brought  with  him  some 
Greek  manuscripts;  and  such  scholarship  might  be  feebly 
preserved  for  a  period  in  a  few  monastic  establishments. 
Petrarch  had  received  a  slight  initiation  into  Greek  from 
Barlaam,  but  he  could  not  read  Homer  without  a  Latin  gloss, 
and  Boccaccio  supplied  him  with  such  a  guide  in  13G1.  Both 
Alcuin  and  Bede  understood  Greek;  and  it  was  taught  from 
about  the  year  1395  by  Emmanuel  Chrysoloras,  in  Venice, 
Milan,  Florence,  and  Genoa.  Alexander  V,  chosen  Pope  in 
1409,  and  a  Greek  by  birth,  patronized  the  revived  study  of  his 
mother  tongue.  A  few  scholars  had  some  acquaintance  with 
it,  such  as  Roger  Bacon,  John  of  Basingstoke,  Archdeacon  of 
Leicester,  and  Grosseteste,  one  of  the  most  illustrious  men  of 
his  age,  who  influenced  English  thought  and  literature  in  a  re 
markable  degree,  and  advocated  translations  of  Scripture,  though 
he  set  his  seal  to  two  worthless  spurious  productions,  the  Testa 
ment  of  the  Twelve  Patriarchs,  and  the  works  of  Dionysius  the 
Areopagite.  Another  eminent  scholar,  Richard  Aungervylle  or 
De  Bury  tutor  to  Edward  III,  then  Bishop  of  Durham  and  for  a 
few  months  Chancellor  of  England,  has  left  us  his  Philobiblon, 
a  species  of  autobiography,  in  which,  while  showing  the  many 
means  eagerly  employed  by  him  to  add  to  his  library,  he 
deplores  the  common  ignorance  of  Greek,  and  intimates  that 
he  had  taken  care  that  all  "our  scholars  should  possess"  a 
Greek  as  well  as  a  Hebrew  grammar.  But  Greek  was  really 
unknown  for  a  century  afterwards,  or  until  the  period  of  what 
is  commonly  called  the  revival  of  letters ;  the  nearer  causes 
of  that  resuscitation  being  the  fall  of  Constantinople  in  1453, 
and  the  flight  of  learned  Greeks  into  Europe,  when  live  boats 
laden  with  them  and  their  literary  treasures  crossed  over  to 
Italy.  Among  those  exiles,  Argyropylus  and  Chalcondyles, 
Andronicus  Callistus  and  Constantino  Lascaris  occupy  an 
honoured  place.  The  early  disputes  excited  by  the  renewed 
study  of  Plato,  under  the  influence  of  Ficini  and  others,  indi 
cate  the  spreading  love  and  acquirement  of  Greek.  Greek 
chairs  were  founded  in  the  universities,  and  filled  by  enthusi- 

1  See  page  4. 


v. ]  THE  EA RL Y  STUDY  OF  GREEK.  1 03 

astic  teachers.  In  1472,  George  Hermonymus,  a  Spartan, 
settled  in  Paris,  and  became  the  Greek  teacher  of  Budreus 
and  Reuchlin ;  and  Gregory  Typhernas  also  taught  in  the 
same  city.  Vitellius,  an  Italian,  taught  Greek  at  Oxford, 
having  Grocyn  as  one  of  his  pupils.  Croke  followed  Erasmus, 
in  1522,  as  Greek  professor  at  Cambridge.  Calphurnius  was 
first  Greek  teacher  in  Wolsey's  new  college,  his  successor  being 
Lupset,  who  had  been  tutor  to  the  cardinal's  son  commonly 
known  by  the  name  of  Dr.  Wynter.1 

Grocyn,  a  Wykamist,  eulogized  by  Erasmus  as  his  "  patron 
and  preceptor,"  and  in  whom  he  admired  a  "universal  compass" 
of  learning,  had,  in  1491,  begun  to  teach  Greek  at  Oxford,  after 
having  been  for  some  time  in  Italy.  Colet,  on  returning  from 
Italy  to  the  same  university  in  1496,  commenced  a  series  of 
lectures  on  St.  Paul's  Epistles,  though  he  had  not  yet  taken 
deacon's  orders.  He  was  the  sole  survivor  of  a  family  of  twenty- 
one  brothers  arid  sisters,  and  heir  to  a  fortune  left  by  his  father, 
who  had  been  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  and  he  yet  lives  in  his 
noble  foundation  of  St.  Paul's  School.2  When  Dean  of  St.  Paul's, 
he  was  suspected  of  being  a  reformer,  and  persecuted  by  his 
diocesan,  Bishop  Fitzjames,  who  had  been  chaplain  to  Edward 
IV,  and  Lord  High  Almoner  to  Henry  VII.  Tyndale  mentions 
it  as  a  well-known  fact,  that  Fitzjames  would  have  made  Dean 
Colet  a  heretic  for  translating  the  paternoster  into  English,  had 

1  Tanner,  Bale,  and  Leland  give  us  Charles    V    bought     one     hundred 

incidental  notices  of  a  few   Greek  Greek    books,   and    that   Francis  I 

scholars,    as  Adam  Estou,  a   Bene-  hired     a    Greek     secretary,     while 

dictine   of    Norwich,   who   died    at  Matthias    Corvinus     purchased    an 

Rome,  1397  ;  John  Bates,  a  Carmel-  immense    quantity  of    MSS.    from 

ite     of    York,     1429  ;     Flemmyng,  Greek    fugitives,    his    librarian    at 

Dean    of    Lincoln,    1450  ;    William  Buda  being  Bartholomew  Frontiuus, 

Gray,  Bishop  of  Ely,  1454  ;    John  who  had  been  a  professor  of  Greek 

Phrea,  of  Bristol  (died  1464)  ;  Wil-  at  Florence. 

Ham  Sellynge,  of  All  Souls,  Oxford,  2  Two  of  Colet's  works,  the  Hier- 
who  studied  Greek  in  Italy,  and  archies  of  Dionysius,  and  Lectures 
who,  as  Prior  of  Christ's  Church,  on  Romans,  have  been  recently  pub- 
Canterbury  (1460),  enriched  its  lished,  appropriately  edited  by  T. 
library  with  many  MSS.  ;  and  H.  Lupton,  M.A.,  Surmaster  of 
Lebrix,  a  professor  at  Alcala,  1490.  St.  Paul's  School,  London,  1869. 
It  may  be  added  that,  in  1472,  1873. 


104  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

not  Archbishop  Warham  shielded  him.  Linacre  had  enjoyed, 
along  with  the  children  of  Lorenzo  del'  Medici,  the  instruction 
of  Politian  and  Chalcondyles,  and  having  taken  the  degree  of 
M.D.  at  Padua,  he  became  court  physician  to  Henry  VIII,  and  in 
1518  he  founded  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians,  being  also  its 
first  president.  Erasmus  eulogizes  his  acuteness,  depth,  and  ac 
curacy.  Lilly,  whom  More  calls  "his  most  dear  companion,"  was 
another  of  the  revivers  of  Greek  learning.  He  had  studied  five 
years  at  Rhodes,  and  was  the  first  to  teach  Greek  in  the  metro 
polis.  He  was  chosen  the  first  Master  of  Colet's  School  of  St. 
Paul's,  and  his  Grammar,  published  in  1513,  has  dictated  Latin 
formulae  to  many  successive  generations.  William  Latimer, 
Fellow  of  All  Souls,  in  1480  went  and  studied  at  Padua,  and 
on  his  return  taught  Greek  at  Oxford.  He  was  appointed 
tutor  to  Reginald  Pole,  to  whom  he  owed  his  preferments 
in  the  church.  Erasmus  describes  him  as  a  "  true  divine,  and 
noted  for  his  integrity."  Thomas  More,  afterwards  the  famous 
chancellor,  belonged  to  the  same  eager  band.  In  1498,  Erasmus 
came  to  Oxford  with  a  recommendation  to  Father  Charnock 
from  the  Prior  and  Canons  of  St.  Genevieve,  in  Paris,  and  was 
at  once  welcomed  into  the  College  of  St.  Mary  the  Virgin.  The 
thin,  pale  stranger  did  not  know  a  word  of  English  ;  but  the 
object  of  his  toil  and  travail  was  to  obtain  or  perfect  a  know 
ledge  of  Greek. 

Greek  literature  was  thus  studied  with  special  keenness  and 
assiduity,  and  the  Scriptures  began  to  be  examined  without 
regard  to  dry  and  worn-out  forms.  Cambridge  was  not 
behind  Oxford  ;  and  the  witty,  vagrant,  and  laborious  Erasmus, 
on  a  subsequent  visit  to  England,  held  for  some  few  years  its 
chair  of  Greek,  and,  through  the  influence  of  Fisher,  Chancellor 
of  the  University,  was  appointed  Lady  Margaret's  Professor 
of  Divinity.  The  kindness  of  his  patron  Archbishop  Warham 
Erasmus  heartily  repaid  by  a  dedication  to  him  of  the  Works 
of  St.  Jerome,  and  a  long  and  elaborate  eulogy  in  a  note  to 
1  Thess.  i,  7.  This  intense  enthusiasm  for  the  study  of  the 
old  tongue  of  Hellas,  created  and  exemplified  by  those  early 
and  devoted  scholars,  made  it  possible  that  the  next  translation 
of  the  New  Testament  should  be  from  the  original  Greek  :  and 


v.]  INVENTION  OF  PRINTING.  105 

there  was  one  ardent  soul  among  them,  but  unrecognized  by 
them,  that  was  quietly  and  unconsciously  disciplining  itself  for 
such  a  momentous  enterprise. 

Almost  contemporaneous  with  the  introduction  of  Greek 
learning,  was  the  invention  of  printing,  a  mechanical  craft, 
born  to  minister  to  intellectual  power,  at  a  time  when  its 
assistance  was  specially  needed.  For  the  European  mind 
was  waking  up  from  the  sleep  of  ages,  and  new  ideas  eager 
for  dissemination  could  not  wait  the  slow,  expensive,  and 
uncertain  quill  of  the  "  brief-men."  l  The  press,  with  its  speed 
of  impression  and  power  of  multiplication,  fitted  into  the  epoch , 
and  gave  to  thought  not  only  a  permanent  form,  but  immediate 
and  wide  diffusion.  An  author  became  a  living  centre  to  an 
immense  circle  of  readers,  and  his  words  flew  among  them  with 
rapidity  and  ease.  The  manufacture  of  vulgar  material  into 
paper  had  been  no  less  astonishing ;  and  a  rag  trodden  in  the 
wintry  mire  of  the  streets  might  be  so  transformed  as  to  bear 
upon  it  a  divine  message,  or  become  a  portion  of  that  Book 
"  the  leaves  of  which  are  for  the  healing  of  the  nations." 

Gutenberg,2  or  Gensfleisch,  had  made  some  experiments  in 
printing  with  movable  metallic  types  prior  to  1439 ;  after 
some  delay  and  loss  of  money,  Fust,  a  goldsmith  of  Mentz, 
was  taken  into  his  confidence,  and,  by  his  own  genius  and  his 
partner's  financial  help,  the  Latin  Bible  was  printed  towards 
the  close  of  1455,  in  two  folios  of  1282  pages.3  The  world 

1  The  wages  of  a  copyist  may  be  to  read  one    page.      Bentley's  Cor- 

learned    from    one    of  the    Paston  respondence,  p.  501,  London,  1842. 
Letters,  W.  Ebesham  sends    in  his         2  He  took  his  mother's  name,  his 

bill  in    1468  :    "  twopence   a   leaf  "  father's  being  Gensfleisch  ;  and  the 

for  prose,  or  in  our  money  about  two  inscription  on  Thorwaldseu's  statue 

shillings,  and  a  "penny  a  leaf,"  or  one  of     him     in     Mentz     names     him 

shilling,  for  verses  of  thirty  lines  in  Gensfleisch  de  Gutenberg, 
a  page  ;  ornamented  letters,  or  "rub-         3  Called  often  the  Mazarin  Bible, 

risshing  "  in   colour,  being  charged  a  copy  being  discovered  by  De  Bure 

in  addition.      But  the  scribes  were  in  the  Cardinal's  library.     A  copy 

not  always  well  rewarded.     Bentley  on     vellum,  sold    in    1827,  brought 

gave  Wetstein  only  .£50  for  collating  only  £504 ;  another,  sold  at  the  sale 

a  manuscript  of  some  size,  and  Wet-  of    the     Perkins    library   in    1874, 

stein  tells  that  it  took  him  two  hours  realized  £3,400. 


106  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 

was  all  the  while  wholly  ignorant  of  the  strange  occupation 
which  had  lodged  itself  in  the  midst  of  it.  The  swift  and  con 
tinuous  issue  of  uniform  copies,  and  the  eagerness  to  sell  for  sixty 
crowns  what  the  penmen  would  have  charged  four  hundred  for, 
led  to  accusations  of  magic,  and  suspicions  of  confederacy  with 
the  powers  of  evil.  The  first  printers  were  willing  to  foster 
the  impression  that  their  pages  were  still  inscribed  by 
hand ;  but  honest  Caxton  revealed  the  truth  in  the  preface  to 
his  first  publication.  "  It  is  not  written  with  pen  and  ink 
as  other  books,  but  emprynted."  A  second  edition  of  the 
Bible,  by  Fust  and  Schoeffer,  appeared  in  1462,  and  there  had 
been  two  editions  of  a  Psalter  in  1457  and  in  1459.  When  one 
looks  at  the  form  of  the  letters,1  "  the  strength  of  the  paper,  and 
the  lustre  of  the  ink  "  in  these  earliest  volumes,  he  is  inclined  to 
conclude  that  printing  has  for  the  last  four  centuries  made 
little  improvement,  save  in  quickness  and  cheapness,  and  that 
the  art  was  perfect  at  its  birth,  like  Athene  springing  at  once 
in  full  armour  from  the  brain  of  Zeus.  The  sack  of  Mentz 
in  1462  scattered  the  skilled  workmen,  so  that  the  new  power 
soon  leapt  out  of  its  secrecy,  was  welcomed  in  Italy,  and 
established  in  Rome  by  Sweynheym  and  Pannartz,  under  Pope 
Paul  II.  The  press  at  Rome  sent  out  in  a  few  years  more  than 
twelve  thousand  volumes  in  twenty-eight  editions.  The  art 
was  carried  to  Paris  in  14G9  ;  but  not  to  Scotland  till  1507- 
About  1474,  Caxton,  who  had  learned  the  mystery  abroad,  set 
up  a  press  at  Westminster,  and  he  had  some  noted  successors, 
Wynkyn  de  Worde,  Pynson,  and  Rastell.  Through  Holland, 
Germany,  and  France,  the  recent  invention  at  once  proved  a 
power  betokening  yet  mightier  results.  Another  era  had 
dawned,  and  in  the  revival  of  letters,  and  in  the  employment  of 
the  press,  due  preparation  was  made  for  setting  forth  the  Bible 
in  its  own  tongues  and  in  translations,  and  for  putting  such 
texts  and  versions  into  immediate  dispersion  over  all  lands. 

1  The  common  form  of  letter  so  employed  in  the  Roman  capital, 
familiar  to  us,  is  called  the  Roman  Italic  letters  being  first  used  in 
character,  from  a  fount  of  types  Venice. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


A  MONO  the  youths  attracted  to  Cambridge,  probably  by 
the  fame  of  Erasmus,  there  was  one  who  had  been  for 
some  years  at  Oxford,  a  busy  learner,  whose  studies  and  attain 
ments  in  Greek  were  soon  to  be  directed  through  life  and  death 
to  the  noblest  of  works — William  Tyndale.  Though  William 
Tyndale  has  reared  for  himself  an  imperishable  monument 
in  our  English  Bible,  the  place  and  date  of  his  birth  are 
alike  uncertain.  On  such  points  he  is  himself  very  reticent 
in  his  writings,  perhaps  from  the  fear  of  bringing  others 
into  suspicion  and  trouble.  It  has  been  for  a  century  and 
a  half  the  opinion  of  biographers  that  he  was  born  at  Hunt's 
Court,  North  Nibley,  in  the  hundred  of  Berkeley,  Gloucester 
shire  ;  and  in  honour  of  that  belief  a  handsome  column  has 
been  erected  to  his  memory  on  Nibley  Knoll,  a  beautiful 
eminence  in  the  Cotswold  Range.  But  it  is  now  believed 
that,  though  the  Tyndales  of  Hunt's  Court l  might  be  relations 
of  the  martyr,  they  were  not  in  possession  of  that  property 
till  after  his  death.  Thomas  Tyndale  and  Alice  Hunt,  of 
Hunt's  Court,  had  a  son  named  William,  and  Christopher 
Anderson  and  others  have  fixed  on  him  as  the  Translator; 
but  this  William  was  alive  in  1542,  while  the  other  was  put  to 
death  at  Vilvorde  in  loSG.  Mr.  Demaus2  has  lately  discovered 
in  the  State  Paper  Office  a  letter  from  Stokesley,  Bishop  of 
London  to  Thomas  Crumwell,  which  throws  some  light  on  the 

1  There  had  also  been  Tyndales  or  river  lands  which  formed  part  of 

who    were    farmers    at     Milksham  the  manor  of  Hurst. 

Court,   in  the  adjoining  parish    of  '-  "William  Tyndale,  a  biography," 

Stinchcombe,  and  there  was  a  Richard  quite  a  model  in  brevity,  clearness, 

Tyndale,  who  held  some  reclaimed  and  research. 


108  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

question.  The  purport  of  the  bishop's  epistle  is  to  ask  a  grant 
of  a  farm  to  one  of  his  servants,  and  in  pressing  his  suit  he 
characterizes  a  rival  suppliant  in  these  significant  words — 
"  He  that  sueth  unto  you  hath  a  kinsman  called  Edward  Tyndale 
(brother  to  Tyndale  the  arch-heretic),  and  under-receiver  of  the 
lordship  of  Berkeley,  which  may  and  daily  doth  promote  his 
kinsfolk  to  the  king's  farms."  The  Marquis  of  Berkeley,  who 
died  in  1492,  left  his  estates  to  Henry  VII,  and  Edward  Tyndale 
collected  the  royal  rents,  having  been  nominated  to  the  office 
by  letters  patent  in  1519.  The  "Receiver"1  got  also  a  grant 
of  the  lease  of  the  manor  of  Slymbridge  in  1529,  and  this  was 
probably  at  an  earlier  time  the  scene  of  both  his  own  and  his 
brother's  birth,  for  the  family  had  held  some  portions  of  it  from 
the  reign  of  Richard  III.  These  statements,  however,  are  in 
conflict  with  the  pedigrees  concocted  for  the  translator  ;  but 
Stokesley,  who  had  himself  been  rector  of  Slymbridge  in  1509, 
could  scarcely  be  in  error,  and  his  precise  assertion  must  be  in 
the  meantime  regarded  as  conclusive  evidence  on  the  point. 
Foxe  is  therefore  to  be  credited,  when,  because  he  had  not  or 
could  not  get  more  definite  information,  he  notes,  "  Touching 
the  birth  and  parentage  of  that  blessed  martyr  of  Christ,  he 
was  born  on  the  borders  of  Wales."  The  surname  would 
indicate  that  the  family  originally  came  from  the  north  of 
England.  There  were  Lords  of  Tyndale  at  an  early  period  ; 
and  Adam  de  Tyndale  held  a  barony  under  King  John.  Some 
of  the  branches  are  supposed  to  have  dropped  their  name  from 
being  involved  in  the  Wars  of  the  Roses,  and  to  have  adopted 
the  more  plebeian  appellation  of  Kitchens,  Hutchens,  or 
Hochens.  On  the  title-page  of  his  first  avowed  publication, 
the  name  is  "  William  Tyndale,  otherwise  called  Hichens."  The 
name  Hitchin  occurs  in  Doomsday  Book,  County  of  Hertford. 
But  this  story  about  the  reason  of  change  of  the  name  is  said 
not  to  be  older  than  the  period  of  Charles  II.  According  to  the 
genealogy  given  at  some  length  by  Anderson  and  Offor,2  there 
had  been  a  Baron  de  Tyndale  of  Langley  Hall,  and  from  the 

1  Annals  of  the  English  Bible,  -  Life  prefixed  to  his  reprint 
vol.  I,  p.  16,  tfcc.  London,  "William  of  the  New  Testament,  London, 
Pickering,  1845.  183G. 


vi.]  TYNDALE  AT  OXFORD.  109 

second  son  of  the  last  baron  several  families,  including  that  of 
the  translator,  had  sprung.  But  many  points  in  this  genealogy 
are  not  at  all  satisfactory,  or  beyond  dispute.  Offor  is  not  to 
be  implicitly  followed,  and  Anderson's  hero-worship  lulled  him 
into  credulity.  Both  of  them  relied  on  some  statements  made 
b}7  Oade  Koberts,  who  was  collaterally  descended  from  the 
Tyndales  of  Hunt's  Court. l 

As  Tyndale  was  some  years  younger  than  Sir  Thomas  More, 
who,  according  to  the  best  account,  was  born  in  1478  (the  year 
then  running  to  Lady  day,  March  25th),  his  birth  may  be 
placed  in  1484  or  1485,  a  century  after  Wycliffe's  death.  He 
was  sent  to  college  at  an  early  age,  "  brought  up  from  a  child 
in  the  University  of  Oxford."  According  to  Wood,  he  was 
"  trained  in  grammar,  logic,  and  philosophy  in  the  Mary  Mag 
dalene's  Hall,"  founded  by  Bishop  Waynflete  in  1448,  and 
commonly  called  "  Grammar  Hall,"  from  the  prominence  given 
in  it  to  classical  learning,  under  the  tuition  of  Grocyn,  Latimer, 
and  Linacre.  His  course  was  of  some  length — "  by  long  con 
tinuance  he  grew  up  and  increased  in  the  knowledge  of  tongues 
.and  other  liberal  arts." 

But  the  Bible  had  already  attracted  his  love  and  labour. 
His  proficiency  was  seen  not  only  in  common  and  secular 
studies,  but  "  specially  in  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  where- 
unto  his  mind  was  singularly  addicted,  insomuch  that  he  read 
privily  to  certain  students  and  fellows  of  Magdalene  College 2 
some  parcel  of  divinity,  instructing  them  in  the  knowledge  and 
truth  of  the  Scriptures."  His  character  was  in  harmony  with 
his  pursuits,  "  his  manners  and  conversation  were  such  that  all 
who  knew  him  respected  and  esteemed  him  to  be  a  man  of 
most  virtuous  disposition  and  life  unspotted."  According  to 
Foxe,  "  he  proceeded  in  degrees  of  the  schools  at  Oxford  " ;  but 
Wood  writes,  "  whether  he  took  a  degree  doth  not  appear  in 
our  registers."  The  retort  of  Sir  Thomas  More  is  usually  sup 
posed  to  imply  that  Tyndale  had  graduated.  In  showing  that 

1  British      Museum,      Additional  tory   of    the    College.       Magdalene 
MSS.,  9,458.  Hall  was  a  sort  of  preparatory  school 

2  A    portrait  of   Tyndale,  with  a  in  connection  with  the  larger  foun- 
Latin  inscription,  hangs  in  the  Refec-  dation  of  Magdalene  College. 


HO  THE  EXGLISH  BIBLE.  [L-IIAP. 

"  grace  "  has  various  meanings,  Tyndale  adds  in  illustration, 
"  In  universities  many  ungracious  graces  there  be  gotten";  and 
More  answers  with  a  bitter  sneer,  "  He  should  have  made  it 
more  plain  and  better  perceived,  if  he  had  said,  as  for  example, 
where  his  own  grace  was  there  granted  to  be  Master  of  Arts." 
But  such  an  invective  is  not  positive  testimony.  There  is  no 
ground,  however,  for  supposing  that  he  was  expelled  from  the 
University  on  account  of  holding  any  novel  doctrines  ;  though 
perhaps  he  may  have  incurred  some  suspicion,  as  Colet  had 
done  by  his  uuscholastic  lectures,  for  Foxe  relates,  "  increasing 
more  and  more  in  learning,  and  spying  his  time,  he  removed 
thence  to  the  University  of  Cambridge,  whence  he  made  his 
abode  for  a  certain  space,"  being  now  "  further  ripened  in  the 
knowledge  of  God's  Word."  Erasmus  was  at  Cambridge  from 
1509  to  1514,  and  Tyndale  may  have  resolved  to  study  under 
the  most  famed  scholar  of  the  age. 

No  record  of  Tyndale's  ordination  has  been  preserved.  There 
is,  however,  a  legend  that  he  was  ordained  priest  to  the  Nun 
nery  of  Lambley  on  the  western  border  of  Northumberland ; 
but  according  to  Warham's  register,  this  Tyndale,  who  was 
ordained  in  St.  Bartholomew,  Smithfield,  on  the  llth  March, 
1502-3,  belonged  to  the  diocese  of  Carlisle,  and  in  that  year 
William  Tyndale  had  not  reached  the  requisite  age  for  orders. 
Another  fiction  about  him  is  that,  in  1508,  he  entered  as  a  friar 
into  the  Monastery  of  the  Observants  at  Greenwich.  On  the 
title-page  of  a  small  folio  book  named  "  Sermones  de  Herolt " 
(1495),  in  the  library  of  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Paul's,  the  Eev. 
R.  H.  Barham  found  the  inscription,  "  Charitably  pray  for  the 
soul  of  John  Tyndale,  who  gave  this  book  to  the  Monastery  of 
Greenwich  on  the  day  that  brother  William  his  son  made  his 
profession,  in  the  year  1508."  But  the  inscription  does  not 
help  to  any  identification,  and  Tyndale's  own  words,  sometimes 
adduced  as  collateral  proof  of  the  statement,  have  been  mis 
understood.  In  the  preface  to  the  "  Wicked  Mammon,"  he 
relates  that  one  William  Roye  had  been  with  him,  and  that  a 
year  after  his  departure  came  over  "Jerome,  a  brother  of 
Greenwich  also  " — "  also,"  that  is,  as  well  as  Roye.  The  two 
men  both  belonged  to  the  reformed  order  of  Franciscan  friars, 


VT.]         RESIDENCE  AS  A   TUTOR  IN  GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 

and  the  adverb  "  also  " l  is  in  no  way  intended  to  include 
Tyndale  himself,  as  indeed  the  context  plainly  determines. 
Besides,  to  lay  aside  the  cowl  was  a  misdemeanour  never  to  be 
forgotten  or  forgiven,  but  not  one  of  Tyndale's  adversaries  ever 
taunts  him  with  such  unpardonable  violation  of  his  vows. 
While  More  calls  Luther,  QEcolampadius,  Roye,  and  Jerome 
either  friars  or  apostates,  he  names  him  simply  Tyndale,  or 
Sir  William,  or  Hitchins.  Ridley  also,  in  writing  in  1527  to 
Archbishop  Warham's  chaplain,  speaks  with  discrimination  of 
Mr.  W.  Tyndale  and  Friar  William  Roye ;  and  in  a  list  of 
names  written  on  the  last  leaf  of  a  copy  of  the  Pope's  Bull  of 
1520  against  Luther,  inserted  in  Tunstall's  Register  of  1530, 
there  occur,  "  Willimus  Tyndall ;  Willimus  Roy,  apostata;  Ricus 
Brightwell  (Fryth) "  ;  the  odious  epithet  being  given  only  to 
the  perjured  friar.  The  story,  therefore,  that  Tyndale  had  been 
a  monk,  which  is  found  in  Offor,2  and  repeated  from  him  by 
Blunt, 3  Dabney, 4  and  the  author  of  the  "  Introduction  to 
Bagster's  English  Hexapla,"  is  completely  disproved. 

On  leaving  Cambridge,  Tyndale  resorted  to  one  Master 
Walsh,  a  knight  of  Gloucestershire,  "and  was  there  school 
master  to  his  children."  We  can  only  conjecture  why,  probably 
in  1521,  Tyndale  left  Cambridge,  and  why,  in  his  prime,  he 
became  tutor  in  a  rural  mansion  to  children  so  very  young,  the 
eldest  of  them,  born  in  1516,  being  only  six  years  of  age. 
Perhaps  he  had  met  with  some  disappointment,  or  his  con 
victions,  based  on  the  teachings  of  Scripture,  had  prevented 
him  from  seeking  preferment  in  the  church,  or  aspiring  to  any 
position  of  honour  and  usefulness  in  his  university.  Writing  in 
1531,  he  refers  to  certain  ecclesiastical  omens  which  he  had 
been  marking  "above  this  dozen  years";  his  observations  had, 

1  The  most   of  the  brief  phrases  2  Life,  p  8. 

within  inverted  commas  found  in  3A  plain  account  of  the  English 
these  pages  are  fromFoxe,v,  114,  &c. ;  Bible,  p.  31,  London,  1870.  The 
and  it  may  be  added  that  his  first  "Account"  is  a  reprint  of  the  tenth 
edition,  consisting  so  much  of  original  chapter  of  his  "  Reformation  of  the 
documents  in  the  words  of  contem-  Church  of  England." 
poraries,  is  greatly  fresher  and  more  4  Preface  to  Tyndale's  New  Testa- 
graphic  than  the  subsequent  issues,  ment,  Audover  and  New  York,  1837. 


112  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

therefore,  commenced  during  his  academic  residence.  Sir 
John  Walsh,  who  had  been  knighted  as  the  king's  champion 
at  the  coronation  of  Henry  VIII,  lived  at  Little  Sodbury 
Manor,  a  few  miles  from  Tyndale's  birthplace.  "He  kept 
a  good  ordinarie  commonly  at  his  table,"  and  Tyndale  met 
there  many  ecclesiastics  of  the  West  of  England,  "abbots,  deans, 
archdeacons,  with  divers  other  doctors,  and  great  beneficed 
men."  When  his  conversation  with  these  guests  incidentally 
grew  into  disputes,  his  standard  of  appeal  was  the  "Book," 
with  which  he  was  well  acquainted,  and  which  had  been,  in 
fact,  the  study  of  his  life.  Sir  John  and  his  lady  who  was 
"  stout  and  wise,"  were  tempted  to  tell  him  on  one  occasion 
that,  since  so  many  divines  with  wealthy  livings  did  not  hold 
his  views,  it  was  surely  not  to  be  expected  that  he,  so  poor  and 
dependent,  was  to  be  listened  to  with  implicit  credence.  His 
reply  to  such  an  argument — which  weighed  learning  by  social 
position  and  emolument — was  his  translation  of  the  Enchiridion 
Militis  Christian!  of  Erasmus,1  a  treatise  which  gave  him  new 
favour  in  the  eyes  of  his  patrons  who  were  greatly  edified  by 
it.  This  handbook,  or  "  pocket  dagger  of  the  Christian  soldier," 
written  in  1501,  teaches  that  Christianity  does  not  consist  in 
the  reception  of  scholastic  dogmas,  or  in  the  observance  of 
ceremonies,  but  in  yielding  suit  and  service  to  the  Saviour- 
king,  and  in  carrying  on  continuous  warfare  against  all  that  is 
evil  in  one's  own  heart,  or  in  the  world  around  him.2  His  own 
earlier  ecclesiastical  beliefs  had  certainly  been  shaken,  though 
none  of  Luther's  books  could  at  this  time  have  come  into  his 
hands.  In  these  free  and  unguarded  discussions  referred  to,  he 
was  creating  a  character  for  himself;  and  prejudices  against  him 
soon  ripened  into  open  hostility.  According  to  Fuller,  the 
dignified  clergy  at  length  preferred  to  forbear  Master  Walsh's 
good  cheer,  rather  than  have  his  "  sour  sauce  therewith." 
"  Unlearned  priests,"  as  Tyndale  himself  calls  them,  "  being 
rude  and  ignorant,  and  having  seen  no  more  of  Latin  than  that 

1  It  was  published  in  an  abridged  will  be  found  in  Drummond's  Eras- 
form  by  Coverdale,  and  is  included  mus,  vol.  I,  p.  113,  London,  1873. 
in  the  Parker  Society  edition  of  his         -  Erasmus  explains  Enchiridion  by 
Works,   p.   489.     An  account  of  it  pugiuuculus. 


vi.]  TYNDALES  PURITY  OF  MOTIVE.  \\(\ 

only  they  read  in  their  portesses  and  missales,"  flocked  together 
to  the  ale  house,  "which  is  their  preaching  place,"  and  there 
raged  and  railed  at  him.  Such  accusations  were  soon  carried  to 
the  spiritual  authorities.  Giulio  del'  Medici,  the  Bishop  of  Wor 
cester,  afterwards  Pope  Clement  VII,  dwelt  in  his  own  sunny 
land,  and  when  Tyndale  appeared,  in  answer  to  his  summons 
before  Dr.  Parker,  the  diocesan  chancellor,  he  was  "  reviled  and 
rated  as  though  he  had  been  a  dog."1  Sir  Thomas  More 
afterward  says  of  him,  "  that  before  he  went  abroad  he 
savoured  so  shrewdly  that  he  was  once  or  twice  examined 
of  heresy."2 

The  tutor  was  in  this  way  stigmatized  by  enemies  who, 
making  up  in  vituperation  what  they  wanted  in  argument, 
called  him  "  a  heretic  in  sophistry,  a  heretic  in  logic,  and  a 
heretic  in  divinity."  All  this  persecution  on  the  part  of  men 
without  scholarship  or  literary  culture  must  have  fretted  him, 
while  it  showed  him  his  true  mission,  and  gradually  tended  to 
crystallize  his  floating  ideas  into  the  great  and  firm  purpose  of 
his  life — the  translation  of  Scripture.  In  a  brief  autobiography 
contained  in  his  preface  to  the  "  Five  Books  of  Moses," 
Tyndale  throws  the  impulse  and  resolve  to  be  a  translator 
back  to  this  epoch.  He  observed  that  "  the  sense  of  the  divine 
Word  was  obscured  by  expositions  clean  contrary  unto  the 
process,  order,  and  meaning  of  the  text —  which  thing  only 


1  The  vehemence  of  Parker  got  grace  of  exhumation.  Parker  dug 
him  some  years  afterwards  into  ex-  up  and  burned  the  heretic's  bones, 
pensive  trouble.  William  Tracy,  without  waiting  for  a  writ  required 
Esquire  of  Todcliugton,  Glouces-  by  the  statute  de  Heretico  Com- 
tershire,  had,  in  his  will  of  date  burendo.  For  this  illegal  proceeding 
October,  1530,  left  on  purpose  no  against  his  father's  dead  body,  Rich- 
money  for  masses  or  prayers  "to  ard  Tracy  at  once  sued  Chancellor 
help "  his  soul,  as  he  trusted  in  the  Parker,  who  was  fined  ,£300,  or 
merits  of  the  one  Mediator,  Jesus  about  .£4,500  at  present  value. 
Christ.  The  Convocation  of  1531,  Tyndale's  tract  on  Tracy's  Testament 
alarmed  at  the  circulation  of  this  will  be  found  in  his  Works,  vol.  III. 
testamentary  deed,  declared  him  p.  271,  Parker  Society  edition, 
excommunicated,  and  this  sentence,  2  Dialogue,  book  iv,  chap.  17. 
according  to  Decret.  Greg.  lib.  i,  Works,  p.  283,  London,  1557. 
tit.  xxxviii,  c.  12,  entailed  the  dis- 

VOL.  I.  H 


114,  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAT-. 

moved  me  to  translate  the  New  Testament.  Because  I  had 
perceived  by  experience  how  that  it  was  impossible  to 
establish  the  lay-people  in  any  truth,  except  the  Scripture 
were  plainly  laid  before  their  eyes  in  their  mother  tongue,  that 
they  might  see  the  process,  order,  and  meaning  of  the  text."1 
That  this  chief  end  was  now  steadily  in  his  view  is  disclosed 
by  his  own  words.  In  a  controversy  with  a  "  certain  divine 
recounted  for  a  learned  man,"  who  in  a  burst  of  indignation 
had  retorted,  "  It  were  better  to  be  without  God's  law  than 
the  Pope's,"  Tyndale  replied,  "I  defy  the  Pope  and  all  his 
laws,"  and  avowed  that,  "  if  God  spared  his  life,  ere  many  years 
he  would  cause  a  boy  that  driveth  the  plough  to  know  more 
of  the  Scriptures  than  the  Pope  did."  And  he  kept  his  word, 
his  translation  being  so  terse  and  simple  that  all  who  could 
read  it  might  understand  it.  Some,  commenting  on  this 
utterance,  style  Tyndale  "  a  young  dreamer."  But  he  was  no 
youth,  for  he  was  in  "the  mid-time  of  his  days,"  and  the  dream 
was  a  waking  one — one  of  those  visions  that  grow  "  realities  to 
earnest  men";  and  are  like  those  of  Joseph,  that  so  soon  trans 
lated  themselves  into  fact.  He  may  have  made  some  experi 
ments — some  tentative  translations — about  this  time,  and  he 
longed  now  for  some  peaceful  retreat  to  begin  and  carry  on  his 
self-imposed  task.  Such  was  his  simplicity  of  soul  that,  in  reply 
to  various  invectives  against  his  boldness,  ambition,  and  love 

O  r  * 

of  notoriety,  he  quietly  answered  on  one  occasion,  "He  was 
contented  that  they  should  bring  him  into  any  county  in  all 
England,  giving  him  ten  pounds  to  live  with,  and  binding 
him  to  no  more  but  to  teach  children,  and  to  preach."2  Being 
so  "  turmoiled  in  the  country,"  he  was  at  length  obliged  to 
leave  the  family  of  Sir  John  Walsh,  who,  he  foresaw,  would  not 
be  able  "  to  keep  him  out  of  the  hands  of  the  spiritualty,"  and 
he  came  for  refuge  to  the  metropolis  in  the  end  of  the  summer, 
or  in  the  autumn,  of  1523. 

After  preaching  for  some  time  at  St.  Dunstan's  in  the  West, 

1  Works,  vol.  I,  p.   393.     Parker  various  parts,  as  at  Bristol,  "  iu  the 

Society  edition.  common    place   called   St.    Austin's 

"  It  may  be  noted    that  Tyndale  Green." 
often    preached     at    this    time    in 


vi.]  REJECTION  BY  TUNSTALL.  H5 

he  asked  for  admission  into  the  household  of  Cuthbert  Tun- 
stall,  who  had  become  Bishop  of  London  in  1522,  of  whose 
learning  and  love  of  learned  men  he  had  heard,  and  whom  Eras 
mus  "praiseth  exceedingly."  The  praise  referred  to  belongs, 
however,  to  a  subsequent  period.  Tunstall  is  mentioned  in  the 
preface  to  the  fourth  edition  of  the  New  Testament,  but  not 
with  exceeding  praise.  As  his  recommendation  to  his  Lord 
ship,  he  sent  him  an  English  version  of  an  oration  of  Isocrates.1 
The  specimen  was  presented  through  Sir  Harry  Guildford, 
the  royal  comptroller,  and  a  commendatory  letter  was  also 
transmitted  through  "  one  William  Hebilthwayte,  a  man  of 
mine  old  acquaintance."  "  If  I  might,"  he  wrote  some  years 
afterwards,  "  come  into  the  Bishop  of  London's  service,  thought 
I,  I  were  happy."  But  he  was  disappointed,  the  answer  of 
the  bishop  being  that  his  house  was  full,  and  the  applicant  was 
advised,  if  not  encouraged,  to  seek  what  he  wanted  somewhere 
else  in  London.  Tyndale  was,  according  to  his  own  account 
of  himself,  "  evil-favoured  in  this  world,  and  without  grace  in 
the  sight  of  men,  speechless  and  rude,  dull  and  slow-witted";2 
and  probably,  from  his  awkward  rusticity,  he  made  no  impression 
on  my  Lord  of  London,  whom  his  disappointed  visitor  pour- 
trays  as  a  "  still  Saturn  that  seldom  speaketh,  but  walketh 
up  and  down  all  day  musing,  a  ducking  hypocrite,  made  to 
dissemble."  These  acid  words  indicate  that  the  bishop  had  re 
ceived  him  with  cold  politeness,  listened  to  him  in  silence,  and 
dismissed  him  with  scant  courtesy.  Tunstall's  haughty 
taciturnity  probably  so  froze  him  that  he  did  not  venture  to 
hint  at  his  project  of  translating  the  New  Testament.  Had  he 
intimated  such  a  purpose,  the  bishop  would  have  given  him  an 
answer  which  he  must  have  put  on  record.  His  own  conclu 
sion  is,  "  God  saw  that  I  was  beguiled,  and  that  counsel  was 
not  the  nearest  way  to  my  purpose  ;  and  therefore  he  gave  me 
no  favour  in  my  Lord's  sight."  No  new  patron  turned  up  to 

3  A  handsome  edition  of  Isocrates  edition  was  published  by  Aldus  at 

had   been   published    at    Milan   in  Venice  in  1513.      JSTeither  of  these 

1493,  bearing  witness  to  the   edi-  texts  has  the  accompaniment  of    a 

torial     taste     and     scholarship     of  Latin  translation. 

Demetrius   Chalcondyles.     Another  '-  Letter  to  Fryth  in  1532  cr  1533. 


110  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

forward  his  views,  but  Humphrey  Munmouth,  merchant, 
showed  him  no  little  kindness,  having  been  attracted  to  him 
by  the  style  and  earnestness  of  his  sermons,  and  he  then  took 
up  his  abode  with  this  "  Gaius,"  his  host.  As  Munmouth  dealt 
in  cloths,  he  had  commercial  transactions  with  the  manu 
facturers  of  Gloucestershire,  among  whom  would  in  all  likeli 
hood,  be  some  of  Tyndale's  relations.  Munmouth  was  the 
benefactor  of  many  other  reformers,  such  as  Fryth ;  and  it  is 
most  probable  that  at  this  time  Tyndale  made  the  acquaintance 
of  one  so  "like  minded,"  who  became  so  dear  to  him,  and 
preceded  him  in  martyrdom.  For  Fryth  had  not  come  to 
Cambridge  before  Tyndale  left  it,  and  he  was  arrested  with 
others  at  Oxford  in  1528. 

A  year's  residence  in  London  taught  Tyndale  many  painful 
lessons,  and  he  traced  the  divine  hand  and  purpose  in  his 
disappointments.  The  pomp  and  power  of  ecclesiastical 
dignitaries,  their  blindness  and  their  security,  their  disrelish 
of  evangelical  truth  and  their  malignant  opposition  to  the 
circulation  of  the  Scriptures  even  in  Greek  ;  their  dread  of 
change,  and  their  stern  suspicions  of  all  who  might  ripen  into 
reformers,  saddened  him  and  brought  him  to  "  understand  at 
the  last,  not  only  that  there  was  no  room  in  my  Lord  of 
London's  palace  to  translate  the  New  Testament;  but  also, 
that  there  was  no  place  to  do  it  in  all  England,  as  experience 
doth  now  (1530)  openly  declare."  He  must  have  observed 
many  indications  of  a  darkening  period  of  conflict.  Fox, 
Bishop  of  Winchester,  had,  in  1516,  instituted  Corpus  Christi 
College  at  Oxford,  and  given  it  teachers  both  of  Latin  and 
Greek.  Wolsey,  "a  scholar,  and  a  ripe  and  good  one,''  had  also, 
in  1519,  founded  a  Greek  professorship  at  Oxford,  and  another  of 
Rhetoric  and  Latin.  The  occupants  of  these  chairs  were  violently 
assailed ;  but  the  king  interposed  and  ordered  that  "  the  study 
of  the  Scriptures  in  the  original  languages,"  should  not  only  be 
permitted  for  the  future,  but  received  as  a  regular  branch  of 
academical  study.  Such  incidents  showed  an  incipient 
appreciation  of  the  study  of  the  original  Scriptures,  and  it  was 
not  too  profound  a  vaticination  to  foresee  that  the  next  step  after 
the  possession  and  study  of  the  Greek  New  Testament,  must 


vi.]  HUMPHREY  MUNMOUTH.  H7 

naturally  be  the  translation  of  it  as  a  national  necessity. 
Tyndale  had  likewise  seen  the  effects  of  the  Greek  New  Testa 
ment  at  Cambridge,  its  saving  power  on  some,  and  its  hardening 
effect  on  others ;  indeed,  one  of  the  colleges  had  forbidden  the 
entrance  of  the  book  within  its  walls,  "  by  horse  or  by  boat,  by 
wheels  or  on  foot,"  and  Erasmus  himself  had  been  openly 
opposed  by  Lee  and  by  Standish.1  Tyndale  could  forecast, 
from  such  commotions,  what  the  result  would  be  at  no  distant 
date,  and  could  divine  that  the  authorities  in  the  church  would 
rise  from  warning  to  formal  inhibition,  and  from  it  to  persecu 
tion  and  capital  punishment. 

The  path  which  Providence  had  marked  out  for  Tyndale 
was  not  one  of  bustle,  remonstrance,  or  agitation.  His  work 
needed  quiet  and  leisure,  prolonged  and  undisturbed  study. 
His  manner  of  life  in  London  was  honestly  told  a  few  years 
later  by  Munmouth,  in  self-defence  before  the  Privy  Council, 
in  May,  1528.  He  was  formally  accused  of  giving  money  to 
Tyndale  when  he  was  abroad,  of  contributing  pecuniary  help 
to  the  translation  of  the  New  Testament,  and  of  having  his 
version  and  some  heretical  books  in  his  possession.  His  house 
had  been  searched,  and  himself  examined  and  sent  to  the 
Tower  on  the  14th  of  May.  Four  days  after  his  imprisonment, 
the  "  poor  prisoner  "  sent  a  memorial  to  Wolsey  and  the  Council 
praying  for  liberation.  This  memorial  describes  in  simple 
terms  the  manner  of  Tyndale's  life,  while  he  stayed  with  this 
kind  protector.  "  I  took  him  into  my  house  half  a  year ;  and 
there  he  lived  as  a  good  priest,  as  methought.  He  studied  most 
part  of  the  day  and  of  the  night  at  his  book  ;  and  he  would  eat 
but  sodden  meat, by  his  goodwill;  and  drink  but  single  small  beer. 
I  never  saw  him  wear  linen  about  him,  in  the  time  he  was  with 

1  See,  on  the  Novum  Instrumen-  Both  men  adored  the  Vulgate,  and 
turn  of  Erasmus,  Seebohm's  Oxford  many  of  their  contemporaries  be 
lief  ormers  of  1498,  London,  180  7,  p.  lieved  in  the  inspiration  of  Jerome. 
365.  Lee  asserted  that  he  had  dis-  Stnnica  was  patriotically  indignant 
covered  300  errors  in  it,  and  that  Erasmus  had  dared  to  spell  his 
Standish  was  horrified  beyond  native  country  ^-n-avia  in  Horn,  xv, 
measure  at  the  substitution  of  28,  not  'lo-Travta,  robbing  the  haughty 
sermo  for  verbum  in  John  i,  1.  kingdom  of  a  letter. 


118  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  CHAP. 

me.  I  did  promise  him  ten  pounds  sterling  to  pray  for  my 
father  and  mother,  their  souls,  and  all  Christian  souls.  I  did 
pay  it  him  when  he  made  his  exchange  to  Hamborough. 
Afterward  he  got  of  some  other  men,  ten  pounds  sterling 
more,  the  which  he  left  with  me.  And  within  a  year  after, 
he  sent  for  his  ten  pounds  to  me  from  Hamborough,  and 
thither  I  sent  it  him  by  one  Hans  Collenbeke.  And  since  I 
have  never  sent  him  the  value  of  one  penny,  nor  never  will. 
I  have  given  more  exhibitions1  to  scholars  in  my  days  than 
to  that  priest.  The  foresaid  sir  William  left  me  an  English 
book,  called  Enchiridion.2  Also,  I  had  a  little  treatise  that  the 
priest  sent  me,  when  he  sent  for  his  money.  When  I  heard  my 
lord  of  London  preach  at  St.  Paul's  Cross,  that  sir  William 
Tyndale  had  translated  the  New  Testament  into  English,  and  was 
naughtily  translated,  that  was  the  first  time  that  ever  I  sus 
pected  or  knew  any  evil  of  him." 

Ten  pounds  was  then  probably  equal  in  value  to  £150 
of  present  currency.  An  acre  of  land  was  at  this  period 
about  eightpence  in  annual  value,  and  the  average  price 
of  wheat  was  six  and  eightpence  a  quarter,  while  beef 
or  pork  was  a  halfpenny,  and  mutton  three  farthings  a 
pound.  In  1525,  a  pair  of  hose  cost  two  and  fourpence,  and  a 
pair  of  shoes  one  and  fourpence.  Latimer's  father  had  a  farm 
of  three  or  four  pounds  by  the  year.  A  penny  a  day  as  a 
labourer's  wages,  therefore,  represents  considerably  more  than  a 
shilling  at  the  present  time.3  By  Act  of  Parliament  under 
Henry  V,  "the  wages  of  a  parish  priest  had  been  fixed  at 
£5,  6s.  8d.  a  year,  and  the  statute  remained  in  force  in  the  reign 
of  Henry  VIII.  Bradford  the  martyr  writes  in  1549,  "My 
fellowship  here  (Pembroke  Hall)  is  worth  seven  pounds  a  year. 
.  .  .  Thus  you  see  what  a  good  Lord  God  is  to  me."4  The 
salary  of  Udal,  as  head-master  of  Eton,  was  ten  pounds  a  year ; 
and  ten  pounds  a  year  was  all  that  Tyndale  himself  asked  for 
support  in  teaching  and  preaching. 

It  need  not  create  surprise  that  in  the  declaration  of 
Munmouth  the  poor  scholar  is  usually  called  Sir  William. 

1  Small  pensions  or  stipends.  3  Fronde's  History,  vol.  i,  p.  21,  &c. 

-  See  p.  112.  4  "\Yorks,  p.  xviii,  Parker  Society. 


vi.]  SIR,  MASTER,  DOCTOR. 

"  Sir,"  representing  the  Latin  Dominus,  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  given,  at  least  originally,  to  all  priests.  It 
was  not  an  academic  title,  but  was  conferred  at  first 
on  persons  in  orders  who  had  taken  a  Bachelor's  degree. 
Those  who  had  proceeded  to  M.A.  were  called  Master,  Magister.1 
"  Sir "  is  often  the  title  given  to  domestic  chaplains,  probably 
because  many  of  this  class,  from  poverty  or  other  causes,  had 
left  the  university  without  taking  the  Master's  degree.  As  a 
complimentary  title  it  may  have  been  given  at  length  on  a. 
wider  scale ;  but  Masters  and  Doctors  would  repudiate  it,  as 
they  had  the  right  to  a  more  distinctive  appellation.2  The 
familiar  apellation  of  Sir  William  would,  therefore,  seem  to 
imply  that  Tyndale  had  not  become  Master  of  Arts. 

1  There  are  lists  of  Scottish  clergy,  Master  Garret  ;  with  Master  Clark  : 
as  in  Knox's  History  and  other  old  Sir  Fryth,  Sir  Dyot  and  Anthony 
documents,  in  which  occurs  the  title  Dalaber, of  Albans  Hall, the  last  being 
"  Sir,"  along  with  Magister,  Fra-  a  secular  scholar.  Fryth  had  taken 
ter,  and  Doctor.  Knox  himself  is  B.  A.  at  Cambridge,  prior  to  his  trans- 
called  Sir  John  Knox,  as  he  had  lation  to  Oxford,  but  Garret,  curate  to 
not  a  Master's  degree.  In  Bishop  the  rector  of  Honey  Lane,  London. 
L.agland's  letter  to  "Wolsey  about  wore  his  Master's  hood  when  he 
the  spread  of  heresy  at  Oxford  and  carried  his  faggot  from  St.  Mary's 
the  introduction  into  the  University  to  Cardinal  College, 
of  Tyndale's  translation,  there  is  2  See  p.  109. 
this  list  given  of  ringleaders,  "  with 


CHAPTER   VII. 


"YVTHAT  Tyndale  could  not  enjoy  in  England  his  eager 
spirit  hoped  to  find  abroad.  He  left  London,  probably 
in  May,  1524,  certainly  not  in  January,  as  Anderson  thinks,  for 
at  that  season  the  navigation  of  the  Elbe  is  impeded  by  the  ice. 
His  expatriation  was  forced  upon  him ;  residence  at  home  was 
incompatible  with  the  duty  which  he  had  laid  upon  himself. 
Some  seven  years  after,  in  1531,  he  appealed  to  Vaughan,  a 
candid  correspondent  of  Crumwell  and  King  Henry,  in  feeling 
words,  which  the  envoy  repeated  to  His  Majesty  :  "  If  for  my 
pains  therein  taken;  if  for  my  poverty;  if  for  mine  exile  from 
my  native  land,  and  bitter  absence  from  my  friends ;  if  for  my 
hunger,  my  thirst,  and  my  cold,  and  the  danger  with  which  I 
am  everywhere  compassed,  and  finally,  if  for  innumerable  other 
hard  and  sharp  fightings  which  I  endure." 1  .  .  .  He  did 
not  become  a  Stoic,  soured  at  his  country  and  longing  for 
revenge.  He  was  no  fanatic  ever  weaving  plots  and  com 
binations  to  secure  his  return;  no  splenetic  fugitive  bewailing 
his  fate  in  bitterness  of  soul,  or  venting  his  wrath  in  puny 
diatribes  or  malignant  satires.  He  felt  all  the  privations  of  an 
exile  from  a  land  "  loved  and  longed  for ; "  but,  having  counted 
the  cost,  and  made  his  choice,  he  patiently  and  heroically 
suffered  scorn,  poverty,  sudden  flights,  with  other  nameless 
evils,  that  he  might  finish  his  work.  If  the  faces  of  kindred 
and  friends  sometimes  haunted  him,  and  the  voice  of  a  mother 
or  sister  fell  like  a  soft  and  distant  echo  on  his  ear,  if  at  such  a 
Aveary  moment  he  was  tempted  to  look  back,  his  hand  never  left 
the  plough  which  always  traced  a  deep  and  straight  furrow. 
Cotton  MSS.,  Titus,  B.  i. 


TYNDALE  AT  HAMBURG.  121 

Tyndale  took  up  his  residence  in  Hamburg,  a  solitary  and 
unknown  foreigner,  and  set  about  his  great  undertaking.  It 
is  impossible  to  say  whether  he  had  made  much  progress  in  it 
previously  to  his  departure,  but  the  months  of  study,  "  most 
part  of  the  day  and  of  the  night,"  at  his  book,  which  he  spent 
under  Munmouth's  roof  were  very  probably  devoted  to  trans 
lation,  for  he  had  come  to  London  burning  with  strong  desire  to 
do  this  "  one  thing."  He  was  not  allowed  to  do  it  in  the 
bishop's  palace,  as  he  had  so  fondly  anticipated,  but  he  must 
have  begun  it  in  the  house  of  the  cloth  merchant,  in  the  parish 
of  All  Hallows,  Barking.  The  brief  time  that  elapsed  between 
his  arrival  on  the  Continent  and  the  completion  of  the  printed 
New  Testament,  in  a  version  so  admirable  and  with  not  more 
marks  of  haste  upon  it,  prove  that  he  must  have  carried  some 
portion  of  prepared  material  with  him  from  England.  But  the 
fragment,  containing  a  small  section  of  the  New  Testament, 
which  Offor  refers  to  as  having  the  initials  W.  T.,  and  the  date 
1502,  has  been  declared  by  Mr.  Fry  of  Bristol  to  be  a  forgery, 
on  evidence  which  Canon  Westcott  affirms  to  be  "  absolutely 
conclusive."  This  fragment  (Luke  vii,  36-50)  may  be  found  at 
p.  9  of  Offer's  Life  of  Tyndale,  prefixed  to  his  reprint  of  the 
first  edition.  It  is  a  translation  from  the  Greek;  but  there 
was  at  that  time  no  printed  Greek  Testament,  the  first  edition 
of  Erasmus  not  being  published  till  1516.  Besides,  it  is  simply 
Tyndale's  own  version  of  1526  very  slightly  altered,  and  yet 
preserving  all  his  peculiar  turns. 

How  long  Tyndale  remained  at  Hamburg  cannot  be  made 
out.  But  it  was  an  opinion  early  held,  and  often  repeated, 
that  on  leaving  Hamburg  he  went  to  consult  Luther,  and  that 
he  commenced,  if  he  did  not  complete,  his  translation  at 
Wittemberg.  The  assertion,  in  its  first  half,  is  supported  by 
such  names  as  Cochlseus  and  Sir  Thomas  More,  taken  for 
granted  by  Foxe,  repeated  by  Bishop  Marsh,1  by  Offor,  Froude,2 
Demaus,3  and  many  others.  It  has  been  as  keenly  denied  on 
the  other  hand  by  not  a  few  biographers  and  critics. 

1  Lectures  on  the  Criticism  aud  In-         2  History,  vol.  Ill,  p.  78. 
terpretation  of  the  Bible,  p.  13.    Lon-         3  Life  of  Tyridale,  p.  93. 
don,  1838. 


122  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

The  discussion  of  this  point  ought,  however,  to  be  prefaced 
by  one  preliminary  remark.  It  was  a  mistake  of  no  common 
magnitude  to  associate  the  name  and  work  of  Tyndale  with 
the  name  and  work  of  Luther.  The  mistake,  however,  can  be 
easily  explained,  as  it  was  common  at  the  time  to  call  all  men 
Lutherans  who  showed  any  leaning  towards  reformation.  The 
great  Reformer  had  so  stamped  an  image  of  himself  upon 
the  Teutonic  movement,  that  similar  tendencies  in  other  lands 
were  vaguely  named  after  him.  Sir  Thomas  More,  King 
Henry,  Lee,  and  Cochlseus,  regarded  Tyndale  as  a  promoter  of 
Lutheranism,  and  his  Testament  was  loosely  spoken  of  as  a 
translation  of  Luther's  German  version.  The  title  page  of 
Sir  Thomas  More's  Dialogue  reads,  "  Touching  the  pestilent 
sect  of  Luther  and  Tyndale."  But  it  is  against  all  evidence 
to  call  Tyndale  Lutheran1,  or  to  aver  that  his  purpose  was 
to  promote  Lutheranism  in  his  own  country.  He  was  no 
sectarian,  was  never  a  Lutheran  himself,  was  never  allied  to 
Luther  as  colleague  or  instrument,  and  nothing  was  farther 
from  his  thoughts  than  to  found  a  sect  and  identify  his  own 
name  with  it.  His  "  Notes "  show  that  he  had  long  been 
opposed  to  the  papal  pretension  of  supremacy,  and  to  the 
papal  errors  and  superstitions  ;  but  he  never  laboured  to  form 
or  organize  any  protesting  party.  To  give  an  English  Bible 
to  the  English  race  from  the  original  text  was  his  life-labour ; 
and  he  first  sent  it  abroad  without  his  name;  for  he  was  willing 
to  remain  an  unrecognized  benefactor,  to  be  hidden  "  in  a  cleft 

O  * 

of  the  rock  "  as  the  divine  glory  passed  by  and  settled  at  length 
over  his  beloved  fatherland.  The  English  envoy,  Vaughan, 
justifying  himself  to  Crumwell  who  thought  that  he  was 
favouring  the  Translator,  avows  "  that  he  was  neither  Lutheran 
nor  Tyndalian  " — the  only  place  in  the  mass  of  correspondence 
where  the  latter  epithet  occurs.2  His  own  disclaimer  to 
ward  the  end  of  his  life,  is  very  touching  and  solemn : — 

1  Yet  the    epithet   clung  to   him  to     be     directed     "  Teg  an     heeren 

through   his   life,  and  in    the    bill  Willeme  Tindalus  priestere  gevangen 

of    expenses    incurred  for   his    ex-  Lutraien." 

ecution,  the    process    by   the    pro-  2   Cotton    MSS.,     Galba,      B.    x, 

cureur-general  of    Brabant  is   said  p.  21,  &c. 


vir.]  TYNDALE  UNSECTARIAN.  123 

"Moreover,  I  take  God,  which  alone  seeth  the  heart,  to  re 
cord  to  my  conscience,  beseeching  Him  that  my  part  be  not 
in  the  blood  of  Christ,  if  I  wrote,  of  all  that  I  have  written, 
throughout  all  my  books,  ought  of  an  evil  purpose  of  envy 
or  malice  to  any  man,  or  to  sfcir  up  any  false  doctrine  or 
opinion  in  the  Church  of  Christ ;  or  to  be  author  of  any  sect ; 
or  to  draw  disciples  after  me  ;  or  that  I  would  be  esteemed,  or 
had  in  price  above  the  least  child  that  is  born ;  save  only  of 
pity  and  compassion,  I  had,  and  yet  have,  on  the  blindness  of 
my  brethren,  and  to  bring  them  into  the  knowledge  of  Christ ; 
and  to  make  every  one  of  them,  if  it  were  possible,  as  perfect  as 
an  angel  of  heaven ;  and  to  weed  out  all  that  is  not  planted  of 
our  heavenly  Father  ;  and  to  bring  down  all  that  lifteth  itself 
against  the  knowledge  of  the  salvation  that  is  in  the  blood  of 
Christ."1 

Tyndale's  work  was  very  different  from  Luther's.  The  one 
was  mighty  by  tongue  and  pen,  for  he  was  a  man  of  war,  of 
downright  blows,  unwearied  in  assault,  leonine  in  courage, 
often  in  a  rage  against  opponents,  and  dealing  out  to  them 
unmeasured  scorn  and  vituperation.  The  more  scholarly 
Melancthon  would  have  shrunk  from  such  battles ;  but  what 
ever  his  hand  found  to  do,  Luther  did  with  a  mighty  and 
demonstrative  earnestness.  Tyndale,  on  the  other  hand, 
carried  out  his  tranquil  toil  in  his  study  and  on  the  one  book 
of  divine  truth  which  he  sent  forth  "  turned  into  the  vulgar 
speech,"  to  be  "  known  and  read  of  all  men."  If  he  did  not 
enter  the  lists  a  joyous  champion  like  Luther,  he  released  a 
still  mightier  power  when  he  despatched  across  the  "  silver 
streak  of  sea"  the  English  Bible,  that  the  people  might  see 
and  read  the  simple,  plain,  and  profitable  Book  of  Truth. 
The  visit  to  Wittemberg  ought,  therefore,  to  be  dissociated 
from  all  imputations  of  Lutheranism  and  all  tendencies 
toward  it. 

That  Tyndale  really  travelled  to  Wittemberg  may  at  the 
same  time  be  argued  from  the  following  considerations.  The 
visit  is  not  a  recent  invention,  or  a  mere  conjecture  of  later 
times.  All  his  contemporaries,  friends  as  well  as  foes,  affirm 

1  "  Protestation  "  to  his  revised  edition  of  the  New  Testament  of  1534. 


124  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

that  he  went  to  confer  with  Luther.  Foxe  asserts  that  "  he 
took  his  journey  into  Germany  and  into  Saxony,  where  he 
had  conference  with  Luther  and  other  learned  men  in  these 
quarters." l  The  martyrologist  delivers  the  statement  without 
the  least  hesitation,  and  was  suspicious  of  nothing  in  it  deroga 
tory  to  Tyndale's  fame  as  a  reformer,  or  to  his  originality  as  a 
translator.  Cochlseus,  whose  name  will  soon  occur  again,  speaks 
of  him  and  Koye  as  two  English  apostates  who  had  been  some 
time  at  Wittemberg,  and  who  at  the  moment  were  printing 
the  New  Testament  in  Cologne.  Cochlseus  was  himself  on  the 
spot,  and  with  his  prying  nimbleness  and  industry  he  could 
scarcely  be  mistaken.  He  had  not,  indeed,  seen  the  volume 
which  was  then  at  press,  and  could  only  form  a  conjecture  as 
to  its  nature,  but  that  conjecture  was  based  on  the  temporary 
sojourn  of  Tyndale  in  Luther's  city.2  One  of  the  charges  pre 
ferred  in  1528  against  Munmouth,  Tyndale's  benefactor,  was 
that  "  with  his  knowledge,  William  Hutchin  otherwise  called 
Tyndale,  and  Friar  Roye,  or  either  of  them,  went  into  Almayne 
to  Luther,  there  to  learn  his  sect ;  "  and  Munmouth  in  his  reply 
does  not  deny  the  accusation,  or  plead  any  ignorance  of  the 
journey  to  Wittemberg.  Sir  Thomas  More  affirms  that  Tyndale, 
though  he  "  dissembled  "  here,  yet  as  soon  as  he  left  England, 
"  gat  him  to  Luther  straight " ;  that  at  the  time  of  his  transla 
tion  of  the  New  Testament,  "  Tyndale  was  with  Luther  at 
Wittemberg,  and  the  confederacy  between  him  and  Luther  was 
well  known."  3  The  assertion  was  wrong  in  so  far  as  it  assumes 
that  Tyndale  translated  at  Wittemberg,  and  "  set  forth  certain 
glosses  on  the  margin,  framed  for  the  setting  forth  of  the  un 
gracious  sect  "  ;  but  to  show  that  the  assertion  was  no  guess  of 
his  own,  he  adds,  "  as  touching  the  confederacy  between  Luther 
and  him,  it  is  a  thing  well  known  by  such  as  been  taken  and 
convicted  here  of  heresy."4  So  that  the  belief  was  current 
among  all  who  had  known  or  had  heard  of  Tyndale's  wan- 

1  Acts  and  Monuments,  vol.  IV,  3  Dialogue,  Book  III,  c.  8,  p.  221. 

p.  119,  London,  1838.  Do.,  Book  IV,  c.  17,  p.  283.  Works, 

2De  Actis  et  Scriptis  M.  Lutheri,  London,  1557. 

p.     132 — Duo   Angli    apostatce    qui  4  Answer  to  More,  p.  147.  Works, 

aliquamdiu  fuerant  Wittembergcc.  vol.  Ill,  Parker  Society  ed. 


vii.]  TYNDALE  AND  LUTHER.  125 

derings.  More,  indeed,  had  his  own  end  to  serve  in  dwelling 
so  pointedly  on  the  report;  but  if  it  could  have  been  denied,  or 
if  the  evidence  had  been  contradictory,  his  purpose  would  have 
miscarried.  Tyndale  in  his  answer  replies  only  to  the  charge 
of  "  confederacy " — "  When  he  says  Tyndale  was  confederate 
with  Luther,  that  is  not  truth."  He  thus  denies  the  alleged 
confederacy  alone,  and  the  denial,  after  six  years'  residence  on 
the  continent,  would  have  been  still  more  decided  if  he  had,  or 
could  have,  declared  that  he  had  never  seen  Luther,  or  had 
been  in  his  company.  Such  a  form  of  denial  would  have  been 
very  natural  and  conclusive  if  he  had  been  warranted  to  adopt 
it.  The  selection  of  only  one  point  in  the  accusation,  and  the 
curtness  of  the  answer,  would  lead  us  to  infer  that  Tyndale  had 
been  with  Luther,  though  certainly  he  was  never  in  concert 
with  him.  More  accepted  Tyndale's  disavowal  of  the  confeder 
acy,  for  he  drops  the  charge,  while  he  still  repeats  the  assertion 
that  "  Tyndale  hath  been  with  Luther,  .  .  .  therefore  I  must 
needs  mistrust  him."  l  Such  was  also  the  interpretation  of  Foxe, 
who  edited  the  work  where  Tyndale's  denial  occurs,  and  yet 
inserts  in  his  biography  of  the  translator  the  statement  which 
we  have  already  quoted.  Anderson,  however,  so  misquotes 
Tyndale's  denial  as  to  make  it  decisive  of  the  controversy. 
First  he  writes  it  correctly :  "  Tyndale  was  confederate  with 
Luther — that  is  not  truth,"  but  he  gives  it  an  ingenious  twist 
on  the  next  page,  thus  :  "  Tyndale  was  with  Luther — that  is 
not  truth,"  assigning  to  Tyndale  a  declaration  which  he  never 
wrote,  and  took  special  care  not  to  write.  He  so  identified 
confederacy  and  visit,  that  he  seems  unconsciously  to  have 
made  the  alteration.2  The  rumour  had  also  spread  into  France. 
Lee,  the  king's  almoner  (and  afterwards,  in  succession  to 
Wolsey,  Archbishop  of  York),  who  was  on  a  journey  to  Spain, 

1  Confutation,  Works,  p.  419.  Bible,  p.  x)  is  wrong  in  saying  that 

2  The  writer  knew  Mr.  Anderson  he  was   "  a  minister  at   Glasgow." 
somewhat  in  his  older  days,  about  His    residence    was   in    Edinburgh, 
the  period  of  the  publication  of  his  where  he   ministered  ably  and  ear- 
"  Annals,"  when  he  was  overflow-  nestly  to    a  congregation  of    "  the 
ing    with    Tyndale.        Archdeacon  most  straitest  sect "  of  Baptists. 
Cotton  (Preface   to  Editions  of  the 


12G  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

wrote  from  Bordeaux  a  letter  to  His  Majesty  on  2nd  December, 
1525,  in  which  he  imparts  this  information,  "Please  it  your 
Highness  to  understand  that  I  am  certainly  informed,  as  I 
passed  in  this  country,  that  an  Englishman,  your  subject,  at 
the  solicitation  and  instance  of  Luther,  with  whom  he  is,  hath 
translated  the  New  Testament  into  English,  and  within  few 
days  intendeth  to  arrive  with  the  same  imprinted  in  England." l 
The  king  himself  also  repeats  the  statement  in  his  letter  to  his 
subjects,  "  Luther  fell  on  device  with  one  or  two  lewd  persons 
born  in  this  our  realm,  for  the  translating  of  the  New  Testament 
into  English."  5  Dr.  Robert  Ridley,  Bishop  Tunstall's  chaplain, 
in  a  letter  written  24th  February,  to  Henry  Golde,  Archbishop 
Warham's  nephew  and  chaplain,  unfolds  a  similar  story : 
"  As  concerning  this  common  and  vulgar  translation  of  the  New 
Testament  into  English,  done  by  Mr.  William  Hichyns,  other 
wise  called  Mr.  William  Tyndale,  and  Friar  William  Roye, 
manifest  Lutheran  hereticks  and  apostates,  as  doth  openly 
appear  by  their  daily  company  and  familiarity  with  Luther 
and  his  disciples.  .  .  ."  3  Paul  Freherus  also  asserts  the  visit  to 
Luther,  but  erroneously  includes  Fryth  in  it.4  Finally,  the 
supposition  that  Tyndale  remained  any  long  period  in  Ham 
burg  is  rendered  less  likely  on  the  ground  that  this  city 
had  no  printing  press  at  the  time,  or  for  some  years  after 
wards.  Such  a  fact  puts  an  end  to  the  supposition  of 
Anderson  and  others,  that  during  his  sojourn  in  Hamburg 
Tyndale  "  printed  Matthew  and  Mark  by  themselves."  Surely 
it  is  not  at  all  probable  that  Tyndale  would  tarry  for  a  year  in 
a  town  where  his  fixed  purpose  to  issue  an  English  New  Tes 
tament,  could  not  be  carried  out. 5  But  the  assertion  of  Green 
that  Tyndale,  at  Luther's  instance,  translated  at  Wittemberg 
the  Gospels  and  Epistles  G  is  unwarranted  conjecture,  wholly 

1  Cotton  MSS.,  Vespasian,  C.  Ill,  4  In  his  "Theatrum  Virorum  Eru- 
fol.  211.  ditione  Clarorum,"  p.  10!),  1688. 

2  The  king's  letter   is  printed  in  5  On   this    point  compare  "  Mait- 
Herbert's  edition  of  Ames's   Typo-  laud's     Reformation     in    England," 
graphical  Antiquities,  p.    297,  Lon-  p.  371,  &c.,  London,  1849. 

don,  1785.  6  History  of  the  English  People; 

3  Cotton  MSS.,  Cleopat.E.V.,p.  362.     p.  342,  London,  1874. 


vii.]  TYND ALE'S  KNOWLEDGE  OF  GERMAN.  127 

opposed  to  known  facts  and  dates.  Nor  did  Tyndale,  as  he 
goes  on  to  say,  after  Froude,  "  establish  a  press  at  Antwerp, 
where  he  was  soon  busy  with  his  versions  of  the  Scriptures." 
For  there  is  only  one  version — the  first  edition  of  1526,  and 
the  second  of  15  34.  Nor  was  Tyndale  even  in  Antwerp  at  the 
time  of  the  visitation  of  Cardinal  College  in  1528,  for  he 
published  at  Marburg,  in  October  of  that  year,  the  "Obedience 
of  a  Christian  Man." 

Arguments  against  the  visit  to  "Wittemberg  are  of  no  great 
moment.  It  has,  for  instance,  been  alleged  that  Luther's 
occupation  at  the  time  would  have  made  a  visit  from  Tyndale 
undesirable,  if  not  impossible.  But  though  Luther  was  hotly 
engaged  in  the  fierce  sacramentarian  war,  and  was  rabidly 
thundering  against  his  antagonists,  his  jovial  nature  gave 
welcome  to  all  strangers  who  might  seek  his  presence — his 
heart  and  home  were  open  to  them.  Besides,  though  we  do 
not  know  from  Tyndale  himself  what  his  opinions  on  the 
sacrament  were  at  that  period,  Sir  Thomas  More  affirms  more 
than  once  that  at  first  he  did  adopt  views  akin  to  those  of 
Luther,  and  the  affirmation  was  not  contradicted.  Nay, 
according  to  More,  Tyndale  converted  Barnes  from  the 
"Zuinglian  heresy";  and  Luther  would,  on  that  account,  have 
cordially  congratulated  the  English  pilgrim.  Tyndale,  in 
writing  to  the  young  martyr  Fryth  during  his  imprisonment, 
calmly  cautions  him  about  a  point  disputed  so  keenly — "  of  the 
presence  of  Christ's  body  in  the  Sacrament,  meddle  as  little 
as  you  can." 

But  the  great  objection  to  any  interview  between  Tyndale 
and  Luther  is  the  suspicion  which  it  is  thought  to  cast  on  his 
independence  as  a  translator,  and  it  has  even  been  maintained 
against  all  evidence  that  he  did  not  understand  German. 
Cochlseus,  indeed,  mentions  incidentally,  that  he  had  learned  it 
at  Wittemberg.  That  he  knew  it  can  admit  of  no  doubt  to 
any  one  who  examines  the  fragment  of  St.  Matthew,  the 
only  fragment  left  of  his  first  quarto  edition  ;  for  of  the  ninety- 
two  glosses  on  the  margin,  more  than  a  half  are  from  Luther's 
New  Testament,  forty-one  only  being  his  own.  He  has  also 
introduced  into  the  prologue  at  least  one-half  of  Luther's 


128  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

preface,  and  added  but  four  original  notes.  Besides,  the 
prologue  to  Romans  published  by  him  in  1526  is,  to  a 
large  extent,  a  free  translation  of  Luther's.  In  reply  to  the 
indisputable  assertion  that  Tyndale  in  these  instances  trans 
lated  from  the  German,  it  has  been  contended  that  Luther's 
preface  to  Eomans  had  already  been  rendered  into  Latin  in  1523, 
by  Justus  Jonas,  and  that  therefore  Tyndale  used  this  Latin 
text.  But  if  any  one  will  collate  the  German  and  Latin  with 
the  English  version,  he  will  find  that  Tyndale  had  both  forms 
before  him,  and  that  while  he  rendered  from  the  Latin  chiefly, 
he  took  from  the  German  what  phrases  struck  him  as  being 
more  pointed,  or  better  suited  in  their  fulness  to  his  immediate 
purpose.  It  is  true  that,  "within  a  year"  after  his  departure 
from  England,  Tyndale  is  found  in  Hamburg,  whence,  through 
a  merchant  of  the  Steelyard,1  he  sent  for  his  ten  pounds,  and 
thither  Munmouth  transmitted  it  to  him.  But  the  intervening 
months  leave  ample  space  for  a  journey  to  Wittemberg  and  a 
return  to  the  seaport,  where  he  could  so  readily  get  the  money 
in  order  to  begin  printing  at  Cologne  in  the  autumn. 

Tyndale  left  Hamburg  for  Cologne  probably  in  the  summer 
of  1525,  and  was  accompanied  by  his  amanuensis,  Roye,  who 
had  joined  him  some  months  before.  In  this  city  he  put  to 
press  the  New  Testament  in  quarto,  with  marginal  glosses, 
Peter  Quentel  being  the  printer.  Quentel  was  connected  in 
business  with  Byrckman,  and  the  Byrckmans  had  bookshops 
both  in  Paris  and  in  London.  Tyndale's  original  intention 
was  to  print  six  thousand  copies  ;  but  for  fear  of  any  mischance, 
and  not  from  present  or  anticipated  want  of  funds,  he  con- 

1  The   Steelyard    (the   name    still  products  was  exported.    The  name 

survives)  was  a  German  Guildhall  is  said  to  have  been  derived  from  a 

(aula  Teuton  icorum),  and  was  gran  ted  court  or  yard  where  steel  had  been 

by  royal   letters    patent    in    1260.  sold  at  an   earlier  period.     Fifteen 

It  was  situated  in  the  parish  of  All  thousand  Flemings   were  settled  in 

Hallows,  near  London  Bridge,  and  London,  and  were  jealously  watched 

was  well  protected  by  its  massive  by  the  ecclesiastics.     Five  merchants 

walls,  the  "Easterling"  merchants  of  the  Steelyard,  suspected  of  being 

congregating  there  being  from  the  Lollards,  did  penance  at  St.  Paul's 

ITanse    towns    and    Ehineland,   to  when  Barnes  abjured, 
which  so  large  a  portion  of  English 


vii.]  FLIGHT   TO    WOK  MS.  129 

tented  himself  in  the  meantime  with  three  thousand.  The  mis 
chance,  however,  did  happen,  and  in  a  way  quite  unlooked  for. 
Cochlseus,  a  keen  and  busy  enemy  of  the  Reformation,  was 
at  the  time  an  exile  in  Cologne,  and  he  found  out  and  put  a 
sudden  end  to  Tyndale's  secret  enterprise.  He  tells  his  own 
story  with  a  quaint  and  wondrous  simplicity.1  From  the 
boast  and  babbling  of  the  printers  about  the  great  change 
soon  to  take  place  in  England,  he  learned  something  of  the 
work  which  was  proceeding  in  silent  mystery.  But  as  he 
could  neither  see  nor  converse  with  the  two  Englishmen, 
"  learned  in  languages  and  fluent,"  and  so  shrewdly  sus 
pected  by  him,  he  plied  some  of  the  workmen  with  wine 
in  his  own  lod^in^s.  as  he  does  not  hesitate  to  avow,  and 

O          O      '  ' 

he  learned  from  them,  over  their  cups,  that  three  thousand 
copies  of  this  "  Lutheran  New  Testament,"  in  quarto,  were  at 
press,  and  that  ten  sheets  were  printed,  or  as  far  as  the  letter 
K,  in  ordine  quaternionum ;  that  English  merchants  were  to 
bear  the  expense,  and  swiftly  and  safely  convey  the  books  to 
England,  before  king  or  cardinal  could  be  aware  of  the  im 
portation.  Cochlreus,  in  his  alarm  and  amazement  at  a 
conspiracy  "  worse  than  that  of  the  two  eunuchs  against 
Ahasuerus,"  consulted  Herman  Rinck,  a  patrician,  then  applied 
to  the  authorities  who  made  full  inquiry,  and  found  that  the 
information  laid  before  them  was  correct,  there  being  "  great 
abundance  of  paper  to  complete  the  edition."  On  appeal  to 
the  senate,  the  printer  was  interdicted  ;  but  the  "  two  English 
apostates,"  snatching  away  with  them  the  quarto  sheets  already 
printed,  fled  by  ship  up  the  Rhine  to  Worms,  where  the 

1  Johann    Dobneck,    or    Jodocus  1533  ;    and  again  iu  his  Scopa,  or 

Cochkeus  (the  last  Latin  name  re-  reply     to     Sir     Richard     Morysin, 

presenting  the  meaning  of  Weiidel-  Leipzig,  March,  1539.     In  his  Com- 

stein,   the  place  of   his  birth,  near  mentaria   de   Actis    et   Scriptis  M. 

Nuremberg),  has  told  the  story  three  Lutheri,  1549,  the  fullest  account  is 

times — first  in  a  letter  to  James  V  given.    In  this  book,  written  twenty- 

of   Scotland,  in  a  controversy  with  four  years  after  the  event,  he  refers 

Alexander  Ales    on    the    question,  distinctly  to  the  intoxication  of  the 

An     expediat     laicis,    legere    Novi  printers — "  postqnam    mero   incalu- 

Testamenti  libros  lingua  vernacula,  issent  " — p.  134. 
vi  Idus  Junij — that  is  10th  June, 

VOL.  I.  I 


130  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 

people  "  were  under  the  full  rage  of  Lutheranism." l  At 
Worms,  probably  in  October,  printing  was  resumed ;  an  octavo 
edition,  without  glosses,  was  also  put  to  press  and  finished,  and 
the  quarto  edition  was  completed,  three  thousand  copies  of 
each  being  thrown  off.  A  small  portion  of  the  quarto  has  been 
recovered,  and  it  contains,  with  the  prologue,  twenty-one 
chapters  of  the  Gospel  of  Matthew,  or  rather  it  stops  with 
Matthew  xxii,  12.  This  fragment,  consisting  of  sixty-two 
pages  or  thirty-one  leaves,  does  not  contain  as  far  as  K ;  but  if 
the  signatures  had  been  worked  off  as  far  as  I,  a  considerable 
portion  of  Luke  must  have  been  printed,  and  Tyndale  and 
Roye  must  have  carried  off  with  them  to  Worms  twenty-seven 
thousand  sheets.  The  fragment  was  discovered  in  183G,  by 
Mr.  Rodd,  an  antiquarian  bookseller  in  London,  and  is  now 
in  the  Grenville  Library,  British  Museum.  It  has  been 
carefully  photo-lithographed  by  Mr.  Arber,  and  an  excellent 
preface  is  prefixed.2  The  identification  of  the  press  was 
made  by  a  collation  of  the  form  of  letter  and  other  technical 
minutite,  with  works  known  to  be  printed  by  Quentel.  An 
initial  y,  and  a  woodcut  which,  the  New  Testament  being 
abruptly  stopped,  was  afterwards  pared  down  to  fit  the  page 
of  another  publication,  a  Commentary  on  St.  Matthew,  by 
Rupert,  a  former  abbot  of  Deutz  in  the  twelfth  century,  being 
among  the  chief  means  of  identification.  The  quarto  was 
probably  finished,  and  the  octavo  wholly  printed,  by  Schoeffer 
(son  of  the  first  printer  at  Mentz),  who,  on  account  of  his 
Protestantism,  had  been  obliged  to  leave  his  native  city.  A 
comparison  of  some  books  issued  by  Schceffer  proves  that 
he  also  printed  the  New  Testament,  as  its  type,  size  of  sheet, 
number  of  lines,  and  watermark  in  the  paper  are  the  same  as 
in  the  other  volumes  issued  from  his  press.3  Proofs  of  this 
nature  cannot  be  adduced  for  the  quarto,  as  the  only  part 
preserved  was  printed  at  Cologne.  It  is  strange  that  the 
place  where  these  Testaments  were  printed  is  asserted  to  be 
Antwerp  by  Ames — Herbert,  Panzer,  Burnet,  Froude,  Hal- 

1  In  the  pithy  words  of  Cochkeus,         3  See  Mr.  Fry's   Introduction    to 
"  Ubiplcbs  plena  furore  lutherizabat ."    his  facsimile  of  Tyndale's  .New  Tes- 

2  London,  1871.  tameut,  pp.  8,  9. 


vn.]  MATTHEW  AND  MARK.  131 

lam,  Marsh,  Eussell,  and  Smiles ;  by  Johnson  and  Newcome ; 
while  Macknight  and  Whittaker  give  the  alternative  of  Ham 
burg  or  Antwerp,  and  Blunt  proposes  Cologne,  where  a 
small  portion  only  of  the  quarto  had  left  the  press.  Cochlseus 
had  already  warned  the  king,  Wolsey,  and  the  Bishop  of 
Rochester  to  watch  all  the  ports,  in  order  to  prevent  the  intro 
duction  of  "that  most  pernicious  merchandise  "  ;l  and  Tyndale, 
who  could  not  be  aware  of  what  the  spy  had  written,  but, 
probably  suspecting  that  some  communication  would  be  sent 
to  England,  proceeded  at  once  with  the  octavo,  that  it  might 
find  its  way  without  attracting  to  itself  special  attention 
and  suspicion.  He  himself  seems  to  give  the  priority  of 
printing  to  the  octavo — "When  I  had  translated  the  New 
Testament,  and  added  a  pistle  unto  the  latter  end," — the 
reference  being  to  this  edition.  In  the  same  "  Pistle  or 
address  to  the  Reder,"  at  the  end  of  the  volume,  he  says 
"  I  beseche  that  the  rudeness  off  the  worke  at  the  fyrst  tyme 
offende  them  not."  The  text  of  the  quarto  was  apparentl}* 
somewhat  revised  before  it  was  reprinted  in  the  octavo  form. 
For  though  there  are  not  many  variations,  perhaps  not  more 
than  fifty  between  the  two  issues,  the  majority  of  the  readings 
peculiar  to  the  octavo  are  found  in  Tyndale's  subsequent 
editions.  The  eye  of  the  translator  was  vigilant;  in  the 
quarto,  Matthew  xx,  23,  the  text  is  "  to  give  you " ;  but 
"you,"  which  originated  in  the  Vulgate,  is  omitted  rightly 
in  the  octavo.  Of  the  octavo  only  two  copies  survive,  one 
perfect  but  without  the  title  page,  in  the  Baptist  Theological 
Library,  Bristol,  of  which  Mr.  Fry  has  published  so  correct 
and  beautiful  a  facsimile.  The  other,  which  is  imperfect,  is 
in  the  Library  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral. 

It  would  seem  that  there  were  also  separate  editions  of 
Matthew  and  Mark.  Ridley,  in  a  letter  already  quoted  from, 
speaks  of  "  Matthew  and  Mark  in  the  first  print."  2  The  re 
ference  is  not  precise  :  as  the  "  first  print "  with  the  "  commen 
taries  and  annotation,"  might  refer  to  the  quarto.  Foxe  seems 
to  point  to  an  edition  of  Matthew  by  itself.  On  April  28, 
John  Tyball,  on  examination  before  Tunstall,  confessed  to 

1  Merx  ilia  perniciosissima.         2Cottou  MSS.,  Cleopatra,  E.  V,  p.  362 


132  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 

having  the  "  New  Testament  in  English,  and  the  Gospel  of 
Matthew  and  Mark  in  English,"  a  which  he  had  of  John  Pykas, 
of  Colchester.  The  translation  of  Matthew  and  Mark,  which 
would  form  a  small  thin  volume,  has  been  supposed  with  some 
plausibility  to  have  been  the  little  treatise  that  Tyndale 
conveyed  to  Munmouth,  when  he  sent  for  his  promised 
"  exhibition."  That  such  a  section  did  exist  is  highly 
probable,  and  it  may  have  been  printed  as  a  first  experiment 
at  Wittemberg.  But  the  fragment  of  the  quarto  has  no 
connection  with  this  earlier  issue  ;  for  its  Prologue  refers  to  all 
the  books  of  the  New  Testament  as  following  it,  and  there  is 
.a  catalogue  of  them. 

1  Harleiau  MSS.,  p.  421. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

rpYNDALE  entered  on  the  momentous  and  responsible  work 
of  translation  from  noble  and  disinterested  motives.  With 
characteristic  self-abnegation  he  does  not  obtrude  himself  in 
his  first  preface,1  but  simply  says,  "  The  causes  that  moved  me 
to  translate,  I  thought  better  that  others  should  imagine  than 
that  I  should  rehearse  them."  So  conscious  was  he  of  his 
integrity,  that  he  fondly  hoped  to  prepare  an  English  New 
Testament  in  the  palace  of  the  Bishop  of  London  as  one  of  his 
chaplains.  He  had  thought  of  the  task  when  he  was  a 
domestic  tutor,  and  had  then  spoken  with  prophetic  rapture  of 
the  result.  In  his  preface  to  the  five  books  of  Moses,  he 
argues  with  earnestness  the  necessity  of  a  translation,  and 
shows  the  baseless  objections  brought  against  his  own.  "  When 
I  had  translated  the  New  Testament,  I  added  an  epistle  unto 
the  latter  end,  in  which  I  desired  them  that  were  learned  to 
amend,  if  ought  were  amiss.  But  our  malicious  and  wily 
hypocrites  say,  some  of  them,  that  it  is  impossible  to  translate 
the  Scripture  in  English  ;  some,  that  it  is  not  lawful  for  the 
lay  people  to  have  it  in  their  mother  tongue ;  some,  that  it 
would  make  them  all  heretics ;  as  it  would,  no  doubt,  from 
many  things  which  they  of  long  time  have  falsely  taught,  and 
that  is  the  whole  cause  why  they  forbid  it,  though  they  other 
cloaks  pretend;  and  some,  or  rather  every  one,  say  that  it 
would  make  them  rise  against  the  king,  whom  they  themselves 
(unto  their  damnation)  never  yet  obeyed."  .  .  .  As  for 
my  translation,  in  which  they  affirm  unto  the  lay 

1  Reprinted  separately,  with  some     Pathway     into     the     Holy    Scrip- 
variations,    under     the    title,    "  A    ture." 


134  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP- 

people  (as  I  have  heard  say)  to  be  I  wot  not  how  many  thou 
sand  heresies,  so  that  it  cannot  be  mended  or  correct ;  they  have 
yet  taken  so  great  pain  to  examine  it,  and  to  compare  it  unto 
that  they  would  fain  have  it,  and  to  their  own  imaginations  and 
juggling  terms,  and  to  have  somewhat  to  rail  at,  and  under  that 
cloak  to  blaspheme  the  truth  ;  that  they  might  with  as  little 
labour  (as  I  suppose)  have  translated  the  most  part  of  the 
Bible." 

His  exile  and  his  continuous  self-denial  were  endured  for 
this  special  and  glorious  end — the  preparation  of  a  New 
Testament  in  the  island  tongue.  He  was  forced  to  go  abroad, 
to  scorn  privation,  danger,  and  solitude,  that  he  might 
translate ;  but  he  did  not  forget  his  country,  for  it  he  toiled  and 
suffered.  He  protested  to  Vaughan,  the  English  envoy,  in 
1531  :  "Again,  may  his  grace,  being  a  Christian  prince,  be  so 
unkind  to  God,  which  hath  commanded  His  word  to  be  spread 
throughout  the  world,  to  give  more  faith  to  wicked  persuasions 
of  men,  which,  presuming  above  God's  wisdom,  and  contrary  to 
that  which  Christ  expressly  commandeth  in  His  Testament,  dare 
say  that  it  is  not  lawful  for  the  people  to  have  the  same  in  a 
tongue  that  they  understand;  because  the  purity  thereof 
should  open  men's  eyes  to  see  their  wickedness  ?  Is  there  more 
danger  in  the  king's  subjects  than  in  the  subjects  of  all  other 
princes,  which  in.  every  one  of  their  tongues  have  the  same, 
under  privilege  of  their  sufferance  ?  As  I  now  am,  very  death 
were  more  pleasant  to  me  than  life,  considering  man's  nature 
to  be  such  as  can  bear  no  truth."1  Not  only  was  he  governed 
by  the  highest  of  impulses,  but  he  carried  out  his  task  with 
perfect  honesty.  In  a  letter  to  Fryth,  "  his  dearly  beloved 
brother  Jacob,"  written  in  1533,  he  devoutly  and  solemnly 
appeals  to  God  as  the  witness  of  his  entire  conscientiousness : 
"  For  I  call  God  to  record  against  the  day  we  shall  appeal- 
before  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  to  give  a  reckoning  of  our  doings, 
that  I  never  altered  one  syllable  of  God's  word  against  my 
conscience,  nor  would  this  day,  if  all  that  is  in  the  earth, 
whether  it  be  pleasure,  honour,  or  riches,  might  be  given  me. 
Moreover,  I  take  God  to  record  to  my  conscience,  that  I  desire 
1  Cotton  MSS.,  Titus,  B.  1,  p.  67,  British  Museum. 


via.]  TYSDALE  AND  FRYTH.  135 

of  God  to  myself,  in  this  world,  no  more  than  that  without  which 
I  cannot  keep  his  laws."1  Fiyth,  in  his  Reply  to  More, 
expresses  perfect  harmony  of  view  :  "  Tyndale,  I  trust,  liveth 
well  content  with  such  a  poor  apostle's  life  as  God  gave  His  Son 
Christ  and  His  faithful  ministers  in  this  world,  which  is  not 
sure  of  so  many  mites  as  ye  be  of  pounds ;  although,  I  am 
sure  that,  for  his  learning  and  judgment  of  Scripture,  he  were 
more  worthy  to  be  promoted  than  all  the  bishops  in  England." 
After  quoting  a  portion  of  the  stirring  letter  to  himself,  he 
then  adds  :  "  Judge,  Christian  reader,  whether  these  words  be 
not  spoken  of  a  faithful,  clear,  and  innocent  heart.  And  as  for 
his  behaviour,  it  is  such  that  T  am  sure  no  man  can  reprove  him 
of  any  sin;  howbeit,  no  man  is  innocent  before  God  which 
beholdeth  the  heart."  And  he  had  already  delivered  an 
eloquent  and  bold  protest :  "  This  hath  been  offered  you,  is 
offered,  and  shall  be  offered.  Grant  that  the  Word  of  God — I 
mean  the  text  of  Scripture — may  go  abroad  in  our  English 
tongue,  as  other  nations  have  it  in  their  tongues,  and  my 
brother  William  Tyndale  and  I  have  done,  and  will  promise 
you  to  write  no  more."2  With  the  modesty  of  a  true  scholar, 
and  that  humility  which  so  befits  a  translator  of  the  divine 
volume,  Tyndale's  appeal  in  the  first  preface  is,  "exhorting 
instantly,  and  beseeching  those  that  are  better  seen  in  the 
tongues  than  I,  and  that  have  better  gifts  of  grace  to  interpret 
the  sense  of  Scripture  and  the  meaning  of  the  spirit  than  I, 
to  consider  and  ponder  my  labour,  and  that  in  the  spirit  of 
meekness ;  and  if  they  perceive  in  any  places  that  I  have  not 
attained  the  very  sense  of  the  tongue  or  meaning  of  the  Scrip 
ture,  or  have  not  given  the  right  English  word,  that  they  put  to 
their  hands  to  amend  it,  remembering  that  so  is  their  duty  to 
do.  He  was  conscious  of  the  imperfections  of  his  work — "  many 
things  are  lacking  which  are  required,"  and  bespeaks 
indulgence,  on  account  of  "  very  necessitie  and  combrance  (God 
is  recorde)  above  strength,  which  I  will  not  rehearse,  lest  we 
should  seem  to  boast  ourselves " ;  referring  not  only  to  his 
anxious  and  incessant  literary  toil  as  a  translator,  but  to  his 

1  Foxe,  vol.  V,  153.  vol.    Ill,   p.    344,    339,  ed.  Russell, 

*  Works  of  Tyudale  and  Fryth,     London,  1831. 


13G  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

abrupt  flight  with  the  printed  sheets  from  Cologne,  and  the 
hurried  press  work  at  Worms. 

To  this  ingenuous  purity  of  purpose  was  united  rare  scholarly 
ability,  and  the  English  New  Testament  is  conclusive  proof  of 
the  competence  of  the  workman.  Wycliffe  was  able,  a  hundred 
and  fifty  years  earlier,  to  render  only  from  the  Vulgate,  the  book 
of  the  church,  and  the  work  sufficed  for  a  time ;  but  Tyndale 
translated  at  once  from  the  inspired  Greek  original,  and  his 
learning  was  quite  equal  to  the  task.  He  had  studied  both  at 
Oxford  and  Cambridge  during  the  revival  of  Greek  scholarship, 
and  he  had  translated  an  oration  of  Isocrates  so  well,  at  least 
in  his  own  opinion,  that  he  carried  it  to  London  with  him  as 
a  proof  of  his  proficiency,  to  be  laid  before  Tunstall,  no  mean 
judge.  Few  priests  in  his  day  possessed  such  knowledge  of 
Greek ;  very  many,  "  twenty  thousand  of  them,  and  not  so  few," 
could  not  translate  the  simplest  clause  in  the  Lord's  Prayer ;  but 
he  had  enjoyed  signal  advantages.  Sir  Thomas  More  himself 
witnesses  of  him,  "  that  before  he  went  over  the  sea,  he  was 
taken  for  a  man  of  sober  and  honest  living,  studious  and  well 
learned  in  Scripture, and  looked  and  preached  holily  ;  ....  that 
before  he  fell  into  these  phrenzies  he  was  taken  for  full  prettily 
learned."  1  Tyndale  speaks  freely  and  familiarly  of  various 
languages,  and  thus  addresses  More,  "  until  at  the  last  the  lay 
people  had  lost  the  meaning  of  the  ceremonies  ;  and  the  prelates 
the  understanding  of  the  plain  text,  and  of  the  Greek,  Latin, 
and  especially  of  the  Hebrew.  .  .  .  Remember  ye  not  how, 
within  this  thirty  years  and  far  less,  and  yet  dureth  to  this 
day,  the  old  barking  curs,  Dun's  disciples,  raged  in  every  pulpit 
against  Greek,  Latin,  and  Hebrew,  and  what  sorrow  the  school 
masters  that  taught  the  true  Latin  had  with  them  ?  " 2 

He  confidently  appeals  to  Sir  Thomas  More  himself  on 
points  of  scholarship  :  "  These  things  be  even  so  Master  More 
himself  knoweth,  for  he  understandeth  the  Greek,  and  knew 

1  Dialogue,    book    iv,    chap.     17,  visitations  of  Bishop  Hooper,   that 
Works,  p.  283.  many  of  the  clergy  could   not  tell 

2  Answer  to  More,  p.  75  ;  Works,  who  was  the  author  of  the  Lord's 
vol.    Ill,    Parker    Society    edition.  Prayer,    or    where    it    was    to     be 
It   would   seem    from    one   of    the  found. 


vin.]  TYND ALE'S  GREEK  SCHOLARSHIP.  137 

them  long  ere  I."  More  never  questions  his  scholarship,  and  he 
virtually  denies  the  "  Supper  of  the  Lord  "  to  be  Tyndale's  on 
account  of  its  lack  of  learning.  When  George  Joye,  who  had 
touched  him  to  the  quick  by  editing  and  altering  his  transla 
tion,  was  challenged  for  his  unworthy  procedure,  he  at  once 
measured  himself  by  Tyndale's  great  erudition,  and  admitting 
it,  while  he  dares  and  defies  it,  cried,  "I  am  not  afraid  to 
answer  Tyndale  in  this  matter  for  all  his  high  learning  in 
Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin,  &C."1  A  famous  contemporary, 
Herman  von  dem  Busche,  who  was  a  stranger  at  the  time,  and 
a  casual  visitor  at  Worms,  bears  a  similar  testimony,  which  is 
recorded  in  the  Diary  of  Georgius  Spalatinus,  under  date  the 
day  after  St.  Laurence  Day — that  is,  llth  August,  1526. 
Busche  told  Spalatinus2  that  Tyndale  had  edited  six  thousand 
English  Testaments,  and  that  he  was  so  versed  in  seven 
different  languages — Hebrew,  Greek,  Latin,  Italian,  Spanish, 
Britannic,  and  French — that  whichever  he  spoke  you  would 
suppose  it  was  his  mother-tongue.3  As  he  had  been  some 
time  in  Germany  his  knowledge  of  German,  seen  in  his  use  of 
Luther  for  the  prologue  to  the  quarto  Testament,  is  apparently 
taken  for  granted ;  and  as  it  was  the  tongue  daily  spoken  by 
him,  it  is  naturally  omitted  in  the  enumeration.  That  this 
report  is  exaggerated 4  is  very  probable,  but  Busche  was  not  a 
man  easily  imposed  upon.  He  was  the  friend  of  Reuchlin, 
and  one  of  the  three  authors  of  the  trenchant  Epistolfe 
Obscurorum  Virorum. 5  In  a  word,  Tyndale's  reply  to  Sir 
Thomas  More,  in  vindication  of  certain  terms  adopted  by  him 
into  his  version,  is  sufficient  proof  that  he  was  well  equipped 
for  the  blessed  labour  which  he  had  taken  in  hand  after 
reviewing  its  perils,  and  to  carry  out  which  he  had  left  country 
and  kindred.  His  ability  to  translate  from  the  Greek  text  can, 
after  such  testimonies,  scarcely  be  questioned  with  propriety. 

1  George  Joye's  work  will  be  cle-  centenis  millibus  aeris,  which  Busche 
scribed  in  a  subsequent  page.  declared  the  English  people  to  be 

2  Schelhorn's    Amcenitates  Liter-  willing    to    pay    for    six   thousand 
arise,  vol.  IV,  p.  431.  copies  of  the  English  Testament. 

3  In  ea  nntum  putes.  5  Sir  William  Hamilton's  Discus- 

4  There  is  an  exaggeration  in  the  sions,  &c.,  p.  226. 


138  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  CHAP. 

Not  only  was  he  the  translator,  but  he  was  the  sole  trans 
lator.  He  had  no  literary  assistance  in  his  work,  no  pioneer 
and  no  guide ;  no  one  to  follow  and  no  one  to  help  him. 
Though  he  might  have  had  a  copy  of  Wycliffe,  it  could  be  of 
little  or  no  service  to  him.  In  the  Epilogue  to  the  first  edition, 
he  speaks  thus :  "  Them  that  are  learned  Christianly  I  beseech, 
forasmuch  as  I  am  sure,  and  my  conscience  beareth  me  record, 
that  of  a  pure  intent,  singly  and  faithfully  I  have  interpreted 
it,  as  far  forth  as  God  gave  me  the  gift  of  knowledge  and 
understanding,  that  the  rudeness  of  the  work  now  at  the  first 
time  offend  them  not ;  but  that  they  consider  how  that  I  had 
no  man  to  counterfeit,1  neither  was  helped  with  English  of 
any  that  had  interpreted  the  same  or  such  like  thing  in  the 
Scripture  beforetime.  .  .  .  Count  it  as  a  thing  not  having 
his  full  shape,  but  as  it  were  born  before  his  time,  even  as  a 
thing  begun  rather  than  finished.  In  time  to  come  (if  God 
have  appointed  us  thereunto),  we  will  give  it  his  full  shape, 
and  put  out,  if  ought  be  added  superfluously,  and  add  to,  if 
ought  be  overseen  through  negligence,  and  will  enforce  to  bring 
to  compendiousness  that  which  is  now  translated  at  the  length, 
and  to  give  light  where  it  is  required,  and  to  seek  in  certain 
places  more  proper  English,  and  with  a  table  to  expound  the 
words  which  are  not  commonly  used."  .  .  .  No  one,  after  such 
a  clear  statement,  can  doubt  that  the  translation  belongs  to 
him  as  the  one  workman,  or  that  he  first  constructed  the 
pattern  which  so  many  have  followed  both  in  spirit  and  letter. 

But  various  assistants  have  been  assigned  to  Tyndale  in  the 
execution  of  his  great  work.  Strype  hazards  the  baseless 
assertion  that  Tyndale  was  assisted  by  Joye  and  Constantine,2 
and  the  opinion  is  repeated  by  Cooper  that  Constantine 
assisted  Tyndale  and  Joye.3  The  two  Englishmen  described 
by  Cochlreus  as  being  so  busy  at  Cologne,  Walter  concludes 
"  must  have  been  Tyndale  and  Fryth." 4  Froude  asserts 

1  Counterfeit     here     means      to  Ye  brethren   did    counterfaite   the 

imitate,  as  often  in  his  New  Testa-  congregations  of  God,  &c. 

ment,  1st  Cor.    iv,  16,  to  counter-  2  Memorials,  vol.  I,  p.  82. 

feit  me  ;  Eph.  v,  1,  Be  ye  counter-  3  Atheure  Cantab.,  vol.  I,  p.  205. 

feters  of  God  ;  1  Thess.   i,   6,   and  4  Letter  to  Bishop  Marsh,  p.  143. 
ye  counterfaited  us  ;  1  Thess.  ii,  14, 


vin.]  FRIAR  ROYE.  139 

"  that  Joye  joined  Tyndal  at  Antwerp,  and  shared  his  great 
work  with  him."1  But  the  first  New  Testament  was  not 
printed  at  Antwerp,  and  Joye  did  not  leave  England  till  after 
its  publication  ;  for  he  printed  at  "  Straszburge  "  the  reason 
of  his  recent  flight  in  a  small  book  :  "  The  letters  whyche 
Johan  Ashwell,  pryour  of  Newnham  Abbey  besydes  Bedforde, 
sente  secretly  to  the  Byshope  of  Lyncolne,  in  the  yeare  of  our 
Lorde  MDXXVII,  wherein  the  sayde  pryour  accused  George 
Joye,  that  tyine  being  felowe  of  Peter  College  in  Cambridge,  of 
fower  opinyons,  with  the  answere  of  the  sayde  George  unto 
the  same  opiiwons."  Lord  Herbert  also  speaks  carelessly, 
of  "  the  Scriptures  as  having  been  translated  into  English  by 
Tindal,  Joy,  and  others."  2  Holinshed  and  Baker  use  similar 
language  in  their  Chronicles.  Johnston  and  Newcome,  two 
professed  historians  of  the  English  Bible,  give  Fryth  to 
Tyndale  for  his  helper,  and  Fuller  calls  Fryth  the  "  Baruch  to 
this  Jeremy."  This  erroneous  opinion  is  accepted  by  Le  Long, 
Crutwell,  Lewis,  and  Dean  Hook,3  and  by  Offor  and  Dabney 
in  their  formal  biographies  of  the  Translator.  But  Fryth,  who 
had  been  a  student  at  Cambridge,  and  was  brought  by  Wolsey 
to  his  new  college  at  Oxford  as  one  of  its  canons,  did  not 
leave  England  till  long  after  the  New  Testament  was  issued, 
as  he  fled  from  persecution  at  Oxford  in  1528. 

Tyndale,  however,  had  an  assistant,  Friar  Roye,  but  he  was 
only  a  corrector  of  proofs  and  a  collator  of  texts.  His  light  char 
acter  and  his  propensity  to  weave  satirical  verses  were  a  sore 
grievance  to  the  translator,  who  was  burdened  with  the  grave 
responsibility  of  his  work,  and  anxious  not  to  give  any  public 
provocation  which  might  hinder  its  reception  or  blight  its 
usefulness.  His  own  account  of  Roye  is  at  once  stern  and 
amusing,  as  he  gives  it  in  the  "  Preface  to  the  Wicked 
Mammon,"  than  which,  according  to  Sir  Thomas  More,  "  there 
never  was  made  a  more  foolish,  frantic  book" : — "  While  I 
abode4  a  faithful  companion,  which  now  hath  taken  another 

1  History,  vol.  II,  p.  31.  3  Lives  of  the   Archbishops,   vol. 

2  History  of  Heury  VIII,  p.  469     II,  p.  139,  new  series. 

(A.  Murray,  London).  4  Abode — that  is,  waited  for,  as  iii 

Acts,  xx,  23. 


140  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE,  [CHAP. 

voyage  upon  him,  to  preach  Christ  where,  I  suppose,  he  was 
never  yet  preached  (God,  which  put  it  in  his  heart  hither  to 
go,  send  His  Spirit  hither  with  him,  comfort  him,  and  bring 
his  purpose  to  good  effect),  one  William  Roye,  a  man  some 
what  crafty,  when  he  cometh  unto  new  acquaintance,  and 
before  he  be  thorough  known — and  namely,  when  all  is  spent 
— came  unto  me,  and  offered  his  help.  As  long  as  he  had  no 
money  somewhat  I  could  rule  him ;  but  as  soon  as  he  had 
gotten  him  money,  he  became  like  himself  again.  I  suffered 
all  things  till  that  was  ended,  which  I  could  not  do  alone  with 
out  one,  both  to  write  and  to  help  me  to  compare  the  texts 
together.  When  that  was  ended,  I  took  my  leave  and  bade 
him  farewell  for  our  two  lives,  and  (as  men  say)  a  day  longer. 
After  we  were  departed,  he  went  and  gat  him  new  friends  ; 
which  thing  to  do  he  passeth  all  that  ever  I  knew.  And 
there,  when  he  had  stored  him  money,  he  gat  him  to  Argentine, 
where  he  professeth  wonderful  faculties,  and  maketh  boast  of 
no  small  things.  A  year  after  that,  and  now  twelve  months 
before  the  printing  of  this  work,  came  one  Jerome,  a  brother 
of  Greenwich  also.1  Which  Jerome  I  warned  of  Roye's  bold 
ness,  and  exhorted  him  to  beware  of  him,  and  to  walk  quietly 
and  with  all  patience,  and  long-suffering,  according  as  we  have 
Christ  and  his  apostles  for  an  example. 

"  Nevertheless,  when  he  was  come  to  Argentine  (Strasburg), 
William  Roye  (whose  tongue  is  able  not  only  to  make  fools 
stark  mad,  but  also  to  deceive  the  wisest — that  is,  at  the  first 
sight  and  acquaintance)  gat  him  to  him  and  set  him  a- work  to 
make  rhymes,  while  he  himself  translated  a  dialogue  out  of 
Latin  into  English,  in  whose  prologue  he  promiseth  more  a 
great  deal  than  I  fear  me  he  will  ever  pay." 2  Tyndale  was 

1  The   brother  so   referred   to   is  bold   aud    savage   onslaught    made 
unknown.  upon  him,  and  Cochlosus  comes  in 

2  The   allusion   is  to  the  "  proper  also  for  his  share — 
Dyalogue,"  tfcc.,  and  to  the  Satire,  "  One  called  Coclaye, 
"  Eede   me  and    be   nott    wrothe."  A  littell  pratys  foolyshe  poade, 
Wolsey,  "  the  red  man,"  "  the  vile  More  veuemous  than  any  toade." 
butcher's  sonne,"    must  have   been  p.  43,  Arber's  reprint,  1871.    A  copy 
provoked  beyond    measure  by  the  was  found  by  Lord  Arthur  Hervey, 


viii.]  GREEK  TESTAMENT  OF  ERASMUS.  141 

most  anxious  to  free  his  work  from  all  degrading  associations, 
that  it  might  go  forth  in  its  own  unsullied  might  and  grandeur. 
His  unqualified  disclaimer  was  the  more  necessary,  for  Sir 
Thomas  More  was  inclined  at  first  to  impute  the  authorship  of 
the  offensive  verses  to  the  translator. 

Few  helps  in  the  shape  of  grammars  and  lexicons  were 
within  his  reach.  But  some  works  of  the  kind  had  already  ap 
peared,  as  the  Greek  Grammar  of  Lascaris,  at  Milan,  in  1476  ; 
Craston's  Greek  Dictionary,  in  1478 ;  and  his  Grammar,  in  1497. 
The  Dictionarium  Grrecum  from  the  press  of  Aldus,  issued 
in  1497,  and  in  1499  the  Lexicon  of  Suidas  had  been  published 
at  Milan.  Aleander's  Lexicon  Gneco-Latinum  came  out  at 
Paris  in  1512;  and  in  1513  Aldus  had  printed  the  Institu- 
tiones  Grammatical  of  Budreus. 

The  publication  of  the  Greek  New  Testament  by  Erasmus 
formed  a  great  epoch  in  the  history  of  Western  Christendom. 
He  laid  the  literary  world  under  immense  obligations  to  him 
by  his  editions  of  so  many  Greek  and  Latin  classics,  but  his 
New  Testament  was  a  gift  of  incalculable  value  to  the  church. 
He  unsealed  the  Book  of  Life,  and  brought  numerous  readers 
face  to  face  with  the  divine  volume.  Though  he  had  but  few 
manuscripts,  and  was  even  obliged  to  translate  some  verses 
in  the  last  chapter  of  the  Apocalypse  from  the  Latin  text  of 
the  Vulgate,  he  did  a  work  which,  with  al]  its  defects,  brought 
revival  to  true  Biblical  theology,  and  kindled  a  pure  and  living 
flame  which  "  many  waters  cannot  quench,  neither  can  many 
floods  drown."  His  humorous  and  satirical  Tractates,  like 
his  Adages  and  Colloquies,  could  not  of  themselves  have  pro 
duced  the  profound  and  necessary  changes  which  were  essential 
to  a  national  Reformation  in  creed  and  service.  He  may  have 
been  timid,  neutral  and  indifferent  as  regards  the  Lutheran 
Revolution ;  his  theological  writings  may  not  probe  the  depth 
of  man's  spiritual  experience  and  struggles,  and,  unlike  the 
utterances  of  a  man  in  deep  and  earnest  thought  on  the 

Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  in  1862,  An  original  copy  of  the  translation 

bound  up  in  an  old  volume.     It  was  of  the  Dyalogue,  bound  up  with  the 

also  printed  by  AVhittingham,  Chis-  Satire,  has  been  recently  discovered 

wick  Press,  1845,  but  not  published,  in  the  Imperial  Library  of  Vienna. 


142  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 

momentous  issue,  they  may  have  about  them  the  frosty  elegance 
of  a  chill  intellectual  discussion ;  but  any  alleged  shortcomings 
and  inconsistencies  as  a  reformer  cannot  detract  from  his  un 
speakable  merit  as  a  first  editor  of  the  Gospels  and  Epistles  in 
their  original  tongue,  nor  lessen  the  value  of  that  folio  which, 
under  his  care,  issued  from  the  press  of  Eroben  at  Basle  in 
1516. 

As  the  version  so  clearly  demonstrates,  Tyndale  translated 
directly  from  the  Greek  text,  using  the  second  and  the  third  edi 
tions  of  Erasmus,  published  in  1519  and  1522.  He  admitted  the 
famous  passage  in  1  John  v,  7  about  the  "three  witnesses,"  which 
occurs  first  in  the  third  edition  of  Erasmus — the  two  previous 
editions  of  151G  and  1519  omitting  it.  Tyndale  occasionally 
agrees  with  the  second  edition  of  Erasmus  in  preference  to  the 
first,  as  in  Rom.  xii,  11,  where,  like  Luther,  he  has  "applye 
yourselves  to  the  tyme,"  instead  of  "serving  the  Lord,"1  and  so 
in  his  second  edition,  and  in  the  Great  Bible.  It  was  altered 
first  in  the  Genevan  version.  The  fourth  edition  (1527)  he 
does  not  seem  to  have  consulted  at  all.  Erasmus  had  in  his 
second  edition  changed  "ye  kill"  into  "ye  envy"  in  James  iv,  2, 
but  he  corrected  it  in  his  third  edition.  Tyndale,  however,  took 
it  from  the  second  edition,  and  kept  it  without  amendment  in 
his  revised  issue  ;  and,  like  a  vile  weed  which  cannot  be 
uprooted,  it  is  found  in  all  the  subsequent  English  versions, 
in  Coverdale,  Matthew,  the  Great  Bible,  the  Genevan,  and  the 
Bishops',  but  it  was  rightly  changed  in  the  Authorized  Version. 2 
Tyndale  omits  in  his  first  edition,  without  authority,  a  clause 
in  John  xiv,  3,  "  and  if  I  go  and  prepare  a  place  for  you."  No 
reading  adopted  by  Tyndale  betrays  any  acquaintance  with  the 
Complutensian  Polyglott. 

Erasmus  having  wpiy  in  his  first  written  by  a  drowsy  scribe— scriptor 

edition,  but  Katpw  in  his  second.  dormitaus  ;    the  Vulgate,    however, 

2  In  his  first  edition  Erasmus  spoke  having  occiditis. 
of    (/jovei'ere,     "  ye   kill,"    as   being 


CHAPTER   IX. 


"DUT  the  two  points  to  which  attention  may  be  called  are  the 
relation  of  Tyndale's  New  Testament  on  the  one  hand  to  the 
German  Version  of  Luther,  and  its  relation  on  the  other  hand  to 
the  Latin  Vulgate.  It  was  his  duty  to  use  both  helps,  and  he  did 
so.  Yet  though  he  carefully  and  continuously  consulted  them, 
he  was  quite  independent  in  his  treatment  of  them.  In  direct 
contradiction  of  Tyndale's  own  affirmation  that  he  rendered  from 
the  Greek,  and  of  the  palpable  evidence  afforded  by  the  transla 
tion  itself,  it  has  been  asserted  that  he  simply  rendered  Luther's 
Testament  into  English.1  The  story  had  a  natural  origin  in 
these  early  days,  when  every  religious  novelty  was  branded  as 
Lutheran ;  but  it  has  been  often  repeated  since.  Le  Long,  the 
learned  bibliographer,  calls  the  first  edition  "  The  New  Testa 
ment  in  English  from  the  German  of  Martin  Luther."  The 
assertion  is  baseless,  though  between  Luther  and  Tyndale  there 
are  many  points  of  similarity.  The  order  of  the  books  of  the 
New  Testament  which  Tyndale  adopted  is  not  that  of 
Erasmus,  whose  Greek  text  he  translated,  but  that  of  Luther, 
though  he  never  mentions  the  Reformer's  name.  Thus, 

1Luther's  first  intimation  of  his  King  Henry.  There  had  been  earlier 
purpose  to  translate  the  New  Testa-  versions,  but  their  circulation  had 
ment  is  in  a  letter  to  Lange  in  1521,  been  small.  Luther's  translation  at 
and  on  January  of  the  following  once  laid  hold  of  the  people — being 
year  he  wrote  to  Amsdorf,  "  I  will  what  Hegel  calls  it  in  his  Philosophy 
translate  the  Bible,  though  I  have  of  History,  "  a  people's  book,  a  fun- 
undertaken  a  burden  too  great  for  dameutal  work  for  their  instruction." 
my  strength ;  " — "  a  very  necessary  It  was  published  anonymously,  and 
work,"  as  he  calls  it  in  his  reply  to  without  date. 


144  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

too,  the  Epistle  of  James  is  put  next  to  Jude,  and  that  to  the 
Hebrews  next  to  the  Third  Epistle  of  John,  first  by  Luther  and 
then  by  Tyndale.  He  also  follows  Luther  in  making  the  last 
three  verses  of  the  fourth  chapter  of  Hebrews  the  commence 
ment  of  the  fifth  chapter.  Many  of  Tyndale's  notes  in  the 
first  quarto  are,  as  we  have  seen,  translations  more  or  less  free 
of  those  of  Luther.  At  the  close  of  the  long  prologue  to 
Matthew,  he  introduces  Luther's  opinion  on  the  comparative 
value  of  the  writings  of  the  New  Testament ;  but  what  Luther 
says  about  the  Epistle  of  James  is  omitted,  for  he  had  called 
it  "a  downright  strawy  epistle,"  geyen  sie,  "in  contrast  with 
them  " — the  other  epistles.  Luther  had  no  prologues  to  the 
Gospels,  while  Tyndale  has  them,  though  he  gives  none  to  the 
Acts  and  the  Apocalypse.  The  other  prologues  rest  on  Luther's, 
especially  those  to  2  Corinthians,  Galatians,  Ephesians,  Philip - 
pians,  1  and  2  Thessalonians,  2  Timothy,  Titus,  and  the  Epistles 
of  John.  But  the  treatment  of  the  appropriated  matter  is  by 
no  means  slavish.  The  prologue  to  1  Corinthians  omits  many 
allusions  to  passing  events  which  the  German  leader  introduced, 
and  that  to  Philemon  keeps  out  Luther's  allegory,  which  is 
strained  and  unscriptural  in  its  doctrine  ;  for  it  says,  "  Christ 
overcame  the  Father  with  love  and  meekness,"  and  thus  tends 
to  ignore  that  eternal  and  spontaneous  love  in  which  the  Father 
gave  His  Son  as  Redeemer.  The  prologue  to  Hebrews  controverts 
Luther  on  the  apostolic  authority  of  the  Epistle,  and  tries  to 
show  that  his  objections  are  grounded  on  "  misconceptions  of 
the  passages  adduced,"  while  it  leaves  the  authorship  undeter 
mined — "  a  man  may  doubt  of  the  author,  yet  why  should  it 
not  be  authority,  and  taken  for  Holy  Scripture?"  The  prologue 
to  James  is  also  directed  against  Luther,  and  maintains  that 

o 

though  its  canonical  authority  has  been  impugned,  or  "  at  the 
beginning  refused  of  holy  men,"  as  its  purport  was  misunder 
stood,  "  yet,  as  it  is  agreeable  to  all  the  rest  of  Scripture,  why 
should  it  not  be  authority,  and  taken  for  Holy  Scripture  ?"  An 
explanation  is  added  of  the  paragraph  concerning  faith  and 
works.  The  prologue  to  Jude  also  vindicates  its  claim  to  a  place 
in  the  canon,  "  though  it  seems  to  be  drawn  out  of  the  Second 
Epistle  of  Peter,  and  thereto  allegeth  Scripture  nowhere  found," 


ix.]  ALLEGED   GERMANISMS.  145 

and  these  are  Luther's  two  main  objections  to  it.  In  his  pro 
logue  to  Romans,  Tyndale  made  a  scholarly  and  wise  use  of 
Luther's,  both  in  its  German  and  Latin  forms. 

One  peculiar! ty  of  Tyndale's  Old  English  is  sometimes  adduced 
to  show  how  dependent  he  was  on  Luther.  The  peculiarity  so 
taken  hold  of  is  the  position,  after  the  verb,  of  the  personal 
pronoun  as  a  nominative,  Matthew  xiii,  13,  Therefore  speak  I : 
Luke  ii,  29,  Now  lettest  thou ;  similarly  in  1  Corinthians  vii, 
12,  To  the  remnaunt  speake  I ;  17,  So  orden  I ;  ix,  22,  Be 
came  I  as  weake ;  1  John  i,  3,  Declare  we  unto  you ;  and  it 
is  to  be  marked  that  the  idiom  is  still  retained  from  Tyndale  in 
all  these  places  in  the  Authorized  Version.  Bishop  Marsh,  in 
trying  to  prove  that  "  Tyndale's  translation  was  taken  at  least 
in  part  from  Luther's"  lays  undue  stress  on  these  examples  of 
what  he  calls  "  Germanisms,"  or  direct  imitations  of  German 
diction.1  But  this  order  is  common  in  all  the  old  English  writers 
of  that  age — in  Sir  Thomas  More,  and  often  in  Tyndale's 
own  prose.  Besides,  there  are  many  places  in  which  Tyn 
dale  has  the  idiom  where  Luther  has  it  not ;  as  in  1  Cor. 
ix,  26;  xii,  31  ;  2  Cor.  vii,  13;  xi,  24;  1  Thess.  ii,  13  ;  Heb. 
v,  8 ;  James  i,  18.  The  old  form  in  all  these  seven  verses  is 
still  preserved  in  the  Authorized  Version,  and  is  opposed  to  the 
rendering  of  Luther  who  in  them  places  the  nominative  before 
the  verb.  Tyndale  has  another  singularity,  for  he  sometimes 
omits  the  nominative  of  the  first  person  altogether,  as  in  Gala- 
tians  i,  10,  seke  nowe,  for  seek  I  now;  and  in  2  Cor.  xii,  10, 
there  is  the  same  absence  of  the  pronoun,  "have  delectation," 
"  I  "  being  left  out. 

But  while  Tyndale  did  not  merely  "  do  into  English  "  the 
German  of  Luther,  he  always  translated  with  Luther's  version 
before  him,  and  many  phrases  are  shaped  or  suggested  by  it. 
While  such  renderings  as  "  Goddes  love  "  (Romans  viii,  35),  "  lest 
ye  fall  into  hypocrisy  "  (James  v,  12),2  "  the  worlde  knoweth  you 

1  Lectures  on  the  Criticism  and  VTTU  Kpi<riv.     The  wrong  rendering  is 
Interpretation  of  the  Bible,  p.  518,  found    also     in     Tyndale's    second 
London,  1838.  edition,  of  course  in  Coverdale,  and 

2  Stephens  had  inserted  et's  before  in  the  great  Bible  ;  but  it  was  cor- 
VfoKpurtv}   the  true  reading  being  rected  in  the  Genevan  and  in   the 

VOL.    I.  K 


146  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

nott "  (1  John  iii,  1),  are  in  Luther,  they  are  also  the  correct 
translation  by  Tyndale  of  the  Greek  text  of  Erasmus.  Tyn- 
dale's  rendering  "toward  our  Lord  Jesus"  (Acts  xx,  21),  is 
also  according  to  Erasmus,  a  reading  which  Luther  did  not 
adopt,  as  he  preferred  the  Vulgate.  The  following  are  examples 
of  the  influence  of  Luther  on  Tyndale's  version : 

Matthew  i,  1,  this  is  the  boke;  Matthew  ii,  18,  on  the 
hilles  was  a  voyce  herde ;  Matthew  xviii,  19,  the  word 
•'  Jesus "  is  omitted ;  Matthew  xxi,  43,  shalbe  geven  to  the 
gentyles ;  John  xix,  17,  the  place  off  deed  menns  sculles ; 
Acts  xxviii,  2,  the  people  off  the  countre  ;  but  in  translating 
the  term  in  1  Cor.  xiv,  11,  Tyndale  forsook  Luther's  tamer 
rendering,  and  accepts  "  alient,"  and  "  barbarous "  in  Colos- 
sians  iii,  11  ;  Acts  xxviii,  16,  under  captayne,  chefe  captayne 
Romans  i,  14,  to  the  grekes,  and  to  them  which  are  no 
grekes ;  Romans  ii,  5,  harde  herte  that  cannot  repent ; 
Romans  xi,  13,  I  will  magnify  myn  office,  where  the  Vulgate 
agrees  with  Luther;  1  Cor.  i,  25,  Godly  folysshnes,  11,14, 
the  natural  man;  2  Cor.  v,  11,  we  fare  fayre  with  men; 
2  Cor.  vi,  12,  ye  vexe  youre  selves  off  a  true  meanynge;  Eph. 
iii,  15,  which  is  father  over  all  thatt  ys  called  father  in  heven 
and  in  erth  ;  Colossians  iii,  16,  and  spretuall  songes  which 
have  favour  with  them  ;  1  Tim.  i,  7,  doctours  in  the  scripture ; 
Rev.  xi,  2,  the  quyre  which  is  within  the  temple ;  Rev.  xxii, 
14,  their  power  may  be  in  the  tree  off  lyfe. 

But  while  the  assertion  that  Tyndale  only  turns  Luther  into 
English  is  utterly  erroneous,  it  has  been  alleged,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  he  translated  at  once  and  solely  from  the  Vulgate, 
and  not  from  the  Greek  text.  Thus,  Hallam  states  in  a 
colourless  note  :  "  It  has  been  a  matter  of  dispute  whether  it 
(the  New  Testament)  were  made  from  the  original  language  or 
from  the  Vulgate."  l  Macknio-ht,  however,  affirms  without 

O  O  '  * 

hesitation  that  Tyndale  translated  from  the  Vulgate,  and  that, 
as  the  subsequent  English  editions  are  but  revisions  of  his 
work,  our  Authorized  Version  rests  in  this  way  ultimately  on 

Eheiins,  which  could  not  avoid  the         1  Constitutional  History  of  Eng- 
accurate   rendering   of    ut   non   sub     land,  vol.  I,  p.  83,  note. 
judicio  dccidatis. 


ix.]  TYNDALE'S  USE  OF  THE  VULGATE.  14,7 

the  Latin  Bible.  He  cites  Hollybushe's  version,  and  wholly 
mistakes  Coverdale's  connection  with  it,  his  statement  being 
"  the  version  which  Coverdale  allowed  Hollybushe  to  print,  was 
the  one  which  he  had  published  in  his  Bible ;  consequently,  it 
was  Tyndale's  translation."  The  assertion  consists  of  an  inex 
cusable  series  of  blunders.  Coverdale,  in  1538,  had  published, 
for  reasons  assigned  by  him,  the  Latin  New  Testament,  with 
a  literal  English  translation  of  it  on  the  same  page  ;  and  Mac- 
knight,  in  speaking  of  it,  falls  into  some  extraordinary  errors.1 
He  blunders  first,  in  taking  this  professed  English  version  of  the 
Vulgate,  made  for  a  purpose,  to  be  the  New  Testament  which 
Coverdale  had  already  published  in  his  Bible  ;  but  the  Scottish 
critic  had  never  handled  the  volumes,  or  even  looked  into  them, 
for  a  few  moments'  collation  must  have  convinced  him  that  the 
version  in  the  Diglott  is  not  that  of  the  earlier  Bible.  A  cur 
sory  glance  at  both  the  versions  would  have  flashed  the  reality 
upon  him,  and  taught  him  that  only  in  supreme  carelessness 
could  any  one  identify,  for  a  moment,  Coverdale's  translation 
of  the  Vulgate  with  his  earlier  New  Testament.  By  a  second 
blunder,  he  leaps  to  the  conclusion  that  the  New  Testa 
ment  of  Coverdale's  Bible  is  Tyndale's  translation ;  for  though 
it  does  base  itself  on  Tyndale's  revised  edition  of  1534-,  it 
is  yet  a  distinct  version.  The  same  grievous  error  has  been 
repeated  more  recently  in  a  Serial  of  some  pretensions:  "We 
have  only  to  add  that  the  real  origin  of  what  is  commonly 
called  the  '  Authorized '  English  version,  explains  in  a  moment 
the  cause  of  so  many  defects.  It  is  primarily  and  essentially 
the  translation  of  a  translation.  Wycliffe,  who  first  rendered 
the  Scriptures  into  English,  was  unacquainted  with  Greek  or 
Hebrew,  and  translated  from  the  Latin  Vulgate,  so  that  his 
work  bore  more  of  its  imperfections  and  errors,  as  well  as  those 
of  his  own  judgment  in  the  execution  of  his  work.  Succeeding 
versions  (such  as  those  of  Tyndale,  Coverdale,  Matthews, 
Hollybusche,  Cranmer,  Taverner,  the  Geneva,  the  Bishops',  and, 
lastly,  that  of  the  translators  nominated  by  King  James  in 
1604-11)  were  only  superficial  attempts  to  revise  the  original 
work  of  Wycliffe,  instead  of  beginning  at  the  beginning, 
1  A  new  Literal  Translation  of  the  Epistles,  &c.,  London,  1821. 


148  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

with  the  original  Hebrew  and  Greek  texts."  l  It  is  aston 
ishing  and  sad  to  find  such  singular  charges  made  at 
the  present  day.  Not  to  speak  of  the  subsequent  versions  at 
this  point,  it  may  be  replied  that  he  is  surely  a  bold  man 
who  thus  ventures  to  give  the  lie  to  William  Tyndale,  for  he 
.affirms  that  he  translated  from  the  Greek  text  without  the 
assistance  of  any  predecessor,  and  his  work  bears  out  his 
veracity.  Let  any  one  compare  it  with  Wycliffe's  version  or 
the  Rheims  version,  both  taken  from  the  Latin,  and  he  will 
soon  see  the  entire  and  scholarly  independence  of  Tyndale. 
There  needs  no  other  proof.  Similar  perverse  statements  are 
adopted  by  Granville  Penn,  who  boldly  throws  out  the  crude 
opinion  that  "in  152G,  Tyndale  published  his  revision  of  the 
English  or  Wycliffe  New  Testament  at  Antwerp  or  Hamburg."  - 
The  book  was  printed  certainly  at  neither  of  these  places. 
The  proofs  of  Latin  influence  and  origin  adduced  by  him  are 
the  words  Testament,  sacrament,  altar,  sacrifice,  Calvary,  Diana, 
Mercury,  and  masters  for  teachers;  but  the  introduction  of  some 
of  these  proper  names  is  easily  explained  from  the  long  use 
of  the  Vulgate  in  the  Western  Church.  He  also  instances 
""  virtue  "  in  Mark  v,  30,  Luke  vi,  19,  viii,  46,  as  taken  from 
Wycliffe.  Wycliffe  certainly  in  those  places  used  "  virtue  "  in 
no  moral  sense,  but  as  meaning  a  secret  healing  power ;  but  the 
word  is  found  with  that  signification  in  old  writers,  and  the 
phrase  in  all  parts  of  the  country  is  still  in  use,  as  in  the 
common  question,  "  Is  there  any  virtue  in  that  drug  ?  "  Not 
only  was  the  Latin  term  naturalized  at  a  very  early  period,  as 
denoting  valour,  but  the  adjective  also  as  meaning  salutiferous, 
as  in  Shakespeare,  "Whose  liquor  hath  this  virtuous  property;"3 
"Like  the  bee  culling  from  every  flower  the  virtuous  sweets."  4 
Another  example  brought  forward  by  him  is  the  clause 
"  dispersed  among  the  Gentiles,"  John  vii,  35,  where  it  is  said 
Gentiles  comes  from  the  Latin  gentium.  But  what,  then,  shall 
be  said  of  such  places  as  Romans,  ii,  9  and  10,  where  Tyndale 

1  Biblical    Notes   and  Queries,  p.  3  Midsummer  Night's  Dream,  act 
195.     Edinburgh,  1871.  iii,  scene  2. 

2  Annotations  on  the  Book  of  the  4  King  Henry   IV,   second   part, 
New  Covenant,  p.  6,  London,  1837.  act  iv,  scene  4. 


ix.]  DEFECTS  OF  THE  VERSION.  149 

has   "  Gentile "   though   the   Vulgate    has    "  Greek "   in   both 
]>laces  ? 

To  show  Tyndale's  untrammelled  use  and  treatment  of  the 
Vulgate,  let  us  take  some  places  where  there  are  peculiar 
readings.  Luke  ii,  14,  in  the  Vulgate,  "  men  of  goodwill,"  but 
Tyndale  has,  "and  unto  men  rejoicing,"  the  common  Greek 
reading ;  Mark  xi,  26,  and  the  clause  Luke  xvii,  36,  "  Two 
men  shall  be  in  the  field,"  are  both  omitted  by  Tyndale, 
though  they  are  found  in  the  Vulgate.  The  Vulgate  has  a 
clause  in  Luke  xvi,  21,  rendered  by  the  Rheims  translators, 
"  and  no  man  did  give  him," 1  but  Tyndale  ignores  it,  though 
Wycliffe  accepted  it.  In  Matt,  vi,  1  the  Vulgate  has  jus- 
titia/m,  "  righteousness,"  but  Tyndale  has  "  alms,"  and  in  vi, 
11,  the  Latin  has  supersubstantialem,  but  Tyndale  gives 
"  our  daily  bread."  Like  the  Vulgate,  he  omits  the  doxology 
to  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  the  Complutensian  Polyglott  also 
omits  it;  but  he  inserted  it  in  his  revised  edition  of  1534, 
In  Luke  ii,  18,  the  Vulgate  has  "and  concerning  these 
things," 2  but  Tyndale  follows  the  Greek  text,  "  wondered 
at  those  things."  In  Matt,  xviii,  8,  Tyndale  follows  the 
Vulgate,  and  translates  "cut  him  off";  but  the  singular  is 
also  the  reading  of  Erasmus.3  In  the  same  chapter,  verse  29, 
"  at  his  feet  "  is  wanting  in  Tyndale,  and  the  corresponding 
Latin  phrase  is  not  found  in  the  Vulgate  ;  but  the  Greek  is  also 
wanting  in  Erasmus  of  1522,  from  which  Tyndale  usually  trans 
lated.  In  Matthew  xix,  20,  "  from  my  youth,"  was  accepted  by 
Tyndale  as  it  was  adopted  by  Erasmus.  In  Matt,  xxiii,  1, 
"  Rabbi"  the  second  time  is  rejected  by  the  Vulgate  and  by  Tyn 
dale,  but  it  is  not  found  in  Erasmus.  In  Matt,  xxv,  2,  the  epithet 
"  foolish  "  stands  in  the  first  clause  and  "  wise  "  in  the  second, 
as  in  the  Vulgate,  but  the  same  order  is  also  in  the  text  of 
Erasmus.  In  Acts  ii,  30,  the  words  "  according  to  the  flesh 
— Christ,"  of  the  Received  Text  are  omitted,  as  in  the  Vulgate ; 
but  they  are  also  absent  in  Erasmus,  and  the  omission  is 
correct.  In  such  cases  as  these  it  cannot  be  asserted  that  Tyn- 

1  Et  nemo  illi  dabat.  sion  represents   avrd   in  Beza  and 

-  Et  de  his.  Stephens. 

3  "  Them  "  of  the  Authorized  Ver- 


150  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

dale  followed  the  Vulgate,  as  his  version  corresponds  to  the 
reading  of  the  Greek  text  of  Erasmus.  In  Acts  vii,  60,  Tyndale 
does  not  accept  "  in  domino  "  of  the  Vulgate,  but  gives  simply, 
as  in  the  Greek,  "  he  fell  a  slepe."  He  has  not  followed  sacra- 
mentum  (Eph.  v,  32),  for  he  renders  "  this  is  a  grete  secrete." 
"  Malefactours,"  (Luke  xxiii,  39)  is  from  the  Greek,  the  Latin 
having  "thieves.'''  l^Tim.  iii,  16,  the  Vulgate  has  quod,  "which," 
but  Tyndale  has  "  God."  Though  he  occasionally  refuses  the 
Vulgate,  still  he  often  prefers  it,  as  in  Matthew  xxiv, 
1,  where  pestilence  is  placed  before  hunger,  that  order 
not  being  found  in  Erasmus  or  in  any  early  Greek 
edition.1  If  he  has  accepted  the  Vulgate  in  the  rendering 
"blindness  "  in  Eph.  iv,  18,  he  had  not  taken  it  in  John  x,  16, 
for  he  translates  not  "  one  folde,"  2  but  "  one  flocke."  Fold 
came  in  with  the  great  Bible  in  1539,  the  Bishops'  kept  it,  and 
even  both  Genevan  versions  have  "shepefolde."  In  Jude  12, 
"spots,"  instead  of  the  proper  rendering  "rocks,"  is  from  the 
Vulgate,  and  Tyndale  was  followed  by  all  his  successors. 
"  Jesus  "  is  omitted  in  Matt,  i,  18,  after  the  Vulgate  ;  but  it  is 
inserted  in  the  edition  of  1534. 

But,  while  Tyndale  does  not  implicitly  follow  the  Vulgate,  it 
suggested  many  renderings  to  him,  and  was  continually  before 
nim : — 

Matt,  iv,  5,  pinnacle  of  the  temple ;  Mark  v,  34,  be  whole 
off  thy  plage,  as  also  in  Rev.  xxii,  18  ;3  Mark  xii,  44,  they 
all  putt  in  of  their  supernuite ;  Luke  ii,  13,  a  multitude 
of  hevenly  sowdiers ;  ix,  62,  and  loketh  back  is  apte  to  the 
kyngdom  of  god ;  xi,  13,  Howe  moche  more  shall  your  father 
celestiall  geve  a  good  sprete ;  xii,  20,  this  night  will  they  fetch 
awaye  thy  soul  again  from  thee — the  Greek  verb  being  plural, 
and  "  again  "  suggested  by  "  repetunt "  ;  45,  my  master  wyll 
differe  his  commynge ;  xvi,  22,  23,  buried  in  hell ;  xxiii,  39, 

1  "  Pestilentite  "  is  not  found  in  2  The  Vulgate  has  "  ovile,"  but  the 
the  old  Latin  of  the  Codex  Pala-  old  Latin  has"  grex,"  the  Greek  being- 
tin^,  nor  in  the  Latin  of  the  Codex  Trot'/iv^ — Luther  having  rightly  "eine 
Beza.  Critical  editions  now  reject  Heerde  und  ein  Hirte." 
it  also  from  the  Greek  on  good  :i  But  the  Greek  itself  has  here 
authority.  -Aryyas  iu  this  place. 


ix.]  OCCASIONALLY  PARAPHRASTIC. 

the  one  of  the  malefactoures  which  hanged  ray  led  on  hym, 
"  malefactors/'  being  rendered  "  evil-doers  "  in  a  previous  verse  : 
John  i,  5,  comprehened ;  ix,  22,  for  the  iewes  had  conspyred  a 
allredy ;  xii,  26,  Yf  eny  man  mynistre  vnto  me ;  xiv, 
2,  In  my  father's  house  are  many  mansions ;  xviii,  38,  I 
fynde  in  him  no  cause  at  all ;  Acts  viii,  2,  dressed  Steven : 
Rom.  ii,  9,  tribulation  and  anguish ;  vii,  8,  wrought  in  me. 
....  concupiscence ;  1  Cor.  xii,  23,  which  we  think  least  honest, 
honest  in  the  Latin  sense  of  honourable;  Galatians  ii,  11. 
was  worthy  to  be  blamed ;  iii,  10,  are  vnder  malediccion, 
but  in  verse  13  the  noun  is  rendered  curse  ;  Eph.  vi,  14,  gyrcl 
about  with  veritie ;  Coloss.  i,  13,  translated ;  2  Thess.  iii,  6, 
every  brother  that  walketh  inordinately ;  1  Tim.  vi,  17,  that 
they  be  not  exceedynge  wys ;  Hebrews  ii,  1,  lest  we  be 
spilt ;  iii,  14,  so  that  we  kepe  sure  vnto  the  end  the  begynninge 
of  the  substance  ;  vii,  24,  hath  an  everlasting  presthood  ;  ix,  21, 
all  the  ministrynge  vessels ;  xii,  1,  let  us  run  unto  the  battayle 
that  is  set  before  us  ;  followed  in  Coverdale,  the  great  Bible, 
and  the  Bishops'.  The  earlier  editions  of  the  Authorized 
Version  have  "  unto  the  race  "  ;  the  present  reading,  "  run  the 
race,"  appeared  first  in  the  Genevan.1  1  Peter  ii,  1,  the 
Vulgate  is  followed  closely ;  Rev.  xviii,  14,  and  the  apples 
that  thy  soil  lusted  after ;  xxii,  2,  was  there  the  wode  of  lyfe. 
Though  Erasmus  adopted  in  Rev.  xii,  1,  the  reading  "  burning  '"• 
in  their  forehead,  in  the  first,  second,  and  third  editions, 
Tyndale  did  not  adopt  it,  but  chose  the  Vulgate.3 

One  characteristic  defect  of  the  version  is  its  continuous 
omission  of  the  connecting  Greek  particles.  The  Se  is  very 
often  neglected,  and  even  yap  and  KCU  are  also  frequently  passed 
over.  Thus  <5e  is  omitted  throughout  the  genealogy  in  the  first 
chapter  of  Matthew,  ovv  is  omitted  in  verse  17,  yap  in  verse  18, 
and  8e  in  verses  20,  21,  22,  23.  In  the  second  chapter  yap  is 
neglected  in  verse  2,  and  of  the  omission  of  Se  it  supplies 
similar  examples.  Se  is  omitted  five  times  in  Matthew  iii,  verse 
3,  in  4  twice,  and  in  10,  15  ;  ydp  is  omitted  in  verse  2  and  3  : 

1  Beza  "  stadium  decurranms."      -  Kcuo/^vor.     3  Scriptum. 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE,  [CHAP. 

has  no  place  in  verse  11.  Indeed  every  chapter  of  the  New 
Testament  is  marked  by  this  uniform  neglect. 

Occasionally  in  the  version,  as  might  be  expected  in  such  an 
adventurous  and  untried  attempt,  there  are  incorrect  renderings. 
The  following  are  samples  : — 

Matthew  i,  18,  hys  mother  Mary  was  maryed  to  Joseph ;  ID, 
Joseph  being  a  perfect  man;  ii,  12,  in  their  slepe,  and  also  in 
22  j1  21,  sought  the  chyldes  deeth ;  xiii,  8,  some  fifty-fold;  19, 
the  evyll  man ;  xix,  28,  in  the  second  generacion ;  xxi,  43, 
geven  to  the  gentyles. 

Mark  iv,  8,  forty-fold ;  21,  under  a  busshel,  or  vnder  the 
borde. 

Luke  i,  3,  the  goode  Theophilus. 

John  i,  1,  God  was  that  worde  ;  v,  2,  by  the  slaughter  housse 
a  pole. 

Acts  xiii,  42,  bitwene  the  saboth  dayes;  xvii,  18,  a  tydynges 
brynger  off  newe  devyls;  xix,  37,  robbers  off  churches  ;  xx,  21, 
faith  tawarde  our  lorde  Jesu  ;  xxvii,  9,  alsoo  that  we  had  over- 
longe  fasted ;  xxviii,  28,  consolacioun  of  God. 

Romans  xii,  19,  give  roume  unto  the  wrath  of  God. 

1  Corinthians  xiv,  29,  two  atonce,  or  thre  atonce. 

Galatians  iv,  5,  we  thorowe  eleccion;  9,  the  weake  and 
bedgarly  cerimones ;  25,  and  bordreth  apon  the  citie ;  v,  5, 
iustified  by  the  sprete  which  commeth  of  fayth. 

Ephesians  i,  4,  chosen  us  in  him  throwe  love;  iv,  18,  blindness 
of  their  hertes  (after  Luther  and  the  Vulgate);  v,  19,  spirituall 
songes  which  have  favour  with  them. 

Philippians  ii,  8,  was  found  in  his  aparell  as  a  man ;  iii,  2, 
Beware  of  dissencion — "the  concision." 

Colossians  ii,  18,  in  the  humbleness  of  angels;  among  the 
•'  errours  "  at  the  end  of  the  volume  it  is  said,  "  rede  humblenes 
and  holynes  of  angels " ;  23,  chosen  holynes  and  humblenes 
(Luther  misunderstood). 

1  Thessalonians  v,  22,  abstayne  from  all  suspicious  thynge. 

2  Thessalonians  i,  10,  beleved  even  the  same  day  that  we 
preched  it. 

1  Timothy  iii,   2,  honestly  aparelled;    6,  "a   yonge   man,' 
1  Tyndule  omits  iii  somnis,  v.  1 9. 


ix.]  QUAINT  AND  HOMELY  RENDERINGS  153 

instead   of  "  a   novice ; "   v,    4,   to   ruele   their    owne   houses 
godly. 

2  Timothy  iv,  1,  at  his  appearing  in  his  kingdom — different 
both  from  Luther  and  the  Vulgate. 

Titus  ii,  3,  that  they  be  in  soche  rayrnent  as  be  commeth 
holynes. 

1  John  v,  21,  Babes  kepe  yourselves  from  ymages. 

Hebrews  vi,  11,  the  encreace  of  the  fayth  ;  vii,  20,  And  for 
this  cause  itt  is  a  better  hope,  that  it  was  not  promysed  without 
an  othe ;  vii,  24,  an  everlastynge  presthode ;  ix,  1,  iustifynges 
and  servynges  off  God  and  worldly  holynes  ;  xi,  3,  That  by  the 
means  of  thynges  whych  apeare,  thynges  whych  are  invisyble 
myghte  be  knowen ;  xii,  7,  God  offereth  him  selfe  unto  you  as 
unto  sonnes ;  xii,  11,  no  manner  learnynge  seemeth  to  be 
ioyeous. 

James  i,  27,  visit  the  frendlesse  ;  iii,  7,  are  meked  and  tamed. 

Revelation  vi,  8,  beholde  a  grene  horse ;  vii,  14,  made  their 
garmentes  large  and  made  them  whyte ;  xii,  G,  M  and  xxvj  is 
evidently  a  misprint,  and  the  number  is  given  correctly  in 
xi,  3.  In  Rev.  iv,  6,  &c.,  there  was  admitted  the  unfortunate 
"  bestes  "  which  has  survived  through  all  revisions. 

Tyndale,  ever  anxious  to  give  the  sense,  did  not  scruple  to 
fill  up  what  he  regarded  as  an  ellipse  ;  and  he  has  paraphrases 
which,  as  they  interpret  rather  than  translate,  weaken  the 
sense  and  blunt  the  incisiveness  of  his  style.  Interpolations 
are  sometimes  introduced. 

Matthew  iii,  8,  belongynge  to  repentaunce ;  vii,  6,  and  the 
other  turn  again ;  viii,  4,  commaunded  to  be  offred ;  26,  en- 
dewed  with  lytell  faithe;  xii,  20,  flaxe  that  begynneth  to 
burne ;  46,  stode  without  the  dores ;  xxiii,  15,  to  brynge  one 
in  to  your  belefe,  (to  make  one  proselyte). 

Mark  i,  24,  that  holy  man  promysed  of  god  ;  xii,  36,  David 
hym  silfe  inspyred  with  the  holy  goost  sayd. 

Luke  xv,  2,  He  receaveth  to  his  company  synners ;  xxiv,  47, 
the  begynnynge  must  be  at  Jerusalem. 

John  i,  14,  And  that  worde  was  made  flesshe ;  iii,  5,  boren  of 
water  and  of  the  sprete  (the  preposition  not  being  repeated, 
and  there  being  no  article  to  either  noun)  ;  xix,  14,  Hitt  was 


154  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

the  saboth  even  which  falleth  in  the  ester  fest ;  ix,  3,  nor  yet 
his  father  and  mother. 

Acts  vii,  60,  For  they  wote  not  what  they  do ;  viii,  27,  a 
man  of  etheopia  which  was  gelded  ;  ix,  28,  had  his  conversa- 
cion  with  them  att  Jerusalem ;  x,  1,  a  captaine  of  the 
soudyers  of  Ytaly ;  14,  God  forbyd,  lorde ;  18,  And  he 
called  out  won,  and  axed  whether  Simon,  which  was 
also  called  Peter,  were  lodged  there ;  xvi,  16,  her  master  and 
mastres  (and  so  in  the  second  edition,  in  Coverdale,  and  in  the 
Great  Bible — the  correction  being  made  in  the  Genevan) ;  xvii, 
11,  these  were  the  noblest  among  them  off  Thessalonia;  in  the 
Great  Bible,  "noblest  of  birth." 

Romans  i,  4,  sence  the  tyme  that  Jesus  Christ  oure  Lorde 
rose  againe  ;  ii,  18,  and  hast  experience  of  good  and  bad  ;  v,  5, 
be  cause  the  love  that  God  hath  vnto  us  is  sheed ;  vi,  19,  I 
wyll  speake  grossly ;  vii,  6,  in  an  newe  conversacion  of  the 
sprete ;  viii,  23,  and  loke  for  the  deliveraunce  of  oure  bodies  ; 
26,  gronynges  which  cannot  be  expressed  with  tonge ;  x,  3, 
riglitwesnes  which  is  of  value  before  God  ;  xii,  11,  let  not  that 
busynes  which  ye  have  in  honde  be  tedious  to  you ;  xiii,  11, 
I  mean  the  season  how  that  it  is  tyme ;  xiv,  1,  nott  in  dis- 
putynge  and  troublynge  his  conscience  ;  xiv,  20,  Destroye  not 
the  work  off  God  for  a  lytell  meates  sake. 

1  Corinthians  i,  12,  I  holde  of  Paul. 

2  Corinthians  v,  21,  thatt  we  by  his  meanes  shoulde  be  that 
rightwesnes  which   before  God   is  alowed ;  xii,   7,  there  was 
geven  unto  me  of  God  vnquyetnes  of  the  flesshe. 

Ephesians  i,  17,  and  open  to  you  the  knowledge  of  hym 
silfe  ;  iv,  12,  that  the  sainctes  might  have  all  thynges  necessary 
to  work  and  minister  with  all. 

1  Thessalonians  ii,  10,  that  noman  coulde  blame  us ;  2  Thess. 
ii,  14,  "  the  glory  that  eommeth  of  oure  Lorde  Jesu  Christ." 

1  Timothy  vi,  5,  superfluous  disputynges  in  scolus  (schools) ; 
6,  Godlines  is  great  ryches,  yf  a  man  be  content  with  that  he 
hath. 

Titus  i,  7,  a  bisshoppe  must  be  soche  as  no  man  can 
complayne  on  ;  iii,  14,  goode  workes  as  farforth  as  nede 
recjuyreth. 


ix.]  MACKNIGHTS  BLUNDERS.  155 

1  John  iv,  1,  whether  they  be  of  God  or  no. 

1  Peter  i,   13,  the  grace  that  is  brought  vnto  you  in  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  opened;  iv,  11,  Yf  eny  man  speake  let  him 
talke  as  thoughe  he  speake  the  wordes  of  God. 

2  Peter  ii,  16,  The  tame  and  dom  beast. 

Hebrews  vi,  1,  the  doctryne  pertaynynge  to  the  begynnynge 
of  a  Christen  man ;  xi,  19,  as  an  ensample  of  the  resurrection  ; 
xi,  31,  receaved  the  spyes  to  lodgynge  peasably;  xii,  16,  solde 
his  right  that  belonged  unto  him  in  that  he  was  the  eldest 
brother. 

James  i,  17,  with  whom  is  no  variablenes,  nether  is  he 
chaunged  vnto  darknes  ;  v,  17,  Helias  was  a  man  in  daunger  to 
tribulacion,  as  we  are  (in  the  edition  of  1534,  "mortal  even  as 
we  are") ;  "  under  infirmities  as  we  are,"  Great  Bible. 

Revelation  xvii,  3,  I  sawe  a  woman  sytt  apon  a  rose  colored 
best. 

Tyndale  has  sometimes  a  peculiar  homeliness,  as  when  he 
uses  familiar  terms,  and  especially  those  of  the  English 
Kalendar,  or  of  ecclesiastical  nomenclature. 

Matthew  xxvi,  2,  ye  knowe  that  after  two  dayes  shalbe 
ester ;  30,  And  when  they  had  sayd  grace  ;  xxvii,  62,  the  next 
daye  that  foloweth  good  frydaye. 

1  Corinthians  xvi,  8,  I  will  tarry  att  Ephesus  vntill  Witson- 
tyde. 

Revelation  i,  10, 1  was  in  the  sprete  on  a  sondaye. 

This  translation  of  Matthew  xxvii,  41,  "  Likewise  also  the 
prelates  mocking  him,"  looks  like  a  side-glance  at  home,  but 
was  changed  in  his  next  revised  edition.  Acts  xiii,  15,  after 
the  lecture  (reading  of  the  law),  ...  if  ye  have  eny  sermone 
to  exhort  the  people,  say  on ;  Acts  xiv,  13,  "  brought  oxen 
and  garlondes  vnto  the  churche  porche  "  ;  1  Peter  v,  3,  lordes 
over  the  parisshes. 

There  occur  other  quaint  terms.  Acts  xvi,  35,  the  officers 
sent  the  ministers  sayinge,  lett  theose  men  goo ;  xvii,  34, 
Dionisius  a  senatour;  Hebrews  xii,  16,  which  for  one  breakfast 
solde  his  right ;  1  Timothy  iii,  16,  without  nay  great  is  that 
mystery  of  godliness ;  Mark  xii,  2,  he  sent  to  the  tennauntes  a 
servaunt ;  Luke  xx,  9,  lett  it  forth  to  fermers ;  Luke  vi,  29, 


15G  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

him  that  taketh  awaye  thy  goune  ;  1  Peter  i,  5,  unto  helth, 
which  health  is  prepared ;  Luke  xvi,  G,  Take  thy  bill.1 

But  there  are  also  remarkably  good  renderings  which  have 
not  been  preserved. 

Matt,  xiii,  ]  9,  20,  22,  he  that  was  sown. 

Mark  i,  19,  dressynge  their  nettes;  ii,  22,  olde  vesselles ;  vi, 
14,  therfore  myracles  worke  in  hym. 

Luke  ii,  52,  increased  in  wisdom  and  age ;  vii,  28,  lesse  in  the 
kyngdom  of  God;  xvi,  21,  to  be  refresshed  with  the  cronies  ;  xxii, 
44,  droppes  of  blood  tricklynge  doune  to  the  grounde. 

John  ii,  3,  when  the  wyne  fayled ;  iii,  3,  except  that  a  man 
be  boren  a  newe  ;  viii,  4,  even  as  the  dede  was  a  doing. 

Acts  ii,  23,  by  the  hondes  of  vnrightewes  persones. 

1  Thessalonians  iv,  14,  them  also  which  slepe  by  Jesus,  and  so 
in  Coverdale — "  in  Jesus  "  being  introduced  by  the  Genevan. 

2  Thessalonians  ii,  8,  shalle  destroye  with  the  aparence  of 
his  commynge. 

1  Timothy  ii,  8,  I  will  therefore  that  the  men  praye,  the 
article  being  wrongly  dropped  in  Coverdale,  and  in  the 
Authorized  Version  —  "the  men,"  in  contrast  with  "the 
women." 

Hebrews  xi,  13,  the  promises  .  .  .  and  saluted  them — "em 
braced  them"  in  the  Authorized  Version. 

Many  of  Tyndale's  translations  are  very  happy,  and  even 
where  they  are  not  exact  they  are  specimens  of  pithy,  idiomatic 
English.  Indeed,  the  whole  version  is  perspicuous  and  easily 
understood,  few  of  its  words  are  obsolete  or  uncommon — not 
more  perhaps  than  ten  in  every  hundred  verses ;  probably  in 
all  considerably  under  four  hundred.  Many  of  his  words  and 
phrases  have  been  preserved,  but  many  have  been  toned  down, 
the  rich  colouring  having  been  bleached  out  of  them,  and  others 
have  passed  away  in  the  subsequent  revisions. 

Matthew  iv,  10,  avoyd  Satan ;  24,  divers  diseases  and 
gripinges;  vi,  7,  bable  not  moche;  viii,  18,  to  go  over  the  water; 

1Wycliffe  in  verse  6  has  "  obliga-  verse  7,  also  after  the  Vulgate.  The 
cioun "  in  the  first  version,  but  Eheims  version  follows  Tyndale, 
"  caucion "  in  the  second  after  the  while  the  Genevan  employs  "  writ- 
Vulgate  ;  but  both  have  "  lettris  "  in  ing  "  in  both  verses. 


ix.]  PITHY  IDIOMATIC  PHRASES.  157 

x,  9,  nor  brasse  yn  youre  gerdels ;  xiii,  27,  goode  seede  in 
thy  closse ;  33,  hyd  in  thre  peckes  off  meele ;  52,  every 
scrybe  which  is  cominge  vnto  the  kyngdom  of  heven ;  xiv,  14, 
his  herte  dyde  melt  vppon  them  ;  20,  gaddered  vp  of  the 
gobbetes ;  xv,  27,  the  whelppes  eate  of  the  crommes ;  xvii,  17, 
O  generacioun,  faythles  and  croked;  27,  thou  shalt  fynd  a 
piece  of  twelve  pens  ;  xxi,  24,  if  ye  asoyle  me  ;  xxiv,  12,  iniquite 
shall  have  the  vpper  honde ;  xxv,  43,  I  was  herbroulesse  ;  xxvi, 
17,  to  eate  the  ester  lambe ;  xxvii,  3,  thirty  plattes  off  sylver  ; 
11,  and  the  debite  axed  him. 

Mark  v,  13,  the  heerd  starteled ;  35,  why  diseasest  thou 
the  master ;  vi,  27,  sent  the  hangman ;  36,  go  in  to  the  tonnes 
and  bye  them  breed ;  40,  sat  doune  here  arowe  and  there 
arowe ;  53,  and  drue  up  vnto  the  haven ;  vii,  4,  wasshinge 
of  cuppes  and  cruses;  viii,  19,  howe  many  baskettes  of  the 
levinges  of  broken  meate  toke  ye  up  ?  29,  thou  arte  very 
Christ;  xiv,  51,  cloothed  in  linnen  apon  the  bare;  65,  arede 
vnto  vs ;  66,  won  off  the  wenches  off  the  hyest  preste. 

Luke  ii,  3,  his  awne  shyre  toune ;  vi,  4,  halowed  breed  ; 
vii,  2,  the  servaunt .  . .  whom  he  made  moche  of;  viii,  42,  she  laye 
a  dyinge;  x,  34,  brought  hym  to  a  commen  hostry;  xi,  46, 
yourselves  touche  not  the  packes ;  xiv,  18,  I  have  bought  a 
ferme ;  xv,  8,  what  woman  havynge  ten  grotes ;  16,  filled  his 
bely  with  the  coddes  that  the  swyne  ate  ;x  xxii,  1,  the  feaste 
of  swete  bread  drue  nye,  whych  is  called  ester. 

John  i,  30,  for  he  was  yer  then  I ;  ii,  7,  fylled  them  vp  to  the 
harde  brym ;  ix,  18,  the  iewes  did  not  beleve  off  the  felowe ; 
xviii,  3,  with  lanterns  and  fyerbrondes ;  xix,  2,  the  soudiers 
woiide  a  croune  of  thornes. 

Acts  iv,  11,  the  stone  cast  a  syde ;  xii,  18,  there  was  not 
lytell  a  doo  amonge  the  soudiers ;  xix,  12,  napkyns  or  partlettes  ; 
xxi,  24,  do  cost  on  them  ;  xxvii,  39,  they  spied  a  certayne  reache 
with  a  banke  ;  xxviii,  7,  had  a  lordshippe. 

Romans  vii,  3,  she  couple  her  silfe  with  another;    xiii,  7, 

1  He  uses  the  phrase  "fed  her  with  them  but  the  shales  and  husks  of 

shales  and  cods  "  in  his  Exposition  of  men  "  :  Shakespeare,  Henry  V,  act 

the  Sermon  on  the  Mount — shales  iv,  scene  2. 
meaning  shells  or  husks.     "  Leaving 


158  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 

Geve  to  every  man  his  duetie ;  xii,  2,  but  be  ye  chaunged  in 
youre  shape  by  the  renuynge  of  your  wittis. 

1  Corinthians  ii,  10,  searcheth  the  bottom  of  goddes  secretes ; 
iv,  9,  My  thynketh  that  god  hath  showed  us ;  v,  7,  that  ye 
maye  be  newe  do  we  as  ye  are  swete  breed;   vi,  10,   nether 
pillers  shall  inherit — still  found  in  the  word  pillage  ;  vii,  34, 
The  single  woman;  ix,  13,  have  their  fyndynge  of  the  temple  ? 
22,   In  all  thynge  I  fassioned  my  silfe  to  all;  xiv,  1,  Labour 
for  love. 

2  Corinthians  ii,  17,  For  we  are  not  as  many  are,    which 
choppe  and  chaunge  l  with  the  worde  of  god  ;  x,  10,  his  speache 
whomly;   xii,  16,  Did  I  pill  you?    20,  lest  there  be   founde 
amonge  you  lawynge. 

Ephesians  ii,  14,  that  was  a  stoppe  bitwene  vs  ;  v,  19,  playinge 
to  the  lorde. 

Philippians  i,  8, 1  longe  after  you  all  from  the  very  herte  rote 
in  Jesus  Christ ;  23,  I  desyre  to  be  lowsed,  and  to  be  with 
Christ. 

Colossians  ii,  1,  as  many  as  have  not  sene  my  parson  in  the 
flesshe  ;  iii,  21,  Fathers  rate  not  your  children. 

1  Thessalonians  iv,  15  and  16,  we  shall  live  .  .  .  shall  not 
come  yerre  they  which  sleep. 

2  Thessalonians  i,  3,  every  one  of  you  swymmeth  in  love ;  ii, 
6,  might  be  vttered  at  his  tyme, — that  is,  detected,  as  often  in 
Tyndale's   works,  and  also  in  Foxe,  as  denoting  the  act  of  an 
informer. 

1  Timothy  i,  2,  Vnto  Timothe  hys  naturall 2  sonne ;  ii,  9, 
lykwyse  also  the  wemen  that  they  arraye  them  selves  in  maneiiy 
aparell  with  shamfastness ;  iii,  2,  harberous ;  iv,  7,  cast  awaye 
vngostly  and  olde  wy ves  fables  ;  v,  4,  fyrst  to  ruele  their  owne 
houses  godly  ;  vi,  4,  but  wasteth  his  braynes  about  questions  ; 
vi,  20,  avoyde  vngostly  vanities  of  voyces. 

Titus  ii,  5,  chast,  huswyfly,  good. 

1  This  phrase  is  used  by  him  in  natural  affection — "  who   cloeth  o;it 
the  Parable   of  the   "Wicked   Mam-  of  pure  love  that  he  doeth."     But  the 
mon.  Greek    adjective   denotes     genuine, 

2  The  epithet  occm's  in  the  "  Path-  Timothy     being    a    true     spiritual 
way  "  to  denote  a  child  that  has  true  child. 


ix.]  SINGULAR  SPELLING.  15<) 

2  Peter  ii,  13,  they  make  a  mockyng  stoke  feastynge 
togedder. 

1  John  ii,  16,  the  prydde  of  gooddess. 

Hebrews  viii,  1,  this  is  the  pyth,  x,  34,  toke  a  worth  the 
spolynge  off  youre  goodes  ;  xi,  12,  of  one,  and  of  one  which  was 
as  good  as  dead. 

James  i,  1,  which  are  scattered  here  and  there. 

The  translation,  as  a  first  and  individual  effort,  is  wonderful 
in  many  points  of  view.  Tyndale  had  few  appliances  in  the 
shape  of  grammars  and  lexicons;1  but  he  devoted  himself  to  his 
daily  work  with  singular  earnestness  and  assiduity.  He  often 
keeps  the  proper  translation  of  the  aorist,  where  succeeding 
translators  have  given  it  the  sense  of  the  perfect.  The  English 
is  racy  Saxon,  and  much  of  it,  sometimes  clause  after  clause, 
with  no  change  save  in  spelling,  is  yet  preserved  in  our  common 
version.  It  has  a  noble  unaffected  simplicity,  and  the  ring  of 
genuine  English  idiom.  It  is  more  definite  and  concise  than  the 
current  style  of  his  day,  and  even  of  his  own  polemical  writings. 
He  may  run  that  reads,  and  he  that  reads  may  understand,  and 
the  typical  "  ploughboy  "  may  gather  the  sense  so  given  in  his 
own  tongue.  The  eulogy  of  Fuller  is  not  overdrawn:  "What 
he  undertook  was  to  be  admired  as  glorious;  what  he  performed 
to  be  commended  as  profitable ;  wherein  he  failed,  is  to  be 
excused  as  pardonable,  and  to  be  scored  on  the  account  rather 
of  that  age,  than  of  the  author  himself."  2 

There  are,  of  course,  numerous  archaic  forms,  and  the  spelling 
also  is  very  irregular,  many  of  the  proper  names  in  the  first  chap 
ter  of  Matthew  not  beginning  with  a  capital  letter,  especially  in 
the  quarto,  and,  indeed,  there  is  an  utter  want  of  uniformity  in 
the  spelling  of  the  octavo  also.  We  have,  it,  hit,  hyt ;  of,  and 
off;  go,  and  goo ;  so,  and  soo ;  one,  and  woon ;  te,  and  the  ; 
other  and  wother ;  brydde,  for  bird ;  hoot  coles ;  wholy 
goost,  «fec.  T  is  generally  used  for  the  more  modern  i,  and 
dd  for  the  more  modern  th.  There  occur  also,  whithersumever, 
rightwesness,  leugh  hym  to  scorn ;  rot,  for  rost ;  sheet,  for  shut ; 
nowth  for  nought;  fayght,  for  faith  ;  littel  wones  ;  yerbis;  axe, 
for  ask.  Syllables  are  separated  that  ought  to  be  united,  and 
1  See  p.  141.  2  Church  History  of  Britain,  vol.  II,  p.  90. 


ICO  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 

united  that  should  be  kept  apart ;  and  even  monosyllables  are 
divided  at  the  end  of  a  line.  Proper  names  sometimes  begin 
with  small  letters,  and  common  nouns  with  capitals,  presenting 
such  anomalies  as  these — "  iewry  and  galile,  and  samary " 
(Acts  ix,  31);  Athens,  Corinthum  (1  Cor.  xviii,  1);  "better  to 
Mary  then  to  bourne"  (1  Cor.  vii,  9),  "  noo  rotes;  goo  awaye." 
There  is  at  the  end  of  the  volume  a  list  of  "  errours  comitted  in 
the  prentynge."  The  list  contains  seventy  instances ;  some 
of  them  are  mere  misprints  from  the  similarity  of  the  angular 
letters,  others  are  corrections,  as  then  for  them,  had  for 
hath,  straythie  for  straightly.  But  some  of  the  errors  noted  in 
the  table  do  not  exist,  and  others  are  not  quoted  correctly. 

Tyndale's  life  had  been  an  anticipation  of  Goethe's  utterance, 
"lofty  heights  must  be  ascended  by  winding  paths."  The  enter 
prise  which  he  had  purposed  at  Little  Sodbury,1  and  which  he 
had  dreamed  of  carrying  out  in  London,  was  commenced  at 
Cologne,  and  being  suddenly  interrupted  there,  was  brought  to 
a  successful  conclusion  at  Worms.  All  difficulties  had  been  at 
length  surmounted,  and  the  volumes  on  being  finished  at  press, 
were  at  once  safely  and  secretly  despatched  to  England.  The 
ships  that  brought  the  Testaments  to  this  country  are  unknown, 
as  well  as  the  ports  from  which  they  sailed,  and  the  ports  at 
which  they  delivered  their  unsuspected  cargo.  Nor  are  we 
acquainted  with  the  means  first  employed  to  convey  the  books 
from  the  vessels,  and  throw  them  into  circulation.  But  the  dis 
tribution,  once  begun,  went  on  swiftly;  "the  little  hidden 
leaven  "  soon  began  to  leaven  "the  whole  lump." 

1  Camden,  referring  to  Tyndale's    Testament."      Britannia,  vol.    I,   p. 
sojourn  at  Little  Sodbury,   quietly     276,  ed.  Gough,  London,  1789. 
adds,  "  and  here  translated  the  New 


CHAPTER    X. 


precious  volumes  may  have  arrived  in  England  in  the 
spring  or  early  summer  of  1526,  and  any  more  definite 
assertion  is  only  conjecture,  even  though  the  reckoning  were 
made  by  the  Old  Style,  which  carried  the  end  of  the  year  to  the 
last  week  of  March.  Many  statements  on  this  debated  point 
want  precision.  Foxe  mentions  vaguely  that  Garret  brought 
Tyndale's  New  Testament  to  Oxford  about  the  year  of  our  Lord 
1526  ;  but  forgetful  of  what  he  had  stated,  he  affirms  in  another 
place,  that  Tyndale  first  translated  the  New  Testament  "  for 
the  profit  of  the  simple  vulgar  people"  about  A.D.  1527.  l 
Joye  is  as  indeterminate  as  Foxe,  for,  referring,  at  the  end  of 
1534  or  beginning  of  1535,  to  the  octavo,  he  says:  "Thou 
shalt  know  that  Tyndale,  about  eight  or  nine  years  ago,  trans 
lated  and  printed  the  New  Testament,  without  calendar  or 
concordances."  2  But  the  date  assigned  by  Christopher  Ander 
son,  D'Aubigne,  and  others,  either  the  close  of  1525,  or  the 
very  beginning  of  1526,  cannot  be  sustained,  for  the  following 
reasons  :  — 

First,  There  is  no  ground  for  doubting  the  testimony  of  Coch- 
IJBUS  who  was  himself  present,  and  made  minute  personal 
inquiries.  The  insurrection  of  the  peasants,  which  broke  out 
in  Swabia  on  the  19th  of  July,  1524,  and  had  extended  to 
Frankfort  by  the  middle  of  1525,  had  driven  him,  a  dean  of 
the  "Church  of  the  Blessed  Virgin"  in  that  city,  first  to 
Mentz,  and  then  to  Cologne,  where  he  abode  for  a  time  in 
busy  seclusion.  Tyndale  had  also  come  to  the  same  city  in 
the  summer  of  1525,  and  as  both  he  and  the  fugitive  dignitary 

1  Vol.  V,  p.  421,  p.  119.  -  Apologia,  fol.  civ. 

VOL.  I.  L 


162  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

were  employing  the  same  printers,  Cochlseus  incidentally  made 
the  discovery  about  the  mysterious  volumes  at  press.  Now, 
that  discovery,  as  he  asserts,  was  made  soon  after  the  despatch 
of  Luther's  letter  to  King  Henry  VIII,  and  it  was  dated  1st 
September,  1525.  The  printing  had  therefore  begun  some 
time  before  that  period,1  and  consequently  it  must  have  been 
far  on  in  September,  or  in  October,  when  Tyiidale  fled  away 
with  the  sheets  to  Worms,  to  avoid  the  frustration  of  his 
labour.  Though  the  utmost  expedition  possible  at  that  early 
time  had  been  used,  several  months  must  have  been  consumed 
in  the  printing  of  the  octavo  and  the  completing  of  the  quarto. 
In  all  likelihood  the  books  could  scarcely  be  ready  for  expor 
tation  before  March  or  April.  Cochlceus  affords  yet  another 
test.  In  his  letter  to  James  Y  of  Scotland,  dated  8th  June, 
1533,  he  boasts  that,  eight  years  before,  he  had  interrupted  the 
printing  of  the  New  Testament  at  Cologne,  and  thus  points  to 
the  summer  or  autumn  of  1525. 

Second,  The  supposition  that  the  New  Testaments  had  arrived 
in  January,  1526,  does  not  allow  sufficient  time  for  the  activity 
of  Garret  and  other  distributors.  Garret  must  have  been  busy 
for  a  period  in  London,  before  he  went  down  to  Oxford,  where 
he  sold  the  books  to  "divers  scholars,"  and  "remained  a  while." 
But  his  industry  had  come  to  light;  and  search  being  made  for 
him  in  the  capital,  his  journey  to  Oxford  was  discovered,  and 
measures  were  at  once  taken  to  arrest  him  in  the  University. 
This  record  of  labour  and  travel  on  the  part  of  Garret,  and  of 
information  received  and  acted  on  by  Wolsey  and  Tunstall, 
necessitates  an  interval  of  more  than  three  weeks — all  that 
Anderson's  theory  really  allows.  Besides,  the  volumes  had 
been  so  long  in  Oxford,  before  the  capture  of  Garret,  that 
through  the  study  of  them  there  had  been  formed,  prior  to 
that  event,  "a  tender  and  lately  born  little  flock,"  so 
organized  that  its  members  called  one  another  "  brethren." 
These  results  could  not  have  been  produced  in  the  single 
month  of  January ;  and  it  was  in  February  that  the  search 
was  instituted,  though  not  in  February,  1526. 

Third,  It  was  not  till  the  metropolis  had  been  explored  in 
1  Sheets  had  been  printed  as  far  as  the  letter  K.  See  page  129. 


x.]  ARRIVAL  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENTS.  163 

vain  for  Garret,  that  instructions  were  sent  from  Wolsey  to 
seize  him  at  Oxford.  These  orders  were  formally  addressed, 
through  Higden,  Dean  of  Cardinal  College,  to  Cottysford  as 
commissary  of  the  University,  and  he  at  once  obeyed  them. 
But  Cottysford  could  not  act  as  commissary  or  vice-chancellor 
in  February,  152G,  for  he  was  not  sworn  into  office  till  the 
7th  of  December,  1527.1  The  commissary  easily  caught  Garret, 
and  confined  him  in  his  own  chamber ;  but  when  he  went  out 
to  "  evensong,"  the  prisoner  "  put  back  the  bar  of  the  lock 
with  his  finger "  and  escaped.  He  was,  however,  soon  seized 
near  Bristol,  through  the  agency  of  a  chapman  of  that  city,  the 
father-in-law  of  Cole  the  university  proctor;  and  Cole  had 
given  secret  notice  to  Garret  and  other  friends  of  the  intended 
search. 

Fourth,  Henry  sent  first  a  Latin  letter  in  reply  to  that  of 
Luther,  which  he  had  received  on  the  20th  of  March,  152G, 
'•'  after  which  letter  written  and  sent  him,  the  king  translated 
it  into  English,  of  an  especial  favour  toward  his  subjects."  In 
the  preface  to  the  English  letter  he  refers  to  the  New  Testa 
ment  as  being  in  the  country,  and  calls  immediate  attention 
to  many  corruptions  of  the  holy  text,  as  "  certain  prefaces  and 
other  pestilent  glosses  in  the  margin"  of  the  quarto.  The  Latin 
epistle  was,  however,  not  despatched  till  late  in  the  year, 
and  on  30th  November,  1526,  Sir  John  Wallop  apparently 
acknowledges  to  Wolsey  the  receipt  of  it — "two  packets 
of  Luther's  matters." 2  Immediately  on  its  translation  the 
English  letter  was  printed  by  R.  Pynson, — finished  on  the  2nd 
December,  1526.3  The  king's  criticism  of  the  New  Testa 
ment,  and  the  avowal  of  his  purpose  that,  on  consultation  with 
Wolsey,  and  other  reverend  fathers  of  the  spiritualty,  "the 
said  untrue  translation  should  be  burned,"  imply  that  the 
Testaments  had  come  somewhat  recently  into  the  country,  and 
that  they  had  been  widely  dispersed. 

Fifth,  Anderson's  argument  implies  the  extraordinary  sup 
position,  that  King  Henry  answered  Luther's  epistle  on  the 

1  Le  Neve's  Fasti,  vol.  Ill,  p.  475,         3  A  copy  of  this  letter  is  in  the 
ed.  Duffus  Hardy.  Bodleian    Library,   and    it    is  also 

*  State  Papers,  vol.  I,  p.  173.  printed  in  Herbert's  Ames,  p.  297. 


164  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [C:UAV. 

very  day  on  which  he  received  it ;  for  in  allusion  to  Luther's 
letter,  and  the  day  of  its  reception,  he  exclaims,  "  Here,  then, 
was  Tyndale's  quarto  New  Testament  with  glosses  denounced 
as  early  as  20th  March,  1526."  The  history  of  the  royal  letter, 
given  in  the  previous  sentences,  disposes  at  once  of  the  conjec 
ture.  Nor  could  the  New  Testaments  be  burned,  as  he  asserts, 
on  the  llth  of  February,  1526,  for  the  reason  already  given, 
that  they  could  not  by  that  time  have  reached  the  English 
shores,  and  still  less  could  Garret  have  received  them,  and  begun 
to  distribute  them  so  early  as  January.  Tyndale,  in  his 
"  Obedience  of  a  Christian  Man,"  and  in  a  personal  attack  on 
Bishop  Fisher  whose  sermon  he  is  reviewing,  says,  for  the 
sake  of  "a  like  argument,  Rochester  and  his  holy  brethren 
have  burned  Christ's  testament."  But  does  Tyndale  here 
mean  by  "  Christ's  testament "  his  own  translation  \  Does  he 
•ever  call  it  by  such  a  name  ?  The  word  "testament"  does 
not  occur  at  all  in  the  epilogue  to  the  octavo,  though  in 
the  prologue  to  the  quarto  he  often  mentions  the  "  New  Tes 
tament."  ! 

Sixth,  The  authorities  being  roused  by  reports  of  New  Tes 
taments  in  individual  and  domestic  use,  resolved  upon  a  vigor 
ous  and  simultaneous  search  after  the  terrible  book  in  the 
capital  and  in  the  universities.  Anderson,  and  those  who 
accept  his  premises,  lay  no  small  stress  on  this  process  as  a 
proof  of  the  early  advent  of  the  version,  and  date  it  in  February, 
1526,  when  the  volumes  could  not  by  any  possibility  have 
arrived.  Such  inquisitorial  and  stealthy  work  certainly  shows 
that  the  books  had  been  for  some  considerable  time  in  circula 
tion  ;  but  the  search  dated  by  Anderson  in  1526  could  not 
have  taken  place  at  Oxford  at  that  time :  for,  1st,  as  has  been 
shown  in  a  previous  paragraph,  Dr.  Cottysford,  rector  of 
Lincoln  College,  who  was  concerned  in  the  transaction,  and 
who  acted  under  instructions  sent  from  Wolsey  to  him  as  com 
missary  or  vice-chancellor  of  Oxford,  was  not  officially 
installed  till  the  7th  of  December,  1527.  2nd,  Dr.  London, 
warden  of  New  College,  in  writing  to  Longland,  Bishop  of 

1  Anderson  gets  point  to  his  in-  thus, — have  burned  Christ's  Testa- 
terpretation  by  printing  the  clause  mcnt. 


x.]  SEIZURE  OF  GARRET  AT  OXFORD.  155 

Lincoln,  as  Oxford  then  belonged  to  that  diocese,  intimated 
that  the  commissary  had  revealed  "  the  matter "  of  Garret's 
arrest  and  escape  to  him,  "on  this  Monday  the  vigil  of  St. 
Matthias."  But  in  1526,  St.  Matthias  day  fell  on  a  Saturday, 
its  vigil  therefore  being  on  the  previous  Friday,  while  in 
1528  it  fell  on  a  Tuesday,  so  that  its  vigil  was  on  the  day 
indicated — a  Monday.  3rd,  in  another  letter  written  two  days 
later,  that  is,  on  the  26th  of  February,  Dr.  London  asserts  that 
"this  unhappy  Mr.  Garret  had  been  at  Oxford  last  Easter 
distributing  books,"  and  adds, "  I  fear  Mr.  Clark  was  his  caller  to 
Oxford."  Now,  to  one  writing  in  February,  "last  Easter"  must 
be  Easter  of  the  previous  year,  or,  in  Anderson's  baseless  opinion, 
that  of  1525.  But  the  chronology  breaks  down  at  once,  for 
Clark1  himself  was  not  incorporated  at  Oxford  till  October  5th, 
1525,  and  could  not  therefore  some  months  before  have  invited 
Garret  to  the  university.  The  Easter  referred  to  must  therefore 
have  been  that  beginning  on  April  21st,  1527.  4th,  Bishop 
Longland,  in  conveying  the  information  about  Garret  to  Wolsey, 
writes  on  "Ash  Wednesday,"  which  in  1526  was  the  14th  of 
February,  or  before  St.  Matthias  day,  that  is  really  before  the 
date  of  the  letter,  in  consequence  of  the  receipt  of  which  he 
was  sending  his  epistle ;  but  in  1528,  Ash  Wednesday  happened 
two  days  after  St.  Matthias  day, 2  or  on  February  26th  or  27th. 
5th,  Dalaber,  indeed,  in  his  interesting  and  touching  story  of 
Garret's  capture,  dates  the  occurrence  in  1526  or  thereabouts. 
But  he  wrote  from  memory  more  than  thirty  years  afterwards, 
in  1562,  and  he  corrects  his  own  mistake  when  he  thus  notes 
the  period,  "  Master  Ball,  of  Merton  College,  and  Master  Cole, 
of  Magdalene  College,  being  proctors  in  the  month  of  February." 
Now  Ball  became  proctor  only  on  the  10th  of  April,  and  there 
fore  could  not  have  acted  in  the  preceding  February ;  and  as 

1  Clark  was  oue  of  those  students  on  that  day  in  the  Church  of  Eome. 

imprisoned  in  the  cellar  under  Car-  The  discussion  as  to  the  proper  day 

dinal  College,  and  he  died  shortly  of  its  observance  in  leap  year,  and 

afterwards.  its  connection  with  the  old  Julian 

a  St.  Matthias  day  falls  on  the  year,  may  be  seen  in  Wheatley's 

24th  of  February,  but  in  leap  year  "  Common  Prayer,"p.  248,  Bohn'sedi- 

on  the  25th  ;  and  it  is  still  observed  tion,  and  also  in  Demaus  and  Arber. 


166  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAV. 

Cole  became  proctor  on  the  7th  of  May,  1527,  and  held  the 
appointment  till  April,  1528,  he  was  senior  proctor  at  the  time 
when  the  seizure  of  Garret  created  such  academic  sensation. l 
Gth,  Tyndale  himself  verifies  the  same  conclusion  in  the  words 
employed  by  him  in  his  "  Preface  to  the  Parable  of  the  Wicked 
Mammon,"  printed  by  Hans  Luft  at  Marburg.  He  intimates 
in  reference  to  Roye,  "  I  could  not  do  alone,  without  one  both 
to  write  and  to  help  me  to  compare  the  texts  together.  When 
that  was  done,  I  took  my  leave  of  him  for  our  two  lives."  Roye 
accordingly  did  not  linger  after  being  so  summarily  shaken  off, 
but  left  at  once.  In  this  book,  the  printing  of  which  was 
finished  8th  May,  1528,  Tyndale  goes  on  to  speak  of  a  visit  of 
Jerome,  "  a  brother  of  Greenwich  also,"  as  taking  place  "  a  year 
after,"  that  is  a  year  after  Roye's  departure,  and  "  now  twelve 
months  before  the  printing  of  this  work."  The  translator 
himself  thus  clearly  places  Roye's  dismissal  and  the  completion 
of  the  New  Testament  about  April  or  May,  1526.  Foxe  gives 
the  date  of  the  "  Wicked  Mammon  "  in  his  reprint  of  Tyndale's 
Works  as  1527,  and  he  has  been  followed  by  Tanner,  Lewis, 
Wood,  and  Walter.  But  the  colophon  of  the  book  itself  has 
the  date  1528  ;  and  Anderson,  whose  chronology  is  so  sadly 
disturbed  by  this  fact,  imagines  that  there  must  have  been  a 
first  edition  issued  at  Worms,  somewhat  strangely,  in  the  very 
same  month  and  day  of  the  previous  year.  Lastly,  other  evidence 
from  the  episcopal  registers  on  this  point  seems  also  conclusive. 
It  is  true  that  John  Pykas,  a  baker  of  Colchester,  whose 
witness  has  already  been  cited  on  another  point,  confessed 
before  Tunstall  on  the  7th  of  March,  1528,  that  "about  two 
years  last  past,  he  bought  of  a  Lombard  of  London  a  New  Tes 
tament,  and  paid  for  it  four  shillings,  which  New  Testament  he 
kept,  and  read  through  many  times."  But  as  he  does  not  say 

1  Anthony  Dalaber  himself  com-  and  bore  his  faggot  along  with 
municated  the  first  part  of  the  story  others,  a  great  fire  being  made  on 
to  Foxe,  but  it  was  left  unfinished  the  top  of  Carfax,  and  each  of  the 
by  his  death  in  1562,  the  martyrolo-  accused  persons  as  he  passed  it 
gist  gathering  "  the  residue  from  threw  a  book  into  the  flames.  Gar- 
ancient  and  credible  persons."  Gar-  ret  suffered  bravely  some  years  af- 
ret,  on  being  condemned,  abjured,  terwards. 


x.]  TRIAL  OF  PRIOR  BARNES.  167 

two  years  and  more,  he  probably  means  within  the  period,  and 
his  mental  calculation  may  have  been  somewhat  confused,  for 
he  was  under  examination  by  a  stern  and  powerful  judge.  But 
though  the  term  "  about "  gives  vagueness  to  his  calculation, 
it  does  not  contradict  our  arguments.  The  confession  of 
Tyball  also  leads  back  to  an  early  part  of  1526,  and  that 
of  Munmouth  is  similar.  Necton,  on  examination  in  1528, 
deponed  that  "about  a  yere  and  a  half  agon,  he  fell  in  ac 
quaintance  with  Vicar  Constantine  here  in  London.  Which 
showed  this  respondent  first,  that  the  said  Mr.  Fyshe  had 
New  Testaments  to  sell;  and  caused  this  respondent  to  by 
some  of  the  said  New  Testaments  of  Mr.  Fyshe."1  All  these 
lines  of  proof  seem  to  determine  that  the  time  when  the 
volumes  arrived  in  England  was  in  the  early  part  of  the 
summer  of  1526. 

The  circulation  was  carried  on  by  hidden  and  unexpected 
agencies,  and  Testaments  were  freely  disposed  of  in  most  un 
likely  places.  Prior  Barnes,  who  on  Christmas  eve,  24th  Decem 
ber,  1525,  had  from  the  pulpit  of  St.  Edward's  Church,  Cambridge, 
inveighed  against  Wolsey's  "golden  shoes,  pole  axes,  pillars, 
golden  cushions,  crosses,  and  red  gloves,"  was  seized,  brought  to 
London,  and  "by  persuasions  mighty  in  the  sight  of  reason  and 
foolish  flesh,"  he  had  been  induced  to  recant.  On  the  llth 
February,  1526,  he  was  led  out  to  do  penance  in  presence  of 
the  "  Cardinal,  clothed  in  purple  like  a  bloody  antichrist,  with 
six  and  thirty  abbots,  mitred  priors,  and  bishops."  Fisher, 
Bishop  of  Rochester,  preached,  and  great  basketfuls  of  books,  not 
called  English  Testaments  "  were  standing  before  them  within 
the  rails,  which  were  commanded,  after  the  great  fire  was  made 
before  the  Rood  of  Northen,  there  to  be  burned."2  Wolsey  might, 
in  Tyndale's  phrase,  be  "  the  falsest  and  vainest  cardinal  that 
ever  was,"  despotic  and  cruel  as  a  ruler,  and  unscrupulous  as  a 
diplomatist,  plotting  with  all  craft  and  assiduity  for  the  occu 
pancy  of  St.  Peter's  chair,  and  he  might  be  concerned  in  the 
burning  of  books,  but  he  never  burned  human  beings.  He 
said,  indeed,  to  Barnes,  "  Abjure  or  be  burnt,"  and  the  friar 

1  The    depositions  are    given    in     ed.  Oxford,  1822. 
Strype's  Memorials,  vol.   I,  p.  113,         3  Foxe,  vol.  V,  p.  418. 


1GS  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

accepted  the  first  alternative.  Whatever  hand  he  might  have 
in  sending  to  the  block  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  High  Con 
stable  of  England,  and  a  descendant  of  Edward  III,  he  did  not 
of  his  own  act  doom  any  one  to  the  flames  for  difference  of 
religious  opinion.  The  stake  resumed  its  fatal  prominence 
under  his  philosophic  successor,  Sir  Thomas  More.  If  we  are 
to  believe  the  articles  of  impeachment,  Wolsey's  private  cha 
racter  was  not  immaculate,  and  his  celibacy  was  only  in  name. 
He  was  so  absorbed  in  foreign  politics,  that  affairs  at  home 
became  only  of  secondary  interest  to  him.  The  Reformation 
which  he  coveted,  or  Avhich  would  have  been  sanctioned  by 
Sir  Thomas  More,  his  friends,  and  his  coadjutors,  would  have 
been  superficial  at  best — the  sewing  of  a  piece  of  new  cloth 
on  the  old  garment. 

Barnes,  on  his  recantation,  had  been  sent  to  the  Fleet,  but 
was  afterwards  made  a  prisoner  at  large  in  the  Augustine 
Monastery  in  London,  and  in  this  retreat  he  carried  on  the 
forbidden  work  of  trafficking  in  New  Testaments — was  a 
resetter  and  seller  of  this  perilous  contraband.  Thus  John 
Tyball  of  Steeple  Bumstead,  to  whom  previous  allusion  has 
been  made,  deponed  on  April  28th,  1528,  "That  at  Mychael- 
masse  last  past  was  twelve  monethe  this  respondent  and 
Thomas  Hilles  came  to  London  to  Frear  Barons,  then 
being  at  the  Freers  Augustines  (Austin  Friars)  in  London, 
to  buy  a  New  Testament  in  English.  .  .  .  That  the  sayd 
Thomas  Hilles  and  this  respondent  shewyd  the  Freer  Barons 
of  certayne  old  bookes  that  they  had ;  as  of  four  Evangelists, 
and  certayne  epistles  of  Peter  and  Poule  in  Englishe  (that 
is  of  the  Wycliffite  version).  Which  bookes  the  sayd  Frear 
dyd  little  regard,  and  made  a  twyte  of  it,  and  sayd,  a  poynt 
for  them,  for  they  be  not  to  be  regarded  toward  the  new 
printed  Testament  in  Englishe;  for  it  is  of  more  cleaner 
Englishe.  And  then  the  sayd  Frear  Barons  delyvered  to  them 
the  sayd  New  Testament  in  Englishe ;  for  which  they  payd 
three  shillings  and  two  pence,  and  desyred  them,  that  they 
wold  kepe  it  close.  And  after  the  delyverance  of  the  sayd 
New  Testament  to  them,  the  Frear  Barons  dyd  lyken  the  New 
Testament  in  Latin  to  a  cymball  tynnklyng  and  brasse  sownd- 


x]  CIRCULATION  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT.  1GO 

yng,"  expressions  in  perfect  keeping  with  his  usual  style  of 
speech.1 

Portions  of  Necton's  confession  reveal  the  ingenuity 
and  resolution  of  the  "  New  Testamenters."  He  deponed 
that  "  he  sold  fy ve  of  the  said  New  Testaments  to  Sir  William 
Furboshare,  synging  man,  in  Stowmarket,  in  Suffolk,  for 
seven  or  eight  grotes  a  pece.  Also,  two  of  the  same  New 
Testaments  in  Bury  St.  Edmonds ;  that  is  to  say,  to  Raynold 
Wodelesse,  one;  and  Thomas  Horfan,  another,  for  the  same 
price. 

"  Furthermore,  Vicar  Constantine,  at  dy vers  tymes,  had  of 
this  respondent  about  fifteen  or  sixteen  of  the  New  Testaments 
of  the  biggest.  And  this  respondent  saith,  that  the  sayd  Vicar 
Constantine  dyvers  tymes  bowght  of  him  certayne  of  the  sayd 
New  Testaments.  Also,  he  sold  Sir  Richard  Bay  fell  two  New 
Testaments  unbound,  about  Cristmas  last;  for  the  which  he 
paid  three  shillings  and  four  pence.  .  .  .  That  he  sold  five 
or  six  of  the  said  New  Testaments  to  diverse  persons  of  the  cite 
of  London,  whose  namys  or  dwellyng  places  he  doth  not 
remember.  .  .  .  That  since  Easter  last,  he  bowght  of 
Gefrray  (Lolme)  Usher  of  Saynt  Antonyes,  with  whom  he  hath 
byn  aqueynted  by  the  space  of  an  yere,  or  thereabout  (by 
reason  he  was  Mr.  Forman,  the  person  of  Hony  Lane  his 
servant,  and  for  that  this  respondent  did  moche  resort  to 
the  said  persons  sermons)  eighteen  New  Testaments  in  English 
of  the  smal  volume.  .  .  .  That  about  Cristmas  last, 
there  came  a  Duche  man,  beyng  now  in  the  Flete,  which 
wold  have  sold  this  respondent  two  or  three  hundreth 
of  the  said  New  Testaments  in  English,  which  this 
respondent  did  not  buy ;  but  sent  him  to  Mr.  Fyshe  to  buy 
them;  and  said  to  the  Duche  man,  'Looke  what  Mr.  Fyshe 
doth,  I  wil  do  the  same."  -  Of  course,  many  persons 
engaged  in  the  work  of  distribution,  managed  to  keep  them 
selves  out  of  sight  and  escaped  detection,  as  they  moved 
in  secret  "  paths  which  the  vulture's  eye  had  not  seen." 

Simon  Fyshe,  of  Gray's  Inn,  and  George  Harman,  of 
Antwerp,  had  a  busy  hand  in  the  labour.  The  former  of 

1  Strype's  Memorials,  pt.  II,  p.  54.        2  Strype's  Memorials,  pt.  II,  p.  63. 


170  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 

these  zealous  men  had  issued  a  tract,  called  "  the  Supplicacion 
of  the  Beggars,"  l  addressed  to  the  king.  It  was  a  small 
tract  of  eight  pages,  and  was  given  to  his  Majesty,  and 
scattered  on  Candlemas  day  through  the  streets ;  and  its 
burden  was  a  disclosure  of  the  reasons  "why  the  Monks 
and  Friars,  Pardoners  and  Sumners,  will  not  let  the  New 
Testament  go  abroad  in  your  mother-tongue."  The  excitement 
was  growing,  and  the  enemies  and  friends  of  an  English  trans 
lation  were  fast  fronting  each  other,  and  taking  up  a  decided 
position.  But  the  wood  was  yet  growing  green  in  the  fields 
that  was  again  to  supply  faggots  for  the  fires  of  Smithfield. 

1  The     year     is     uncertain,     but  it  was  issued  in  the  earlier  portion 

Move's     reply,     the     "  Supplicacion  of  that  year,  as  the  Tract  of  Fyshe 

of   Souls,"   was    written   before    he  is  said  to  have  been  published  "  of 

was    Lord     Chancellor,    or    before  late." 
October,   1529  ;   perhaps,  therefore, 


CHAPTER  XI. 

A  S  the  importation  of  the  New  Testament  was  a  clandestine 
and  dangerous  traffic,  there  is  no  distinct  record  of  it. 
The  common  people  received  it  gladly;  but  it  encountered 
fierce  opposition  from  men  in  authority,  clergy,  statesmen,  law 
yers,  and  scholars.  It  was  deemed  an  exponent  and  defence 
of  Lutheranism,  and,  therefore,  was  spurned  away.  Many 
were  scared  out  of  their  reason  by  it,  as  if  there  had  lighted 
among  them  a  shell  charged  with  explosive  missiles.  We  cannot 
tell  in  what  way  the  authorities  were  first  made  aware  of  the 
audacious  presence  of  the  Book  in  the  midst  of  them  ;  but  the 
distribution  could  not  be  long  hidden  from  the  keen  and 
sharp  eyes  of  suspicious  ecclesiastics.  Our  only  information 
on  the  point  is  from  the  "railing  rhymes  "  of  Friar  Roye,  with 
whom  the  translator  had  been  so  displeased.  The  satire 
reveals  that  Standish,  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph's,1  who  "  played  the 
part  of  Judas,"  was  the  first  who  brought  the  report  to  Wolsey, 
"  the  man  in  the  redde  cappe,"  who  spake  the  words  of  Pilate 
and  answered  that  he  found  "no  fault"  therein.  Tunstall 
(Caiaphas)  and  the  other  bishops  overruled  the  Cardinal 
to  an  adverse  decision,  so  that  he  gave  judgment  against 
the  hated  translation,  and  ordered  that  it  should  be  burned 
wherever  it  was  found.  This  reluctance  ascribed  to  Wolsey 
may  apparently  be  believed.  The  forty-third  article  in  the 
long  list  of  charges  presented  against  him  at  his  fall,  alleges 
that  the  said  Lord  Cardinal  hath  been  the  "impeacher  and 

1  The   name   of  his  diocese    was     Grseculus  'iste,  calls  him  episcopus" 
often  contracted  into  St.  Asse ;  and     a  sancto  Asino. 
Erasmus,  whom   he   stigmatized   as 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

disturber  of  due  and  direct  correction  of  heresies."  When 
Lutheran  opinions  had  been  growing  at  Cambridge,  and  a 
visitation  of  the  University  was  demanded  in  1523  by  some 
of  the  bishops,  Wolsey  expressly  inhibited  it,  though  Bishop 
Long-land  who  was  the  king's  confessor,  had  urged  him  to  a 
decided  prosecution  of  "  heretics  and  destruction  of  Lutheran 
books."  When  he  had  selected  for  his  magnificent  foundation 
of  Christ  Church  a  few  students  from  Cambridge,  he  did  not 
cancel  their  appointment,  though  some  of  them  were  suspected 
of  Lutheran  leanings.  When  Latimer  was  brought  before 
him  at  York  House,  and  had  given  an  account  of  a  sermon 
which  had  offended  the  Bishop  of  Ely,  Wolsey  said  to  him, 
"  You  shall  have  my  license,  and  shall  preach  it  unto  his  beard 
let  him  say  what  he  will."  Wolsey's  license  sufficed  for  all 
England.  To  the  king's  chagrin,  he  openly  disagreed  with 
many  parts  of  his  book  against  Luther — the  book  that  gained 
him  the  title  of  Defender  of  the  Faith.  He  had  refused  to 
act  on  a  papal  bull  of  June  19,  1520,  because  he  had  no  power 
to  burn  Lutheran  books ;  and  the  Pope,  in  reply,  told  him, 
that  not  the  books  but  the  authors  should  be  burned.  For 
his  great  educational  deeds  and  designs,  he  had  suppressed 
forty-two  religious  houses.  Indeed,  he  had  contrived  to 
gather  in  to  himself,  against  all  law,  extraordinary  revenues. 
For  not  only  was  he  Archbishop  of  York,  in  succession  to 
Cardinal  Bainbridge ;  but  the  "  king-cardinal "  drew  at  the 
same  time  the  incomes  of  the  dioceses  of  Durham  and 
Winchester,  farmed  the  bishoprics  of  Bath,  Worcester,  and 
Hereford,  and  held  the  Abbey  of  St.  Alban's  in  commendam. 
He  had  also  an  annuity  from  the  French  king  of  12,000  livres, 
and  from  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor  a  yearly  pension  of  7,500 
ducats.  The  first  began  to  be  paid  him  in  1518,  and  the 
second  in  1526.  "Unsatisfied  in  getting  which  was  a  sin,  yet 
in  bestowing  he  was  most  princely."  In  obtaining  academic 
funds  from  the  dissolution  of  religious  houses,  Wolsey  had  been 
preceded  by  Chichele  and  Waynflete.  But  his  arrogance  had 
grown  apace.  Giustiniani,  the  Venetian  ambassador,  records,1 
that  when  he  came  to  England,  Wolsey  was  accustomed  to 
1  Despatches,  vol.  II,  p.  314. 


XL]  TUNSTALUS  MANIFESTO.  173 

say,  "The  king  will  do  so  and  so;"  afterwards  his  words 
were,  "  We  will  do  so  and  so ; "  and  finally,  "  I  shall  do  so 
and  so." 

Tunstall,  soon  after  the  consultation  referred  to,  preached  at 
St.  Paul's,  and  denounced  the  New  Testament  as  containing 
two  thousand  errors;1  Tyndale's  simple  reply  being,  "They  have 
now  so  narrowly  looked  on  my  translation,  that  there  is  not  so 
much  as  one  i  therein,  if  it  lack  a  tittle  over  his  head,  but  they 
have  noted  it,  and  numbered  it  unto  the  ignorant  people 
for  an  heresy."  The  volume  so  denounced  was  then  publicly 
thrown  into  the  fire,  and  the  burning  of  it  was  known  at  Rome 
by  the  21st  of  November.  At  that  date  Cardinal  Campeggio 
wrote  to  Wolsey  a  letter  of  congratulation :  "  We  lately  heard, 
to  his  Majesty's  great  praise  and  glory,  that  he  had  most  justly 
caused  to  be  burned  a  copy  of  the  Holy  Bible  which  had  been 
mistranslated  into  the  common  tongue.  .  .  .  Assured  ly,  no 
burnt  offering  could  be  more  pleasing  to  Almighty  God."2  On 
Wednesday,  24th  October,  Tunstall,  "  by  the  duty  of  our 
pastoral  office,"  issued  a  prohibition,  a  copy  of  which  was  sent 
to  the  four  Archdeacons  of  Middlesex,  Essex,  Colchester,  and 
London.  The  prohibition  somewhat  bluntly  aims  at  "  many 
children  of  iniquity,  maintainers  of  Luther's  sect,  that  have 
craftily  translated  the  New  Testament  into  our  English 
tongue  ...  of  which  translation  there  are  many  books  im 
printed,  some  with  glosses,  and  some  without,  containing  in 
the  English  tongue  that  most  deadly  and  most  pernicious 
poison  dispersed  through  all  our  diocese  of  London  in  great 
numbers."3  Within  thirty  days  these  books  were  to  be 
delivered  up  to  his  vicar-general,  Geoffrey  Wharton,  under 
penalty  of  excommunication  and  incurring  the  suspicion  of 
heresy.  Eleven  days  afterwards,  on  the  3rd  November, 
Archbishop  Warham  issued  a  mandate,  in  similar  terms,  to 

Lambert,    who    was  burned  in  sermon  "on  the 'hideous  errors' in  it 

1538,  in  reply  to  the  twenty-sixth  that  I,  and  not  only  I,  but  likewise 

article    of    his    indictment,    which  many    others,  think    verily    to  be 

questioned  him  about  "  scriptures  in  none."     Foxe,  vol.  V,  p.  213. 

the  mother  language,"  says,  among  2CottonMSS.,Vitellius,B.viii,164. 

other  things,  that  he  heard  Tunstall's  3  Foxe,  vol.  IV,  p.  666. 


174  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CIIAP. 

Voysey,  Bishop  of  Exeter,  the  document  being  meant  for 
his  entire  province.1  The  translator  was  at  this  time  un 
known,  for  the  version  was  published  anonymously ;  but 
early  next  year  Tyndale's  connection  with  it  was  no  secret, 
as  may  be  seen  in  Ridley's  letter,  on  page  12G.  Warham  also 
bought  up  a  good  many  copies  of  both  editions  at  an  expense 
of  nearly  a  thousand  pounds  sterling;  and  doubtless  such  copies 
were  speedily  and  effectually  destroyed.  To  defray  the  cost  of 
these  large  purchases,  the  Primate  sent  a  circular  to  his 
suffragans,  asking  pecuniary  contributions.  Bishop  Nikke  2 
of  Norwich,  in  reply,  promises,  in  a  letter  of  14th  June, 
1527,  to  send  ten  marks,  about  £100  in  present  currency,  and 
nearly  a  tenth  part  of  the  whole  outlay.  Some  of  the  blind 
old  bishop's  words  may  be  quoted :  "  In  right  humble  manner 
I  commend  me  unto  your  good  lordship,  doing  the  same  to 
understand  that  I  lately  received  your  letters,  dated,  at  your 
manor  of  Lambeth,  the  2Gth  day  of  the  month  of  May,  by 
which  I  do  perceive  that  your  Grace  hath  lately  gotten  into 
your  hands  all  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  translated 
into  English  and  printed  beyond  the  sea, — as  well  those 
with  the  glosses  joined  unto  them  as  the  other  without  the 
glosses  .  .  .  Surely,  in  mine  opinion,  you  have  done  them  a 
gracious  and  blessed  deed,  and  God,  I  doubt  not,  shall  highly 
reward  you  therefor  .  .  . — your  humble  obediencer  and  bonds 
man."  3 

The  circulation  of  such  a  novelty  as  an  English  New 
Testament  created  a  demand,  and  that  demand  was  speedily 
supplied.  The  press  which  Tyndale  himself  had  employed 
was  at  rest,  but  the  work  was  done  by  other  printers.  T$y 
the  end  of  1520  a  third  edition  of  the  New  Testament,  in 
small  volume,  was  issued  at  Antwerp  by  Christopher  of  End- 
hoven,  who  was  arrested  in  consequence  of  his  adventure. 
There  had  been,  in  1527,  an  alarming  scarcity  of  corn  in  Eng 
land  "  on  account  of  the  great  rain  which  fell  in  the  sowing- 
time,"  and  in  the  crisis  "  the  gentle  merchants  of  the  Stilyard  " 
brought  in  provisions  from  abroad,  "  so  that  wheat  was  better 

1  Wilkin's  Concilia,  vol.  Ill,  p.  706.        3  Cotton  MSS.,  Vitellius,  B.  ix,  fol. 

2  Often,  or  usually,  spelled  Nix.          117,  b.,  British  Museum. 


XL]  SECRET  CIRCULATION  DETECTED.  17.5 

cheap  in  the  capital  than  in  England  all  over."  l  But  as  there 
was  another  and  contemporaneous  famine  in  the  land,  those 
vessels  carried  also  a  more  precious  cargo  than  "the  bread 
which  perisheth." 

About  the  end  of  1527,  or  beginning  of  1528,  the  agency  by 
which  the  circulation  had  been  so  successfully  carried  out 
was  at  last  detected.  Bilney  had  been  examined  at  the  end  of 
the  year,  and  probably  hints  incautiously  dropped  by  some 
witnesses  during  the  trial  may  have  led  to  the  discovery. 
Arrests  were  made  in  London.  The  University  of  Oxford 
was  searched  and  "Wolsey's  own  college,  St.  Frideswide's  or 
Cardinal  College,  was  found  to  be  deeply  infected.  Several 
students  escaped,  and  others  were  incarcerated  in  a  deep  cell 
under  the  college,  used  for  storing  salt  fish,  and  some  of  them 
died  from  the  effects  of  this  unhealthy  imprisonment  and  food. 
Nor  was  Bishop  Tunstall  idle  after  his  return  from  Spain,  and 
many  people  guilty  of  possessing  an  English  Bible  were  carried 
before  him.  "  Old  Father  Hacket,  being  hard  set  upon,  made 
a  discovery  of  a  great  many  of  his  friends  and  followers,"  to 
the  number  of  forty,  who  "  dwelt  chiefly  in  London ; " 2  and 
other  criminated  persons,  being  entangled  in  the  queries  put 
to  them,  gave  information  in  spite  of  themselves.  Another  class 
in  terror  revealed  everything,  and  at  once  brought  friends 
and  relatives  into  immediate  peril.  Sebastian  Harris, 
curate  of  the  parish  church  of  Kensington,  was  brought  up, 
and  confessed  that  "  he  had  the  New  Testament  in  the 
vulgar  tongue,  translated  by  William  Hochen,  priest,  and 
friar  Roye."  He  was  sentenced  not  to  approach  the  city  for 
four  years  nearer  than  two  miles.  Rodolph  Bradford,  fellow  of 
King's  College,  Cambridge,  carried  New  Testaments  to  Read 
ing,  "  with  a  godly  desire  to  disperse  them,"  and  he  was  after 
wards  imprisoned  for  two  years  as  the  penalty  of  his  work.3 
Forman,  rector  of  All  Hallows,  Honey  Lane  (Garret  being  his 
curate),  and  Jeffray  Lolme,  usher  in  St.  Anthony's  School,  were 
trusted  and  successful  agents  in  the  secret  and  dangerous 
toil  of  sowing  the  divine  seed  —  "  the  word  of  God." 

1  Halle's  Chronicle,  p.  736,  Lon-      2  Strype,  vol.  I,  pt.  1,  p.  114. 
don,  1809.  3  He  died  chaplain  to  Bishop  Latimer. 


176  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CIIAV. 

Numerous  persons  were  taken  up  for  having,  selling,  or 
reading  the  printed  English  Testament.  Tunstall  and 
Wharton  his  vicar-general,  with  their  spies,  had  been  very 
dexterous  and  successful,  and  the  bishop  wrote  on  the  15th 
March,  1528,  to  Wolsey,  that  he  was  obliged  to  commit  a 
man  to  the  Fleet,  as  his  own  prisons  were  so  full. 

But,  as  the  New  Testaments  came  from  abroad,  it  was 
deemed  advisable  not  only  to  check  the  torrent,  but  to  arrest 
it  at  its  source.  Royal  letters  were  accordingly  sent  to  the 
Princess  Margaret,  the  Emperor's  representative  in  the  Low 
Countries,  to  the  Governor  of  the  "English  House"  at  Antwerp, 
and  to  Hacket  also,  the  English  envoy,  urging  and  empower 
ing  him  to  get  possession  of  the  books.  He  came  at  once 
from  Mechlin  to  Antwerp  to  do  the  work ;  but  the  task  was 
one  of  great  difficulty.  He  was  "forward  in  the  business, 
made  no  small  diligence ;  ...  it  is  very  necessary 
and  time  to  be  done,  before  the  end  of  this  Barrow1  market. 
But  the  first  beginning  and  execution  must  be  done  in  the 
town  of  Antwerp,  which  is  the  fountain  of  such  things,  and 
herewith  all  other  places  will  take  an  example.  And  if 
it  has  happened  that  your  Grace  had  not  received  some 
other  books  of  the  translation,  as  I  have  sent  you  here 
before  now,  at  all  adventures,  I  send  you  this  inclosed,  one 
of  such  like  as  has  been  imprinted  in  the  said  town  of 
Antwerp ;  of  the  which  be  arrested,  in  the  Justice's  hands 
nigh  a  three  hundred  abiding  sentence." 2  Racket's  first 
demand  was  "that  the  imprimer  of  the  said  book,  named 
Christopher  of  Endhoven,  ought  to  be  banished  out  of  all 
the  Emperor's  lands  and  countries,  and  that  the  third  part 
of  all  his  goods  should  be  confiscated  in  the  Emperor's  hands, 
and  all  the  foresaid  English  books  burnt  in  the  fire,  according  to 
the  Emperor's  last  mandment  upon  such  like  heresies."  But  the 
Lords  of  Antwerp,  bound  by  their  own  laws  and  usages,  would 
not  interfere  to  inflict  such  a  punishment,  and  Endhoven  was 
released.  Hacket  next  proposed  to  buy  up  the  whole  stock 

1  Bergen-op-Zoom.  4th   January,    1527,  Cotton    MSS., 

2  Letter  from   Mechlin  to  Brian     Galba,  B.  ix,  fol.  37. 
Take,  one  of  the  king's  secretaries, 


XL]  RACKETS  ZEAL.  177 

of  volumes,  and  despatch  it  to  England,  as  those  in  possession 
of  Endhoven  could  not  be  touched  by  law ;  but  all  that  could 
be  found  in  Antwerp  or  Barrow  were  collected  and  burned,  as 
he  informs  Wolsey  on  the  20th  of  February,  1520 — "three 
books  "  being  specially  referred  to — and  these  are  plainly  three 
editions  of  Tyndale,  copies  of  which  had  been  sent  to  him 
from  England  for  identification. 

That  there  was  an  eager  and  incessant  demand  in  England 
for  the  New  Testament  came  to  be  well  known,  and  the 
demand  stimulated  a  growing  supply,  in  spite  of  the  hazards 
attending  such  merchandize.  During  Endhoven's  arrest,  as  the 
envoy  had  hinted,  an  additional  issue  of  the  New  Testament, 
"  in  a  greater  letter,"  was  brought  out  by  another  printer  in 
Antwerp,  and  copies  of  both  editions  were  imported  in  the 
corn  ships.  Thus,  in  1528,  John  Ruremond,  a  Dutchman, 
was  abjured  for  "causing  fifteen  hundred  of  Tyn dale's  New 
Testament  to  be  printed  in  Antwerp,  and  for  bringing  five 
hundred  of  them  into  England."  According  to  George  Joye, 
of  both  editions  five  thousand  copies  were  printed;  but 
the  last  edition  had  "no  corrector  of  the  press."  Hacket 
writes  in  alarm  to  Wolsey,  on  the  23rd  of  May,  "  Some  new 
printers  of  the  town  of  Antwerp  have  brought  to  be  sold 
to  this  Barrow  market  diverse  English  books,  entitled  the  New 
Testament,  ...  of  which  I  have  found  twenty-four  in  one 
man's  hand.  ...  I  trust  shortly  to  see  them  burned.  .  .  . 
I  hear  say  that  there  has  been  at  the  last  Frankfort  market 
more  than  two  thousand  such  like  English  books."  The  En 
voy  in  his  zeal  had  also  visited  Ghent,  Bruges,  Brussels,  and 
Louvain,  and  did  what  he  could  to  collect  and  send  to  the 
fire  the  copies  prepared  for  his  native  island.  At  length, 
as  a  more  effectual  remedy,  it  was  resolved  not  only  to  watch 
and  stop  the  presses  on  the  Continent,  but,  if  possible,  to  capture 
the  translator  himself,  and  his  associates.  Wolsey,  in  June, 
1528,  corresponded  on  the  subject  with  Hacket,  and  asked 
that  means  should  be  taken  to  have  five  men  (three1  of  them 

1  The  three  men  were  apparently  ander  Barclay,  the  translator  and  en- 
Eoye,Tyudale,audHarman.  Einck's  larger  of  Brandt's  Navis  Stultifeni 
letter  to  Wolsey  mentions  also  Alex-  — the  Ship  of  Fools. 

VOL.  I.  M 


178  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

especially)  arrested,  and  that  the  Lady  Mary,  the  regent,  should 
be  induced  to  send  them  to  England  for  trial.  The  scheme 
failed;  the  law  of  the  empire  allowed  the  extradition  of  a 
traitor,  but  not  of  a  heretic.  Search,  however,  was  made  for 
the  delinquents,  and  Harman  only  could  be  found.  On  the 
14th  of  July,  Hacket  notified  Wolsey  of  Harman' s  appre 
hension.  It  was  a  bold  stroke  on  the  part  of  a  foreign 
power  to  imprison  an  English  merchant.  The  petition  of 
Harman  for  release  in  July,  1528,  tells  his  story: — "Richard 
Harman,  being  in  prison  for  having  sold  New  Testaments  to 
English  merchants,  having  been  sent  to  him  out  of  Germany, 
does  plead  for  himself,  that  he  and  his  wife  might  be  let  out  on 
sufficient  bail,  to  recover  his  debts  upon  the  breaking  up  of  the 
fair."  But  he  was  not  released  till  the  26th  February,  1529. 
In  the  meantime,  Wolsey  was  not  to  be  baffled,  and  letters  came 
from  England  charging  Harman  with  treason;  but  the  Princess 
and  Council  wished  to  know  the  special  treason  before  they 
would  act.  Hacket  hoped  that  Harman's  "  purse  would  suffer 
long  penance,"  but  he  was  soon  alarmed  at  the  report  of 
Harman's  declaration  that  his  imprisonment  had  cost  him 
2,000  guilders,  and  that  he  confidently  trusted  to  recover 
damages.  Time  passed  on,  and  Harman,  getting  out  of  prison, 
had  Hacket  arrested  by  the  Amant  ;  but  his  privilege  as 
ambassador  was  successfully  pleaded,  and  he  was  allowed  to 
depart  to  Brussels,  and  thus  was  happily  out  of  Antwerp 
before  Tyndale  came  to  reside  in  it.  Wolsey  did  not  like  to  be 
defeated ;  Friar  West  of  Greenwich  was  taken  into  the  plot ; 
and  a  special  appeal,  dated  Hampton  Court  Palace,  on  the  5th 
of  August,  was  made  to  Herman  Rinck  of  Cologne.  Rinck's 
answer,  October,  1528,  shows  the  sort  of  work  expected  of  him, 
and  he  had  pride  and  pleasure  in  doing  it,  his  reply  being  : 
"  With  the  utmost  diligence  I  shall  also  take  care  as  to  the 
aforesaid  Roye  and  Hutchin,  .  .  .  both  as  to  apprehend 
ing  them  and  observing  what  places  they  frequent."  He  had 
already  said  that  they  had  not  been  seen  at  Frankfort  since 
Easter,  and  the  market  after  Lent,  and  it  is  not  known 
whither  they  are  gone,  or  whether  they  are  alive  or  dead." 
But  Tyndale's  place  of  abode  could  not  be  discovered,  for 


XL]  TUNSTALL  OUTWITTED.  179 

he  had  left  Worms  and  gone  to  Marburg.  Rinck,  however, 
adds  that  his  industry  had  been  to  some  extent  rewarded  :  "  I 
gained  over  the  consuls  at  Frankfort  by  gifts  and  presents,  so 
that  I  might  scrape  together  and  heap  together  ...  all 
the  books  from  every  quarter.  But  these  books  (unless  I  had 
found  them  out  and  interposed)  would  have  been  inclosed  and 
concealed  in  paper,  packed  in  ten  bundles  covered  over  with 
flax  (or  linen)  ;  they  would  in  time,  craftily  and  without  sus 
picion,  have  been  transmitted  by  sea  into  Scotland  and 
England  as  to  the  same  place,  and  would  have  been  sold  as 
merely  clean  paper;  but  I  think  that  very  few  or  none  of  those 
carried  away  have  been  discovered."1  Scott,  the  printer  of 
Strasburg,  was  arrested  also;  but  the  book  which  he  had 
published  was  Roye's  Satire,  with  which  Tyndale  had  no 
connection.  The  clever  satirist  had,  with  the  plausibility 
which  Tyndale  ascribes  to  him,  talked  the  printer  over 
to  execute  the  work,  though  he  had  no  funds  to  defray  the 
expense. 

At  the  Treaty  of  Cambray  in  1529,  when  Tunstall,  More, 
and  Hacket  were  the  English  representatives,  it  was  agreed 
that  while  mercantile  traffic  between  the  Low  Countries  and 
England  was  to  continue,  "  no  one  was  to  print  or  sell  any 
Lutheran  books  on  either  side."  Tunstall  came  home  by 
way  of  Antwerp,  and  his  exploit  there  has  been  recorded  by 
Halle,  the  old  Chronicler :  "  Here  it  is  to  be  remembered  one 
Augustine  Packington,  a  merchant  and  mercer  of  London,  the 
same  time  was  in  Antwerp,  where  the  bishop  then  was ;  and 
this  Packington  was  a  man  who  highly  favoured  Tyndale,  but 
to  the  bishop  shewed  the  contrary.  The  bishop,  desirous  to 
have  his  purpose  brought  to  pass,  communed  of  the  New  Tes 
taments,  and  how  gladly  he  would  buy  them.  Packington, 
hearing  him  say  so,  said — '  My  Lord,  if  it  be  your  pleasure,  I 
can  in  this  matter  do  more,  I  dare  say,  than  most  of  the  mer 
chants  of  England  that  are  here,  for  I  know  the  Dutchmen  and 
strangers  that  have  bought  them  of  Tyndale,  and  have  them 
here  to  sell ;  so  that  if  it  be  your  lordship's  pleasure  to  pay  for 

1  Cotton  MSS.,  Vitellius,  B.  xxi,  fol.  43,  British  Museum. 


180  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAJ-. 

them,  for  otherwise  I  cannot  come  by  them,  but  I  must  disburse 
money  for  them,  I  will  then  assure  you  to  have  every  book  of 
them  that  is  here  imprinted,  and  is  here  unsold.'  The  bishop, 
thinking  he  had  God  by  the  toe,  when  indeed  he  had,  as  after 
he  thought,  the  devil  by  the  fist,  said,  '  Gentle  Mr.  Packington, 
do  your  diligence  and  get  them ;  and  with  all  my  heart  I  will 
pay  for  them  whatsoever  they  cost  you,  for  the  books  are 
erroneous  and  nought,  and  I  intend  surely  to  destroy  them  all, 
and  to  burn  them  at  Paul's  Cross.'  Augustine  Packington 
came  to  William  Tyndale  and  said,  '  William,  I  know  that  thou 
art  a  poor  man,  and  hast  a  heap  of  New  Testaments  and  books 
by  thee,  for  the  which  thou  hast  endangered  thy  friends  and 
beggared  thyself;  and  I  have  now  gotten  thee  a  merchant, 
which  with  ready  money  shall  despatch  thee  of  all  that  thou 
hast,  if  you  think  it  profitable  to  yourself  '  Who  is  the  mer 
chant  ? '  said  Tyndale.  '  The  Bishop  of  London,'  said  Packing- 
ton.  '  O,  that  is  because  he  will  burn  them,'  said  Tyndale. 
1  Yea,  marry,'  quoth  Packington.  '  I  am  the  gladder,'  quoth 
Tyndale,  '  for  these  two  benefits  shall  come  thereof — I  shall  get 
money  to  bring  myself  out  of  debt,  and  the  whole  world  will 
cry  out  against  the  burning  of  God's  Word  ;  and  the  overplus 
of  the  money  that  shall  remain  with  me  shall  make  me  more 
studious  to  correct  the  said  New  Testament,  and  so  newly  to 
imprint  the  same  once  again,  and  I  trust  the  second  will  much 
better  like  you  than  ever  did  the  first.'  So  forward  went  the 
bargain,  the  bishop  had  the  books,  Packington  had  the  thanks, 
and  Tyndale  had  the  money."1  The  sequel  of  the  story  is  as 
amusing  :  "  After  this  Tyndale  corrected  the  same  New  Testa 
ments  again,  and  caused  them  to  be  newly  imprinted,  so  that 
they  came  thick  and  threefold  over  into  England.  .  .  The 
bishop  sent  for  Packington  again,  and  asked  how  the  Testa 
ments  were  still  so  abundant,  and  Packington  replied,  '  It  will 
never  be  better  so  long  as  they  have  the  letters  and  the  stamps. 
Therefore  it  were  better  for  your  lordship  to  buy  the  stamps 
too.'  In  short  space  after,  it  fortuned  that  George  Constantino 
was  apprehended  by  Sir  Thomas  More,  who  was  then  Chancellor 

1  The  story  is  also  told  in  Foxe,  Acts  and  Monuments,  vol.  IV,  p.  G70. 


XL]  CONSTANTINE'S  BETRAYAL  OF  FRIENDS.  181 

of  England,  suspected  of  certain  heresies.  During  the  time 
that  he  was  in  the  custody  of  Master  More,  after  divers  com 
munications,  amongst  other  things  Master  More  asked  of  him, 
saying,  '  Constantino, l  I  would  have  thee  to  be  plain  with  me 
in  one  thing  that  I  will  ask,  and  I  promise  thee  I  will  show 
thee  favour  in  all  other  things  whereof  thou  art  accused.  There 
is  beyond  the  sea,  Tyndale,  Joye,  and  a  great  many  of  you  ;  I 
know  they  cannot  live  without  help.  There  are  some  that 
help  and  succour  them  with  money ;  and  thou  being  one  of 
them,  hadst  thy  part  thereof,  and  therefore  knowest  from 
whence  it  came.  I  pray  thee,  tell  me  who  be  they  that  help 
them  thus  ? '  '  My  lord,'  quoth  Constantine,  '  I  will  tell  thee 
truly ;  it  is  the  Bishop  of  London  that  hath  holpen  us,  for  he 
hath  bestowed  among  us  a  great  deal  of  money,  upon  New 
Testaments,  to  burn  them  ;  and  that  hath  been,  and  yet  is,  our 
only  succour  and  comfort.'  '  Now,  by  my  troth,'  quoth  More, 
'  I  think  even  the  same,  for  so  much  I  told  the  bishop  before 
he  went  about  it.' 2  The  story  is  110  doubt  true  in  its  essential 
features ;  but  the  implied  simplicity  of  Tunstall  can  scarcely  be 
accepted.  Nor  was  the  poverty  of  Tyndale  so  great  as  the 
anecdote  supposes.  He  was  poor  in  that  he  had  no  settled 
income,  but  his  own  personal  expenditure  was  small,  and  he 
never  wanted  money  for  his  work.  Some  kind  friends  must 
have  invested  large  funds  in  his  first  enterprise.  The  six 
thousand  copies  of  the  two  first  editions  of  the  New  Testament 

1  In  1531,  Constantine  not  only  2  Halle's  Chronicle,  p.  762."  Lon- 
f ailed  in  courage  before  Sir  Thomas  don,  1809.  A  brother  of  Packiug- 
More,  but,  in  More's  own  words,  ton,  and  one  of  the  burgesses  in 
"  uttered  and  disclosed  divers  of  his  Parliament  for  the  city  of  London, 
companions,  .  .  .  devised  how  these  as  he  was  going  out  on  a  foggy 
devilish  books  which  himself  and  morning  to  a  neighbouring  church 
others  of  his  fellows  had  bought  to  attend  early  service,  was  shot 
and  shipped,  might  come  to  the  dead  in  the  street.  Inceut,  Dean 
bishop's  hands  to  be  burnt.  And,  of  St.  Paul's,  confessed  on  his 
therefore,  he  showed  me  the  ship-  death-bed  that  he  had  "  hired  an 
man's  name  that  had  them,  and  the  Italian  for  sixty  crowns  or  there- 
marks  of  the  fardels  by  which  I  have  abouts  to  do  the  feat."  Foxe,  vol.  V 
since  his  escape  received  them."  p.  250. 
More's  Works,  p.  347,  ed.  1557. 


182  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

printed  by  him  were  sold  for  about  two  shillings  a  piece,1  and 
must  therefore  have  cost  about  six  hundred  pounds,  represent 
ing  nine  thousand  pound  in  present  value.  In  Antwerp,  at  a 
later  period,  he  went  about  bestowing  charities  on  the 
poor  and  sick. 

More  was  evidently  perplexed  to  account  for  the  great 
expense  incurred  in  bringing  so  many  New  Testaments  into 
the  country,  and  in  supporting  abroad  "  a  few  ungracious  folks 
that  Hed  out  of  the  realm  .  .  .  that  nought  had  here  and 
nought  carried  hence,  and  are  yet  sustained  and  supported  with 
money.  .  .  .  Which  books,  albeit  that  they  can  neither  be 
printed  there  without  great  cost,  nor  here  sold  without  great 
adventure  and  peril,  yet  cease  they  not  to  print  there,  and  send 
them  hither  by  whole  vats  full  at  once.  And  in  some  places, 
looking  for  no  price,  cast  them  abroad  by  night ;  labour,  travel 
cost,  charge,  and  peril  involved."  -  But  he  could  not  forbear 
a  sneering  allusion  to  such  books,  "  of  every  sort  of  them, 
some  be  brought  into  this  realme,  and  kept  in  hucker-mucker, 
by  some  shrewd  masters,  that  kepe  them  for  no  good."  3  The 
Lord  Chancellor  did  not  realize  the  priceless  value  which 
many  good  people  put  upon  the  Gospels  and  Epistles  in 
their  native  tongue,  and  he  might  have  known  that  to 
many  brave  and  enthusiastic  spirits  there  was  a  strange 
fascination  in  the  very  peril  involved  in  a  work  which, 
pure  and  blessed  as  it  was,  might  load  their  limbs  with 
iron,  or  send  them  to  the  stake.  The  first  two  editions 
had  long  since  gone  to  England,  and  the  books  bought  for  the 
fire  must  have  been  the  Dutch  reprints.  There  is  some  proba 
bility  that  Tyndale  about  this  period  saw  an  edition  through 
the  press  without  revising  it,  but  he  seems  to  have  put  into  it 
the  epilogue  to  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  which  had  been 
published  separately,  and  to  have  sent  copies  to  his  younger 

1  Hilles  deponed  that  lie  had  sold  demn  me  hugger-mugger."     Letters 
a  Testament  for  three  shillings.  231,   Parker   ed.      Hamlet,  act    4, 

2  Preface  to  Confutation.  scene    5.     See  Wheatley's  Diction- 

3  Hucker-mucker      means      clan-  ary  of  Reduplicated  Words,  sub  voce, 
destiuely  or  in  secret.     Thus  Phil-  London,  1866. 

pot  says — "  I   fear  they   will    con- 


XL]  DESPAIR  OF  BISHOP  NIKKE. 

brother  John  in  London.  Bayfield,  whom  Stokesley  at  his 
trial  knocked  down  with  his  crozier,  and  who  was  ultimately 
burned  at  Newgate,  was  accused  of  having  a  copy  of  the  New 
Testament  containing  a  prologue  to  the  Romans,  and  such  a 
prologue  does  not  seem  to  characterize  the  earlier  Antwerp 
issues. 

After  Wolsey  had  bidden  "a  long  farewell  to  all  his 
greatness,"  and  had  been  succeeded  by  Sir  Thomas  More,  a 
fierce  proclamation  was  issued  at  the  end  of  the  year 
1529,  by  royal  authority,  against  all  heretical  teachers,  and 
against  importers,  sellers,  authors,  possessors,  and  distribu 
tors  of  heretical  books.  Among  the  twenty-four  books 
mentioned,  Tyndale's  New  Testament  occupies  the  first 
place,  a  preeminence  to  which  it  was  entitled  for  its  own 
sake,  though  the  terror  of  its  enemies  lifted  it  to  such 
honour.  All  are  invited  to  become  spies,  and  give  infor 
mation.  The  ecclesiastics  only  had  interfered  up  to  this 
time ;  now  the  bishops  and  the  civil  authorities  were  allied 
as  inquisitors. 

But  the  printing  of  the  New  Testament  was  still  going 
on  as  a  matter  of  common  trade  ;  Jewish  capital  had  been 
invested  in  it ;  sale  and  export  were  now  matters  of  com 
mercial  calculation  and  profit,  so  that,  apart  from  Tyndale's 
personal  cognizance  and  supervision,  three  editions  probably 
were  printed  at  Antwerp  in  1529  and  1530.  The  circulation 
of  these  Scriptures,  in  spite  of  all  opposition,  was  widening  in 
England,  and  Bishop  Nikke,  who  had  given  so  liberally  for  buy 
ing  up  copies  at  an  earlier  period,  complained,  in  1530,  that  the 
suppression  of  them  was  beyond  his  ability,  and  the  confession 
was  wrung  from  him,  "  it  passeth  my  power,  or  any  spiritual 
man,  now  to  do  it,"  one  reason  alleged  by  him  being  "  that 
the  people  believe  it  to  be  the  king's  pleasure  that  the  New 
Testament  in  English  should  go  forth,  and  that  men  should 
have  it  and  read  it."  He  goes  on  to  utter  the  melancholy 
misgiving,  if  "  they,"  the  readers  of  the  New  Testament  in 
English,  "  continue  any  time,  they  shall  undo  us  all.  .  . 
I  hear  of  no  clerk  that  hath  come  out  lately  of  that 
College  (Gonville  and  Caius),  but  savoureth  of  the  frying 


184  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

pan,1  though  he  speak  never  so  holily." 2  The  phrase 
first  employed  in  one  clause  of  the  doleful  letter  had 
been  "  the  saide  boks,"  but  it  was  erased  and  the  more  special 
words  inserted,  "  the  New  Testamente  in  iuglesshe,"  for 
it,  the  record  of  Love  Incarnate,  was  the  real  object  of  dread 
and  hostility.  The  same  year,  on  the  24th  May,  the  more 
important  members  of  the  hierarchy  met — Warham,  Tunstall, 
and  Gardyner — with  Sir  Thomas  More,  and  "  with  the  king's 
highness  being  present,"  and  issued  another  condemnation  of 
the  New  Testament  "corrupted  by  William  Tyndale,"  and 
ordered  that  it  was  to  be  "  repelled,  rejected,  and  put  away." 
This  meeting  was  called  by  the  king  on  account  of  the  pressure 
of  public  opinion,  since  divers  and  many  of  his  subjects  were 
"  thinking  that  it  were  to  all  men  not  only  expedient, 
but  also  necessary,  to  have  in  the  English  tongue  both  the 
New  Testament  and  the  Old  "  ;  but  the  decision  was  that  "  it 
is  not  necessary  for  the  said  Scripture  to  be  in  the  English 
tongue,  and  in  the  hands  of  the  common  people."  Yet  popular 
desire,  as  it  could  not  be  repressed,  was  humoured,  for  it  was 
proclaimed  that  "  his  Highness  intended  to  provide,  that  the 
Holy  Scriptures  shall  be  by  great,  learned,  and  catholic  persons 
translated  into  the  English  tongue,  if  it  shall  then  seem  to 
his  Grace  convenient  to  be." 

About  the  same  period,  Tunstall,  now  Bishop  of  Durham, 
fulfilling  the  threatening  which  he  had  uttered  at  Antwerp, 
openly  burned  all  the  New  Testaments  which  he  had  bought 
or  seized,  in  St.  Paul's  Churchyard,3  Stokesley  being  then  in 
Italy.  This  fire  was  meant  as  a  public  demonstration  and 
warning ;  but,  as  Burnet  remarks,  the  people  called  it  "  a 
burning  of  the  Word  of  God."  The  destruction  at  this  time, 
as  well  as  before  and  after  it,  must  have  been  great.  As 
we  have  already  said,  of  the  quarto  edition  only  a  fragment 

1  The  cant  term  seems    to    have  pan."    Works,  p.  387,  Parker  Society 

been  a  common  one.     West,  Bishop  edition. 

of   Ely,  thus  menaced   Latimer  on  '2  Cotton  MSS.,  Cleopatra  E.   V., 

his  change  of  view,  "  I  perceive  that  fol.  360. 

you   smell   somewhat   of   the  pan."  :i  Halle's  Chronicle,  p.  771. 
Coverdale  speaks  of  "  the  Pelagian's 


i.]  BURNING  OF  NEW  TESTAMENTS.  185 

remains;  of  the  octavo,  two  copies,  one  of  them  imperfect, 
survive ;  and  of  the  other  three  editions  printed  at  Antwerp, 
one  by  Endhoven,  and  two  by  Ruremond,  not  a  single 
specimen  has  been  distinctly  identified.  But  the  people  had 
now  some  fuller  understanding  of  the  character  and  worth  of 
an  English  version ;  what  had  been  valued  by  a  few,  had 
come  to  be  appreciated  by  multitudes.  The  rabid  destruction 
of  the  Scriptures  only  raised  suspicions  against  the  clerical 
burners,  and  diffused  an  intense  desire  to  possess  a  book  at  the 
circulation  and  study  of  which  the  spiritualty  were  so  greatly 
alarmed.  Prohibitions  against  possessing  and  reading  the 
New  Testament  were  not  obeyed  in  many  cases.  In  1529, 
Mafelde,  precentor  of  the  Benedictine  Friars  at  Rochester,  was 
proceeded  against  for  keeping  an  English  Testament,  contrary 
to  the  injunctions 

Proclamations  and  burnings  were  a  coarse  and  vulgar  ex 
pedient  for  the  suppression  of  a  book  which  claimed  a  re 
ception  as  an  honest  and  learned  effort  to  give  the  Scriptures 
in  an  intelligible  form  to  the  English  nation.  To  destroy  the 
volume  was  only  a  rough  way  of  checking  its  circulation  by 
putting  it  out  of  existence.  But,  as  the  producing  power  was 
not  injured,  and  copies  could  still  be  rapidly  multiplied,  and 
secretly  imported  and  sent  through  the  country,  something 
better  than  the  application  of  fire  was  thought  of,  and  a 
critical  condemnation  of  the  version  was  resorted  to.  Tunstall 
had  already  declared  that  there  were  more  than  two  thousand 
errors  in  the  volume.  Ridley,1  in  a  letter,  of  which  use  has 
been  made  more  than  once,  had  also  taken  the  same  ground — 
reprobating  the  doctrine  of  the  "  Notes,"  finding  fault  with  a 
few  renderings,  branding  the  omission  of  such  terms  as  charity, 
penance,  priest,  and  church,  and  adding,  "  Show  ye  the  people 
that  if  any  be  of  so  proud  and  stubborn  stomach,  that 
he  will  believe  that  there  is  no  fault  or  error  except  it  be 
declared  to  him  that  he  may  see  it,  let  him  come  hither 
to  my  lord,  who  hath  profoundly  examined  all,  and  he  shall 
hear  and  see  errors,  except  that  he  be  blind  and  have  no 

1  Ridley  was  uncle  to  the  famous  frayed  the  expense  of  his  educn- 
martyr  of  the  same  name,  and  de-  tion. 


186  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 

eyes."1  Tunstall's  copy  must  have  borne  these  numerous 
marks  on  its  margin.  But  statements  of  this  nature  were 
too  vague  to  make  any  impression,  and  they  were  doubt 
less  ascribed  to  ecclesiastical  prejudice  and  intolerance.  At 
the  same  time  the  man  who  pronounces  these  last  cen 
sures  absolves  himself  from  any  intimate  acquaintance  with 
the  condemned  volume,  when  he  coolly  concludes  :  "  I  have 
none  of  these  books,  but  only  remember  what  things  I  read 
in  the  prefaces  and  annotations."  One  sentence  in  this  letter. 
has  a  peculiar  interest,  as  from  it  one  might  almost  guess 
the  title  of  the  New  Testament,  for  Ridley  pronounces  it 
heretical  since  it  says  "  that  it  is  prent  as  it  was  written 
by  the  Evangelistes "  .  .  .  .  ;  and  the  title  page  of  Joye's 
wretched  revision  is  somewhat  similar. 

1  Cotton  MSS.,  Cleopatra,  E.  V,  p.  362. 


CHAPTER   XII. 


rpHE  New  Testament  had  therefore  now  to  suffer  the  critical 
vituperation  of  Sir  Thomas  More.  Any  one  acquainted 
with  his  classical  tastes  and  acquirements,  his  love  of  erudition 
and  of  scholars,  would  have  anticipated  from  him  a  hearty 
welcome  for  Tyndale's  masterly  production.  Surely  a  befitting 
eulogy  might  have  been  expected  from  so  proficient  a  Greek 
student  who  had  greeted  in  an  eloquent  Latin  epigram  the  ap 
pearance  of  the  Original  Text  of  Erasmus  in  1516,  and  from 
so  accomplished  an  English  writer  as  the  historian  of  Richard 
III ;  from  one  who  could  so  well  appreciate  the  correctness  of 
the  translation,  and  who,  while  he  admired  the  boldness  and 
novelty,  could  make  all  allowance  for  the  difficulties,  of  a  first 
undertaking.  More  was  fond  of  theology  ;  and  in  St.  Lawrence 
Church,  Old  Jewry,  he  had  in  early  life  lectured  with  great 
popularity  on  Augustine's  De  Civitate  Dei.  Bishop  Tunstall 
shrank  himself  from  the  task  of  attacking  Tyndale,  but  laid  it 
on  the  learned  and  eloquent  statesman,  then  Chancellor  of  the 
Duchy  of  Lancaster.  As  a  preliminary  step,  he  formally 
licensed  him,  on  the  7th  of  March,  1528,  to  "  read  the  works 
of  the  heretics,"  in  order  that  he  might  confute  them,  for 
"  he  could  play  the  Demosthenes  both  in  our  native  tongue 
and  in  Latin."  More,  with  wonderful  speed,  produced  a 
volume  in  the  form  of  a  Dialogue1  between  the  author 

1  A    Dialogue     of    Sir     Thomas  diverse  matters     .   .   .    with    many 

More,  knyghte,  one   of   the  Couii-  other  things  touching   the  pestilent 

saill  of    our   Soveraine    Lorde  the  secte  of  Luther  and  Tyudale,  by  the 

King  and  chaucellour  of  hys  Duchy  t'one  bygone  (begun)  in  Saxony,  and 

of   Lancaster,   wherein    be   treatyd  by  the  t'other  labored  to  be  brought 


188  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

and  a  messenger  that  a  friend  had  sent  to  consult  him  about 
current  events,  such  as  the  recent  burning  of  the  New 
Testament.  The  Dialogue  was  published  in  June,  1529,  and 
on  the  25th  October  of  the  same  year  he  became  Lord 
Chancellor  of  England.  In  his  ingenious  and  eloquent 
arguments  on  behalf  of  the  Popish  Church  we  are 
not  here  interested,  nor  with  Tyndale's  lucid  and  vigorous 
replies  on  these  points.  More,  however,  does  not  display 
that  familiarity  with  patristic  and  mediaeval  learning 
which  was  possessed  by  many  divines  and  scholars  of  his  age. 
The  Answer  of  Tyiidale,  put  to  press  in  1531,  was  printed, 
according  to  Joye,  at  Amsterdam,  under  the  supervision  of 
Fry th.  More  was  said  to  have  "  the  best  knack  of  any  man 
in  Europe  at  calling  bad  names  in  good  Latin " ;  but  his 
Latin  occasionally  suffers  from  the  impetuosity  of  his  in 
vective.1  Now,  however,  to  produce  popular  impressions,  he 
wrote  against  Tyndale  in  English. 

More  roundly  declares  that  no  man  who  knew  the  character 
of  these  New  Testaments  could  complain  of  their  being 
burned,  their  proper  name  being  not  "  the  New  Testament, 
but  Tyndale's  Testament,  for  it  had  been  corrupted  and 
changed  to  a  clean  contrary  thing."  "  Over  a  thousand  texts 
by  tale  "  had  been  wrongly  and  falsely  translated,  and  it  was 
so  hopelessly  bad  that  it  could  not  be  amended,  for  ili  was  such 
a  mass  of  errors  that  to  study  to  find  out  one  error  were  "  to 
study  where  to  find  water  in  the  sea."  A  new  translation 
could  alone  suffice,  "  for  it  is  as  easy  to  weave  a  new  web  of 
cloth  as  to  sew  up  every  hole  in  a  net."  To  one  who  had 
been  obliged  to  leave  his  native  land,  that  he  might  be  a 
translator,  and  who  had  honestly  given  to  the  work,  "  to 
him  very  painful,"  all  his  erudition  and  so  many  laborious 
and  solitary  days,  a  charge  so  sweeping  and  merciless  as 
that  of  Sir  Thomas  More  must  have  been  "  as  a  sword  in 
his  bones/'  wounding  his  tenderest  sensibilities.  Who  could 
bear  to  be  told  so  bluntly,  and  taunted  so  haughtily,  that 

into  England.     Emprented  iii  Lon-         3  As  in  his  Responsio  ad  Convicia 
don  at  the  sygne  of  the  Meremayd,     M.  Lutheri,  1523. 
iit  Powlys  gate,  MVCXXIX. 


xii.]  CRITICAL  HOSTILITY  OF  SIR  THOMAS  MORE.  189 

he  had  come  so  lamentably  short  of  his  great  aim  ?  Had 
his  prayers  and  toils,  his  love  of  God's  Word  and  its  free 
circulation,  been  all  for  nought,  and  were  they  to  end  "in 
vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit "  ?  Tyndale's  soul  was  there 
fore  stirred  from  its  depths,  and  he  answered  not  only  with 
no  small  asperity  and  keen  personal  retort,  but  sometimes 
descended  to  employ  terms  unworthy  of  his  high  voca 
tion.  He  had  been  for  years  away  from  all  softening 
associations  of  kindred  or  friends,  forlorn  and  isolated  among 
strangers,  while  his  opponent  was  living  in  lettered  ease  and 
affluence,  endowed  with  high  power,  and  riding  in  the  "  second 
chariot "  after  the  king.  More  had  led  the  Commons  in  their 
refusal  of  money  to  Henry  VII,  on  the  occasion  of  the  mar 
riage  of  his  eldest  daughter  Margaret  to  James  IV  of  Scotland, 
and  had  fallen  under  the  royal  displeasure  so  deeply,  that,  as 
his  anticipated  success  in  life  seemed  to  be  suddenly  clouded 
he  thought  of  leaving  the  country.  He  might  have  recalled 
his  own  bitter  feelings,  as  he  contemplated  a  foreign  sojourn,  and 
ascribed  them  in  an  intensified  form  to  Tyndale  who  had  been 
expatriated  for  so  many  lonely  years.  His  reply  to  More  is 
always  shrewd,  straightforward,  scholarly,  and  without 
evasion,  vigorously  and  with  success  defending  every  point 
on  which  his  version  is  assaulted. 

More's  enormous  charge  so  vehemently  made,  dwindles 
at  length  into  the  alleged  mistranslation  of  some  six  words 
— congregation,  elder,  love,  favour,  knowledge,  repentance, 
instead  of  church,  priest,  charity,  grace,  confession,  penance. 
Three  of  these  terms — priest,  charity,  church — are  specially 
referred  to,  "  and  every  one  of  them  is  more  than  thrice 
three  times  repeated  and  rehearsed  in  the  book."  Tyndale 
easily  gives  good  reason  for  some  of  these  changes,  because 
the  older  terms  carried  wrong  associations  with  them.  Seniors 
was  not,  however,  a  happy  rendering,  and  Tyndale  at  once 
allows  it — "  it  is  no  very  good  English.  Howbeit,  I  spied 
my  fault  at  once,  long  ere  Master  More  told  it  me,  and  have 
mended  it  in  all  the  works  which  I  since  made,  and  called  it  an 
'  elder.'  "  His  defence  of  the  rendering  "  love "  is,  "  Verily 
charity  is  no  known  English  in  that  sense  which  Agape 


190  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

requireth."  This  rendering  "  love "  was  adduced,  during  a 
debate  in  the  Scottish  Parliament  of  1543,  as  an  objection  to 
the  free  circulation  of  Scripture.  It  may  be  added,  as  to  the 
word  "  congregation,"  that  More's  friend,  Erasmus,  in  his  Latin 
version,  uses  congregatio  a  great  many  times — as  in  Acts 
ii,  47;  v,  11;  vii,  38;  xi,  26;  xv,  22  ;  Horn,  xvi,  5;  1  Cor. 
i,  1;  xiv,  4,  33;  Coloss.  iv,  16,  &c.,  the  Vulgate  having  ec- 
clesia  in  all  these  places.  At  the  same  time  More  had  certainly 
the  right  to  ask  Tyndale  why  on  his  avowed  principles  he  had 
not  also  changed  "bishop"  into  overseer,  and  "deacon"  into  ser 
vant,  and  "baptism"  into  washing — "as  when  a  woman  washes 
a  buck  of  clothes."  The  Anglo-Saxon  Version  had  used  native 
terms  in  such  places.  More  justly  finds  fault  with  the  render 
ing  of  John  i,  1,  Tyndale's  version  being  "  In  the  beginning  was 
that  worde,  and  that  word  was  with  God,  and  God  was  that 
word,"  the  scholarly  Chancellor  remarking  that  "the  Greek 
article  should  have  its  proper  sense,  and  that  the  subjectum 
and  prcedicatum  in  the  last  clause  should  be  carefully  distin 
guished." 

The  two  men  did  not  understand  one  another.  More  had 
no  conception  of  the  learning,  the  loyalty,  the  simple-hearted 
ness,  and  self-denial  of  Tyndale ;  and  if  Tyndale  had  known 
More's  uprightness  and  grandeur  of  character,  he  would  never 
have  suspected  him  of  writing  for  lucre,  or  for  "mere  favour 
of  the  Church  of  Rome."  The  rumour  ran  that  five  thousand 
pounds  were  raised  as  a  reward,  and  that  when  Tunstall 
and  other  bishops  went  to  present  the  purse,  More,  with 
many  thanks,  declined  to  receive  it,  and,  with  all  their 
importunity,  they  could  not  "fist  him  with  a  penny  of  it.'' 
His  children  were  mentioned ;  but  his  reply  was,  "  Not  so ; 
I  should  rather  see  it  all  in  the  Thames  than  I  or  mine 
should  have  the  worth  of  one  penny  thereof."  More's  own 
account  is,  "I  had  not  a  grey  groat  given  me  since  I  wrote 
my  Dialogues  ...  in  good  faith,  I  will  not  say  nay,  but  that, 
in  reward  of  my  goodwill  and  my  labour  against  these  heretics, 
some  good  and  honourable  men  of  the  clergy  have  given  me 
much  more  than  ever  I  did  or  could  deserve.  But  I  dare  take 
God  and  them  also  to  record,  that  I  did  not  take  one  penny 


xii.]  HIS  ANOMALOUS  CHARACTER.  191 

thereof,  but  as  I  plainly  told  them,  I  would  rather  have  cast 
their  money  into  the  Thames  than  take  it." l  Tyndale  had  a 
strange  and  unfounded  notion  that  the  retirement  of  Wolsey 
and  the  elevation  of  More  were  only  a  little  dramatic  scene, 
without  any  reality — a  change  got  up  to  please  the  people 
offended  by  the  Cardinal,  and,  the  end  being  served,  the  actors 
would  return  to  their  former  position. 

Sir  Thomas  More  was  a  man  of  great  breadth  of  intellect 
and  of  high  mental  culture;  yet,  when  the  Church  was  in 
question,  his  geniality  of  nature  forsook  him,  "an  evil  spirit 
troubled  him,"  and  he  could  act  and  write  in  a  style  of 
gross  and  vulgar  fanaticism.  He  was  truly  an  anomaly. 
He  had  been  all  but  seduced  into  the  "idle  celibacy"  of 
the  Charterhouse ;  but  his  intimacy  with  Colet  and  other 
friends  saved  him  from  such  a  fate,  and  he  became  with 
them  a  reformer.  Yet  this  man,  of  proverbial  humour  and 
hilarity,  wore  a  hair  shirt2  next  his  skin,  and  flagellated  him 
self  with  a  whip  of  knotted  cords,  "  especially  every  Fridai  and 
great  Saincts  eves,  and  the  fouer  tymes  of  Ember  Weeke." 
His  dwelling  was  the  abode  of  peace ;  his  loving  nature  filled 
it  with  sunshine.  It  was  not  merely,  according  to  Erasmus, 
like  "  the  Academy  of  Plato,"  it  was  "  a  school  of  the  Christian 
religion."  More  was  fond  of  showing  the  animal  pets  of  his 
children ;  and  in  Holbein's  charming  picture  of  his  household, 
the  monkey  3  is  seen  lying  in  the  folds  of  Dame  Alice's  4  dress, 
and  the  domestic  fool  also  appears  in  the  group.  But  with 
all  this  overflowing  kindliness  of  nature,  he  could  say  of  poor 
men  as  honest  as  himself,  "  that  there  should  have  been  more 
burned  by  a  great  many  than  there  have  been  within  the  seven 
years  last  past,  the  lack  whereof,  I  fear  me,  will  make  more  to 
be  burned  within  this  seven  year  next  coming."  He  main- 

1  Apology,  Works,  p.  867,  ed.  1557.          3  Erasmus  had  already  immortal- 

2  The  hair  shirt,  given  by  him  to  ized  the  monkey,  as  he  had  seen  it  sly  - 
his  daughter  Margaret  a  short  time  ly  and  effectually  defending  a  rabbit 
before  his  execution,  is  said  to  be  hutch  from  the  attacks  of  a  weasel, 
still   preserved   in   the  convent    of  4  His   second  wife,  whom,  accor- 
Spilsburg,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  ding  to  Erasmus,  he  styled  ncc  belfa 
Blandf  ord.  nee  puella. 


192  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CIIAI>. 

tained  in  the  case  of  Barnes,  that  he  should  have  been  burned, 
notwithstanding  the  king's  safe-conduct;  and  in  the  case  of 
Bilney,  that  the  curt  process  should  have  been,  Burn  him 
to-day  and  try  him  to-morrow.  The  hands  which  had  never 
been  polluted  by  a  bribe  were,  during  his  last  months  of 
office,  stained  with  blood.  Vindicating  in  his  "  Utopia," 
which  apparently  represents  his  own  original  beliefs,  the 
doctrine  of  toleration — "for  as  man  cannot  make  himself 
believe  anything  he  pleases,  no  violence  should  be  used  to 
correct  him  " — he  yet  could  have  persons  seized,  scourged,  and 
consumed  to  ashes,  because  of  difference  of  religious  opinions. 
He  judged  it,  in  his  imaginary  commonwealth,  to  be  "  foolish 
and  indecent  to  threaten  and  terrify  another  for  the  pur 
pose  of  making  him  believe  what  did  not  appear  to  him 
to  be  true,"  and  he  wished  that  "  the  world  were  all  agreed 
to  put  all  violence  and  compulsion  away  on  all  sides ;"  but  he 
could  go  and  see  Bainham  of  the  Middle  Temple  racked 
in  the  Tower — his  crime  being  that  he  thought  Tyndale's  New 
Testament  to  be  "  utterly  good,"  and  the  poor  prisoner  was  at 
various  times  mercilessly  whipped  and  tortured.1  He  had  no 
difficulty  in  trying  to  force  the  conscience  of  other  men ;  but 
rather  than  violate  his  own  he  willingly  laid  his  head  upon 
the  block.  All  the  while  he  was  devoutly  conscientious,  and 
thought  that  he  was  doing  God  service  in  the  repression  of  error, 
even  to  stripes  and  death  ;  for,  to  any  one  who  regards  tolera 
tion  as  "soul-murder,"  the  extirpation  of  heretics  must  be  a 
paramount  duty.  His  earlier  theory  was  flung  aside,  and  he 
sank,  in  some  respects,  to  the  level  of  his  age.  But  he  denies 
the  story,  afterwards  told  by  Foxe  and  Burnet,  that  he 
had  a  tree  in  his  garden  called  the  Tree  of  Troth,  to  which 
he  tied  heretics  that  he  might  scourge  them.  He  admits, 

1  Bainham  had  married  the  widow  these — first,  I  say   it   is  lawful   for 

of   Simon   Fyshe,   author   of  "  The  every  man  and  woman  to  have  God's 

Supplication  of  Beggars,"  to  which  Book  in  their  mother  tongue."  .  .  . 

More  had  replied  by,  "The  Supplica-  He  called  the  Chancellor  his  "accuser 

tion  of  Souls  in  Purgatory."     In  his  and  judge,"  and  his  last  words  were 

address  at  the  stake,  30th  April,  1532,  "The    Lord    forgive    Sir    Thomas 

he  said,  "  The  articles  I  die  for  be  More." 


xii.]  HIS  ZEAL  AGAINST  HERETICS.  193 

however,  that  he  had  ordered  castigation  to  a  young  servant, 
who  had  been  venting  gross  sacramentarian  error  taught  him 
by  George  Joye,  and  that  he  had  caused  such  things  to  be  done 
by  the  officers  of  the  Marshalsea  to  some  classes  of  heretical 
offenders.  He  acknowledges,  too,  in  his  own  picquant  way,  that 
heretics  were  very  loath  to  fall  into  his  hands,  and  he  wonders 
at  their  reluctance,  "for  they  were  burnt  none  the  sooner."  In 
the  administration  of  justice  he  was  honest  beyond  suspicion, 
and  laboured  to  conclude  all  actions  within  a  reasonable  period ; 
nay,  "  the  poorer  and  meaner  the  suppliant  was,  the  more 
affably  would  he  speak  unto  him,  and  the  more  heartily  he 
would  hearken  to  his  cause  and  despatch  him." 1  But  not  only 
did  he  administer  the  law  against  religious  offenders  with 
special  zealousness,  he  also,  as  first  judge  under  the  crown, 
ordered  or  allowed  the  statutes  against  heretics  to  be  so 
illegally  stretched  or  disregarded,  as  to  be  the  means  of  in 
flicting  wanton  outrage  on  helpless  sufferers.2  But  lighter 
punishments  were  sometimes  inflicted.  When  John  Tyndale 
was  arrested  on  the  charge  of  corresponding  with  his  brother, 
sending  money  to  him,  and  receiving  and  selling  the  version, 
not  only  were  he  and  Thomas  Patmore,  a  London  draper,  very 
heavily  fined,  but  the  facetious  Lord  Chancellor  of  England 
sentenced  them  to  be  exhibited  for  a  laughing-stock  at  the 
standard  in  Cheapside,  on  horseback  with  their  faces  to  the 
animals'  tails,  and  their  cloaks  garnished  with  copies  of  the 
forbidden  Testament.3  He  had  composed  a  Latin  poem 

1  Life  by  his  great-grandson  Ores-  not  appear  so  singular  in  those  days, 
sacre  More  (p.  182),  who,  however,  for  Lord  Ellesmere,  more  than  half 
makes  the   mistake  of    calling   his  a  century  afterwards,  in  the  reign  of 
ancestor  the  first  lay  chancellor.  James  I,  when  a  "  Replication,"  ex- 

2  The  despatch  sent  to  the  English  tending    to    six    score    sheets,   and 
ambassadorat  Paris, givingan account  which  might  have  been  contained  in 
of  More 's  execution,  uses  language  of  sixteen,   was    brought  before    him, 
vehement  exaggeration  to  cover  the  ordered  that  the  parchment  should 
weakness  of    its    argument,   "  they  have  a  hole  cut  in  the  middle  of  it, 
were   well   worthy,   if  they  had   a  and  in  this  way  be  put  over  the  head 
thousand  lives,  to  have  suffered  ten  of  the  attorney  who  framed  it,  that 
times  a  more  terrible  death."  it  might  hang  over  his  shoulders 

3  This  form  of  punishment  might    with  the  written  side  outward,  and 
VOL.  I.  N 


194  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

in  high  praise  of  the  new  sovereign,  Henry  VIII,  on 
his  accession  ;  but  he  soon  came  to  know  the  character 
of  his  royal  master,  for,  speaking  to  his  son-in-law 
Roper  of  the  singular  favour  with  which  the  king 
regarded  him,  he  added,  "  Howbeit,  son  Roper,  I  may  tell 
thee  that  I  have  no  cause  to  be  proud  thereof;  for  if  my 
head  would  win  him  a  castle  in  France,  it  should  not  fail  to 
go;"  and  it  did  go  on  the  6th  of  July,  1535. 

He  had  enjoyed  the  witty  and  erudite  conversation  of 
Erasmus ;  and  even  when  he  held  the  Great  Seal,  he  was  so 
humble  that  he  was  wont  to  put  on  a  surplice  and  sing 
among  the  choristers  in  his  parish  church  of  Chelsea.  Yet 
his  elevated  and  noble  nature  could  stoop  to  use  this  lan 
guage  :  "  Our  Saviour  will  say  to  Tyndale,  Thou  art  accursed, 
Tyndale,  the  son  of  the  devil,  for  neither  flesh  nor  blood  hath 
taught  thee  these  heresies,  but  thine  own  father,  the  devil  that 
is  in  hell."  Or  again,  in  another  style :  "  Judge,  Christian 
reader,  whether  it  be  possible  that  he  be  any  better  than  a  beast, 
out  of  whose  brutish,  beastly  mouth  coineth  such  a  filthy  foam 
of  blasphemies  against  Christ's  holy  ceremonies."  More  had  a 
profound  admiration  for  Pico  della  Mirandola,  whose  Life  he 
had  translated,  with  portions  of  his  Works,  in  1510;  and  it 
would  have  been  well  if  he  had  remembered  one  of  the  Italian 
prince's  sayings,  Englished  by  himself :  "Take  no  heed  what 
many  men  do,  but  do  what  thing  the  very  law  of  nature, 
what  thing  very  reason,  what  thing  our  Lord  himself  showeth 
thee  to  be  done."  He  eulogizes  Savonarola  as  "  a  preacher, 
as  well  in  cunning  as  in  holiness  of  living  most  famous,"  even 
though  he  had  been  excommunicated  by  the  Pope,  and  at 
length  hanged  and  burned  as  a  heretic ;  and  might  not  he 
have  allowed  that  others  who  opposed  the  Papacy  were  as 
honest  and  upright  as  the  Florentine  reformer?  But,  in  his 
own  words,  "  he  had  been  troublesome  to  heretics,"  and,  as  he 
writes,  in  explanation  of  his  self-made  epitaph,  to  Erasmus,  he 
had  done  it  "  with  ambition."  l  More,  however,  stands  in- 

that  he,  so  ornamented,  should  be  l  Quod  in  epitaphio  profiteer,  me 
led  round  the  various  courts  of  West-  hrereticis  esse  molestum,  hoc  aiu- 
minster  Hall.  bitiose  feci. 


xii.]  HIS  OUTRAGEOUS  RAILING.  195 

finitely  higher  than  some  of  his  successors — than  Audley,  so 
obedient  a  minister  in  Henry's  worst  crimes ;  than  Wriothesley, 
who,  when  Ann  Askew  was  tortured,  put  his  own  hand  to  the 
rack  to  increase  the  lady's  agony ;  or  than  Rich,  whose  "  infamy" 
is  chronicled  by  Lord  Campbell.1  In  his  preface  to  his  Confuta 
tion,  adverting  stoically  to  various  sufferers,  he  stigmatizes 
Hitton2  as  "  a  new  saint  of  Tyndale  canonization,"  but  "  the 
devil's  stinking  martyr,''  &c. ;  and  when  he  refers  to  Tewksbury, 
a  London  tradesman,  who  had  been  arraigned  before  him  in  his 
own  house  at  Chelsea,  and  sent  by  him  and  the  Bishop  of 
London  to  the  fire,  he  declares  that  the  martyr  "  owed  all  his 
heretical  opinions  to  Tyndale's  ungracious  books,  for  which 
the  poor  wretch  now  lyeth  in  hell,  and  crieth  out  on  him ; 
and  Tyndale,  if  he  do  not  amend  in  time,  he  is  like  to  find 
him,  when  they  come  together,  a  hot  firebrand  burning  in  his 
back.  .  .  .  The  marvel  is,  Tyndale  denieth  purgatory  except 
he  intend  to  go  to  hell."  Though  his  abuse  of  his  opponents 
be  so  rabid,  he  contrives,  like  a  clever  lawyer,  to  fix  on  them 
a  charge  of  railing :  "  To  match  them  therein  I  neyther  canne 
thoughe  I  woulde,  neyther  wyll  I  though  I  coulde,  for  in  rayling 
standeth  all  their  revel ;  with  their  railing  all  their  roste  meate 
is  basted,  ail  their  potte  seasoned,  all  their  pye  meate  spiced, 
all  their  manchetes,  and  all  their  wafers,  and  all  their 
ypocrase  made."  3  But,  having  washed  his  hands,  and  taken 
this  protest,  he  could  style  Tyndale  "one  of  the  hellhounds 
which  the  devil  hath  in  his  kennel" — "a  devilish  dronkeii 
soul."  Tyndale  had  called  the  writings  of  Aquinas  "  draff," 
and  for  this  sin  More  describes  him  as  "  this  drowsy  drudge, 
who  hath  drunken  so  deep  into  the  devil's  dregs,  that  he  may 
hap  ...  to  fall  into  the  mashing  fat,  and  turn  himself 

1  Lives  of  the  Chancellors,  vol.  II,  had  been  across  the  seas,  and  brought 
p.  143.  An  interesting  interpretation  back  two  New  Testaments.     After 
of  the  side  glances  in  the  Utopia,  at  trial  he  was  sentenced  to  the  stake 
things  and  customs  in  England,  may  by    Archbishop    Warham,    and    he 
be  found   in  Brewer's  Letters   and  was    burned     in    February,     1529. 
Papers  of  the  Reign  of  Henry  VIII,  Foxe,  vol.  VIII,  Appendix. 

vol  II,  pt.  1,  p.  cclxvii,  London,  1864.         3  Apology, '  Works,    p.    866,    ed. 

2  Hitton,  "  an  honest,  poor  man,"     1557. 


196  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

into  draff,  as  the  hogs  shall  feed  upon  and  fill  their  bellies 
thereof." l 

On  the  other  hand,  Tyndale  falls  as  low  as,  with  poor  wit,  to 
call  Wolsey  "  Wolfslee  " — '.'  a  wily  wolf  and  a  raging  sea,"  and 
More  "Master  Mock";  and  he  sometimes  approaches  the  Chan 
cellor's  rhetoric,  as  when  he  says  of  him,  "Yet  for  all  that,  covet- 
ousness  blinded  the  eyes  of  that  gleering  fox  more  and  more, 
and  hardened  his  heart  against  the  truth  with  the  confidence 
of  his  painted  poetry,  babbling  eloquence,  and  juggling  argu 
ments  of  subtile  sophistry,  grounded  on  his  'unwritten  verities,' 
as  true  and  authentic  as  his  story  of  Utopia."  And  he  speaks 
of  Popish  ceremonies  in  a  style  so  stark  and  naked  that  it 
must  have  shocked  Catholics  into  antipathy  and  horror. 
Lord  Herbert  calls  him  a  witty  but  violent,  and  sometimes 
railing  disputant.2  But  to  Tyndale's  honour  be  it  recorded, 
that  when  he  comes  to  the  tenth  chapter  of  the  second  book 
of  More's  Dialogue — a  tale  of  very  gross  indecency — his  single 
reply  is,  that  "  the  chapter  is  meet  for  the  author  and  his 
worshipful  doctrine." 

On  the  abstract  question  of  translations  of  Scripture,  Sir 
Thomas  More  writes  calmly,  like  one  who  had  looked  up  to 
Colet  "with  filial  reverence,"  and  admits  that  he  would  not 
deny  it  to  the  people,  even  though  it  might  be  abused.  But 
the  translation  which  he  would  allow  must  be  a  new  one, 
made  through  a  division  of  labour,  by  "  sure,  good,  catholic, 
and  well-learned  men,  and  allowed  by  the  ordinaries.  It  is 
not  to  be  given  to  such  as  do  not  profit."  Nor  should  the 
people  have  the  entire  Scripture  ;  each,  however,  may  secure  a 
part  at  the  selection  of  the  bishop.  But  these  notions,  put 
forth  in  the  Dialogue,  are  much  narrowed  in  the  Confutation 
and  Apology ;  and  he  at  length  affirms  that  men  may  have  all 
necessary  knowledge,  though  the  "  corpse  and  body  of  the 
Scripture  "  be  not  translated  into  their  mother  tongue.  He 
would  not,  however,  object  to  a  translation  "if  the  men 
were  amended,  and  the  time  meet  therefor."  When  he 
declares  that  he  knows  of  a  version  made  before  Wycliffe's 

1  Confutation,  Works,  p.  679.  -  England  under  Henry  VIII,  p. 

591,  London,  1870. 


xii.]  HIS  CRITICISM  ON  NAY  AND  NO.  197 

time,1  Tyndale  tartly  replies,  "What  may  not  M.  More  say,  by 
authority  of  his  poetry  ?  There  is  a  lawful  translation  that  no 
man  knoweth,  which  is  as  much  as  no  lawful  translation.  Why 
might  not  the  bishops  show  which  were  that  lawful  transla 
tion,  and  let  it  be  printed?  Nay,  if  that  had  been  obtained 
of  them  with  large  money,  it  had  been  printed,  ye  may  be 
sure,  long  ere  this.  But,  sir,  answer  me  hereunto ;  how  hap- 
peneth  it  that  ye  defenders  translate  not  one  yourselves,  to 
cease  the  murmur  of  the  people,  and  put  to  your  own  glosses, 
to  prevent  heretics  ?  Ye  would,  no  doubt,  have  done  it  long 
since,  if  ye  could  have  made  your  glosses  agree  with  the  text 
in  every  place." 

When  More  explained  the  relation  of  the  bishops  to  ver 
sions  of  Scripture  to  be,  not  that  the  Scripture  shall  not  be 
in  English,  but  that  no  man  may  translate  it  by  his  own 
authority,  or  read  it,  until  they  had  approved  it,  Tyndale 
answered,  with  suggestive  brevity,  "  If  no  translation  shall  be 
had  until  they  give  license,  or  till  they  approve  it,  it  shall 
never  be  had.  And  so  it  is  all  one,  in  effect,  to  say  there  shall 
be  none  at  all  in  English."  Tyndale  was  specially  roused  if 
any  statement  bore  on  his  veracity — his  character  being  still 
more  precious  to  him  than  his  literary  and  Biblical  work. 
More  had  averred  that  Tyndale,  on  being  "opposed  of  his 
doctrine  ere  he  went  over  sea,  said  and  sware  that  he  meant 
no  harm."  Tyndale  responds  with  deep  solemnity  and  ear 
nest  abruptness,  "  He  sware  not ;  nor  was  there  any  man  that 
required  an  oath  of  him." 

More  has  a  criticism  of  ferocious  playfulness 2  on  Tyndale's 
English.  He  objects  to  the  translation  of  John  i,  21,  "Art 
thou  a  prophet?  And  he  answered,  No."  "Tyndale,"  says  he, 
"  by  the  Greek  tongue,  perceiving  the  article,  saw  well  enough 
that  he  should  not  have  translated  it  into  the  English, — Art 

1  See  p.  61.  of    which    have  been    thus    traus- 

2  More  had  auother  friend  of  the     lated, — 

same   name  to   whom   he  had  lent  "O  Tyndale,  there  was  once  a  time, 

money,   and   whom    the    loan    had  a  pleasant  time  of  old, 

alienated.       He    composed    a    few  Before  thou  cam'st  a  borrowing, 

Latin  lines  on  this  debtor,  the  first  before  I  lent  thee  gold,"  <kc. 


198  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

thou  a  prophet  ?  but,  Art  thou  that  prophet  ?  to  wit,  the  great 
prophet  of  whom  Moses  prophesied."  And  he  adds,  "  I  would 
here  note  by  the  way,  that  Tyndale  here  translateth  no  for  nay, 
for  it  is  a  trifle  and  mistaking  of  the  English  word ;  saving 
that  ye  should  see  that  he  which  in  two  so  plain  English 
words,  and  so  common  as  is  nay  and  no,  cannot  tell  when 
he  should  take  the  tone,  and  when  the  tother,  is  not  for 
translating  into  English  a  man  very  meet.  For  the  use  of 
these  two  words  in  answering  to  a  question  is  this :  Nay  an- 
swereth  the  question  framed  in  the  affirmative,  as,  for  example, 
if  a  man  should  ask  Tyndale  himself,  Is  an  heretic  meet  to 
translate  holy  Scripture  into  English  ?  So,  to  this  question,  if 
he  will  answer  true  English,  he  must  answer  nay,  and  not  no, 
But  if  the  question  be  asked  him  thus :  Lo,  is  not  an  heretic 
meet  to  translate  holy  Scripture  into  English  ?  To  this  ques 
tion,  lo,  if  he  will  answer  true  English,  he  must  answer  no. 
and  not  nay.  And  a  like  difference  is  there  between  these 
two  adverbs,  yea  and  yes.  For  if  the  question  be  framed  unto 
Tyndale  by  the  affirmative  in  this  fashion :  If  an  heretic 
falsely  translate  the  New  Testament  into  English,  to  make  his 
false  heresies  seem  the  Word  of  God,  be  his  book  worthy  to  be 
burned  ?  To  this  question,  asked  in  this  wise,  if  he  will 
answer  true  English,  he  must  answer  yea,  and  not  yes.  But 
now,  if  the  question  be  asked  him  thus  by  the  negative :  If 
an  heretic  falsely  translate  the  New  Testament  into  English, 
to  make  his  false  heresies  seem  the  word  of  God,  be  not  his 
books  well  worthy  to  be  burned  ?  To  this  question,  in  this 
fashion  framed,  if  he  will  answer  true  English,  he  may  not 
answer  yea,  but  he  must  answer  yes ;  and  say,  Yes,  marry,  be 
they,  both  the  translation  and  the  translator,  and  all  that  will 
hold  with  them."  l 

Tyndale's  reply  to  the  "  Dialogue "  brought  out,  in  1532 
More's  "  Confutation,"  which  grew  at  length  into  five  hundred 
folio  pages.  His  "  Apology "  was  written  afterwards,  in 
1533,  in  which  he  attacked  a  book  called  the  "Pacifier," 

1  Works,  p.  448,  1557.     It  is  odd     the  first  clause,  explaining  the  dif- 
that  in  the  editions  of  More's  Works     fereuce. 
1532,  and  1.357,  nay  is  printed  no  in 


xii.]  HIS  CONFESSION  OF  DEFEAT.  199 

published  by  a  lawyer,  Christopher  Saintgerman.1  In  it  he 
reverts  to  the  old  subject  of  quarrel ;  and  is  obliged  to  admit 
that  "  men  thought  his  '  Confutation '  overlong,  and  therefore 
tedious  to  read,"  while  they  did  not  appreciate  the  point  of  his 
arguments,  and  did  not  like  the  sharp,  bitter  abuse  which  he 
had  poured  upon  the  translator.  This  was  a  sad  confession  on 
the  part  of  a  champion  who  had  vowed,  "  I  shall  leave  Tyndale 
never  a  dark  corner  to  creep  into,  able  to  hide  his  head  in." 
In  fact,  More's  continuation  of  the  controversy  proves  that  he 
regarded  his  first  efforts  as  unsuccessful.  What  man  could  do 
to  write  down  the  first  English  New  Testament,  he  had  done 
with  a  will ;  but  the  translation  was  not  "  wounded  unto 
death."  Joye's  account  of  the  various  editions  which  had  in 
the  mean-time  been  poured  into  the  country  will  be  found  on 
a  subsequent  page. 

1  More  also  published  the  "  De-  another  work  of  Christopher  Saint- 
bellation  of  Salem  and  Byzance,"  german.  This  gentleman's  mother 
in  reply  to  "Salem  and  Byzance,"  was  named  Anne  Tyndale. 


CHAPTEE  XIII. 

rpYNDALE'S  whole  nature  was  filled  with  his  work,  and 
overmastered  by  it.  It  was  his  meat,  for  he  lived  by  it, 
and  it  was  to  him  "  the  wine  that  maketh  glad  the  heart  of 
man."  His  mind  was  ever  ruminating  on  it — dwelling  on  the 
benefits  of  it,  or  refuting  the  arguments  usually  paraded 
against  it.  The  necessity  of  an  English  Bible  was  his  domi 
nant  idea,  which,  like  Aaron's  rod,  swallowed  up  every  rival. 
After  doing  and  daring  so  much  for  it  himself,  his  counsel 
to  Fryth,  in  1532,  was,  "ever  thrust  in,  that  the  Scriptures 
may  be  in  the  mother  tongue,  and  learning  set  up  in  the 
universities." 

This  expression  of  an  intense  desire  for  the  furtherance  of 
sound  learning  was  not  peculiar  to  Tyndale — it  had  been  always 
associated  with  intelligent  plans  of  ecclesiastical  reformation. 
Wycliffe's  times  bore  witness  to  the  truth  of  the  statement  in 
a  very  remarkable  form.  Even  when  his  followers  fell  away, 
and  were  rewarded  by  high  preferment  for  their  recantation, 
their  love  of  learning  did  not  always  die  in  their  apostasy. 
Richard  Flemmyng,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  under  whose  episcopal 
mandate  the  Reformer's  bones  were  dug  up  and  burned,  founded 
Lincoln  College,  at  Oxford,  in  1428.  William  of  Wykeham 
knew  the  strength  of  Wycliffism,  and  he  founded  New  College 
in  1379  ;  Waynfiete,  who  had  similar  experience,  founded  Mag 
dalene  Hall  and  Magdalene  College.  Chichele,  who  had  felt 
that  the  biblical  power  of  the  Lollards  could  be  matched  only 
by  similar  skill  and  training,  founded  All  Souls  in  1436 ; 
Wolsey,  who  coveted  some  amount  of  reform,  founded  Christ 
Church ;  Bishop  Foxe,  in  a  similar  spirit,  founded  Corpus 


VINDICATION  OF  ENGLISH  SCRIPTURES.  9Q1 

Christ!  in  1516 ;  and  Chancellor  Auclley,  who,  though  he 
carried  the  "  Act  of  the  Six  Articles/'  was  always  suspected 
of  a  secret  sympathy  with  the  reformers,  was  the  chief  estab- 
lisher  of  St.  Mary  Magdalene  College,  Cambridge.  Literature 
ought  ever  to  be  the  handmaid  of  theology,  and  culture  of  the 
highest  form  is  a  fitting  qualification  for  the  study  of  Scripture. 
Many  who  were  hostile  to  the  open  study  of  the  Bible  were 
consistently  prejudiced  against  liberal  academic  tuition — light 
was  not  "  sweet "  to  them,  nor  was  it  for  them  "  a  pleasant 
thing  to  behold  the  sun,"  unless  he  were  curtained  with  a 
thick  cloud. 

The  current  objections  to  an  English  translation  of  the 
Scriptures  Tyndale  rebuts,  with  singular  vigour,  in  the  preface 
to  the  "  Obedience  of  a  Christian  Man  " —  ..."  God  gave  the 
children  of  Israel  a  law,  by  the  hand  of  Moses,  in  their  mother 
tongue ;  and  all  the  prophets  wrote  in  their  mother  tongue ; 
and  all  the  psalms  were  in  the  mother  tongue.  And  there  was 
Christ,  but  figured  and  described  in  ceremonies,  in  riddles,  and 
parables,  and  in  dark  prophecies.  What  is  the  cause  that  we 
may  not  have  the  Old  Testament,  with  the  New  also,  which  is 
the  light  of  the  Old,  and  wherein  is  openly  declared  before  the 
eyes,  that  which  there  was  darkly  prophesied  ?  I  can  imagine 
no  cause  verily,  except  it  be  that  we  should  not  see  the  work 
of  antichrist  and  juggling  of  hypocrites.  ...  If  the  said 
Scripture  were  in  the  mother  tongue,  they  will  say,  '  Then 
would  the  lay  people  understand  it,  every  man  after  his  own 
ways.'  Wherefore  serveth  the  curate,  but  to  teach  him  the 
right  way  ?  Wherefore  were  the  holy  days  made,  but  that 
the  people  should  come  and  learn  ?  But,  alas !  the  curates 
themselves  (for  the  most  part)  wot  no  more  what  the  New  or 
the  Old  Testament  meaneth  than  do  the  Turks ;  neither  know 
they  of  any  more  than  that  they  read  at  mass  and  evensong, 
which  yet  they  understand  not ;  neither  care  they,  but  even 
to  mumble  up  so  much  every  day  as  the  pie  and  popinjay 
speak.  .  .  .  Nay,  say  they,  the  Scripture  is  so  hard  that  thou 
couldst  never  understand  it  but  by  the  doctors.  That  is,  I 
must  measure  the  mete-yard  by  the  cloth.  There  be  twenty 
cloths,  of  divers  lengths  and  of  divers  breadths ;  how  shall  I 


202  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

be  sure  of  the  length  of  a  mete-yard  by  them  ?  I  suppose, 
rather,  I  must  be  first  sure  of  the  length  of  the  mete-yard,  and 
thereby  measure  and  judge  of  the  cloths.  Ye  drive  them 
from  God's  Word,  and  will  let  no  man  come  thereto  until 
he  have  been  two  years  master  of  art.  First,  they  nosel 
them  in  sophistry.  .  .  .  And  then  corrupt  they  their 
judgments  with  apparent  arguments,  and  with  alleging  unto 
them  texts  of  logic,  of  natural  philautia,  of  metaphysic, 
and  moral  philosophy,  and  all  manner  of  books  of  Aristotle, 
and  all  manner  of  doctors  which  they  never  yet  saw.  More 
over,  one  holdeth  this,  another  that.  .  .  .  Yet  they  permit 
and  suffer  you  to  read  Robin  Hood,  and  Bevis  of  Hampton, 
Hercules,  Hector  and  Troilus,  with  a  thousand  histories  and 
fables  of  love  and  wantonness,  and  of  ribaldry  as  filthy  as 
heart  can  think,  to  corrupt  the  minds  of  youth  withal, 
clean  contrary  to  the  doctrine  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles." 
While  he  describes  in  these  graphic  clauses  the  perverse  custom 
of  his  own  age,  Tyndale  wrote  it  as  if  in  prophetic  anticipation  of 
the  damage  which  philosophy  has  so  often  brought  upon  theo 
logy — when  the  Word  of  God  has  been  so  construed  as  to  be 

o»/ 

pressed  into  accordance  with  some  favourite  system.  Certain 
metaphysical  views  of  the  divine  nature  and  government,  and 
of  man's  intellectual  and  spiritual  constitution,  have  lodged 
themselves  in  all  creeds  and  confessions.  While  the  mind  may 
be  braced  by  every  form  of  mental  discipline,  and  all  spheres  of 
scholarship  may  be  entered  and  ransacked,  to  the  advantage  of 
true  theology ;  the  Bible  is  still  a  popular  book,  designed  for 
universal  study.  To  instruct  men  it  does  not  employ  the 
tongue  of  angels.  It  is  written  in  a  style  which  is  meant  to 
be  comprehended  by  the  simple  inquirer,  that  its  truths  may 
be  accepted  by  the  honest  and  good  heart.  Divines  are  not  to 
impose  a  sense,  they  are  only  to  educe  it.  But  in  those  days 
Aristotelianism  held  high  sway,  and  the  Stagyrite  supplied  the 
key  to  the  meaning  of  St.  Paul ;  while  at  an  earlier  time  Plato 
had  been  enthroned  as  supreme  exegete.  Plain  men,  who  had 
no  acquaintance  with  the  current  terms  of  academic  thought 
and  logic,  were  supposed  to  be  in  no  small  peril  if  they  were 
brought  into  contact  with  Scripture,  for  their  use  of  it  would 


xnr.]  TYNDALE  AT  MARBURG.  203 

certainly  be  the  abuse  of  it,  as  the  following  anecdote  illus 
trates.  In  1529,  when  Latimer,  in  St.  Edward's  Church  at 
Cambridge,  advocated,  in  his  two  famous  sermons  "  on  the  Card," 
— the  translation  and  universal  reading  of  the  Scriptures, 
Prior  Buckenham  soon  replied,  in  another  discourse  on  "Christ 
mas  Dice,"  in  the  following  style:  "Thus,"  he  asked,  with  a 
smile  of  triumph,  "  where  Scripture  saith,  '  No  man  that  layeth 
his  hand  to  the  plough,  and  looketh  back,  is  meet  for  the  king 
dom  of  God,'  will  not  the  ploughman,  when  he  readeth  these 
words,  be  apt  forthwith  to  cease  from  his  plough,  and  then 
where  will  be  the  sowing  and  harvest  ?  Likewise,  also, 
whereas  the  baker  readeth,  'A  little  leaven  leaveneth  the 
whole  lump,'  will  he  not  forthwith  be  too  sparing  in  the  use 
of  leaven,  to  the  great  injury  of  our  health  ?  And  so,  also, 
when  the  simple  man  reads  the  words,  '  If  thine  eye  offend 
thee,  pluck  it  out,  and  cast  it  from  thee,'  incontinent  he  will 
pluck  out  his  eyes,  and  so  the  whole  realm  will  be  full  of 
blind  men,  to  the  great  decay  of  the  nation,  and  the  manifest 
loss  of  the  king's  grace.  And  thus,  by  reading  of  Holy  Scrip 
tures,  will  the  whole  kingdom  come  in  confusion."1  When  a 
preacher  so  shrewd  as  this  prior  could  bring  himself  to  utter 
these  grotesque  and  silly  absurdities,  with  a  solemn  coun 
tenance,  in  the  pulpit,  the  "beginning  of  the  end"  had  come, 
and  the  triumph  of  the  English  Bible  was  close  at  hand. 

The  volumes  of  the  New  Testament  being  finished  and  sent 
away,  Tyndale  had  left  Worms  and  gone  to  the  quaint  old 
town  of  Marburg,  in  the  valley  of  the  Lahn,  where  he  was 
soon  afterwards  joined  by  Fryth,  who  had  escaped  from 
England.  Tyndale's  heart  was  "  filled  with  his  company." 
What  a  tale  he  had  to  tell  of  the  work  in  the  mother-land, 
in  the  capital,  and  in  the  two  universities,  of  alarm  and 
persecution  on  the  one  side,  and  of  momentary  faint-heart- 
edness  on  the  other,  for  Barnes  had  set  an  example  too  readily 
followed.  Fryth  had  been  degraded,  imprisoned,  and  forced 
to  flee,  on  a  charge  of  reading  the  English  New  Testament, 
for  the  translation  of  which  Tyndale  had  been  for  four  years 
and  upwards  "  a  fugitive  and  a  vagabond."  "  But  none  of 
1  Demaus,  Life  of  Latimer,  p.  77. 


204  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

these  things  moved  "  Tyndale  to  swerve  from  his  purpose,  and 
he  did  not  count  his  "  life  dear  nnto  him,  that  he  might  finish 
his  course."     Living  "  in  a  strange  land,  among  a  people  that 
as  well  varied  from  his  manners  as  their  persons  to  him  were 
unknown,"    his  experience  was   that  of  the  early  apostles — 
"  perplexed  but  not  in  despair,  persecuted  but  not  forsaken, 
cast  down  but  not  destroyed."     His  own  rendering  of  Gala- 
tians  vi,  9,  must  often  have  suggested  itself  as  a  motto  for 
himself  and  his  fellow- wanderer,  "  Let  us  do  good,  and  let  us 
not  faint :  for  when  the  tyme  is  come,  we  shall  repe  without 
werynes."     Unwearied  and  undaunted,  he  resolved  to  persevere, 
and  to  translate  also  the  Old  Testament.     The  quiet  of  the 
little   town   favoured   his   project,  and   its   university,  which 
as  the    first   Protestant   one,    had   been   founded   by  Philip, 
Landgrave   of    Hesse    Cassel,  gave   him   the   free   society    of 
learned  men,  while  the  press  of  Hans  Luft  was  a  ready  and 
unfettered  power.      During  his  sojourn  at  Marburg  he  pub 
lished  the  "  Parable  of  the  Wicked  Mammon  " — his  first  pub 
lication  with  his  name  formally  prefixed.      "  The  Obedience  of  a 
Christian  Man,"  and  the  "  Practice  of  Prelates,"  soon  followed. 
Whatever   the   value   of  these   writings   "for  the   time  then 
present,"   and  in  vindication  of  his  position  and  work,  it  is 
to  be  regretted  that  he  did  not  give  his  whole  time  to  the 
nobler  and  more  enduring  work  of  translation.      The  trans 
lation  of  the  Old  Testament  was  carried   on  to  the  end  of 
the   Pentateuch,   and   printed.      The   circumstantial   story  of 
his  shipwreck  on  the  voyage  to  Hamburg  to  have  it  printed, 
of  the  loss  of  the  manuscript,  and  his  subsequent  assistance 
from  Coverdale,  cannot  be  fully  accepted.     The  story  will  be 
again  referred  to;   but  it  may  be  noted  that  Coverdale  and 
Foxe,  who  reports  the  incident,  were  contemporary  ministers 
in  London  for  about  ten  years.     The  five  Books  were  circulated 
separately  as  they  came  from  the  press,  and  the  whole  Penta 
teuch  appeared  in  1530,  the  Book  of  Genesis  being  dated  the 
17th  of  January,   "  Emprented  at  Marlborough,  in  the  land 
of  Hesse,  by  me,  Hans  Luft,  the  yere  of  oure  Lord  M.ccccc.xxx, 
the  xvn  dayes  of  Januarii."     Only  one  perfect  copy  survives, 
and  is  in  the  Grenville  Library  of  the  British  Museum.     In 


xin.]  TRANSLATION  OF  THE  PENTATEUCH.  205 

the  Bodleian  there  is  a  perfect  copy  of  Genesis.  Genesis  and 
Numbers  are  in  black  letter,  with  thirty-one  lines  in  a  page ; 
Exodus,  Leviticus,  and  Deuteronomy  in  Eoman  letter,  with 
twenty-eight  lines  in  a  page.  But  it  is  still  probable,  in  spite 
of  such  differences,  which  cannot  be  accounted  for,  that  all  the 
books  came  from  the  same  press,  as  the  ornamental  title  pages, 
the  form,  the  wire-lines  and  watermarks  in  the  paper  are  the 
same.  A  re-issue  was  published  in  1534,  with  "  Genesis  new 
corrected  and  amended,"  and  the  other  books  were  bound  up 
with  it  into  one  volume.  There  is  a  general  introduction,  and 
each  book  has  a  special  preface.  A  list,  or  table,  of  the  more 
difficult  words  is  appended  to  Genesis,  Exodus,  and  Deutero 
nomy,  and  there  were  also  marginal  glosses.  Tyndale,  striving 
to  make  everything  clear  and  distinct,  gives  the  Books  a  com 
mon  name,  and  one  also  taken  from  the  Vulgate — as  "  the  third 
Book  of  Moses,  called  Leviticus ; "  "  the  fourth  Book  of  Moses, 
called  Numerys  " — Luther  having  simply  "  the  third  of  Moses," 
and  Matthew  has  "  the  thyrde  Boke  of  the  Kynges  after  the 
reckoning  of  the  Latinists,  which  after  the  Hebrewes  is  called 
the  fyrste  of  the  Kynges."  Mr.  Demaus  makes  it  probable 
that,  with  the  money  wrhich  Tyndale  got  for  his  books  from 
Packington,  he  bought  from  Vostermann  the  "woodcuts" 
which  had  been  employed  in  a  Dutch  Bible  of  1528,  and  which 
now  appeared  in  the  English  Pentateuch,  or,  more  correctly,  in 
the  Book  of  Exodus,  as  illustrations  of  the  tabernacle  and  its 
furniture.  The  translation  was  denounced  in  May,  1530,  and 
during  the  currency  of  that  year,  the  translator  himself,  in  his 
"  Practice  of  Prelates,"  makes  familiar  reference  to  it.  Tyndale 
published  also  a  separate  translation  of  Jonah  in  1531,  and  it 
was  denounced  by  Bishop  Stokesley,  on  the  3rd  December  of 
the  same  year,  as  "Jonas  in  English."  Sir  Thomas  More,  in 
his  "  Confutation "  of  Tyndale's  Answer,  says  in  his  own 
spirit  of  magnificent  contempt,  "  Then  we  have  Jonas 
made  out  by  Tyndale,  a  book  that  whoso  delighteth  therein, 
shall  stand  in  peril  that  Jonas  was  never  so  swallowed  up  by 
the  whale,  as  by  the  delight  of  that  book  a  man's  soul  may  be 
swallowed  up  by  the  devil,  that  he  shall  never  have  the  grace 
to  get  out  again."  Foxe  and  Bale  refer  to  it,  and  it  occurs  also 


206  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

in  a  catalogue  of  prohibited  volumes  in  1542.  But  the  trans 
lation  not  being  reprinted  soon  disappeared,  and  it  was  so 
utterly  unknown  that  some  even  doubted  of  its  existence.  The 
famous  prologue  to  Jonah  was  re-issued  several  times,  as  in  the 
Bibles  of  1549  and  1551 ;  but  the  translation  was  not  inserted 
by  Matthew  or  Kogers  in  his  Bible  of  1537,  though  he  used 
Tyndale's  printed  Pentateuch,  and  his  version  up  to  the  end 
of  Second  Chronicles  which  the  martyr  had  left  in  manuscript. 
The  prologue  is  also  found  in  the  usual  collected  editions  of 
Tyndale's  works.  Professor  Walter  even  argues  against  the 
existence  of  the  translation,  chiefly  because  it  is  not  found  in 
Matthew's  Bible,  while  Cotton  and  Anderson  rightly  insist  that 
it  must  have  followed  the  Prologue.  The  translation  was  at 
length  found  as  accidentally  as  had  been  the  fragment  of  the 
quarto  New  Testament.  Lord  Arthur  Hervey,  Bishop  of 
Bath  and  Wells,  discovered  it  in  the  library  at  Irkworth  in 
the  autumn  of  1861,  as  part  of  a  book  which  had  been  for  two 
centuries  in  the  possession  of  his  family.  The  Prologue  is  a 
long  polemical  treatise  against  prevailing  errors,  and  in  defence 
of  the  free  and  literal  interpretation  of  Scripture.  It  abounds 
likewise  in  solemn  warnings,  for  the  fate  of  England  was 
thought  to  be  mirrored  in  the  fate  of  Nineveh.  Prologue  and 
translation  were  apparently  printed  at  Antwerp,  by  Martin 
Emperowr  who  also  printed  the  Kevised  New  Testament  in 
1534.  The  Prologue  is  prefaced  thus:  " The  Prophete  Jonas, 
with  an  introduction  before,  teaching  ye  to  understand  him 
and  the  right  use  of  all  the  Scriptures,"  and  at  its  commence 
ment  is  the  usual  address,  "  W.  T.  unto  the  Christen  Reader." 
The  translation  is  thus  introduced:  "  The  storie  of  the  prophete 
Jonas."  The  translation,  along  with  Coverdale's  version,  has 
been  very  accurately  reproduced  by  Mr.  Fry  of  Bristol,  and  one 
may  easily  compare  them.1  Tyndale's  revision  of  the  New 
Testament  must  have  been  postponed,  and  his  continuation  of 
the  version  of  the  Old  Testament  must  have  been  suspended  by 
the  publication  of  his  Exposition  of  the  Epistles  of  John,  and  by 
his  Exposition  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  The  Commentary 
on  the  First  Epistle  of  John  is  strongly  polemical  and  keen  in 
1  The  Prophet  Jonas,  &c.  London,  18G3. 


xiii.]  MARTYRDOM  OF  BILNEY  AND  BAYFIELD.  9Q7 

tone ;  but  he  says  truly,  "  We  restore  the  Scripture  unto  her 
right  understanding  from  your  glosses."  We  cannot  but  regret 
that  he  occupied  so  large  a  portion  of  1531-2  on  this  work. 
He  felt,  however,  that  more  was  wanted  than  a  "  translation 
into  the  vulgar  and  common  tongue ;  we  must  also  bring  the 
true  key  to  understand  it  by." 

A  very  few  sentences  of  intrusive  digression  may  be  forgiven 
at  this  point.  During  this  period  the  fires  of  martyrdom  had 
been  kindled  in  England.  He  whom  Latimer  so  fondly  called 
"his  own  son  in  the  faith,  Bilney,  little  Bilney,  that 
blessed  martyr  of  God,"  had  some  time  before  borne  his 
faggot  in  a  moment  of  weakness.  But  he  soon  revived,  and 
resolved  in  the  spirit  of  the  Master  to  "go  up  to  Jeru 
salem."  Having  given  "  to  an  anchoress "  of  the  episcopal 
city  of  Bishop  Nikke,  a  copy  of  Tyndale's  New  Testament — a 
book  which  had  been  to  himself  as  the  lion's  marrow  that  nursed 
the  heroes  of  antique  story — he  was  arrested,  degraded,  and 
burned,  August  19,  1531,  in  the  Lollard's  pit,  a  hollow  place 
near  the  gate  of  Norwich.  Richard  Bayfield,  when  a  monk 
at  Bury,  had  read  the  English  New  Testament,  and  left  his 
monastery.  He  was  "  beneficial  to  Master  Tyndale  and  Master 
Fryth,  for  he  brought  substance  with  him,  and  was  their  own 
hand,  and  sold  all  their  works."  He  had  been  dealt  with  in 
1528,  and  had  abjured ;  but,  on  relapsing,  he  was  sentenced  by 
Stokesley  to  the  stake,  the  sentence  containing  a  list  of  the 
books  in  which  he  had  been  trading.  He  was  burned  at  New 
gate,  28th  November,  1531. 

It  was  natural  that  Tyndale,  when  he  had  completed  an 
English  translation  of  the  Christian  Scriptures,  should  turn  his 
attention  to  the  translation  of  the  Jewish  Scriptures.  To  trans 
late  them  was  in  eveiy  way  a  more  formidable  task  to  him  than 
his  earlier  work — a  task  which  he  must  often  have  surveyed  on 
all  sides  as  he  made  up  his  mind  slowly  and  carefully  to 
attempt  it.  The  difficulty  of  mastering  a  new  and  peculiar 
language  did  not  deter  him,  and  though  Hebrew  Grammars 
bristled  with  barbarous  and  repulsive  technicalities,  his 
courage  triumphed.  Knowing  that  "the  Law  and  the  Prophets  " 
were  the  natural  introduction  to  the  New  Covenant,  he  longed 


208  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

to  present  them  to  his  people  in  English  speech ;  their  prolonged 
and  joyous  utterances  being,  that  a  Divine  Deliverer  should 
appear,  and  His  appearance  "in  the  fulness  of  the  time,"  with  His 
words  and  deeds,  being  the  great  facts  recorded  by  Evangelists 
and  expounded  by  Apostles.  Greek  had,  at  an  earlier  period, 
engaged  his  attention  and  study,  its  immortal  harmonies  had 
held  him  in  thrall,  and  now,  though  the  fervour  of  youth  may 
have  subsided,  he  must  have  felt  a  special  fascination  in  the 
voices  and  symbols  of  the  old  Semitic  seers ;  in  the  curt  and 
co-ordinate  clauses  of  the  Mosaic  legislation;  in  the  rhythm 
a.nd  spiritual  beauty  of  the  Psalms  ;  and  in  the  magnificent 
imagery  and  varied  music  of  Isaiah,  and  the  other  members 
of  the  inspired  brotherhood.  As  his  preface  to  Jonah  indicates, 
Tyndale  thought  also  that  many  of  the  racy  and  unsparing 
denunciations  of  the  Hebrew  "men  of  God,"  were  applicable  to 
England,  especially  those  sections  of  the  Minor  Prophets  which 
expounded  ethics  and  polity,  which  held  up  popular  failings  to 
scorn  and  censure,  which  battled  against  reigning  iniquities  in 
rulers  and  priests,  and  which  always  connected  sin  with  penalty, 
and  national  degeneracy  with  national  disaster. 

In  an  early  century  there  had  been  some  desire  to  educate 
the  clergy  in  Hebrew.  At  a  general  council  held,  under 
Clement  V,  at  Vienna  in  1310,  it  was  provided  that  Hebrew 
should  be  taught  in  Paris,  Oxford,  and  other  universities.  Ten 
years  afterwards,  at  a  synod  convened  at  Lambeth  under  Arch 
bishop  Reynold  in  1320,  it  was  ordained  that  there  should  be  a 
Hebrew  lectureship  at  Oxford,  the  lectureship  being  endowed 
by  the  tax  of  a  farthing  in  the  pound  on  all  the  livings  in  the 
province  of  Canterbury.  The  first  lecturer  appointed  was  John 
of  Bristol,  a  converted  Jew.  But  the  measure  seems  to  have 
soon  collapsed.  Two  centuries  afterwards,  in  1524,  Robert 
Wakefield,  a  friend  of  Reuchlin,  and  who  had  occupied  a  chair 
at  Tubingen,  was  sent  down  by  the  king  to  teach  the  ancient 
language  at  Cambridge.  Tyndale,  therefore,  who  had  left  the 
university  before  this  period,  could  not  have  acquired  Hebrew  at 
home,  but  must  have  learned  it  from  Jews  in  some  of  the  con 
tinental  towns  in  which  he  sojourned.  There  were  in  Worms 
many  Jews  whose  tuition  Tyndale  probably  enjoyed,  and  such 


xiii.]          TYNDALE  TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  HEBREW.          209 

earnestness,  vigour,  and  power  of  application  as  characterized 
him  could  not  fail  to  be  crowned  with  speedy  success.  The 
Hebrew  Bible  had  been  published  in  separate  parts  during 
several  years  ;  but  an  entire  Hebrew  Bible  appeared  at  Soncino 
in  1488,  and  another  at  Brescia,  1494.  This  last  was  the  edition 
used  by  Luther  in  his  German  translation,  and  his  copy  is  still 
preserved  in  the  royal  library  at  Berlin.  Bomberg's  Hebrew 
Bible  had  been  published  in  1518  ;  the  great  Rabbinical  Bible 
in  1519  and  1525.  But  Tyndale  could  have  had  few  helps. 
The  Hebrew  Grammar  of  Conrad  Pellican,  the  first  that 
appeared,  was  published  in  1503 ;  Reuchlin's  Dictionary 
followed  in  1506 ;  and  Mlinster's  Grammar  in  1525.  The 
Latin  translation  of  the  Hebrew  Bible,  by  Pagninus,  was 
published  at  Lyons  in  1528, — the  result  of  twenty-five  years' 
labour,  and  his  Thesaurus  Linguse  Sanctae  in  1529.  The  Com- 
plutensian  Polyglott,  1517-20,  contained  both  a  Hebrew  Gram 
mar  and  Lectionary.1 

As  Tyndale  translated  the  New  Testament  from  the  original 
Greek,  so  his  version  of  the  Pentateuch  was  taken  im 
mediately  from  the  original  Hebrew.  This  statement,  as 
in  the  former  case,  has  been  called  in  question.  Fuller's 
thoughtless  words  are,  "  I  presume  he  rendered  the  Old 
Testament  of  the  Latin,  his  best  friends  not  entitling  him 
to  any  skill  at  all  in  Hebrew."2  His  skill  in  Hebrew,  however, 
was  considerable ;  but  Fuller  took  no  pains  to  inquire  into  the 
matter  at  all ;  neither  did  Johnson,  who  ventures  to  say, 
"  Probably,  Tyndale  rendered  the  Old  Testament  out  of  Latin, 
having  little  or  no  skill  at  all  in  Hebrew." 3  Macknight 
hazards  the  assertion,  "  It  is  generally  believed  that  Tyndale 
did  not  understand  Hebrew,  but  he  of  course  understood  the 
Latin  Vulgate,  and  he  was  likewise  acquainted  with 
German."  *  Bishop  Marsh  writes  doubtfully,  but  with  a 

1  Das   Studium   des  Hebraischen  3  Historical  Account  of  the  several 
Sprache   in  Deutschland  vom  Ende  English  Translations  of  the  Bible,  in 
des  xv  bis  zur  Mitte  des  xvi  Jahr-  Bishop  Watson's  Theological  Tracts, 
hunderts,  Breslau,  1870.  vol.  Ill,  p.  70. 

2  Church  History,   vol.   II,  p.  89,  4  Preface   to   Translation   of    the 
London,  1837.  Epistles,  p.  14. 

VOL.  I.  O 


210  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

lurking  adverse  bias,  "What  knowledge  Tyndale  had 
of  Hebrew  is  unknown,"  and  more  distinctly,  "These 
translations  he  made,  according  to  Johnson,  not  from  the 
Hebrew,  but  from  the  Latin  Vulgate,  or  as  the  Popish  writers 
affirm,  from  Luther's  German  translation."1  Surely  Bishop 
Marsh  did  not  need  to  rest  his  decision  on  any  opinion 
published  by  Anthony  Johnson.  Hallam  is  more  cautious — "  It 
has  been  controverted  of  late  years,  whether  he  were 
acquainted  or  not  with  Hebrew."  2  Others  like  Archbishop 
Newcome,3  and  Bishop  Grey,4  have  advanced  similar  statements. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  declaration  of  Buschius  need  not  be 
repeated  in  favour  of  Tyndale's  scholarship,  nor  the  admission 
of  George  Joye.5  Tyndale's  own  solemn  avowal,  in  the  Preface 
to  the  Five  Books  of  Moses,  is,  that  he  made  his  translation  from 
the  Hebrew  original :  "  Notwithstanding  yet  I  submit  this  book 
and  all  other  that  I  have  either  made  or  translated,  or  shall  in 
time  to  come  (if  it  be  God's  will  that  I  shall  further  labour 
in  his  harvest)  unto  all  them  that  submit  themselves  unto  the 
Word  of  God,  to  be  corrected  of  them  ;  yea,  and  moreover  to  be 
disallowed  and  also  burnt,  if  it  seem  worthy,  when  they 
have  examined  it  with  the  Hebrew,  so  that  they  first  put 
forth  of  their  own  translating  another  that  is  more  correct." 
In  a  variety  of  ways,  Tyndale  indicates  his  knowledge 
of  Hebrew,  never,  indeed,  boastfully,  but  rather  incidentally 
as  the  subject  happened  to  turn  up.  He  gives  a  critical 
and  comparative  estimate  in  the  preface  to  the  "  Obedience 
of  a  Christian  Man " :  "  The  properties  of  the  Hebrew 
tongue  agreeth  a  thousand  times  more  with  the  English, 
than  with  the  Latin.  The  manner  of  speaking  is  both 
one ;  so  that  in  a  thousand  places  thou  needest  not  but 
to  translate  it  into  English  word  for  word ;  when  thou 
must  seek  a  compass  in  the  Latin,  and  yet  shall  have  much 
work  to  translate  it  well-favouredly,  so  that  it  have  some  grace 

1  Lectures    on  the   Criticism  and  3  Historical  View,  p.   25,  Dublin, 

Interpretation  of  the  Bible.    Appen-  1792. 

dix,  p.  520.  4  Key  to  the  Old  Testament,  p.  18, 

*  Literature    of     Europe,   vol.    I,  London,  1842. 

p.  379.  5  See  Page  137. 


xiii.]  HIS  LOVE  OF  HEBREW  STUDY.  211 

and  sweetness,  sense  and  pure  understanding  with  it  in  the 
Latin,  and  as  it  hath  in  the  Hebrew.  A  thousand  parts  better 
may  it  be  translated  into  the  English  than  into  the  Latin." 
More  distinct  is  his  utterance  in  the  prologue  to  Matthew  : 
"  If  aught  seemed  changed,  or  not  altogether  agreeing  with  the 
Greek,  let  the  finder  of  the  fault  consider  the  Hebrew  phrase,  or 
manner  of  speech,  left  in  the  Greek  words  ;  whose  preterperfect 
tense  and  present  tense  are  oft  both  one,  and  the  future  tense 
is  the  optative  mood  also,  and  the  future  tense  oft  the  imperative 
mood  in  the  active  voice,  and  in  the  passive  ever.  Likewise, 
person  for  person,  number  for  number,  and  interrogation  for 
a  conditional,  and  such  like,  is  with  the  Hebrew  a  common 
usage." 

A  melancholy  token  of  Tyndale's  love  of  Hebrew  learning 
remains  to  be  added.  M.  Galesloot  has  discovered,  in  the 
Archives  of  the  Council  of  Brabant,  a  letter  written  by  Tyndale 
during  his  imprisonment.  In  this  letter,  among  other  touching 
requests,  he  says  in  pathetic  earnestness  :  .  .  .  "I  wish  also  his 
permission  to  have  a  candle  in  the  evening,  for  it  is  wearisome 
to  sit  alone  in  the  dark.  But  above  all,  I  entreat  and  beseech 
your  clemency  to  be  urgent  with  the  Procureur,  that  he  may 
kindly  permit  me  to  have  my  Hebrew  Bible,  Hebrew  Grammar, 
and  Hebrew  Dictionary,  that  I  may  spend  my  time  with  that 
study.  And  in  return,  may  you  obtain  your  dearest  wish, 
provided  always  it  be  consistent  with  the  salvation  of  your 
soul."1 

There  is  besides  abundant  evidence  open  to  every  one  that 
Tyndale's  version  of  the  Pentateuch  rests  on  the  original 
Hebrew.  He  acted  wisely  in  using  all  the  helps  within  his 
reach,  such  as  the  Vulgate,  and  the  translation  of  Luther. 
There  are  about  fifty  Hebrew  words  explained  by  him  in  his 
various  writings.  A  large  number  of  them  occurs  in  his 
"  Treatise  on  the  Sacraments,"  where  he  shows  that  "  the  Jews 
are  wont  ever  to  name  the  memorial  and  sign  of  things  with 
the  very  name  of  the  thing  signified,"  and  he  explains  in 
reference  to  the  "  sign,"  "  so  are  such  ceremonies  named  in 
Hebrew."  In  some  cases  he  translates  literally,  as  "  Ebenezer  " 
1  Demaus,  Tyudale,  p.  476. 


212  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

a  "  help  stone,"  1  Sam.  vii,  12 ;  in  Num.  vi,  he  renders 
Nazarite  by  "  absteyner,"  in  allusion  to  the  meaning  which  he 
ascribed  to  the  original  term,  and  the  translation  is  neither 
after  the  Luther  nor  the  Vulgate.  He  renders  a  clause  in 
Deuteronomy  vi,  7,  "  and  whet  them  on  thy  children,"  following 
Luther, — a  metaphor  so  strong  as  to  be  recommended  only  by  its 
being  a  literal  translation,  and  it  is  put  into  our  present  margin. 
Tyndale  gives  the  meaning  of  Peniel,  Mahanaim,  El  elohe, 
Israel ;  explains  Pharisee  as  separated  ;  Caleb,  as  perfect,  applied 
to  a  sacrifice  ;  Pesach,  as  a  passing-by  ;  and  Hormah,  as  destruc 
tion.  Many  words  occur  in  his  formal  list  appended  to  Genesis, 
Exodus,  and  Deuteronomy.  His  explanations  show  some 
familiarity  with  the  language,  and  his  very  mistakes  prove 
decidedly  that  he  judged  for  himself,  and  was  not  a  servile 
follower  either  of  the  German  Reformer  or  of  the  Latin 
version. 

The  first  word  is  Abrech  (Gen.  xli,  43),1  which  he  explains  as 
"  tender  father,"  or,  as  some  will,  "  bow  the  knee,"  and  our 
Authorized  Version  gives,  along  with  the  Hebrew  term, 
the  first  in  the  margin  and  the  second  in  the  text.  Probably 
the  word  is  Egyptian ;  but  if  it  be  one  word,  then  "  bow 
the  knee "  might  be  taken,  and  the  alternative  might  be 
"tender  king."  Now,  Tyndale  could  not  get  his  translation 
from  Luther,  who  gives  the  erroneous  explanation,  "  der  ist  des 
Landes  Vater,"  nor  from  the  Septuagint,  which  omits  the  term 
and  gives  "and  there  heralded  before  him  a  herald."  He  has  also 
improved  on  the  Vulgate  2  by  showing  that  he  took  the  Hebrew 
term  for  an  imperative. 

Our  translators  follow  Tyndale  in  many  places  where 
he  kept  close  to  the  original,  as  indeed  he  generally  does. 
In  Genesis  xli,  3,  "  and  stood " 3  is  the  literal  rendering, 
which  the  Septuagint,  Vulgate,  and  Luther  forsake.  In 
verse  6,  the  literal  version  is  "  blighted  "  or  "  withered  up  by 
the  east  wind."  Tyndale  has  "  blasted  with  the  wind "  ;  our 
version  "the  east  wind."  The  Septuagint,  Vulgate,  and 
Luther  are  not  so  precise,  and  Luther  has  simply  "  versengete," 

i  ut  omnes  coram  eo  genuflecterent. 


xiii.]  PROOF  OF  HIS  KNOWLEDGE  OF  HEBREW. 

singed.  He  renders  Sartabaim  (Genesis  xxxvii,  36)  "chefe 
marshall,"  and  thus  justifies  his  rendering  :  "  In  Hebrew  he  is 
called  Sartabaim,  as  thou  wouldest  say,  Lord  of  the  slaughter 
men.  And  though  that  tabaim  be  taken  for  cooks  in  many 
places  (for  the  cooks  did  slay  the  beasts  themselves  in  those 
days),  yet  it  may  be  taken  for  them  that  put  men  to  execu 
tion  also  " — and  our  present  margin  embodies  the  explanation. 
In  his  Exposition  of  Matthew  he  says,  "  concerning  this  word 
repentance,  or  (as  they  used)  '  penance,'  the  Hebrew  hath  in 
the  Old  Testament  generally  (sob) l  turn,  or  be  converted ;  for 
which  the  translation  that  we  take  for  St.  Jerome's  hath  most 
part  converti,  to  turn,  to  be  converted,  and  sometimes  agere 
posnitentiam.  And  the  very  sense  and  signification  both  of 
the  Hebrew  and  also  of  the  Greek  word  is,  to  be  converted,  to 
turn  to  God  with  all  the  heart,  to  know  his  will,  and  to  live 
according  to  his  laws." 

Zaphnath-Paanea,2  Genesis  xli,  45,  "  Words  of  Egypt  (as  I 
suppose),  and  as  much  as  to  say,  a  man  to  whom  secret  things 
be  opened,  or  an  expounder  of  secret  things,  as  some  interpret 
it."  Now,  the  Septuagint  does  not  translate  the  word,  but 
only  transfers  it.  The  Yulgate  and  Luther  give  a  different 
explanation.  The  phrase  is  probably  a  native  one  (lingua 
^Egyptiaca,  Vulgate) ;  Brugsch  renders  it,  "  prince  of  the  life  of 
the  world "  ;  but  Tyndale  explains  it  according  to  supposed 
Hebrew  analogy. 

In  expounding  Jehovah  Nissi,  Exodus  xvii,  15,  which  is 
rendered  "  the  Lord  my  banner,"  he  adopts  another  root  and 
gives  it  as  "the  Lord  is  he  that  exalteth  me,"3  the  ren 
dering  suggested  by  the  Vulgate ;  Luther  leaves  the  words 
untranslated.  Belial  he  explains  as  "  he  that  hath  cast 
the  yoke  of  God  off  his  neck,"  a  derivation  found  after 
wards  in  Miinster,  and  mentioned  by  Buxtorf.  He  always, 
whether  rightly  or  wrongly,  selects  for  himself  a  Hebrew 
root  in  explaining  such  names  as  Avim,  Ernim,  Enache,  Zam- 
zummim,  &c. 

Tyndale  is  believed  to  have  carried  on  his  work  beyond  the 

i  aw  2  raps  nap*  a  Exaltatio  mea. 


214  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

Pentateuch,  and  to  have  translated  the  historical  books  to  the 
end  of  Second  Chronicles,  and  it  is  supposed  that  this  version 
formed  part  of  the  Bible  that  went  by  the  name  of  Matthew.1 
In  2  Samuel  i,  18,  he  renders,  "  And  David  sang  thys  song  of 
mournyng  over  Saul,  and  over  Jonathan  hys  sonne,  and  bade  to 
teache  the  children  of  Israel  the  staves  thereof";  in  our  version, 
"  He  bade  them  teach  the  children  of  Israel  the  use  of  the  bow." 
The  supplemented  prosaic  words  in  italics  destroy  the  sense,  as 
the  next  clause  shows,  "  behold  it  is  written  in  the  book  of 
Jasher."  The  real  meaning  is  that  the  elegy  was  named  the 
Bow ;  he  taught  them  the  Bow-song.  Tyndale  assigned  to 
the  noun 2  a  root  meaning  "  to  collect,"  and  thus  got  the  sense 
of  staves  or  stanzas,  lighting  nearly  on  the  real  signification  by 
a  false  etymological  conjecture.  In  the  "Obedience  of  a 
Christian  Man,"  he  says  that  in  Hebrew  cohen 3  is  "  a  minister 
or  officer,"  rightly  giving  it  a  meaning  broader  than  priest. 
Taking  Horim  from  a  wrong  root  meaning  "  white,"  he  gives 
it  the  sense  of  noble,  whereas  it  denotes  cave-dwellers,  as  its 
proper  etymon  indicates.  Though  the  philology  in  such  cases 
is  erroneous,  it  shows  Tyndale's  independent  handling  of  the 
Hebrew,  as  when  he  says,  somewhat  fancifully,  "First, 
Mammon  is  a  Hebrew  word  and  signifieth  riches  or  temporal 
goods ;  and  namely,  all  superfluity,  and  all  that  is  above 
necessity,  and  that  which  is  required  unto  our  necessary  uses, 
wherewith  a  man  may  help  another,  without  undoing  or 
hurting  himself;  for  liamon,  in  Hebrew  speech,  signifies  a 
multitude,  or  abundance,  or  many ;  and  there  hence  cometh 
mahamon  or  'mammon,  abundance,  or  plenteousness  of  goods 
or  riches."  In  his  rendering,  in  his  Exposition  of  John 
i,  1,  "  the  word "  or  "  the  things,"  he  wrongly  imagines, 
like  many  since  his  time,  that  the  term  might  bear  as 
many  meanings  as  are  ascribed  to  its  Hebrew  equivalent 
dabar. 

These  instances  may  not  prove  profound  Hebrew  scholar 
ship,  but  they  indicate  familiarity  with  the  language,  and 
they  show  original  or  personal  investigation  in  the  treat- 

1  This  tradition  will  be  vindicated     2  ^j?. 
under  Matthew's  Bible.  :i  l'lb 


xiii.]  HIS  PENTATEUCH.  215 

merit  of  it.  He  was  too  earnest  and  honest  a  man  to 
simulate  the  possession  of  what  he  had  not;  but  his  asser 
tions  on  points  of  Hebrew  philology  are  unequivocal,  and 
he  well  knew  that  his  statements  and  translations  would 
challenge  sharp  and  unfriendly  criticism.  His  translation 
of  the  five  books  of  Moses  speaks  for  itself,  for  it  is  clear 
and  simple  like  the  Hebrew  which  he  admired,  though  occa 
sionally,  as  in  Genesis  iv,  3,  a  meaning  is  rather  wrested 
than  evolved  from  the  words. 

In  fine,  the  reader  may  be  interested  in  a  brief  selection  of 
quaint  and  homely  renderings.  Gen.  vi,  4,  there  were  tyrants 
in  the  world  in  those  dayes ;  xxxix,  2,  and  he  (Joseph)  was  a 
luckye  fellowe  ;  Exod.  xxii,  28,  thou  shalt  not  rayle  upon  the 
goddes ;  xxviii,  4,  a  brestlap  ephod,  a  tunycle,  a  strayte  cote ; 
30,  and  Aaron  shall  bear  the  ensample  of  the  children  of 
Israel  upon  his  herte;  40,  an  albe  of  bysse;  Lev.  vii,  7, 
dressed  upon  the  gredyren;  Deut.  xxviii,  5,  thyne  aulmery  and 
thy  store ;  xxxii,  17,  they  offered  unto  felde  Devels  and  not  to 
God ;  xxxiv,  7,  his  eye  was  not  dymme  nor  his  chekes  abated ; 
Judges  v,  22,  then  they  mailed  the  horsses  legges  that  their 
myghtye  coursers  lefte  praunsynge ;  viii,  53,  and  all  to  brake 
his  brayne  panne ;  xi,  35,  thou  hast  made  me  stoupe,  and  arte 
one  of  them  that  trouble  me  ;  2  Sam.  xiii,  18,  she  had  a  kirtell 
of  diverse  coloures ;  xxii,  39,  I  wasted  them,  and  so  clouted 
them  that  they  could  not  aryse ;  1  Kings  xx,  13,  the  men  of 
the  shires,  &c. 

The  proclamation  of  1529  denounced  "the  chapters  of  Moses 
called  Genesis,  and  the  chapters  of  Moses  called  Deutoronomos." 
In  Offor's  MSS.  in  the  British  Museum  there  is  a  collation  of 
Tyndale's  Pentateuch  with  that  of  Taverner's  edition  of  1539. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

T  UTHER  and  Zuingli  met  at  Marburg  on  the  30th  September, 
1529,  in  melancholy  and  fruitless  conflict,  but  Tyndale 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  on  the  scene.  He  took  up  his  final 
abode  in  Antwerp  some  time  in  1531,  probably  at  the  beginning 
of  the  year,  or  perhaps  towards  the  end  of  the  previous  year. 
The  horizon  was  now  beginning  to  darken  around  him,  the 
clouds  were  thickening,  and  star  after  star  was  disappearing  in 
the  gloom.  Fryth,  called  indifferently  by  Cranmer  "  one 
Fryth,"  and  contemptuously  styled  by  More  "young  father 
Fryth,"  had  won  the  crown  of  martyrdom.  He  had  slipped 
over  from  the  Continent  on  a  previous  occasion,  and  returned 
again  ;  but  on  his  coming  to  England  in  the  summer  of  1532. 
he  was  seized,  condemned,  degraded,  and  sent  to  the  stake. 
More  had  resigned  the  Great  Seal  on  the  16th  of  May,  and 
Cranmer  had  held  the  primacy  for  a  few  months.  But 
Long] and,  Stokesley,  and  Gardyner  his  old  college  tutor, 
examined  him,  the  first  of  the  three  pronounced  sentence,  and 
he  "  went  to  the  fire  "  on  the  4th  of  July,  1533,  being  at  the  time 
under  thirty  years  of  age.  While  he  was  in  prison,  he  bravely 
defended  his  opinions,  and  his  writings  are  said  to  have  en 
lightened  Cranmer,  and  to  have  converted  Rastall  the  printer, 
brother-in-law  of  Sir  Thomas  More.  The  last  sentence  of  the 
"  Order  "  of  the  communion  service  in  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  is  from  Fryth.  Tyndale's  exile  by  the  death  of  Fryth 
became  drearier,  but  his  spirit  wavered  not  in  toil.  He  had,  as 
he  foreboded,  the  sentence  of  death  in  himself,  but  he 
improved  the  brief  respite  still  to  work.  "  As  poor,"  he  was 
"  making  many  rich,"  even  those  in  his  fatherland,  of  whom  he 


GEORGE  JO  YE.  217 

might  truthfully  say,  "  Ye  are  in  our  hearts,  to  die  and  live 
with  you."  He  had  long  felt  the  defects  of  his  first  edition 
of  the  New  Testament ;  and  had  said  in  the  preface,  "  In  time  to 
come  (if  God  hath  appointed  us  thereunto)  we  will  give  it  his 
full  shape,  and  put  out,  if  ought  be  added  superfluously,  and 
add  to,  if  ought  be  overseen  through  negligence,  .  .  .  and 
will  endeavour  ourselves,  as  it  were,  to  seethe  it  better, 
and  to  make  it  more  apt  for  the  weake  stomakes."  Several 
years  had  passed  away  and  the  promised  work  had  not 
been  done.  In  the  meantime,  however,  several  thousands 
of  copies  from  foreign  presses  had  been  put  into  immediate 
circulation  in  England. 

There  occurred  now  a  peculiar  episode  in  Tyndale's  history. 
George  Joye, l  a  scholar  and  fellow  of  Peter-House,  Cam 
bridge,  was  now  a  refugee  and  "  companion  in  tribulation," 
for  he  had  fled  to  the  Continent  to  save  his  life.  He  had 
already  been  attempting  a  translation  from  the  Latin  text,  and 
had  published  a  Psalter  at  Strasburg  in  1530,  the  Prophet 
Isaiah  2  in  1531,  and  Jeremiah  in  1534.  At  Antwerp  he 
brought  out  in  an  evil  hour  an  edition  of  Tyndale's  New 
Testament,  correcting  it  from  the  Vulgate.3  The  title  is — 
"The  New  Testament  as  it  was  written  and  caused  to  be 
written  by  them  which  herde  yt,  whom  also  our  Saueowre 
Christ  Jesus  commaunded  '  that  they  shulde  preache  it 
unto  al  creatures."  The  colophon,  which  Tyndale  in  his 
Vindication  singles  out,  and  gives  at  length,  is,  "  Here 
endeth  the  New  Testament  diligently  oversene,  and  corrected, 
and  prynted  now  agayn  at  Antwerpe,  by  me  wydowe  of 
Christoffel  of  Endhoven.  In  the  year  of  our  Lorde 
M.ccccc  &  xxxiui  in  August."  The  matter  was  kept  very 
secret,  and  Tyndale,  though  he  was  living  in  Antwerp,  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  aware  of  the  manoeuvre. 

1  More  in  the  preface  to  his  Con-  3  A  copy  is  in  the  Grenville  Lib- 

f utation  calls  him  Joy  "  the  priest,  rary,  British  Museum.      It  has  no 

that  is  wedded  now."  notes,   heads  of    chapters,    or   pro- 

1  Joye    describes    his    version    of  logues  ;  the  printing  is  fair,  but  the 

Isaiah  as  "  Isaye  speakinge  playne  spelling  is  bad. 
Englissche." 


218  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

Tyndale  was  now  left  alone,  and  in  his  sad  solitude  had  been 
busy  revising  his  translation,  which  was  published  in  November, 
and  imprinted  at  Antwerp  by  Martin  Emperowr.1  The  title 
indicates  its  nature  and  suggests  its  necessity, — "  The  New 
Testament  dylygently  corrected  and  compared  with  the  Greek." 
Tyndale  in  his  "address  yet  once  more  to  the  Christian 
Reader,"  warns  with  solemn  severity  against  Joye's  pro 
duction.  "  Thou  shalt  understand,  most  dear  reader,  when 
I  had  taken  in  hand  to  look  over  the  New  Testament 
again,  and  to  compare  it  with  the  Greek,  and  to  mend 
whatsoever  I  could  find  amiss,  and  had  almost  finished  the 
labour,  George  Joye  secretly  took  in  hand  to  correct  it  also, 
by  what  occasion  his  conscience  knoweth,  and  prevented  me,  in 
so  much  that  his  correction  was  printed  in  great  number,  ere 
mine  began.  When  it  was  spied  and  word  brought  me,  though 
it  seemed  to  divers  others  that  George  Joye  had  not  used  the 
office  of  an  honest  man,  seeing  he  knew  that  I  was  correcting 
it  myself,  neither  did  walk  after  the  rules  of  the  love  and 
softness  which  Christ  and  His  disciples  teach  us,  how  that  we 
should  do  nothing  of  strife  to  move  debate,  or  of  vainglory,  or 
of  covetousness ;  yet  I  took  the  thing  in  worth,  as  I  have  done 
divers  other  in  time  past,  as  one  that  have  more  experience  of 
the  nature  and  disposition  of  that  man's  complexion,  and  sup 
posed  that  a  little  spice  of  covetousness  and  vainglory  (two 
blind  guides)  had  been  the  only  cause  that  moved  him  so  to  do ; 
about  which  things  I  strive  with  no  man,  and  so  followed  after 
and  corrected  forth,  and  caused  this  to  be  printed  without 
surmise  or  looking  on  his  correction."  That  his  work  should 
be  tampered  with  in  any  way  by  a  careless  or  unscholarly 
editor,  and  the  trick  studiously  concealed  from  him  all  the 
while,  must  have  deeply  wounded  him.  To  have  wantonly 
touched  and  retouched  a  common  treatise  without  authority 
was  wrong;  but  it  was  an  act  of  no  common  daring  so  to 
handle  the  translation  which  Tyndale  regarded  as  the  labour 
and  crown  of  his  life,  on  which  also  rested  his  critical  repute 
and  his  means  of  blessing  the  English  people.  Joye's  know 
ledge  that  Tyndale  was  diligently  working  at  a  revision,  was 
1  Sometimes  spelled  Lempereur. 


xtv.]  JO  YES  DUPLICITY.  219 

an  aggravation  of  the  offence,  for  in  such  a  case  "  he  used  not 
the  office  of  an  honest  man."  "  When  the  printing  of  mine 
was  almost  finished,  one  brought  me  a  copy  and  showed  me  so 
many  places  in  such  wise  altered  that  I  was  astonied,  and 
wondered  not  a  little  what  fury  had  driven  him  to  make  such 
change,  and  to  call  it  a  diligent  correction."  Joye  did  not 
affix  Tyndale's  name  to  the  reprint,  though  the  book  was 
really  his  with  some  changes,  none  of  any  value  or  suggested 
by  the  original,  but  only  inserted  to  eke  out  the  sense  by 
unneeded  and  clumsy  supplements.  Many  of  these  alterations 
are,  as  he  confesses,  from  the  Vulgate,  and  he  aimed  at "  giving 
many  words  the  pure  and  native  signification."  The  result 
of  his  effort  is  a  poor,  marred,  and  diluted  version.  Tyndale 
argues  that  Joye  should  have  put  his  own  name  to  the  book, 
"  as  it  was  not  expedient  for  the  edifying  of  the  unity  of  the  faith 
of  Christ  that  whosoever  will,  shall,  by  his  own  authority,  take 
another  man's  translation  and  put  out  and  in  and  change  at 
pleasure,  and  call  it  a  correction."  Joye,  in  his  own  account, 
distinguishes  between  the  greater  and  the  minor  correc 
tions  ;  in  his  own  phrase,  he  had  "  mended  a  few  certain 
doubtful  and  dark  places,"  though,  at  the  same  time,  he 
avows,  "I  have  made  many  changes."  Nay,  he  had  the 
hardihood  to  aver  that  he  met  in  Tyndale's  version  with 
"hard  sentences  that  no  reason  could  be  gathered  of  them, 
whether  it  was  by  the  ignorance  of  the  first  translator 
or  of  the  printers,"  and  that  he  had  made  such  places  "  plain 
from  the  Latin  text."  Yet  Joye's  version  was  done  so  care 
lessly,  that  the  error  in  Tyndale's  first  edition  in  Mark  xiv,  5, 
"  two  hundred  pence  "  for  "  three  hundred  pence  "  is  unnoticed 
and  unchanged,  and  he  had  not  even  looked  into  the  Vulgate. 

Joye  calls  his  book  in  reply  "An  Apology  made  by  George  Joye 
to  satisfye  if  it  may  be  William  Tyndale,  to  pourge  and  defend 
himself  against  so  many  slanderause  lies  feigned  upon  him 
in  Tyndale's  uncharitable  and  unsober  pistle,  £c. — Lord  de 
liver  us  from  lying  lips  and  from  a  deceitful  tongue.  I  know 
and  believe  that  the  bodies  of  every  dead  man  shall  rise  at 
doomsday."  He  specially  prided  himself  on  his  change  of  a 
verse  "darkly  translated,"  and  he  had  shown  his  amendment  to 


220  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

Tyndale's  scribe,  but  Tyndale  refused  it — "though  it  stand 
clearer  and  truer  in  my  correction  than  in  his,"  and  he  boldly 
adds,  "let  the  learned  judge."  The  passage  is  Acts  vi,  1,  Tyn 
dale  having,  "  In  those  dayes,  as  the  nombre  of  the  disciples 
grewe,  there  arose  a  grodge  amonge  the  grekes  agaynst  the 
ebrues,  because  theyr  widdowes  were  despysed  in  the  dayly 
ministration."  Joye's  version  is,  "  In  these  dayes,  the  nombre 
of  the  disciples  grewe,  there  arose  a  grudge  amonge  the  grekes 
agaynst  the  ebrues,  because  theyr  pore  nedy  were  neglege 
in  the  dayly  almose  dealinge." l  The  "  Apology,"  for  he  was 
not  afraid  to  answer  Tyndale  for  "  all  his  high  learning," 
is  dated  28th  February,  1535.  The  story  contained  in  it 
has  some  interest,  for  it  gives  a  good  account  of  the 
spurious  issues.2  "  Thou  shalt  know  that  Tyndale,  about 
eight  or  nine  years  ago,  translated  and  printed  the  New 
Testament  in  a  mean  great  volume,  but  yet  without  kal- 
endar,  concordances  in  the  margin,  and  table  in  the  end. 
And  anon  the  Dutchmen  got  a  copy,  and  printed  it  again  in  a 
small  volume,  adding  the  calendar  in  the  beginning,  con 
cordances  in  the  margin,  and  the  table  in  the  end.  But 
yet  for  that  they  had  no  Englishman  to  correct  the  setting, 
they  themselves  having  not  the  knowledge  of  our  tongue, 
were  compelled  to  make  many  more  faults  than  were  in 
the  copy,  and  so  corrupted  the  book  that  the  simple  reader 
might  oft  times  be  tarried,  and  stick.  After  this  they  printed 
it  again,  also  without  a  corrector,  in  a  greater  letter  and 
volume,  with  the  figures  in  the  Apocalypse,  which  was  there 
fore  much  falser  than  their  first.  When  these  two  prints 
(there  were  of  them  both  about  five  thousand  books  printed) 
were  all  sold,  more  than  a  twelvemonth  ago,  Tyndale  was 
pricked  forth  to  take  the  Testament  in  hand,  to  print  it  and 

1  Anderson's"  Annals,    vol.    I,   p.  "greedy,    covetouse,    insaciabl,    de- 

396.     In  1541,  he  published  a  small  ceytfull,   gatherers;"   and    for    the 

book    against    adultery,     "printed  epithet  "  extortioners,"  he  has  "nor 

at  London,  by  George  Joye."     The  pyllers  and  pollars." 

motto  on  the  last  leaf  is  1  Cor.  vi,  9-  -  See  AVaterland's  Letters  to  Mr. 

10  ;  and  in  its  translation,  for  the  Lewis,  "Works,  vol.  VI,  p.  305,  &c. 

single   epithet    "  covetous,"   he  has  ed.  Van  Mildert,  Oxford,  1856. 


xiv.]  HIS  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  SPURIOUS  EDITIONS.  221 

correct  it,  as  he  professeth  and  promiseth  to  do  in  the  latter 
end  of  his  first  translation.  But  Tyndale  prolonged  and 
deferred  to  so  necessary  a  thing,  and  so  just  desires  of  many 
men;  in  so  much  that,  in  the  mean  season,  the  Dutchmen 
printed  it  again  the  third  time,  in  a  small  volume  like  their 
first  print,  but  much  more  false  than  ever  it  was  before. 
And  yet  was  Tyndale  here  called  upon  again,  seeing  there 
were  so  many  false  printed  books  still  put  forth,  and  bought 
up  so  fast ;  for  now  was  there  given,  thanked  be  God,  a 
little  space  to  breathe  and  rest  unto  Christ's  Church,  after 
so  long  and  grievous  persecution  for  reading  the  books.  But 
yet,  before  this  third  time  of  printing  the  book,  the  printer 
desired  me  to  correct  it,1  and  I  said,  '  It  were  well  done,  if 
ye  printed  them  again,  to  make  them  truer,  and  not  to  deceive 
our  nation  with  any  more  false  books ;  nevertheless,  I  suppose 
that  Tyndale  himself  will  put  it  forth  more  perfect  and  newly 
corrected,  which  if  he  do,  yours  shall  be  nought  set  by,  nor 
never  sold.'  This  notwithstanding,  yet  they  printed  them, 
and  that  most  false,  and  about  two  thousand  books,  and  had 
shortly  sold  them  all.  All  this  long  time  Tyndale  slept,  for 
nothing  came  from  him  as  far  as  I  could  perceive.  Then  the 
Dutch  began  to  print  them  the  fourth  time,  because  they  saw 
no  man  else  going  about  them  ;  and  after  they  had  printed  the 
first  leaf,  which  copy  another  Englishman  had  corrected  for 
them,  they  came  to  me,  and  desired  me  to  correct  them  their 
copies,  when  I  answered  as  before:  'If  Tyndale  amend  it  with 
so  great  diligence  as  he  promiseth,  yours  will  never  be  sold.' 
'  Yes,'  quoth  they,  '  for  if  he  print  two  thousand,  and  we  as 
many,  what  is  so  little  a  number  for  all  England  ?  and  we  will 
sell  ours  better  cheap,  and,  therefore,  we  doubt  not  of  the  sale.' 
So  that  I  perceived  well,  and  was  sure  that,  whether  I  had 
corrected  this  copy  or  not,  they  had  gone  forth  with  their 
work,  and  had  given  us  two  thousand  more  books  falslier 
printed  than  ever  we  had  before.  Then  I  thus  considered 
with  myself:  England  hath  enough  and  too  many  false  Testa- 

1  Joye  refers  to  the  octavo  and  ig-     — Joye,  Jaye,  Gee,  and  More  adds, 
nores  the  quarto  with  its  marginal     "  otherwise  called  Clarke." 
furniture.     He  had  wealth  of  names 


222  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

ments,  and  is  now  likely  to  have  many  more ;  yea,  and  that 
whether  Tyndale  correct  his  or  no,  yet  shall  these,  now  in  hand, 
go  forth  uncorrected  too,  except  somebody  correct  them  ;  and 
what  Tyndale  doth,  I  wot  not,  he  maketh  me  nothing  of  his 
counsel.  I  see  nothing  come  from  him  all  this  long  while, 
wherein,  with  the  help  that  he  hath,  that  is  to  say,  one  both 
to  write  it  and  to  correct  it  in  the  press,  he  might  have  done  it 
thrice  since  he  was  moved  to  do  it.  For  Tyndale,  I  know  well, 
was  not  able  to  do  it  without  such  an  helper,  which  he  hath 
ever  had  hitherto." 

Had  Joye  been  contented  to  reprint  Tyndale  correctly,  he 
would  have  conferred  a  benefit  on  all  English  readers,  but  he 
was  snared  by  his  own  ambition,  and  he  failed,  as  so  often 
happens  to  improvers  in  painting  and  architecture.  He  acted 
doubly,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  and  his  charge  of  indolence  against 
Tyndale  contradicts  all  that  we  know  of  his  busy  existence. 
But  his  words  imply  that  several  surreptitious  and  badly 
printed  editions  of  the  New  Testament  had  been  issued, 
and  had  he  sent  from  the  press  another  edition  without  the 
natural  arid  numerous  blunders  ascribed  by  him  to  the  foreign 
printers,  he  would  have  earned  hearty  thanks.  But  his  work 
brought  obloquy  upon  him,  for  it  was  Tyndale's  without  his 
name,  and  disfigured,  too,  by  changes  that  could  never  have 
got  the  translator's  sanction. 

One  special  translation  by  Joye,  Tyndale  felt  obliged  to  pro 
test  against,  the  change  of  the  word  resurrection  and  the 
employment  in  its  room  of  "  life  after  this,"  and  similar  phrases, 
as  in  Matthew  xxii,  30,  31,  and  Mark  xii,  though  he 
retained  it  in  cases  where  the  rising  of  the  body  is  distinctly 
intended,  as  in  1  Corinthians  xv,  and  Philippians  iii.  Joye  and 
Tyndale  had  often  disputed  about  the  nature  of  the  soul-life, 
between  death  and  the  resurrection,  and  Tyndale  had  manifested 
impatience  at  Joye's  arguments,  "  filliping  them  forth  between 
his  finger  and  his  thumb  after  his  wonted  disdainful 
fashion."  Joye's  view  was  the  common  one,  that  souls  pass 
into  a  higher  life  at  death.  Tyndale  did  not  dispute  this 
doctrine ;  but  his  own  opinion  had  wavered,  for  he  said  in 
his  controversy  with  More,  "  the  souls  of  the  dead  lie  and 


xiv.]  HIS  APOLOGY.  223 

sleep  till  doomsday."  But  he  had  now  obtained  clearer 
conceptions,  and  he  "  protests  before  God  and  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  before  the  universal  congregation  that 
believeth  in  him,  that  he  held  and  maintained  it  in 
perfect  accordance  with  Scripture."  Tjoidale's  more  recent 
view  is  in  harmony  with  Scripture,  which  teaches  not  simply 
the  immortality  of  the  soul,  but  the  immortality  of  man, 
asserts  that  Christ  came  not  to  save  souls  as  a  portion  of 
our  nature,  but  to  save  human  beings ;  lays  far  more  stress 
on  the  resurrection  than  our  popular  theology  supposes ;  looks  on 
the  separate  existence  of  the  soul  after  death  as  an  insignificant 
parenthesis  in  our  existence,  and  takes  almost  no  notice 
of  it  when  it  is  out  of  the  physical  organism  created  for  it ; 
implies  that  an  unembodied  spirit,  whatever  be  its  brightness, 
happiness,  and  service  in  the  Divine  presence  is  imperfect ;  and 
sets  before  us  the  last  day  as  the  epoch  of  our  glorification, 
when  our  nature  in  all  its  spheres  shall  be  perfected  in 
Christ,  and  prepared  for,  and  admitted  into  everlasting 
blessedness.  Tyndale's  words  in  his  Protestation  are, 
"Nevertheless,  I  confess  openly,  that  I  am  not  persuaded 
that  they  be  already  in  the  full  glory  that  Christ  is 
in,  or  the  elect  angels  of  God  are  in."  Tyndale,  repeating 
the  unfounded  accusation  that  he  had  hastily  made  against 
Sir  Thomas  More,  hints  that  covetousness  might  mingle 
with  George  Joye's  motives  for  interfering  with  his  work, 
but  the  implied  charge  falls  to  the  ground.  The  printers 
offered  him  a  remuneration  of  threepence  a  sheet  of  thirty-two 
pages,  and  he  closed  the  hard  bargain  at  fourpence  halfpenny. 
His  own  curious  account  is  that,  "the  printer  came  to  me 
agen,  and  offred  me  two  stuvers  and  a  halfe  for  the 
correcking  of  every  sheet  of  the  copye ;  which  folden  con- 
tayneth  sixteen  leaves ;  and  for  three  stuvers,  which  is 
fourpense  halpeny  sterling,  I  promised  to  do  it.  So  that 
in  al  I  had  for  my  labour  but  fourteen  shylyngis  flemesshe." 
And  he  affirms  that  had  it  not  been  for  the  goodness  of  the 

O 

deed,  he  would  not  have  done  it  for  five  times  that  sum. 
There  is  no  record  of  Tyndale's  receiving  money  for  any  of 
his  works;  but  Joye  rebuts  the  charge  of  covetousness  by 


224  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAI-. 

asserting  that  "  Tyndale  took  ten  pounds  for  his  correction." 
Luther  complains  that  all  he  received  was  often  a  single 
copy  of  a  Book  on  its  publication,  while  other  writers,  even 
translators,  frequently  got  an  angel  for  every  eight  leaves.  But 
in  one  of  his  casual  utterances  Joye  merits  our  thanks : 
"  In  good  faith,  as  for  me  I  had  as  lief  put  the  truth  into  the 
text  as  in  the  mai'gent ;  and  except  the  gloss  expound  the  text, 
or  where  the  text  is  plain  enough,  I  had  as  lief  leave  such 
frivole  glosses  clean  out.  I  would  the  Scripture  were  so  purely 
and  plainly  translated,  that  it  needed  neither  gloss  nor  scholia, 
so  that  the  reader  might  once  swim  without  a  cork."  It  is 
difficult  to  say  whether  Joye  means  by  these  words  to  depre 
cate  Tyndale's  marginal  references ;  but  the  statement  certainly 
involves  a  momentous  truth,  and  shows  that  he  had  just  ideas 
of  the  general  nature  of  a  good  translation. 

That  Joye  was  not  devoid  of  ambition  appears  incidentally 
from  Tyndale's  postscript  to  his  second  letter  to  Fryth,  relating 
that "  George  Joye  at  Candlemas,  being  at  Barrow,  printed  two 
leaves  of  Genesis  in  a  great  form,  and  sent  one  copy  to  the 
king  and  another  to  the  new  queen,  with  a  letter  to  N.  for  to 
deliver  them,  and  to  purchase  licence,  that  he  might  go  through 
the  whole  Bible.  Out  of  that  is  sprung  the  noise  of  the  new 
Bible,  and  out  of  that  is  the  great  seeking  for  English  Books  at 
all  printers  and  bookbinders  in  Antwerp,  and  for  an  English 
priest  that  should  print."  Joye  had  some  malice  in  him  too, 
for  he  ventures  to  say  in  his  "  Apology,"  in  spite  of  the  eulogy 
which  he  had  pronounced  upon  Tyndale's  learning,  "that  he 
wondered  how  Tyndale  could  compare  the  translation  with 
Greek,  sith  himself  is  not  exquisitely  seen  therein." 
And  not  only  so,  but  he  accuses  Tyndale  of  praising  his  own 
Exposition  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  (1532)  "so  highly, 
that  forsooth,  my  ears  glowed  to  hear  him,  and  all  the  while  it 
was  Luther  that  made  it,  Tyndale  only  but  translating  and 
powdering  it  here  and  there  with  his  own  fantasies."  l  Tyndale 
tells  Fryth  in  his  letter  that  "  George  Joye  would  have  put 
forth  a  treatise  '  on  the  Sacrament,'  but  I  have  stopped  him  as 
yet ;  what  he  will  do,  if  he  get  money,  I  wot  not."  But  he  did 
1  Apology,  sig.  F,  III,  b. 


xiv.]  TYNDALES  SECOND  EDITION.  225 

publish  so  smart  an  attack  on  Bishop  Gardyner's  "  False  Articles" 
that  the  bishop  was  obliged  to  answer  it.  Joye  was  afterwards 
unjustly  accused,  both  in  Antwerp  and  in  England,  of  being 
privy  to  the  plans  for  the  apprehension  of  Tyndale.  "  His 
friends  greatly  blamed  him  and  abused  him  falsely  and 
wrongfully,"  so  that  he  left  Antwerp,  and  went  to  Embden, 
where  he  published  the  "  Subversion  of  More's  faulse  founda 
tion,"  &c.  In  1545  he  published  at  Geneva  an  Exposition  of 
Daniel,  and,  returning  to  England,  he  died  in  1553. 

Tyndale's  revised  New  Testament,  in  the  preface  to  which  he 
exposed  George  Joye,  came  out  in  1534,  the  title  being  "  The 
Newe  Testament,  dylygently  corrected  and  compared  with  the 
Greke  by  Willyam  Tindale,  and  fyneshed  in  the  yere  of  oure 
Lord  God  M.D.  &  xxxnu,  in  the  moneth  of  November."  W.  T. 
to  the  Christen  reader,  fills  seventeen  pages  ;  a  prologue  to  the 
four  Evangelists,  four  pages ;  W.  T.  yet  once  more,  &c.,  nine 
pages.  A  table  of  the  Epistles  and  Gospels  for  Sundays,  occupies 
sixteen  pages ;  and  there  are  "  some  things  added  to  fill  up  the 
leffe  withal,"  consisting  of  five  pages.  The  second  title  runs, 
"The  Newe  Testament,  imprinted  at  Antwerp,  by  Marten 
Emperowr,  Anno  MDXXXIIII."  A  page  has  thirty-three  lines. 
In  this  edition  not  only  are  prologues  prefixed  to  the  several 
books,  but  the  church  lessons  are  also  marked,  and  there  is  a 
translation  of  the  "  Epistles,"  taken  out  of  the  Old  Testament, 
which  "  are  read  in  the  church,  after  the  use  of  Salisbury,  upon 
certain  days  of  the  year."  These  "  Epistles  "  include  seventy- 
eight  verses  from  the  Pentateuch,  fifty-one  from  1st  Kings, 
Proverbs,  and  Canticles;  one  hundred  and  forty-seven  from 
the  prophetical  books,  chiefly  Isaiah  ;  and  forty-three  from  the 
Apocrypha,  in  excerpts  from  Esther,  Wisdom,  and  Ecclesiasticus, 
no  less  than  six  selections  being  from  the  latter  book.  This 
spontaneous  work  shows  that  Tyndale  did  not  hold  such  strong 
views  about  the  Apocrypha  as  his  biographer,  Mr.  Anderson, 
ascribes  to  him  ;  nay,  Mr.  Anderson  unaccountably  omits 
altogether  the  passages  from  the  Apocrypha,  when  he  gives  a 
list  of  the  places  in  the  Old  Testament  translated  by  Tyiidale. 

In  the  Protestation,  or,  as  he  calls  it,  "  William  Tyndale  yet 
once  more  unto  the  Christian  Reader,"  he  speaks  in  the  fulness 

VOL.   I.  P 


226  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

of  a  heart  in  which  love  for  the  truth  and  for  the  diffusion 
of  it  in  his  fatherland  had  absorbed  every  other  emotion. 
"  Moreover,  I  take  God  to  witness  (which  alone  seeth  the 
heart)  to  record  to  my  conscience,  beseeching  Him  that  my 
part  be  not  in  the  blood  of  Christ,  if  I  wrote,  of  all  that  I 
have  written  throughout  my  book,  aught  of  an  evil  purpose,  of 
envy  or  malice  to  any  man,  or  to  stir  up  any  false  doctrine  or 
opinion  in  the  Church  of  Christ,  or  to  be  author  of  any  sect,  or 
to  draw  disciples  after  me,  or  that  I  would  be  esteemed  or  had 
in  price  above  the  least  child  that  is  born.  Also  my  part  be 
not  in  Christ,  if  mine  heart  be  not  to  follow  and  live  according 
as  I  teach  ;  and  also  if  mine  heart  weep  not  night  and  day  for 
mine  own  sin  and  other  men's,  indifferentlv  beseeching  God  to 

\j  o 

convert  us  all,  and  to  take  His  wrath  from  us,  and  to  be  merci 
ful  as  well  to  all  other  men  as  to  mine  own  soul ;  caring  for  the 
wealth  of  the  realm  I  was  born  in  ;  for  the  king  and  all  that 
are  thereof,  as  a  tender-hearted  mother  would  do  for  her  only 
son. 

"  As  concerning  all  I  have  translated  or  otherwise  written,  I 
beseech  all  men  to  read  it,  for  that  purpose  I  wrote  it,  even  to 
bring  them  to  a  knowledge  of  the  Scripture  ;  and  as  far  as  the 
Scripture  approveth  it,  so  far  to  allow  it ;  and  if  in  any  place 
the  Word  of  God  disallow  it,  there  to  refuse  it,  as  I  do  before 
our  Saviour  Christ  and  His  congregation.  And  where  they 
find  faults,  let  them  show  it  me  if  they  be  nigh,  or  write  to 
me  if  they  be  far  off ;  or  write  openly  against  it,  or  improve 
it;  and  I  promise  them,  if  I  perceive  that  their  reasons  con 
clude,  I  will  confess  mine  ignorance  openly." 

The  revision  fully  bears  out  T}mdale's  honest  and  noble  pro 
fession.  In  it  the  Vulgate  is  forsaken  oftener  than  in  the  first 
edition.  Thus,  he  inserts  the  Doxology  in  Matthew  vi,  13. 
Erasmus  had  admitted  it  in  his  fourth  edition  of  1527,  which, 
however,  Tyndale  does  not  seem  to  have  used.  Some  erroneous 
renderings  remain  unchanged,  as  "  backbiter,"  in  Ephesians  iv, 
27 ;  and  he  gives  this  rendering  also  in  the  conclusion  of  his 
prologue  to  St.  Matthew,  and  in  the  "  Obedience  of  a  Chris 
tian  Man";  "founde  in  his  aparrell  as  a  man,"  Phil,  ii,  8; 
"  honestly  apparelled,"  1  Timothy  iii,  2 ;  "  lordes  over  the 


xiv.]  A  THOROUGH  REVISION.  227 

parishes,"  1  Peter  v,  3.  But  every  verse  bears  marks  of  a 
careful  treatment.  The  minuter  alterations  show  the  atten 
tion  and  taste  of  a  painstaking  scholar,  labouring  to  bring 
his  translation  as  close  as  possible  to  the  original.  His 
own  scholarship  had  improved  during  the  last  nine  years, 
and  he  had  profited  by  his  experience  as  a  translator.  He 
could  now  enter  more  deeply  into  the  spirit  of  the  Greek  text, 
and,  feeling  its  wondrous  beauty  and  compactness,  he  became 
endowed  with  the  power  of  seizing  minuter  shades  and  more 
delicate  turns  of  thought,  and  of  giving  them  a  more  apt  and 
felicitous  rendering.  No  change  to  the  better  was  beneath  his 
notice,  whatever  might  contribute  to  clearness  and  vigour  he  at 
once  laid  hold  of.  He  felt  that,  in  the  book  he  was  translating, 
not  only  were  the  "  lamps  of  pure  gold,"  but  even  "  the  snuffers 
and  the  snuff  dishes  "  were  of  the  same  precious  metal — not  to 
be  dimmed  or  tarnished  by  any  careless  human  handling. 
Many  of  the  changes  introduced  by  him  keep  their  place  in 
our  present  New  Testament,  and  that  after  having  passed 
through  several  revisions  in  the  Great  Bible,  the  Genevan, 
and  the  Bishops'.  The  following  collation  is  a  proof  and 
sample : — 

1526.  MATTHEW  V.  1534. 

Verse 

1     disciples  cam  vnto  hym.  disciples  came  to  hym. 

9     mayntayners  of  peace.  peacemakers. 

11     men  shall  re vyle  you.  men  revyle  you. 

13     if  the  salt  be  once  uusavery.  yf  ye  salt  have  lost  hir  saltuess. 

„    but  to  be  caste  oute  at  the  dores,  but  to  be  cast  oute,  &  to  be  troa- 
&  that  men  treade  it  vnder  fete.         den  vnder  fote  of  men. 

15  all  them  which  are.  all  that  are. 

16  se  that  youre  light.  let  your  light. 

17  to  disannull.  to  destroy e. 
19     shall  teache.  teacheth. 

.,     shall  observe  &  teache  them,  that  observeth  &  teacheth,  ye  same  shal 

persone  shalbe  called  greate.  be  called  greate. 

21  whosoever  shall  kill.  whosoever  killeth. 

22  But  whosoever  shall  saye  vnto  his  But      whosoever      sayeth,     thou 

brother  thou  fole.  fole. 

23  eny  thynge  agaynst  thee.  ought  agaynst  the. 

24  reconcile  thy  silfe.  be  recoucyled. 

25  at  once.  quicklye. 


228 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 


[CHAV. 


1526. 


MATTHEW  V. 


1534. 


Verse 

-5     thine  adversary  at  once. 
-8     eyeth  a  wyfe. 
31     a  testymonyall  of  her. 
the  grete  king. 

o  o 

one  heer  whyte  or  blacke. 
ye  withstond  not  wronge. 
But  yf  a  man. 

and  take  thy  coote  from  the. 
you  re  hevenly  Father. 
Yf  ye  shall  love  them. 


12 
13 

1G 
21 


thyne  adversary  qxiicklye. 

looketh  on  a  wyfe. 

a  testymonyall  also  of  the. 

that  greate  kynge. 

one  whyte  heer,  or  blacke. 

ye  resist  not  wronge. 

But  whosoever. 

and  take  away  thy  coote. 

your  fathei  that  is  in  heaven. 

Yf  ye  love  them. 


MATTHEW  VI. 


youre  father  in  heven. 

But  when  ye  praye. 

gentyls. 

as  we  forgeve  them  which  tras- 

pas  vs. 
Leede  vs  not  into  temptacion,  but 

delyvre  vs  from  yvel.     Amen. 


that   hit  myght  apere  vnto  men 

that  they  faste. 
there  are  youre  hertes  also. 
The  light  off  thy  body. 
ys  full  of  light, 
he  shall  leue  the  one. 
what  raymeiit  ye  shall  weare. 
Are  ye  not  better  than  they  ? 

Behold  the  lyles. 

Care  not  therfore  for  the  daye 
foloynge;  For  the  daye  foloynge 
shall  care  tfor  yt  sylfe.  Eche 
dayes  trouble  ys  sufficient  for 
the  same  silfe  day. 


youre  father  which  is  in  heven. 

And  when  ye  praye. 

he  then. 

as  we  forgeve  cure  trespacers. 

And  leade  vs  not  into  temptacion 
but  delyver  vs  from  evell.  For 
thyne  is  the  kiugdome  and  the 
power  and  the  glorye  for  ever. 
Amen. 

that  they  myght  be  sene  of  men 
how  they  faste. 

there  will  youre  hertes  be  also. 

The  light  of  the  body. 

shalbe  full  of  light. 

he  shall  lene  to  the  one. 

what  ye  shall  put  on. 

Are  ye  not  moche  better  then 
they  ] 

Considre  the  lylies. 

Care  not  then  for  the  morow, 
but  let  the  morow  care  for  it 
selfe  ;  for  the  day  present  hath 
ever  yuough  of  his  awne  trouble. 


MATTHEW  VII. 


Judge  not  lest  ye  be  judged, 
sufi're  me  to  plucke  oute  a  moote 

oute  off  thyne  eye. 
which  wolde  proffer  his  soune  a 

stone  if  he  axed  him  breed. 


Judge  not  that  ye  be  not  judged, 
suffre  me  to  plucke  oute  the  moote 

oute  of  thyue  eye. 
which  if  his  souue  axed  hym  breade 

wolde  offer  him  a  stone. 


xiv.]      COLLATION  OF  THE  EDITIONS  OF  1526  AND  1534.       229 


1526. 


MATTHEW  VII. 


1534. 


Verse 

1 1     them  that  axe  off  hym. 

14    For  strayte  ys  the  gate. 

21  he  that  fulfilleth  my  father's  will. 

22  And  in  thy  name   have  we   not 

caste  oute  devyls  ?  And  in  thy 
name  have  we  nott  done  many 
miracles  ? 

25  and  it  was  not  over  throwen. 

26  doth  not  the  same. 

27  and  it  was  over  throwen. 


them  that  axe  hym. 

But  strayte  is  the  gate. 

he  that  dothe  my  father's  will. 

And  in  thy  name  have  caste 
oute  devyls  ?  And  in  thy  name 
have  done  many  miracles  ? 

and  it  fell  not. 
doth  them  not. 
and  it  fell. 


GALATIAXS  I. 


1     congregacion. 
5     for  ever.     Amen. 
10     Seeke'nowe  the  faveour  off  men, 
or  off  God  \ 

13  ye  have  heerde. 
„     in  tymes  past. 

14  more   fervently  mayntayned   the 

tradicions. 
18    vnto  Peter. 
24    glorifyed  god  in  me. 


congregacions. 

for  ever  and  ever.     Amen. 

Preache    I    marines    doctrine    or 

Godes  ? 

For  ye  have  hearde. 
in  tyme  past, 
more  fervent  maynteuer   of    the 

tradicions. 
to  se  Peter, 
glorified  God  on  my  behalffe. 


CHAPTER  II. 


1  I  went  agayne. 

2  I  went  by. 
„     which  are. 

0  &  as  sone  as  James,  Cephas,  & 
Jhon,  which  semed  to  be  pil- 
lares,  perceaved  the  grace  thatt 
was  geven  vnto  me,  they  gave 
to  me  &  Barnabas  their 
hondes. 

11     When  Peter. 

14    To  folowe  the  Jewes  ? 

16    and  we  have  beleved. 
„    because  that  noo  flesshe  shal  be 
justified   by  the  dedes  off  the 
lawe. 

20  the  lyf  e. 

21  then  is  Christ  deed  in  vayne. 


I  went  vp  agayue. 

I  went  vp  by. 

which  were. 

&  therfore  when  they  perceaved 
the  grace  that  was  geven  vnto 
me,  then  James,  Cephas,  £ 
John,  which  semed  to  be 
pilers,  gave  to  me  &  Barnabas 
the  ryght  hondes. 

And  when  Peter. 

to  live  as  do  the  Jewes  ? 

and  therfore  we  have  beleved. 

because  that  by  the  dedes  of 
the  lawe  no  flesshe  shal  be 
justified. 

For  the  lyfe. 

then  Christ  dyed  in  vayue. 


230 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 


[CHAP. 


1526. 


GALATIANS  III. 


1535. 


Verse 

4 


ye  have  suffred  in  vayne,  yf  it  be 
so  that  ye  have  suffred  in  vayne. 

7  They  which  are  of  fayth,  are  the 

children. 

8  The  scripture. 
.,     and  shewed. 

13  Christ  hath. 

14  that  we  might. 

16  thy  seedes. 

1 7  conf  ermed  of  god. 

19     vnto  which  seede  the  promes. 
-I     Yff  there  had  bene. 
'27     put  Christ  on  you. 
28     nether  greke. 

.,     nether  fre. 

.,     nether  woman, 
for  all  are  one. 


there  ye  have  suffred  in  vayne,  if 

that  be  vayne. 
the  same  are  the  chyldreu. 

For  the  scripture. 

and  therfore  shewed. 

But  Christ  hath. 

&  that  we  might. 

the  seedes. 

confermed  afore  of  God. 

to  which  ye  promess. 

Howbeit  yf  ther  had  bene. 

put  on  Christ. 

nether  gentyle. 

ner  fre. 

ner  woman. 

but  ye  are  all  one. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


5  shulde  receave. 

8  not  goddes. 

10  the  dayes. 

11  I  fear  offe  you. 

12  hurte  me. 

13  ye  knowe  wele  how  that. 

14  the  flesshe. 

In  digged  out  3*011  re  awne  e3res. 

]6  Am  I  so  greatly  become. 

30  Cast  a  wave. 


myght  receave. 

no  goddes. 

dayes. 

I  am  in  feare  of  3*011. 

not  hurte  me  at  all. 

ye  knowe  how. 

nty  flesshe. 

plucked  out  3*oure  awne  63*68. 

Am  I  therefore  become. 

put  awa3re. 


CHAPTER  V. 


10 
11 

12 

20 

•5 

21 
22 
23 


"We  loke  for  &  hope  to  be  justi 
fied  by  the  sprete  which  com- 
meth  of  fa^'th. 

In  god. 

I  then  suffre. 

sondred. 

lawynge. 

parte  takyngp?. 

shall  not  be  the  inheritours. 

off  the  sprete. 

is  there  no  lawe. 


We  loke  for  &  hope  in  the 
sprite,  to  be  justified  thorow 
fayth. 

In  the  Lorde. 

I  then  3*et  suffre. 

seperated. 

variaunce. 

sectes. 

shall  not  iuherite. 

of  sprete. 

there  is  no  lawe. 


xiv.]  GEORGE  HARM  AN  AND  ANNE  BOLEYN.  231 

1526.  CHAPTER  VI.  1534. 

Verse 

2  Beare  one  another's  burthen.  Beare  ye  one  another's  burthen. 

3  yff  a  man  seme.  If  eny  man  seme. 

8  in  the  flesshe.  in  his  flesshe. 

9  Let  vs  do  good,  and  let  vs  not    Let    vs    not   be    wery    of     well 

faynte.  doynge. 

Several  of  these  changes  may  not  be  improvements,  but 
in  the  great  majority  of  them  there  is  an  apparent  effort  to 
secure  greater  accuracy  of  rendering,  and  more  clearness  and 
concinnity  of  expression. 

Many  of  Tyndale's  terms  have  been  changed  in  the  course 
of  successive  revisions.  Similitude  has  passed  into  parable, 
health  into  salvation,  counterfeit  into  follow,  favour  into  grace, 
congregation  into  church,  hallowed  loaves  into  unleavened 
bread,  Easter  into  passover  (except  in  one  instance),  it  fortuned 
or  it  chanced  into  it  came  to  pass,  love  into  charity,  dearth 
into  famine,  captain  into  centurion,  laude  into  praise,  &c. 

George  Harnian,  of  Antwerp,  had,  as  recorded  on  a  previous 
page,  been  imprisoned  along  with  his  wife,1  at  the  instance 
of  Hacket  the  English  envoy  and  the  authorities  at  home, 
and  he  had  been  expelled  from  the  "English  House."  The 
Lords  of  Antwerp  released  him  in  February,  1529,  after 
seven  months  confinement,  and  some  years  afterwards  he 
visited  England,  and  found  a  patron  in  Queen  Anne 
Boleyn  who  had  been  crowned  on  the  1st  of  June,  1533.  A 
letter  from  her  to  Crumwell,  dated  13th  May,  1534,  "at  my 
Lord's  Manor  at  Greenwich,"  2  and  beginning  with  "  Anne  the 
Queen,"  has  been  preserved,  telling  what  penalty  he  had 
suffered  "in  the  time  of  the  late  Lord  Cardinal'  ;  boldly 
setting  forth  the  crime  charged  upon  him  that,  "he  like  a 
good  Christian  man,  both  did  with  his  goods  and  policy 
help  to  the  setting  forth  of  the  New  Testament  in  English ; " 
and  asking  him  "  to  be  restored  to  his  pristine  freedom,  liberty, 
and  fellowship,  and  the  sooner  at  our  request." 3  Tyudale 

1  See  p.  178.  3  The   "  Lady  Anne  "    had    been 

3  Cotton  MSS.,  Cleopatra,  E.  V.,  involved    in   a   perilous    adventure 

fol.    330.     Strype's  Annals,  vol.  I,  in  1529,  with  a  copy  of  Tyudale's 

part  1,  p.  171.  "  Obedience  of  a  Christian  Man,"  and 


232  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

had  been  informed  of  this  royal  interposition,  and  as  a  fitting 
memorial  of  his  earnest  gratitude,  he  threw  off  a  copy  of 
his  revised  edition  on  vellum,  with  beautifully  illuminated 
capitals,  but  without  name,  dedication,  or  preface,  and 
sent  the  volume  to  her  Majesty.  This  Testament,  not 
in  the  original  binding,  is  now  in  the  British  Museum, 
and  when  the  book  is  kept  firmly  shut,  there  may  be 
read  in  dim  red  letters  on  the  fore-edge  of  the  leaves, 
on  the  top  Anna,  on  the  centre  Regina,  and  on  the  bottom 
AngliaB. 

Tyndale  published  another  edition  in  1535.  Joye  in  his 
Apology,  intimates  that  it  was  then  in  hand,  but  before  it  was 
printed  the  translator  was  betrayed  and  imprisoned.  There 
were  indeed  two  editions,  in  1535,  the  one  no  doubt  Tyndale's 
own  work,  and  the  other  a  surreptitious  issue.  The  one  edition, 
1534-1535,  has  a  second  title  dated  1534,  which  had  been 
printed  with  the  text  at  the  end  of  that  year,  the  preliminary 
leaves,  as  being  the  last  portion  of  the  volume  thrown  off,  having 
the  date  1535,  and  on  the  title,  "yet  once  agayne  corrected  by 
Willyam  Tindale."  This  edition  has  a  monogram  G.  H.  on  the 
second  title,  and  its  genuineness  may  be  assumed  from  the  fact 
that  its  readings  are  usually  adopted  in  Matthew's  Bible. 
Having  been  for  a  brief  period  the  translator's  "own 
familiar  friend,"  Matthew  must  have  selected  it  as  Tyndale's 
last  and  best  production.  The  other  edition  "  fynesshed " 
in  1535,  and  "dylygently  corrected  and  compared  with  the 
Greke  by  Willyam  Tindale,"  is  to  all  intents  that  of  1534, 
but  with  833  changes,  few  of  which,  however,  can  be  called 
scholarly  emendations.1  The  following  collation  affords  a  speci 
men,  and  is  a  portion  of  Mr.  Fry's  monograph  on  the  subject, 
1  Corinthians  being  selected : — 

had  brought  upon  herself  the  suspi-  accuracy — "  Three  New  Testaments 
cion  and  resentment  of  Wolsey,  a  of  William  Tyndale,  that  of  1534, 
short  time  before  his  fall — the  Seals  1535,  1535-1534,  and  the  text  of 
being  taken  from  him  on  the  18th  uf  Matthew's  first  edition" — a  portion 
October.  of  a  larger  work  on  Tyndale  New 
1  See  Mr.  Fry's  monograph,  pre-  Testaments.  There  are  some  mis- 
pared  with  marvellous  minuteness  and  prints  and  omissions  in  Matthew. 


xiv.]  COLLATION.  233 

COLLATION  OF  ED.  1534,  GH  1535-34,  AND  MATTHEW  1537. 

Ch.   Ver. 

1  11    '34  GH  ...  M  (my  brethren)  of  you  by   ...  '35  ...   (my  brethren  of  you  by 

them  them) 

-  24    '34  GH  ...  M  and  the  wisdom  of  God       ...  '35  ...   and  wisdom  of  God 

2  4    '34    preaching  were  not  with  GH '35  M  preaching  was  not  with 

7  '34GH'35...    ordained  before  the  world M  ordained  before  the  word 

8  '34    the  rulers  of  the  world     GH '35  M  the  rulers  of  this  world 

3  6    '34   God  gave  increase GH '35  M   God  gave  the  increase 

7  '34   which  gave  the  increase    GH '35  M  that  gave  the  increase 

-  20    '34  GH...  M   God  knoweth  the  thoughts...    '35...   God  knoweth  thoughts 

-  22    '34   other,  4  times  in  the  verse  GH  '35  M  either,  4  times  in  the  rcrse 

5  4    '34  GH'...  M  in  the  name  of  our  Lord    ...    '35...   the  name  of  our  Lord 

M  and  wickedness      '35...   omitted 

6  5    '34  GH  ...  M  I  say  to  *  *  not  one  at  all  ...    '35  ...   I  lay  to  *  *  not  one  all 

7  6    '34   not  of  commandment   ...GH'35M  and  not  of  commandment 

M   he  that  hath  married   '35...  he  that  had  married 

M   his  virgin  doe th  well    '35...  his  virgin ite  doe th  well 

M  if  any  man  love  God     '35...  if  any  man  loveth  God 

eat  as  of  a  thing  offered     M  eat  as  a  thing  offered 

are  offered  unto  the  idol  GH  '35  M  are  offered  to  the  idol 

'34    are  not  ye  my  work     ...  GH '35  M  are  ye  not  my  work 

or  saith  not  the  law     '35...  saith  not  the  law 

is  it  a  great  thing '35...  it  is  a  great  thing 

have  their  finding '35...  have  they  finding 

so  also  did  the  Lord    '35...  so  did  the  Lord 

should  live  of  the  gospel    ...   '35...  omitted 

without  law  became  I        ...    '35...  without  the  law  became  I 

10  19    '33  GH  ...  M  is  offered  to  images      '35  ...  is  offered  to  the  images 

...  I  say  that  those  things     GH '35  M   I  say  that  these  things 

...  cannot  be  partakers     M   cannot  be  the  partakers 

M  bid  you  to  a  feast        '35...   bid  you  to  the  feast 

...  ye  give  occasion     GH '35  M  ye  give  none  occasion 

11  13     '34  GH  ...  M  that  a  woman  pray      '35...   that  a  woman  prayed 

this  cup  is  the  new  testa-  GH  '35  M  omitted 

ment  of  my  blood 
'34  GH  '35  ...   in  the  remembrance    M  in  remembrance 

-  29    '34  GH  ...    M  maketh  no  difference '35...    make  th  not  difference 

-  31     '34GH'35...    we  had  truly  judged    M  we  have  truly  judged 

-  33    '34  GH '35  ...    tarry  one  for  another M  tarry  one  another 

12  3    '34  GH '35  ...   but  by  the  Holy  Ghost       M  but  the  Holy  Ghost 

8  '34  GH  ...  M  to  another  is  given       '35...    to  another  given 

-  12    '34  GH  ...  M  though  they  be  many  yet  are    '35...   omitted 

but  one  body 

-  23    '34   members  of  that  body ...  GH '35  M  members  of  the  body 

-  24    '34  GH...  M   hath  given  most  honour     ...    '35...    hath  given  more  honour 

14  6     '34GH'35...   unto  you  other  by  revelation   ...  M  to  you  other  by  revelation 

-  2y    '34GH'35...    let  other  judge       M  let  the  other  judge 

—  30    '34  GH  ...  M  be  made  to  another     '35  ...   be  made  on  another 

15  2    '34    by  which  also  ye  are    ...  GH '35  M   by  the  which  also  ye  are 

—  10    '34    not  I  but  the  grace       ...  GH '35  M   yet  not  I  but  the  grace 

—  12    '34   ..  ..   from  death**  from  death  GH '35  M  fromthedead**ofthedead 


234  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 

COLLATION — Continued. 

Ch.     Ver. 

15  13     '34    rising  again  from  death    GH  '35  M  rising  again  of  the  dead 

—  15    '34    rise  not  up  again GH '35  M   rise  not  again 

— •  20  '34    Christ  risen  from  death    GH  '35  M   Christ  risen  from  the  dead 

-  21  '34    resurrection  from  death    GH  '35  M  resurrection  of  the  dead 

—  28  '34    they  put  all  things  under  GH '35  M   that  put  things  under 

—  29  '34  GH  ...   M  if  the  dead  rise  not  at  all    ...   '35...    if  the  dead  rise  not  all 

-  33    '34  GH  ...   M  malicious  speakings     '35  ...   malicious  speaking 

—  34     '34GH'35...    this  unto  your  rebuke        M  this  to  your  rebuke 

-  43    '34  GH  ...  M   and  "  ryseth  "  in  honour   ...   '35...    and  "  rysed  "  in  honour 

—  50    '34    corruption  inheriteth  ...  GH '35  M  doth  corruption  inherit 

16  3    '34  GH  ...   M   allow  by  your  letters   '35...    allow  by  our  letters 

—  12     '34GH'35...    his  mind  was  not  at  all      M   his  mind  was  not  all 

The  edition  of  1535  is  also  marked  by  peculiar  spelling. 
Tyndale  had  promised  at  Sodbury  that  "  if  God  spared  his  life, 
he  would  cause  a  boy  that  driveth  the  plough  to  know  more  of 
the  Scriptures  than  a  priest."  This  strange  spelling  has  been 
supposed,  by  Mr.  Walter  among  others,  to  be  a  conformity  to 
the  rustic  dialect  of  Gloucestershire  in  fulfilment  of  his  early 
pledge.  But  such  a  theory  fails  of  proof,  and  the  probability  is 
that  the  flat  diphthongal  orthography  was  the  fruit  of  Flemish 
printing,  copy  being  read  off  to  a  compositor  who  did  not 
know  English.  Similar  pronunciations  are  yet  common  in  Flan 
ders,  and  might  also  have  been  heard,  not  many  years  ago,  in 
some  parts  of  Morayshire.  The  following  are  a  few  specimens  : — 
First,  an  e  put  after  an  o,  which  is  the  commonest  form — aboede, 
boeke,  cloeke.  Second,  an  e  put  after  an  a,  which  is  also  very 
common — aege,  aere,  maey,  laey,  faether.  Third,  sometimes  the 
o  is  doubled — booth,  boones,  coostes,  oonly,  hoow,  stoone,  loo  for 
lo,  whoom,  moor,  nioost.  Fourth,  sometimes  an  e  after  a  u — 
ruele,  ruelers,  truethe.  Fifth,  sometimes  an  a  after  an  o — moane 
for  mone.  Sixth,  an  a  after  an  e — hear  for  her.  Seventh,  some 
times  ee — heere  for  here.  There  are  other  forms,  as  te  for  the, 
tappe  for  toppe,  tought  for  taught,  vyneyaerde  for  veneyarde, 
woeld  for  would,  woerde  for  worde,  woere  for  where,  yought 
for  youth. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


A  FTER  the   publication  of  the   Pentateuch,   Tyndale   was 
„    proceeding  with  the  Hebrew  Historical  Books,  when  his 
work  was  brought  to  an  abrupt  termination. 

Yaughan  had  been  at  a  previous  period  instructed  to  persuade 
Tyndale  to  return  to  England  under  promise  of  protection. 
But  he  intimated  to  Crumwell,  26th  January,  1530-31,  that 
the  task  was  hopeless,  for  "  Tyndale  daily  heareth  so  many 
things  from  thence  which  feareth  him."  "Would  God,"  he 
adds,  "  he  were  in  England."  There  was  at  that  time  no  covert 
design  to  entrap  him,  or  to  coax  him  to  come  over  and  then 
seize  him.  Yaughan  afterwards  informs  the  king,  17th  April, 
that  he  had  an  interview  with  Tyndale  in  the  fields  near 
Antwerp ;  that  he  had  avowed  his  fervent  and  patriotic 
loyalty,  and  his  reluctance  to  come  home,  because  the  king 
would  not  be  able  to  keep  his  promise  to  protect  him  against 
the  bishops,  for  they  affirmed  that  no  faith  should  be  kept 
with  heretics.  Yaughan's  despatch  got  him  into  trouble,  as  he 
was  supposed  to  be  favourably  inclined  towards  the  exile,  and 
Crumwell  replied,  "Withdraw  your  affection  from  the  said 
Tyndale,  and  all  his  sort ;  the  king's  highness  would  be  much 
joyous  of  his  conversion."1  Yaughan  again  met  Tyndale,  and 
thus  reports  his  words :  "If  his  majesty  would  grant  only  a  bare 
text  of  Scripture  to  be  put  forth  among  his  people,  like  as  is 
put  forth  among  the  subjects  of  the  emperor  in  these  parts,  and 
of  other  Christian  princes,  be  it  of  the  translation  of  what  person 
soever  shall  please  his  majesty,  I  shall  make  faithful  promise 

1  Vaughan  seems  to  have  thought  Crumwell  some  secret  information 
that  George  Constantiiie  had  given  against  him. 


236  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

never  to  write  more,  nor  abide  two  days  in  these  parts  after  the 
same ;  but  immediately  to  repair  unto  his  realm,  and  there  most 
humbly  submit  myself  at  the  feet  of  his  royal  majesty,  offering 
my  body  to  suffer  what  pain  or  torture,  yea,  what  death  his 
grace  will,  so  that  this  be  obtained.  And  till  that  time  I  will 
abide  the  asperity  of  all  chances,  whatsoever  shall  come,  and 
endure  my  life  in  as  much  pains  as  it  is  able  to  bear  and 
suffer." l  The  Translator,  in  defiance  of  mighty  and  malignant 
influences,  was  still  unshaken ;  his  courage  remained  firm  and 
unflinching  amidst  many  perils  closing  surely  and  darkly 
about  him.  He  rose  to  sublimity  of  resolution  as  his  end  drew 
nigh,  for  his  words  were  no  idle  bravado — no  mere  self-glorify 
ing  ejaculation,  as  the  event  was  so  soon  to  prove. 

During  his  abode  at  Antwerp,  Tyndale  continued  his 
studious  life,  giving  himself  wholly  to  his  book,  taking  his 
"  pastime "  on  Monday  and  Saturday ;  on  the  first  of  these 
days  visiting  and  relieving  all  the  refugees,  "  seeking  every 
corner  and  hole,"  and  imparting  liberal  charities  to  the  poor 
and  distressed,  for  he  had  "a  considerable  yearly  exhibi 
tion"  from  the  merchants.  On  the  Lord's  Day  he  held 
worship  in  private  with  such  of  the  merchants  as  might 
assemble  "  in  some  chamber  or  other,  and  read  a  parcel  of 
Scripture."  He  could  not  join  in  the  public  Catholic  worship, 
and  Sir  Thomas  More  as  usual  puts  it  strongly,  "  He  neither 
crieth  out,  nor  hallo  we  th,  nor  baiteth,  nor  buzzeth,  as  they  say 
that  know  him  ;  he  saith  none  at  all,  neither  matins,  evensong, 
nor  mass."  A  story  told  by  Foxe,  and  occupying  a  special 
place  in  a  remarkable  book,  needs  not  be  repeated  at  length.2 
It  tells  that  he  was  taken  to  see  a  conjurer  at  Antwerp,  who 
did  many  marvellous  things,  and  "  brought  to  table  by  his 
art  all  that  could  be  desired  "  of  wines  and  delicious  fruits  ; 
but  that  in  the  Reformer's  presence  he  "  wearied  himself  with 
spells,  charms,  and  incantations,"  and  all  the  resources  of 
"hellish  skill"  in  vain,  so  that  he  cried  out  in  great  wrath  that 

1  Cotton  MSS.,Galba,b.X,fol.  5,6.  Mathematics   in  the   University  of 

2  "  Satan's .  Invisible  World    Dis-  Glasgow.      Edinburgh,    1635.      Ee- 
covered,"  by  George   Sinclair,  Pro-  printed   at  Edinburgh,    1871.     The 
fessor    of     Moral     Philosophy    and  story  is  Eelation  xxii,  p.  154. 


xv.]  VAUGHAN  AND  TYNDALE.  937 

there  was  "one  in  the  company  that  hindered  his  work."  The 
magician  could  not  do  his  dexterous  manipulations  under  the 
sharp  eyes  of  the  shrewd  and  unsusceptible  Englishman. 

Vaughan  was  a  kind-hearted  man,  and  boldly  appealed  to  the 
king  to  extend  mercy  to  reformers  like  Barnes  and  Latimer, 
intimating  that  the  fear  of  punishment  sent  many  fugitives 
to  the  Continent,  and  hardened  them  in  their  opinions,  so  that 
by  this  means,  "  it  is  likely  that  new  Tyndales  shall  arise,  or 
worse  than  he/'  Another  agent  was  therefore  selected  to  work 
out  a  sterner  purpose  than  to  plead  with  the  Translator  to  return 
to  England — the  object  now  being  to  apprehend  him  on  the 
Continent.  Tyndale  had  been  aware  of  his  peril,  and  may  have 
left  Antwerp  for  a  time,  continually  shifting  his  residence,  and 
some  have  supposed  that  he  went  for  a  brief  period  to  Nurem 
berg.  Sir  Thomas  Elyot,  a  friend  of  Sir  Thomas  More,  under 
took  the  degrading  task  of  seizing  him ;  and,  in  a  despatch  to 
the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  admits  that  his  stay  at  Brussels,  in 
obedience  to  the  royal  mandate  to  seize  the  exile,  may  be 
protracted — "  considering  that  like  as  he  is  in  wit  movable, 
semblably  so  is  his  person  unable  to  come  by ; "  and  that 
aware  of  the  king's  order  to  arrest  him,  "he  withdraweth  him 
into  such  places  where  he  thinketh  to  be  farthest  out  of  danger."1 
Information  about  him  had  been  for  a  considerable  period 
carefully  sought  for  in  England  by  the  bishops  and  Sir 
Thomas  More,  and  in  examining  "  any  poor  man  under 
coram,"  who  had  been  in  Antwerp,  they  put  such  questions 
anent  Tyndale  as,  "  where  and  with  whom  he  hosted,  where 
abouts  stood  the  house,  what  was  his  stature,  in  what  apparell 
he  went,  what  resort  he  had,"  &c.2  Suspicion  so  haunted  him, 
that  he  was  in  doubt  of  Vaughan's  purpose  at  their  first  inter 
view;  and  the  envoy  describes  him  as  being  "somewhat  fearful 
of  me,  lest  I  should  pursue  him.  He  took  leave  of  me,  and 
departed  from  the  town,  and  I  toward  the  town.  Howbeit,  I 
suppose,  that  he  afterwards  returned  to  the  town  by  another 
way."  The  "  wise  man's  eyes  are  in  his  head,"  and  Tyndale 
informs  Fryth,  "  My  Lord  of  London  hath  a  servant  called 
John  Tisen,  with  a  red  beard  and  black  reddish  head,  and 

1  Cotton  MSS.,  Vitell.,  xxi,  fol.  58.     2Foxe  V,p.  121, Registers  of  Loudon. 


238  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

who  was  once  ray  scholar;  he  was  seen  in  Antwerp,  but 
came  not  among  the  Englishmen.  Whether  he  is  gone 
an  ambassador  secret,  I  wot  not."  Sir  Thomas  Elyot  writes, 
in  November,  1533,  "I  gave  many  rewards,  partly  to  the 
emperor's  servants,  to  get  knowledge,  partly  to  such  as  by 
whose  means  I  trusted  to  apprehend  Tyndale."  In  the  pro 
secution  of  the  futile  enterprise  he  had  contracted  consider 
able  debts. 

From  about  the  middle  of  1534  Tyndale  had  lived  in  Antwerp, 
with  Thomas  Poyntz,  one  of  the  English  merchant  adventurers. 
But  the  secret  of  his  residence  in  the  "  English  house,"  was 
discovered,  and  a  man  named  Philips,  son  of  a  "  customer  "  at 
Poole,  and  Gabriel  Donne,  "  won  his  confidence."  The  first  of 
the  two  passed  as  a  gentleman,  and  the  second  as  his  servant. 
"  In  the  wily  subtleties  of  this  world  Tyndale  was  simple  and 
inexpert,"  and  when  Poyntz  got  suspicious  and  questioned 
him,  the  innocent  victim  pronounced  "  Philips  an  honest  man, 
handsomely  learned,  and  very  conformable  "—yielding  to 
Tyndale's  arguments  and  opinions.  Tyndale  even  lent  him 
money ;  on  the  very  morning  of  his  capture  he  gave  him  the 
loan  of  forty  shillings,  it  being  asked  as  a  pledge  of  mutual 
confidence.  These  spies  now  procured  the  necessary  powers, 
and  then,  when  he  least  expected  it,  trading  on  his  unsus 
pecting  nature  they  got  him  into  their  power  by  nefarious 
treachery.  As  he  was  leaving  the  house,  taking  the  traitor 
familiarly  with  him,  to  dine  at  the  dwelling  of  a  friend, 
Philips  had  him  arrested  by  means  of  lurking  accomplices,  who 
"  pitied  to  see  his  simplicity."  The  contrivers  of  the  plot  are 
unknown.  Halle  darkly  hints,  "  Tyndale  was  betrayed  and 
taken,  as  many  said,  not  without  the  help  and  procurement  of 
some  bishops  of  this  realm."1  That  some  ecclesiastical  in 
fluence  had  been  at  the  vengeful  work  may  be  naturally 
inferred.  Donne  was  a  monk  of  Stratford  Abbey,  near  London. 
On  his  return  from  the  Continent  he  was  appointed  Abbot  of 
Buckfastleigh  in  Devonshire;  but  he  yielded  his  abbey  in 
1539,  and  got  a  pension  of  £120  a  year.  He  was  afterwards  a 
prebendary  of  St.  Paul's,  and  keeper  of  the  spiritualities  of  the 
1  Halle's  Chronicle,  p.818,  Loiidon,  1809. 


xv.]  POYNTZ  AND  TIBOLD.  239 

diocese  till  1550.  Philips  had  two  benefices  and  a  prebend  in 
England.  He  "persisted  in  person  with  constant  diligence" 
going  from  Louvain  to  Brussels  and  to  Yilvorde,  and  urged 
on  the  process  against  Tyndale,  which,  from  CrumweU's  in 
fluence,  might  have  fallen  asleep.  A  warrant  being  sent 
across  to  arrest  him  for  treasonable  language,  he  could  not 
return  to  England,  and  soon  fell  into  poverty.  He  went  to 
Italy  to  secure  the  patronage  of  Cardinal  Pole;  but,  being 
suspected  as  a  spy,  he  was  roughly  barred  from  entering 
the  Venetian  territory. 

Poyntz  had  no  doubt  that  the  arrest  was  made  "by  pro 
curement  out  of  England,"  but  unknown  to  the  king's  grace. 
Tyndale  was  arrested  on  the  23rd  or  24th  of  May,  1535,  and 
conveyed  to  the  castle  of  Yilvorde,  about  eighteen  miles  from 
Brussels.  His  imprisonment  lasted  a  year  and  one  hundred 
and  thirty-five  days.  There  had  been  unfounded  rumours  of 
the  king's  interference.  Though  Marshe,  the  governor  of  the 
English  House,  had  been  indifferent  at  first,  the  English  mer 
chants  interposed,  and  applied  to  the  Piegent  Mary,  but  without 
effect ;  a  charge  of  heresy  being,  under  the  emperor,  as  danger 
ous  as  one  of  treason,  and  the  procureur-general,  Dufief,  was 
as  inexorable  as  his  master.  Measures  were  taken  in  England 
to  move  Crumwell  to  interfere  on  the  prisoner's  behalf,  as  may 
be  learned  from  the  letter  of  Tibold,  a  godson  of  the  English 
minister,  and  in  the  confidence  of  Cranmer.  In  a  communi 
cation,  dated  the  last  day  of  July,  he  informs  Crumwell,  "  he 
that  did  take  Tyndale  is  abiding  in  Louvain,  with  whom  I  did 
there  speak  ;  which  doth  not  only  there  rejoice  of  that  act,  but 
goeth  about  to  do  many  more  Englishmen  like  displeasure." 
The  betrayer,  he  adds,  "  was  greatly  afraid  of  the  resentment 
of  the  Antwerp  merchants,  who  will  lay  watch  to  do  him  some 
displeasure  privily ; " l  and  he  writes  to  Cranmer,  on  the  last 
day  of  July,  in  reference  to  other  interviews  with  Harry  Philips, 
"  I  could  not  perceive  the  contrary  by  his  communication  but 
that  Tyndale  shall  die,  which  he  doth  follow  and  procureth 
with  all  diligent  endeavour,  rejoicing  much  therein,  saying 

1  Cotton  MSS.,  British  Museum,     probably  sent    to    make    inquiries, 
Galba,  B  x.    Tibold  or  Theobald  was    among  other  things,  about  the  arrest. 


240  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

that  he  had  a  commission  also  to  have  taken  Doctor  Barnes l 
and  George  Joye."  Poyiitz,  writing  to  his  brother  John 
Poyntz  of  Ockenden  in  Essex,  bears  also  cordial  testimony 
to  the  integrity,  simple-heartedness,  and  beneficence  of  Tyn- 
dale,  "  the  which  is  in  prison  and  like  to  suffer  death.  This 
poor  man  hath  been  in  my  house  three  quarters  of  a  year ;  I 
know  that  the  king  has  never  a  truer- hearted  subject  to 
his  grace  this  day  living.  I  think  he  shall  be  shortly  at 
a  point  to  be  condemned ;  and  there  are  two  Englishmen 
at  Louvain  busy  in  translating  out  of  English  into  Latin 
those  things  that  may  make  against  him."  The  earnest  in 
terference  of  Poyntz  led  to  his  own  incarceration  for  four 
months,  and  when  he  effected  his  escape,  the  keeper  of  the 
prison  was  fined  eighty  pounds  on  suspicion  of  connivance.2 

During  Tyridale's  imprisonment  his  New  Testament  was 
passing  through  the  press  at  home,  the  enterprise  being  per 
haps  patronized  by  Queen  Anne  and  her  party.  Berthelet  has 
been  long  supposed  by  Ames  (Herbert),  Anderson,  Dibdin, 
and  Cotton,  to  be  the  printer  of  this  first  New  Testament 
issued  in  England ;  but  Mr.  Bradshaw,  of  the  University 
Library,  Cambridge,  assigns  it  to  T.  Godfray.  The  engraved 
border  was  in  the  possession  of  Godfray  before  it  belonged 
to  Berthelet,  and  the  transfer  was  not  made  so  early  as 
153G.3  If  Tyndale  had  secret  intelligence  of  the  preparation 
of  the  volume,  the  news  must  have  filled  him  with  unutter 
able  gladness,  and  ho  must  have  felt  a  blessed  compensation 
for  months  and  months  of  exile  and  peril,  in  the  assurance 

1  But  Barnes  was  now  an  envoy  497.     Poyntz  came  back  to  England, 
for  the  king  to  the  German  States,  and.  on  the  death  of  his  brother,  took 
Buckenham  was   in  Louvain  too —  possessionof  the  paternal  inheritance, 
he  that  preached  the  sermon  at  Cam-  He  died  in  1562,  and  his  escape  from 
bridge  in  reply  to  Latimer,  Philips  prison  is  noted  in  his  epitaph.      The 
paying  all  charges.  lady  of   Sir  John  Walsh,  who  had 

2  The  entry  of  the  amount  of  the  Tyndale  as  a  tutor  to  her  children, 
fine  paid  "  for  carelessness  and  negli-  was   a  Poyntz    of    Gloucestershire, 
o-ence  "  by  the  jailor,  John  Baers,  to  of  the   same   lineage  as  the  family 
the   counsellor   in   ordinary   of  the  in  Essex. 

emperor,  and  receiver  of  escheats  and         3  Westcott,  p.  51,  second  edition, 
fines,  &c.,  may  be  seen  in  Demaus,  p. 


xv.]       FAILURE  OF  EFFORTS  IN  FA  VOUR  OF  TYNDALE.       £41 

that  the  Blessed  Book,  which  for  eleven  years  had  been  pro 
duced  by  strangers,  and  had  reached  his  fatherland  in  stealthy 
and  circuitous  ways,  was  now  printing  in  the  metropolis. 
The  Bodleian  Library  possesses  a  copy.  Several  editions  were 
issued  at  Antwerp  about  this  time,  as  may  be  seen  in  Ander 
son's  list. 

Though  Henry  hated  Luther  with  a  perfect  hatred,  he  had 
no  reason  to  hate  Tyndale.  Tyndale  was  a  Yorkist  indeed,1 
but  the  king's  mother  was  Elizabeth  of  York,  the  lineal  heir  ; 
and  if  he  did  not  approve  of  the  divorce,  he  certainly  would 
have  supported  the  royal  supremacy  for  the  denial  of  which 
Fisher  and  More  were  both  beheaded.  The  disloyal  language 
of  the  two  spies  against  the  king  plainly  showed  that 
they  belonged  to  the  reactionary  party,  no  member  of  which 
could  be  so  deep  in  the  royal  confidence  as  to  be  trusted 
with  their  errand.  But  Henry  had  no  right  to  interfere,  as 
he  had  burned  some  of  the  emperor's  subjects  on  a  similar 
charge.  Crumwell  wrote  twice  in  favour  of  Tyndale  to  the 
Marquis  of  Bergen-op-Zoom,  and  to  Carondolet,  Archbishop 
of  Palermo,  and  was  not  listened  to.  These  letters  were  sent 
to  the  care  of  an  English  merchant  at  Antwerp,  of  the  name  of 
Flegge  who  did  what  he  could ;  and  in  sending  to  Crumwell 
the  answer  of  the  high  personages  appealed  to,  he  expresses 
'•'a  hope  that  it  may  be  to  the  king's  pleasure  and  yours," 
implying  that  the  king  had  acquiesced  in  his  minister's 
interference  for  the  release  of  Tyndale. 

At  this  time,  Coverdale,  under  Crumwell's  protection,  had 
finished  his  translation  of  the  entire  Bible,  to  be  dedicated, 
within  a  brief  time  after,  to  King  Henry,  and  at  length  to  be 
authorized  by  him.  But  Tyndale's  treatises  must  have  provoked 
many  to  hostility,  for  they  were  trenchant  and  unsparing,  and 
bore  hard,  like  his  "  Practice  of  Prelates,"  on  the  popish  priest 
hood.  His  arrest  and  death  may  be  traced  in  all  probability 

1  "  They  slew  the  right  king,  and  Tyndale  could  not  like  the  Lau- 
set  up  three  false  kings  in  a  row,  castrian  kings,  for  besides  being 
Henrys  IV,  V,  VI,  by  which  usurpers,  two  of  them  had  been 
mischievous  sedition,  they  caused  such  persecutors.  Works,  vol.  II, 
half  England  to  be  slain  up."  pp.  53,  224,  Parker  Society  edition. 
VOL.  I.  Q 


242  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

to  ecclesiastical  malignity,  which  slowly  and  secretly  com 
passed  its  end  without  caring  to  consult  the  king  or  his 
ministers,  who,  from  political  complications,  at  home  and 
abroad,  were  helpless  to  interpose  in  favour  of  any  relaxation 
with  Charles  or  his  Regent.  There  were  72,000  executions 
in  England  during  Henry's  reign,  and  a  life  more  or  less  could 
not  be  felt  by  the  king  or  his  council  to  be  of  any  great 
moment,  especially  the  life  of  one  so  friendless  and  so  long  absent 
from  the  island.  One  of  Tyndale's  letters,  written  in  prison  to 
the  governor,  the  Marquis  of  Bergen-op-Zoom,  whose  favour  for 
him  Crumwell  had  already  asked,  has  been  discovered,  and  a  por 
tion  of  it  has  been  already  quoted.  The  noble-hearted  prisoner 
was  so  reduced  as  in  his  cold  and  rags  to  beg  with  touching 
and  mournful  earnestness,  "  your  lordship,  and  that  by  the 
Lord  Jesus,  that  if  I  am  to  remain  here  during  the  winter,  you 
will  request  the  procureur  to  be  kind  enough  to  send  me  from 
my  goods  which  he  has  in  his  possession,  a  warmer  cap,  for  I 
suffer  extremely  from  cold  in  the  head,  being  afflicted  with  a 
perpetual  catarrh,  which  is  considerably  increased  in  the  cell. 
A  warmer  coat  also,  for  that  which  I  have  is  very  thin ;  also  a 
piece  of  cloth  to  patch  my  leggings;  my  shirts  are  also 
worn  out.  He  has  also  a  wolleu  shirt  of  mine,  if  he  will  be 
kind  enough  to  send  it.  I  have  also  with  him  leggings  of 
thicker  cloth  for  putting  •  on  above;  he  also  has  warmer  caps 
for  wearing  at  night." l  At  length  a  commission  was  named 
for  the  trial  of  Tyndale,  and  it  comprehended  four  divines  from 
the  University  of  Louvain.  There  were  long  written  discus 
sions  that  passed  from  the  prison  to  Louvain,  for  Tapper  and 
Lathomus  were  no  mean  antagonists.  Ruwart  Tapper  was 
a  subtle  scholastic,  and  Lathomus  had  attacked  Erasmus,  and 
affirmed  that  a  knowledge  of  Hebrew  and  Greek  was  not 
necessary  to  the  study  of  Scripture.  In  1528  the  divines 
of  Louvain  had  sent  a  letter  of  congratulation  to  the  Arch 
bishop  of  St.  Andrews  on  the  burning  of  Patrick  Hamilton.- 
Vaughan,  who  had  now  returned  from  England,  in  a  letter  to 
Crumwell  from  Antwerp,  April  13th,  expresses  some  hope  for 
the  prisoner.  "  If  now  you  send  me  but  your  letter  to  the  Privy 
1  See  p.  211.  "  Foxe,  vol.  TV,  p.  501. 


xv.J  HIS  MARTYRDOM.  243 

Council,  I  could  deliver  Tyndale  from  the  fire  ;  see  it  come  by 
time,  or  else  it  will  be  too  late."  The  envoy  spoke  his  own 
wishes,  and  overrated  his  influence. 

Tyndale  could  have  but  little  hope  himself;  for  even  in  Eng 
land  he  would  have  been  in  serious  peril,  and  he  must  often  have 
thought  in  those  dreary  months  of  his  own  words  written  eight 
years  before :  "  If  they  burn  me,  they  shall  do  none  other  thing 
than  I  look  for."  His  condemnation  and  martyrdom  were 
certain  from  the  first.  His  doom  was  pronounced  on  the  10th 
of  August,  and  he  was  then  "degraded,  and  condemned  into  the 
hands  of  the  secular  power."  On  Friday,  the  Gth  of  October, 
1536,  he  was  first  strangled — for  the  law  of  the  Low  Countries 
was  more  merciful  than  that  of  England — and  then  burned. 
At  the  moment  before  his  death,  he  cried  with  fervent  zeal 
and  a  loud  voice  at  the  stake,  "Lord,  open  the  king  of 
England's  eyes."  According  to  Foxe,  his  life  and  words 
produced  a  deep  impression  on  his  jailor,  his  jailor's  daughter, 
and  others  who  were  permitted  to  visit  him.  And  so  died 
"  one,  who,  for  his  notable  powers  and  travel,  may  well  be  called 
the  apostle  of  England  in  this  our  later  age." 

And  truly  Tyndale  did  an  apostle's  work,  in  presenting 
divine  truth  to  the  souls  of  men,  and  he  was  bles  sed  at  the 
same  time  in  suffering  all  manner  of  evil  during  such  work 
with  "  patience  and  wonders  " — "  the  signs  of  an  apostle,"  for 
he  was  filled  with  the  true  spirit,  endowed  with  gifts  that 
descended  from  Pentecost,  and  set  apart  by  a  nobler  consecra 
tion  than  the  laying-on  of  hands.  Men  so  thoroughly  fur 
nished  and  absorbed  in  evangelical  toil  and  travail  are  surely 
"  the  messengers  of  the  churches,  and  the  glory  of  Christ.'1 
To  labour  for  the  Divine  Master  is  one  phase  of  conformity  to 
Him  who  "came  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister'''; 
but  to  suffer  also  for  Him  who  yielded  His  life  for  us,  seals 
and  completes  the  assimilation.  "And  one  of  the  ciders 
answered,  saying  unto  me,  What  are  these  which  are  arrayed 
in  white  robes  ?  and  whence  came  they  ?  And  I  said  unto 
him,  Sir,  thou  knowest.  And  he  said  to  me,  These  are  they 
which  came  out  of  great  tribulation,  and  have  washed  their 
robes,  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb. 


244 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 


Therefore  are  they  "before  the  throne  of  God,  and  serve  him 
day  and  night  in  his  temple :  and  he  that  sitteth  on  the 
throne  shall  dwell  amonsr  them." 


While  Wycliffe  and  Tyndale  may  have  some  unavoidable 
resemblance  in  their  translation  of  simple  historical  clauses, 
the  Latin  being  at  the  same  time  a  version  from  the  Greek ; 
the  following  four  verses  of  a  peculiar  structure  will  show  the 
independence  of  Tyndale  : — 

GOSPEL  ACCOEDING  TO  LUKE,  CHAPTER  I,  VERSES  1-4. 
WYCLIFFE.  TYXDALE. 


Forsothe  for  manye  men  enforce- 
den  to  ordeyne  the  tellyng  of  thingis, 
whiche  ben  fillid  in  vs,  as  thei  that 
seyn  atte  the  bigynnyng,  and  weren 
ministris  of  the  word,  bitaken,  it  is 
seen  also  to  me,  hauynge  alle  thingis 
diligentli  bi  ordre,  to  write  to  thee, 
ihou  best  Theofile,  that  thou  knowe 
the  treuthe  of  tho  word  is,  of  whiche 
thou  art  lerned. 


For  as  moche  as  many  have  taken 
in  hond  to  compyle  a  treates  off  thoo 
thynges,  which  are  surely  kuowen 
amonge  vs,  even  as  they  declared 
them  vnto  vs,  which  from  the  be- 
gynyuge  sawe  them  with  their  eyes, 
and  were  ministers  at  the  doyng  :  I 
determined  also,  as  sone  as  I  had 
searched  out  diligently  all  thiuges 
from  the  begynynge,  that  then  I 
wolde  wryte  vnto  the,  goode  Theo- 
philus,  that  thou  myghtest  kuowe 
the  certente  off  thoo  thinges,  whereof 
thou  arte  informed. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

TN  his  introduction  to  the  first  edition  of  the  Novum 
Instrumentum,  or  Greek  New  Testament,  Erasmus,  while 
vindicating  the  right  of  all  to  read  the  Scriptures,  and 
maintaining  that  they  should  be  translated  into  all  languages, 
adds  as  a  climax,  "  and  be  read  and  understood  by  Scots  and 
Irishmen."  These  nations,  though  they  were  to  him  the  lowest 
in  the  scale  of  civilization,  might  have  a  translated  Bible,  and 
next  to  them  he  places  Greeks  and  Saracens.  But  copies  of 
the  Wycliffite  version  had  already  been  carried  into  the 
northern  kingdom,  and  the  translation  of  Tyndale  soon  found 
its  way  into  Scotland,  probably  as  early  as  to  England,  for 
Scotland  had  a  close  mercantile  connection  with  the  Low 
Countries,  especially  with  the  towns  of  Middleburg  and 
Campvere.  Hacket,  the  English  ambassador  at  Antwerp, 
who  had  fallen  into  such  trouble  about  Tyndale's  New 
Testament,  wrote  to  Wolsey  on  the  20th  of  February, 
1527,  that  he  had  advertised  Brian  Tuke,  on  the  4th  of 
January  of  the  same  year,  that  there  were  "  divers  merchants 
of  Scotland  that  bought  many  of  such  like  books,  and  took 
them  into  Scotland,  a  part  to  Edinburgh,  and  most 
part  to  the  town  of  St.  Andrews," x  adding,  "  that  he  had 
expected  to  make  a  seizure  at  Barrow;  but  that  to  his 
chagrin  the  ships  had  left  before  his  arrival."  :  The  allusion  is 

1  St.  Andrews  was  then  the  capital  Andrews  the  seventh.    Its  university 

of   Scotland,  and   Glasgow    ranked  was  founded  in  1411,  that  of  Glas- 

only  as  eleventh  in  the  taxation  list  gow  in  1450. 

of  royal  burghs.     In  the  date  of  its  2  Cotton  MSS.,    Galba.,    B.    VI, 

charter  it  is  the  twenty-first,  and  St.  fol.  4. 


24G  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

to  Tyndale's  Testaments,  which  he  was  so  anxious  to  discover, 
and  destroy,  and  he  had  also  received  copies  from  England 
in  order  to  identify  the  version.  Racket's  language  implies 
that  the  practice  of  carrying  away  such  books  in  trading 
vessels  had  been  a  common  one  before  it  had  been  distinctly 
observed  and  watched.  There  was  as  yet  in  Scotland  no  pro 
hibition  of  such  literary  imports,  nor  for  five  years  to  come, 
though  in  1525  there  had  been  an  enactment  against 
"  strangers  "  bringing  with  them  any  books  of  Luther,  and  in 
August,  1527,  "natives  or  the  king's  lieges"  are  comprehended 
in  the  prohibition,  the  inference  being  that  they  had  already 
been  engaged  in  the  traffic.  Leith,  Montrose,  and  Aberdeen 
were  parts  as  accessible  as  St.  Andrews,  and  they  were  all 
visited  by  vessels  carrying  Tyndale's  New  Testaments  to  a 
ready  and  secret  market. 

Patrick  Hamilton,1  born  in  the  city  or  diocese  of  Glasgow, 
the  young  and  intrepid  reformer,  related  by  both  his  parents 
to  the  royal  blood  of  Scotland,  had  returned  from  the  Continent, 
and  begun  to  preach  the  Gospel ;  but  going  to  St.  Andrews, 
on  a  treacherous  invitation  of  the  primate,  he  was  placed  under 
espionage,  tried  with  great  pomp  on  thirteen  different  articles, 
and  burned  before  the  gate  of  the  College  of  St.  Salvador, 

o  o 

the  same  day  on  which  his  judges  returned  their  verdict — 
Saturday,  28th  February,  1528.  The  burning  of  the  martyr 
lasted  six  hours.  Campbell,  Prior  of  the  Order  of  Blackfriars, 
had  betrayed  him,  and  now  as  prosecutor  he  pressed  as  the 
first  and  special  charge  against  him  his  confession  that  "  it  is 
lawful  for  any  man  to  read  the  word  of  God,  and  in  special  the 
New  Testament."  But  his  martyrdom  did  not  kill  the  Reforma 
tion,  and  a  shrewd  friend  said  to  the  archbishop,  "  My  lord,  if 
ye  burn  any  more,  except  ye  follow  my  counsel,  ye  will  utterly 

1  His  name  stands  under  the  year  name  of  "  Maister  Patricks  Places/' 

1528  in  a  register  of  Acta  Rectoria  They  may  be  seen  in  Foxe,  vol.  IV, 

of  the  University  of  Paris  as  Pat-  p.  563,  or  in  Laiug's  edition  of  Knox's 

ricius  Hamelto,  Glassguensis,  Nobi-  Works,  vol.  I,  p.  19.    He  was  present 

lis.      His  Loci,  translated  by  Fryth  at  the  inauguration  of  the  University 

at   Marburg,    were   long   a  popular  of  Marburg,  and  his  name  survives 

digest  of  theology,  and  went  by  the  on  the  first  page  of  the  Album. 


xvi.]  NEW  TESTAMENT  IN  SCOTLAND.  247 

destroy  yourselves.  If  ye  will  burn  them,  let  it  be  in  how 
(hollow)  cellars,  for  the  reek  (smoke)  of  Master  Patrick 
Hamilton  has  infected  as  many  as  it  blew  upon." 

In  October  of  the  same  year,  Rinck,  writing  from  Cologne 
to  Wolsey,  makes  the  disclosure,  already  told,  that  Bibles 
enclosed  in  packages,  and  artfully  covered  with  flax,  were  by 
sea  "  taken  into  Scotland  and  England  as  to  the  same  place, 
and  sold  as  merely  clean  paper."1  As  the  panic  spread,  pro 
hibitions  became  more  sweeping  and  stringent,  and  among 
others  the  bishops  issued  a  ban  declaring  that  the  New  Testa 
ment  was  neither  to  be  read  in  the  vernacular  nor  sold.  The 
particulars  with  allied  instances  are  to  be  found  in  a  letter  of 
Alexander  Ales2  to  King  James  V.  His  proper  name  was 
Alane,  and  so  it  is  written  in  the  old  registers  of  the  University 
of  St.  Andrews.  He  was  a  native  of  Edinburgh,  born  in  1500. 
He  had  been  a  canon  in  St.  Andrews,  and  owed  his  religious 
change  to  conversations  with  Patrick  Hamilton  during  his  im 
prisonment,  and  was  now  an  exile  from  Scotland  for  the  "Word 
of  God  and  the  testimony  of  Jesus  Christ."  "  Whence,"  he 
asks,  "  shall  they  hear  sound  doctrine  if  they  are  not  allowed 
at  home  to  read  the  books  of  the  Gospel  ? "  and  he  mentions, 
"  that  travelling  abroad,  he  had  heard  of  the  king  or  emperor 
enacting  laws  against  dogmas,  but  not  against  the  reading  of 
the  Scriptures."  In  a  reply  to  an  attack  of  Cochlseus,  he 
nobly  vindicates  domestic  reading  of  the  Scriptures,  which 
was  so  common  in  Germany,  "  even  in  many  places  which 
have  no  business  with  Luther,"  and  he  exposes  the  common 
trick  of  confounding  all  versions  of  the  sacred  books  with 
Luther's  translation.  "  I  have  heard  the  chief  among  our 

1  See  page  1 79.  Mr.  Anderson  will  not  admit  it,  there 

2  The  name  Ales  was  coined  for  is  sufficient  proof  that  Melanchthon 
him  by  Melanchthon, 'A A^crtos,  wan-  helped  Alesius  in  the    composition 
derer,  suggested  by  the  similarity  of  of    his  letters  to  the   king.       The 
Alane  to  aAei'vw.     Melanchthon  oc-  "Wanderer"  settled    at   length    as 
casionally  plays  upon  the  meaning  of  Professor  of    Divinity  at    Leipzig, 
the  name,  and  in  reference  to  his  own  where  he  died  in  1565.     Lorimer's 
troubles  fears  that  he  would  be  forced  Patrick    Hamilton,  p.   241,     Edin- 
to"becomeanother  Alesius."  Though  burgh,  1857. 


248  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 

preachers  declare  that  this  same  version,  (Tyndale's  in  Scot 
land)  gave  them  more  light  than  many  commentaries." 
The  restless  Cochlseus1  replied  to  Ales  on  the  8th  of  June, 

1533.  In  the  course  of  his  letter  he  urges  the  employment 
of  force,  after   the  example   of   the   Bishop   of  Treves,  who 
had  ordered  first  one  bookseller,  and  then  another,  to  be  cast 
into  the  Rhone  with  their  pernicious  books ;  asserts  that  the 
New  Testament  of  Luther  is  not  the  sacred  book,  but  execrable 
and  cursed ;  is  not  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  but  of  Satan  ;  and  bids 
the  king  desist  from  favouring  any  version,  especially  at  this 
time,  since  the  best  and   most  undoubted  translation  in  the 
vulgar  tongue    is  productive   of  all  possible  mischief.      The 
king  was  not  disposed  to  cruelty,  and  had  more  than  once  inter 
fered  in  behalf  of  the  oppressed;  but  he  was  overborne  by  such 
ecclesiastical  counsellors  as  the  most  profligate  Prior  Hepburn 
of  St.  Andrews,  and  David  Beaton,  afterwards  the  notorious 
cardinal.     Henry  Forrest,  of  Linlithgow,  was  apprehended  and 
condemned  "  for  nou  uther  cryme  but  because  he  had  ane  New 
Testament  in  Engliss,"  and  in  1533  he  was  burned  at  "the 
North  Church  style  of  the  Abbey  of  St.  Andrews,  that  all  the 
people  in  the  shire  of  Forfar  might  see  the  flames."     Other 
executions  followed  in  the  next  year,  for  the  Scottish  ecclesias 
tics  were   not   behind   their  English   and   foreign  fellows  in 
blindness,  cruelty,  and  thirst  for  blood,  and  therefore  Scotland, 
though  it  be  but  a  small  countiy,  has  an  illustrious  roll  of 
confessors  and  martyrs. 

1  Cochlteus,  in  his  reply  to  Mory-  "  Item,   to  ane  servantt  of  Cocleus 

syn,  charges  Henry  VIII  with  in-  whilk  brocht   frae  his  maister  ane 

gratitude,  and  complains  that  royalty  buyk  intitulat.  ...     To  his  reward 

had  been  unmindful  of  his  poverty  L.I.,  that  is  £50  Scots."     Anderson's 

and  his  merits.     But  in  September,  Annals,  vol.  II,  p.  467-      Ales  says 

1534,  he  sent  a  servant  to  Edinburgh  that,  according  to  the  statement  of 
with  one  of   his  tracts,  pro  Scotice  Cochlaeus  himself,  he  had  been  nobly 
regno  Apologia,  for  there  appears  this  rewarded  by  the  Scottish  king,  James 
entry  in  the  accounts   of  the   Lord  V,  and  by  the  Archbishops  of  St. 
High   Treasurer,   September,    1534,  Andrews  and  Glasgow. 


COVEBDALE. 


Not  myself,  but  the  truth  that  in  life  I  have  spoken  : 
Not  myself,  but  the  seed  that  in  life  I  have  sown, 
Shall  pass  on  to  ages,  all  about  me  forgotten 
Save  the  words  I  have  written,  the  deeds  I  have  done. 

Tis  clear,  if  we  refuse 
The  means  so  limited,  the  tools  so  rude 
To  execute  our  purpose,  life  will  fleet, 
And  we  shall  fade,  and  nothiug  will  be  done. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

TN  many  intellectual  and  spiritual  movements,  while  one 
man  by  his  genius,  persistence,  or  bravery  towers  above 
his  fellows,  another  often  stands  by  him,  somewhat  over 
shadowed  by  his  greater  height — second  to  him,  but  still 
essential  to  the  final  success  of  the  enterprise.  In  such  a 
relation  stood  Paul  and  Barnabas,  Luther  and  Melanchthon, 
Calvin  and  Beza,  Tyndale  and  Coverdale.  The  translation 
of  the  Bible  was  the  chief  end  of  Tyndale's  existence.  The 
purpose  was  his  own,  formed  in  his  inmost  soul,  and  in  the 
intensity  of  a  great  and  ardent  nature  it  was  inwrought  like  a 
subtle  influence  into  all  the  fibres  of  his  being,  fostered  apart 
from  all  minor  pursuits  with  a  "godly  jealousy,"  and  pressing 
into  its  service  all  learning  and  all  time.  He  could  not  be 
wiled  away  from  his  work,  except  to  interpret  it  and  defend  it, 
and  he  never  relaxed  from  it  till  he  was  "  carried  whither  he 
would  not."  His  independence,  decision,  earnestness,  and  pre 
sentiment  of  martyrdom  might  seem  to  impart  somewhat  of 
hardness  to  his  temperament,  and  the  fruit  might  appear  to  hang 
on  a  leafless  bough.  There  was,  however,  no  sullenness  about 
him,  though  he  was  alone  among  strangers  that  could  not 
appreciate  him;  adversity  had  not  embittered  him;  but  his 
history  and  his  mission  shed  a  profound  solemnity  over  him, 
and  every  word  and  act  was  viewed  in  the  light  of  high 
principle,  and  of  an  eternity  which  he  felt  to  be  ever  nearing 
him.  Complimentary  terms  were  beneath  him,  and  his 
affectionate  greetings,  as  those  to  Fryth,  were  without  efflor 
escence.  His  sincerity  did  not  garnish  itself  with  cheap 
sentiment;  his  honesty  did  not  robe  itself  in  purple;  his 


252  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAT. 

eye  was  single,  and  his  aim  was  definite.  To  give  his  country 
a  faithful  and  idiomatic  version  of  the  Divine  Word,  a  true 
reflection  of  the  inspired  original,  was  his  one  labour ;  for  it  he 
lived,  and  for  it  he  died  a  homeless,  solitary  exile  and  martyr. 
His  successor,  Coverdale,  was  a  man  fitted  in  all  ways  to  act 
a  secondary  part.  Loyal  to  truth  and  conscience,  he  was  not 
characterized  by  mental  independence.  It  was  not  his  nature 
to  cherish  a  self-born  resolve,  or  act  it  out  apart  from  advice 
and  consultation.  He  liked  to  lean  on  some  one  ;  and  while  he 
was  honest  and  persevering,  he  was  singularly  susceptible 
of  impression  and  guidance.  Tyndale  never  had  a  patron,  but 
Coverdale,  though  he  does  not  seem  to  have  begged  patronage, 
or  to  have  ever  abased  himself  in  order  to  keep  it,  yet  liked 
to  nestle  under  it.  The  unctuous  style  of  his  time  does 
not  suffer  in  his  hands,  as  when  he  tells  Crumwell  that 
"  like  Jacob,  he  has  obtained  the  chief  blessing ; "  and  con 
cludes,  "  farewell,  thou  ornament  of  learning  and  of  counsels, 
and,  in  fine,  of  every  virtue."  His  instinct  was  rather  to 
follow  than  to  discover  the  path  of  duty.  He  seems  to  have 
had  little  confidence  in  himself,  but  he  had  great  faith  in 
the  judgment  of  others.  He  was  afraid  to  take  any  momentous 
step  till  others  had  suggested  it,  or  at  least  till  he  had  taken 
counsel  with  them  about  it ;  but  he  set  himself  without  hesi 
tation  to  do  his  work  when  it  had  been  clearly  pointed  out  to 
him.  He  could  not  lead;  he  preferred  to  be  led  as  friends 
directed,  or  circumstances  seemed  to  warrant  or  indicate. 
While,  in  T}rndale's  experience,  duty  became  a  divine  necessity 
to  which,  at  all  hazards,  he  ever  responded,  Coverdale  was 
advised  and  urged  to  the  work  of  translation.  He  did  not 
venture  upon  it  as  a  competitor  for  fame,  "  not  as  a  checker, 
not  as  a  reprover  or  despiser  of  other  men's  translations,"  and 
he  appears  now  and  then  to  be  on  the  point  of  offering  an 
apology  for  engaging  in  it  at  all.  "  Now,  for  thy  part,  most 
gentle  reader,  take  that  I  here  offer  thee  with  a  good  will,  and 
let  this  present  translation  be  no  prejudice  to  the  other  that 
out  of  the  Greek  have  been  translated  before,  or  shall  be 
hereafter;"1  and  in  another  allusion  to  Tyndale  he  adds, 
1  Prologue  to  the  Xew  Testament  of  1538. 


x vii.  ]  T  YNDA  LE  A  ND  CO  VERDA  LE.  953 

"  Notwithstanding,  when  I  considered  how  great  pity  it  was 
that  we  should  want  it  so  long,  and  called  to  my  remembrance 
the  adversity  of  those  which  were  not  only  of  ripe  knowledge, 
but  would  also  with  all  their  hearts  have  performed  that  they 
had  began,  if  they  had  not  had  impediment,  considering,  I 
say,  that,  by  reason  of  their  adversity,  it  could  not  so  soon 
have  been  brought  to  an  end  as  our  most  prosperous  nation 
would  fain  have  had  it  ....  I  was  the  more  bold  to  take 
it  in  hand."1  He  uniformly  and  repeatedly  disclaimed  all 
merit  as  the  founder  of  the  enterprise,  confessing,  however, 
to  have  felt  the  influence  of  one  subsidiary  motive,  that  a& 
other  nations  were  more  plenteously  provided  with  the  Scrip 
tures  in  "  their  mother  tongue  "  than  his  own,  he  would  do  hi* 
best  to  supply  the  want.2 

Tyndale  knew  his  powers,  and  put  a  high  estimate  on 
his  translation,  as  a  work  of  earnest  industry  and  scholar 
ship,  and  he  could  defend  it  with  lofty  spirit  and  sternness 
against  such  assailants  as  Sir  Thomas  More  and  George  Joye. 
But  Coverdale  had  no  overweening  estimate  of  the  value  of 
his  labour,  for  his  hope  and  prayer  was  that  "if  it  was 
not  worthily  ministred,  God  shall  send  it  in  a  better  shape." 
In  unaffected  humility  he  was  content  if  his  version  served 
only  as  a  foundation  "  for  another  to  build  thereon,"  and 
he  kept  his  word.  So  utterly  unselfish  was  he  that  he 
worked  heartily  at  a  new  edition  intended  to  supersede  his 
own.  He  had  no  gall  in  his  nature ;  was  not  one  of  those  men 
who  consider  a  work  to  be  ill  done  if  they  have  not  a  chief 
share  in  the  doing  of  it.  He  was  far  in  spirit  from  another 
class  who,  if  their  own  plot  have  little  greenery,  are  com 
pensated  by  the  thought  that  a  worm  is  twining  itself  round 

1  Prologue  to  the  Bible  of  1535.  Sweden,  Denmark, Holland, Bohemia, 

2  Before  1477  there  had  been  four  and  Poland  had  their  Bibles  at  an 
editions  of  the  German  Bible,  and  early  period.      All  that  had   been 
ten     more    followed    within    forty  printed    in    England    was    Bishop 
years.     There  had  been  an  Italian  Fisher's  Exposition    of    the    Seven 
Bible  in  1471,  and  in  about  thirty  Penitential    Psalms.      Wyukyn    de 
years  there  were  nine  other  editions.  Worde,  London,  1509. 

A  French  Bible  appeared  in  1487  ; 


254  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

the  root  of  their  neighbour's  gourd.  Tyndale  sharply  resented 
any  attempt  to  tamper  with  his  work,  and  claimed  the  sole 
power  to  amend  it ;  but  Coverdale,  in  the  preface  to  his  Diglott 
Testament,  avows,  "  Yet,  forasmuch  as  I  am  but  a  private  man, 
and  am  obedient  unto  the  higher  powers,  I  refer  the  reformation 
and  amendment  thereof  unto  the  same,  and  to  such  as  excel  in 
authority  and  knowledge."1  These  words  should  scarcely  have 
been  written  by  a  skilful  and  painstaking  translator,  conscious 
of  doing  his  best  in  his  very  responsible  task.  Were  we  not 
assured  of  his  honesty  and  simple-heartedness,  we  should  regard 
him  as  guilty  of  wretched  obsequiousness,  when,  after  all  his 
toil,  patience,  and  prayers,  he  ends  his  royal  dedication  of  his 
Bible  by  the  morbid  avowal,  "  I  thought  it  my  duty,  and  to 
belong  unto  my  allegiance,  when  I  had  translated  the  Bible,  not 
only  to  dedicate  this  translation  unto  your  highness,  but  wholly 
to  commit  it  unto  the  same,  to  the  intent  that,  if  anything  therein 
be  translated  amiss,  it  may  stand  in  your  grace's  hands  to 
amend  it,  to  improve2  it,  yea,  and  clean  to  reject  it,  if  your  godly 
wisdom  shall  think  it  necessary."  Though  all  this  protestation 
is  undoubtedly  genuine,  it  indicates  a  marvellous  facility  of 
temperament,  the  absence  of  all  self-reliance,  a  morbid  prone- 
ness  to  self-depreciation,  and  a  total  want  of  ambition  to  be 
earliest  in  suggestion  or  first  in  progress.  But  he  took  his  own 
place,  and  willingly  filled  it  without  envy,  jealousy,  or  un- 
charitableness,  and  heartily  did  he  welcome  any  coadjutor  or 
successor.  Provided  the  work  was  done,  he  did  not  covet  iden 
tification  with  it,  though  he  did  not  publish  anonymously  as  did 
Tyndale  at  first.  Tyndale  would  not  have  become  a  translator 
at  all  if  he  could  not  have  rendered  directly  from  the  original 
texts ;  but  Coverdale,  with  lowlier  aim,  scrupled  not  to  confess 
on  his  first  title-page  that  his  Bible  was  "  translated  out  of 
Douche  and  Latyn  into  Englishe."  Tyndale's  convictions  were 
firm,  and  he  was  ever  ruled  by  them ;  but  Coverdale  was  so 
flexible  as  to  say,  "  here  the  Hebrues  begynnethe  X  Psalm," 
and  yet  to  mark  the  next  Psalm  as  the  tenth  also,  according  to 

1  Prologue  to  the  New  Testament,     or  reject,  as  in  his  own  version  of  2 
printed  by  Francis  Regnault,  1838.        Tim.  iv,2,  "improve,  rebuke,  exhort," 
-  "  Improve,"  (improbo)  to  condemn     and  also  in  Tyndale. 


xvii.]  COVERDALE.  25 


200 


the  other  numeration ;  and  he  could  note,  in  reference  to  a 
portion  of  the  fourteenth  Psalm  found  in  the  Vulgate,  "  these 
thre  verses  are  not  in  the  Hebrue,"  and  yet  he  puts  them 
without  hesitation  into  his  text.  In  his  professed  translation 
of  the  Vulgate  New  Testament,  he  forsakes  the  form  of  the 
Lord's  Prayer  in  St.  Luke,  and,  unfaithful  to  his  purpose  as 
told  on  his  title-page,  he  follows  the  Greek,  but  he  admits  the 
inconsistency  in  his  Preface.  In  his  Prologue  he  quietly  ac 
cepted  "  Vulgarius"  from  a  strange  error  of  Erasmus,1  who  gave 
Theophylact  a  name  derived  from  his  diocese  of  Bulgaria. 
Quaintly  and  earnestly  he  opens  his  soul  to  the  reader :  "  If, 
when  thou  readest  this  or  any  other  like  book,  thou  chance  to 
find  any  letter  altered  and  changed,  either  in  the  Latin  or 
English  (for  the  turning  of  a  letter  is  a  fault  soon  committed  in 
the  print),  then  take  thy  pen  and  mend  it,  considering  that 
thou  art  as  much  bound  so  to  do  as  I  am  to  correct  all  the 
rest."  And  the  concluding  words  are  the  coinage  of  his  heart : 
"  And  what  edifying  soever  thou  receivest  at  any  man's  hand, 
consider  that  it  is  no  man's  doing,  but  cometh  even  of  the 
goodness  of  God,  to  whom  only  be  praise  and  glory."2 

Miles  Coverdale  was  born  about  1488  in  the  North  Riding 
of  Yorkshire,  and  probably  in  the  district  that  gave  him  his 
own  name,  Cover-dale,  which  lay  in  what  was  called  Richmond- 
shire.  Of  his  youth  and  early  life  nothing  is  known,  though 
Hoker  3  describes  him  as  "  from  his  childhood  given  to  learning, 
wherein  he  profited  much."  He  was,  at  a  fitting  age,  attached 
to  the  Convent  of  the  Augustines  at  Cambridge,4  and,  accord 
ing  to  Tanner,  was  admitted  in  1514  to  priest's  orders  at 
Norwich  by  John,  Bishop  of  Chalcedon.  Barnes,  who  became 
Prior  in  1523,  at  length  espoused  the  reformed  doctrines,  and 
his  influence  brought  many  around  him  over  to  his  views. 

1  Erasmus  who,  in  Latinizing  his  be  fully  borne   out.      Drununoud's 

own   Dutch   name,  had    made  two  Erasmus,  vol.  I,  pp.  315,  316. 

blunders,   does    not    get  very    well  2  Prologue  to  the  reader,  Diglott. 

out  of   the  oversight  of  taking  the  3  Catalogue    of    the    Bishops    of 

geographical    term    for    a     proper  Exeter. 

name.     His  assertion  that  his  MS.  4  This  convent  shared  the  fate  of 

was  all  but  illegible  is  said  not    to  many  similar  establishments  in  1  r>31). 


25G  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAI-. 

When  or  how  Coverdale  got  into  the  good  graces  of  Crumwell, 
to  whom  he  styles  himself  "  your  poor  child,"  we  have  no  means 
of  ascertaining,  but  at  an  early  period  he  enjoyed  his  patronage. 
In  a  letter  dated  2Gth  August,  1527,  he  writes  to  Crumwell, 
"  If  I  knew  that  my  coming  to  London  might  stand  with  your 
favour,  truly  the  bird  was  never  gladder  of  the  day  than  I 
would  be  to  come.  It  remains  with  you  to  command  as  you 
will  the  abilities  of  your  Miles.  Tuus  quantus  quantus  Milo 
Coverdalus." :  At  a  later  period,  in  making  a  request  to  him 
for  his  printer,  his  appeal  is,  "  according  to  your  most  loving 
and  favourable  manner  of  old."  He  attended  along  with  other 
anxious  inquirers  the  meetings  held  at  the  White  Horse,  a 
building  close  to  St.  John's  College,  and  placed  so  conveniently 
that  members  of  King's  and  Queen's  might  enter  it  without 
being  observed,  and  which,  on  account  of  the  Lutheran  notions 
held  by  many  who  frequented  it,  was  often,  as  Foxe  says, 
called  "  Germany."  Their  opinions  spread,  and  their  zeal  grew. 
Barnes2  was  publicly  arrested,  and  search  was  made  in  the 
University  for  heretical  or  Lutheran  books ;  but  Dr.  Farman, 
of  Queen's,  gave  timely  notice  to  the  suspected  parties.  In  the 
meantime  Coverdale  escaped  annoyance,  probably  through 
Crumwell's  influence,  though  he  had  so  far  committed  himself 
that  he  followed  Barnes  to  London,  and  was  occupied  with 
him  in  the  Fleet  Prison  in  the  preparation  of  his  defence.  He 
continued  to  maintain  his  evangelical  profession,  threw  off  his 
monastic  habit,  left  his  convent,  and,  in  the  words  of  Bale, 
"  while  others  dedicated  themselves  in  part  only,  he  gave 
himself  wholly  up  to  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel."  His  argu 
ments  and  appeals  as  he  laboured  at  Bumstead  in  Essex  made 
converts,  some  of  whom,  on  being  arrested  and  examined  by 
Bishop  Tunstall,  laid  the  blame  on  Sir  Miles  Coverdale  and  his 
discourses,3  which  opposed  the  mass,  the  confessional,  and  the 
worship  of  images.  Thomas  Topley,  an  Augustine  friar  of 
Stoke  Clare,  confessed,  when  examined  in  1528,  that  having 
heard  Sir  Miles  Coverdale  preach,  "his  mind  was  sore  with 
drawn  from  the  blessed  sacrament,  insomuch  that  he  took  it 

1  State  Papers,  vol.  VII,  No.  67.  3  On  the  title  Sir,  as   given  to  a 

2  See  page  1G7.  priest,  see  pages  118,  119. 


xvii.]  TYNDALE  AND  CO  VERDALE.  257 

but  for  the  remembrance  of  Christ's  body."  Such  accusations, 
made  before  a  tribunal  so  terrible  showed  the  reformer  that  he 
was  no  longer  perfectly  safe  in  England,  and  he  went  across  to 
the  Continent.  According  to  Foxe's  record,  he  met  Tyndale  in 
Hamburg,  and  stayed  with  him  from  Easter  to  December,  1529, 
in  the  house  of  a  "  worshipful  widow,"  Mistress  Margaret  Van 
Emmerson,  during  a  violent  epidemic,  and  helped  him  to 
translate  the  Pentateuch.1  But  the  gossip,  though  circumstan 
tially  told,  has  no  corroborative  support,  and,  wanting  coherence, 
is  not  in  some  points  very  credible.  Coverdale  may  have  met 
Tyndale  somewhere  on  the  Continent,  but  from  his  ignorance 
of  Hebrew  he  could  have  given  him  only  such  subordinate  help 
for  the  Old  Testament  as  Friar  Roye  had  afforded  for  the  New. 
There  is  no  allusion  either  by  Tyndale  or  Fryth  to  Coverdale's 
presence  or  assistance  in  any  place  or  at  any  time,  and  surely 
these  two  martyrs  cannot  be  accused  of  any  unworthy  pre 
judice  created  by  rivalry  in  Biblical  labour.  Besides,  there  is 
no  proof  that  Tyndale  visited  Hamburg  after  his  second  journey 
to  it  in  1524,  and  he  could  not  come  to  that  city,  "  minding  to 
print  his  translation  of  Deuteronomy  in  it,"  as  Foxe  so  naively 
relates,  for  at  that  epoch  it  had  no  printing  press,  and  ap 
parently  no  books  were  printed  in  it  before  1536.  Tyndale 
may  have  gone  to  the  northern  seaport  on  some  other  errand, 
and  may  have  met  Coverdale ;  yet  Foxe,  who  relates  the 
anecdote  about  this  abode  in  Hamburg  from  Easter  to  December, 
places  Tyn dale's  interview  with  Packington  at  Antwerp  about 
the  middle  of  August  in  the  same  year.2  Genesis  was  printed 
in  January,  1530,  at  Marburg,  and  Tyndale  could  scarcely  be 
absent  from  that  city  for  so  long  a  period  as  nine  months  of 
the  previous  year,  for  he  must  have  been  preparing  his  trans 
lation,  and  superintending  it  at  press. 

From  this  period,  in  1528  till  1535,  the  places  of  Coverdale's 
residence  are  unknown.  It  has  been  conjectured  by  Foxe 
that  he  visited  Denmark.  But  if  the  date  assigned  by  the 

1  There   seems  to  have  been,  ac-     of    a  senator  ;    and    there    was    a 
cording  to  Offor's  testimony,  what-     "sweating  sickness"  ill  1529. 
ever  be  its  value,  a  lady  of  that  name         2  See  pages  179,  180. 
at  this  time  in  Hamburg,  the  widow 

VOL.  I.  R 


258  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

Royal  Commissioners,  who  first  published  the  following  letter, 
be  accepted,  he  must  have  gone  back  for  a  time  to  his  old 
convent,  and  through  his  powerful  patron  his  return  might 
involve  him  in  little  peril.  The  letter  is  addressed  to  Crumwell, 
"  his  singular  good  master,"  "  From  the  Augustines  this  May 
day,"  and  subscribed  "  your  chyld  and  beedman  in  Jesu  Chryst, 
Frere  Myles  Cov'dale."  Its  date  is  supposed  to  be  1531,  or 
1532,  though  it  maybe  earlier;  and  after  the  custom  of  his  day, 
he  writes,  "  For  now  I  begyne  to  taste  of  Holy  Schryptures:  now 
(honour  be  to  God)  I  am  sett  to  the  most  swete  smell  of  holy 
lettyres,1  with  the  godly  savour  of  holy  and  awncyent  Doctoures, 
unto  whose  knowledge  I  cannot  attayne,  without  dyversyte  of 
bookys,  as  is  not  unknown  to  your  most  excellent  wysdome. 
Nothyng  in  the  world  I  desyre  but  books  as  concerning  my 
lernynge.  They  once  had,  I  do  not  dowte  but  Allmyghty  God 
schall  perfourme  that  in  me,  whych  He,  of  Hys  most  plentyfull 
favour  and  grace,  haith  begone."  2  Whatever  truth  may  be  in 
the  surmises  just  mentioned,  it  is  certain  that  Coverdale  was  in 
obscurity  for  a  considerable  period,  but  that  time  had  not  been 
wasted.  During  his  earlier  residence  on  the  Continent  he  must 
have  learned  German,3  and  thus  prepared  himself  for  his  heavy 
task,  which,  in  all  likelihood,  he  had  already  commenced. 
At  least  the  letter  just  quoted,  while  it  may  allude  to  Biblical 
study  generally,  would  seem  by  its  special  terms  to  imply 
that  he  had  made  some  progress  with  the  translation.  He 
must  again  have  gone  over  to  the  Continent,  though  the  date 
is  uncertain,  and  there  undisturbed  and  withdrawn  from 
public  notice,  he  finished  his  great  work. 

We  have  already  seen  that,  on  the  24th  of  May,  1530,  a 
council  was  held  at  Westminster,  which,  among  other  topics, 
discussed  the  question  of  an  Authorized  Bible — a  question 
forced  upon  it  by  the  conviction  of  the  people  that  the  king 

1  Latimer  says,  referring  to  the  Crumwell's  death,  he  had  sucli 

period  of  his  conversion,  "from  that  knowledge  of  German  that  he  was 

time  forward  I  began  to  smell  the  at  once  admitted  to  the  benefice  of 

"Word  of  God."  Bergzabern,  where  he  preached  till 

J  State  Papers,  vol.  I,  p.  383.  the  death  of  Henry  VIII. 

3  When    he    went    abroad     after 


xvii.]  DECISION  OF  COUNCIL.  259 

had  promised  them  such  a  gift,  and  by  the  rapid  circulation  of 
Tyndale's  Testament,  the  suppression  of  which  was  sternly 
commanded.  The  people  were  longing  for  the  Scriptures  in 
the  mother  tongue  ;  and  while  their  longings  were  recognized, 
they  were  virtually  set  at  nought.  The  decision  of  the  council, 
which,  after  a  conference  of  twelve  days,  began  by  fulminating 
against  Tyndale's  Testament,  was  formally  embodied  in  a 
royal  proclamation,  and  Warham,  the  Primate,  immediately 
followed  with  another  document,  which  ended  with  a  bill  to  be 
read  by  preachers,  and  to  the  following  effect : — 

"  Forasmuch  that  it  was  reported  unto  the  king's  highnes, 
that  there  is  engendered  an  opynyon  in  diverse  of  his  subjects, 
that  it  is  his  duetie  to  cawse  the  Scripture  of  God  to  be  trans 
lated  into  the  Englishe  tonge  to  be  communicate  unto  the  people ; 
&  that  the  prelates  &  also  his  highnes  doo  wronge  in  denying 
or  letting  of  the  same  ;  his  highnes  therefor  willed  every  man 
there  present  in  the  said  assemble,  freely  and  frankly  to  shewe  & 
open  unto  him  what  might  be  proved  and  confirmed  by  Scrip 
ture  &  holy  doctours  in  that  behalf,  to  the  entent  that  his 
highnes,  as  he  there  openly  protested,  myght  conforme  himself 
thereunto,  mynding  to  doo  his  dutie  towards  his  people,  as  he 
wolde  they  shulde  doo  their  duties  towards  him.  In  whiche 
matter,  after  Scriptures  declared,  holy  doctours  &  auctors  al 
leged,  &  read,  &  all  thinges  sayde  that  might  be  on  both  sidys, 
&,  for  bothe  parties  spoken,  deduced,  &  brought  furthe;  fynally 
it  appered,  that  the  having  of  the  hole  Scripture  in  Englisshe 
is  not  necessarye  to  cristen  men,  but  that  without  having  any 
suche  Scripture  endevoring  themself  to  doo  well,  &  to  applye 
their  myndes  to  take  and  followe  such  leassons  as  the  precher 
techith  theym,  &  soo  lerned  by  his  mowthe,  may  as  well 
edifye  spiritually  in  their  soules,  as  if  they  had  the  same 
Scripture  in  Englishe  ;  &  like  as  the  having  of  Scripture  in  the 
vulgar  tongis,  &  in  the  common  peoples  handes,  hath  ben  by 
holy  fathers  of  the  church e  heretofore  in  some  tymes  thought 
mete  and  convenient ;  soo  at  another  tyme  it  hath  ben 
thought  to  holy  fathers  not  expedient  to  bo  communicate 
amongst  them. 

Wherein  forasmuche  as  the  kings  highnes,  by  the  advise  & 


2GO  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

deliberation  of  his  coimceill,  &  the  agrement  of  great  learned 
men,  thinkith  in  his  conscience  that  the  divulging  of  this 
Scripture  at  this  tyme  in  Englisshe  tongc  to  be  committed  to 
the  people,  considering  such  pestilente  books  &  so  evill 
opynyons  as  be  now  spred  amonge  them,  shulde  rather  be  to 
their  further  confusion  &  destruction  then  the  edification  of 
their  soules ;  &  that  as  holy  doctours  testifie  upon  suche  like 
considerations,  the  semblable  hath  been  doon  in  tymes  past,  it 
was  thought  ther  in  that  assemble  to  all  &  singular  in  that 
congregation,  that  the  kings  highnes  &  the  prelats  in  soo 
dooing,  not  suffering  the  Scripture  to  be  divulgid  &  communi 
cate  in  the  Englishe  tonge  unto  the  people  at  this  tyme,  dotli 
well,  &  (the  preacher  was  to  add)  I  also  think  &  judge  the 
same,  exhorting  and  moving  you,  that  in  consideration  his 
highnes  did  there  openlye  saye  &  protest,  that  he  wolde  cause 
the  Newe  Testament  to  be  by  lerned  men  faithfully  &  purely 
translated  into  Englishe  tonge,  to  the  extent  he  might  have  it  in 
his  handes  redy  to  be  gevyn  to  his  people,  as  he  might  se  their 
manners  &  behaviour  mete,  apte,  and  convenient  to  receyve 
the  same,  that  ye  will  soo  detest  thes  perniciouse  boks,  so 
abliore  thcs  heresies  &  riewe  opynions,  soo  declyne  from  arro- 
gancy  of  knowledge  &  understanding  of  Scripture  after  your 
fantasies,  and  shewe  your  self  in  the  meane  tyme  without 
grudging  or  murmerying,  perswading  unto  your  selfe  the  very 
truth.  Avhich  is  this,  that  ye  cannot  require  or  demande  Scrip 
ture  to  be  divulged  in  the  Englishe  tonge,  otherwise  then  upon 
the  discretions  of  the  superiours,  soo  as  whensoever  they  think 
in  their  conscience  it  may  doo  yowe  good,  they  may  &  doo  well 
to  geve  it  unto  you,  and  whensoever  it  shall  be  seen  otherwise 
unto  them,  they  do  amissc  in  suffering  you  to  have  it." 

The  king's  implied  promise  to  authorize  an  English  Bible 
was  too  precious  to  be  forgotten,  and  Latimer  took  an  early 
opportunity  of  briskly  refreshing  the  royal  memory.  On  the 
1st  of  December,  1530,  he  sent  an  epistle  to  his  Majesty  of 
marvellous  boldness,  fidelity,  and  earnestness.  Several  manu 
script  copies  of  it  are  still  in  existence,  showing  that  it 
must  have  had  some  circulation.  The  undaunted  reformer 
thus  proceeds,  without  hesitation : — 


xvii.]  L  ATI  HER  S  LETTER  TO  THE  KINO.  261 

"  How  little  do  they  fear  the  terrible  judgment  of  Almighty 
God  !  And  specially  they  which  boast  themselves  to  be  guides  and 
captains  unto  others,  and  challenge  unto  themselves  the  knowledge  of 
holy  Scripture,  yet  will  neither  show  the  truth  themselves  (as  they  be 
bound),  neither  suffer  them  that  would.  .  .  .  And  they  will,  as 
much  as  in  them  lieth,  debar,  not  only  the  "Word  of  God,  which 
David  calleth  '  a  light  to  direct,'  and  show  every  man  how  to  order 
his  affections  and  lusts  according  to  the  commandments  of  God,  but 
also  by  their  subtile  wiliness  they  instruct,  move,  and  provoke  in  a 
manner  all  kings  in  Christendom,  to  aid,  succour,  and  help  them  in 
this  their  mischief.  And  especially  in  this  your  realm  they  have  so 
blinded  your  liege  people  and  subjects  with  their  laws,  customs, 
ceremonies,  and  barbarous  glosses,  and  punished  them  with  cursings, 
excommunications,  and  other  corruptions  (corrections  I  would  say). 
And  now,  at  the  last,  when  they  see  that  they  cannot  prevail  against 
the  open  truth  (which  the  more  it  is  persecuted,  the  more  it  increaseth 
by  their  tyranny)  they  have  made  it  treason  to  your  noble  Grace  to 
have  the  Scripture  in  English. 

"  This,  most  gracious  King,  when  I  considered,  and  also  your  favour 
able  and  gentle  nature,  I  was  bold  to  write  this  rude,  homely,  and 
simple  letter  unto  your  Grace,  trusting  that  you  will  accept  my  true 
and  faithful  mind  even  as  it  is. 

"  Your  Grace  may  see  what  means  and  craft  the  spiritualty  (as 
they  will  be  called)  imagine,  to  break  and  withstand  the  Acts  which 
were  made  in  your  Grace's  last  Parliament  against  their  superfluities. 
Wherefore  they  that  thus  do,  your  Grace  may  know  them  not  to  be 
true  followers  of  Christ.  And  though  I  named  the  spiritualty  to  be 
corrupt  with  this  unchristian  ambition,  yet  I  mean  not  all  to  be 
faulty  therein,  for  there  be  some  good  of  them ;  neither  would  I  that 
your  Grace  should  take  away  the  goods  due  to  the  Church,  but 
take  away  all  evil  persons  from  the  goods,  and  set  better  in  their 
stead. 

"And  they  whose  works  be  naught,  dare  not  come  to  this  light,  but 
go  about  to  stop  it  and  hinder  it,  letting  as  much  as  they  may  that  the 
Holy  Scriptures  should  not  be  read  in  our  mother  tongue,  saying 
that  it  would  cause  heresy  and  insurrection ;  and  so  they  persuade,  at 
the  least  way  they  would  fain  persuade,  your  Grace  to  keep  it  back.  .  . 
But  as  concerning  this  matter,  other  men  have  showed  your  Grace 
their  minds,  how  necessary  it  is  to  have  the  Scripture  in  English. 
The  which  thing  also  your  Grace  hath  promised  by  your  last  procla- 


262  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAF. 

mation  :  the  which  promise  I  pray  God  that  your  gracious  Highness 
may  shortly  perform,  even  to-day,  before  to-morrow.  Nor  let  the 
wickedness  of  these  worldly  men  detain  you  from  your  godly  purpose 
and  promise. 

"As  concerning  your  last  proclamation,  prohibiting  such  books, 
the  very  true  cause  of  it  and  chief  counsellors  were  they,  whose  evil 
living  and  cloaked  hypocrisy  these  books  uttered  and  disclosed.  And, 
howbeit,  that  there  were  three  or  four  that  would  have  had  the  Scrip 
ture  to  go  forth  in  English,  yet  it  happened  there,  as  it  is  evermore 
seen,  that  the  most  part  overcometh  the  better.  And  so  it  might  be 
that  these  men  did  not  take  this  proclamation  as  yours,  but  as  theii'S, 
set  forth  in  your  name,  as  they  have  done  many  times  before,  which 
hath  put  your  realm  in  great  hinderance  and  trouble,  and  brought  it 
in  great  penury.  But  what  marvel  is  it  that  they,  being  so  nigh  of 
your  counsel  and  so  familiar  with  your  lords,  should  provoke  both 
your  Grace  and  them  to  prohibit  these  books,  which  before,  by  their 
own  authority,  have  forbidden  the  New  Testament  under  pain  of 
everlasting  damnation  1  For  such  is  their  manner,  to  send  a  thousand 
men  to  hell  ere  they  send  one  to  God. 

"And  take  heed  whose  counsels  your  Grace  doth  take  in  this 
matter,  that  you  may  do  that  God  commandeth,  and  not  that  seemeth 
good  in  your  own  sight  without  the  Word  of  God  •  that  your  Grace 
may  be  found  acceptable  in  His  sight,  and  one  of  the  members  of  His 
Church ;  and,  according  to  the  office  that  He  hath  called  your  Grace 
unto,  you  may  be  found  a  faithful  minister  of  His  gifts,  and  not  a 
defender  of  His  faith  :  for  He  will  not  have  it  defended  by  man  or 
man's  power,  but  by  His  Word  only,  by  the  which  He  hath  evermore 
defended  it,  and  that  by  a  way  far  above  man's  power,  or  reason,  as 
all  the  stories  of  the  Bible  make  mention. 

"Wherefore,  gracious  King,  remember  yourself;  have  pity 
upon  your  soul ;  and  think  that  the  day  is  even  at  hand  when  you 
shall  give  account  of  your  office,  and  of  the  blood  that  hath  been 
shed  with  your  sword.  .  .  .  The  Spirit  of  God  preserve  your 
Grace  ! " 

Coverdale  may,  therefore,  have  been  the  more  anxious  to 
hasten  on  the  work,  for  change  of  opinion  had  been  rapidly 
spreading  in  England.  The  authority  of  the  Italian  Pontiff 
had  also  been  broken,  when,  by  the  Convocation  of  1531,  Henry 
was  acknowledged  as  supreme  head  of  the  Church,  and  the 


xvii.]  THE  CONVOCA  TION  OF  1534.  263 

papal  jurisdiction  was  superseded  by  the  royal  prerogative,  or 
rather  was  absorbed  into  it.1  The  desire  for  the  Scriptures  in 
English  could  not  be  repressed,  the  few  copies  in  circulation 
created  a  desire  for  more.  Convocation,  or  rather  the  bishops, 
abbots,  and  friars  of  the  Upper  House  of  the  Province  of 
Canterbury,  which  met  on  the  19th  of  December,  1534,  "did 
unanimously  consent  that  the  most  reverend  father  the  Arch 
bishop  make  instance  in  their  names  to  the  king,  that  his 
majesty  would  vouchsafe  for  the  increase  of  the  faith  of  his 
subjects,  to  decree  and  command  that  all  his  subjects  in  whose 
possession  any  books  of  suspect  doctrine  were,  especially  in 
the  vulgar  language,  imprinted  beyond  or  on  this  side  the  sea, 
should  be  warned  within  three  months  to  bring  those  in  before 
persons  to  be  appointed  by  the  king,  under  a  certain  pain  to 
be  limited  by  the  king ;  and  that,  moreover,  his  Majesty  would 
vouchsafe  to  decree  that  the  sacred  Scriptures  should  be  trans 
lated  into  the  English  tongue  by  certain  honest  and  learned 
men,  named  for  that  purpose  by  his  Majesty,  and  should  be 
delivered  to  the  people  according  to  their  learning." 2  The  last 
portion  of  the  memorial  was  bitterly  opposed  by  Gardyner  and 
his  party,  for  they  maintained  that  all  "  heresies  and  extra 
vagancies  sprang  from  the  free  use  of  the  Scriptures."  The 
Convocation  itself,  apparently,  did  not  feel  its  ground  to  be 
very  secure ;  for  while  it  ventured  on  one  bold  step — to  ask  for 
a  translation  of  Scripture — it  attempted  to  guard  its  decision 
against  apprehended  abuses,  and  forbade  such  inquiries  and 
discussions  as  the  free  circulation  of  the  English  Bible  at  that 
time  must  certainly  produce.  It  prohibited  the  subjects  from 
"  publicly  disputing,  or  in  any  manner  contending,  concerning 
the  Catholic  faith,  or  the  articles  of  faith,  or  the  sacred  Scrip 
ture,  or  its  meaning."  The  attempt  was  vain,  for  discussions 
could  not  but  spring  up  in  the  divided  state  of  religious 
opinion.  The  old  and  the  new  had  come  into  sharp  conflict, 
and  the  new,  suddenly  conscious  of  its  strength,  was  tempted 

1  The  title,  Defender  of  the  Faith,  against  the  Lollards — nos  zelo  fidei 

of  which  Henry  was  so  proud,  had  Oatholicoe  cnjus  sumus  et  esse  volu- 

beeii  virtually  assumed  by  Richard  mus  Defensores. 
II  in   a  royal  commission  granted         a  Wilkiu's  Concilia,  vol.  Ill,  p.  770. 


2G4-  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

to  exhibit  and  test  it  unduly,  like  the  lame  man  healed  by  the 
apostle,  who,  not  content  with  the  common  exercise  of  restored 
physical  power,  is  described  as  "  leaping  "  in  wanton  thankful 
ness  while  he  entered  into  the  temple  "  praising  God."  The 
result  of  this  petition  of  Convocation  is  not  definitely  known, 
and  probably  it  was  not  presented  in  form  to  the  king.  But 
the  archbishop,  to  seize  the  opportunity,  at  once  set  about  the 
work  himself.  The  story  told  by  Strype  is  to  the  following 
effect,  that  the  primate  was  determined  "  that  a  translation  of 
the  Bible  should  be  published,  and  that  the  way  he  managed 
was  this — He  took  an  [old]1  translation  of  the  New  Testament 
(Tyndale's)  to  begin  with.  This  he  divided  into  nine  or  ten 
parts,  causing  each  part  to  be  written  at  large  in  a  paper  book, 
and  then  to  be  sent  to  the  best  learned  bishops  and  others,  to 
the  intent  that  they  should  make  a  perfect  correction  thereof; 
and  when  they  had  done  so,  to  restore  them  to  him  at  Lambeth 
by  a  certain  time.  One  of  these  parts  (the  Acts  of  the  Apostles) 
was,  it  seems,  sent  to  Stokesley,  Bishop  of  London.  When  the 
day  fixed  wras  come,  they  all  sent  in  their  portions  to  the 
archbishop  except  Stokesley;  and  the  archbishop,  sending  to 
know  why  he  had  not  sent  in  his  part  like  the  rest,  Stokesley 
returned  the  following  answer :  "  I  marvel  what  my  Lord  of 
Canterbury  meaneth,  that  thus  abuseth  the  people,  in  giving 
them  liberty  to  read  the  Scriptures,  which  doth  nothing  else 
but  infect  them  with  heresy.  I  have  bestowed  never  an  hour 
upon  my  portion,  nor  never  will ;  and,  therefore,  my  lord  .shall 
have  this  book  again,  for  I  will  never  be  guilty  of  bringing  the 
common  people  into  error."  Mr.  Thomas  Lawney,2  chaplain  to 
the  old  Duke  of  Norfolk,  standing  by  and  hearing  the  arch- 

1  In  Foxe's  MSS.,  to  which  Strype  in   "Wilkiu's.      Foxe  may  have  got 

formally  refers  as  his  only  authority,  the  clause  from  some  inexact  or  un- 

the  word  "  old  "  does  not  occur.  But  corrected  scroll,  but  the  injunctions 

the  "Injunctions"  of  1536  given  in  ascribed  to  Crumwell  were    appar- 

Foxe,  "that  every  parson  orproprie-  eutly  never  published, 

tary  of  any  parish  church  was  to  2  Lawney  had  been    one   of   the 

provide  a  whole  Bible  in  Latin  and  scholars  chosen   by  Wolsey  for  his 

also  in   English  before  the  first  of  College  at  Oxford,  and  had  been  ini- 

August,  to  be  laid  in  the  choir,"  are  prisoned  in  1528. 
not  found  in  Cranmer's  Register,  nor 


xvu.]  BISHOP  GARDYNER.  2G5 

bishop  speak  of  Stokesley's  untowardness,  said,  "  I  can  tell 
your  grace  why  my  Lord  of  London  will  not  bestow  any  labour 
or  pains  this  way  :  your  grace  knoweth  well  that  his  portion  is 
a  piece  of  the  New  Testament.  But  he  being  persuaded  that 
Christ  had  not  bequeathed  him  anything  in  his  Testament, 
thought  it  were  madness  to  bestow  any  labour  or  pains  where 
no  gain  was  to  be  gotten.  And  besides  this,  it  is  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles,  which  were  simple  poor  fellows,  and  therefore  my 
Lord  of  London  disdained  to  have  to  do  with  any  of  them."  x 
The  scheme  seems  to  have  miscarried  for  some  reason,  though, 
according  to  Morrice,  Cranmer's  private  secretary,  "every  man 
sent  to  Lambeth  their  parts  corrected,"2  but  the  purposed 
edition  never  appeared. 

Cranmer's  project  of  getting  a  version  made  through  epis 
copal  co-operation  has  been  frequently  ascribed  to  the  influence 
of  the  Convocation  of  1536.  But  the  opinion  is  erroneous,  for, 
on  the  1st  of  June,  1535,  Bishop  Gardyner,  writing  from  Wal- 
tham,  informs  Crumwell,  "  I  have  finished  the  translations  of 
St.  Luke  and  St.  John,  wherein  I  bestowed  great  labour,  though 
I  had  as  great  cause  as  any  man  to  desire  rest  and  quiet  for 
the  health  of  my  body."  3  Bishop  Gardyner  seems  to  have 
been  lying  under  some  cloud  of  political  suspicions  at  the  time. 
He  "  laments  and  wails  his  chance  and  fortune,"  the  king  fearing 
in  "me  a  coloured  doubleness,"  and  refers  to  something 
alleged  to  have  been  done  by  him  in  the  house  of  Syon,  a 
house  notorious  for  its  opposition  to  the  divorce,  the  supremacy, 
and  all  change.  And  therefore  he  sent  the  notice  of  his  com 
pleted  revision,  not  to  the  primate,  as  the  other  revisers  did, 
but  to  the  powerful  Secretary. 

These  things  were  not  "  done  in  a  corner,"  and  they  must 
have  been  known  to  Coverdale's  patrons,  who  were  prompting 
him  to  redeem  the  time.  During  this  period  he  had  not  been 
idle,  and  some  patient  and  industrious  months  must  have  been 
given  to  the  labour.  It  must  have  commenced  before  the 


6 


1  Strype's  Life  of  Cranmer,  vol.  I,  3  The  holograph  letter  is  preserved 
p.  71,  Oxford,  1848.  in    the   Crumwell    Correspondence, 

2  Nicholl's     Narrative,     Camden  bundle  W,  State  Papers,  1, 430. 
Soc.  ed.,  p.  277. 


266  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

petition  of  Convocation,  for  from  that  date  less  than  a  year 
elapsed  before  the  Bible  was  published.  The  volume  could 
not  have  been  prepared  during  this  brief  interval,  for  on  such 
a  supposition  which  one  writer  has  adopted,  there  must  have 
been,  in  no  figurative  sense, "  an  invisible  power  guiding  the 
thoughts  and  speeding  the  pen  of  the  translator."1  Apparently 
none  but  his  immediate  friends  and  advisers  were  aware  of  his 
doings  or  divined  his  intentions.  He  had  retired  into  tem 
porary  seclusion,  and  a  friendly  cloud  concealed  him.  As  the 
harvest  springs  from  seed  which  germinates  in  darkness,  so 
the  entire  English  Bible,  translated  no  one  knows  where,  pre 
sented  itself  unheralded  and  unanticipated  at  once  to  national 
notice  in  1535. 

The  previous  months  and  years  had  been  very  eventful. 
The  treasonable  utterances  of  the  nun  of  Kent  had  brought 
her  and  her  accomplices  to  Tyburn.  Some  seditious  monks 
of  the  Charterhouse  had  been  remorselessly  executed  "  in 
their  habits " ;  and  the  king,  as  if  touched  by  such  scenes  of 
blood,  had  ordered  his  court  into  mourning.  Wolsey  had 
passed  into  eclipse  and  death ;  Fisher  and  More  had  fallen  ; 
the  heart  of  popish  Europe  was  filled  with  indignation  and 
bitterness,  and  there  had  been  symptoms  of  a  continental 
coalition  against  Henry.  The  reports  of  the  indescribable  vices 
and  villanies  of  some  of  the  religious  houses  were  beginning  to 
be  known  and  talked  of;  many  momentous  ecclesiastical  changes 
had  taken  place,  and  more  seemed  to  be  impending,  for  the 
Pope  had  been  transubstantiated  into  the  king ;  Cranmer  was 
in  Canterbury,  and  Anne  Boleyn  on  the  throne ;  and  the  pre 
occupied  and  distracted  people  of  England  had  no  leisure  to 
give  the  new  Bible  any  formal  token  of  recognition  or 
welcome. 

The  title-page  of  the  volume  that  had  stolen  as  a  stranger 
into  the  country  names  itself  thus  : — "  Biblia — The  Bible  : 
that  is,  the  Holy  Scripture  of  the  Olde  and  New  Testa 
ment,  faithfully  &  truly  translated  out  of  Douche  &  Latyn 

1  In  a  letter  to   Conrad  Hubert,     sometimes  in  need  of  a  spur,  inas- 
dated   Bergzabern,    February   20th,     much  as  I  am  by  nature  dilatory." 
1545,  Coverdale   confesses,    "  I  am 


xvii.]  CO  VEED ALE'S  BIBLE.  267 

in  to  Englishe,  MDXXXV.  S.  Paul,  ii  Tessa  iii.  Praye  for  us, 
that  the  worde  of  God  male  have  fre  passage,  &  be  glorified, 
£c.  S.  Paul,  Colloss.  iii.  Let  the  worde  of  Christ  dwell  in  you 
plenteously  in  all  wysdome,  £c.  Josue  i,  Let  not  the  Boke  of 
this  lawe  departe  out  of  thy  mouth,  but  exercyse  thyselfe 
therein  daye  &  nyghte,  &c."  Then  follows  a  Dedication:  "  Vnto 
the  most  victorious  Prynce  &  oure  most  gracyous  soueraigne 
Lorde,  kynge  Henry  the  eyght,  kynge  of  Englonde  &  of 
Fraunce,  lorde  of  Irelonde,  &c.,  Defendour  of  the  Fayth,  & 
vnder  God  the  chefe  &  suppreme  heade  of  the  Church  of  Eng 
londe  ; "  followed  by  a  prayer  that  among  other  blessings 
"  multiplication  of  seed  which  God  gave  unto  Abraham  and 
Sara,  his  wife,  be  given  unto  you,  most  gracious  prince,  with 
your  dearest  just  wife  and  most  virtuous  princess,  Queen 
Anne."  "  Queen  Anne,"  however,  was  soon  changed  into 
"  Queen  Jane."  The  Dedication  fills  five  pages,  and  is  signed 
on  the  last  of  them,  "  Your  graces  humble  subiecte  &  daylye 
oratour,  Myles  Coverdale."  It  contains  eloquent  denunciations 
of  Popery,  and  is  exuberant  in  its  laudation  of  the  king.  It 
pictures  "  the  blynde  bysshope  of  Rome "  as  Balaam  and 
Caiaphas,  and  the  king  as  a  Moses,  a  David,  a  Jehoshaphat,  a 
Hezekiah,  "yea,  as  a  very  good  Josiah,"  revived  in  his  Majesty. 
He  stoutly  upholds,  also,  the  pre-eminence  of  the  temporal 
sword,  and  vindicates  the  sole  royal  supremacy,  there  being 
above  the  king  "no  other  head  under  God."  It  also  touches 
on  themes  most  pleasing  to  him,  probably  including  a  favour 
able  reference  to  the  king's  "  great  business,"  the  divorce,  "  as 
John  durst  say  unto  King  Herode,  It  is  not  lawful  for  thee 
to  have  thy  brother's  wife."  The  cases  were  not  at  all  similar, 
indeed,  for  Herod's  brother  was  alive  when  the  Baptist  pro 
nounced  the  censure ;  but  the  verse  was  often  quoted  in  the 
great  controversy,  which  was  discussed  by  statesmen,  casuists, 
and  divines  in  so  many  courts  and  colleges  of  Europe.  Nor 
was  it  a  divorce  in  the  common  sense  of  the  term,  but  the 
dissolution  of  a  union  which,  according  to  the  king's  friends 
and  lawyers,  had  been  void  from  the  beginning,  as  it  had 
never  been  a  valid  marriage.  The  Dedication  is  followed  by 
"  A  prologe  "  of  five  pages  and  a  half,  which  briefly  discusses 


268  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [ciur. 

the  question  of  translation,  enumerates  and  characterizes  the 
various  books  of  the  Bible,  and  is  followed  by  a  catalogue  of 
them.  The  lower  half  of  the  last  page  of  the  volume  contains 
"  A  faute  escaped  in  pryntinge  the  New  Testament,"  and  two 
similar  errors  are  noted  at  the  end  of  the  Song  of  Solomon. 
The  colophon  is  "  prynted  in  the  yeare  of  oure  Lorde  MDXXXV, 
and  fynished  the  fourthe  daye  of  October."  The  volume, 
small  folio,  is  printed  in  angular  black  letter,  in  double 
columns,  and  a  full  page  contains  fifty-seven  lines.  It  con 
sists  of  six  parts  :  "  The  first,  Genesis  to  Deuteronomion  ;  the 
seconde,  Joshua  to  Hester;  the  thyrde,  Job  to  Solomon's 
Song;  the  fourth,  the  Prophets;  the  fifth,  the  Apocrypha;  and 
the  sixth  is  the  New  Testament.  The  Table  of  Contents  fills 
two  pages,  and  is  headed  with  The  Bokes  of  the  hole  Byble, 
how  they  are  named  in  Englysh  and  Latyn,  how  longe  they 
are  written  in  the  Allegacions,  and  how  many  chapters  every 
Boke  hath.  The  contents  of  the  chapters  are  placed  before 
each  book,  with  the  exception  of  Salomon's  Ballettes  and  the 
Lamentacions  of  Jeremy.  The  same  exception  holds  in  the 
Apocrypha  in  the  case  of  the  Songe  of  Three  Children,  the 
Story  of  Susanna,  and  the  Story  of  Bel ;  but  "  contents  "  are 
placed  before  each  chapter  of  the  Apocryphal  Esther.  There 
are  no  verses,  but  paragraphs  are  marked  and  distinguished  by 
capital  letters  on  the  margin.  There  are  numerous  woodcuts 
in  the  text,  the  half  of  the  first  page  of  Genesis  representing 
six  "  dayes  worke,"  and  there  are  many  ornamented  capitals. 
At  the  end  of  Deuteronomy  there  is  a  map  of  the  size  of  two 
leaves — curiously  constructed  with  the  north  to  the  bottom 
and  the  south  to  the  top,  and  headed,  "  The  descripcion  of 
the  lande  of  promes  called  Palestina,  Canaan,  or  the  holy 
lande." 

The  Apocrypha  has  this  brief  preface' — "  The  Bokes  & 
Treatises  which  among  the  Fathers  of  olde  are  not  rekened  to 
be  of  like  authoritie  with  the  other  Bokes  of  the  Byble,  nether 
are  they  found  e  in  the  Canon  of  the  Hebrue" — with  a  note  at 
the  foot  of  the  page,  "  Unto  these  also  belongeth  Baruc,  whom 
we  haue  set  amonge  the  prophetcs  next  unto  Jeremy,  because 
he  was  his  scrybe,  &  in  his  tyme."  The  next  page  has  "  The 


xvii.]  PREFACE  TO  THE  APOCRYPHA.  269 

Translatoure  unto  the  Reader  " — "  These  bokes  (good  reader) 
which  be  called  Apocrypha,  are  not  iudged  amonge  the 
doctours  to  be  of  like  reputacion  with  the  other  scripture,  as  thou 
mayest  perceaue  by  S.  Jerome  in  epistola  ad  Paulinum ;  &  the 
chefe  cause  thereof  is  this  :  there  be  many  places  in  them  that 
seme  to  be  repugnaunt  vnto  the  open  &  manyfest  trueth  in  the 
other  bokes  of  the  byble.  Nevertheles,  I  have  not  gathered 
them  together  to  the  intent  that  I  wolde  haue  them  despysed, 
or  little  sett  by,  or  that  I  shulde  thinke  them  false,  for  I  am 
not  able  to  proue  it :  Yee,  I  doute  not  verely,  yf  they  were 
equally  conferred  with  the  other  open  scripture  (tyme,  place, 
&  circumstaunce  in  all  thinges  considered)  they  shulde  nether 
seme  contrary,  ner  be  vntruly  &  perliersly  aledged.  Treuth  it 
is :  a  man's  face  can  not  be  sene  so  wel  in  a  water,  as  in  a 
fayre  glasse  ;  nether  can  it  be  shewed  so  clearly  in  a  water  that 
is  stered  or  rnoued,  as  in  a  styll  water.  These  &  many  other 
darck  places  of  scripture  haue  bene  sore  stered  &  myxte  with 
blynde  &  cuvetous  opjnnions  of  men  which  haue  cast  soche  a 
myst  afore  the  eyes  of  the  symple  that  as  longe  as  they  be  not 
conferred  with  the  other  places  of  scripture,  they  shall  not 
seme  other  wyse  to  be  vnderstonde,  then  as  cuvetousnes 
expoundeth  them.  But  who  so  euer  thou  be  that  readest 
scripture,  let  the  holy  goost  by  thy  teacher,  &  let  one  text 
expounde  another  vnto  the  :  As  for  soch  dreames,  visions,  & 
darck  sentences  as  be  hyd  from  thy  vnderstondinge,  commytte 
them  vnto  God,  and  make  no  articles  of  them  :  But  let  the 
playne  text  be  thy  gyde,  and  the  sprete  of  God  (which  is 
the  author  therof)  shal  lede  the  in  all  trueth. 

"As  for  the  prayer  of  Salomon  (which  thou  findest  not 
herin),  the  prayer  of  Azarias,  &  the  swete  songe  that  he  &  his 
two  felowes  songe  in  the  fyre :  the  first  (namely,  the  prayer  of 
Salomon)  readest  thou  in  the  eight  chapter  of  the  thirde  boke 
of  the  kynges,  so  that  it  appeareth  not  to  be  Apocryphurn  : 
The  other  prayer  &  songe  (namely,  of  the  thre  children)  haue 
I  not  founde  amonge  eny  of  the  interpreters,  but  onely  in  the 
olde  latyn  texte,  which  reporteth  it  to  be  of  Theodotio's  trans- 
lacion.  Nevertheles,  both  because  of  those  that  be  weake  & 
scrupulous,  &  for  their  sakes  also  that  love  soch  swete  songes 


270  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

of  thankes2;euinge :  I  haue  not  left  them  out :  to  the  intent 

o  o 

that  the  one  shulde  haue  no  cause  to  complayne,  &  that  the 
other  also  might  haue  the  more  occasion  to  geue  thankes  vnto 
God  in  aduersite,  as  the  thre  children  dyd  in  the  fyre.  Grace 
be  with  the.  Amen."  The  prayer  of  Manasses  is  left  out,  as 
the  Zurich  Bible  had  omitted  it ;  but  before  the  canonical 
Lamentations  is  set  this  preface,  "  And  it  came  to  passe  (after 
Israel  was  brought  into  captivitie  &  Jerusalem  destroyed) 
that  Jeremy  the  prophet  sat  weepynge  &  mourning,  &  making 
his  mone  (moan)  in  Jerusalem,  so  that  with  an  heavy  herte 
he  sighed  &  sobbed,  sayenge." 

The  Bible  has  no  name  of  place  or  printer,  and  neither 
place  nor  printer  is  ascertained  to  perfect  satisfaction.  It 
is  sometimes  supposed  to  have  been  printed  by  Christian 
Egenolph,  at  Frankfort.1  The  evidence  is  based  on  the  simil 
arity  between  some  woodcuts  bearing  the  monogram  of  Hans 
Sebald  Beham  of  Nuremberg  used  by  Egenolph,  and  those 
found  in  Coverdale;  but  an  examination  shows  at  once  that  they 
are  not  the  same,  those  in  Coverdale  being  only  copies.  The 
type  in  Egenolph's  German  Bible  is  not  the  same  in  body  with 
that  used  in  Coverdale.  Offor  puts  in  a  plea  for  Cologne  as  the 
place  of  printing  ;  but  there  is  a  very  strong  presumption  that 
Froschover  of  Zurich,  who  printed  the  edition  of  1550,  also 
printed  that  of  1535.  The  two  larger  sizes  of  letters  in  the 
Bible  are  found  in  his  other  works  ;  but  the  watermarks  in 
the  leaves  of  these  works  differ  from  those  found  in  the  Bible. 
Froschover  was  at  a  later  day  the  friend  and  protector  of 
the  Marian  exiles,  and  boarded  twelve  of  them,  including 
Humphrey,  Professor  of  Divinity  at  Oxford,  and  Bishop 
Parkhurst.  Several  letters  of  his,  dated  Oxford,  are  found 
in  the  collection  published  by  the  Parker  Society.2  He  is 
also  spoken  of  by  Grindal 3  as  "  rich  enough,"  and  therefore 
fitted  to  take  on  him  the  charge  of  an  expensive  work.  He 
printed  Cranmer's  book  against  Gardyner,  John  Foxe  delivering 
the  copy  to  him.  He  was,  in  short,  in  position  and  character, 

1  As  by  Botfield,  Miscellanies,  &c.,      3  Remains  of  Archbishop  Grindal, 
p.  43,  p.  220,  Parker  Soc.  ed. 

2  Original  Letters,  vol.  II,  p.  719. 


xvii.]  FROSCHO  VER  OF  ZURICH.  271 

such  a  man  as  might  be  entrusted  with  a  work  to  be  done  in 
secret,  and  involving  probably  a  considerable  outlay.  Besides, 
as  Coverdale's  version  rests  mainly  on  the  Swiss-German  Bible, 
printed  by  Froschover,  in  Zurich,  we  may  infer  that  the  trans 
lator's  retreat  had  been  for  a  period  in  that  city,  and  from 
typographical  evidence  that  his  translation  was  completed  and 
printed  there.1 

The  year  1535  was,  in  one  sense,  a  year  of  promise.  Tyndale 
was  in  prison  indeed ;  but  Coverdale's  Bible  was  published,  and 
there  were  also  issued  these  royal  injunctions  for  the  University 
of  Cambridge,  indicating  the  dawn  of  a  new  era.  "  In  each 
college  and  hall  there  shall  be  two  daily  public  lectures,  one  of 
Greek,  the  other  of  Latin.  .  .  .  No  lectures  shall  be  read 
upon  any  of  the  doctors  who  have  written  upon  the  Master  of 
the  Sentences,  but  all  divinity  lectures  shall  be  upon  the 
Scriptures." 

1  The  Bible  by  Coverdale,  1535.     By  Francis  Fry,  F.S.A.,  Lond.  1867. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

O  OME  peculiar  points  in  the  history  of  this  volume  may  be 
noted.  It  has  two  distinct  title-pages,  one  in  the  type  of  the 
volume,  and  therefore  the  original  one;  the  other  in  the  English 
black  letter  of  the  period,  and  therefore  a  reprinted  one,  with 
dates  of  1535  and  1536.  There  are  also  two  copies  with  a  fac 
simile  of  the  title  of  1535,  but  with  a  very  important  clause 
left  out,  while  the  leaves  that  come  after  are  in  English  type. 
These  reprints  give  the  list  of  Books  on  the  reverse  of  the 
seventh  leaf- — the  first  title  has  it  on  its  own  reverse.  The 
name  of  Queen  Anne  is  found  in  some  copies,  and  the  name 
of  Queen  Jane  in  others.  Various  surmises  have  been  thrown 
out  as  to  the  causes  of  this  early  reprint  of  the  preliminary 
furniture.  It  has  been  sometimes  argued,  as  by  Lewis,1  Bot- 
field,2  Walter,3  and  Anderson,4  that,  after  the  volume  had 
been  printed,  its  publication  was  postponed  on  account  of 
the  trial  and  execution  of  Queen  Anne  who  was  beheaded 
19th  May,  153G.  Her  name  had  been  in  the  original  dedica 
tion,  and  it  was  now  thought  necessary  to  expunge  it.  Eight 
months  must  in  this  way  be  supposed  to  elapse  between  the 
period  when  the  volume  was  finished,  in  October,  1535,  and  its 
issue  in  England  with  Queen  Jane  in  the  dedication,  1536.  To 
support  this  conjecture  stress  is  laid  on  the  copy  in  the  British 
Museum,  in  which  "  Anne  "  has  been  made  into  "Jane  "  with  a 
pen  ;  but  any  possessor  of  a  copy  might,  if  he  pleased,  effect  such 
a  change,  and  no  argument  can  be  based  upon  it,  unless  it  be 
supposed  that  the  awkward  alteration  was  introduced  into  the 

1  History,  p.  100,  London,  1818.         3  Letter  to  Herbert  Marsh,  p.  73. 

2  Cathedral  Libraries,  p.  193.  4  Annals,  I,  p.  563. 


CHANGES  OF  TITLE.  273 

whole  edition.  The  copy  at  Sion  College  has  Jane  printed  as 
part  of  the  original  text,  and  with  the  date  1536.  But  the 
title,  as  Mr.  Fry l  plainly  shows  from  difference  of  type  and 
from  the  misprints,  belongs  to  the  edition  printed  by  Nycolson 
in  1537,  and  by  a  common  trick  it  was  put  into  an  earlier 
issue,  as  if  to  produce  a  complete  copy.  In  fact,  all  the  "Jane" 
leaves  are  from  the  same  edition,  the  English  reprint.  All  the 
known  copies  that  have  the  dedication  to  King  Henry  VIII,  of 
date  1535  and  1536,  read  Queen  Anne.  There  is  therefore 
little  doubt  that  the  Bible  was  issued  in  1535,  with  a  title- 
page  and  preliminary  matter  in  the  same  foreign  type  as  the 
body  or  text  of  the  volume.  The  editions  found  with  the  title 
and  following  leaves  in  English  black  letter,  bearing  the  date 
both  of  1535  and  1536,  only  show  that  the  first  title  and  pre 
fatory  matter  had  been  on  purpose  superseded,  and  that  very 
soon  after  the  arrival  of  the  Bible  in  this  country.  The 
reasons  of  the  change  in  the  title-page  itself  will  be  afterwards 
discussed. 

Some  interesting  particulars  about  this  first  complete  English 
Bible  may  be  gleaned  from  itself,  and  from  Coverdale's  dedica 
tion  of  his  edition  of  1550. 

And,  first,  true  to  his  temperament,  he  was  not  the 
originator  ;  but  is  ever  forward  to  make  and  repeat 
this  acknowledgment :  "  To  say  the  truth  before  God,  it  was 
neither  my  labour  nor  desire  to  have  this  work  put  into 
my  hand,  nevertheless,  when  I  was  instantly  required, 
though  I  could  not  do  so  well  as  I  would,  I  thought  it 
yet  my  duty  to  do  my  best,  and  that  with  a  good  will,  for 
the  which  cause  (according  as  I  was  desired),  anno  1534,  I 
took  the  more  upon  me  to  set  forth2  this  special  translation  ;" 
and  he  adds,  "  I  was  boldened  in  God  sixteen  years  ago 
to  labour  faithfully  in  the  same."  What  is  more  striking, 
the  use  of  the  Douche  and  Latin  versions  had  been  prescribed 
to  him,  his  singular  words  about  his  predecessors  being, 
"whom  I  have  been  the  more  glad  to  follow,  according  as 

1  The  Bible  by  Coverdale,  p.  17,  phrase  for  publishing.  The  edition 
&c.,  London,  1867.  of  1537  has,  "set  forth  with  the 

3  "  Set    forth"    was     Coverdale's    kynge's  most  gracious  license." 
VOL.  I.  S 


274  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

I  was  required."     In   his  first  dedication  his  utterance   also 
is,  "  Trusting  in  His  infinite  goodness,  that  He  would  bring 
my  simple  and  rude  labour  herein  to  good  effect,  therefore, 
as  the  Holy  Ghost  moved  other  men  to  do  the  cost  hereof, 
so   was    I   boldened   in    God  to  labour  in  the  same."       The 
persons  so  referred  to  are  unknown.     For  prudential  reasons 
their  names  were  not  divulged,  and  probably  they  did  not 
covet  the  perilous  notoriety.     There  must  have  been  within 
the  church  a  party  of  covert  inquirers  who  might  encourage 
a   translation   of  the   Bible    as   the   charter   of  ecclesiastical 
liberty   and    reform.     Crumwell,   who   became    Secretary    of 
State   in   1534,   had   been   Coverdale's   tutelary    genius,   had 
directed  his  studies,  and  had  certainly  befriended  him  in  this 
undertaking.      Probably     others     like-minded,    feeling     that 
Tyndale   and   his   work  had   been  proscribed   by  name,  and 
"  all   manner   of  evil "    said    against   them,   may    have    also 
urged   him   on,   and   sympathized  with   him   in   his   literary 
labour.      It   may   even    be   believed   that   Sir   Thomas   More- 
knew  of  the  translation,   and  of  its  earlier  progress.     In  the 
letter   first    quoted,1    Coverdale    speaks  of    "  Master    Moore's 
kinsman  being  ill  at  ease  under  fever,"  and  in    the  second 
he  adverts   to  a  conversation  held   in   his   house   on   Easter- 
Eve,  which  shows  that  there  must  have    been  some  degree 
of  intimacy  between   him    and    the    Chancellor.     More    did 
not   wholly   oppose   translations   in  theory,    but   objected   to 
Tyndale's   so   strongly  because  it  wanted  several   ecclesiasti 
cal  terms.     Tyndale's  Testament  had  been  condemned  already, 
and   the   higher    powers    could    not    be   expected   to   retract 
their  sentence ;  so  that  if  there  was  to  be  an  English  Bible, 
it     must    emanate     from     a     new     and     untainted     source. 
What  would  not  be  tolerated  as  coming  from  Tyndale,  might 
be  accepted    as    coming    from    Coverdale,  whose   name    was 
new  and  who  had  few  palpable  and  compromising  antecedents. 
But   Mr.  Froucle   outsteps  all   probability  when  he  repre 
sents   the    king   as  in    some    way    originating    this    version, 
and  as  acting  on  his  own  responsibility,  "  his  patience  being 
exhausted "   in   expectation    of   providing    a    Bible    for    his 

1  See  page  256. 


xviii.]  ERROR  OF  FROUDE  ON  THE  SUBJECT.  £75 

subjects.1      Henry,   however,    had    no   hand   in   the   produc 
tion  of  the  volume,  though    it  was  dedicated  to  him.     The 
dedication,  indeed,  declares  that  "  Josias  commanded  straytly 
(as  youre  grace  doth)  that  the  lawe  of  God  shulde  be  redde  and 
taught  vnto  all  the  people."     But  the  reference  is  to  the  royal 
proclamation,  of  which  Latimer  reminded  the  king  in  a  letter 
dated  1st  December,  1530,  written  after  a  meeting  of  Convoca 
tion.2    At  the  close  of  1534!,  Convocation  indeed,  as  we  have  seen, 
petitioned  the  king  for  an  English  translation  of  the  Scrip 
tures,  but  there  is  no  proof  that  the  petition  was  laid  before 
him ;  and  if  he  received  it,  he  certainly  took  no  action  upon  it. 
Nor  had  the  first  issue  of  Coverdale's  version  exposed  for  sale 
the  words  "cum  privilegio"  on  its  front,  as  the  historian  wrongly 
asserts.      The   original   title-pages  contain   no  clause  of  this 
nature,  for  "  the  king's  most  gracious  license  "  first  appeared 
on  the  edition  printed  at  South wark  in  1537.     Mr.  Froude  also 
adduces  the  frontispiece  in  proof  of  his  statements,  "  it  being 
equally  remarkable  and  more  emphatic  in  the  recognition  of 
the  share  in  the  work  done  by  the  king."     The  eloquent  annal 
ist  makes  here  an  unaccountable  mistake,  for  the  frontispiece 
described  by  him,  "  the  Almighty  in  the  clouds,  and  Cranmer. 
and  Crumwell,  in  prominent  positions  on  each  side,"  &c.,  is 
that  of  the  Great  Bible  of  1539,  and  not  that  of  Coverdale  at 
all.      Coverdale's  is  modest  in  comparison  :  at  the  base   the 
king  occupies  the  centre,  the  royal   arms  under  him,  and  a 
square  space  filled  with  the  title  of  the  Bible  over  his  head, 
his  sword  in  his  one  hand,  and  in  his  other  hand  a  volume 
which  the  bishops  are  presenting  to  him,  while  the  peers  are 
looking  on ;  St.  Paul  is  at  the  one  corner  with  the  scroll,  "  I 
am  not  ashamed  of  the  Gospel";  and  King  David,  harp  in  hand, 
at  the  other,  with  the  scroll,  "  O  how  sweete  are  thy  wordes  to 
my  throte  " ;  at  the  top  are  the  Hebrew  letters  representing 
Jehovah ;  on  the  one  side  are  the  first  transgressors  ashamed  of 
their  nakedness,  and  the  serpent  coiled  over  their  head,  with  a 
scroll,    "  In  what  daye  soever  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt 
dye";  on  the  other  side  is  the  Saviour  crushing  with  his  heel 
the  serpent's  head,  with  the  scroll,  "  This  is  my  deare  Sonne, 
1  History,  III,  p.  79.  "  See  page  261. 


276  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CIIAP. 

in  whom  I  delyte,  hear  him."  This  frontispiece  of  Coverdalc 
is  a  cheap  and  worthless  woodcut,  poor  in  conception  and  in 
artistic  in  execution,  and,  therefore,  very  unlike  the  spirited 
and  fine  engraving  by  Hans  Holbein  in  the  Great  Bible,  with 
which  Mr.  Froude  confounds  it,  and  which  will  be  described 
in  its  place.  The  other  six  engravings  on  both  sides  of  the 
title  are  only  simple  scenes  from  the  Old  Testament,  the  Apo 
crypha,  and  the  New  Testament.  There  is,  therefore,  no  proof 
whatever  that  the  king  knew  of  or  was  concerned  at  all  in  the 
origination  of  Coverdale's  Bible.  Nor  would  the  translator 
have  concealed  the  royal  patronage — it  was  not  his  habit  to 
pass  over  in  silence  so  great  an  honour. 

Secondly,  Though  Coverdale  was  not  the  originator  of  the 
enterprise,  he  claims  to  be  the  one  workman.  Thus  in  his 
address  to  the  Christian  Reader,  "...  I  was  the  more 
bold  to  take  it  in  hand.  ...  I  took  the  more  upon  me  to 
set  forth  this  special  translation.  .  .  .  Though  it  be  not 
worthily  ministered  unto  thee  by  reason  of  my  rudeness,  I 
thought  it  my  duty  to  do  my  best,  and  that  with  a  good  will. 
.  .  .  I  pray  God  that  through  my  poor  ministrations  herein, 
I  may  give  them  that  can  do  better  some  occasion  so  to  do. 
.  .  .  Whereinsoever  I  can  perceive  by  myself,  or  by  the 
information  of  others,  that  I  have  failed,  I  shall  now  by  the 
help  of  God  overlook  it  better  and  amend  it."  To  the  king 
his  avowal  is,  "  I  thought  it  my  duty  when  I  had  translated 
the  Bible  to  dedicate  this  translation  unto  your  highness." 
He  therefore  did  the  work  as  sole  translator,  any  assistance  in 
comparison  of  texts  or  in  carrying  the  volume  through  the 
press  being  of  a  subordinate  nature.  But  this  distinct  claim  of 
sole  authorship,  so  formally  and  frequently  asserted  and 
reiterated  in  the  plainest  terms,  has  not  been  always  accepted, 
and  it  has  been  sometimes  put  aside  by  unsupported  conjectures. 
Whittaker,  against  all  proof,  alleges  that  Coverdale's  Bible  "  is 
properly  regarded  as  the  joint  production  of  Tyndale  and 
Coverdale,"  and  subjoins  what  is  beyond  all  belief,  "  Coverdale, 
assisted  by  Rogers,  who  corrected  the  press,  revised  the  whole 
of  Tyndale's  work  before  they  printed  it,"1  the  statement  being 
1  Historical  and  Critical  Enquiry,  p.  48. 


xvm.]  AND  OF  HALLAM.  277 

a  bewildered  reference  to  the  Bible  of  1537,  or  the  Great  Bible 
of  1539.  Tyndale  would  not  have  coveted  such  a  partnership, 
and  could  not  have  tolerated  many  of  Coverdale's  renderings. 
Blunt  speaks  in  unintelligible  terms  of  Coverdale's  Bible,  "  as 
being  printed  abroad  from  the  translation  in  which  Tyndale, 
Coverdale,  and  Rogers  had  each  a  share,"  and  subjoins  a  note, 
"  It  is  almost  impossible  to  distinguish  their  respective  shares."1 
True,  for  no  one  can  distinguish  among  non-existent  things, 
and  the  mistake,  if  it  be  not  a  mere  repetition  of  the  errors 
of  previous  authorities,  has  arisen  from  some  unconscious 
confusion  of  thought  about  Matthew's  Bible,  which,  however, 
is  immediately  afterwards  mentioned.  Macknight's  allega 
tions  are  yet  wilder  and  blinder  when  he  ventures  to  charge 
Coverdale  with  something  like  fraud,  since,  by  calling  his 
version  "  a  special  translation,"  2  he  wished  to  have  it  con 
sidered  as  different  from  Tyndale's — a  mistake  probably  origi 
nating  in  the  erroneous  notion  that  Matthew's  Bible  was  merely 
a  second  edition  of  Coverdale's.  Even  Hallam,  led  astray  by 
Johnson,  or  "  other  authorities,"  whom  yet  he  has  stigmatized 
as  "  erroneous  or  defective,"  describes  this  translation  as  "  a 
complete  version  of  the  Bible,  partly  by  Tyndale  and  partly 
by  Coverdale."3  Froude  also  falls  into  more  elaborate  error  on 
the  same  subject.  As  if  he  were  inserting  a  statement  which 
rested  on  indisputable  testimony,  he  quietly  avers,  "Miles 
Coverdale  went  abroad  ;  with  Tyndale's  help  he  collected  and 
edited  the  scattered  portions,"  that  is,  of  the  Old  and  New  Tes 
tament.  But  there  really  existed  no  such  "  scattered  portions," 
for  Tyndale  had  only  published  a  version  of  the  Pentateuch  and 
of  Jonah.  Besides,  Coverdale  did  not  republish  in  his  Bible  any 
part  of  Tyndale.  His  is  really  a  new  version  of  the  Old  Tes 
tament,  and  a  revised  version  of  the  New ;  and  Tyndale,  so  far 
as  is  known,  had  and  could  have  no  participation  in  the  work. 
Blundering  onward,  and  yet  more  deeply,  Mr.  Froude  next 
asserts  that  this  Bible  "  was  made  up  of  parts  prohibited  in 

1  The  Reformation  of  the  Church         3  Constitutional   History  of  Eng- 
of  England,  p.  510.  land,  vol.  I,  p.  83. 

*  A  new  literal  translation  of  the 
Epistles,  vol.  I,  p.  15. 


278  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

detail ";  but  the  assertion  applies  to  Matthew's,  and  not  in  any 
sense  whatever  to  Coverdale's  Bible.  He  says,  moreover,  that 
"  Tyndale  had  translated  the  New  Testament,  the  Pentateuch, 
and  the  Historical  Books,"  and  the  statement  is  true  ;  but  he 
adds  what  all  evidence  contradicts,  "  afterwards  by  Tyndale 
himself,  or  under  Tyndale's  eyes,  the  Psalms  and  the  Prophets 
were  rendered."1  But  any  one  looking  into  the  versions  may 
ascertain  the  truth  for  himself  Coverdale,  beyond  all  doubt, 
was  the  translator  of  the  Old  Testament  after  2  Chronicles,  and 
his  translation  was  accepted  by  Rogers  or  Matthew  in  his 
Bible  of  1537,  which  also  contains  all  that  Tyndale  had  com 
pleted.  To  Coverdale  himself,  therefore,  and  to  no  copartnery 
of  any  kind,  is  the  Bible  of  1535  to  be  ascribed.  He  claims 
to  be  the  one  doer,  and  no  one  who  knows  his  transparency 
of  character  can  doubt  his  simple  word. 

Thirdly,  Coverdale  does  not  profess  to  follow  any  settled 
principles  of  translation.  The  prologue  to  the  Christian  Reader 
does  not  formally  enter  upon  the  subject.  He  knew,  however, 
that  an  interpreter  ought  to  have  "  excellent  knowledge  and 
learning  in  the  tongues,"  and  he  avows  his  perfect  integrity : 
"so  make  I  this  protestation,  having  God  to  record  in  my 
conscience,  that  I  have  neither  wrested  nor  altered  so  much  as 
one  word  for  the  maintenance  of  any  manner  of  sect,  but  have 
with  a  clear  conscience  purely  and  faithfully  translated  .  .  . 
though  I  have  failed  anywhere  (as  there  is  110  man  but  he 
misseth  in  some  thing)  love  shall  construe  all  to  the  best, 
without  any  perverse  judgment.  There  is  no  man  living  that 
can  see  all  things,  neither  hath  God  given  any  man  to  know 
everything.  Howbeit,  whereinsoever  I  can  perceive  by  myself, 
or  by  the  information  of  other,  that  I  have  failed  (as  it  is  no 
wonder),  I  shall  now  by  the  help  of  God  overlook  it  better  and 
amend  it."  He  urges  also  the  value  of  translations :  "  Now 
whereas  the  most  famous  interpreters  of  all  give  sundry  judg 
ments  of  the  text,  so  far  as  it  is  done  by  the  spirit  of  knowledge 
in  the  Holy  Ghost,  methink  no  man  should  be  offended  thereat, 
for  they  refer  their  doings  in  meekness  to  the  spirit  of  truth  in 
the  congregation  of  God;  and  sure  I  am  that  there  cometh  more 
1  History,  vol.  Ill,  pp.  79,  80. 


xviu.]  COVERDALE'S  VERSION  SECONDARY.  £79 

knowledge  and  understanding  of  the  Scripture  by  their  sundry 
translations  than  by  all  the  glosses  of  our  sophistical  doctors. 
For  that  one  interpreteth  something  obscurely  in  one  place, 
the  same  translateth  another ;  or  else  he  himself,  more  mani 
festly  by  a  more  plain  vocable  of  the  same  meaning,  in  another 
place.  Be  not  thou  offended  therefore,  good  reader,  though 
one  call  a  scribe  that  another  calleth  a  lawyer ;  or  elders,  that 
another  calleth  father  and  mother  ;  or  repentance,  that  another 
calleth  penance  or  amendment.  For  if  thou  be  not  deceived 
by  men's  traditions,  thou  shalt  find  no  more  diversity  between 
these  terms  than  between  fourpence  and  a  groat."1  This  license 
however,  he  carried  too  far,  as  did  Tyndale;  and  both  set  a  bad 
example  to  subsequent  revisers.  But  he  keeps  fast  the  terms 
"  scribe "  and  "  congregation "  in  the  New  Testament,  and 
though  he  does  use  "repentance"  very  often,  he  sometimes 
varies  it  by  "  penance  "  and  "  amendment."  Coverdale  has 
some  eloquent  eulogies  on  the  character  and  benefits  of  Scrip 
ture,  and  some  excellent  practical  counsels  as  to  the  profitable 
and  spiritual  reading  of  it. 

Lastly,  Though  Coverdale  began,  and  carried  out  the  work 
without  co-operation,  he  never  exalts  his  version  as  one  taken 
immediately  from  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  text.  He  was  too 
honest  to  put  forward  any  false  pretences,  and  he  felt  that  any 
boastful  falsehoods  were  in  utter  antagonism  to  the  book  on 
which  he  had  been  so  silently  and  patiently  working.  He  would 
not  give  a  Bible  to  the  people  with  a  lie  in  the  right  hand  that 
was  holding  it  out  to  them.  The  original  title-page  revealed 
the  truth,  "  faythfully  and  truly  translated  out  of  Douche  and 
Latyn."  This  curt  declaration  expresses  the  simple  fact 
without  hesitation  or  abatement.  But  as  if  this  honest 
confession  on  the  title-page,  explained  and  confirmed  as  it 
was  in  the  prologue  and  dedication,  had  been  either  too 

1  Grosseteste  (Greathead),  Bishop  of  the  Church,  so  that  what  is  obscurely 

Loudon,  who  died  in  1253,  had  said,  expressed  by  one  may  be  more  per- 

"  It  is  the  will  of  God  that  the  Holy  spicuously    rendered    by    another." 

Scriptures  should  be  translated  by  Wharton,  Auct.   Hist.   Dogmat.,  p. 

many    translators,    and   that    there  416. 
should  be  different  translations  in 


280  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CIIAP. 

startling  or  were  liable  to  be  misunderstood,  a  significant 
change  was  soon  made,  and  the  phrase,  "  out  of  Douche  and 
Latyn " 1  was  omitted.  The  omission  is  found  in  the  title 
of  one  copy  printed  in  English  black  letter,  and  dated  1535, 
which  has  simply  "  faythfully  translated  in  to  Englyshe," 
and  so  in  another  of  1536 ;  but  in  the  edition  of  1537, 
which  issued  from  the  press  of  Nycolson,  the  words 
are  "  translated  in  Englysh,"  and  "  Douche  and  Latyn " 
were  dropped  not  only  out  of  the  editions  referred  to, 
but  also  out  of  all  subsequent  issues.  Mr.  Fry  suggests 
that,  as  Froschover,  who  probably  was  the  printer,  has 
made  blunders  on  the  title-pages  of  some  of  his  English 
Bibles,  as  in  the  quarto  edition  of  Coverdale,  1550,  and  in 
Tyndale's  New  Testament  of  the  same  date,  so  the  words 
"  out  of  Douche  and  Latyn "  may  in  this  way  have  really 
been  an  unauthorized  declaration.  But  the  conjecture  is  not 
very  probable,  for  the  deleted  words  present  the  exact  case. 
Yet  Whittaker,  who  by  his  own  confession  had  never  seen 
the  original  title,  hazards  the  assertion  that,  "if  this 
be  the  case,  the  title-page  contains  a  very  great  misrepre 
sentation."  2  The  editor  of  Bagster's  reprint  of  Coverdale 
calls  the  change  of  title  a  bookselling  artifice  of  the  time, 
to  make  the  work  circulate  better,  and  Anderson  conjectures 
that  the  new  title  was  a  mere  device,  as  if  it  were  a  differ 
ent  book.3  The  more  probable  reason  is  that  some  of  the 
persons  who  suggested  the  work  or  favoured  it,  or  defrayed 
the  expense,  may  have  been  displeased  at  the  candour  of 
the  title-page,  and  counselled  its  alteration — "Douche"  or 
German  being  regarded  as  in  special  alliance  with  heresy 
and  deeply  tainted  with  it.  But  whatever  the  motive  for 
changing  the  title,  the  change  was  unfair  to  Coverdale.  If 
done  without  his  sanction,  it  was  a  great  injustice  to  him ; 
and  if  he  was  overborne  by  stronger  minds  to  consent  to  it, 
as  Anderson  insinuates,  it  was  a  weakness  which  cannot  be 

1  Douche    meant    what    is     now  p.     59.       He    means  that    Cover- 
called    German — Deutsch,    not   low  dale    translated    directly  from  the 
German  or  Dutch.  original  texts. 

2  Historical  and  Critical  Enquiry,         3  Annals,  vol.  I,  p.  563. 


xviii.j          HONESTY  OF  THE  TITLE  AND  PROLOGUE.  £81 

excused.  He  should  have  been  true  to  himself  and  to  his 
first  purpose,  resolved  to  hold  by  the  naked  verity  as  stated  in 
this  first  title-page  and  in  his  Prologue.  One  may,  however, 
believe  that  he  intended  his  Bible  to  circulate  as  it  came 
from  Froschover's  press,  and  with  an  unmutilated  title  to 
carry  its  own  tale.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  strange  that  the 
parties  who  concealed  what  Coverdale  was  so  forward  to 
tell,  should  have  left  untouched  the  Prologue  and  Dedication 
which  give  so  distinctly  and  formally  his  own  account  of 
the  sources  of  his  translation.  For  the  words  of  the  first  title 
which  the  Bible  bore  on  its  arrival  in  London  are  explicitly 
confirmed  by  the  disclosure  which  Coverdale  makes  to  the 
king :  "  I  have  with  a  clear  conscience  purely  and  faithfully 
translated  this  out  of  five  sundry  interpreters,  having  only 
the  manifest  truth  of  the  Scriptures  before  mine  eyes ;"  and 
by  what  he  says  to  the  Christian  reader:  "  To  help  me  herein,  I 
have  had  sondrye  translacions,  not  only  in  Latyn;but  also  of  the 
Douche  interpreters,  whom,  because  of  their  singuler  gyftes  and 
special  diligence  in  the  Bible,  I  have  been  the  more  glad  to  follow 
for  the  most  part."  1  This  confession  is  so  very  plain  and 
full,  that  it  must  be  taken  in  its  literal  significance  ;  for 
the  fact  is,  that  he  took  his  Bible  at  once  from  the  German 
and  Latin  versions,  especially  the  Old  Testament,  without 
any  regard  whatever  to  the  Hebrew  text,  with  which  he 
had  no  familiar  acquaintance,  if  indeed  he  had  any  acquaint 
ance  at  all.  Four  of  these  "five  interpreters,"  whom,  how 
ever,  he  does  not  specify,  were  the  Vulgate,  Luther,  the 
Zurich  or  Swiss-German  Bible,  the  Latin  version  of  Pagninus, 
and  he  certainly  consulted  Tyndale's  Pentateuch  and  New 
Testament.2 


1  Alexander  Barclay   had  already  then     translated     into     Latin     by 

set  the  example  of  a  similar  honest  Locher,  and  into  French  by  Bade  ; 

title-page — "  The     shyp     of     Folys,  and  the  English  editor,  a  priest  of  St. 

translated     .     .    .     out    of    Latine,  Mary   Ottery,    Devonshire,    simply 

Frenche,  and  Doyche,  into  Englyshe  told  the  truth,  as  did  Coverdale. 

tonge."     London,  B.  Pynsou,  1509.  2  There   was  besides    the    Biblia 

The  original  work   of    Brandt  had  Sacra  of    Rudelius,  with   marginal 

been  written  first  in  German,  and  renderings,  Cologne,  1527  ;  and  also 


282  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

As  there  never  was  a  sincerer  soul  than  Coverdale,  never 
a  man  who  so  frankly  speaks  the  truth  even  to  his  own  dis 
paragement,  it  is  astonishing  that  in  this  instance  he  should 
not  have  been  taken  at  his  word,  when  he  points  out  so 
distinctly  the  sources  of  his  version.  But  some  authors 
discredit  him.  It  almost  sets  one's  teeth  on  edge  to  find 
the  handsome  title-page,  in  black  and  red,  in  Bagster's 
"  Second  Modern  Edition "  of  Coverdale's  Bible,  presenting 
these  astounding  words :  The  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old 
and  Newe  Testamente  with  the  Apocripha  faithfully  translated 
from  the  Hebrewe  and  Greke,  by  Miles  Coverdale,  sometime 
Lord  Bishop  of  Exeter,  MDXXXV.  Coverdale  never  made  such 
an  assertion  as  is  here  ascribed  to  him,  and  it  is  found  in 
no  title-page  issued  by  him,  nay,  in  none  of  the  five  title-pages 
which  have  been  preserved.  He  would  not  for  worlds  have 
uttered  or  countenanced  such  a  falsehood,  giving  the  lie 
not  only  to  himself,  and  to  his  first  title-page,  but  also  to  his 
repeated  assertions  in  the  Dedication  and  Prologue.  Pearson, 
editor  of  "  Coverdale's  Remains,"  avers  that  "  his  version 
throughout  bears  marks  of  a  close  attention  to  the  original " ; l 
but  its  own  author  did  not  describe  it  in  such  terms.  Ander 
son  declares,  "  of  Coverdale's  qualifications  as  a  translator  from 
the  original,  there  can  be  little,  or  rather  no  question  after 
what  Whittaker  has  so  ably  written  respecting  his  acquaint 
ance  with  Hebrew."  -  Whittaker,3  whose  remark  on  the 
title-page  has  been  already  quoted,  did  affirm  that  Coverdale 
translated  from  the  Hebrew,  and  in  proof  he  has  adduced 
what  he  regards  as  four  "  crucial  instances,"  in  which  the  ver 
sion  differs  from  the  Septuagint  and  the  Vulgate,  from  Luther 
and  Paeninus  ;  and  his  inference  is  that  in  these  cases  it  must 

o  ' 

be  an  immediate  translation  "  from  the  Hebrew  and  from 
nothing  else."  His  first  adduced  proof  is  Coverdale's  rendering 
of  Isaiah  Ivii,  5,  it  being  "  singly  sufficient  in  deciding  this 

a    Dutch   and    a    German    version.  l  Remains,  p.  xvii,    Parker  Society 

See       Steigeuberger's       literarisch-  edition. 

kritische      Abhandlung     iiber     die  2  Annals,  vol.  I,  p.  564. 

zwei  alleralteste  gedruckte  Deutsche  3  Historical  and  Critical  Enquiry 

Bibeln,  &c.,  Miinchen,  1787.  p.  52,  &c. 


xviii.]  BLUNDERS  OF  WHITTAKEK.  283 

point."  The  verse  reads  in  our  version,  "  Enflaming  yourselves 
with  idols  under  every  green  tree,"  and  Coverdale  has,  "Ye 
take  your  pleasure  under  the  oaks  and  under  all  green  trees." 
The  Septuagint,  Vulgate,  Luther,  and  Pagninus  mistook  the 
meaning  of  the  term  properly  rendered  "  oaks,"  and  made  it 
"  gods  "  or  "  idols."  The  Zurich  Bible  has,  Ir  habend  hitzen 
genommen  under  den  Eychen,  under  alien  griinen  Baumen. 
In  the  first  clause  Coverdale  feebly  follows  Luther's  "  in  der 
Brunst,"  and  the  incalescentes  of  Pagninus,  vailing  some 
what  the  distinct  allusion  to  the  lustful  heathen  orgies ; 
but  the  second  clause  is  translated  directly  from  Luther 
and  the  Zurich  Bible.  The  Hebrew  simply  is  "Enflamed 
by  the  oaks  under  every  green  tree,"  but  to  it,  of  course, 
Coverdale  paid  no  attention.  Whittaker's  second  instance 
is  Numbers  x,  31,  "and  thou  shaltbe  our  eye,"1  but  in  render 
ing  "oure  eye,"  Coverdale  follows  the  Ziirich  and  Luther, 
the  Hebrew  being  plural  or  rather  dual,  "  eyes,"  as  in  Pagninus, 
and  in  the  Authorized  Version.  In  the  third  instance,  Exodus 
xxxiv,  30,  Coverdale  varies  from  the  Hebrew,  and  from 
Pagninus ;  but  he  follows  the  Zurich  Bible  and  Luther, 
the  Hebrew  being  literally,  "And  Aaron  and  all  the  children 
of  Israel  saw  Moses,  and  beheld  the  skin  of  his  face  shine"; 
Coverdale  having,  "  And  when  Aaron  and  all  the  children 
of  Israel  saw  that  the  skynn  of  his  face  shyned,"  omitting 
the  proper  name.2  Whittaker's  last  example  is  Daniel 
iii,  25,  given  from  the  Chaldee  in  our  version,  "the  form 
of  the  fourth  is  like  unto  the  Son  of  God" — the  Vulgate 
being  similar;  but  Coverdale  renders  "and  the  fourthe  was 
like  an  angel  to  loke  upon."  Luther  is  literal,  "  a  son 
of  the  gods";  but  Coverdale  follows  the  Zurich  version.3 
Whittaker's  argument  virtually  amounts  to  this — that 
in  those  verses  in  which  Coverdale  forsook  the  Vulgate 
and  the  Septuagint,  he  must  have  clung  to  the  Hebrew.  But 
a  brief  collation  might  have  dispelled  the  illusion.  The  editor 
of  Bagster's  "  English  Hexapla,"  aware  that  Coverdale  did  not 

1  Unser  auge.  popular    portraits    of    Moses    with, 

2  The  Vulgate  rendering  of  "  cor-     horns.     Compare  Hab.  iii,  4. 
nutam   faciem "    gave   rise    to    the         3  Gleich  wie  ein  Eugel. 


284  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

always  follow  Luther,  calls  his  version  "a  faithful  version  of 
the  original  Scriptures,"  asserting  that  Whittaker  has  well 
defended  the  fame  of  Coverdale,  but  adding,  "  yet  it  must  be 
confessed  that  his  version  is  very  often  free,  and  there  are 
some  renderings  so  peculiar  that  one  is  at  a  loss  to  find  the 
translator's  authority,  as  for  instance,  Isaiah  i,  8,  "  Syon  is  left 
alone  like  ...  a  watchhouse  in  tyme  of  warre  "  ;  xvi,  1 
(in  modern  spelling),  "  Then  sent  the  lordes  of  the  land  a  man 
of  war  from  the  rock."  But  the  "  authority  "  is  very  evident, 
for  both  versions  are  from  the  Zurich  Bible,  and  the  second  is  a 
very  literal  translation.  Lewis,  to  show  why  Coverdale's  is 
rightly  called  a  "  special  translation " l  gives  as  a  sample 
Genesis  xxix,  31,  32,  setting  side  by  side  Tyndale's  and 
Coverdale's  versions.  Now  in  these  two  verses  Tyndale 
keeps  by  the  Hebrew,  omitting,  however,  the  particle  rendered 
"  surely  "  and  "  now  therefore  "  in  our  version  ;  but  Coverdale 
prints  again  an  accurate  translation  from  Luther  and  the 
Zurich  Bible. 

Dr.  Ginsburg,  in  Appendix  II  to  his  Commentary  on 
Ecclesiastes,  has  shown  that  Coverdale's  version  of  that 
book  rests  entirely  on  the  Zurich  or  Swiss-German  Bible. 
He  has  made  out  the  point  beyond  all  dispute,  though  in 
one  of  his  proofs  he  has  fallen  into  a  little  blunder.  In 
Ecclesiastes  ii,  5,  Coverdale  has  "  trees  of  all  manner  fruites," 
representing  the  German,2  and  Dr.  Ginsburg  argues  that  he  has 
even  followed  the  Swiss  construction,  "  at  the  expense  of  the 
English  idiom,  making  manner  into  an  adjective."  But  the 
remark  is  not  correct,  for  Coverdale  simply  preserves  an  old 
English  idiom  of  his  own  time.  Thus  we  find  "  all  manner  herbs," 
Luke  xi,  42,  in  Tyndale,  Coverdale,  the  Great  Bible,  the 
Genevan,  and  the  Bishops' ;  and  the  idiom  still  survives  in  the 
present  editions  of  the  Authorized  Version,  "  all  manner  vessels 
of  ivory,"  &c.,  Rev.  xviii,  12.  The  same  form  also  occurs  in 
the  Genevan  and  the  Bishops'  in  1  Peter  ii,  13,  "all  manner 
ordinance."  In  the  first  issues  of  the  Authorized  Version  it  is 
met  with  repeatedly,  Lev.  vii,  23,  "  no  manner  fat,"  xiv,  54,  "  all 

1  History   of    Translation,   p.    97,         "  Allerley  friichten. 
2nd  ed. 


xviii.]  GINSBURG'S  REMARKS.  285 

manner  plague,"  but  "of"  is  inserted  in  Dr.  Scrivener's 
Cambridge  edition.  The  idiom  occurs  also  in  Sir  Thomas 
More,  "what  manner  folk  they  be,"  and  in  Tyndale's  Path 
way,  "all  manner  vices,"  though  in  the  previous  paragraph 
he  has  "  two  manner  of  people " ;  and  Chaucer,  in  the 
Clerk's  Tale,  has  "a  manner  serjeant."  Thus  the  proofs 
brought  forward  to  show  that  Coverdale  translated  at  once 
from  the  Hebrew,  only  show  that  his  title-page  was  an  honest 
and  accurate  avowal.  In  a  word,  his  Old  Testament  is  not 
taken  at  all  from  the  original  Hebrew,  either  professedly  or  in 
fact ;  but  is  only  a  secondary  translation,  based  chiefly  on  the 
Swiss-German  or  Zurich  Bible.1  Similar  remarks  may  be  made 
about  the  Apocrypha,  from  which  the  prayer  of  Manasses  is 
excluded,  because  the  Zurich  Bible  had  not  admitted  it.  There 
is  no  proof  that  Coverdale  made  any  use  whatever  of  the  He 
brew  text,  or  even  that  he  had  any  fair  knowledge  of  the 
Hebrew  language.  The  name  Jehovah,  indeed,  stands  in 
Hebrew  characters  at  the  apex  of  the  title-page  ;  and  Hebrew 
letters  mark  in  the  margin  the  divisions  of  the  alphabetic 
chapters  in  the  Book  of  Lamentation,  though  not  in  the  sections 
of  the  119th  Psalm,  where,  however,  they  are  found  in  the 
edition  of  1550. 

1  The  Zurich  Bible  was  to  a  great  Judte,   who  became  minister  of  St. 

extent  a  revision  of  Luther's,  so  far  Peter's  Church    in  1522,  was  not  a 

as  he  had  proceeded — that  is,  of  the  Jew,  his  father's  name  being  John 

Pentateuch,  Historical   Books,  and  Jud  ;  but  many,  from  the  form  of  his 

Hagiographa,  with  a  new  translation  name,  believed  him  to  be  of  Hebrew 

of  the  Prophets  and  Apocrypha,  and  descent,  so  that  he  sometimes  called 

an  assimilation  of  his  language  to  the  himself  Leo  Keller  ;  in  Zurich  itself 

Swiss-German  dialect.     It  appeared  he  was  Meister  Low,  representing 

at  intervals,  1524-29,  and  was  rep ub-  Leo.       Pellicanus,     a      voluminous 

Iishedinl530.  The  ministers  of  Zurich  author,   was    professor  of    Hebrew 

engaged  in  fhe  work  wereZuiugli,Leo  at   Zurich,   his  native   name   being 

Judse,  Pellicanus,  and  others.       Leo  Klirschuer  (Skinner)  ;  died  in  1556. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


T  IGHT  is  also  thrown  upon  Coverdale's  method  of  procedure 
by  the  notes  which  are  loosely  scattered  throughout  his 
Bible.  These  notes,  especially  introduced  by  "  Some  reade," 
let  us  see  incidentally  what  translations  he  was  consulting,  as 
the  debris  in  front  of  the  mine  reveals  the  nature  of  the  strata 
through  which  the  miner  has  been  piercing  his  way.  There 
are  only  sixty-six  notes  in  all — forty-seven  in  the  Old  Testa 
ment  and  nineteen  in  the  New — and  they  are  very  capriciously 
distributed,  there  being  fifteen  in  Genesis,  and  nineteen  in 
Exodus,  while  there  are  none  in  Isaiah,  and  only  two  in  the 
Minor  Prophets.  The  distribution  in  the  New  Testament  is 
similar,  there  being  eight  in  Matthew,  only  two  in  Romans,  one 
in  Titus,  and  none  in  the  subsequent  books.  If  the  original 
plan  may  be  inferred  from  the  number  of  notes  in  Genesis,  then, 
for  some  reason  or  other,  it  was  not  carried  out,  and  was  finally 
dropped.  There  may  have  been  some  haste  in  the  printing  of 
the  work,  and  the  hope  of  a  more  convenient  season,  if  a  new 
edition  should  be  contemplated.  The  majority  of  the  notes 
are  from  the  Zurich  Bible,  others  are  taken  almost  equally 
from  Pagninus l  and  Luther,  and  not  a  few  from  the  Vulgate. 
But  this  selection  of  notes  from  "  Douche  and  Latyn,"  when 

1  S;uictes  Pagninus,  a  Dominican  lation  of  the  Bible — a  work  done 
rnouk,  and  pupil  of  Savonarola,  first  very  carefully — the  translation  being 
taught  Oriental  literature  at  Rome,  very  literal,  and  the  verses  being' 
under  the  patronage  of  Leo  X,  then  marked  and  numbered.  The  edition 
removed  to  Avignon,  and  finally  to  by  Arias  Montanus  is  an  inter- 
Lyons.  He  published  in  small  folio,  linear  gloss. 
at  Lyons,  in  1528,  anew  Latin  trans- 


TEXT  AND  MARGIN.  287 

they  are  compared  with  the  clauses  in  the  text  to  which  they 
are  appended,  verifies  Coverdale's  honest  title-page,  and  shows 
the  proportional  influence  of  those  versions  on  his  own  eclectic 
translation. 

Genesis       ii,  12.  Some  call  it   "  Schoham  " — Zurich  Bible;  text, 

"  onyxe  " — Luther  and  the  Yulgate. 
18.   Some  reade,   "To  stonde  next  by  him  "— Zurich 
Bible;  text,  "  to  bear  him  company" — Tyndale. 
iii,     6.   Some   reade,    "  whyle  it  made  wyse " — Luther  ; 
text,  "  a  pleasant  tree  to  make  wise  " — Tyndale. 
16.   Some  read," Thou  shalt  bowe  downe  thyselfe  before 
thy    husbande "    —  a    paraphrase    based    upon 
Luther  ;  text,  "  thy  lust  shall  pertain  unto  thy 
husband  " — Tyndale.     See  Miinster's  Note, 
iv,     7.  Some  reade,   "  let  it  be   subdued  unto  thee  and 
rule  thou  it" — Luther  and  virtually  Tyndale; 
text,  "shall  he  be  subdued  unto  thee,  and  wilt 
thou  rule  him  " — Zurich  Bible. 

viii,  7.  Some  reade,  "  came  not  agayne  " — Vulgate  and 
Septuagint ;  text,  "  came  again  " — Zurich  Bible 
and  Tyndale  who  follows  Lxither.  The  Author 
ized  Version  fully  represents  the  Hebrew, 
xi,  2.  Some  reade,  "  from  the  east "  —  Vulgate  and 
Tyndale  ;  text,  "  toward  the  east  " — Luther 
and  the  Zurich  Bible. 

xvii,  1.  Some  reade,  "I  am  the  God  Schadai "  (that  is, 
plenteous  in  power,  abundant,  sufficient,  and 
full  of  good) — a  bracketed  note  in  the  Zurich 
Bible  ;  text,  "  I  am  the  Almighty  God  "—Vul 
gate  and  Luther. 

xviii,  10.  Some  reade,  "  as  soone  as  'the  frute  can  lyve  "- 
Tyndale  ;  text,   "  about  this  time  twelvemonth, 
if  I  live  " — Zurich  Bible. 

xxiii,     4.   Some  reade,  "  my  corpse  that  lieth  before  me  "- 
Luther ;   text,    "  my   corpse   by   me  "• — Zurich 
Bible. 

xxiv,  31.  Some  reade,  "  thou  beloved  " — Zurich  Bible  ; 
text,  "  thou  blessed  of  the  Lord  " — after  Luther 
and  the  Vulgate,  more  correctly  resembling  the 
Hebrew. 


288  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

Genesis  xxvii,  35.  "  That  my  lierte  may  wysh  tliee  good" — virtually 
from  the  Zurich  Bible ;  text,  "  my  soul  may 
bless  tliee  " — after  the  Vulgate  and  Luther. 
xxviii,  1.  Some  reade,  "  talked  louingly  with  him  " — Zurich 
Bible ;  text,  "  and  blessed  him  " — Vulgate, 
Luther,  and  Tyndale. 

xxxiii,  J  9.  Some  reade,  "  an  hundreth  lambes  " — Vulgate, 
Tyndale,  and  Pagninus,  who  has  in  his  margin, 
"centum  nurnmis";  text,  "  an  hundred  pence  " 
— Luther  and  the  Zurich  Bible  reading,  how 
ever,  "  umb  hundert  groschen." 

xli,  45.  "  Zaphnath  Paena,  that  is  to  saye,  an  expounder 
of  secrete  thinges,  or  a  man  to  whom  secrete 
thinges  are  opened " — the  explanation  being 
from  Pagninus,  with  the  clauses  reversed,  and 
the  spelling  of  the  Hebrew  word  being  copied 
from  the  Zurich  Bible  and  Tyndale.  The  ad 
venturous  note  in  our  present  Bibles,  referring 
to  the  Coptic  for  explanation,  is  not  in  the  first 
edition  of  1611. 

Exodus  ix,  16.  Some  reade,  "I  have  holden  theeup" — Zurich 
Bible;  text,  "  have  I  stirred  thee  lip  " — Luther 
and  Tyndale. 

xvi,  15.  Some  reade,  "  "What  is  this  " — Vulgate  and  Tyn 
dale  ;  text,  "  this  is  man  " — Luther  and  Zurich 
Bible. 

xvii,  16.  That  is,  "  the  Lorcle  is  he  that  lifteth  me  vp"- 
virtually  from  Pagninus,  "  dommus  elevatio 
mea,"  the  marginal  note  being  "vel  signuni 
meum";  text,  "the  Lord  Nissi  " — Luther  and 
the  Zurich  Bible,  Tyndale  having  "  Jehovah 
Nissi,"  with  the  marginal  note,  "  that  is,  the 
Lord  is  he  that  exalteth." 

xxix,  28.  "  Some  call  them  peace-offeringes  "-—Vulgate, 
Luther  having  "thank- offerings'';  text  "dead- 
offerings" — Zurich  Bible. 

Num.  xxxiii,  52.   "  Hill  chapels,  or  altares  builded  vpon  hilles  "- 
the  last  clause  being  the  translation  of  Tyndale  ; 
text,   "  destroy  all  their  high  places  " — Vulgate 
and  Luther. 


xix.]  TEXT  AND  MARGIN.  289' 

Joshua  iii,  15.  Some  reade,  "  of  the  hamest  " — virtually  Vulgate 
and  Luther;  text,  "it  was  full  of  all  manner 
waters  of  the  land  " — Ziirich  Bible. 

Ruth          iii,     3.   Some  reade,  "  Anoynte  thee  " — Pagninus,  Luther. 
Vulgate,  and  Tyndale  ;   text,  "  muffle  thee  "- 
Zurich  Bible. 

1  Sam.  xxiii,  28.   "  Sela  Mahelkoth,  the  rock  of  parting  asunder'' 

— Pagninus,  the  spelling  of  the  Hebrew  word 
after  Luther,  the  explanation  being  a  transla 
tion  of  his  note,  and  of  a  bracketed  clause  in 
the  Zurich  Bible. 

2  Sam.     viii,  18.  Some  reade  "rulers" — after  the  margin  of  Pag 

ninus,  Tyndale  having  "chief  rulers";  text, 
"  priests  " — Luther  and  the  Ziirich  Bible. 
xvi,  22.  In  reference  to  Absalom's  incestuous  intercourse 
with  his  father's  harem  on  the  roof  of  the 
palace,  the  note  is,  "  the  houses  were  flat  in 
those  partes  at  that  tyme." 

1  Kings      ii,  17.  That  is,  "  He  shall  not  denye  the  thy  peticion"- 

virtually  from  the  Vulgate,  Tyndale's  rendering 
being   preserved   in   the    Authorized  Version ; 
text,  "  for  he  shall  not  shame  thy  face  " — based 
on  Luther, 
vii,  26.  A  Bat  was   a  certayne    measure  of  liquore — a 

note  not  unlike  it  being  in  Matthew's  Bible. 
xvi,     7.   "  The  prophet,"  explanatory  of   "  this  man  "  in 
the  text ;  the  Vulgate  having   "  that  is,  John 
the  son  of  Hanani,"  and  there  is  an  alternative, 
rendering  in  the  Zurich  Bible. 

2  Kings     vi,  25.  A  Cab  is  a  certayne  measure,  a  similar  note  being 

in  Matthew's  Bible, 
xv,  13.  Some     reade,     "  Vsia,"  —  Zurich     Bible;    text 

"  Azarias" — Vulgate. 
30.  That  is  Asarias  whom  some  call  Vsia — a  similar 

note  in  Matthew's  Bible, 
xxiii,  60.   "  That  is  Jechonias." 

xxv,     6.  Some   reade,    "  And  they  talked    with  him    of 
iudgment  " — Zurich  Bible  and  Pagninus  ;  text, 
"And  he  gave  judgment  upon  him" — Luther, 
the  singular  being  also  in  the  Vulgate. 
VOL.  I.  T 


'290  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

2  Kings  xxv,  23.   "Otherwyse  called  Masphat,"  the  Vulgate  hav 
ing  Maspha  ;  Matthew's  Bible,  Mazphag. 
'2  Chron.     vii,  20.  Some  reade,    "  them " — Zurich    and    Pagnimis  : 

text,   "  you  " — Vulgate. 

xxii,     6.   "  That  is  Ochosias,  otherwyse  called  Ahasia,"  the 
first  name  being  in  the  Vulgate,  and  the  second 
in  Luther  ;  text,  "  Azarias  " — Zurich  Bible. 
Ezra  iii,     7.   Otherwyse  called  "  Japho  " — Zurich  Bible  ;  text, 

"  Joppa,"  after  Vulgate  and  Tyndale. 

Nehemiahix,  10.  Some  reade,   "them,"  the   same  note  being  re 
peated  in  Matthew's  Bible  after  Zurich  Bible  : 
text,  "  madest  thee  a  name  " — Vulgate. 
Job  iii,     .°>.   "  Simile  Jere,  xx  " — a  reference  to  the  striking 

similitude  of  language, 
ix,    9.  "  Some  call  these  seven  starres  the   clock  hen 

with  hir  chekens." 

Ps.  xiv,  5,  6,  7.  "  These  three  verses  are  not  in  the  Hebrue." 
They  are  found  in  the  Vulgate  and  Septuagint. 
and  are  quoted  in  Romans  iii,  11,  &c. 

xxxvii,  21.  Some  reade  thus,    "  the   vngodly  lendeth  vpon 
vsury,    and    not   for   naught  " — Zurich    Bible, 
"  auff  wiicher  leycht  der  gottloss  " ;  text,  "the 
ungodly   borroweth    &    payeth  not    again  "- 
Vulgate,  Luther,  and  Pagninus. 

xl,  G.  Some  reade  thus,  "  but  myne  ears  hast  thoii 
opened" — Luther  and  the  Zurich  Bible;  text, 
"  a  body  hast  thou  ordained  me,"  which,  how 
ever,  is  not  in  accordance  with  the  Hebrew. 
Compare  Hebrews  x,  5. 
Jeremiah  i,  18.  "Or  brass"- — Vulgate;  the  text  correctly,  "a 

wall  of  steel." 

Amos  vii,  7.  "  Some  call  it  a  lyne."  after  Pagninus,  Luther 
having  "plumb-line"  ;  text,  "  a  mason's  trowell " 
— Zurich  Bible,  which  has  the  alternative  read 
ing  Richtschniir,  technically  meaning  a  level. 

Malachi  ii,  15.  "  The  one" — "  This  the  interpreters  reken  to  be 
spoken  of  Abraham,"  as  in  the  note  of  Pag 
ninus,  "  unus  quidam  Abraham";  text,  "so 
did  not  the  one " — Luther,  but  "  excellent 
spirit "  is  from  the  same  note  of  Pagninus. 


XIX.] 


TEXT  AND  MARGIN. 


291 


The  Ziirich  Bible  adopts  quite  a  different  inter 
pretation,  "  he  has  not  only  made  the  man  (but 
the  wife)  also." 

Matthew  i,  18.  Some  reade,  "  befoi-e  they  sat  at  home  together  '' 
— Ziirich  Bible ;  text,  "  before  they  came 
together,"  after  Erasmus. 

ii,  6.  Some  reade,  "least" — Luther  and  the  Zurich 
Bible,  the  more  correct  "  less  "  of  the  text  being 
from  Tyndale's  second  edition. 

xvi,  13.  Some  reade,  "that  I  the  sonne  of  man  am  "- 
Tyndale's  second  edition ;  text,  "  that  the  son 
of  man  is  " — Luther. 

xx,  25.   Some  reade,   "  the  greatest  deale  with  violence," 
after   Luther ;   text,   "exercise   power" — Tyn 
dale's  second  edition, 
xxiii,     5.   "  Philateries  were    writinges  wherein  the  com- 

maundementes  were  wrytten." 
15.   "  Proselyte,  a  nouyce  or  conuerte,  turned  from 

the  beleue  of  the  Hey  then  vnto  the  Jewes." 
25.   Some  reade,  "  vncleannes" — Zurich  Bible  ;  text. 

"  excess  " — Tyndale's  second  edition. 

xxvi,     7.   Some   reade,    "  a  glas  with    precious  water  " — 
Luther ;  text,  "  a  box  with  precious  ointment '' 
— after  Tyndale. 
Mark  i,  11.  Some  reade,  "in  whom  I  am  pacified  " —  Luther: 

text,  "  in  whom  I  delight  " — Tyndale. 
iii,  21.   Some  reade,   "He  wil  go  out  of  his  witt,"  after 
Luther  ;  text,  "  he  taketh  too  much  upon  him," 
after  the  Zurich  Bible, 
xiii,     9.  Some    reade,    "  councell-houses,"    after    Luther : 

text,  "  councils  " — Tyndale. 

Luke  i,  39.   "the   city    of  Jewry,"   the    note    being    "Jeru 

salem."  Incorrect,  however,  for  it  was  not  the 
city  of  Judah  referred  to. 

Acts  ix,  40.  Some  reade,  "  She   sat    up  " — Tyndale's    second 

edition  ;  text,  "  she  sat  her  down  again  " — 
Vulgate  and  Luther. 

xv,  3.  Some  reade,  "  conuersion  " — T3rndale's  second 
edition  ;  text,  "  conversation  " — Luther  and 
Tyndale's  first  edition. 


-292  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

Acts        xvii,  18.   Some  rondo,   "  devyls  " — Tyndale  ;  text,   "gods" 

— Luther._ 

xxvii,  17.   "  Syrtes  are  perlous  places  in  the  see." 
Romans    iii,  28.   Some  reade,   "By  faith   onely" — Luther;  text, 

"  through  faith  "—Tyndale. 
x,  17.   Some   reade,    "By  preachynge  "• — Luther;  text, 

"  by  hearing  " — Tyndale. 
Titus.  i,  12.   "  Epimenides,"  referred  to  as  their  awne  prophet. 

At  the  end  of  the  Psalms,  the  Note  on  Sola 'bears,  "In  the 
Psalter1,  the  word  Sela  commeth  very  oft,  and  (after  the  mynde 
of  the  interpreters)  it  is  as  much  to  say  as  allwaye,  contynually, 
for  ever,  forsoy  th,  verily,  a  liftinge  up  of  the  voyce,  or  to  make 
a  pause  &  earnestly  to  consider  &  to  ponder  the  sentence." 
But  such  terms  as  Maschil  or  Michtam,  and  the  title  Song  of 
Degrees  are  omitted  by  him.  Coverdale,  leaning  more  to  the 
Vulgate,  neglected  the  shorter  prefatory  notes  of  Luther  and 
the  fuller  ones  of  the  Zurich  Bible.  To  add  some  significance 
to  proper  names,  he  gives  for  Gush — Ethiopia,  "  the  Morians  " 
—Moors,  after  Luther  and  the  Ziirich  Bible  ;  Rabsaris,  he 
makes  chief  chamberlain,  and  Rabshakeh  chief  butler,  both 
after  Luther  and  the  Zurich  Bible.  He  has  the  better  transla 
tion  in  Gen.  xlix,  G,  "they  houghed  an  oxe";  after  Tyndale 
and  against  the  Vulgate,  but  virtually  after  his  two  German 
authorities. 

A  brief  collation  of  a  few  verses  of  Genesis,  as  found  in 
Tyndale  (Matthew)  and  Coverdale,  will  bear  out  the  previous 
statements  as  to  the  use  made  by  Coverdale  of  the  German 
versions. 

TYXDALE.  GENESIS  XXII.  COVERDALE. 

Verse 

1  After  these  decles,  God  dyd  prone     After  these  actes    God    tempted 

Abraham,  &  sayde  vnto  hym  ;  Abraham,   &   sayde  vnto    him, 

Abraham.      And  he  answered,  Abraham,     Arid  he  answered,  I 

Here  am  I.  am  here. 

2  And  he   sayde:   take  thy   onely  And  he  sayde:  Take  thy  sonne,  this 

sonne  Isaac  whom  thou  louest,  onely  sonue  of  thine,  even  Isaac 

and  get  the  vnto  the  laud  Moria,  whom  thou  louest,  and  go  thy 

&  sacrifice  hym  there  for  a  sac-  \vaye  in  to  the  londe  of  Moria, 

rifice   vpon   one  of  the   moun-  &  offre  him  there  for  a  burnt- 


XIX.] 


COLL  A  TION. 


293 


TYXDALE. 


GENESIS  XXII. 


COVKRDALE. 


Verse 


taynes  whiche  I  wylle  shewe 
the. 

3  Than  Abraham  rose  vp  early  in 

the  moruinge  &  sadled  his  asse, 
&  toke  two  of  his  meyny  with 
hym,  &  Isaac  his  sonne,  &  cloue 
wod  for  the  sacrifyce,  &  rose 
vp  &  got  him  to  the  place  which 
God  had  appoynted  hym. 

4  The   thirde  daye  Abraham  lyfte 

vp  his  eyes,  &  sawe  the  place  a 
farre  of. 

~)  And  said  vnto  his  yonge  men  : 
byde  here  with  the  asse,  I  & 
the  lad  wyll  goo  yonder  &  wor- 
shyp,  &  come  agayne  vnto  you. 


(j  And  Abraham  toke  the  wood  of 
the  sacrifice,  &  layde  it  vpon 
Isaac  hys  sonue,  &  toke  fyre  in 
his  hande,  &  a  knyfe.  And  they 
wente  bothe  of  them  together. 

7  Than  spake  Isaac  vnto  Abraham 

his  father  &  sayde :  My  father. 
And  he  answered,  here  am  I  my 
sonne.  And  he  sayd  :  Se  here 
is  fyre  &  wood  but  where  is  the 
shepe  for  sacrifice  ? 

8  And  Abraham  sayde  :  my  sonue, 

God  wyl  provyde  hym  a  shepe 
for  sacrifice.  So  wente  they 
bothe  together. 

5)  And  when  they  came  vnto  the 
place  whiche  God  shewed  him, 
Abraham  made  an  aulter  there, 
&  dressed  the  wod,  &  bownde 
Isaac  his  sonne,  &  layd  him  on 
the  aulter  aboue  vpoii  the  wod. 


offerynge  vpou  a  mouutayne 
that  I  shal  shew  the. 

Then  Abraham  stode  vp  by  tymes 
in  the  mornynge,  &  sadled  his 
asse,  &  toke  with  him  two  yonge 
men,  &  his  sonue  Isaac,  &  clove 
wodd  for  the  brentofferyuge,  gat 
him  vp,  &  went  on  vnto  the 
place  wherof  the  Lorde  liad 
sayde  vnto  him. 

Vpon  the  thirde  daye  Abraham 
lift  vp  his  eyes,  &  sawe  the 
place  a  farre  of. 

and  sayde  vuto  his  yonge  men  : 
Tary  ye  here  with  the  Asse  ;  as 
for  me  &  the  childe,  we  wyl  go 
yonder  :  &  when  we  haue  wor 
shipped,  we  wyll  come  to  you 
againe. 

And  Abraham  toke  the  wodd  to 
the  breutofferynge,  &  layed  it 
vpou  Isaac  his  sonue.  As  for 
himself,  he  toke  the  fyre  and  a 
knyfe  in  his  hande,  &  wente 
on  both  together. 

Then  sayde  Isaac  vnto  his  father 
Abraham:  My  father.  Abraham 
answered,  here  I  am,  my  sonue. 
And  he  sayde,  Lo,  here  is  fyre 
&  wodd,  but  where  is  the  shepe 
for  the  brentofferynge  ? 

Abraham  answered  :  my  sonne, 
God  shall  provyde  him  a  shepe 
for  the  brentofferynge.  And 
they  weute  both  together. 

And  whan  they  came  to  the  place 
which  God  shewed  him,  Abra 
ham  buylded  there  an  altare,  & 
layed  the  wodd  vpou  it,  &  baude 
his  sonne  Isaac,  layed  him  ou 
the  altare,  aboue  vpon  the 
wodd, 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 


[CHAP. 


TYNDALK.  GENESIS 

Verse 

10  And  Abraham  stretched  forth  his 

hande  &  toke  the  knyfe,  to  haue 
kylled  his  sonne. 

11  Than   the    angell   of    the    Lorde 

called  vuto  him  from  heauen, 
sayinge  :  Abraham,  Abraham. 
Arid  he  answered,  here  am  I. 

12  And   -he    sayde  :    laye    not    thy 

hancles  vpon  the  chylde,  nether 
do  anye  thyuge  at  all  vnto  him, 
for  nowe  I  knowe  that  thou 
fearest  God,  in  that  thou  haste 
not  kepte  thyne  onely  sonne 
from  me. 

13  And  Abraham  lyfted  vp  his  eyes 

and  loked  aboute,  &  beholde 
there  was  a  ram  canghte  by  the 
homes  in  a  thykette.  And  he 
went  &  toke  the  ram  &  offred 
him  vp  for  a  sacrifyce  in  the 
steade  of  his  sonne. 

14  And  Abraham  called  the  name  of 

the  place,  the  Lord  wyll  see  : 
wherefore  it  is  a  comen  saying 
this  day:  in  the  mounte  wyll  the 
Lorde  be  sene. 


XXII. 


COVERDALE. 


aud  stretched  onte  his  hande,  & 
toke  the  knyfe,  to  haue  slaym- 
his  sonne. 

Then  the  augell  of  the  Lorde  called 
from  heauen  vnto  him  &  sayde  ; 
Abraham,  Abraham.  He  an 
swered  :  here  am  I. 

He  sayde  :  Laye  not  thy  handes 
vpon  the  childe,  &  do  nothinge 
vnto  him :  for  now  I  knowe  that 
thou  fearest  God,  &  hast  not 
spared  thine  onely  sonne  for  my 
sake. 

Then  Abraham  lift  vp  his  eyes  & 
sawe  behynde  him  a  ramme, 
holden  fast  by  the  homes  in  the 
breres,  &  wente  &  toke  the 
ramme,  &  offred  him  for  a  brent- 
sacrifice  in  steade  of  his  sonne. 

And  Abraham  called  the  place  : 
The  Lorde  shall  prouyde:  There 
fore  it  is  a  comon  sayenge  yet 
this  daye,  Vpon  the  moiintayue 
shal  the  Lorde  prouyde. 


In  this  paragraph  Tyndale  for  the  most  part  follows  the 
Hebrew,  and  now  and  then  agrees  with  the  Vulgate ;  but 
Ooverdale  in  every  instance  where  he  forsakes  Tyndale  is  led 
by  Luther  and  the  Zurich  Bible.  Nay,  he  deserts  both  Luther 
and  the  Vulgate  in  not  a  few  places  in  his  Bible  in  order  to 
follow  the  Swiss-German  version.  There  is  at  the  same  time 
ample  evidence  that  Coverdale  consulted  the  portions  of  the 
Old  Testament  which  Tyndale  had  published.  Every  page  of 
his  Pentateuch  is  necked  with  clauses  suggested  by  Tyndale's 
version,  but  he  does  not  seem  to  have  made  any  use  of  the 
"  Epistles  from  the  Old  Testament,"  appended  to  the  edition 
of  1534. 

The  New  Testament  of  Coverdale  is  greatly  superior  to  his 


xix.]  COVERDALE'S  NEW  TESTAMENT.  295 

Old  Testament.  Its  basis  is  Tyndale,  with  many  variations, 
especially  in  the  Epistles.  Yet  with  all  these  variations,  it 
rests  so  completely  on  Tyndale's  New  Testament,  especially 
that  of  1534,  that  it  may  be  called  a  new  edition  of  it — nay,  it 
is  in  some  books  a  mere  reprint — the  changes  that  do  occur 
being  due,  as  may  be  anticipated,  to  the  Zurich  version.  Thus 
in  the  first  section  of  John  xv,  1,  "  a  "  for  "the  "  ;  2,  "  bringeth 
forth"  for  "  beareth,"  "shall  be  cut  off"  for  "he  will  take 
away,"  both  in  the  Zurich  Bible  ;  3, "  because  of  "  for  "  through  " 
(thorow)  "  propter,"  Vulgate ;  4,  "  like  as  "  for  "  as  "  ;  "  even  so 
neither  ye  also"  for  "no  more  can  ye";  6,  "branch"  for 
"  vine  " ;  7,  "  ye  shall  ask  "  for  "  ask."  These  changes  are 
suggested  by  the  Vulgate  and  the  German  versions.  In  the 
first  chapter  of  Galatians  there  are  over  twenty  clauses  differ 
ing  from  Tyndale.  Of  these  five  are  from  Tyndale's  second 
edition,  the  others  from  the  Vulgate  and  the  German  transla 
tions.  The  first  section  of  Galatians  iii  shows  some  revision.  In 
verse  2  the  "  else  "  of  Tyndale  is  omitted,  and  in  3  the  participle 
is  turned  into  a  finite  verb,  "  ye  beganne  "  ;  the  statement  in  4 
is  made  a  question,  "  have  ye  suffered  so  much  ?  "  in  5,  "which 
ministereth  "  becomes  "  he  that  giveth,"  and  "  miracles "  is 
altered  into  "  great  actes  "  ;  in  6,  "  ascribed  to  "  is  changed 
into  "  counted  to  " ;  in  7,  "  this  ye  know  "  takes  the  place  of 
"understand  therefore";  in  8,  "justify,"  the  ethical  present 
supersedes  "  would  justify ;"  "and  said"  is  a  supplement  from 
the  Zurich  Bible,  and  "heathen"  is  used  for  "nations";  in 
10,  "go  about  with"  is  suggested  by  the  "umgehen"  of  the 
Zurich  Bible  ;  "  to  do  them  "  is  better  than  "  to  fulfil  them." 
These  variations,  made  some  of  them  for  the  sake  of  clearness 
and  rhythm,  all  rest  on  the  Douche  and  Latyn  versions  which 
Coverdale  so  honestly  professed  to  follow. 

In  the  Epistles  of  St.  John,  Tyndale  has  also  been  revised, 
and  some  of  the  connecting  particles  changed  ;  and  similarly  in 
St.  Peter,  some  of  the  variations  being  found  in  the  Authorized 
Version,  as  i,  3,  "  according  to  "  ;  4,  "  fadeth  not."  St.  James  is 
a  mere  reprint,  and  so  is  St.  Jude — the  chief,  if  not  the  only 
change,  in  the  former  Epistle  being  a  conformity  to  Tyndale's 
first  edition ;  the  omission  of  the  words  "with  sophistry"  in 


296  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAV. 

James  i,  22.  Rev.  ii,  3,  "  for  my  name's  sake  hast  laboured  " 
is  taken  also  from  the  first  edition,  the  strange  rendering  of  the 
edition  of  1534,  "and  dydest  wasshe  thyself,"  the  reading  of 
Erasmus  in  1516  and  1519. 1 

Some  of  Coverdale's  renderings  in  other  parts  of  Galatians 
are  retained  in  the  Authorized  Version,  such  as  iii,  6,  "  counted"; 
10,  "under  curse";  15,  "confirmed";  24,  "unto  Christ"; 
29,  "  according  to  promise,"  Tyndale  having  "  ascribed " ; 
"  malediction,"  "  allowed,"  "  unto  the  time  of  Christ,"  "  by 
promise."  Many  of  his  translations  in  other  parts  of  the  New 
Testament  are  also  preserved  in  our  present  version,  and  these 
are  better  than  Tyndale's  of  1534.  Matt,  ii,  12,  "  In  a  dream  "  ; 
iii,  14,  "I  have  need  to  be";  vi,  10,  "thy  kingdom";  12, 
"  debts  "  ;  vii,  21,  "  the  will  of  my  Father  "  ;  x,  41,  "a  righteous 
man's  reward";  xiii,  30,  "till  the  harvest";  xvi,  3,  "it  will  be 
foul  weather  to-day  "  ;  xvii,  6,  "  overshadowed  "  ;  xxi,  28,  "  but 
what  think  ye?"  xxiii,  9,  "  One  is  your  Father ";  xxiv,  28, 
"  there  will  the  eagles  be  gathered  together  "  ;  xxv,  21,  "  enter 
thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord."  Canon  Westcott  refers  to  two 
other  renderings  in  1  John  ii,  16,  "the  pride  of  life,"  and  17, 
"  the  world  passeth  away."  The  fact  is  that,  in  the  Authorized 
Version,  Tyndale's  renderings  are  adopted  about  three  times 
oftener  than  those  of  Coverdale,  though  in  many  cases  both  are 
refused,  even  when  they  agree  together.  Other  clauses  not 
preserved  in  the  current  translation  are  also  very  good.  Gala 
tians  iv,  5,  "  that  we  might  receive  the  childship,"  is  preferable 
to  Tyndale's  circuitous  phrase,  "  that  we  through  election  might 
receive  the  inheritance  which  belongeth  unto  the  natural 
sons";  vi,  1,  "overtaken  of  a  fault";  Tyndale,  "fallen  by 
chance  into  a  fault " ;  2  Thessalonians  i,  7,  "  with  the  angels 
of  his  power,"  Tyndale  having  "  with  his  mighty  angels." 
Like  Tyndale,  he  has  the  terms  to  which  Sir  Thomas  More 
so  vehemently  objected,  "  love  "  and  "  congregation  " 
which  "  charity  "  and  "  church  "  afterwards  superseded. 
He  has  also,  as  Tyndale  had,  "  knowledge "  for  "  confess," 
and  both  use  "similitude"  for  "parable";  but  for  Tyndale's 

1  Referring  in  his  Annotations  to     two    editions,     Erasmus   brands    it 
this  reading,  though  he  kept  it  in     thus — sod  mendax  nifallor. 


xix.]  EXAGGERATION  OF  GEDDES.  297 

'•  repent "  in  Matt,  iii,  1,  he  has  "  amend  your  selves."  "  Cen 
turion  "  in  Tyndale  is  "captain"  in  Coverdale ;" unleavened 
bread"  is  "sweet  bread,"  in  both  an  imitation  of  Luther's 
siitsesbrod,  the  contrast  being  suggested  by  sauerteig  (leaven). 
After  him  they  both  have  "  Easter,"  and  occasionally  "  Easter 
lamb."  But  with  all  the  excellencies  of  his  version  no  one  who 
has  looked  into  the  question  can  accept  the  statement  of  Geddes, 
that  the  Authorized  Version  is  "  of  less  merit,  and  is  less  in 
accordance  with  the  original,  than  that  of  Coverdale." 


CHAPTER   XX. 


rPHERE  are,  as  might  be  anticipated  from  the  man  and  the 
time,  many  quaint  and  antique  renderings  in  Coverdale. 

Gen.  viii,  11,  and  she  bare  it  (an  olive  leaf)  in  her  nebb — 
the  last  term  being  still  in  familiar  use  among  Scottish 
boys. 

Joshua  ii,  11,  our  hert  hath  failed  us,  neither  is  there  a  good 
stomacke  in  eny  man. 

Judges  vi,  19,  layed  the  flesh  in  a  maunde  and  put  the  broth 
in  a  pot ;  x,  53,  cast  a  pece  of  a  mylstone  upon  Abimelech's 
heade  and  brake  his  brain  panne ;  xi,  39,  she  had  never  been 
in  daunger  of  eny  man  (Romans,  iii,  19,  and  that  all  the  world 
may  be  endangered  to  God)  ;l  xv,  19,  then  God  opened  a  gome 
tooth  in  the  cheke  bone,  so  the  water  went  out ;  xvii,  5,  the 
man  Micah  had  a  god's  house,  and  made  an  overbody  cote 
(ephod)  and  idols ;  xx,  32,  let  us  flye,  that  we  may  provoke 
them  out  of  the  city  into  the  bye  stretes. 

Ruth  ii,  1,  Boaz,  which  was  an  honest  man. 

1  Sam.  iv,  17,  then  answered  the  tydinge  bringer  and  saydc  ; 
x,  1,  then  toke  Samuel  a  glasse  of  oyle  and  poured  it  upon  his 
head ;  xx,  30,  thou  wicked  and  unthryfte,  I  know  that  thou 
hast  chosen  the  son  of  Isai  to  the  shame  of  thyselff  and  of  thy 
shameful  mother;    xxi,  13,  and  stackered  towarde  the  dores 
of  the  gate,  and  his  slaveringes  ranne  downe  his  beerde ;  xxv, 
18,  five  sheep  ready  dighted,  and  five  measures  of  firmentye. 

2  Sam.  xiii,  G,  make  me  a  syppynge  or  two  ;  xiv,  14,  and  God 
will  not  take  away  the  lyfe,  but  unbethynketh  himself  that 
even  the  very  outlaw  be  not  clean  thrust  out  from  him ;  xxii, 

1  Bishop's  Bible, 


Q  UA INT  PHRASES.  29 1> 

11,  He  sat  upon  cherub  and  dyd  flye,  and  appeared  upon  the 
fethers  of  the  wynde. 

1  Kings  xii,  11, 1  will  nourtoure  you  with  scorpions;  xvii,  12, 
a  curtesy  oyle  in  a  cruse;  xxii,  34,  and  shott  the  king  of  Israel 
between  the  mawe  and  the  lunges. 

2  Chron,  xxv,  12,  and  cast  them  downe    headlinges  from 
the  toppe  of  the  mount,  so  that  they  all  to  burst  in  sunder. 

Job  iii,  5,  let  it  be  lapped  in  with  sorowe  ;  v,  7,  it  is  man 
that  is  borne  vnto  inysery,  lyke  as  the  byrde  for  to  fle  ;  vi,  16, 
they  that  feare  the  horefroste,  the  snow  shal  fal  vpon  them ; 
xiii,  4,  As  for  you,  ye  are  workmasters  of  lyes  ;  xiv,  1,  Whether 
his  children  come  to  worship  or  no,  he  can  not  tell;  xvii,  I, 
My  breth  fayleth,  my  dayes  are  shortened,  I  am  hard  at  deathes 
dore ;  xix,  17,  Myne  owne  wyfe  may  not  abyde  my  breth :  I 
am  fayne  to  speake  fayre  vnto  the  children  of  mine  owne 
body ;  18,  Yee  the  very  deserte  fooles  despyse  me ;  xxxix,  25, 
He  feareth  not  the  noyse  of  the  trompettes;  but  as  soon  as  he 
heareth  the  shawmes  blowe,  tush  (sayeth  he),  for  he  smelleth 
the  batell  afarre  of. 

Psalm  xiv,  1,  The  foolish  bodyes  saye  in  their  hertes,  Tush, 
there  is  no  God;  Ixviii,  11,  the  Lorde  shal  geve  the  worde 
with  greate  hoostes  of  evangelistes  ;  Ixxiv,  5,  men  maye  se  the 
axes  glister  aboue,  like  as  those  that  hewe  in  the  wod.  They 
cutt  downe  all  the  sylinge  worke  of  ye  sanctuary  with  bylles 
and  axes,  xci,  5,  thou  shalt  not  nede  to  be  afrayde  of  eny 
bugges  by  night ;  cxix,  70,  their  herte  is  as  fat  as  brawn.1 

Prov.  xvi,  18,  after  a  proude  stomacke  there  folio weth  a  fall 
28,  he  that  is  a  blabbe  of  his  tonge  maketh  devysion  ;  xvii,  14, 
he  that  soweth  discorde  and  strife  is  like  on  that  dyggeth  up 
a  water  broke ;  xxiii,  2,  measure  their  appetite. 

Isaiah  ii,  4,  So  that  they  shal  breake  their  swerdes  and 
speares,  to  make  sythes,  sycles,  and  sawes  thereof;  0,  or  in 
calkers  of  mens  byrthes ;  v,  9,  the  Lord  of  hoostes  rowneth 
me  thus ;  22,  Wo  vnto  them  that  are  connynge  men  to  suppe 

1  Luther,  dick  wie  Schmeer  ;  Vul-  ders.     Chaucer  has  "  full  big  he  was 

gate,   sicut   lac.     Brawns  occurs  in  of  braun."     Grease  of  our  version 

Wycliffe,   Job   xxii,  9  ;    the  second  came  from   the   Genevan,  and  it  is 

version  having  "  schuldris  " — shoul-  nearer  in  sense  to  the  Hebrew  term. 


SCO  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

out  wyne  ;  27,  no  one  faynte  nor  feble  amonge  them,  no 
not  a  slogish  or  nor  slepery  parsone  ;  vi,  2,  From  aboue  flakred 
the  seraphins  ;  4,  the  geastes  and  dore  chekes  moued  at  their 
crienge ;  x,  15,  or  doth  the  sawe  make  eny  krakinge  against 
him  that  ruleth  it;  xxiv,  20,  The  erth  shal  gcue  a  greate 
crack,  it  shal  haue  a  sore  ruyne,  and  take  an  horrible  fall ; 
xliv,  6,  and  do  wherthorow  he  maye  be  lickened  vnto  me ; 
Ivi,  3,  neither  shal  the  gelded  man  saye,  I  am  a  drie  tre. 

Jer.  viii,  52,  there  is  no  triacle  in  Galaad.  xvii,  1,  graven 
vpon  the  edge  of  your  aulters  with  a  pen  of  iron  and  with 
an  adamant  clawe. 

Dan.  ix,  26,  after  the  Ixvii  weekes  shall  Christ  be  slain,  and 
they  shall  haue  no  pleasure  in  him. 

Hosea  xi,  3,  I  learned  Ephram  to  go. 

Matt,  ii,  2,  the  newe  borne  kynge. 

Mark  iii,  21,  he  taketh  to  moch  vpon  him ;  vi,  2,  marueled  at 
his  lernynge;  viii,  16,  their  my ndes  wauered  here  and  there;  xv, 
29,  Fye  vpon  the,  h ow  goodly  breakest  thou  downe  the  temple. 

Luke  x,  40,  Martha  made  her  self  moch  to  do ;  xi,  8,  because 
of  his  vnshamefast  begginge. 

John  i,  38,  Where  art  thou  at  lodginge?  xviii,  39,  that  I 
should  give  one  vnto  you  lowse  at  easter. 

Acts  v,  14,  layed  them  vpon  beddes  and  barowes  ;  vi,  1,  be 
cause  their  wyddowes  were  not  loked  vpon  in  the  daylie  hand- 
reachinge;  xvii,  11,  they  were  the  Eldest  amonge  them  at 
Thessalonica. 

1  Cor.  ii,  1,  I  came  not  with  hye  words. 

2  Cor.  i.  18,  O  faitfull  God,  that  oure  worde  vnto  you  hath 
not  bene  yee  and  naye. 

Eph,  iv,  10,  one  member  hangeth  by  another  thorowout  all 
the  ioutes. 

Philip,  i,  10,  that  maybe  pure  and  soch  as  hurte  no  man's 
conscience. 

Colos.  ii,  10,  Let  no  man  make  you  shote  at  a  wronge  mark, 
which  after  his  owne  chosynge  walketh  in  humbleness  and 
spiritualyte  of  angels,  thinges  which  he  neuer  sawe. 

1  Tim.  vi,  4,  but  waysteth  his  brayne  aboute  questions  and 
stryuynges  of  wordes. 


xx.]  MERITS  OF  COVERDALES  VERSION.  3Q1 

Obsolete  terms  sometimes  occur,  as  "  to  clyp " — to  shear 
sheep;  a  "maund,"  a  large  basket;  "body,"  the  foolish  bodyes 
saye  in  their  hertes ;  "symnel,"  a  cake;  "lever,"  rather;  "to 
spar,"  that  is,  to  close  the  door — spar  meaning  bar.  Still 
several  of  his  phrases  have  also  descended  to  us — Judges  v, 
"a  lordly  dish;"  "garments  of  needlework ;"  Tyndale  (Mat 
thew)  having  a  different  rendering;  and  we  have  still  many 
verses  with  almost  no  change.  Many  such  passages  occur  in 
the  Psalter,  as  Psalms  li,  11;  Ixiii,  2;  cii,  25;  cxliii,  2. 

Though  Coverdale  may  not  be  everywhere  correct,  he  is 
always  musical.  A  few  examples  may  suffice  in  proof: — 

Psalm  xc,  10,  The  dayes  of  oure  age  are  thre  score  yeares 
and  ten ;  xcix,  1,  The  Lord  is  kynge,  be  the  people  never  so 
impacient :  he  sytteth  vpon  the  cherubins,  be  the  earth  never 
so  vnquiete. 

Isaiah  xlviii,  1G-19,  Wherfore  the  Lorde  God  with  his  sprete 
hath  sent  me.  And  thus  saieth  the  Lord,  thine  avenger,  the 
holyone  of  Israel :  I  am  the  Lorde  thy  God,  which  teach  the 
profitable  thinges,  and  lede  ye  the  waye,  that  thou  shuldest  go. 
Yf  thou  wilt  now  regarde  my  commaundement,  thy  welthynes 
shalbe  as  the  water  streame,  and  thy  rightuousnes  as  the 
waues  flowinge  in  the  see :  Thy  sede  shalbe  like  as  the  sonde 
in  the  see,  and  the  frute  of  thy  body  like  the  grauel  stones 
therof ;  thy  name  shal  not  be  roted  out,  nor  destroyed  before 
me. 

Though  Coverdale's  version  was  only  secondary,  yet  it 
possessed  merits  of  its  own.  The  gentle  flow  of  its  English 
is  idiomatic  and  fresh,  though  many  words  and  phrases  are 
now  antiquated,  and  it  may  still  be  read  with  pleasure  in  the 
Psalms  of  the  English  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  of  which  it  is 
the  basis.  His  own  "  Ghostly  Psalms  "  are  sometimes  a  little 
rugged ;  but  his  prose  translation  is  beautiful  in  its  rhythm. 
The  simple  grandeur  of  many  portions  of  Isaiah  and  the 
prophets  was  initiated  by  him.  He  often  omits,  like  Tyndale, 
connecting  particles,  and  smoothness  is  now  and  then  secured 
by  a  paraphrase  at  the  expense  of  terseness  and  brevity. 
Changes  of  order,  variations  of  renderings,  tuneful  turns  of 
phrase,  resolution  of  participles  and  relative  pronouns,  and 


302  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

numerous  literary  dexterities  are  used  to  secure  the  same 
result,  a  result  that  still  gives  tone  and  cadence  to  the 
Authorized  Version.  No  little  of  that  indefinable  quality 
that  gives  popular  charm  to  our  English  Bible,  and  has 
endeared  it  to  so  many  generations,  is  owing  to  Coverdale. 
The  semitones  in  the  music  of  the  style  are  his  gift.1 
What  we  mean  will  be  apparent  to  any  one  who  compares 
the  Authorized  Version,  especially  in  the  Old  Testament,  with 
the  exacter  translations  of  many  of  the  books  which  have  been 
made  by  scholars  and  critics.  Tyndale  gave  us  the  first  great 
outline  distinctly  and  wonderfully  etched,  but  Coverdale 
added  those  minuter  touches  which  soften  and  harmonize  it. 
The  characteristic  features  are  Tyndale's  in  all  their  boldness 
of  form  and  expression,  the  more  delicate  lines  and  shadings 
are  the  contribution  of  his  successor,  both  in  his  own  version 
and  in  the  Great  Bible  revised  and  edited  by  him. 

The  first  edition  of  Coverdale's  Bible  was  soon  exhausted, 
and  the  thirst  for  possessing  a  copy  was  even  growing.  But 
though  the  Dedication  to  the  king  secured  no  royal  license  or 
patronage,  the  work  was  not  forbidden  or  suppressed.  When, 
in  June,  1536,  Convocation  prayed  the  king  "that  he  would 
indulge  unto  his  subjects  of  the  laity,  the  reading  of  the  Bible 
in  the  English  tongue,  and  that  a  new  translation  of  it  might 
be  made  for  that  end  and  purpose,"  the  resolution  amounted 
to  a  virtual  condemnation  of  Coverdale's  version. 

In  1537  two  editions — one  in  quarto,  the  other  in  folio — 
"  overseen  and  corrected,"  were  printed  in  London  by  James 
Nycolson,  St.  Thomas,  South wark  ;  and  at  the  foot  of  the  title- 
page  are  the  wondrous  words,  "  Set  forth  with  the  Kynge's  most 
gracious  license  " ;  the  name  of  Queen  Jane  being  substituted 
for  that  of  Queen  Anne  in  the  dedication.  Was  Tyndale's 
dying  prayer  now  answered,  "  Lord,  open  the  King  of  Eng 
land's  eyes " ? 

Coverdale  was  always  anxious  that  his  countrymen  should 
have  free  access  to  the  Word  of  God  in  their  own  language,  and 

o        o    * 

that  all  the  current  prejudices  against  a  native  version  should 

]  Even  the  rough  and  rugged  Bale     smooth,  and  flowing  gently  along." 
describes  his  style   "  as  sweet  and 


xx.]  THE  DIQLOTT.  303 

be  disarmed.  To  show  them  that  a  vernacular  New  Testa 
ment  did  not  of  necessity  misrepresent  the  Latin  one  with 
which  they  were  so  familiar  in  the  church  service,  he  rendered 
it  into  the  mother  tongue,  and  printed  itt  in  both  languages — 
the  Vulgate  and  an  English  translation  in  parallel  columns. 
Three  editions  of  this  Diglott  Testament  were  published  in 
1538,  the  first  by  James  Nycolson,  with  a  dedication  to  the 
king  and  a  preface  to  the  reader.  In  the  dedication  Cover- 
dale  explains  his  purpose  and  method  of  procedure.  The 
enemies  of  an  English  Bible  are  thus  described :  "  Because  it 
grieveth  them  that  your  subjects  be  grown  so  far  in  knowledge 
of  their  duty  to  God,  to  your  grace,  and  to  their  neighbours, 
their  inward  malice  doth  break  out  into  blasphemous  and  un 
comely  words;  insomuch  that  they  call  your  loving  and 
faithful  people  heretics,  new-fangled  fellows,  English  biblers, 
cobblers  of  divinity,  fellows  of  the  new  faith,  &c.,  with  such 
other  ungodly  sayings.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  forwardness  and 
malice  is  mixed  with  their  ignorance.  For,  inasmuch  as  in 
our  other  translations  we  do  not  follow  this  old  Latin  text, 
word  for  word,  they  cry  out  upon  us  as  though  all  were  not  as 
nigh  the  truth  to  translate  the  Scripture  out  of  other  languages 
as  to  turn  it  out  of  the  Latin,  or  as  though  the  Holy  Ghost 
were  not  the  author  of  His  Scripture  as  well  in  the  Hebrew, 
Greek,  French,  Dutch,  and  in  English,  as  in  Latin.  The  Scrip 
ture  and  Word  of  God  is  truly  to  every  Christian  man  of  like 
worthiness  and  authority,  in  what  language  soever  the  Holy 
Ghost  speaketh  it."  Another  motive  alleged  by  him  in  print 
ing  the  Latin  and  English  text  in  parallel  columns  so  as 
specially  to  induce  and  instruct  "  such  as  can  but  English, 
and  are  not  learned  in  the  Latin,  that  in  comparing  these  two 
texts  together  they  may  the  better  understand  the  one  by  the 
other.  And  I  doubt  not  but  such  ignorant  bodies  as,  having 
cure  and  charge  of  souls,  are  very  unlearned  in  the  Latin 
tongue,  shall  through  this  small  labour  be  occasioned  to  attain 
unto  more  knowledge,  and  at  the  least  be  constrained  to  say 
well  of  the  thing  which  heretofore  they  have  blasphemed." 

The  version  is  his  own,  carefully  arid  minutely  adapted  to  the 
Vulgate,  "  inasmuch  as  the  New  Testament  which  I  had  set 


304 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 


[CHAP. 


forth  in  English  before  doth  so  agree  with  the  Latin,  I  was 
heartily  well  content  that  the  Latin  and  it  should  be  set 
together."  Thus  in  Mark  i,  and  suggested  by  the  Latin  : — 


EXGLISH  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

1    iu  the  prophet. 

my  messenger. 
4  baptized  and  preached. 

amendment. 
•')  and  they  of  Jerusalem. 

iu  Jordan. 

knowledging  their  sins. 
M  I  baptized. 
!)  at  the  same  time. 

1 0  lie  was  come  out  of. 

as  a  dove  comynge  downe. 

11  in  whom  I  delyt. 

1 3  with  the  wylde  beestes. 


DlGLOTT  AFTER  THE  VCJLGATE.1 

inEsaye  the  prophet. 

mine  angel. 

baptizing  and  preaching. 

penance. 

all  they  of  Jerusalem. 

in  the  river  of  Jordan. 

confessing. 

I  have  baptized. 

in  those  days. 

coming  up  out  of. 

descending  and  abiding. 

in  thee  am  I  pleased. 

with  beastes. 


The  first  edition  was  "  negligently  corrected  "  during  Cover- 
dale's  absence  in  Paris — was  in  fact  so  badly  executed  that  he 
was  forced  to  disown  it,  for  it  was  in  many  places  "  base, 
insensible,  and  clean  contrary,  not  only  to  the  phrase  of  our 
language,  but  from  the  understanding."  "  Weeding  out  the 
faults,"  he  superintended  a  new  edition  in  Paris,  printed  by 
Francis  Regnault  and  published  by  Grafton  &  Whitechurch, 
\vith  a  dedication  to  "Crumwell,  Lord  Privy  Seal  and  Vicegerent 
to  the  King's  Highness."  2  In  spite  of  his  remonstrance  and 


1  In  Isaia  propheta,  augelum 
meum  ;  4,  baptizans  et  predicans, 
penitentioe  ;  5,  Hierosolymitos  uni- 
versi,  in  Jordanis  flumine,  confi- 
tentes  ;  8,  baptizavi  ;  9,  in  diebus 
istis  ;  10,  ascendens,  descendentem 
et  maneutem  ;  11,  in  te  complacui  ; 
13,  cum  bestiis.  The  Wycliffite 
versions  taken  from  the  Latin  text 
are  quite  different,  having  for  "pre 
pare,  "  in  3,  "make  redy '' ;  in 
5,  the  first  version  has  "  flood,"  and 
the  second  "  flom,"  and  both  have 


the  Saxon  "knowledged";  in  6,  the 
first  version  has  "  honey  of  the 
woods,"  and  in  7  it  gives  "thong." 
The  translations,  9,  "  it  was  done, ' 
and  11,  "a  voice  was  made,"  are 
in  accordance  with  the  constant 
literalism  of  these  older  versions. 

"  "  The  New  Testament,  both  in 
Latin  &  English,  after  the  vulgare 
texte,  which  is  red  in  the  church e. 
Translated  &  corrected  by  Myle.s 
Coverdale,  and  prynted  in  Paris  by 
Fraunces  Keguault,  aicccccxxxvm, 


xx.]  JOHN  HOLLYBUSHE.  305 

of  an  apology  put  forward  for  him  by  Grafton,  Nycolson 
printed  another  edition,  affixing  to  it  the  name  of  John  Holly- 
bushe  as  translator ;  but  with  this  volume  Coverdale  had  no 
concern — it  was,  in  fact,  a  revision  of  his  own  version.  It  was 
this  Hollybushe's  New  Testament,  an  avowed  translation  from 
the  Vulgate,  that  led  Macknight  so  far  astray  in  his  opinion 
of  Tyndale. 

Coverdale's  Bible,  printed  at  Ziirich  by  Froschover,  with  the 
strange  misprint  of  "  By  Mayst.  Thomas  Mathewe "  on  the 
title-page,  was  published  in  London  (Andrewe  Hester)  in  1550, 
and  there  was  also  another  issue  of  it  in  1553,  with  a  new  title 
and  kalendar  (R.  Jugge).  Coverdale's  subsequent  Biblical 
labours  in  connection  with  the  Great  Bible  will  be  immediately 
noticed. 

iu  Xovembre.  Prynted  for  Richard  citizens  of  London.  Cum  gratia  et 
Grafton  &  Edward  Whitechurcli,  privilegio  Regis." 


VOL.  I.  U 


THOMAS   MATTHEW'S   BIBLE. 


"  THEN,  amidst  the  hymns  and  halleluiahs  of  saints,  some  one  may  perhaps 
be  heard  offering  at  high  strains  in  new  and  lofty  measures,  to  sing 
and  celebrate  Thy  divine  mercies  and  marvellous  judgments  in  this  land, 
throughout  all  ages,  whereby  this  great  and  warlike  nation,  instructed  and 
inured  to  the  fervent  and  continual  practice  of  truth  and  righteousness, 
and  casting  far  from  her  the  rags  of  her  old  vices,  may  press  on  hard  to 
that  high  and  happy  emulation  to  be  found  the  soberest,  wisest,  and  most 
Christian  at  that  day,  when  Thou,  the  eternal  and  shortly  expected  King, 
shalt  open  the  clouds  to  judge  the  several  kingdoms  of  the  world,  and 
distributing  national  honours  and  rewards  to  religious  and  just  common 
wealths,  shalt  put  an  end  to  all  earthly  tyrannies,  proclaiming  thy 
universal  and  mild  monarchy  through  heaven  and  earth,  when  they, 
undoubtedly,  that,  by  their  labours,  counsels,  and  prayers,  have  been 
earnest  for  the  common  good  of  religion  and  their  country  shall  receive, 
above  the  inferior  orders  of  the  blessed,  the  regal  addition  of  principalities, 
legions,  and  thrones,  into  their  glorious  titles,  and,  in  supereminence  of 
beatific  vision,  progressing  the  dateless  and  iiTevoluble  circle  of  eternity, 
shall  clasp  inseparable  hands  with  joy  and  bliss  in  over-measure  for 
ever.'' 

MILTON. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

rpOWARD  the  conclusion  of  his  Prologue  to  the  reader, 
Coverdale,  with  characteristic  candour  and  self-oblivion, 
had  said  of  his  Bible :  "  And  though  it  be  not  worthily 
ministered  unto  thee  in  this  translation,  by  reason  of  my 
rudeness :  yet,  if  thou  be  fervent  in  thy  prayer,  God  shall 
not  only  send  it  thee  in  a  better  shape  by  the  ministration 
of  other  that  began  it  afore,1  but  shall  also  move  the  hearts 
of  them  which  as  yet  meddled  not  withal  to  take  it  in  hand, 
and  to  bestow  the  gift  of  their  understanding  thereon,  as  well 
in  our  language  as  other  interpreters  do  in  other  languages." 
The  first  part  of  the  anticipation  was  not  realized,  as  a  few 
months  after  the  words  were  written  Tyndale  was  put  to 
death.  But  the  second  part  was  fulfilled,  though  not  exactly 
in  the  way  which  the  prediction  indicated,  for  a  short  time 
after  the  publication  of  Coverdale's  version,  another  volume  of 
Scripture  made  its  appearance,  and  in  peculiar  circumstances. 
Though  it  was  really  a  compilation  and  not  a  new  version,  and 
though  it  was  published  under  another  name  than  that  of  its 
compiler,  it  was  destined  to  produce  lasting  results.  This 
Bible  was  a  folio,  with  the  following  title  :  "  The  Bible,  which 
is  all  the  Holy  Scriptures,  in  which  are  contayned  the  Olde  and 
Newe  Testaments,  truely  and  purely  translated  into  Englysh, 
by  Thomas  Matthew.  Esaye  I,  Hearcken  to,  ye  heavens,  and 
thou  earth,  geave  eare  :  for  the  Lorde  speaketh.  MDXXXVII." 
The  handsome  title  is  printed  in  the  centre  of  a  large  engrav 
ing  which  fills  the  page,  and  has  at  the  bottom,  in  large  red 
characters,  "  Set  forth  with  the  kinges  most  gracyous  lycence.' 
1  The  reference  being  to  Tyndale. 


310  THE  EXGLISU  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

At  the  end  of  the  exhortation  to  the  study  of  the  Holy  Scrip 
tures,  which  occupies  one  page,  are  printed,  in  large  flourished 
capitals,  I.  R.,  John  Rogers.  The  volume,  in  larger  folio  than 
Coverdale's  Bible,  consists  of  1,110  pages,  with  sixty  lines  in  a 
full  page.  The  printing  is  in  black  letter,  foreign  in  appear 
ance,  and  there  are  nearly  eighty  woodcuts,  two  of  them  at  the 
beginning  of  Psalms  and  Proverbs,  filling  the  whole  breadth  of 
the  page.  On  the  reverse  of  the  title  itself,  which  is  in  black 
and  red,  is  a  short  table  of  contents;  then  follow,  covering  four 
pages,  a  kalendar,  and  almanac  for  eighteen  years,  beginning 
with  1538;  and  it  ends  by  telling  "the  yere  has  fifty-two 
weekes  and  six  homes."  The  dedication  to  the  king,  Henry 
Till,  succeeds,  and  embraces  three  pages,  with  large  flourished 
capitals  at  the  commencement  and  conclusion.  The  next 
twenty-six  pages  are  taken  up  with  "  a  table  of  the  pryncypall 
matters  conteyned  in  the  Byble,"  headed  with  a  short  address 
to  the  Chrysten  readers.  The  succeeding  page  bears  upon  it 
"  The  names  of  all  the  Bokes  of  the  Byble  .  .  .  and  a  Brief 
Rehersall  of  the  yeares  passed  since  the  begynnynge  of  the 
worlde  unto  this  yeare  of  oure  Lord  MDXXXVII  ; "  there  being 
on  the  reverse  a  large  engraving  of  Adam  and  Eve  in  paradise. 
The  title-page  of  the  New  Testament,  in  black  and  red,  which 
has  the  same  ornamental  engravings  as  that  of  the  Old  Testa 
ment,  is,  "  The  Newe  Testament  of  our  Saviour  Jesu  Christ, 
newly  and  dylygently  translated  into  Englyshe,  with  anno- 
tacions  in  the  margent  to  helpe  the  reader  to  the  under- 
standynge  of  the  texte.  Prynted  in  the  yere  of  our  Lorde  God, 
M.D.xxxvu."  Five  pages  at  the  end  of  the  New  Testament 
are  taken  up  with  tables  of  the  Epistles  and  Gospels,  after 
Salsbury  use,  &:c.  On  the  last  leaf  is  "  The  end  of  the  Newe 
Testament,  and  of  the  whole  Byble.  To  the  honoure  and 
prayse  of  God  was  this  Byble  prynted  and  fynesshed  in  the 
yere  of  oure  Lorde  God,  a  M.D.XXXVU."  The  disputed  text 
about  the  "  three  witnesses,"  in  1  John  v,  7,  is  in  smaller 
type.  The  following  errata  occur — in  John  xx,  25,  the  clause 
"  put  my  finger  into  the  holes  of  the  nails "  is  omitted ;  so  is 
the  clause  in  1  Cor.  xi,  25,  "  This  cup  is  the  new  testament  in 
my  blood  "  ;  and  Rev.  iii,  17,  is  printed  "  because  thou  art  rich," 


xxr.]  JOHN  ROGERS. 

the  words  "  sayest  thou  "  being  left  out.  In  Hebrews  vi,  1,  we 
find  " Therefore  let  us  love  the  doctrine,"  for  " let  us  leave" 
The  initials  I.  R.  point  out  the  editor  of  the  volume  as  John 
Rogers,  the  first  of  the  Marian  martyrs,  Thomas  Matthew  being 
merely  assumed ;  or,  if  the  name  belonged  to  an  actual  person, 
no  one  has  been  at  all  able  to  identify  him. 

John  Rogers  was  born  about  1500,  probably  in  a  hamlet  called 
Deritend,  now  swallowed  up  by  the  city  of  Birmingham.  He 
was  educated  at  Pembroke  Hall,  Cambridge,  taking  his  degree 
of  Bachelor  of  Arts  in  1525.  Foxe  simply  says  of  his  academic 
life,  "  he  profitably  travailed  in  good  learning."1  According  to 
one  authority,  he  was  chosen  the  same  year  a  junior  canon  in 
Cardinal  College,  Oxford,  and  entered  into  holy  orders.2  He 
next  became  rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,3  or 
Trinity  the  Less,  in  London,  on  the  26th  of  December,  1532, 
having  been  presented  to  the  living  by  the  prior  and  convent 
of  St.  Mary  Overy  in  Southwark.  This  position  he  volun 
tarily  resigned  before  the  end  of  1534,  for  his  successor  was 
admitted  on  24th  October  of  that  year.  It  is  probable  that 
some  change  of  religious  opinion  induced  him  to  quit  Eng 
land  for  Antwerp,  where  he  officiated  for  a  time  as  chaplain 
to  the  Merchant  Adventurers.4  At  this  epoch  he  had  not 
formally  left  the  popish  communion,  but  did  his  priestly 
duties  "  according  to  the  use  and  custom  of  the  worshippers  of 
idols."  His  views  ripened  "  by  little  and  little,"  and  "  day  by 

1  Foxe,  vol.  VI,  p.  591.  also    chaplain   afterwards   "for  the 

2  Lewis,  History  of  Translations  of  space  of  a  year  and  more."     A  de- 
the  Bible,  p.  223,  London,  1818.  scription  of  the  locality,  and  present 

3  This  old  church,  "  which  stood  on  appearance  of  the  Merchants'  House, 
the    south  side    of    Knight  Riders  may  be  found   in  Demaus,  Life  of 
Street,  in  the  eastern  part  thereof,"  Tyndale,  p.  413,  &c.     The  Merchant 
was  burned  down  in  the  great  fire  of  Adventurers  were  an  old  guild  or  cor- 
1666,  and  the  parish  was  united  to  poration,  and  were  originally  called 
that  of    St.   Michaels,   Queenhithe.  "Merchants  of  St.  Thomas  k  Becket.'7 
Newcourt  Repert.,  vol.  I,  p.  556,  &c.,  They  had  a  special  charter,  and  many 
Life    of   John   Rogers,    by  Joseph  privileges,    and    in    this    way   rose 
Lemuel  Chester,  London,  1861.  superior  to  an  older  body  still — the 

4  Lambert  the  martyr,  converted  "  Merchants  of  the  Staple." 
by  Bilney  to  reformed  opinions,  was 


312  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

day,"  till  at  length  he  embraced  evangelical  truth  in  its  fulness 
— this  complete  change  being  fostered  and  perfected  by  his 
intimacy  with  William  Tyndale  and,  Foxe  adds,  with  Myles 
Coverdale.  This  friendship  could  not  have  lasted  more  than  a 
few  months,  for  Tyndale  was  martyred  on  the  Gth  October,  1536. 
As  the  result  and  token  of  final  separation  from  the  Church  of 
Rome,  Rogers  followed  the  example  of  Luther,  and,  probably  in 
1537,  married  Adriana  Pratt  or  de  Weyden,1  "  more  richly 
endowed  with  virtue  and  soberness  of  life,  than  with  worldly 
treasures."  When  he  came  back  with  his  wife  to  England,  in 
the  early  part  of  the  reign  of  Edward  the  Sixth,  they  brought 
with  them  eight  children ;  and  in  his  appeal  to  the  Lord 
Chancellor,  on  29th  January,  1555,  that  Mrs.  Rogers  might 
be  allowed  to  visit  him  in  prison,  he  stated  that  he  had  been 
married  eighteen  years.  After  his  marriage,  which  may  have 
brought  him  into  peril,  he  went  to  Wittenberg,  and  having 
now  thoroughly  mastered  German,  he  was  inducted  into  the 
pastoral  charge  of  a  congregation,  to  which  he  ministered  for 
several  years.  Rogers  had  come  to  Antwerp  a  few  months 
after  the  execution  of  Fry th ;  and  since  he  had  been  with  Tyn 
dale,  as  Tyndale  had  been  with  Luther,  Melanchthon,  and  their 
great  associates  —  the  peerage  of  the  Reformation,  it  was 
natural  that  he  should  interest  himself  in  the  work  of  translat 
ing  Scripture- — a  work  which  he  saw  in  busy  process  every 
day  of  Tyndale's  life,  prior  to  his  arrest  and  imprisonment. 
Familiarity  led,  no  doubt,  to  admiration,  and  admiration  at 
length  enlisted  co-operation  and  assistance. 

A  mystery  hangs  over  the  employment  of  the  name  Matthew 
in  connection  with  this  work  of  Rogers.  Foxe  says  simply, 
and  without  any  definite  proof  or  illustration,  "  It  seemed  good 
to  them  which  had  the  doing  thereof  to  change  the  name  ot 
William  Tyndale,  because  that  name  was  odious,  and  to  father 
it  by  a  strange  name  of  Thomas  Matthew."  -  That  ground  is 
quite  intelligible  only  so  fur  as  Tyndale  is  concerned.  But 
a  large  portion  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  the  entire  Apo 
crypha,  are  certainly  the  work  of  Coverdale.  Strype  merely 
states  the  meagre  fact,  that  Rogers  "  dedicated  the  whole 
1  Both  names  mean  meadow.  '2  Vol.  V,  p.  412. 


xx'.]  IDENTITY  OF  MATTHEW  AND  ROGERS.  313 

book  to  King  Henry,  under  the  name  of  Thomas  Matthew, 
minding  to  conceal  his  own  name."  l  But  the  reason  so 
alleged  is  not  strictly  true,  for  the  name  of  John  Rogers  was 
not  really  concealed,  and  his  initials,  I.  R,  stand  at  the  end  of 
the  "  Exhortation  to  the  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures."  It 
has  also  been  surmised  that  Thomas  Matthew  may  have 
furnished  money  for  the  outlay,  or  may  have  had  some  other 
close  connection  with  the  volume.  Indeed,  the  question  pre 
sents  a  peculiar  dilemma.  The  name  is  known  only  in  its 
connection  with  this  Bible;  if  Matthew  was  only  a  myth, 
or  a  man  without  a  shadow,  why  are  he  and  Rogers  both 
indicated  by  distinct  and  separate  names  or  initials  in  the 
volume,  as  if  they  were  different  individuals  ?  and  if  he 
were  an  actual  coadjutor  in  flesh  and  blood,  how  happened 
it  that  he  fell  so  soon  into  oblivion,  that  his  name  came  to 
be  looked  on  by  shrewd  lawyers  as  a  mere  fiction,  the  trans 
parent  disguise  of  an  alias  ?  For  there  is  no  doubt  that  Rogers 
was  officially  identified  with  Matthew,  and  this  within  tAventy 
years  of  the  publication  of  the  Bible.  In  the  sentence  which 
doomed  him  to  the  stake,  he  is  four  times  called  "  Johannes 
Rogers  2  alias  Matthew  "  ;  in  Foxe's  translation,  "  John  Rogers 
otherwise  called  Matthew";  and  in  the  Council  Register  of 
Queen  Mary,  "  John  Rogers  alias  Matthew  is  ordered  to  keep 
his  house  at  Paul's."  During  the  trial  there  was  indeed  no 
charge  based  on  the  Bible,  for  he  was  not  the  translator.  Be 
sides,  his  volume  in  its  first  form  had  been  published  with  the 
king's  license,  and  on  being  revised  it  had  already  passed  into 
the  Great  Bible,  published  also  under  royal  sanction.  But  Bishop 
Gardyner,  presiding  as  chancellor,  makes  plain  allusion  to  the 
dedication  of  the  Bible,  and  twitted  him  as  having  acknow 
ledged  King  Henry  VIII  to  be  supreme  head  of  the  Church, 
the  dedication  being  to  the  "  most  noble  and  gracious  prince, 
King  Henry  VIII,  king  of  England,  .  .  .  defender  of  the 
faith,  and,  under  God,  the  chief  and  supreme  head  of  the 
Church  of  England."  In  1542  a  list  of  books  forbidden 

1  Memorials  of  Cranmer,  vol.  I,  p.     Jukannem  Rogers  alias  Matthew, pres- 
185,  Oxford,  1848.  bytentm  secularem. 

2  The   sentence    runs — contra    te, 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

specifies  the  notes  of  the  Bible  as  "of  Thomas  Matthew's 
doing."  In  the  reprint  of  this  Bible,  in  1551,  the  initial 
capital  A  is  not  only  ornamented,  but  often  there  are  engraved 
in  its  lower  and  wider  part  the  letters  I.  K.,  and  sometimes  I  is 
found  on  the  one  side  of  the  apex  and  R  on  the  other.  So 
deeply  indeed  had  the  identity  of  Thomas  Matthew  and  John 
Rogers  sunk  into  the  popular  mind,  that  the  lines  of  another 
martyr,  Robert  Smith,  burned  at  TJxbridge,  8th  August,  1555, 
were  ascribed  to  him,  and  were  published,  not  only  as  "Maister 
Rogers'  Ryme  to  his  Children,"  but  also  as  "  the  Exhortation  of 
Matthew  Rogers."  l  It  is  thus  plain  that  nobody  at  the  time 
seems  to  have  suspected  that  Matthew  was  other  than  John 
Rogers ;  but  why  that  name  should  have  been  selected  cannot 
now  be  ascertained.2 

The  origination  of  the  volume  is  also  hidden  from  us.  What 
suggested  the  preparation  of  it  is  nowhere  stated.  Only  it 
may  be  surmised  that  Rogers  wished  the  English  people  to  be 
put  in  possession  of  a  complete  English  Bible,  embodying  all 
that  the  martyred  Tyndale  had  already  rendered ;  for  he  had 
rendered  from  the  original  texts,  whereas  Coverdale's  was  only 
a  secondary  version  professedly  taken,  not  from  Hebrew  and 
Greek,  but  from  Douche  and  Latyn.  Where  the  work  was  put 
to  press  is  not  known,  whether  at  Hamburg,  as  Foxe,  Strype, 
and  Johnson  conjecture ;  or  at  Paris,  as  Wanley  thought ;  or 
at  Antwerp,  or  Lubec,  or  at  Marburg  according  to  Lewis. 
Antwerp,  as  the  residence  of  Rogers,  is  the  most  likely  place — 
at  least,  there  is  no  necessity  for  any  other  supposition.  The 
printing  of  English  by  foreign  compositors  must  have  required 
constant  watchfulness  from  some  "corrector"  on  the  spot,3  and 
the  press  must  have  been  worked  in  speed  and  secrecy. 
According  to  Cotton,  some  of  the  engravings  were  taken 
from  blocks,  which  had  been  already  used  in  a  Dutch  Bible, 

1  These  Rhymes  were  long  a  popu-  3  Thus    in   Tischendorf ' s    English 
lar  primer  in  New  England.  New     Testament,      published      by 

2  It  is  extraordinary  that  Hallam  Tauchnitz  at  Leipzig,  the  misprints 
should  make  Matthew  the  printer,  are  evidently  the  errors  of  foreign 
Literature  of  Europe,  vol.  I,  p.  379,  compositors  and  readers. 

London,  1854. 


xxi.]  GRAFTON  AND   WHITECHURCH.  315 

issued  at  Lubec,  in  1533.1  But  these  blocks  could  easily  be 
transferred  to  Antwerp.  The  first  expense  of  printing  was 
probably  borne  by  some  of  the  merchants,  who  had  been 
so  generous  to  Tyndale ;  but  Richard  Grafton  and 
Edward  Whitechurch,  two  citizens  of  London,  suddenly 
interposed,  and  took  the  burden  on  themselves.  Grafton,  the 
printer,  writing  at  this  time  about  the  order  that  no  book 
should  be  printed  without  at  least  the  license  of  one  bishop, 
suggests  that  "  certain  be  appointed  thereto  that  they  may  be 
as  ready  to  read  them  as  other  good  men  to  put  them  forth. 
For  it  is  now  seven  years  since  the  bishops  promised  to  trans 
late  and  set  forth  the  Bible,  and  as  yet  they  have  had  no 
leisure."  We  are  utterly  ignorant  as  well  of  the  process  by 
which  they  learned  that  such  a  volume  was  contemplated,  as 
of  the  motives  which  induced  them  to  undertake  the  work. 
Men  in  those  days  of  jeopardy  did  good  by  stealth,  for  if  their 
well-doing  rose  into  fame  it  might  kindle  for  them  a  pyre  at 
Smithfield.  But  it  would  appear  that  the  printing  had  gone 
on  as  far  as  the  beginning  of  Isaiah,  when  they  stepped  in  to 
assist,  probably  purchasing  what  sheets  had  been  already 
struck  off,  and  making  arrangements  for  the  completion  of 
the  work.  Certainly  there  is  a  black  page,  and  a  new  num 
bering  commences  at  Isaiah  with  the  title,  "  The  Prophetes 
in  Englishe,"  and  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  page,  and  at 
its  four  corners,  are  the  large  initials,  R.  G.,  and  E.  W., 
Richard  Grafton,  Edward  Whitechurch.  Grafton,  though 
he  was  a  cautious  man,  seems  to  have  embarked  his  whole 
fortune  in  the  enterprise,  and  he  is  the  principal  corre 
spondent  with  Cranmer  in  the  business. 

The  statements  often  made  about  this  Bible  of  1537  are 
but  inaccurate  hypotheses ;  the  connection  of  Tyndale  and 
Coverdale  with  it  has  been  misunderstood,  and  the  proportions 
and  character  of  their  respective  contributions  to  it  have  been 
very  erroneously  estimated. 

1.  Grafton,  the  printer  of  it,  comes  far  short  of  the  truth, 
when  he  ascribes  to  Tyndale  only  the  translation  of  the  New 
Testament,  for  the  Pentateuch  had  been  printed  some  years 
1  Editions  of  the  Bible,  &c.,  p.  12,  second  edition,  Oxford,  1852. 


316  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

before.1  Baker,  in  his  Chronicle,  under  1535,  says  more  de 
finitely,  and  more  correctly,  that  "  Tindale  was  murdered  at 
Villefort,  in  Flanders,  for  translating  the  New  Testament  and 
divers  parts  of  the  Old."  - 

2.  Foxe3  speaks  of  Tyndale  as  "the  greatest  doer"  in  this 
translation,  and,  with  the  help  of  Miles  Coverdale,  "translating 
all  the  books,  except  only  the  Apocrypha — John  Rogers  at 
the   same    time  being    corrector  of  the  print,  who    had  then 
translated  the  residue  of  the  Apocrypha."     But  the  Apocrypha 
is  beyond  question   Coverdale's  version,  as  may  be  seen  by 
looking  into  his  Bible,  and  Rogers  translated  no  portion  of 
it.     Foxe,  in  his  first  edition,  had  made  the  mistaken  announce 
ment  that  Coverdale's  Bible  was  published  in   1532,  a  date 
which  the  book  itself  visibly  contradicts,  as  its  title-page  bears 
MDXXXV.     Several  writers,  relying  on  the  truth  of  the  state 
ment,  seemed  to  infer  that  his  Bible  of  a  subsequent  date  was 
a  prepared  re-issue  of  this  earlier  volume,  and  the  next  and  easy 
step  was  to  imagine  a  confederacy  of  Tyndale,  Coverdale,  and 
Rogers,  in  the  further  revision  of  it. 

3.  Offor,  in  the  face  of  all  evidence,  thinks  that  perhaps 
Tyndale  may  have  completed  the  entire  Old  Testament.     But 
surely  the  incorporation  of  Coverdale's  version,  from  the  end  of 
2  Chronicles  to  the  end  of  Malachi,  disproves  the  conjecture. 
If  Rogers  could  have  employed  Tyndale's  version,  he  would  not 
have  preferred  Coverdale's,  and  his  insertion  of  Coverdale's 
Jonah    only  proves  that  Tyndale's  was  not  accessible,  for  so 
scarce  did  it  become  that  some  have  denied  its  very  existence.4 
Or  another  reason  may  be  found  in  the  fact  that  Coverdale's 
Jonah  is  but  a  revision  of  Tyndale's,  as  may  be  seen  on  a  brief 
comparison.5     Thus,  in   the  first    chapter    of    the    prophecy, 
T}7ndale   is   far   more  in  accordance  with  the  Hebrew  than 
Coverdale.    The  connecting  particle  "  and  "  is  usually  preserved 
by  Tyndale,  while  Coverdale  omits  it  five  times,  and  changes 
it  into  "  so  "  three  times,  into  "  where  "  twice,  and  into  "  then  " 
once,  these  changes    being  usually    after    the    Zurich  Bible. 

1  Chronicle,  fol.  132,  London,  1563.         4  See  pp.  205,  206. 

2  P.  283,  London,  1670.  5  Both  versions  have  been  printed  in 

3  Acts,  &c.,  vol.  V,  p.  412.  fac-simile  by  Mr.  Fry.    London,  1863. 


xxi.]  CONTRIBUTION  OF  TYNDALE.  317 

Coverdale  gives  not  a  few  of  Tyndale's  simpler  clauses,  word 
for  word,  and  has  also  some  of  his  most  characteristic  phrases 
such  as,  "gat  him  down,"  "wente  aborde,"  "paid  his  fare," 
"  the  lorde  hurled  a  great  winde  into  the  see,"  "  gat  him  under 
the  hatches,  and  layed  him  down  and  slombered,"  "  the  see 
wrought  and  was  troublous,"  and  not  a  few  clauses  are  pre 
served  word  for  word. 

4.  Bale  asserts,  and  he  is  followed  by  Fuller,  that  Rogers 
translated  the  Bible  from  Genesis  to  the  end  of  Revelation,1 
adding  prefaces  and   notes  from  Luther,  and  making  use   of 
Hebrew,  Greek,  Latin,  German,  and  English  copies,  the  last 
explained  by  Strype  as  meaning  Tyndale's  translation.     This 
statement  gives  Rogers  credit  for  work  which  he  did  not  do, 
and  did  not  need  to  do,  as  the  comparison  of  the  various  parts 
of  the  edition  so  clearly  and  strikingly  testifies.2 

5.  Strype,  in  one  place,  describes  the  book  as  "  Matthew's 
Bible,   of   Tyndale    and   Rogers'  translation," 3  thus   ignoring 
Coverdale,  to  whom  undoubtedly  is  to  be  ascribed  one-third 
of  the  volume — or  all  the  Old  Testament  from  2  Chronicles 
with  the  Apocrypha — as  any  reader  may  determine  at  once 
for  himself. 

6.  Anthony  Johnson  vaguely  speaks  of  the  "  feigned  name  " 
of  Thomas  Matthews,  and  connects  the  Bible  with  Tyndale  and 
Rogers — "Rogers  having  translated   the  Apocrypha,  Tyndale 
having  gone  no  farther  than  Nehemiah " ; 4  while  Newcome/' 
more  strangely  still,  tells  us  that  Cranmer  employed  Rogers  to 
superintend  it,  and  Bishop  Gray,6  without  any  inquiry,  copies 
the  inaccuracy. 

7.  Whittaker's  statement  is  as  unfounded,  that  "  Coverdale, 
assisted  by  Rogers  who  corrected  the  press,  revised  the  whole 
of  Tyndale's  work,  before  they  reprinted  it."  7 

1  A  vertice  ad  calcem  fidelissime  4  Historical  Account,    &c.,   p.  T3, 
in  idioma  vulgare  traustulit.  reprinted   in  vol.  Ill  of    Watson's 

2  Script.  Illust,  p.  676,  Basil,  1557.  Theological  Tracts,  London,  1842. 
He  characterizes  the  Bible  as  "  opus  5  Historical  View,  &c.,  p.  34. 
laboriosum,  excellens,  salubre,  pium  6  Key  to  the  Old  Testament,  p.  18. 
ac  sanctissimum."  7  Enquiry,  &c.,  p.  59,  Cambridge, 

3  Memorials   of  Cranmer,   vol.  T,  1819. 
p.  185. 


318  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 

9.  According  to  Walter,  and  his  opinion  was  adopted  by 
Hartwell  Home,  Coverdale  was  the  editor  of  Matthew's  Bible, 
and  he  rejected  as  much  of  his  own  version  as  could  be  replaced 
from  Tyndale's  published  or  unpublished  translations.1  The 
statement  about  the  authorship  of  the  text  is  true,  though 
Coverdale  had  no  hand  either  in  compiling  or  editing  the 
Bible,  as  it  was  printed  abroad,  and  Coverdale,  who  seerns  to 
have  come  back  at  or  about  the  time  of  the  publication  of  his 
own  Bible,  was  during  this  period  in  England.2 

Equally  remote  from  fact  is  Hallam's  statement,3  that  the 
Bible  of  1535  was  the  joint  work  of  Tyndale  and  Coverdale, 
and  that  a  new  edition  of  it  appeared  in  1537  under  the  name 
of  Matthew.  The  first  opinion  being  baseless,  the  last  of  course 
falls  to  the  ground ;  and  though  it  is  true  that  the  edition  of 
1537  did  consist  of  Tyndale's  and  Coverdale's  version,  yet  they 
were  not  so  joined  together  in  1535. 

Froude4  also  conjectures  the  entire  Old  Testament  to  be 
Tyndale's  work,  "  done  by  him  personally,  or  done  under  his 
superintendence";  but  the  assertion  is  contradicted  by  all  that 
is  known  of  the  martyr's  life,  and  by  the  character  of  the 
translation  of  the  Historical  Books  found  in  the  Bible  of  1535, 
and  in  that  of  1537.  It  is  also  incorrect  to  talk,  as  Colonel 
Chester  does,  of  the  New  Testament  "of  Rogers'  version,"  since, 
as  far  as  the  text  is  concerned,  he  only  reprinted  Tyndale. 
Cranmer  might  be  pardoned  for  calling  it  "  a  new  translation," 
and  "  a  new  print "  ;  but  such  inadvertence  is  now  without 
apology. 

1  Letters  to  the  Right  Reverend     years."    Remains,    Parker     Society, 
Herbert,     Lord     Bishop   of    Peter-     pp.  525-6. 

borough,  p.  301,  London,  1823.  3  Constitutional  History  of  Eng- 

2  On    the   26th  of  March,    1548,     laud,  vol.  I,  p.  83,  seventh  edition, 
Coverdale  writes  from  Frankfort,  to     London,  1854. 

Calvin,  about  his  speedy  return  to         4  History  of  England,  vol.  Ill,  p. 
Euglaud,  "after  an  exile  of    eight     78,  fourth  edition,  London,  1867. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

A  LL  those  extraordinary  statements  in  the  previous  para 
graphs  may  be  easily  set  aside  by  the  briefest  collation. 
The  simple  fact  is,  that  the  Bible  of  Matthew  or  Rogers  was  a 
composite  volume  made  up  of  the  translations  of  Tyndale  and 
Coverdale.  Tyndale  had  already  published  the  Pentateuch, 
and  during  the  remaining  years  of  his  life  he  must  have  been 
quietly  and  vigorously  engaged  in  the  prosecution  of  his 
great  work — the  translation  of  the  entire  Old  Testament. 
From  his  cold  and  dark  prison  he  made  a  special  request  for 
a  little  light  and  for  his  "  Hebrew  Bible,  Hebrew  grammar,  and 
Hebrew  dictionary,"  that  he  might  spend  his  time  in  the  study 
and  translation  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures.1  We  can  scarcely 
suppose  that  his  small  request,  so  feelingly  urged,  was  denied  ; 
and  we  can  picture  him  during  the  long  nights  of  winter 
poring  over  these  volumes  by  the  miserable,  blinking  flame  of 
a  candle,  that  did  little  more  than  make  the  darkness  visible, 
while  the  morning  sunbeams,  feebly  straggling  through  the 
narrow  grated  windows,  might  not  supply  a  much  better 
light  to  the  crouching  industrious  student.  The  general  belief 
is,  that  he  had  translated  to  the  end  of  2  Chronicles,  and  he 
may  have  left  papers  containing  first  copies  of  other  books. 
Probably  Rogers  had  been  initiated  into  the  work  by  Tyndale, 
and  had  acquired  such  a  love  for  it  that  he  resolved  to  republish 
what  the  martyr  had  already  printed,  and  to  issue  at  the  same 
time  what  he  possessed  of  his  unfinished  task.  Tyndale's 
"  books  and  other  things  "  were  seized  on  his  arrest,  but  im 
portant  manuscripts  might  in  these  hazardous  times  have  been 

1  See  page  211. 


320  TH rE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

secured  from  harm,  and  deposited  in  some  secret  place  of 
safety,  known  to  Rogers  or  Mr.  Poyntz.  The  portion  of 
the  Old  Testament,  from  Joshua  to  Ezra,  is  undeniably  not 
Coverdale's  version,  and  at  the  end  of  Malachi  stand  in  large 
ornamented  capitals  the  letters  W.  T. — William  Tyndale.  But 
the  part  from  2  Chronicles  onward  to  the  conclusion  of  the 
Old  Testament,  including  Jonah,  is  beyond  doubt  Coverdale's 
translation.  Rogers  did  not  insert  the  Epistles  from  the  Old 
Testament  according  to  the  use  of  Sarum,  which  are  appended 
to  Tyndale's  New  Testament  of  1534.  The  Epistles  taken  from 
the  historical  books  differ  from  the  corresponding  sections  of 
Matthew's  Bible,  and  apparently  they  formed  the  basis  of  a 
revision  made  by  the  translator  himself ;  but  those  taken  from 
the  Prophets  and  the  Apocrypha  are  completely  ignored,  and 
the  version  of  Coverdale  is  used. 

No  small  presumption  in  favour  of  the  tradition  that  Tyndale 
translated  from  Joshua  to  2  Chronicles  is  afforded  by  the  fact 
that  these  books  are  translated,  according  to  Tyndale's  wont, 
from  the  Hebrew  text.  The  assertion  may  be  verified  by  the 
comparison  of  any  chapter,  or  even  of  any  verse.  Thus  : — 

TTODALE  AFTER  THK  COVERDALE,  AS  USUAL, 

HEBREW.  DIRECTLY  FROM  THE 

ZURICH  BIBLE. 

Josh.       i,  1.  which  I  give  (Heb.  pres.  par-  I  have  given.1 

ticiple). 

4.  the  river  Euphrates  the  water  Euphrates.2 

toward  the  going  down  of  the  toward  the  \vest.:J 

sun. 

ix,  14.  the  men  took  of  their  victuals,  the  captain4  took, 

xii,  1.  the  river  Arnon.  the  water  of  Arnon. 

2.  the  river  Jabbok  water  of  Jabbok. 

the  plain.  the  plain  field.5 

xxiv,  21.  elders  that  overlived  Joshua,  lived  long  after  Joshua.6 

These  are  slight,  but  satisfactory,  specimens  in  favour  of 
Tyndale,  and  Coverdale  cannot  for  a  moment  be  suspected. 

1  Ich  geben  hab.  4  Hauptleiit. 

2  Wasser.  5  Flach  viild. 

3  Gegen  den  Abend.  (i  Lauge  zeyt  laebtend  nach  Josua. 


xxn.]  TYNDALE  AND  THE  HISTORICAL  BOOKS.  321 

Besides,  not  a  few  characteristic  renderings  in  Tyndale's  Pen 
tateuch  are  found  in  the  Historical  Books.  "  Timbrel "  is  the 
uniform  translation  of  a  Hebrew  term  in  the  Pentateuch,  and 
also  in  the  Historical  Books ;  but  Coverdale  has  "  tabret." 
Lebanon  is  the  form  found  in  the  Pentateuch,  and  also  in  the 
Historical  Books ;  Coverdale  preferring  Libanus.  "  Ephod  "  is 
the  translation  in  the  Pentateuch,  and  is  carried  into  the  His 
torical  Books;  Coverdale  employing  "overbody  cote."  "Ark 
of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord "  is  Coverdale's  favourite  phrase 
in  the  Pentateuch  and  Historical  Books,  but  Tyndale  has 
often  in  the  Pentateuch,  "Ark  of  the  Testament,"  and  this  ren 
dering  is  employed  also  in  the  Historical  Books ;  while  "  Ark 
of  the  appointment  of  the  Lord  "  is  in  both  collections  of  books, 
and  both  phrases  occur  in  Joshua  iii  and  iv.  A  substantive 
rendered  "  tribulation  "  in  Deut.  iv,  30,  has  the  same  rendering 
in  2  Samuel  xxii,  7,  and  in  2  Chron.  xv,  4,  Coverdale  having 
"  strately  troubled  "  and  "  in  trouble."  Another  peculiar  phrase, 
rendered  "prisoned  and  forsaken"  in  Deut.  xxxii,  36,  is  "in 
prison  and  forsaken  "  in  1  Kings  xiv,  10,  and  "  prysoned  and 
forsaken  "  in  1  Kings  xxi,  21 — Coverdale  having  in  the  first 
instance  "  shut  up  and  remained  over,"  and  in  the  second, 
"the  prisoner  and  forsaken."  Coverdale  carefully  consulted 
Tyndale:s  Pentateuch,  and  therefore  proofs  taken  from  identity 
of  renderings  in  the  Mosaic  and  in  the  Historical  Books  are 
so  far  obliterated  when  they  are  also  found  in  the  Pentateuch 
of  the  Bible  of  1535.  Coverdale  preferred  Tyndale's  transla 
tion  in  cases  where  he  was  at  liberty  to  select  other  terms ;  as 
in  Deut.  xiv,  5,  Tyndale  (Matthew)  having,  "  ye  shall  eate  no 
maner  of  abhominacyon — these  are  the  beastes  which  ye  shall 
eate  of,  oxen,  shepe,  and  gootes,  hart,  roo,  and  bugle,  hart- 
goote,  unicorn,  origin,  and  camelion,"  J  Matthew  altering  hart 
into  wild.  The  last  three  terms  are  in  our  version,  wild  ox, 
pygarg,  and  chamois.  But  in  Leviticus  xi,  22,  Tyndale  has 
"  Even  of  these  ye  may  eat,  the  arbe  and  all  hys  kynde,  the 
selaam  with  all  hys  kynde,  the  hargol  and  all  his  kynde,  the 

1  "  Bugle "  is  biiffel  in  Luther,  being  some  kind  of  antelope.  All 
"  origin  "  is  Aurochs,  the  Septuagint  these  terms  seem  to  denote  animals, 
having  opv£,  the  word  so  rendered  of  that  species. 

VOL.   I.  X 


322  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

hagab  and  all  hys  kynde."1  Luther  and  the  Zurich  Bible  leave 
these  terms  untranslated,  and  Coverdale  follows.  Matthew, 
however,  who  keeps  Tyndale,  gives  this  note  :  "  Kyndes  of 
beastes  that  crepe  or  scraule  on  the  grounde,  which  the  Hebrews 
themselves  do  not  no  we  a  dayes  knowe."  The  Geneva  Bible 
(1560)  has  a  similar  note.  In  a  word,  the  Historical  Books  have 
the  same  closeness  to  the  Hebrew,  the  same  clearness  and  pre 
cision,  the  same  tone  and  colouring  as  are  found  in  the  Penta 
teuch.  The  work  is  done  as  Tyndale  could  have  done  it,  and 
who  but  he  would  do  it  ?  It  was  not  carried  out  in  England, 
nor  yet  by  any  foreigner  oil  the  Continent.  Was  there  any 
other  man  of  English  blood  across  the  channel  at  the  time  that 
was  so  absorbed  in  the  preparation  of  an  English  Bible  directly 
from  the  original  tongues,  or  that  possessed  the  requisite  quali 
fications  ?  Was  there  any  other  self-devoted  exile  endowed 
with  sufficient  earnestness,  scholarship,  and  boldness  to  engage 
in  the  beloved,  responsible,  and  perilous  task  ? 

The  New  Testament  is  chiefly  Tyndale's  translation  of 
1535-34.  This  edition  was  selected  by  Rogers  as  being  the 
last  and  best,  the  crown  and  culmination  of  Tyndale's  life  work. 
He  had  been  for  some  time  in  Antwerp,  and  had  enjoyed  con 
fidential  and  familiar  intercourse  with  Tyndale,  so  that  the 
translator's  critical  labour  on  the  new  issue  \vas  well  known 
to  him  in  its  fidelity,  scholarship,  and  patience,  and  he  wisely 
resolved  to  reprint  it.  He,  therefore,  did  not  follow  the 
revised  edition  of  1534,  nor  that  of  1535,  but  chiefly  preferred 
that  of  1535-34,  marked  as  GH  in  the  following  collation 
of  Mark,  and  he  has  taken  it  in  778  places.  But  lie  adopts 
the  error  of  GH,  1535,  in  Mark  xvi,  17,  "these  things"  for 
"these  signs,"  the  correct  rendering  of  1534.2  In  the  edition 
of  1535,  there  are  many  misprints,  the  result  of  careless  editing, 
and  to  be  traced  to  the  same  source  as  the  peculiar  spelling — 
the  ignorance  of  a  foreign  printer.  The  following  is  Mr.  Fry's 
collation  of  Mark  : — 

1  These  creatures  belonged  to  the  locust  is  still  named  in  Egypt,  the 

locust  or  grasshopper   species  ;    the  "  bald  locust "  of  our  version  being  a 

first  is  the  common  locust,  and  the  mere  rabbinical  fiction, 

second  name  is  that  by  which  the  -  See  page  232-4. 


xxii.]  COMPARISON  OF  ST.  MARK.  323 

COMPAKISON  OF  1534;    1535-1534  GH;   1535;  MATTHEW'S  1537. 
THE  GOSPEL  OF  SAINT  MAKK. 

Ch.     Ver. 

1  2    '34    which  shall  prepared  thy   GH '35  M   which  shall  prepare  thy 

5    '34GH'35...    all  the  land  of  Jury     M  all  that  land  of  Jury 

-  21     '34    ...    '35  M    into  the  synagogue       ...  GH to  the  synagogue 

-  31    '34  GH  ...  M    forsook  her  by  and  by         ...  '35  ...    forsook  her  and  by  and  by 

'34  GH  ...  M    and  she  ministered       '35  ...    she  ministered 

-  39    '34  GH...  M    throughout  all  Galilee        ...    '35...    "throught"  all  Galilee 
40    '34  GH...  M    ifthouwilt     '35...    "ywiltthou" 

(    GH  '35  ...    and  he  was  cleansed 

-  42     34     and  was  cleansed          <  ,.         .  .    , 

I     M  omitted 

-  43    '34GH'35...    and  he  charged  him     M   omitted 

2  23    '34    went  on  their  way       ...  GH '35  M   went  in  their  way 

'34  GH  ...  M    ears  of  corn     '35  ...   ears  of  the  corn 

-  27    '34    sabbath  day  was  made      GH  '35  M   sabbath  was  made 

'34     the  sabbath  day     GH '35  M  the  sabbath 

3  13     '34  GH  ...  M    up  into  a  mountain,    '35  ...    up  to  a  mountain 

-  10    '34     gave  unto  Simon  to  name  GH '35  M  gave  Simon  to  name 

4  20    '34     those  that  were  "so  wen"  GH '35  M   those  that  were  sowed 

-  24    '34  GH  ...  M    unto  you  that  hear       '35...    unto  you  that  have 

-  38    '34  GH  ...  M    carest  thou  not  that  we      ...    '35...    nearest  thou  not  that  we 

5  13    '34  GH  ...  M    ran  "  headling"  into  the     ...    '35...    rana"headling"intothe 

-  14  '34  GH  ...  M  and  in  the  country       '35...   and  the  country 

-  1(3  '34    happened  unto  him      ...  GH '35  M   happened  to  him 

-  21  '34    gathered  unto  him       ...  GH '35  M   gathered  to  him 

-  42  '34  GH  ...  M  astonished  at  it      '35...    astonished  of  it 

G      5  '34  GH  ...  M  and  he  could  there       '35...  and  he  would  there 

31  '34     come  ye  apart  into       ...  GH '35  M  come  apart  into 

-  33  '34  GH  ...  M  and  came  together  unto      ...    '35...  and  together  unto 

-  35  '34  GH  ...  M  the  day  was  now  far  spent  ...    '35...  the  day  was  too  far  spent 

7  4     '34  GH  ...  M    from  the  market    '35...   from  market 

-  11     '34  GH  ...  M    the  with  is  given  God '35...    the  "wich"  is  given  God 

-  13    '34    many  such  things  ye  do    GH  '35  M   many  such  things  do  ye 

.    19    '34    M    but  into  the  belly GH '35  ...   but  in  the  belly 

-  32    '34     to  lay  his  hand  upon  him  GH '35  M  to  put  his  hand  upon  him 

8  1    '34  GH '35  ...    in  those  days M   in  the  days 

9  37     '34     whosoever  receive  any      GH '35  M   whosoever  receiveth  any 

'34  GH  ...  M    in  my  name  receiveth         ...    '35...    in  my  name  receiveth  not 

-  38     '34  GH  ..    M    which  followeth  not  us       ...    '35...    which  followed  not  us 

'34  GH  ...  M    because  he  followeth  us      ...    '35  ...    because  he  followed  us 

—  45    '34  GH  ...  M    having  two  feet      '35...   having  two  foot 

46    '34  GH  ...  M    and  the  fire  never  goeth      ...   '35...    and  he  never  goeth 

10  19    '34    bear  not  false  witness  ...  GH '35  M   bear  no  false  witness 

-  21    '34  GH  ...  M    thou  shalt  have  treasure    ...    '35...    thou  shalt  treasure 

'34GH'35...  and  take  up  thy  cross M   and  take  up  the  cross 

11  2    '34  GH  ...  M  go  your  ways '35...    go  you  the  ways 

—  12    '34  GH  ...  M  and  on  the  morrow       '35...    and  " oone "  morrow 

-  23    '34    shall  believe  that  those     GH  '35  M   shall  believe  those 

12  26    '34  GH  ...  M    and  God  of  Isaac   ..  ..    '35  ...    and  the  God  of  Isaac 


324  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

COLLATION — Continued. 


40 

'34    ... 

under  colour  of  long    ... 

GH 

'35  M 

under  a  colour  of  long 

43 

'34  GH 

...  M 

and  ho  called  unto  him 

'35  ... 

and  he  calleth  unto  him 

4 

'34  GH 

...  M 

when  all  these  things  .  .  . 

'35  ... 

when  all  things 

n 

'34  GH 

...  M 

but  whatsoever  is  given 

'35  ... 

whatsoever  is  given 

— 

'34  GH 

...  M 

same  time  that  speak  .  .  . 

'35  ... 

same  time  that  that  speak 

13 

'34  GH 

...  M 

but  whosoever  shall 

'35  ... 

but  whoever  shall 

17 

'34 

woe  is  then  to  them 

GH 

'35  M 

woe  shall  be  then  to  them 

.>., 

'34    ... 

false  Christs  shall  arise 

GH 

'35  M 

false  Christs  shall  rise 

30 

'34    ... 

till  all  these  things 

GH 

'35  M 

till  these  things 

34 

'34  GH 

...  M 

and  hath  left  his  house 

'35  ... 

and  had  left  his  house 

2 

'34  ... 

'35  M 

arise  among  the  people 

GH 

arise  among  people 

45 

'34  GH 

...  M 

Master  Master  and  kissed 

'35  ... 

Master  and  kissed 

63 

'31  GH 

...  M 

then  the  highest  priest 

'35  ... 

then  the  high  priest 

— 

'34  GH 

...  M 

rent  his  clothes  and  said 

'35  ... 

rent  his  clothes  and  say 

64 

'34  GH 

..  M 

all  cave  sentence    .. 

'35 

all  have  sentence 

14      2 


'34  GH  '35  ...    have  heard  the  blasphemy M  have  heard  blasphemy 

15     15     '34  GH  ...  M    to  be  crucified        '35...  to  crucified 

1<J     '34GH'35...    kneeled  down M  omitted 

-  21)    '34  GH  ...  M    destroyest  the  temple '35  ...  destroyed  the  temple 

(  '34     with  him  to  Jerusalem       ...    '35...  with  unto  Jerusalem 

\   ...  GH  ...  M  with  him  unto  Jerusalem 

4G     '34  GH  '35  ...    of  the  rock  and  rolled  a      M  omitted 

stone  unto  the  door 

1(5     11     '34     and  when  they  heard  ...  GH '35  M  and  though  they  heard 

'34    and  he  had  appeared   . . .  GH  '35  M  and  had  appeared 

'34     they  believed  it  not      ...  GH '35  M  yet  they  believed  it  not 

•  15     '34  GH  ...  M  preach  the  glad  tidings       ...    '35...  preach  the  gladder  tidings 
17     '34    and  these  signs       GH '35  M  and  these  things 

19    '34    and  is  set  down      GH  '35  M  and  sat  him  down 

These  component  parts  being  gathered  into  one  volume  by 
John  Rogers,  two-thirds  of  Matthew's  Bible  are,  therefore, 
Tyndale's,  and  one-third  is  Coverdale's.  Tyndale  had  done 
his  work  "  in  much  patience,  in  afflictions,  in  necessities,  in 
distresses  " ;  his  name  had  been  "  cast  out  as  evil " ;  King 
Henry  had  hated  him;  Sir  Thomas  More  had  employed  all 
his  learning,  eloquence,  and  wit  to  hold  up  his  version  to 
malediction  and  scorn;  Crumwell  had  frowned  upon  him  ; 
Tunstall  had  made  a  goodly  bonfire  of  his  volumes;  Long- 
land's  heart  had  been  rejoiced  by  the  secret  simultaneous 
search  for  them  in  the  capital  and  the  two  universities ; 
Stokesley  had  sent  men  to  the  flames  for  reading  them ;  the 
translator  himself  had  been  proscribed,  "  Judasly  betrayed  " 
by  English  agents,  and  burned;  but  in  less  than  a  year 


xxii.]  THE  FIRST  A  UTHORIZED  VERSION.  325 

after  his  martyrdom,  his  translation  acquired  the  royal  right 
of  free  sale  and  dispersion,  having  been  mysteriously  ac 
cepted  as  forming  the  larger  portion  of  an  Authorized  Version 
for  the  English  people.1 

1  Tyn  dale's  last  prayer  at  the  stake  in"  to  the  country  "by  the  solemn 

contradict's   Mr.    Froude's  assertion  will  of  the  king."     No  royal  license 

(vol.  iv,  p.  84)  that  the  translator  was  issued  for  Bibles  till  1537 — the 

had  lived  to  see  the  Bible  "  borne  year  after  Tyudale's  martyrdom. 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 


work  of  Rogers  in  tlie  production  of  this  Bible  was, 
however,  something  more  than  the  mechanical  putting 
together  of  its  various  portions,  and  the  superintending  of  the 
press.  The  preliminary  matter  is  characteristic.  As  has  been 
already  said,  besides  the  general  preface,  and  dedication,  and  the 
"exhortacyon  to  the  studye  of  the  Holy  Scripture,  gathered  out 
of  the  Bible,"  at  the  end  of  which  stand  the  initials  I.  R.,  there 
follows  also,  on  two  pages,  the  "  summe  arid  content  of  all  the 
Holy  Scripture,  both  of  the  Okie  and  the  Newe  Testament,"  a 
brief  system  of  theology.  These  two  prefatory  essays  were 
retained  in  the  great  Bible  of  1539.  Then  there  comes  a 
"  table  of  the  pryncypal  matters  conteyned  in  the  Byble,  in 
which  the  readers  may  fynde  and  practyse  many  commune 
places,"  and  prefaced  by  an  address  to  the  "  Christen  reders," 
which  opens,  "  As  the  bees  dylygently  do  gather  together  the 
swete  flowers  to  make  by  naturall  craft  the  swete  honey* 
so  haue  I  done  the  pryncypall  sentences  conteyned  in  the 
Byble.  The  whych  are  ordened  after  the  maner  of  a  table,  for 
the  consolacyon  of  those  whych  are  not  yet  exercised  and 
instructed  in  the  holy  Scripture.  In  the  which  are  many 
harde  places,  as  well  of  the  olde  as  of  the  newe  Testament 
expounded,  gathered  together,  concorded,  compared  one  wyth 
another ;  to  thintent  that  the  prudent  Reader  (by  the  sprete 
of  God)  maye  beare  awaj^e  pure  and  cleare  vnderstanynge. 
Wherby  euery  man  (as  he  is  bounde)  maye  be  made  ready, 
stronge,  &  garnyshed,  to  answere  to  all  them  that  aske  hym 
a  reason  of  hys  fayth.  Thys  is  also  profytable  for  the  partycular 
&  generall  exhortacyons  whych  we  make  to  certayne  person- 


PREFA  TOR  Y  MA  TTER.  397 

ages,  or  commune  people :  &  for  to  answere  truly  to 
Heretykes,  &  to  confounde  the  aduersaries  of  the  worde  of 
God.  In  the  which  also  we  may  fynde  (that  which  helpeth 
greatly  the  studye  of  the  readers)  the  openynge  of  certayne 
Hebrewe  tropes,  translacyons,  symylytudes,  and  maners  of 
speakynges  (whych  we  call  phrases)  conteyned  in  the  Byble. 
And  for  the  more  easely  to  fynde  the  matters  desyred  (because 
that  dysorder  engendreth  coufusyon),  I  haue  preceded  after  the 
order  of  an  alphabete  :  to  thyntente  that  none  be  depryued  of  so 
precyous  a  treasure  :  the  whych  ye  shall  vse  to  the  honoure  & 
giorye  of  God,  and  to  the  edyfyinge  of  hys  Churche.  How  be 
it  (good  Reader)  yf  thou  fynde  not  the  thynges  in  thys  table 
expressed,  in  the  same  letters  of  the  chapters  wherin  they 
are  assynged ;  vouchsaue  to  loke  in  the  letter  goinge  next 
before  or  in  the  letter  next  folowynge."  The  table  fills  twenty- 
six  folio  pages,  and  being  alphabetically  arranged,  it  forms 
a  species  of  concordance  and  dictionary — one  of  the  earliest  in 
the  language.  Great  pains  were  employed  in  drawing  it  up, 
and  its  scriptural  fulness  and  accuracy  are  to  be  admired.  It 
is  not,  however,  original,  but  is  taken  chiefly  from  the  French 
Bible  of  Olivetan.  Texts  of  Scripture  are  uniformly  given 
to  these  220  articles,  in  order  to  illustrate,  confirm,  or  improve 
practically  what  has  been  said,  and  the  Apocrypha  is  freely 
used.  Scripture  is  compared  with  Scripture.  Thus,  under  the 
word  Angels  : l  The  angels  assyste  before  God,  Job  xxv  a,  and 
xxxviii  a,  Daniel  vii  c,  Matt,  xviii ;  and  do  minister  to  men, 
Ps.  civ  a,  Heb.  i.  Also  they  do  rebuke  sinners,  Judges  ii  a, 
and  do  comfort  the  afflycte,  Genesis  xxi  6,  Luke  xxii  es,  Dan. 
vi  /.  Also  they  do  teach  the  ignoraunte,  example  of  ye  angel 
which  taught  Elijah,  what  he  should  say  to  the  seruantes  of 
Ohoziah,  iv  Re.  i  a,  also  of  Dan.  ix  /,  also  of  Joseph,  Matt.  i. 
ii,  d,  also  of  Cornelius,  Acts  x  a,  also  of  Zechariah,  Luke  i. 
By  the  angelles  God  scourgeth  his  people,  ii  Re.  xxiv,  iv  Re. 
xix  g,  Act  vii  d.  Aduocate — Note  that  I  fynde  not  in  all  the 
Byble  this  word  aduocate,  but  only  in  i  Jo.  ii  a,  in  ye  which 
place  is  said  that  Christ  is  our  aduocate  towarde  the  father." 

1  There  are,  of  course,  no  verses     alphabet     iudicate    the    section    in 
marked,    and     the    letters    of    the     which  the  passages  may  be  found. 


328  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

Some  of  the  notes  have  a  distinct  reference  to  popery.  Under 
Beatitude  occurs,  with  a  hand  pointing  to  it,  "  blessed  is  Mary 
because  she  beleued,"  Luke  i  e.  Masse,  thys  worde  masse  is 
not  in  the  Byble  translated  by  S.  Jerom,  nor  in  none  other 
that  we  haue.  And  therefore,  could  I  not  tel  what  to  note 
therof,  but  to  sende  the  reader  to  the  souper  of  oure  Lorde 
Jesus  Christe,  i  Corinthians  xi,  Act  xx  6  c.  Meryte — In 
lokynge  ouer  the  Byble,  as  well  the  newe  as  the  olde  Testa 
ment,  I  haue  not  founde  this  word  meryte.  Meryte  then  is 
nothynge ;  for  to  meryt  is  to  bynd  God  vnto  his  creatures,  and 
not  to  obserue  the  meryte  of  Jesus  Christ,  by  which  only  we 
are  saued ;  not  accordynge  to  oure  workes  or  merytes,  but 
according  to  his  holy  purpose  and  grace,  which  was  geuen  vnto 
vs  before  al  time,  ii  Tim.  i  b,  Titus  iv  b  :  It  is  then  by  grace 
that  we  are  saued  through  fayth,  and  not  of  vs,  but  by  the 
gyft  of  God  to  thyntent  that  none  do  boast  hym  selfe, 
Ephe.  ii,  Roma,  iii,  2.  For  the  tribulacyons  of  thys  world,  are 
not  worthye  of  the  glorye  that  shal  be  shewed  vnto  vs,  Rom, 
viii.  And  if  we  haue  pacyence  in  them,  that  cometh  of  God, 
i  Cor  iv.  Howe  then  can  we  glorye  that  we  do  meryte 
that  thyng  which  is  none  of  ours  in  as  much  as  God  doth  and 
accomplysheth  in  vs  the  good  wil,  Phil.  ii.  Religion  for 
obseruing  (not  of  cloister  rules),  but  of  thynges  orda}^ned 
of  God,  Exo.  xii  d,  Leue.  viii  g,  Num.  xix  d,  religion  for  the 
sect  of  the  Pharises  which  were  proud  Ipocrites  and  ful  of 
ceremonies,  of  which  S.  Paul  was  at  the  fyrste,  Act  xxvi  6. 
Cornelius  being  captaine  of  the  Italian's  army,  is  called  a 
religious  man,  and  yet  he  had  made  no  inonastycall  vowes, 
Act  x  a.  The  true  religion  of  the  Christen  standcth  not  in 
the  dyuersitye  of  habytes  or  of  vowes  ;  but  in  visitynge  of 
the  fatheiiesse  and  wydowes  in  their  tribulacyons  and  kepyng 
a  man's  selfe  pure  from  the  wickedness  of  this  world,  James  i. 

Rogers  did  not  translate,  nor  did  he  attempt  a  thorough 
revision.  But  he  went  over  the  whole  carefully,  making  a  few 
unimportant  changes,  and  adding  several  alternate  renderings, 
found  among  the  notes,  and  introduced  by  the  formula, 
"  Some  rcade  " — thus,  in  Isaiah  iii,  3,  the  text  has  "  master  of 
craftes,"  and  the  notes  have,  Some  reade  "  exactours  or  extor- 


xxiii.]  COVERDALE  AND  MATTHEW.  329 

tioners."  Isaiah  viii,  14,  text,  "  to  stumble  at,  the  rock  to  fall 
upon,  a  snare  and  net  to  both  the  houses  to  Israel,  and  the  in- 
habitours  of  Jerusalem."  Notes,  Some  reade,  "  and  as  the  rock 
to  fall  upon  the  two  houses  of  Israel,  a  snare  and  net  to  the 
inhabitours  of  Jerusalem,"  after  Luther.  In  Prov.  i,  1,  Cover- 
dale  has  "These  are  the  Proverbes  of  Salomon,"  and  in  Isaiah  i,  1, 
"  This  is  the  Prophecy  of  Esay,"  both  after  Luther  ;  but  Rogers 
gives  more  literally,  "  The  Proverbs  of  Solomon,""  The  Prophecy 
of  Esay,"  after  the  Vulgate  and  Pagninus.  The  change,  how 
ever,  in  these  places  is  accidental,  for  similar  diction  is  found 
in  the  beginning  of  other  books,  as  in  the  opening  words  of 
Jeremiah,  Hosea,  Joel,  Amos,  &c.,  where  Luther's  usual  formula, 
repeated  in  the  Zurich  Bible,  and  translated  by  Coverdale, 
remains  unchanged.  Coverdale  had  followed  the  numeration 
of  the  Psalms  as  given  in  the  Vulgate,  noting  at  the  head  of 
the  tenth  Psalm,  "  here  the  Hebrues  begine  the  x  Psalm,"  mak 
ing  the  next  as  the  x  also ;  but  in  this  Bible  the  numeration 
corresponds  generally  with  the  Hebrew.  Rogers  omits  three 
verses  in  Psalm  xiv,  which,  "not  being  in  the  Hebrew,"  accord 
ing  to  Coverdale's  marginal  note,  were  yet  inserted  by  him. 
Coverdale  does  not  translate  the  word  given  in  our  version, 
"  to  the  chief  musician,"  but  Rogers  always  renders  it,  "  to 
the  chaunter."  Coverdale  at  the  beginning  of  a  book,  such  as 
Isaiah,  gives  the  contents  of  all  the  chapters  together;  Rogers 
prefixes  them  to  each  separate  chapter,  and  at  the  end  of 
the  chapter  come  the  annotations,  headed  as  "the  notes." 
He  ends  2  Kings  with  the  conclusion  of  the  reign  of  Jehosha- 
phat,  in  our  version  xxii,  50.  In  the  "  Ballet  of  Ballettes  of 
Salomon,"  he  gives  an  interpretation  of  the  poem,  and  the 
various  scenes  are  distinguished  as  "the  voyce  of  the  Churche," 
"  the  spousesse  to  her  companions,"  "  the  voyce  of  the  Churche 
in  persecution,"  "  Christ  to  the  Synagogue,"  "  the  voyce  of  the 
Patriarch  speaking  of  Christ,"  &c.,  shorter  notes  occurring  on 
the  margin  of  Olivetan.  In  the  use  of  such  notes  on  Canticles, 
Matthew  had  been  preceded  by  Hereford,  the  early  colleague  of 
Wycliffe — "  the  Churche  of  the  comynge  of  Christ  speketh,  the 
voice  of  the  Fader,  &c.";  but  Purvey  removed  such  headings. 
The  title  to  the  Apocrypha,  adorned  with  fifteen  woodcuts, 


330  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 

is,  "The  volume  of  the  bokes  called  Apocrypha  conteyiied 
in  the  comen  translation  in  Latyne,  which  are  not  found  in 
the  Hebrue,  nor  in  the  Chalde."  Coverdale  had  omitted 
the  prayer  of  Manasses,  but  Rogers  inserted  it  before  1  Mac 
cabees,  from  Olivetan's  French  version,  such  terms  and  phrases 
as  "ornament,"  "laudable,"  "  vertu,"  "importable,"  "requir 
ing  goodness  of  thee,"  "  knowing  iniquity,"  "  all  the  vertu e 
of  heaven,"  being  directly  transferred  from  the  French  text. 
Baruch  was  placed  next  to  Jeremiah  by  Coverdale ;  but  hero  it 
is  inserted  between  Ecclesiasticus  and  "  the  Song  of  the  Three 
Children  in  the  Oven."  Though  there  are  headings,  there  are  no 
continuous  notes  to  the  Apocrypha ;  and  his  first  and  general 
preface,  which  is  translated  from  Olivetan,  is  a  distinct  and 
positive  protest  against  the  reception  of  the  books  of  the 
Apocrypha  as  an  inspired  collection — as  follows  : 

"  In  consyderacyon  that  the  bokes  before  are  fouride  in  the 
Hebrue  tonge,  receaued  of  all  men  :  &  that  the  other  folowyng, 
which  are  called  Apocripha  (because  they  were  wont  to  be 
reade,  not  openly  &  in  comen,  but  as  it  were  in  secret  &  aparte) 
are  nether  founde  in  the  Hebrue  nor  in  the  Chalde  :  in  which 
tonges  they  haue  not  of  longe  bene  written  (in  lesse  then  it 
were  happly  the  boke  of  Sapience)  wher  vpon  it  were  now  very 
harde  to  repayre  &  amende  them  :  And  that  also  they  are  not 
receaued  nor  taken  as  legyttymate  &  leafull,  as  well  of  the 
Hebrues  as  of  the  whole  Churche,  as  S.  Hierome  sheweth :  we 
haue  separat  them,  &  sett  them  asydc,  that  they  may  the 
better  be  knowen  :  to  thintent  that  men  may  kuowe  of  which 
bokes  witnes  ought  to  be  receaued,  &  of  which  not.  For  the 
sayde  S.  Hierome  speakinge  of  the  boko  of  Judith  (which  is 
Apocriphe)  sayth,  that  the  autorytye  therof  is  not  esteamed 
worthy  &  suffycyeiit  to  confyrme  &  stablysh  the  thynges  that 
lyght  in  disputacyon.  And  generally  of  all  the  bokes  called 
Apocripha,  he  sayth,  that  men  maye  reade  them  to  the  edyfy- 
inge  of  the  people  :  but  not  to  confyrme  &  strengthen  the 
doctryne  of  the  Churche.  I  leaue  oute  here  the  lawe  (as  they 
call  it)  of  Canon,  c.  Sancta  Romana.  xv.  distinc.  where  he 
sheweth  his  iudgement.  Lykewyse  the  Glose  of  c.  Canones. 
XVJ.  distinc.  which  sayth,  that  men  reade  them,  but  not  in 


xxiii.  ]  THE  A  PO  CR  YPIIA .  331 

generall :  as  though  he  shulde  saye,  that  generally  &  thorouly 
they  are  not  alowed.  And  not  wythout  a  cause  :  For  that  they 
haue  bene  corrupted  &  falsyfyed  in  many  places,  it  appeareth 
sufficiently  by  Eusebius  in  his  boke  called  Historia  Ecclesiastica: 
AYhich  thinge  is  easye  to  be  known  even  now  a  dayes  in 
certen  poyntes,  namely  in  the  bokes  of  the  Machabees  :  whose 
second  boke  S.  Hiero.  confesseth  that  he  founde  not  in  the 
Hebrue,  by  the  meanes  wherof  it  is  become  vnto  vs  the  more 
suspect  &  the  lesse  receaued.  In  lyke  maner  is  it  of  the  thyrde 
&  fourthe  boke  of  Esdras,  which  S.  Hierome  protesteth  that  he 
wolde  not  haue  translated,  esteamyng  them  for  dreames  :  where 
as  Josephus  yet  in  his  boke  of  his  Antiquities  declareth  the 
summe  of  the  matter  after  the  maner  of  a  storye,  as  well  of 
the  boke  of  Machabees  as  of  the  .iij.  of  Esdras:  although  he 
esteame  the  bokes  compyled  from  the  raygne  of  Kynge 
Artaxerses  vnto  hys  tyme,  to  be  Apocripha. 

"  Wherfore  then,  when  thou  wylt  manteyne  any  thynge  for 
certen,  rendryng  a  reason  of  thy  fayth,  take  heade  to  proceade 
therin  by  the  lyuynge  and  pyththye  Scriptures  folowinge 
S.  Peter,  which  sayth :  He  that  speaketh,  let  hym  speake 
as  thoughe  he  spake  the  worde  of  God." 

On  the  other  hand,  Coverdale,  after  saying  that  "  the 
Apocryphal  Books  are  judged  among  the  doctours  to  be 
of  like  reputation  with  the  other  Scripture,"  quietly  adds, 
"  I  have  not  gathered  them  together  to  the  intent  that  I  wolde 
have  them  despised  or  little  set  by,  or  that  I  should  think  them 
false,  for  I  am  not  able  to  prove  it."  He  had  also  said  that, 
between  the  translations,  "  repentance,"  penance  or  amendment, 
"  there  was  no  more  difference  than  between  fourpence  and  a 
groat."  Rogers  was  not  of  that  opinion,  and  he  felt  that  the  trans 
lation  "do  penance  "  might  be  understood  in  the  Romish  sense  of 
self-inflicted  physical  pain — suffered  to  make  satisfaction.  The 
Notes  at  the  end  of  the  chapters  are  of  all  kinds — textual,  doc 
trinal,  polemical,  and  practical1 — and  they  almost  form  a  running 

1  Colonel  Chester  calls  these  notes  of  Tyudale's  notes,"  but  he  forgets 
the  first  general  English  Commentary,  that  we  have  only  a  very  small  frag- 
In  proof  he  urges  that  "  Mr.  Walter  ment  of  Tyndale's  annotated  quarto 
could  gather  only  nine  octavo  pages  New  Testament. 


332  THE  EXGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

comment.  They  were  gathered  from  various  sources ;  many 
are  from  Pellicanus,  and  others  appear  to  be  original.  Some 
learning  is  displayed,  as  an  allusion  to  the  Chaldee  interpreter, 
Job  vi.  Strabo  is  cited  under  Matth.  ii,  to  show  that  the  Magi 
were  the  priests  of  the  Persians.  Neginoth,  Shiggaion,  &c.,  are 
carefully  explained.  There  is  (Matt,  ii)  a  reference  to  a  saying 
of  Augustus,  preserved  in  Macrobius,  that  "  he  would  rather  be 
Herod's  swine  than  his  sonne."  Josephus  is  quoted  at  3  Kings 
vii,  and  in  the  margin  of  Num.  xxxiii,  52,  two  rabbis  are 
adduced  for  the  alternate  rendering  "  paving  stones."  Under 
Luke  x,  the  sister  of  Martha  is  called  Mary  Magdalene.  The 
Psalms  are  formally  divided  into  five  "  Treatyses  "  or  books,  a 
distinction  not  recognized  by  Coverdale.  Hallelujah  is  ex 
plained  as  meaning  "praise  the  Everlasting."  Under  Job  i,  21, 
Coverdale's  parenthesis,  based  on  the  Vulgate,  "  the  Lord  hath 
done  his  pleasure "  is  omitted,  and  this  note  is  added,  "  the 
Greek  and  Origen  adds,  Hereunto  as  it  hath  pleased  the  Lord, 
so  it  is  done."  A  song  of  degrees  is  called  "a  song  of  the 

o  o  o 

stearis,"  that  is,  stairs.  Selah  is  thus  explained  at  the  end 
of  Psalm  iii,  "  this  worde,  after  Rabbi  Kimchi,  was  a  sygne  or 
token  of  lyftynge  up  the  voyce,  and  also  a  monission  and 
advertisement  to  enforce  the  thoughte  and  mynde  ernestly 
to  give  hede  to  the  meanynge  of  the  verse  whereunto  it  is 
added.  Some  will  that  it  sygnifye  perpetuallye  or  verily." 
At  Gen.  ii,  17,  such  idioms  as  "  die  the  death  "  are  termed 
"  rehearsalls  of  words."  The  note  at  the  end  of  2  Mac 
cabees  xii  is,  "Judge  from  the  place  whether  the  opinion 
hath  been  to  pray  for  the  dead,  as  to  be  baptized  for  them ; 
1  Cor.  xv,  d,  which  thing  was  only  done  to  confirm  the 
hope  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  not  to  deliver  from  any 
pain.  .  .  .  This  hole  book  of  the  Maccabees,  and  specially 
this  second,  is  not  of  sufficient  authority  to  make  an  article 
of  our  faith." 

It  follows,  from  the  previous  statements  about  the  com 
ponent  parts  of  this  Bible,  that  the  assertion  on  its  title-page — 
"  The  Scriptures  truly  and  purely  translated  into  English,  by 
Thomas  Matthew  " — is  not  to  be  taken  in  literal  accuracy,  for 
Thomas  Matthew  did  not  himself  translate;  he  simply  joined 


xxra.]  NOTES  OX  MATTHEW'S  BIBLE.  333 

together,  edited,  and  published  two  translations.  But  he  knew 
that  the  language  could  impose  on  no  one,  as  thousands  were  in 
possession  of  Tyndale's  Testament  and  Coverdale's  Bible,  the 
only  two  versions  which  he  employed  in  making  up  the  new 
volume.  It  was  an  act  of  splendid  audacity  on  the  part  of  Mr. 
Richard  Grafton,  "citizen  and  grocer,"  to  send  such  a  volume  to 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury — a  volume  made  up  so  largely  of 
Tyndale's  version,  which  had  been  so  fiercely  proscribed  a  few 
years  before,  which  had  the  initials  of  his  name  blazoned  in 
large  capital  letters,  and  which  in  its  critical  notes  did  not 
veil  his  opinions,  but  rather  presented  them  in  an  intensified 
form,  and  which,  going  greatly  beyond  Cranmer's  own  views, 
was  a  trenchant  protest  against  Catholic  doctrines  and  usages. 

Strype  gives   the   following  brief  account  of  some  of  the 
anti-papal  notes  r1 — 

\,-  "  One  of  these  notes  fixeth  us  in  the  year  of  the  edition — 
viz.,  Mark  i.  Upon  those  words,  What  new  doctrine  is  this  ? 
the  note  in  the  margin  is,  'That  that  was  then  new,  after 
xv.c.xxxvi.  years,  is  yet  new.  When  will  it  then  be  old?' 
This  note  was  made  to  meet  with  the  common  reproach  then 
given  to  the  religion  reformed,  that  it  was  a  new  upstart  reli 
gion,  and  called  the  new  learning.  Another  marginal  note  was 
at  Matthew  xxv,  And  the  wise  ansvjered,  Not  so,  lest  there  be 
not  enough,  &c.,  where  the  note  is,  Note  here,  that  their  own 
good  worlts  sufficed  not  for  themselves;  and  therefore  remained 
none  to  be  distributed  unto  their  felloivs :  against  works  of 
supererogation,  and  the  merits  of  saints.  And  Matthew  xvi, 
/  say  unto  thee,  that  thou  art  Peter :  and  upon  this  rock,  &c. 
The  note  is,  That  is,  as  saith  St.  Austin,  upon  the  confession 
which  thou  hast  made,  knowledging  me  to  be  Christ,  the  Son  of 
the  living  God,  I  build  my  congregation  or  church.  And 
again,  /  will  give  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  The  note 
is.  Origen,  writing  upon  Matthew,  in  his  first  homily  affirmcth, 
that  these  words  were  as  ivell  spoken  to  all  the  rest  of  the 
Apostles  as  to  Peter.  And  proves  it,  in  that  Christ,  John  xx, 
saith,  Receive  the  Holy  Ghost.  Whose  sins  soever  ye  remit,  &c., 
and  not  thou  remittest.  And  Matthew  xviii,  Whatsoever  ye 
1  Memorials  of  Cranmer,  vol.  I,  pt.  i,  p.  472. 


334  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 

bind  on  earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven :  and  ivhatsoever  ye 
loose  on  earth,  &C.  Margin,  Whatsoever  ye  bind,  &c.,  is, 
Whatsoever  ye  condemn  by  my  word  in  earth,  the  same  is 
condemned  in  heaven.  And  what  ye  allow  by  my  word  in 
earth  is  alloivcd  in  heaven.  These  and  such  like  notes  and 
explications,  giving  offence,  no  doubt,  to  the  Popish  Bishops, 
when  the  Bible  was  printed  again  (which  was  in  the  year 
1540),  all  was  left  out." 


CHAPTER   XXIV. 


1VTO  sooner  had  this  Bible  come  into  the  country,  probably 
toward  the  end  of  July,  1537,  than  Cranmer  was  brought 
into  immediate  connection  with  it.  On  4th  August  he  sent  a 
letter  to  Crumwell,  telling  him  of  its  appearance,  and  asking 
him  "to  rede  it " — "a  new  translation  and  a  new  print,"  praising 
it  and  addinc;,  "As  for  the  translation,  so  farre  as  I  have  redde 

O*  * 

thereof,  I  like  it  better  than  any  other  translacion  heretofore 
made :  And  forasmoche  as  the  boke  is  dedicated  unto  the 
Kinges  Grace,  &  also  greate  paynes  &  labour  taken  in  setting 
forth  of  the  same,  I  pray  you,  my  lorde,  that  you  will  exhibite 
the  boke  into  the  Kinges  Highnes :  &  to  obteign  of  His  Grace, 
if  you  can,  a  license  that  the  same  may  be  sold  &  redde  of 
every  person,  withoute  danger  of  any  acte,  proclamacion,  or 
ordinaunce  heretofore  graunted  to  the  contrary,  untill  such 
tyme  that  we,  the  Bisshops,  shall  set  forth  a  better  translacion 
— which  I  thinke  will  not  be  till  a  day  after  Domes-day."  1 
These  last  bitter  words  were  inspired  by  the  memory  of  his 
failure  in  1534.  What  the  archbishop  requested  was  done,  and 
on  the  13th  of  August,  Cranmer  sends  a  letter  of  hearty  thanks 
to  the  great  statesman  for  having  so  promptly  secured  the 
royal  license  :  "  My  lorde  for  this  your  payne  taken  in  this 
behalf,  I  giue  vnto  you  my  most  hartie  thanks,  assurying  your 
lordeship  for  the  contentacion  of  my  mynde,  you  have  shewed 
me  more  pleasure  herein  than  yf  you  hadd  giuen  me  a 
thowsande  pownde."  -  This  second  letter  is  dated  28th  day 
of  August,  and  on  that  day  Grafton  himself  writes  to  Crumwell, 

1  State  Papers,  vol.  I,  pt.  1 1,  p.  562.       2  Cotton  MSS.,  Cleo.,  E.  V.  fol.  329. 


S3G  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

and  also  sends  a  present  of  six  Bibles.  His  words  imply 
that  he  was  aware  of  Cranmer's  first  epistle  of  thanks.1  In  a 
third  letter,  dated  Ford,  2Sth  of  the  same  month,  the  arch 
bishop  blesses  Crumwell  for  his  kind  interposition  with  the 
king,  and  promises  him  "  laud  arid  memory  of  all  God's  faithfull 
people — nay,  this  cleede  you  shall  hear  of  at  the  Great  Day."  - 
Cranmer  might  have  had  no  leisure  for  a  collation,  but  pro 
bably  Crumwell  was  aware  of  the  component  materials  of  the 
Bible  ;  and  had  Henry  looked  into  the  volume,  which,  at  the 
request  of  his  minister,  he  had  licensed,  he  might  have  seen 
that  he  was  stultifying  himself  in  a  most  marvellous  way, 
for  he  might  at  once  have  recognized  the  work  of  Tyndale,  so 
often  denounced ;  even  the  prologue  to  Romans,  which  had 
been  formally  singled  out  and  proscribed,  was  retained  and 
placed  in  prominence.  But,  probably  from  his  knowledge  of 
public  opinion,  he  took  the  bold  step  of  granting  the  royal 
sanction  to  this  Bible.  The  royal  proclamation  to  be  read  by 
all  the  curates  was  in  the  following  terms  :3 — 

"  Whereas  it  hath  pleased  the  king's  majesty,  our  most  dread 
sovereign,  and  supreme  head  under  God  of  this  Church  of  Eng 
land,  for  a  declaration  of  the  great  zeal  he  beareth  to  the  setting 
forth  of  God's  word,  and  to  the  virtuous  maintenance  of  the 
commonwealth,  to  permit  and  command  the  Bible,  being  trans 
lated  into  our  mother  tongue,  to  be  sincerely  taught  by  us  the 
curates,  and  to  be  openly  laid  forth  in  every  parish  church :  to 
the  intent  that  all  his  good  subjects,  as  well  by  reading  thereof, 
as  by  hearing  the  true  explanation  of  the  same,  may  be  able  to 
learn  their  duties  to  Almighty  God  and  his  majesty,  and  every 
of  us  charitably  to  use  other  :  and  then  applying  themselves  to 
do  according  to  that  they  shall  hear  and  learn,  may  both  speak 
and  do  Christianly ;  and  in  all  things  as  it  beseemeth  Christian 
men :  because  his  highness  very  much  desireth,  that  this  thing 
being  by  him  most  godly  begun  and  set  forward,  may  of  all 
you  be  received  as  is  aforesaid ;  his  majesty  hath  willed  and 

1  In  this  letter,  Graf  ton,  referring  nines  it  into  "ten  thousand  pounds." 

to    Cranmer's    remarks    about    the  Strype's  Cranmer,  I,  131,  &c. 
Bible  giving  him  more  pleasure  than         -  Ibid.,  fol.  292. 
a  gift  of  a  thousand  pounds,  mag-         3  Cotton  MSS.,  Cleop.  E,  p.  327. 


xxiv.]  ROYAL  LICENSE.  337 

commanded  this  to  be  declared  unto  you,  that  his  grace's 
pleasure  and  high  commandment  is,  that  in  the  reading  and 
hearing  thereof,  first  most  humbly  and  reverently  using  and 
addressing  yourselves  unto  it,  you  shall  have  always  in  your 
remembrance  and  memories,  that  all  things  contained  in  this 
Book  is  the  undoubted  will,  law,  and  commandment  of  Almighty 
God,  the  only  and  straight  means  to  know  the  goodness  and 
benefits  of  God  towards  us,  and  the  true  duty  of  every  Chris 
tian  man  to  serve  him  accordingly.  And  that  therefore  read 
ing  this  Book  with  such  mind  and  firm  faith  as  is  aforesaid, 
you  shall  first  endeavour  yourselves  to  conform  your  own  liv 
ings  and  conversation  to  the  contents  of  the  same.  And  so  by 
your  good  and  virtuous  example  to  encourage  your  wives, 
children,  and  servants  to  live  well  and  Christianly  according  to 
the  rules  thereof. 

"  And  if  at  any  time  by  reading  any  doubt  shall  come  to  any 
of  you  touching  the  sense  and  meaning  of  any  part  thereof, 
that  then,  not  giving  too  much  to  your  own  minds,  fantasies, 
and  opinions ;  nor  having  thereof  any  open  reasoning  in  your 
open  taverns  or  alehouses,  ye  shall  have  recourse  to  such 
learned  men  as  be  or  shall  be  authorized  to  preach  and  declare 
the  same.  So  that,  avoiding  all  contentions  and  disputation  in 
such  alehouses  and  other  places,  unmeet  for  such  conferences, 
and  submitting  your  opinion  to  the  judgments  of  such  learned 
men  as  shall  be  appointed  in  this  behalf,  his  grace  may  well 
perceive  that  you  use  this  most  high  benefit  quietly  and  chari 
tably  every  one  of  you,  to  the  edifying  of  himself,  his  wife,  and 
family,  in  all  things  answering  to  his  highness'  good  opinion 
conceived  of  you,  in  the  advancement  of  virtue  and  suppressing 
of  vice  ;  without  failing  to  use  such  discreet  quietness  and  sober 
moderation  in  the  premises  as  is  aforesaid ;  as  you  tender  his 
grace's  pleasure,  and  intend  to  avoid  his  high  indignation,  and 
the  peril  and  danger  that  may  ensue  to  you  and  every  of  you 
for  the  contrary." 

Peculiar  decision  and  firmness  are  manifest  in  the  movement. 
The  "notes"  in  the  volume  sounded  a  bold  defiance, and  tended 
to  exasperate  thousands  who  were  ready  to  rebel  and  battle  for 
the  faith  and  the  rites  of  their  fathers.  The  Pilgrimage  of  Grace 

VOL.  i.  Y 


338  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

had  recently  alarmed  the  nation,  and  this  wild  reactionary  re 
bellion  in  the  north  was  fed  and  fostered  by  fanatical  priests, 
clamouring  for  the  suppression  of  all  ecclesiastical  reforms,  and 
plunging  into  treason  to  avenge  themselves  of  heresy.  Aske 
had  been  executed,  and  also  the  Abbot  of  Barlings,  who  had 
unfolded  the  Banner  of  the  Five  Wounds.  Not  long  after  this, 
when  the  treason  of  the  Poles,  one  of  whom  had  been  made  a 
cardinal,  was  detected  and  punished,  such  men  as  were  forward 
to  show  hostility  to  the  crown  on  pretence  of  helping  the 
church  were  stigmatized  by  the  king  himself  as  "  those  miser 
able  papistical  and  superstitious  wretches." l  The  licensing  of 
Matthew's  Bible  at  such  a  time — a  volume  so  profuse  in  its 
civil  homage,  and  so  terse  and  pointed  in  its  condemnation  of 
papal  dogmas  and  rites — appeared  to  be  throwing  down  the 
gauntlet  to  a  great  and  turbulent  faction. 

Crumwell  had  now  risen  to  the  pinnacle  of  power  and 
prerogative.  He  had  become  Vicar-General  and  Vicegerent, 
officially  representing  the  king  as  the  head  of  the  Church;  and 
in  virtue  of  this  anomalous  office,  he  presided  in  Convocation. 
Such  presiding  of  "  an  ignorant  layman  in  a  synod  of  the  most 
learned  bishops  that  ever  were  in  England  was  a  most  scan 
dalous  sight,"  according  to  Bishop  Godwin. 

At  a  meeting  of  Convocation  in  153G,  the  vicegerent,  who  took 
precedence  of  the  archbishop,  introduced,  by  a  wanton  stretch 
of  authority,  Ales,  or  Alane,  the  Scottish  exile,2  and  a  sufferer 
from  popish  tyranny,  and  asked  him  to  declare  his  judgment 
on  the  question  of  the  Sacraments.  Ales  confined  himself 
chiefly  to  arguments  from  Scripture,  for  Bishop  Foxe,  of 
Hereford,  had  encouraged  him  by  these  words  :  "  We  be  com 
manded  by  the  king's  grace  to  dispute  ~by  the  Holy  Scripture. 
.  The  lay  people  now  know  the  Holy  Scriptures  better 
than  many  of  us."  As  Ales  went  on  in  his  Biblical  demonstra 
tion,  Stokesley  shouted  in  a  paroxysm  of  wrath,  "Yet  are  ye 
far  deceived  if  ye  think  that  there  is  none  other  Word  of  God 

1  In  a  circular  letter  to  the  justices  book  "On  the  Authority  of  the  Word 
of  the  peace.    Burnet's  Collectanea,  of  God,"  he  gave  his  name  as  Alex- 
p.  494.  ander  Alane,  Scot. 

2  See  page  247.     On  the  title  of  a 


xxiv.]  DEDICATION.  330 

but  that  which  every  souter  and  cobbler  doth  read  in  his  mother 
tongue."  One  of  the  strong  protestations  of  the  Lower  House 
also  was,  that  now  "by  preaching  the  people  have  been  brought 
in  opinion  and  belief  that  nothing  is  to  be  believed  except 
it  can  be  proved  expressly  from  Scripture."  These  varieties  of 
opinion,  and  these  confessions,  wrung  from  alarmed  opponents, 
showed  that  the  Bible  had  been  getting  among  the  people,  who 
were  still  eager  for  a  fuller  and  more  public  circulation  of  it. 
Might  not  the  king,  understanding  this  state  of  feeling  among 
his  subjects,  feel  warranted  to  follow  the  advice  of  his  prime 
counsellor,  and  give  his  royal  sanction  to  the  Bible  of  Cover- 
dale  and  to  the  Bible  of  Matthew  ?  Both  Bibles  received  the 
royal  license  in  the  same  year,  but  which  of  them  had  the 
priority  cannot  be  definitely  decided.  Fulke,  however,  writing 
in  1583,  calls  "  Thomas  Matthew's  translation  the  first  that  was 
printed  in  English  with  authority."  l 

The  Dedication,  which  occupies  no  less  than  three  pages, 
must  also  have  had  some  influence  in  gaining  the  royal  consent. 
It  takes  up  such  topics  as  Coverdale  had  done — not,  however, 
comparing  his  majesty  to  the  Jewish  kings,  but  rather,  in  a 
firm  and  manly  tone,  holding  up  their  life  and  work,  as  royal 
examples.  But  he  adds,  quite  in  the  fashion  of  the  age  :  "  The 
want  of  lernynge,  The  obscurenes  &  lownes  of  byrth,  The  lack 
of  youre  graces  knowledge,  &c.,  shuld  haply  haue  vtterly 
forbydden  me,  to  haue  interprysed  the  dedycacion  herof  to  so 
puyssaient  a  Prynce :  But  the  experience  of  youre  graces 
benygnytye,  wherthroughe  youre  prayse  is  renouined  &  hyghly 
magnifyed,  even  aui5ge  straungers  &  alyentes,  not  alone  among 
youre  awne  subiectes,  The  Godly  moderacion  of  youre  heuenly 
poly  eye,  wherwith  ye  suppresse  supersticyon  &  maynteue  true 
holynes,  inflameth  me  to  some  part  of  boldnes :  Specyally  syth 
the  thyng  which  I  dedycate  is  soch  as  your  grace  studyeth 
dayly  to  fosther."  And  he  thus  concludes  :  "  The  euerliuynge 
Lord  so  prospere  contynually  youre  begonne  purpose  vnto  soch 
effect,  that  the  thinge  may  be  which  ye  haue  beg5ne.  And 
double  vnto  you  the  addycyo  of  yeares  that  was  geuen  vnto 
Hezekiah,  ouer  &  above  those  that  ye  shulde  naturally  lyue. 
1  Defence,  &c.,  against  Gregory  Martin,  p.  112,  Parker  Society  ed. 


340  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

that  yo  maye  the  Letter  accomplish  your  moast  godly  intent : 
And  blesse  you  at  thys  present  wyth  a  sonne,  by  youre  most 
grac}Tous  wyfe  Queen  Jane,  which  may  prosperously  &  fortun 
ately  raygne,  &  folowe  the  godly  steppes  of  his  father  :  And 
after  your  grace  shall  geue  place  to  nature,  &  forsake  thys- 
mortall  lyfe,  grannte  you  the  rewarde  of  that  vnspeakable  & 
celestyall  ioye,  whych  no  eye  hath  sene,  no  care  hearde,  nor 
can  ascende  into  the  herte  of  man.  So  be  it.  Youre  graces 
faythfull  &  true  subiect — Thomas  Matthew." 

Different  views  have  been  taken  of  the  connection  of  Cranmer 
with  Matthew's  Bible  ;  some  conjecturing  that  he  was  wholly 
ignorant  of  the  preparation  of  it,  and  others  that  its  importa 
tion  did  not  take  him  by  surprise — nay,  Lewis  affirms  that  he 
was  one  of  its  "  curators,"  and  Todd,  "  that  he  had  exerted 
himself  for  it."  Certainly,  his  letter  to  Crumwell  indicates  no 
emotion  produced  by  any  sudden  discovery,  nor  does  it  hint  at 
any  prior  knowledge  of  the  enterprise,  but  it  speaks  quietly  of 
a  mere  welcome  matter  of  fact.  There  may  have  been  a  prior 
understanding,  though  no  hint  of  it  is  dropped.  Grafton  and 
Whitcchurch  may  have  secretly  informed  Cranmer  of  their 
purpose,  in  the  hope  of  securing  his  protection.  Grafton  had 
embarked  his  fortune  in  it,  £500  sterling,  a  sum  probably  equal 
in  value  to  £7,000  at  the  present  day,  and  he  was  naturally 
anxious  to  be  repaid.  Would  he  have  ventured  without  some 
tacit  connivance  with  Cranmer  to  have  brought  the  Bible  into 
the  country  under  the  risk  of  its  circulation  being  refused  or 
impeded,  and  himself  financially  ruined  ?  That  neither  the 
archbishop  nor  the  printers  spoke  of  the  matter  prematurely 
was  only  a  natural  silence  in  the  circumstances.  Though 
Cranmer  seized  the  first  opportunity  of  turning  Crumwell's 
attention  to  the  new  Bible,  neither  he  nor  the  vicegerent  had 
been  at  any  expense  or  trouble  about  it,  and  it  was  not  fostered 
or  printed  under  any  distinguished  patronage. 

The  edition  of  1500  copies  was  soon  exhausted,  and  Grafton, 
afraid  of  competition,  petitioned  Crumwell,  Lord  Privy  Seal,  for 
protection.  He  had  already  asked  for  a  royal  license,  which 
had  been  granted  ;  but  he  was  aware  of  what  had  happened  to 
Tyndale  through  pirated  editions,  undertaken  by  illiterate 


xxiv.]  GRAFTON'S  CAUTION.  341 

foreigners,  ignorant  of  the  very  language  which  they  were 
printing.  He  pleads  the  amount  of  capital  embarked  in  the 
enterprise,  and  the  popularity  of  the  book  as  tempting  others 
to  republish  it, — "  There  are  that  will,  and  doth  go  about  the 
printing  of  the  same  worke  agayne  in  a  lesser  letter,  to  the 
intent  that  they  may  sell  their  little  books  better  cheap  than  I 
can  sell  these  great,  to  the  utter  undoing  of  me,  your  orator,  and 
all  these  my  creditors."  He  tries  to  frighten  his  patron  by 
the  prophecy  that  rivals  wilt  falsify  the  text,  and  not  set  out 
the  book  for  God's  glory,  as  may  appear  by  the  former  Bibles 
which  they  have  set  forth,  which  have  neither  good  paper, 
letter,  ink,  nor  correction.  Especially  wras  he  afraid  of 
"  Douchemen  (Germans)  dwelling  within  the  realm,  who  can 
neither  speak  good  English,  nor  write  none,  who  yet  will  both 
print  and  correct  such  an  edition,  and  who  are  so  covetous 
that  they  will  not  bestow  twenty  or  forty  pounds  on  a  learned 
man  as  editor."  He  calls  himself  a  "  poor  young  man  "  who 
will  be  ruined  by  such  rival  editions.  Then  he  piously  sug 
gests,  with  a  keen  eye  to  business  and  to  a  rapid  sale,  that  every 
abbey  should  have  six  copies,  "  that  they  may  look  on  the 
Lord's  law,"  "none  but  those  of  the  papistical  sort,"  however, 
being  compelled  to  have  them;  and  he  concludes,  "then  I  know 
there  should  be  enough  found  in  my  lord  of  London's  diocese 
to  spend  away  a  great  part  of  them,  and  so  should  this  be  a 
godly  act  worthily  to  be  had  in  remembrance  while  the  world 
doth  stand.  The  sicknes  is  bryme l  about,  or  else  I 
would  wait  upon  your  lordship."  2  To  this  request,  so  simple  in 
its  terms,  so  cautious  in  its  selfward  suggestions,  veiled,  how 
ever,  by  such  professions  of  disinterested  patriotism, 
and  Christian  zeal,  no  response  seems  to  have  been  made,  at 
least  none  has  been  preserved.  Yet,  if  the  suspicions  of 
Grafton  were  correct  as  to  the  contemplated  reprint  of  the 
"dreaded  lytle  bookes,"  the  project  seems  to  have  been  checked, 
perhaps  by  Crumwell's  command.  We  should  have  rejoiced, 
however,  at  seeing  a  Bible  of  smaller  form  put  into  circulation 
for  popular  use,  since,  as  long  as  it  was  kept  in  the  shape  of  a 

]  Brime  means  fierce,  as  in  Lang-         '2  Cotton  MSS.,  Cleopatra  E.  V., 
toft,  "Eichard  wexe  full  brime."  fol.  340. 


34-2  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 

large  and  heavy  folio,  it  could  be  possessed  only  by  a  mere 
fraction  of  the  nation.  The  age  of  hand-bibles  had  not  come, 
the  period  was  one  of  transition,  and  men  were  still  feeling 
toward  a  more  perfect  version.  But  a  decided  advance  had 
now  been  made ;  for  that  Bible  was  now  in  the  country  which 
was  to  supply  the  basis  of  all  subsequent  revisions.  The  edition 
of  Matthew  or  Rogers  of  1537  became  on  revision  the  Great 
Bible  in  1539-1-540,  it  on  revision  took  the  name  of  the 
Bishops'  Bible  in  1508,  and  the  Bishops'  Bible,  on  being 
again  revised,  took  its  lasting  place  as  our  English  Bible 
in  1611. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

A  REVISED  edition  of  Matthew's  Bible  was  published  in 
1539.  The  editor,  Richard  Taverner,  was  born  at 
Brisley,  Norfolk,  about  1505,  and  was  one  of  the  young  men 
selected  by  Wolsey  for  his  college  at  Oxford.  He  was 
imprisoned  with  others  in  its  cellar  for  reading  Tyndale's 
New  Testament.  But  he  was  soon  released  on  account  of 
his  singular  musical  accomplishments ; l  and  giving  himself 
to  the  study  of  law,  he  was  admitted  to  the  Inner  Temple. 
He  next  attached  himself  to  Secretary  Crumwell,  Chancellor  of 
the  University  of  Cambridge,  and  in  1537  occupied  a  position 
of  honour  and  responsibility  as  clerk  of  the  signet  to  the  king. 
Two  years  afterwards,  in  1539,  his  edition  of  the  Bible  appeared, 
and  his  connection  with  Crumwell  may  have  suggested  to  him 
such  a  Biblical  work.  The  title  bears  that  it  was  "newly 
recognized  with  great  diligence  after  most  faythful  exemplars." 2 
The  edition  was  printed  in  London,  in  folio  and  quarto,3 
while  the  first  Great  Bible  was  at  press  on  the  Continent, 
and  during  the  same  year  were  issued  two  editions  of  the  New 
Testament,  in  folio  and  quarto  also.4  His  New  Testament 
was  again  printed  in  1540  in  12mo,  and  his  Old  Testament 
formed  part  of  a  Bible  published  in  1551.  After  that  period 

1  Dalaber  says  (see  p.  166),  "I  stood  iu   order  that  poorer    people    who 
at  the    quire  door  and   heard   Mr.  could   not   purchase  a  whole  Bible 
Taverner  play."  might  be  able  to  buy  a  fragment. 

2  Bale  speaks  of  it    as  recognitio  4  Taveruer  also  published  in  1540 
sen  potius  versio.     De  Illustr.  Viris,  Postills  on  the  Epistles  and  Gospels. 
p.  698.  Reprinted,    ed.     Cardwell,    Oxford, 

3  This  edition  was  printed  in  parts  1841. 


344  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CIIAT. 

his  edition  sank  into  such  neglect  that  it  had  no  appreciable 
influence  on  any  subsequent  revision. 

Taverner  was  reputed  to  be  a  good  Greek  scholar,  "  it  being 
his  humour  to  quote  law  in  Greek."  His  Bible  has  a  dis 
tinctive  character  of  its  own.  The  Old  Testament  is  Matthew 
with  some  variations;  many  of  the  marginal  notes  are  changed  ; 
and  he  closely  followed  Tyndale  in  the  New  Testament.  He 
unfolds  his  purpose  in  his  dedication  to  the  king,  and  thanks 
him  for  licensing  the  Bible:  "  This  one  thing  I  dare  well  affirm, 
that  amongst  all  your  majesty's  deservings  .  .  .  your 
highness  never  did  thing  more  acceptable  unto  God,  more  pro 
fitable  to  the  advancement  of  true  Christianity,  more  unpleasant 
to  the  enemies  of  the  same,  and  also  to  your  grace's  enemies, 
than  when  your  majesty  licensed  and  willed  the  most  sacred 
Bible  containing  the  unspotted  and  lively  Word  of  God  to 
be  in  the  English  tongue  set  forth  to  your  highness'  subjects. 
.  Wherefore,  the  premises  well  considered,  forasmuch  as 
the  printers  hereof  were  very  desirous  to  have  the  Bible  come 
forth  as  faultless,  and  emendably  as  the  shortness  of  time  for 
the  recognizing  of  the  same  would  require,  they  desired  me, 
for  default  of  a  better  learned,  diligently  to  overlook  and  peruse 
the  whole  copy,  and  in  any  case  I  should  find  any  notable 
default  that  needed  correction,  to  amend  the  same,  according 
to  the  true  exemplars,  which  thing  according  to  my  talent  I 
have  gladly  done."  He  understood  the  difficulty  and  impor 
tance  of  translation:  "It  is  a  work  of  great  difficulty  so 
absolutely  to  translate  the  Holy  Bible  that  it  be  faultless," 
that  he  "feared  it  could  scarce  be  done  of  one  or  two  persons, 
but  rather  required  both  a  deeper  conferring  of  learned  wits 
together,  and  also  a  juster  time  and  longer  leisure."  This 
edition  has  no  woodcuts,  and  there  are  very  few  notes. 

Tavcrner's1    scholarship   appears   on   every  page   in    many 

1  Taverner  had  a  license  to  preach  from  the  pulpit  of  St.  Mary's.    Died 

from  Edward  VI,  and  did  preach.  14th  July,  1577.     Bale,  writing  in 

Queen    Elizabeth    made    him  high  15.">7,  says  of  him,  "  Nescio  an  vivat 

sheriff  of  Oxford  in  13G9.     In  civil-  adhuc."     Wood ( Athena?,  Oxon,  vol. 

ian  costume,  and  with  a  sword    by  I,  p.  182)  has  preserved  a  specimen 

his  side,  he  preached  to  the  students  of  his  alliterative  conceits  in  his  ser- 


xxv.]  CHANGES  MADE  BY  TAVERNER.  345 

minute  touches,  for  he  does  justice  to  the  article,  as  in  Gal.  v, 
27,  "hath  the  husband."  He  often  follows  the  Greek  order  of 
expression,  and  is  eager  to  find  Saxon  equivalents  and  idioms 
for  rarer  terms  and  combinations.  Some  of  his  alterations  are 
pithy  in  character — Matt,  xxii,  12,  "had  never  a  word  to  say"; 
34,  "  stopped  the  Sadducees'  mouths."  But  the  clause  "  this  cup 
is  the  New  Testament  in  my  blood,"  1  Cor.  xi,  is  omitted,  and 
some  copies  have  a  slip  of  paper  with  the  omitted  words  pasted 
over  the  place.  The  disputed  clauses,  1  John  v,  are  printed  in 
a  smaller  type.  In  Gen.  xliii,  11,  the  older  phrase  of  Tyndale 
and  Coverdale,  "  a  curtesye  baulme,"  is  altered  into  "  a  quantity 
of  baulme";  but  he  retains  another  archaism  in  Acts  xii,  19, 
"commanded  the  keepers  to  depart" — to  be  put  to  death. 
The  very  peculiar  term  in  2  Kings  xxiii,  5,  Kemurims  in 
Coverdale,  Taverner  changed  into  "  religious  persons "  ;  the 
Great  Bible  having  "  ministers  of  Baal " ;  the  Genevan, 
"  Chemerim,"  with  a  note  as  in  the  original  Matthew.  The 
Authorized  Version  has,  in  the  place  referred  to,  "  idolatrous 
priests  "  ;  in  Hosea  x,  5,  simply  "  priests  " ;  but  in  Zeph.  i,  4, 
it  has  "  Chemarims."  Taverner,  in  his  usual  English,  prefers 
"  residue  "  to  "  remnant,"  and  "  forthwith  "  to  "  by  and  bye." 
Some  of  his  changes  are  kept  in  the  Authorized  Version,  as 
"  parables  "  for  "  similitudes  " ;  "  because  of  their  unbelief," 
Matt,  xiii,  58;  "ninety  and  nine,"  xviii,  12;  "lodged,"  xxi,  17; 
"  throne,"  xxiii,  23  ;  "of  many  shall  wax  cold,"  xxiv,  12  ;  "a 
stranger,"  xxv,  35  ;  "  passover,"  xxvi.  17  ;  "guilty  of  death,"  66; 
"  ye  have  a  watch,"  xxvii,  65  ;  "  the  Israel  of  God,"  Gal.  vi,  16  ; 
"  I  stand  in  doubt  of  you,"  iv,  20 — last  clause,  "  in  a  doubt," 
Tyndale  and  Matthew.  Gal.  iii,  6,  is  identical  with  this 
version,  Tyndale  having  "  ascribed,"  but  he  preserves  the 


mons  :  "Arrived  at  the  mount  of  St.  Mary's    was  then   of  stone,  and   a 

Mary's,  on  the  stony  stage  where  I  wooden  pulpit  was  put  in  its  place 

now  stand,  I  have  brought  you  some  during    the    chancellorship    of    Dr. 

fine  biscuits,  baked  in  the  oven  of  John  Owen.     For  his  edition  of  the 

charity,  carefully  conserved  for  the  English  Bible  Taverner  was  impris- 

chickens  of  the  church,  the  sparrows  oued  after  Crumwell's  death,  but  he 

of  the  spirit,  and  the  sweet  swallows  was  soon  released, 
of   salvation."       The   pulpit  of   St. 


3 1C  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

wrong  translation  in  iv,  25,  "  and  bordereth  on."  Taver- 
ncr  gives  no  preface  to  the  Apocrypha,  and  in  the  title  of 
the  anonymous  epistle  to  the  Hebrews  he  omits  the  name  of 
St.  Paul. 

Some  other  editions  of  Matthew's  Bible  may  also  be  glanced 
at.  One  of  them  is  a  reprint  in  1549,  the  title  being  within  the 
woodcut  which  had  been  used  for  Coverdalc's  version.  The 
colophon  records,  "  And  nowe  agayne  accordyngly  imprinted  & 
fynesshed  the  laste  daye  of  Octobre,  in  the  yeare  of  oure  Lorde 
God  MDXLIX,  By  Wylliam  Hyll  &  Thomas  Rainaldes,  typo 
graphers."  It  is  altogether  a  wretched  production — the  type 
bad,  and  the  arrangement  devoid  of  taste  and  accuracy.  Another 
edition  appeared  during  the  same  year,  "now lately  with  greate 
industry  &  diligence  recognised,"  the  printers  being  John  Daye, 
dwelling  over  Aldersgate,  and  William  Seres,  dwelling  in 
Peter's  Colledge ;  the  colophon  intimating  that  the  volume 
was  "  fineshed  "  in  MDXLIX,  and  that  "  these  bokes  are  to  be 
solde  by  the  lyttle  conduyte  in  Chepesyde."  The  "Supputation" 
of  the  years  and  times  from  Adam  unto  Christ  is  signed  by 
Edmund  Becke,  the  editor  of  the  volume,  which  is  a  reprint, 
with  few  variations,  of  the  edition  of  1537,  though  the  title- 
page  affirms  "  faythefully  set  furth  according  to  the  coppy 
of  Thomas  Matthewes  translacion."  In  the  Apocalypse  are 
twenty  coarse  small  cuts,  the  majority  of  which  have  two  lines 
of  rhyme  printed  perpendicularly  on  each  side  of  them — thus 
the  xii  figure  has — 

"  Goddes  chosen  church  travaileth  here  ahvaye, 
And  bringeth  forth  Christ  both  night  and  daye.1' 

and  the  xx  figure — 

"  All  flesh  is  killed  with  the  two  edged  sword, 
Which  after  the  spirit  is  called  Goddes  Worde." 

Another  edition  of  1551 — Taverner's  revised  by  Beckc — con 
tains  the  Third  Book  of  Maccabees  for  the  first  time,  while 
Third  Esdras,  Tobit,  and  Judith  are  of  a  new  translation. 
An  edition  of  Becke's  Matthew  came  out  in  1551,  "printed  by 


xxv.]  ROGERS'  RETURN  TO  ENGLAND.  347 

Thomas  Petyt,  dwelling  in  Paul's  Church eyarde,  at  the  sign 
of  the  Maydens  heade,  and  dated  vi  day  of  May."  Eight 
publishers  were  concerned  in  the  enterprise  ;  and  the  colophon 
at  the  end  of  the  New  Testament  bears  that  it  was  "  diligently 
perused  and  corrected  and  imprinted  by  Nicolas  Hyll,  dwel 
ling  in  Saynct  Johns  Streate,  at  the  coste  and  charges  of 
certayne  honest  menne  of  the  occupacion,  whose  names  be 
upon  their  bokes."  Matthew's  New  Testament  was  issued 
in  1548,  with  a  Latin  version  side  by  side;  and  an  edition 
of  Tyndale's  New  Testament,  with  Matthew's  notes,  appeared 
during  the  same  year. 

After  Edward  VI  ascended  the  throne,  Rogers  came  home. 
He  was  in  England  in  1548,  for  his  preface  to  his  translation 
of  Melanchthon's  "  Weighing  of  the  Interim "  is  dated  1st 
August,  1548,  at  London,  "in  Edward  Whitechurch's  house." 
Though  he  had  been  for  years  a  "  stranger  in  a  strange  land," 
and  though  his  volume  had  now  been  superseded  by  the  Great 
Bible,  his  work  as  editor  of  Matthew's  Bible  was  not  forgotten, 
for  he  was,  on  the  10th  of  May,  1550,  presented  simultaneously 
to  the  rectory  of  St.  Margaret  Moyses,1  on  the  east  side  of 
Friday  Street,  and  the  vicarage  of  St.  Sepulchre,  London. 
The  income  of  the  last  living  was  £440  in  1636,  the  incumbent's 
share  being  £180,  and  a  parsonage.  On  the  24th  of  August, 
1551,  he  was  preferred  to  the  prebendal  stall  of  St.  Pancras  in 
St.  Paul's,  and  to  this  stall  the  rectory  of  Chigwell  in  Essex  was 
attached.  He  resigned  St.  Margaret  Moyses  seventeen  days  after 
he  had  become  a  prebendary.  There  were  three  stalls  vacant 
at  the  time,  and  Grindal  and  Bradford  were  promoted  by 
Ridley  along  with  Rogers.  The  first  escaped,  and  became 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  ;  but  Bradford,  Rogers,  and  their 
bishop  perished  in  the  flames.  Rogers  was  also  chosen  by  the 
dean  and  chapter  to  be  divinity  lecturer  in  St.  Paul's,  but  he 
could  have  held  this  office  for  a  very  brief  interval  only,  for  he 
seems  to  have  been  admitted  to  it  in  June,  1553.  The  changes 
of  that  period  produced  strange  results,  for  Gabriel  Dunne,  the 

1  It  was  destroyed  in  the  great  fire,     church  in  Bread  Street  of  this  name 
and  afterward  the  parish  was  an-    represents  the  two  parishes, 
nexed  to  that  of  St.  Mildred.    The 


348  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

betrayer  of  Tyndale,  occupied  as  prebendary  the  twelfth  stall 
on  the  right  hand  of  the  choir,  and  Prebendary  Rogers  the 
sixth  on  the  left. 

The  death  of  Edward  VI  was  followed  by  dark  days.  Popery 
was  re-established  under  Mary,  and  its  earnest  opponents,  after 
a  brief  respite,  were  arrested  and  martyred.  Bishop  Gardyiier, 
her  chief  counsellor,  made  it  his  policy  to  strike  at  the  "  head 
deer,"  and  he  began  with  an  illustrious  victim,  singled  out  as  a 
popular  leader,  and  zealous  and  eloquent  reformer,  who,  as  he 
had  been  so  long  in  the  land  of  Luther,  was  believed  to  possess 
uncommon  eagerness  and  intrepidity.  In  August,  1553,  Rogers 
was  ordered  by  the  Lords  of  the  Council  to  keep  himself  a 
prisoner  in  his  house  at  Pauls.  He  remained  for  a  long 
period  in  this  confinement,  and  "  spake  with  no  man."  He 
was  at  length  sent  to  Newgate,  and  confined  with  thieves 
under  a  jailer  named  "  Alexander  Andrew,  a  strait  man,"  ac 
cording  to  Foxe,  "  and  a  right  Alexander,  a  coppersmith  indeed." 
On  the  22nd  of  January,  1555,  official  proceedings  against  him 
commenced  before  the  Privy  Council,  the  Lord  Chancellor  Gar- 
dyner  presiding.  Gardiner  seems  to  have  abruptly  demanded 
if  he  was  willing,  then  and  there,  to  abandon  his  new  faith,  and 
acknowledge  the  Papal  creed  and  authority.  .  .  .  With  true 
courage,  he  replied  boldly  that  he  recognized  Christ  as  the  only 
head  of  the  Church,  and  declared  his  opinion  that  the  Bishop 
of  Rome — not  the  Pope — had  no  more  or  other  authority  in 
spiritual  matters  than  any  other  of  the  numerous  bishops  then 
living.  Then  Gardyner,  hastily  imagining  that  he  had  already 
ensnared  him,  inasmuch  as,  in  his  Dedication  of  the  Bible  to 
King  Henry  VIII,  he  had  addressed  him  as  "the  chief  and 
supreme  head  of  the  Church  of  England,"  taunted  him  with  the 
fact;  and  when  Rogers,  who  was  fully  prepared  for  this  objec 
tion,  would  have  explained  his  meaning  and  shown  that  he 
was  guilty  of  no  inconsistency,  the  subject  was  turned  into 
derision  by  the  Bishops  of  Durham  and  Worcester ;  and  Gar 
dyner,  refusing  to  listen  to  him,  demanded  again,  still  more 
peremptorily,  a  direct  answer  to  his  original  question.  Deter 
mined  not  to  be  brow-beaten,  Rogers  urged  that  neither  he  or 
the  other  bishops  believed  what  they  now  required  him  to 


xxv.]  ROGERS'  EXAMINATION.  349 

avow,  for  they  had  not  only  preached  the  contrary  doctrine  for 
twenty  years,  but  some  of  them  had  written  books  against  it. 
There  was  so  much  truth  in  the  assertion  that  Gardyner  did 
not  attempt  to  controvert  it ;  but,  in  seeking  to  escape  the 
consequences  of  its  admission  by  one  outlet,  he  fell  instantly 
into  a  still  more  serious  pit-fall,  and  alleged  that  he  and  others 
had  been  compelled,  by  means  of  the  cruelties  used  towards 
them,  to  appear  to  consent  to  what  was  really  against  their 
consciences.  Rogers  promptly  retorted  that  they  were  now 
endeavouring  to  force  him  to  do  violence  to  his  conscience  in  a 
similar  manner.  .  .  .  He  continued  his  argument  with  the 
Lord  Chancellor,  who  soon  interrupted  him  again,  and  insisted 
upon  a  prompt  reply  to  his  first  question.  Finding  that  they 
were  determined  not  to  listen  to  him,  he  shortly  responded  in 
the  negative,  and  asked  permission  to  prove,  in  writing,  the 
truth  of  all  his  propositions.  This  was  instantly  refused  ;  and 
he  was  warned  that,  if  he  rejected  the  mercy  then  offered  him, 
he  should  thereafter  experience  only  justice.  Declaring  that, 
although  he  had  never  offended  or  disobeyed  the  Queen,  he 
was  yet  willing  to  receive  her  mercy,  he  reminded  them  of  the 
gross  injustice  that  they  were  now  manifesting;  inasmuch  as 
they  themselves,  twenty  years  before,  had  first  led  him  to 
doubt  the  pretended  primacy  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  and  now 
they  would  not  even  discuss  the  question  with  him.  Gardyner, 
to  escape  this  home-thrust,  recklessly  flew  to  another  position, 
and  declared  that  he  was  forbidden  by  the  Scriptures  to  dis 
pute  with  a  heretic.  "  I  deny  that  I  am  a  heretic,"  said  Rogers 
quietly ;  "  prove  that  first,  and  then  allege  your  text."  But  this 
was  also  evaded,  and  his  answer  was  again  demanded  ;  but  he 
only  repeated  that  he  must  first  find  in  the  Scriptures  the 
right  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome  to  be  called  supreme  head. 

After  several  appearances,  Rogers  and  Bishop  Hooper 
were  condemned.1  On  being  awaked  "with  much  shog- 
ging  "  on  the  morning  of  his  execution,  and  being  told  that 
he  must  die  that  day,  he  quietly  said,  "Then  I  need  not 

1  An  account  of  the  trial  written  has  printed  it  with  great  care  from 
by  Rogers  himself  may  be  found  in  the  Lansdowne  MS.  Life  of  Rogers, 
Foxe,  vol.  VI,  p.  591.  Mr.  Chester  pp.  155  and  294. 


350  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

tye  my  points."  After  being  "degraded"  by  Bishop  Bonner, 
assisted  by  bis  archdeacon  and  canons,  he  was  the  first  sent 
to  the  flames,  and  calmly  and  bravely  he  met  his  fate,  in 
the  spirit  of  him  who  has  the  primacy  of  all  the  martyrs, 
and  who  prayed,  "  Lord,  lay  not  this  sin  to  their  charge." 
Every  one  knows  the  affecting  story  of  his  meeting,  on  his 
way  to  the  stake,  his  wife,  who  had  been  so  cruelly  denied 
access  to  him  by  Bishop  Gardyner  during  his  imprisonment, 
his  eleven  children  being  with  her,  the  eldest  a  lad  about 
seventeen  years  old,  and  the  youngest  a  suckling  on  her 
breast.  But  he  surmounted  the  trial  ;  "  the  sorrowful  sight 
of  his  own  flesh  and  blood  could  nothing  move  him  in  the 
defence  and  quarrel  of  Christ's  Gospel."  He  was  burned  at 
Smithfield  on  the  4th  of  February,  1555 — thousands  of  thrilled 
spectators  being  attracted  to  the  spot.  Count  Noailles,  the 
French  ambassador,  wrote  to  Montmorency  on  the  same  day, 
"  that  Rogers'  children  so  comforted  him  that  it  seemed  as  if  he 
had  been  led  to  a  wedding."  Foxe  relates  that  Rogers,  "  being- 
then  in  prison,  did  say  to  the  printer  of  this  book  (John  Day), 
who  was  then  laid  up  for  the  like  cause  of  religion,"  "  Thou 
shalt  live  to  see  the  alteration,  and  the  Gospel  to  be  freely 
preached  again." l  His  children  had  been  naturalized  by 
Parliament,  the  royal  assent  being  given  to  the  Act  on  the 
loth  of  April,  1552 — the  Earl  of  Derby,  and  the  Lords 
Stourton,  Sands,  Windsor,  and  Burgh  having  voted  against 
the  bill  in  the  House  of  Lords.  Many  families  in  England  and 
America  have  claimed  descent  from  John  Rogers,  but  without 
sufficient  proof.  Biographical  sketches  of  several  of  his  sons 
and  grandsons  are  given  in  Chester's  "  Life  of  John  Rogers."  - 
One  granddaughter  was  married  to  the  well  known  Puritan 
commentator  Jenkyn,  who  was  minister  of  Christ  Church,  so 
near  the  familiar  scene  of  martyrdom. 

Two  incidents  in  connection  with  Matthew's  Bible  may  be 
noticed.  The  first  English  Concordance  sprang  out  of  the  study 
of  it.  When  Marbeck,  one  of  the  organists  of  St.  George's, 
Windsor,  was  arrested  and  tried  in  1543,  he  confessed  to  the 
compilation  of  a  Concordance  drawn  up  from  a  borrowed  copy 
i  Vol.  VI,  p.  610.  2  Page  259. 


xxv.]  MARBECK'S  CONCORDANCE.  351 

of  Matthew's  Bible,  as  he  could  not  afford  to  buy  a  new  one. 
The  Bible  was  of  such  interest  to  him  that  he  had  begun  to 
transcribe  it  for  private  study.  When  he  had  finished  the 
transcription  of  the  Pentateuch,  "  on  fair,  great  paper,"  Master 
Turner  called  upon  him  unawares,  and  ascertaining  the  nature 
of  his  occupation,  scorned  his  labour  as  "vain  and  tedious," 
but  urged  him  to  "  set  out  "  a  Concordance.  Marbeck,  being 
wholly  ignorant  of  the  nature  of  such  a  work,  asked,  "  What  is 
that  ?  "  and  his  "  friend  "  showed  him  that  "  it  was  a  book  to 
find  out  any  word  in  the  whole  Bible  by  the  letters."  He  then 
boiTOwed  a  Latin  Concordance,  and  at  once  began  to  "  practise 
his  wit "  upon  the  task,  which  required  "  not  so  much  learning 
as  diligence,"  "  for  thou  art,"  said  his  friend,  "  a  painful  man, 
and  cannot  remain  unoccupied."  After  a  long  trial  before 
Gardyner  and  other  bishops  "  sitting  in  commission,"  in  1543,  he 
was,  along  with  three  others,  condemned  to  the  fire;  but  he  was 
ultimately  pardoned, l  though  Testwood,  Peersoii,  and  Filmer 
were  burned  on  the  meadow  in  front  of  Windsor  Castle.  The 
Concordance,  dedicated  to  King  Edward  VI,  was  published  in 
1550,  with  the  simple  and  significant  title,  "A  Concordance, 
that  is  to  saye,  a  worke  wherein  by  the  ordre  of  the  letters 
A,  B,  C,  yee  may  reddlye  find  any  word  conteyned  in  the  whole 
Bible,  so  often  as  it  is  there  expressed  or  mentioned." 2  By 
some  mistake  Foxe  had  said  in  his  first  edition  that  Marbeck 
had  suffered  ;  but  in  his  second  edition  he  shouts  gleefully, 
"  He  liveth,  God  be  praised,  and  yet  to  this  present,  and 
singe th  merrily,  and  playeth  on  the  organs."  The  martyr- 
ologist  is  very  wroth  with  those  who  had  attacked  him  for 
the  error.  Marbeck  was  admitted  to  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Music  at  Oxford  in  1549.  He  also  supplied  musical 
"  notes  "  to  an  edition  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  pub 
lished  in  1550.3 

In  fine,  it  was  upon  this  Bible  of  Matthew 4  that  an  ingenious 
alteration  was  tried  by  a  person  whom  Wanley  styles,  "  a  vil- 

1  The  story  is  graphically  told  in        3  Burney's   History  of  Music,  vol. 
Foxe,  vol.  V,  p.  472.  II,  p.  578. 

a  London,  Richard  Grafton.  4  Account  of  Lord  Oxford's  Bible, 

Lewis,  History,  p.  46. 


352  THE  ENGL  IS II  BIBLE. 

lainous  follow,  commonly  called  Captain  Thornton."  1  Fuller- 
had  made  the  erroneous  assertion  that  in  Wycliffe's  version 
"knave"  was  used  for  "  servant."  Thornton,  by  a  clever  mani 
pulation,  erased  "  scrvaunte  "  in  Romans  i,  1,  and  pasted  over 
the  space  the  word  "  krieawe,"  in  letters  cut  out  from  various 
parts  of  the  volume.  The  preliminary  leaves  were  taken  away, 
the  date  on  the  title-page  MDXXXVII  was  mutilated  by  paring 
off  xvii,  and  the  Bible  with  a  new  date  of  MDXX  was  sold  to 
the  Duke  of  Lauderdale,  who  prized  it  very  highly  as  a  literary 
curiosity,  for  it  read  in  Rom.  i,  1,  "  Paul  a  kneawe  of  Jesus 
Christ'"  A  Bible,  affirmed  to  be  the  "identical"  book,  was 
included  in  the  sale  catalogue  of  the  library  of  Mr.  Offor 
(London,  1S65) ;  and  the  unsuspected  forgery  supplied  a  note 
to  one  of  the  Waverley  fictions  in  explanation  of  the  term 
"miller's  knave."  Knave  does  not  occur  in  Wycliffe  in  the 
sense  of  servant;  but  the  phrase  knave-child,  that  is,  male  child, 
is  used  in  the  second  version,  Exodus  i,  16,  and  Rev.  xvii,  5. 
One  MS.,  "  ended  in  14?OS,"  preserved  in  the  Bodleian  Library, 
and  noted  for  many  peculiar  readings,  has  in  Lev.  xii,  7, 
"  knave  child."  It  also  occurs  in  Chaucer's  Clerk's  Tale,  as 
opposed  to  a  "  maiden  child." 

1  Church  History,  vol.  I,  p.  456,  ed.  London,  1837. 


THE    GBEAT    BIBLE 


VOL.  I. 


"  Oh  that  I  knew  how  all  thy  lights  combine, 
And  the  configurations  of  their  glory  ! 
Seeing  not  only  how  each  verse  doth  shine, 
But  all  the  constellations  of  the  story. 

This  verse  marks  that,  and  both  do  make  a  motion 
Unto  a  third,  that  ten  leaves  off  doth  lie : 

Then  as  dispersed  herbs  do  watch  a  potion, 

These  three  make  up  some  Christian's  destiny. 

Such  are  thy  secrets,  which  my  life  makes  good, 
And  comments  on  thee  :  for  in  every  thing 
Thy  words  do  find  me  out,  and  parallels  bring, 

And  in  another  make  me  understood. 

Stars  are  poor  books,  and  oftentimes  do  miss : 
This  book  of  stars  lights  to  eternal  bliss." 

HERBERT. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Bible  of  Matthew  or  Rogers,  published  in  1537,  which 
was  made  up  of  Tyndale  and  Coverdale,  was,  from  the 
very  nature  of  its  component  parts,  an  unequal  translation. 
It  was,  however,  a  step  hi  advance  toward  the  great  end,  and 
therefore  a  further  revision  was  felt  to  be  indispensable.  Cover- 
dale's  method  was  vague  and  unsatisfactory,  and  Matthew's 
edition  swarmed  with  provoking  polemical  annotations.  But 
out  of  it,  after  careful  critical  labour  a  third  Bible  might  be 
evolved  for  national  use  and  circulation,  and  which,  were  it 
approved  by  competent  scholars,  might  win  its  way  by  its 
own  merits  even  among  the  adherents  of  the  "  old  learning," 
Covevdale  himself  was  chosen  as  reviser  by  his  old  patron 
Crumwell ;  the  translator  now  became  the  editor,  while  the 
basis  of  the  work  was  the  rival  Bible  of  Matthew.  Though 
Rogers  himself  had  been  in  this  country,  he  might  have  been 
thought  disqualified  by  his  pronounced  opinions,  and,  so  far  as 
we  know,  he  had  given  no  decided  evidence  of  capacity  as  a 
translator.  The  pliant  mind  of  Coverdale  seems  to  have  offered 
no  opposition  to  a  task,  which  might  have  appeared  ungracious 
to  some  minds,  for  no  man  likes  to  depreciate  the  fruits  of  his 
industry.  But  in  the  dedication  of  the  Diglott  he  had  said, 
like  himself,  "  No  less  do  I  esteem  it  my  duty  to  amend  other 
men's  faults,  than  if  they  were  my  own;"  while  in  the  dedica 
tion  of  his  Bible  he  had  avowed  to  the  king,  "  I  am  always 
willing  and  ready  to  do  my  best  as  well  in  one  translation 
as  in  another."  And  true  to  his  spontaneous  pledge,  he  did  not 
shrink  from  a  toil  which,  as  it  was  intended  to  eclipse  his 
earlier  effort,  also  implied  a  confession  that  his  volume  of 


356  THE  EXGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

1535  was  deficient  in  many  elements  of  an  accurate  popular 
version.  He  had  an  innate  liking  for  Biblical  studies,  and  he 
pursued  them  in  the  true  spirit  of  "  simplicity  and  godly 
sincerity."  ]STo  false  pride  kept  him  from  amending  what  he- 
had  previously  done,  and  he  did  not  decline  a  work  which  was 
meant  to  supersede  his  own  Bible,  of  which  there  had  been 
three  editions,  and  a  portion  of  a  fourth  in  Thomas  Matthew's.1 
His  constant  motive  was  to  make  Scripture  intelligible,  to 
present  the  record  of  the  Divine  Will  clearly  and  impressively 
to  the  English  reader,  and  for  this  purpose  he  availed  himself 
of  the  readiest  assistance.  Many  good  people  must  have  been 
stumbled  by  the  authorized  circulation  of  two  such  Bibles 
as  those  of  1535  and  1537,  the  second  clean  and  sharp  as 
steel;  the  first  quiet  and  equivocal,  neither  decidedly  one  thing 
nor  another,  but  both  by  turns.  Matthew's  Bible  must  have 
stirred  up  great  opposition ;  but  by  the  new  revision  its 
distinctive  and  anti-papal  element  was  now  taken  out  of 
it.  Samson's  locks  were  shorn,  and  he  became  "like  any  other 
man."  The  tastes  of  Cranmer  were  consulted  more  than  those 
of  the  vicegerent. 

Several  mistakes  have  been  made  about  the  origin  of  this 
revision.  Hume  records  against  all  proof  that  "  a  vote  was 
passed  for  publishing  a  new  translation  of  the  Scriptures,  and 
in  three  years'  time  the  work  was  finished  and  published  at 
Paris."  ''  Burnet  states  that  a  motion  to  have  a  new  version 
was  made  in  Convocation  in  1536  ;  but  he  confesses,  however, 
"  to  whom  the  work  was  committed,  or  how  they  proceeded 
in  it,  I  know  not,  for  the  accounts  of  these  things  have  7iot 
been  preserved  nor  conveyed  to  us  with  that  care  that  the 
importance  of  the  thing  required.  Yet  it  appears  that  the  work 
was  carried  on  at  a  good  rate,  for,  three  years  after  this,  it  was 
printed  at  Paris."3  But  the  narrative  is  utterly  proofless,  and 

1  Mr.  Green  (History  of  the  Eug-  Coverdale  only  revised  to  the  best 

ish     People,    p.    332),    states    thai  of  his  judgment. 

Coverdale,  in  preparing  the    Great  -  History  of  England,  vol.  IV,  p. 

Bible,  "  collected  the  translations  of  122,  London,  1825. 

Tyndale  "  ;   but   the    collection   had  3  History  of  the  Reformation,  vol. 

been  the  work  of  Matthew,  which  I,  pt.  ii,  p.  357,  Oxford,  1816. 


ERRORS  ABOUT  IT.  357 

contradicts  what  is  definitely  known  of  the  birth  of  the  Great 
Bible.  Froude  tells,  "  that  Matthew's  version,  after  being 
revised  by  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  was  reprinted  in 
1538,  1539,  1540,  and  1541,  under  the  name  of  the  Great  Bible 
or  Cranmer  s.1  But] the  revision  was  not  published  in  1538,  and 
with  the  edition  of  1539  Cranmer  had  nothing  to  do,  as  we 
shall  presently  see.  Some  have  even  surmised,  without  any 
evidence,  that  the  scraps  of  the  revision  which  the  Archbishop 
had  attempted  in  1534,  were  used  in  the  preparation  of  the 
new  Bible;  and  it  has  even  been  contended,  as  by  Lord  Herbert,2 
that  the  king  was  now  requested  to  order  a  new  version 
without  tables  and  comments,  and  that  he  committed  the 
matter  to  Crumwell,  who  had  obtained  his  sanction  for  the 
two  previous  editions.  Certainly  "  his  good  lordship "  is 
said  to  be  "  the  causer  thereof,"  and  the  reviser  and  the 
superintendent  of  the  press,  writing  to  him  from  Paris,  call 
it  "your  work  of  the  Bible."  Whatever,  therefore,  the 
relation  of  the  king  to  the  edition  might  be,  Crumwell  was 
the  prime  mover,  as  the  correspondence  so  plainly  shows.  Paris 
was  fixed  upon  as  the  place  of  printing  from  the  superiority 
of  paper  and  workmanship  to  be  found  in  it.  Coverdale  and 
Grafton  went  over  to  the  French  capital,  probably  in  May,  and 
the  printing  was  immediately  commenced  at  the  press  of 
Regnault.  A  royal  license  had  been  obtained  from  Francis, 
at  the  request  of  Henry,  noster  carissimus  frater,  but  it 
contained  stipulations  which  might  at  any  time  lead  to  the 
suspension  of  the  enterprise  ;  for  the  ecclesiastical  authorities, 
though  forced  for  a  time  to  wink  at  it,  were  jealous  of  it 
from  the  beginning.3  In  an  early  communication  to  Crumwell, 
Coverdale  and  Grafton  inform  him,  that  they  have  sent  him 
two  copies  on  parchment — the  only  two  to  be  so  printed — one 

1  History  of  England,  vol.  IV,  p.  3  The  license  was  to  last  as  long 
201,  fourth  edition,  1867.  as  they  did  not  print  "  privatas  ullas 

2  England  under  Henry  VIII,  p.  aut  illegitimas  opiuiones."     Strype's 
614,  London,  1870.       Dibdin    also  Life  of  Cranmer,  vol.  I,  p.  439,  Ox- 
( Bibliomania,  p.  328)  carelessly  talks  ford,  1848.     A  copy  of  the  license  is 
of  it  as  being  made  "under  the  archi-  given  in  his  Appendix  xxx. 
episcopal  patronage  of  Craumer." 


358  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAV. 

for  the  king,  and  one  for  himself,  and  that  they  enclosed  a  third 
specimen,  printed  on  the  paper  on  which  it  was  to  be  published. 
They  also  unfold  their  plan :  "  We  follow  not  only  a  standing- 
text  of  the  Hebrew  with  the  interpretation  of  the  Chaldee  and 
the  Greek ;  but  we  set  also  in  a  private  (separate)  table  the 
diversity  of  readings  of  all  texts,  with  such  annotations  in 
another  table,  as  shall  doubtless  delucidate  and  clear  the  same  ; 
as  well  without  any  singularity  of  opinions,  as  all  checkings 
and  reproofs.  The  print,  no  doubt,  shall  please  your  good 
lordship :  the  paper  is  of  the  best  sort  in  France.  The  charge 
is  certainly  great ;  wherein  as  we  most  humbly  require  your 
favourable  help  at  this  present,  with  whatsoever  it  shall  please 
your  lordship  to  let  us  have.  .  .  .  ^^7e  be  daily  threatened 
and  look  ever  to  be  spoken  to  withal. " l  As  the  work  pro 
ceeded,  the  method  was  more  fully  explained,  and  on  the  9th 
of  August  they  write  to  the  Lord  Privy  Seal :  "  Your  work 
going  forward,  we  thought  it  our  most  bounden  duty  to  send 
unto  your  lordship  certain  leaves  thereof,  specially  seeing 
we  had  so  good  occasion,  by  the  returning  of  your  beloved 
servant  Sebastian ; 2  and  as  they  are  done,  so  will  we  send 
your  lordship  the  residue,  from  time  to  time."3 

"As  touching  the  manner  and  order  that  we  keep  in  the 
same  work,  pleaseth  it  your  good  lordship  to  be  advertised, 
that  the  mark  ^p°  in  the  text  signifieth  that  upon  the  same 
(in  the  latter  end  of  the  book)  there  is  some  notable  annota 
tions,  which  we  have  written  without  any  private  opinion, 
only  after  the  best  interpreters  of  the  Hebrews,  for  the  more 
clearness  of  the  text.4  This  mark  J5L  betokeneth  that  upon  the 
same  text  there  is  diversity  of  reading,  among  the  Hebrews, 
Chaldees,  and  Greeks,  and  Latinists,  as  in  a  table  at  the  end 


1  Grafton  signs  himself,  Richard  Cover-dale  may  have  obtained  some 

Grafton,  grocer.  knowledge  of  Hebrew ;  but  lie 

"  Sebastian  is  sometimes  said  to  be  could  learn  all  that  he  says  from 

Crum well's  cook.  State  Papers,  the  "  interpreters "  usually  consulted 

Crumwell's  Correspondence,  vol.  I,  by  him.  The  variations  referred 

No.  167.  to  might  be  easily  found  in  the 

3  Ibid.,  p.  108.  Complutensian  Polyglott. 

4  During    the     last    three    years 


xxvi.]  COVERDALE  AND  GRAFTON. 

of  the  book  shall  be  declared.  This  mark  C$8  showeth  that 
the  sentence,  written  in  small  letters,  is  not  in  the  Hebrew  or 
Chaldee,  but  in  the  Latin,  and  seldom  in  the  Greek,  and 
that  we,  nevertheless,  would  not  have  it  extinct,  but  highly 
accept  it,  for  the  more  explanation  of  the  text.  This  token 
•f  in  the  Old  Testament  giveth  to  understand  that  the  same 
text  that  followeth  it  is  also  alleged  of  Christ,  or  of  some 
Apostle  in  the  New  Testament.  This,  among  other  our 
necessary  labours,  is  the  way  that  we  take  in  this  work ; 
trusting  verily  that  as  Almighty  God  moved  your  lordship 
to  set  us  unto  it,  so  shall  it  be  to  His  glory,  and  right 
welcome  to  all  them  that  love  to  serve  Him,  and  their 
Prince,  in  true  faithful  obedience."  On  the  12th  Septem 
ber  they  wrote  again,  telling  that  they  had  been  instantly 
desired  by  their  host  to  ask  a  license  for  him,  who  had 
been  "an  occupier"  more  than  forty  years,  to  sell  in  Eng 
land  books  printed  by  him  on  the  Continent,  the  impor 
tation  having  been  prohibited  by  the  Company  of  Book 
sellers,  and  as  an  inducement  to  grant  the  privilege  they 
pleaded  for,  they  subjoin,  "  We  shall  fare  none  the  worse  in 
the  readiness  and  due  expedition  of  this  your  lordships  Bible, 
which  is  going  well  forward,  and  within  four  months  will 
draw  to  an  end  by  the  grace  of  Almighty  God."  Coverdale 
had  already  asked  a  monopoly  for  James  Nycolson,  who 
published  the  second  and  third  editions  of  his  New  Testa 
ment,  and  now  in  his  kind-heartedness  he  asked  a  relaxation 
of  patent  on  behalf  of  Regnault. 

Bonner,1  the  English  ambassador,  and  successor  to  Gardyner 
at  Paris,  had  been  very  kind  and  patronizing  to  the  English 
party,  had  them  often  at  dinner,  and  often  dined  with  them  at 
the  printer's  house,  when  he  generously  defrayed  the  expense. 
He  had  taken  a  liking  to  Coverdale's  Diglott  Testament,  and 
the  license  from  the  French  king  gave  liberty  to  print 

1  Bishop  elect  of  Hereford,  for-  He  had  been  favoured  by  Crmmvell, 

merly  Archdeacon  of  Leicester,  and  and  did  not  appear  in  his  true  charae- 

afterwards    Bishop    of    London,  a  ter  till  after  his  patron's  execution, 

reformer  apparently  up  to  the  time  of  Bonner  is  said  to  have  written  the 

his  elevation  to  the  episcopal  bench.  Homily  on  Charity. 


;3GO  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CIIAP. 

Bibles  in  Latin  and  English — Latine  quam  Britannice.  On 
the  13th  of  December,  Coverdale  asked  to  know  Crurnwell's 
pleasure  about  the  annotations,  and  whether  the  places 
noted  by  the  "hands"  should  pass  undeclared,  "promising 
to  avoid  any  private  opinion  or  contentious  words,"  and 
offering  all  notes  to  be  inspected  by  Bonner  before  they 
were  printed.  He  also  intimates  that  he  sends  home, 
through  Bonner,  another  portion  of  the  printed  sheets,  that 
these  at  least  may  be  "  safe,"  should  the  ecclesiastics  of 
Paris  "  confiscate "  what  they  could  lay  their  hands  on. 
His  precaution  was  wise,  and,  indeed,  a  first  warning  put 
Coverdale  and  Grafton  on  their  guard.  Before  the  printing 
was  finished,  and  four  days  after  this  last  letter,  an  Inhibi 
tion  was  launched  against  them.  The  inquisitor-general  had 
been  influenced  to  interfere,  and  on  the  17th  December, 
1538,  he  issued  through  Le  Tellier,  the  "  sworn  scribe " 
of  the  Holy  Office,  an  edict  l  forbidding  the  work,  seizec1 
the  pages  already  printed  and  not  conveyed  across  the 
Channel,  and  cited  the  printer  to  appear  before  his  tribunal. 
The  Englishmen  fled  for  safety,  but  left  behind  them  many 
sheets,  which  were  condemned  to  be  "burned  in  the  Place 
Maubert,"  close  upon  the  Rue  des  Anglais.2  But  an  officer 
of  the  Inquisition,  for  the  sake  of  a  little  money,  sold  them 
as  waste  paper  to  a  haberdasher  "  to  lay  caps  in,"  and  "  four 
great  dry  vats "  full  of  them  were  purchased  and  saved. 
Presses,  types,  and  workmen  were  also  in  a  short  time 
brought  over  to  England,  and  in  two  or  three  months  the 
printing  was  completed — in  April,  1539.  This  volume, 
begun  in  Paris,  and  finished  in  London,  is  the  "  GREAT  BIBLE," 
the  name  being  given  it  on  account  of  its  size.3 

1  The  original  is   in   the   British  from  secondary  sources,  and  sneers 

Museum,  Cotton  MSS.,  Cleop.  E.  V.,  at  him  for  "thrusting  himself  for- 

fol.  326.  ward  as  a  translator,  and  hindering 

-  Foxe  suggestively  adds,  "  a  spot  the  progress  of  an  authorized  ver- 

like  Smithfield."  sion,'  it   is    enough   to   reply  that 

3  AVhen   Mr.   Blunt,  in   his   con-  of  the    first    authorized    version    of 

ilemnatiou  of  Tyndale  as  a  decided  1539,  two-thirds  were  the  immediate 

Protestant,  virtually  ranks  his  New  and  personal  work  of  Tyndale. 
Testament      among      those      taken 


xxvi.]  HOLBEIN'S  FRONTISPIECE.  3d 

This  first  edition  of  the  Great  Bible,  sometimes  erroneously 
termed  Cranmer's,  is  a  handsome  folio,  printed  in  black  letter, 
with  the  title — 

"  The  Byble  in  Englyshe,  that  is  to  saye,  the  content  of 
all  the  holy  scripture,  bothe  of  the  olde  &  newe  testament, 
truly  translated  after  the  veryte  of  the  Hebrue  and  Greke 
textes,  by  the  dylygent  studye  of  dyuerse  excellent  learned 
men,  expert  in  the  forsayde  tonges.  Prynted  by  Rychard 
Grafton  &,  Edward  Whitchurch.  Cum  privilegio  ad  impri- 
mendum  solum.  1539."  The  colophon  carries,  "  The  Ende  of 
the  New  Testament  &  of  the  whole  Byble,  Fynisshed  in 
Apryll,  Anno  MCCCCCXXXIX.  A  Domino  factum  est  istud." 

There  is  no  proof  that  these  "dyverse  excellent  learned  men" 
were  living  divines  working  with  Coverdale,  and  there  is  no 
trace  of  any  such  co-operation  in  his  correspondence.  But  the 
versions  so  referred  to  are  easily  recognized,  for  the  Bible  was 
made  by  the  continuous  consultation  of  Miinster  and  Erasmus. 
The  Latin  motto  quoted  from  Psalm  cxviii,  23,  is  a  grateful 
recognition  of  the  kind  and  watchful  guardianship  of  the 
Divine  Author  of  Scripture.  Grafton,  who  had  charge  of  the 
printing,  has  this  high  witness  borne  to  him  in  a  recommen 
datory  epistle  prefixed  to  his  Chronicle  by  Thomas  N.  .  .  . 
"  The  Bible  in  English,  that  vnvaluable  Jewell,  we  haue  by  his 
trauayle,  first  with  his  charge  and  attendaunce  procuring  the 
translation  thereof,  then  sundrie  times  copying  the  same  out 
with  his  own  hande,  thirdly  printing  it  in  Fraunce  with  his 
great  expense  and  perill.  .  .  .  Not  discouraged  herewith,  but 
still  caried  with  zeale  to  doe  good,  he  attempted  the  woorke 
againe,  and  to  Gods  great  praise  and  to  the  edification  of 
Christes  Church,  performed  it."  Grafton  was  of  good  family 
and  appears  at  one  time  to  have  had  a  seat  in  Parliament ;  but 
he  became  so  poor  in  his  old  age,  that  he  applied  to  be  taken 
on  as  a  government  informer. 

The  Bible  has  an  elaborately  artistical  frontispiece,  de 
signed  by  Holbein.  At  the  top  is  the  Saviour  in  the  clouds, 
with  two  Latin  scrolls  issuing  from  His  lips,  the  one  thrown 
out  towards  the  right  hand  being,  Verbum  meum  quod  egre- 
dietur  de  ore  meo  non  revertetur  ad  me  vacuum,  sed  faciet 


3G2  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

quaecunque  volui,  Esa.  Iv ; ]  and  that  towards  the  left  being, 
Inveiii  virum  juxta  cor  mourn,  qui  faciet  omnes  voluntates 
ineas.2  Below  the  figure  in  the  clouds  is  the  king  on  his 
throne,  with  his  crown  and  insignia  of  the  Garter  at  his  feet, 
and  holding  in  each  hand  a  book  entitled,  Verbum  Dei.  On 
the  right  of  the  throne  stand  Cramner  and  some  ecclesiastics, 
with  their  mitres  oil  the  ground ;  and  as  the  king  presents  the 
book  to  Cranmer,  the  scroll  addressed  to  him,  as  representing 
the  group,  is,  HJHC  praecipe  et  doce.3  Upon  the  king's  left 
stands  Crumwell  with  other  peers.  The  king  gives  the  book 
to  him  as  their  leader,  and  the  thick  and  heavy  scroll  in 
tended  for  them  reads,  A  me  constitutum  est  decretum,  ut  in 
universe  imperio  et  regno  meo  homines  tremiscant  et  paveant 
Deum  viventem.4  There  is  another  scroll  lying  over  the  royal 
breast,  also  addressed  to  them,  inscribed  with  the  words,  Quod 
justum  est,  judicate.5 — Ita  parvum  audietis  ut  magnum.6  One 
of  the  group,  kneeling,  has  the  legend  issuing  from  his  mouth, 
Verbum  tuum  lucerna  pedibus  meis.7  Lower  down  on  the 
one  side  of  the  title  which  occupies  the  centre,  Crumwell  is 
depicted  again  with  the  Verbum  Dei  in  his  hand  which  he  is 
giving  to  those  around  him,  with  the  scroll  over  his  head, 
Diuerte  a  malo  et  fac  bonum,  inquire  pacem  et  persequere  earn.8 
Psalm  xxxiii.  On  the  other  side  of  the  title,  Cranmer,  arrayed 
in  pontificals,  with  his  coat-of-arms  at  his  feet,  is  giving  the 
Verbum  Dei  to  the  eager  clergy,  with  the  issuing  scroll,  Pascite, 
qui  in  vobis  est,  gregem  Christi,  prima  Pe.  v.9  The  last  com 
partment,  under  the  title,  fills  the  whole  breadth  of  the  page, 

1  So  shall  my  word  be  that  goeth  ble  and  fear  before  the  living  God. 

forth  out  of  my  mouth  ;  it  shall  not  Daniel  vi,  26. 

return  unto  me  void,  but  it  shall  ac-  5  Judge  righteously.     Deut.  i,  16. 

complish  that  which  I  please.    Isaiah  fi  Ye  shall  hear  the  small  as  well  as 

Iv,  18.  the  great,     Deut.  i,  17. 

"  I  have  found  a  man  after  mine  7  Thy  word   is  a   lamp  unto  my 

own  heart,  which  shall  fulfil  all  my  feet.     Psalm  cxix,  105. 

will.     Acts  xiii,  22.  s  Depart  from  evil,  and  do  good  ; 

;i  These  things  command  and  teach,  seek   peace,  and   pursue   it.     Psalm 

1  Tim.  iv  11.  xxxiv,  14. 

4  I  make  a  decree,  That  in  every  9  Feed  the  flock  of  God  which  is 

dominion  of  my  kingdom  men  trem-  among  you.     1  Peter  v,  2. 


xxvi.]  APOLOGY  FOR  WANT  OF  NOTES.  303 

like  the  first  compartment  above  it.  In  one  corner  a  preacher 
is  addressing  a  crowd,  and  the  scroll  contains  his  text,  Obsecro 
igitur  primum  omnium  fieri  obsecrationes,  orationes,  postula- 
tioues,  gratiarum  actiones,  pro  omnibus  hominibus,  pro  regibus,1 
&c.,  1  Timo.  ii ;  and  the  congregation  are  shouting  in  reply, 
some  Vivat  Rex,  and  some,  including  females,  God  save  the 
Kynge.  At  the  lower  portion  of  the  left-hand  corner  are 
children,  who  are  not  supposed  to  know  Latin,  and  who  are  also 
shouting  God  save  the  Kynge.  Three  prisoners,  looking  out  on 
the  scene  from  grated  windows,  appear  to  be  filled  with  chagrin 
and  amazement,  while  the  people  in  front,  notably  a  figure  girt 
with  a  sword,  are  flaunting  toward  them  many  a  Yivat  Rex,  in 
scorn  of  their  disloyalty. 

The  numerous  notes  in  Matthew's  Bible,  and  its  prefatory 
theological  miscellany,  were  set  aside ;  and  Bale  ascribes  such 
removal  of  the  annotation  table  and  prefaces  to  popish  in 
fluence.  The  Great  Bible  has  no  notes,  not  even  a  dedication. 
Coverdale's  own  proposed  annotations  were  omitted;  and  the 
volume,  in  the  eyes  of  its  editor,  must  have  appeared  naked, 
while  the  ingenious  apparatus  of  signals  pointed  specially  to 
that  nakedness.  So  that  the  short  preface  makes  explanation 
and  apology  :  "  We  have  also  (as  ye  may  see)  added  many 
hands,  both  in  the  margin  of  this  volume  and  also  in  the  text, 
upon  the  which  we  purposed  to  have  made,  in  the  end  of  the 
Bible  (in  a  table  by  themselves),  certain  godly  annotations, 
but,  forasmuch  as  yet  there  hath  not  been  sufficient  time 
ministered  to  the  king's  most  honourable  council  for  the  over 
sight  and  correction  of  the  said  annotations,  we  will  therefore 
omit  them  till  their  more  convenient  leisure,  doing  now  no 
more  but  beseech  thee,  most  gentle  reader,  that  when  thou 
comest  at  such  a  place  where  a  hand  doth  stand,  .  .  .  and 
thou  canst  not  attain  to  the  meaning  and  true  knowledge  of 
that  sentence,  then  do  not  rashly  presume  to  make  any  private 
interpretation  thereof,  but  submit  thyself  to  the  judgment  of 
those  that  are  godly  learned  in  Christ  Jesus."  The  "  more 

1  I  exhort  therefore,  that,  first  of    made  for  all  men  ;  for  kings,  &c.     1 
all,    supplications,     prayers,     inter-     Timothy  ii,  1,  2. 
cessions,  and  giving  of  thanks,  be 


3G4  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

convenient"  leisure  never  came,  though  several  editions  re- 
tiiined  the  "  hands  "  and  other  signs. 

Coverdale's  language  in  the  previous  sentences  betrays  his 
constitutional  weakness,  his  want  of  firmness  and  decision. 
He  sacrificed  somewhat  to  expediency,  and  wished  to  be  "  all 
things  to  men  "  in  a  way  more  flaccid  than  he  who  first  used 
the  phrase  ever  intended  or  exemplified.  But  his  pliancy 
arose  not  from  any  regard  to  worldly  interest  or  honour;  it 
sprang  from  a  desire  to  charm  others  over  to  his  opinions.  He 
would  not  be  unfaithful;  but  he  could  give  his  fidelity,  if  it 
were  to  cause  offence,  the  gentleness  of  the  dove.  He  was  too 
apt  to  forget  that  the  "soft  answer"  may  not  be  the  most  effective 
answer,  though  it  turn  away  wrath.  It  was  undutiful  to  him 
self  and  to  his  convictions  to  profess  such  eagerness  to  tune  his 
annotations  so  as  to  suit  the  temper  and  likings  of  those  who 
might  inspect  and  criticize  them. 

The  Great  Bible  owed  its  existence  to  Crurnwell  -and  to  his 
Protestant  zeal.  He  had  determined  that  there  should  be  such 
a  book,  and  he  was  not  a  man  to  be  lightly  turned  from  his 
purpose,  for  the  prominent  elements  of  his  character  were 
decision  and  energy.  The  merit  then  belongs  really  to  the 
vicegerent,  and  neither  to  the  king  nor  the  archbishop.  The 
copy  designed  for  himself — printed  on  vellum,  with  gilt  leaves, 
the  covers  embossed  with  brass,  and  the  frontispiece  having  his 
arms  in  colours — is  now  in  the  library  of  St.  John's  College, 
Cambridge.  Crumwell  had  also  been  preparing  measures  for 
its  immediate  and  extensive  circulation.  The  archbishop  had 
laid  injunctions  on  the  diocese  of  Hereford  that  its  clergy 
"shall  have  by  the  first  day  of  August  next  coming  (1539  ?),  as 
well  a  whole  Bible  in  Latin  and  English,  or  at  least  a  New 
Testament  of  both  the  same  languages,  as  the  copies  of  the 
king's  highness'  injunctions."  This  document,  drawn  up  some 
time  in  1538,  pointed  to  the  forthcoming  volume  of  the  next 
year.  The  vicar-general  had  issued  injunctions  also  as  early 
as  September,  when  the  interruption  could  not  have  been  fore 
seen  :  "  Item,  that  ye  shall  provide  on  this  side  the  feast  of 
-  next  comyng,  one  boke  of  the  whole  Bible  in  the 
largest  volume  in  Englyshe,  and  the  same  sett  up  in  summe 


xxvi.]  COLLATION.  3(35 

convenyent  place  within  the  said  churche  that  ye  have  cure  of, 
whereat  your  parishners  may  most  commodiously  resort  to  the 
same  and  rede  yt ;  the  charges  of  whiche  boke  shal  be  vatablie 
born  between  the  parson  and  the  parishners  aforsaid,  that  is 
to  say,  the  one  half  by  youe,  and  th'  other  half  by  them." 
Latimer  issued  similar  injunctions  to  the  diocese  of  Worcester. 
"  The  Bible  of  largest  volume  in  English "  specified  in  this 
Injunction  is,  without  doubt,  the  Great  Bible.  In  size  none 
of  the  others  can  compete  with  it,  neither  Coverdale's  nor 
Matthew's.  Its  pages  are  fully  fifteen  inches  in  length,  and 
over  nine  in  breadth.  There  was  also  a  royal  proclamation 
repeating  and  enforcing  many  portions  of  a  previous  edict.1 

And  so  the  work  was  done.  The  order  had  gone  forth 
for  the  free  circulation  of  Scripture,  and  was  not  for  some 
time  to  be  recalled.  Private  enterprise  had  translated  and 
multiplied  the  English  Bible,  in  spite  of  keen  and  malignant 
opposition.  The  king  gave  no  grant  in  assistance,  nor  was 
any  sum  voted  from  the  exchequer.  Bishop  Gardyner  had 
no  influence  at  the  moment  to  prevent  it ;  but  the  clergy  did 
"malign  the  printing  of  this  Bible." 

The  Great  Bible  of  1539  is  the  text  of  Matthew  revised ; 
or  is,  in  other  words,  Coverdale's  revision  both  of  his  own  and 
Tyndale's  translation.  In  the  revision  of  the  New  Testament 
Coverdale  had  the  assistance  of  the  Latin  version  of  Erasmus, 
and  in  many  cases  was  influenced  by  it.  Thus,  from  the 
Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  chap,  iii,  the  following  specimens  may 
be  taken : — 

TYXDALE.  GREAT  BIBLE,  1539.2 

Verse 

3  Ye  would  now  end.  ye  now  end. 

4  if  that  be  vain.  if  it  be  also  in  vain. 

5  Which  ministered  to  you.  Moreover  he  that  ministereth. 

7  Understand  therefore  that.  Ye  know  therefore. 

8  the  scripture  saw  aforehand.  the  scripture  seeing  aforehand. 

9  and  therefore. 

10  under  malediction.  subject  to  the  curse. 

1  Burnet,  p.  337,  pnevidens ;   9,  omitted  in  Erasmus 

2  3,  consummamini  ;  4,  si  et  frus-     and  in  the  Great  Bible  ;  10,  execra- 
tra ;  5,  qui  igitur ;  7,  scitis  igitur ;  8,     tioni  obnoxii. 


366 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 


[CHAP. 


TYNDALE. 

Verse 

13  was  made  accursed. 

14  and  that  we  might  receive. 

15  I  will  speak. 

when  it  is  once  allowed. 

16  as  in  one. 
18  cometh  not. 

21  howbeit  if  there  had  been  a  law. 
should  have  come. 

23  Before  that  faith  came. 

kept  &  shut  up  under  the  law. 

24  unto  the  time  of  Christ. 

25  sons  of  God  by  the  faith. 

28  now  is  there  no. 

but  ye  are  all  one  thing. 

29  by  promise. 


GREAT  BIBLE,  1539.1 

inasmuch  as  be  was  made  accursed. 

that  we  might  receive. 

I  speak. 

if  it  be  allowed. 

as  of  one. 

cometh  not  now. 

for  if  there  had  been  given. 

should  come. 

but  before  that. 

kept  under  the  law  &  were  shut  up. 

unto  Christ. 

children  of  God  because  ye  believe. 

there  is  no. 

for  ye  are  all  one. 

according  to  the  promise. 


Miinster  especially,  and  Pagninus  served  the  same  purpose 
for  the  Old  Testament  that  Erasmus  did  for  the  New.  Over 
twenty  years  after  this  period,  Bishop  Sandys  said  with  perfect 
truth,  "  The  setters  forth  of  this  our  common  translation  [the 
Great  Bible]  followed  Miinster  too  much,  who  doubtless  was 
a  very  negligent  man  in  his  doings,  and  often  swerved  very 
much  from  the  Hebrew."  Bishop  Sandys  is  right  as  to  the 
fact  that  Miinster  was  constantly  used;  but  his  disparagement 
of  the  Latin  version  of  Miinster  is  baseless,  for  it  is  very  literal, 
and  on  the  whole  accurate,  though  the  Latin  idiom  is  occasion 
ally  sacrificed.2  The  following  collation  of  the  second  Psalm 


1  13,    dum    factus    est  ;    14,   and 
omitted    in    the    Great    Bible   and 
Erasmus;    15,  dico ;   si  sit  compro- 
batum;  16,  de  uno;  18,  non  jam;  21, 
eteuim  si  data;  esset;  23,  cteterum; 
sub  lege   custodiebamur,  conclusi — 
Vulgate  also  ;  24,  ad  Christum  ;  25, 
eo   quod  credidistis  ;    28.  11011    est  ; 
omnes    enim    vos    uuus    estis  ;    29, 
juxta  promissionem.     Erasmus. 

2  Sebastian      Minister,     born     in 
1489,    studied    under    Stapfer  and 
Reuchlin  at  Tubingen ;  was  Professor 


of  Hebrew,  first  at  Heidelberg,  and 
then  at  Basle.  Died  there  of  the 
plague  in  1552.  Besides  many 
works  bearing  on  Hebrew  philology, 
he  published  a  Latin  version  of  the 
Old  Testament  with  notes  from 
Eabbiuical  commentaries,  two  vols., 
folio,  Basil,  1534-35,  reprinted  in 
1546.  The  translation  is  literal  and 
perspicuous.  Father  Simon  and 
Geddes  prefer  it,  though  it  be  the 
work  of  a  Protestant,  to  the  version 
of  Pagrninus. 


XXVI.] 


COLLATION  CONTINUED. 


367 


and    the   twenty-third    Psalm 
tion  : — 

COVERDALE. 


Verse 

1  Why  do  the  Heithen  grudge  ?  why 

do  the  people  ymagyne  vayne 
thinges  ? 

2  The  kynges   of    the    earthe  stode 

vp,  &  the  rulers  are  come  to 
gether,  agaynst  the  Lorde,  & 
agayust  his  anoynted. 

3  Let  vs  breake  their  bondes  a  sunder, 

&  cast  a  waye  their  yocke*  from 
vs. 

4  Neverthelcsse,6  he  that  dwelleth  in 

heauen,  shall  laugh  them  to 
scorne  ;  yee  euen7  the  Lord  him- 
selff  shall  have  them  in  derision. 

5  Then  shal  he  speake  vnto  them  in 

his  wrathe,  and  vexe  them  in 
his  sore  displeasure.10 

6  Yet  haue  I  set  my  kynge  vpoii  my 

holy  hill  of  Sion.11 

7  A  sfor  me,12 1  will preache™  the  lawe ; 

wherof  the  Lorde  hath  sayde 
vnto  me :  Thou  art  my  sonne, 
this  daye  haue  I  begotten  the. 


may   suffice    as    an    illustra- 

GREAT  BIBLE,  1539. 

Why  do  the  heathen  so  furiously 
rage1  together  ;  &  why  do  the 
people  imagine  a  vain  thing? 

The  kings  of  the  earth  stand  up, 
&  the  rulers  take  counsel  to 
gether:  3  against  the  Lord  & 
against  his  Anointed. 

Let  us  break  their  bonds  asunder ; 

&  cast  away  their  cords5  from 

us. 
8  He  that  dwelleth  in  heaven  shall 

laugh  them  to  scorn  :  9  the  Lord 

shall  have  them  in  derision. 

Then  shall  he  speak  unto  them  in 
his  wrath;  and  vex  them  in  his 
sore  displeasure. 

Yet  have  I  set  my  king:  upon  my 

holy  hill  of  Sion. 
I  will  preach  the  law,  whereof  the 

Lord  hath  said  unto  me  :  Thou 

art    my  son,  this  day  have   I 

begotten  thee. 


1  Ad  tumultum  conveniunt,  Miin- 
ster. 

2  Hem  inanem,  Miinster 

3  Simul    ineunt    consilium,  Miin 
ster;    consiliabuntur    pariter,    Pag- 
ninus. 

4  Jugum,  Vulgate. 

5  Funes     eorum,      Miinster     and 
Pagninus. 

6  "  Nevertheless "    represents    the 
"  Aber  "  of  Luther  and  the  ZU rich 
Bible. 

7  "Yee   even"  may  represent  the 
repeated     "  der;'     of     the     Zurich 
version. 


8  No  word  representing  "  Never 
theless  "    is    found    in    Miinster  or 
Pagniuus. 

9  No     word     representing    "  Yea 
even  "  is  found  in  the    Hebrew  or 
the  Latin  versions. 

10  Coverdaie  follows  "the   Vulgate 
in  preference  to  the  Zurich. 

11  Coverdaie  J  follows  Luther  and 
the  Ziirich  in  preference  to  the  Latin 
version. 

12  "As  for  me,"  probably  suggested 
by   the    "  bey    mir    selbs "    of    the 
Zurich  Bible. 

13  Predigen,  Luther. 


3G8 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 


[CHAP. 


COVERDALE. 
Verse. 

8  Desyre  off  me,1  &  I  shall  geue  the  the 

Heithen  for  thine  enheritaunce, 
Yee  the  vttermost  partes  of  the 
\vorlde  for  thy  possessiou. 

9  Thou  shalt  rule3  them  with  a  rodde 

of  yron,  &  breake  them  in  peces 
like  an  erthen  vessell. 

10  Be  wyse  now  therfore  (o  yekynges) 
be  warned,7  ye  that  are  judges  of 
the  earth. 


GREAT  BIBLE,  1539. 

Desire  of  me,  &  I  shall  give  thee 
the  heathen  for  thine  inherit 
ance  :  &  the  utmost  parts  of  the 
earth"  for  thy  possession. 

Thou  shalt  bruise4  them  with  a  rod 
of  iron  ;  &  break  them5  in  pieces 
like  a  potters  vessel.6 

Be  wise  now  therefore,  O  ye  kings ! 
be  learned3  ye  that  are  judges  of 
the  earth. 


11  Serve    the    Lorde  with0    feare,  &  Serve  the  Lord  in  fear:w  &  rejoice 

reioyce  before  him  with  reuer-  unto  him  u  with  reverence, 
ence. 

12  Kysse  the  sonne,  lest  the  Lorde12  be  Kiss  the  son  lest  he™  be  angry,  and 


angrie,  &  so  ye  perish  from  the 
right13  waye.  For1*  his  wrath 
shalbe  kindled  shortly15;  blessed 
are  all  they  that  put  their  trust 
in  him. 


so  ye  perish  from  the  right 
way:  if  his  wrath  be  kindled17 
(yea,  but  a  little),13  blessed  are 
all  they  that  put  their  trust  in 
him. 


The  words  "  unto  him"  in  verse  11,  and  "  right  "  in  verse  12,  are  printed 
in  small  type  in  the  edition  of  1540. 


PSALM  XXIII. 

1  The  Lorde  is  my  shepherde,19  I  can     The  Lorde  is  my  shepherds,  there- 
waut  uothinge.  forew  can  I  lack  nothing. 


1  Zurich  Bible. 

2  Terras,  Miiuster. 

3  Eeges,  Vulgate  ;  regieren,  Ziirich 
Bible. 

4Conteres,  Pagninus. 

5  Confringes,    Pagninus— the    two 
verbs  being  reversed  in  Miiuster. 

6  Vas  figuli,    Vulgate   and    Latin 
versions. 

7  Suggested  by   Luther    and    the 
Zurich  Bible. 

8  Erndiamini,  Miinster. 

9  Luther  and  the  Zurich  Bible. 


10  In  timore,  Vulgate  and  Minister. 

11  Vulgate  and  Sept. 

12  Vulgate  and  Sept. 

13  Vulgate  and  Sept. 

14  Denu,  Luther. 

15  In  brevi,  Vulgate;  bald,  Luther. 

16  "The  Lord  "omitted  in  Minister. 
ir  Ne  irascatur,  Miinster. 

18  Vel  paululum,  Miinster. 

19  Coverdale has  not  translated  the 
"  darurnb  "  of  the  Ziirich  Bible,  but 
follows  the  Vulgate  and  Luther, 

20  Ideo,  Miiuster. 


XXVI.  ] 


COLLATION. 


369 


COVERDALE. 


Verse 


2  TLafedeth1  me  in  a  greene  pasture  ; 
&  ledeth  me  to  afresh  water? 


3  He  guickencth  my  soule,7  and  bring- 

eth  me  forth  in  the  waye  of 
rightuousnes  for  his  names 
sake. 

4  Though  I  shulde  walke  noiv™  in11  the 

valley  of  the  shadowe  of  death, 
yet1^  I  feare  no  euell,  for  thou  art 
with  me;  thy  staffe  &  thy  shepe- 
hoke  comforte™  me 

5  Thou  preparest  a  table  before  me 

agaynst  mine  enemies;17  thou 
anoyntest  my  heade  with  oyle, 
&  fyllest  my  cuppeis  full. 

6  Oh  let  thy  loiiyiug  kyndnes  &  mercy 

folowe  me  all  the  dayes  off  my 
life  that  I  maye  dwell 23  in  the 
house  off  the  Lorde  for  eiier. 


GREAT  BIBLE,  1539. 

He  shall3  fede  me  in  a  grene  pas 
ture,  &  leade  me  forthe*  besyde* 
the  waters  of  comforted 

He  shall  convene9  my  soule,  & 
bryng  me  forth  in  the  pathes9  of 
ryghteousnes  for  hys  names 
sake. 

Yee 14  though  I  walke  thorow l5  ye 
valley  of  the  shadow  of  death, 
I  will  fear  no  eueU,w  for  thou  art 
with  me,  thy  rodde  &  thy  staffe 
comforte  me. 

Thou  shah  prepare I9  a  table  before 
me  agaynst  them  that  trouble 
me,™  thou  hast21  anoynted  my 
head  with  oyle,  &  my  cuppe 
shalbefuU.™ 

But**  (thy)  louynge  kyndes&  mercy 
shall 25  folowe  me  all  the  dayes 
of  my  lyf e,  /  will  divell  "6  in  the 
house  of  the  Lord  for  ever. 


1  Er  weidet  mich,  Luther  and  the 
Zurich. 

2  After  Luther,  the  Zurich  having 
"  still  waters."    The  phrase  adopted 
by  the  Genevan  came  through  it  into 
the  Authorized  Version. 

3  Accubare  faciet,  "  shall  make  me 
to  lie  down,"  Minister. 

4  Deduce  t. 

5  Juxta,Miinster. 

6  Aquas  refrigerii,  do. 

7  Erquicket,  Ziirich  and  Luther. 

8  Convertet,  Pagninus. 

9  In  semitis,  Miiuster. 

10  Schon,  Liither  an  d  the  Zurich. 

11  In  Vulgate  and  Zurich. 

12  Doch,  Zurich. 

13  Future  form  in  Hebrew. 

VOL.  I.  2 


14  Etiam,  Pagninus  and  Miinster. 

15  Per,  Paguinus  and  Munster. 

16  Malum,  Pagniuus  and  Miiuster. 

17  Contra,  Pagninus. 

18  Fullest,  Ziirich. 

19  Praeparabis,  Munster  and  Pag 
ninus. 

20  Adversus  eos,  Munster. 

21  Miinster  and  Pagniuus. 

22  Saturus,    do.         do. 

23  Vulgate  and  Zurich. 

24  Veruutamen,       Miiuster       and 
Paguinus. 

25  Sequentur,          do.  do. 

26  Morabor,  do.  do. 
"And  I  will  dwell"  being  iu  the 
edition  of  1540. 


A 


370  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CIIAP. 

So  careful  had  been  Coverdale's  revision,  and  so  little  attach 
ment  had  he  to  his  previous  version,  that  in  the  fifty-third 
chapter  of  Isaiah,  the  Bible  of  1539  differs  in  nearly  forty 
places  from  his  earlier  one  of  1535. 

The  enemies  of  a  free  English  Bible  were  spiteful  in  their 
attempts  to  frustrate  the  proclamation,  quoted  on  a  previous 
page.  Many  "  parsons,  vicars,  and  curates,  read  confusedly  the 
Word  of  God ;  and  the  injunctions  set  forth  and  commanded 
by  them  to  be  read ;  humming,  and  hawing,  and  hawking 
thereat,  that  scarce  any  could  understand  them."  "  When  your 
royal  highness  gave  commandment  that  the  bishops  should 
see  that  there  were  in  every  church  one  Bible  at  least,  set 
at  liberty,  so  that  every  man  might  freely  come  to  it,  and 
read  therein,  many  of  this  wicked  generation,  as  well 
priests  as  others  their  faithful  adherents,  would  pluck  it, 
either  into  the  quire,  or  else  into  some  pew,  where  poor  men 
durst  not  presume  to  come ;  yea,  there  is  no  small  number 
of  churches  that  hath  no  Bible  at  all."  J  .  .  .  "  They  bade  their 
parishioners  notwithstanding  what  they  read,  being  com 
pelled  so  to  do,  that  they  should  do  as  they  did  in  times 
past  as  their  fathers  ;  and  that  the  old  fashion  is  the  best : 
and  other  crafty  and  seditious  sayings  they  gave  among 
them." 

The  Bible  of  1539  was,  however,  warmly  welcomed  by  the 
people,  and  the  words  of  Strype,  taken  from  a  manuscript  of 
Foxe,  more  probably  apply  to  it  than  to  the  earlier  edition  of 
Matthew  : 2  "It  Avas  wonderful  to  see  with  what  joy  this  book 
of  God  was  received  not  only  among  the  learned  sort,  and  those 
that  were  noted  for  lovers  of  the  reformation  ;  but  generally  all 
England  over,  among  all  the  vulgar  and  common  people ;  and 
with  what  greediness  God's  Word  was  read,  and  what  resort  to 
places  where  the  reading  of  it  was.  Everybody  that  could 
bought  the  book,  or  busily  read  it,  or  got  others  to  read  it  to 
them  if  they  could  not  themselves,  and  divers  more  elderly 
people  learned  to  read  on  purpose,  and  even  little  boys  flocked 
among  the  rest  to  hear  portions  of  the  Holy  Scripture  read." 

1  Strype's  Ecclesiastical  Memorials,  vol.  I,  pt  i,  p.  612  ;  Life  of 
Coverdale,  p.  199.  -  Life  of  Cranmer,  vol.  I,  p.  141. 


xxvi.]  PRIVILEGE  OF  AN  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  371 

This  statement  is  corroborated  by  a  document  found  in  the 
State  Paper  Office,  and  printed  by  Collier :  "  Englishmen 
have  now  in  hand  in  every  church,  and  place,  and  almost 
every  man,  the  Holy  Bible  and  New  Testament  in  their  mother 
tongue,  instead  of  the  old  fabulous  and  fantastical  books  of 
the  Table  Round,  Lancelot  du  Lake,  Huou  de  Bourdeux, 
Bevis  of  Hampton,  Guy  of  Warwick,  &c.,  and  such  other, 
whose  impure  filth  and  vain  fabulosity  the  light  of  God 
has  abolished  utterly."  l 

1  Ecclesiastical  History,  vol.  IX,  p.  162,  London,  1852. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

TOURING  the  autumn  of  this  year  (1539),  preparations  were 
made  for  the  printing  of  a  new  edition  at  home,  Parisian 
types  and  workmen  being  still  kept  in  London.  Cranmer 
was  naturally  busy  about  the  work,  for  he  felt  that  it 
needed  some  special  superintendence.  His  own  mind  was 
opening  more  fully  to  the  light,  and  amidst  the  perplexing 
secular  intricacies  and  anxieties  attaching  to  his  office,  and 
the  political  combinations  which  he  had  daily  to  deal  with 
in  that  period  of  change,  he  resolved  on  securing  for  the 
Bible  an  unimpeded  circulation.  To  the  volume  in  progress, 
which  often  goes  under  his  name,  he  composed  a  preface 
which,  through  Crumwell,  was  to  be  submitted  to  the  king. 
On  this  matter  he  writes  to  the  vicegerent,  on  the  14th  ot 
November,  1530,  a  sensible  and  practical  letter,  asking 
whether  the  preface1  to  the  Bible  had  got  the  royal  approval, 
and  discussing  the  price  of  the  prepared  volume.  The 
archbishop  settled  it  at  13s.  4d.,  which  Crumwell  had  thought 
rather  high,  and  the  publisher  naturally  rather  low.  But 
Berthelet  and  Whitchurch  were  willing  to  fix  it  at  10s.  on 
condition  that  they  alone  were  to  print  and  publish  it.  It  is 
certainly  a  A~ery  strange  coincidence  that,  on  the  14th  Novem 
ber,  1539 — the  date  of  Cranmer's  letter — Crumwell  got  from 

1  Mr.  Hunt  (Eeligious  Thought  iu  Bible,  to  be  his,  which  certainly  we 

England,  vol.  I,  p.  33),  gives  this  ought  to  do."    But  the  Great  Bible 

hypothetic  proof  or  illustration  of  is    specially  marked    by   the    total 

Cranmer's  moderate  Calvinism,  "  If  absence  of  all   notes,  the  pointing 

we   are   to  take  the   notes   on   the  hands   indicating  a  purpose  unful- 

Great    Bible,  known  as  Craumer's  filled. 


ROYAL  PATENT.  373 

the  king  a  patent,  conferring  on  him  the  sole  and  unlimited 
power  of  licensing  the  printing  and  publication  of  English 
Bibles  for  the  next  five  years.  The  early  and  curious  patent, 
so  distinct  and  precise  in  its  terms,  runs  to  the  following 
effect — 

"  Henry  the  Eighth,  &c.  To  all  and  singular  prynters  and 
sellers  of  bookes  within  this  our  realme,  and  to  all  other  officers, 
mynisters,  and  subjectes,  these  our  Letters  hearyng  or  seeyng, 
Greetyng — 

"  We  let  you  witt,  that  beyng  desirous  to  have  our  people  at 
tymes  convenyent  geve  themselves  to  th'  atteynyng  of  the 
knoulege  of  Goddes  Worde,  whereby  they  shall  the  better 
honour  hym,  and  observe  and  kepe  his  commaunclements, 
and  also  do  their  duties  the  better  to  us  beyng  their  prince 
and  soveraign  lord ;  and  considering  that  as  this  oure  zeale 
and  desire  cannot  by  any  meane  take  so  good  effecte,  as  by 
the  graunting  to  theym  the  free  and  lyberall  use  of  the  Bible 
in  oure  oune  maternall  English  tongue ;  so  onles  it  be  forseen, 
that  the  same  passe  at  the  beginnyng  by  one  Translation  to  be 
perused  and  considerid,  the  frailte  of  menne  is  suche,  that  the 
diversitie  thereof  maye  brede  and  brnyge  forthe  manyfolde 
inconvenyences,  as  when  wilfull  and  hedy  folks  shall  con- 
ferre  upon  the  diversitie  of  the  said  Translations  :  We  have 
therfore  appoynted  oure  right  trusty  and  welbeloved  coun- 
sellour  the  lorde  Crumwell,  keeper  of  our  pryvye  scale,  to 
take  for  us,  and  in  oure  name,  special  care  and  charge,  that 
no  manner  of  persone  or  persones  within  this  our  realme 
shall  enterprise,  attempt,  or  sett  in  hand,  to  print  any  Bible  in 
the  English  tonge  of  any  maner  of  volume,  duryng  the  space  of 
fyve  yeres  next  ensuyng  after  the  date  hereof,  but  only  suche 
as  shall  be  deputid,  assignid,  and  admitted,  by  the  said  lord 
Crumwell.  Willing  and  commanding  all  maires,  shirefes, 
bailiffes,  constables,  and  all  other  oure  officers,  miiiistres,  and 
subjectes,  to  be  ayding  to  our  said  counsailour  in  the  execution 
of  this  oure  pleasure,  and  to  be  conformable  in  the  accomplish 
ment  of  the  same,  as  shall  apperteigne."  l 

1  Wilkins,  Concilia,  vol.  Ill,  p.  846.  Burnet,  Records,  vol.  I,  pt.  ii,  p.  2S3. 


374  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAV. 

This  proclamation,  which  in  these  days  had  the  force  of  law, 
ends  with  the  peremptory  per  ipsum  regem;1  is  quite  autocra 
tic,  and  wholly  ignores  Council,  Convocation,  and  Parliament. 
It  bases  itself  on  the  king's  sole  and  sovereign  will,  and  inter 
poses  the  full  royal  authority  against  all  resistance.  There 
were  probably  some  existing  circumstances  which  suggested 
the  royal  incisiveness.  The  Bible  about  which  Cranmer  cor 
responded  with  the  Privy  Seal,  was  still  delayed  in  publication, 
and  one  reason  given  by  Fulke  is,  that  Henry  consulted  the 
bishops,  and  that  these  mitred  critics  did  not  commit  them 
selves  by  a  hasty  response.  The  preface  was  ready  by 
November;  but  the  volume  was  not  published  till  the 
April  of  the  following  year.  The  story,  which  most  pro 
bably  refers  to  this  Bible,  is  told  by  Fulke.  "  I  myself,  and 
so  did  many  hundreds  beside  me,  heard  that  reverend  father, 
M.  Doctor  Coverdale,  of  holy  and  reverend  memory,  in  a 
sermon  at  Paul's  Cross,  upon  occasion  of  some  slanderous 
reports  that  then  were  raised  against  his  translation,  declare 
his  faithful  purpose  in  doing  the  same ;  which  after  it  was 
finished,  and  presented  to  the  king,  Henry  VIII,  of  famous 
memory,  and  by  him  committed  to  divers  bishops  of  that 
time  to  peruse,  of  which  (as  I  remember)  Stephen  Gardiner 
was  one  ;  after  they  had  kept  it  long  in  their  hands,  and 
the  king  was  diverse  times  sued  unto  for  the  publication 
thereof,  at  the  last,  being  called  for  by  the  king  himself, 
they  redelivered  the  book,  and  being  demanded  by  the  king 
what  was  their  judgment  of  the  translation,  they  answered 
that  there  was  many  faults  therein.  '  Well,'  said  the  king, 
'  but  are  there  any  heresies  maintained  thereby  ? '  They 
answered,  there  were  no  heresies  they  could  find  maintained 
thereby.  '  If  there  be  no  heresies,'  said  the  king,  '  then,  in 
God's  name,  let  it  go  abroad  among  our  people.' 2  According 
to  this  judgment  of  the  king  and  the  bishops,  M.  Coverdale 
defended  his  translation,  confessing  that  he  did  now  himself 
espy  some  faults,  which,  if  he  might  review  it  once  over  again, 
as  he  had  done  twice  before,  he  doubted  not  but  to  amend ; 

1  Eymer's  Fcedera,  vol.  XIV,  p.         2  Defence  of  Translations  of  the- 
649.  Bible,  p.  98,  Parker  Society  ed. 


xxvii.]  CRANMERS  PROLOGUE.  375 

but  for  any  heresy,  he  was  sure  there  was  none  maintained 
by  his  translation."  Coverdale's  statement  about  reviewing 
his  version  "twice  before"  describes  the  work  which  he  had 
done  on  the  Bibles  of  1539  and  1540.  The  reference  cannot 
be  to  the  Diglott ;  and  it  can  scarcely  be  to  the  two  editions 
"  overseen  and  corrected,"  of  his  own  first  translation  which 
were  published  in  1537,  for  the  changes  in  these  are  so  very 
few  and  slight,  that  the  process  could  not  with  any  propriety 
be  called  "  reviewing." 

But  though  the  Bibles  of  1539  and  1540  were  not  wholly 
of  his  first  translation,  as  they  included  a  large  portion  of  Tyn- 
dale's  work,  they  were  the  result  of  a  genuine  revision  carried 
out  by  him,  but  not  with  uniform  closeness  through  all  the 
books  of  Scripture.  Ooverdale  was  certainly  the  editor  of  the 
second  Great  Bible,  as  well  as  of  the  first  one.  Fulke  in  his 
"  Defence  of  English  Translations  "  from  the  attack  of  Gregory 
Martin,  thus  replies  to  his  opponent's  loose  reference  to  various 
editions, — "I  guess  that  the  Bible  of  15G2  is  that  which  was  of 
Dr.  Coverdale's  translation," J  and  in  another  place,  he  calls  it, 
"  Master  Coverdale's  Bible  of  1562." 2  Now,  the  Bible  of  1562 
was  a  reprint  of  the  Great  Bible  of  1540.  Gregory  Martin 
singles  out  the  Great  Bible  in  one  passage  as  "  the  Bible 
authorized  by  the  Archbishop,  and  read  all  king  Edward's 
time  in  their  churches  and  (as  it  seemeth  by  the  late  printing 
again,  anno  1562)  a  great  part  of  this  queen's  reign."3 

Cranmer's  prologue  is  judicious  in  its  choice  of  topics,  and 
quiet  but  earnest  in  spirit  and  language.  Thus  it  opens : 
"  Concerning  two  sundry  sorts  of  people,  it  seemeth  necessary 
that  something  be  said  in  the  entry  of  this  book,  by  way  of  a 
preface  or  prologue;  whereby  hereafter  it  may  be  both  the 
the  better  accepted  of  them  which  hitherto  could  not  well  bear 
it,  and  also  the  better  used  of  them  which  heretofore  have 
misused  it.  For  truly  some  there  are  that  be  too  slow,  and 
need  the  spur ;  some  other  seem  too  quick,  and  need  more  of  the 
bridle.  Some  lose  their  game  by  short  shooting ;  some  by 

1  Defence  of  Translations  of  the  3  Discovery  of  the  Manifold  Cor- 
Bible,  p.  68,  Parker  Society  ed.  ruptions,  &c.,  p.  11,  Bheinis,  John 

8  Do.,  p.  548.  Fogny,  1582. 


376  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

overshooting.  Some  walk  too  much  on  the  left  hand;  some 
too  much  on  the  right.  In  the  former  sort  by  all  they  that 
refuse  to  read,  or  to  hear  read,  the  Scripture  in  the  vulgar 
tongue ;  much  worse  they  that  let  also,  or  discourage,  the 
other  from  the  reading  or  hearing  thereof.  In  the  latter 
sort  be  they  which,  by  their  inordinate  reading,  indiscrete 
speaking,  contentious  disputing,  or  otherwise  by  their  licen 
tious  living,  slander  and  hinder  the  Word  of  God  most  of  all 
other,  whereof  they  would  seem  to  be  greatest  furtherers. 
These  two  sorts,  albeit  they  be  most  far  unlike  the  one  to 
the  other,  yet  they  both  deserve  in  effect  like  reproach. 
Neither  can  I  well  tell,  whether  of  them  I  may  judge  the 
more  offender,  him  that  doth  obstinately  refuse  so  godly  and 
goodly  knowledge,  or  him  that  so  ungodly  and  so  ungoodly 
abuseth  the  same."  Then  follows  a  vindication  of  English 
translations  according  to  ancient  custom,  succeeded  by  a 
long  extract  from  Chrysostom  on  the  duty  and  benefit  of 
reading  the  Holy  Scriptures,  with  a  pithy  application  from 
Cranmer  himself :  "  Therefore,  in  few  words,  to  comprehend 
the  largeness  and  utility  of  the  Scripture,  how  it  containeth 
fruitful  instruction  and  erudition  for  every  man,  if  anything 
be  necessary  to  be  learned,  of  the  Holy  Scripture  we  may 
learn  it.  If  falsehood  shall  be  reproved,  thereof  we  may 
gather  wherewithal.  If  anything  to  be  corrected  and  amended ; 
if  there  need  any  exhortation  or  consolation,  of  the  Scripture 
we  may  well  learn.  In  the  Scriptures  be  the  fat  pastures 
of  the  soul ;  therein  is  no  venomous  meat,  no  unwholesome 
thing:  they  be  the  very  dainty  and  pure  feeding.  He  that 
is  ignorant  shall  find  there  what  he  should  learn.  He  that 
is  a  perverse  sinner  shall  there  find  his  damnation  to  make  him 
to  tremble  for  fear.  He  that  laboureth  to  serve  God  shall 
there  find  his  glory,  and  the  promissions  of  eternal  life, 
exhorting  him  more  diligently  to  labour.  Herein  may 
princes  learn  how  to  govern  their  subjects ;  subjects  obe 
dience,  love,  and  dread  to  their  princes ;  husbands,  how  they 
should  behave  unto  their  wives,  how  to  educate  their  children 
and  servants ;  and  contrary,  wives,  children,  and  servants 
may  know  their  duty  to  their  husbands,  parents,  and  masters. 


xxvii.]  BENEFIT  OF  SCRIPTURE  READING.  377 

Here  may  all  manner  of  persons,  men,  women,  young,  old, 
learned,  unlearned,  sick,  poor,  priests,  laymen,  lords,  ladies, 
officers,  tenants,  and  mean  men ;  virgins,  wives,  widows, 
lawyers,  merchants,  artificers,  husbandmen,  and  all  manner  of 
persons,  of  what  estate  or  condition  soever  they  be ;  may 
in  this  book  learn  all  things  what  they  ought  to  believe, 
what  they  ought  to  do,  and  what  they  should  not  do,  as  well 
concerning  Almighty  God,  as  also  concerning  themselves  and 
all  other.  Briefly,  to  the  reading  of  the  Scripture  none  can  be 
enemy,  but  that  either  be  too  so  sick,  that  they  love  not 
to  hear  of  any  medicine ;  or  else  that  be  so  ignorant  that  they 
know  not  Scripture  to  be  the  most  healthful  medicine. 
Therefore,  as  touching  this  former  part,  I  will  here  conclude 
and  take  it  for  conclusion,  sufficiently  determined  and  ap 
pointed,  that  it  is  convenient  and  good  for  the  Scriptures 
to  be  read  of  all  sorts  and  kinds  of  people,  and  in  the 
vulgar  tongue,  without  further  allegations  and  probations 
for  same.  Wherefore,  I  would  advise  you  all,  that  come  to 
the  reading  or  hearing  of  This  Book,  which  is  the  Word  of 
God,  the  most  precious  jewel,  and  most  holy  relic  that  re- 
maineth  upon  earth,  that  ye  bring  with  you  the  fear  of  God, 
and  that  ye  do  it  with  all  reverence,  and  use  your  knowledge 
thereof  not  to  vain  glory  of  frivolous  disputation;  but  to 
the  honour  of  God,  increase  of  virtue,  and  edification  both 
of  yourselves  and  others."  Next  there  is  a  long  and  appro 
priate  quotation  from  St.  Gregory  Nazianzen,  on  those  who 
did  not  considerately  read  and  study  the  Word  of  God — "  idle 
babblers  and  talkers  " ;  the  conclusion  being,  "  This  is  the  mind 
and  almost  the  words  of  Gregory  Nazianzen,  doctor  of  the 
Greek  Church,  of  whom  St.  Jerome  said,  that  unto  his  time 
the  Latin  Church  had  no  writer  able  to  be  compared,  and  to 
make  an  even  match  with  him.  Therefore,  to  conclude  the 
latter  part,  every  man  that  cometh  to  the  reading  of  This 
Holy  Book  ought  to  bring  with  him  first  and  foremost  this 
fear  of  Almighty  God ;  and  then,  next,  a  firm  and  stable  purpose 
to  reform  his  own  self  according  thereunto ;  and  so  to  continue, 
proceed,  and  prosper,  from  time  to  time  ;  showing  himself  to  be 
a  sober  and  fruitful  hearer  and  learner.  Which  if  he  do,  he 


378  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 

shall  prove  at  length  well  able  to  teach,  though  not  with 
his  mouth,  yet  with  his  living  and  good  example ;  which  is 
sure  the  most  lively  and  effectuous  form  and  manner  of  teach 
ing.  He  that  otherwise  intermeddleth  with  This  Book,  let  him 
be  assured  that  once  he  shall  make  account  therefore,  when 
he  shall  have  said  to  him,  as  it  is  written  in  the  prophet  David, 
"  Peccatori  dicit  Deus,  &c. 

The  volume,  with  Cranmer's  prologue,  was  at  length  published 
in  April,  1540,  with  the  following  title  in  black  and  red: 

"  The  Byble  in  Englyshe,  that  is  to  saye  the  content  of  al  the 
holy  scrypture,  both  of  the  olde,  and  newe  testament,  with  a 
prologe  therinto,  made  by  the  reverende  father  in  God,  Thomas 
archbysshop  of  Canterbury,  This  is  the  Byble  apoynted  to  the 
use  of  the  churches.  Prynted  by  Rychard  Grafton.  Cum 
privilegio  ad  imprimendum  solum,  M.D.XL."  The  colophon  is 
''  The  ende  of  the  newe  Testament  ;  and  of  the  whole  Byble, 
fynisshed  in  Apryll,  anno  M.CCCCC.XL.  A  Domino  factum  est 
istud."  A  royal  proclamation  followed,  repeating  the  terms  of 
one  previously  issued.  Two  other  editions  were  issued  in  the 
same  year,  and  three  more  followed  the  next  year. 

The  very  vacillations  of  some  men  of  that  time  betokened 
progress ;  for  while  the  waves  singly  fall  back  on  the  shore,  the 
tide  surely  advances  to  its  fulness.  Thus  William  Barlow,  who 
had  changed  sides  more  than  once,  and  died  at  length  Bishop 
of  Chichester,  published  a  dialogue  against  "  Luthers  faccions  " 
in  1531,  and  in  it  objected  to  Tyndale's  translation,  asserting 
that  "for  the  present"  the  Scripture  should  not  be  rendered 
into  English.  This  limitation  of  time  foreshadowed  the  coming 
of  a  future  period  when  there  might  be  an  Authorized  Version, 
and  it  came  in  six  years,  and  was  now  in  wide  unrestricted 
diffusion. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

A  S  the  text  of  the  Bible  of  1539  differed  from  Matthew,  of 
which  it  was  a  revision,  so  the  text  of  the  Bible  of  1540 
differs  from  that  of  1539,  Coverdale  being  very  conscientious  in 
what  he  did,  though  his  changes  are  not  all  to  the  better.  Miin- 
ster's  Latin  version  is  for  the  most  part  followed  in  the  old  Testa 
ment,  but  not  always;  and  where  it  may  not  be  formally  accepted 
it  suggests  the  change.  Some  instances  are  striking : 1  Proverbs 
xviii,  1.  The  edition  of  1539  has,  "Whoso  hath  pleasure  to 
sowe  dyscorde,  pycketh  a  quarrell  in  every  thynge,"  Cover- 
dale's  own  translation  after  the  Zurich  Bible  unchanged ; 
in  the  edition  of  1540,  "He  accompanieth  hym  selfe  with  all 
steadfast  and  helthsome  doctryne,  that  hath  a  fervent  desyre 
to  it,  and  is  sequestrate  from  company e,"  after  Miinster : 2  xix, 
2,  "  There  the  soule  is  not  well ;  &  who  so  is  swyfte  on 
fote,  stombleth  hastely,"  1539  ;  "  There  the  soule  is 
inclined  to  the  thyng  that  is  not  good ;  &  is  swyfte  on  fote, 
and  offendeth,"  1540,  after  Miinster:3  xix,  19,  "For  greate 
wrath  bringeth  harme,  therefore  let  hym  go,  and  so  mayest 
thou  teach  hym  more  nurtoure,"  1539;  "A  man  of  great 
wrath  beareth  a  payne  ;  and  though  thou  once  deliver 
him,  thou  must  agayne  do  as  moch  for  him,"  1540,  after 

1  Every  scholar  and  critic  must  2  Qui  in  votis  est  et  quoerit  seques- 

feel  deeply  obliged  to  Mr.  Francis  trari,  hie  immiscet  se  omni  solidae  et 

Fry  for  his  volume  "  A  Description  sana?  (doctrinse). 

of  the  Great  Bible,"  &c.     London,  3  Anima   (fertur  ad  id  quod)  non 

1865.    He  has  given  a  minute,  care-  est  bonum,   festinatque   pedibus  et 

ful,  and  exhaustive  collation  of  the  peccat. 
various  editions. 


380  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [ciiAi>. 

Minister : l  xix,  24,  "  A  slouthfull  body  shuteth  his  hande  in 
to  hys  bosome,  so  that  he  can  not  put  it  to  his  mouth,"  1539  ; 
"  A  slouthful  man  shuteth  his  handes  into  his  bosom  as  into  the 
pot :  and  wyll  not  take  payne  to  put  it  to  his  mouth,"  1540, 
after  Miinster.2 

Eccles.  xi,  1,  "  Sende  thy  vitayles  ouer  the  waters,  and  so  shalt 
thou  fynde  them  after  many  dayes,"  1539  ;  "  Lay  thy  brede 
vpon  weate  faces,  and  so  shalt  thou  fynde  after  many  days," 
1540,  virtually  after  Miinster :  3  xi,  5,  "  As  thou  knowest  not  the 
waye  of  the  wynde,  nor  how  the  bones  are  fylled  in  a  mothers 
wombe,"  1539;  "As  thou  knowest  not  the  waye  of  the  spirit 
howe  he  entred  into  the  body  beinge  yet  in  a  mother's  wombe," 
1540,  after  Miinster.4 

Hosea  x,  12,  "That  they  myght  plowe  vp  their  fresh  land, 
and  seke  the  Lord,tyll  he  came,  and  lerned  them  ryghteousness  " 
1539 ;  "  Plowe  up  youre  freshe  lande,  for  it  is  tyme  to  seake 
the  Lorde  tyll  he  come  and  rayne  rightuousnesse  vpon  you," 
1540,  Miinster.5 

Zech.  ix,  1G,  "For  the  stones  of  his  Sanctuary  shal  be 
set  vp  in  his  lande,"  1539  ;  "Ffor  as  precyous  stones  of  a 
dyademe  they  shall  be  sett  vp  ouer  his  lande,"  1540,  Miin 
ster.6 

Jeremiah  viii,  4,  "And  turne  they  so  farre  awaye,  that 
they  neuer  conuerte,"  1539  ;  "Or  yf  Israeli  repent,  wyll 
not  god  turne  ageyn  to  them?"  1540,  Miinster:7  viii,  22, 
"For  there  is  no  more  Triacle  at  Gylead,  and  there  is  no 
Physicyon  that  can  heale  the  hurte  of  my  people,"  1539 ; 
"  Is  there  triacle  at  Gilead  ?  Is  ther  no  physycyon  ther  ? 


1  Qui   est  (homo)    magni    furoris,  atur)  spiritus  in  corpusculum  cum 
portat    pcenam,    et    si    eum    semel  acllmc  est  in  utero  pregnantia. 
liberaveris  denuo  id  agere  te  opor-  5  Novate    vobis    novalia,    tempus 
tebit.  enim  est  ad  inqmrendum  dominimi, 

2  Abscondit  piger  manum  suam  (in  donee    veniat    et    pluat   super  nos 
sinu  quasi)    in    olla,  et  dediguatur  justltiam. 

earn  reducere  ad  os  suum.  6  Quia  ut    lapides    coronoe  eleva- 

3  Mitte  pauem  tuum  super  facies  buutur  super  terram  ejus. 
(emittentes)  aquas.  7  Aut  si  poeniteat  (Israel)  et  non 

4  Sicut  tu  nescis  qua  via  (ingredi-  revertetur  (dens)  ? 


xxviii.]  COLLATION.  381 

Why  then  is  not  the  helthe  of  my  people  recouered?"     1540, 
Miinster.1 

Other  examples  may  be  quoted,  Mlinster  being  guide : — 

1539.  1540. 

1  Sam.  xxi,  4,  clause  omitted.  thynges  especiallye. 

Ps.      xxvii,  3,  I  put  my  trust  iu  hym.  I  put  my  trust  in  this. 

G,  the     oblaciou     of    thankes-     an  oblacyon  with  great  glad- 

geuyng.  nesse. 

13,  omitted.  I  shuld  vtterlye  haue  faynted : 

but  that. 

Isaiah        i,  7,  as  it  were  with  enemyes  in  a    as  they  were  subverted  that 
batayle.  were    alienate     from    the 

Lorde. 

S,  lyke  a  beseged  cytie.  lyke  a  wasted  cytie. 

11,  sacryfyces  vnto  me  !  sacrifices  unto  me  saithe  Lorde? 

ii,  16,  vpon  all  shyppes  of  the  see.       vpon  all  shyppes  of  Tharsis. 
xxxviii,  10,  in  my  least  age.  when  mine  age  was  shortened. 

Jer.      viii,  19,  foolyshe  straunge  fashyons  I      foolysh  strauuge  fashyons  of 

a  foreyne  god  ? 
Lam.      iv,  20,  shal  be  taken  in  oure  syunes,     was  taken    iu   ther    uett    of 

of  whom  we  saye.  whom  we  saye. 

Dan.         v,  7,  Caldees  and  deuel  conjurors.     Caldees  and  readers  of  des 
tinies. 

Nah.         ii,  3,  his    archers    are     not    well     and  his  spere  shaftes  are  soked 
deckte  and  trimmed.  in  venim. 


Erasmus   was    carefully    studied    for  the   New    Testament, 
lough  several  of 
Vulsate.     Thus— 


though  several  of  the   Erasmian  renderings  agree  with  the 


1639.  1540. 

Rom.        i,  25,  which  is  blessed  for  euer.  which   is   to   be  praysed   for 

euer. 

iv,  25,  for  to  justifye  vs.  for  oure  justificacyon. 

Gal.          i,  10,  Do  I  nowe  speake  vnto  men  Do  I  now  perswade  men  or 

or   vnto   God  I — after  the  God  ? 
Zurich. 

Eph.        ii,  12,  &    had    no    hope,    <fc    were  hauynge  no  hope,  and  beyug 

with     out    God    in    thys  with    out     God     in    thy 

worlde.  worlde. 

1  Num  resina  non  est  in  Gilead,    non  est  recuperata  sauitas  filia?  po- 
aut  lion  est  medicus  ibi  ?  quare  igitur    puli  mei  ? 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

1539.  1540. 

Phil.        i,  23,  to  be  with  Christ  is  inoch     to  be  with  Christ  which  is 

better  moche  &  for  better. 

29,  it  is  geuen  of  Christ.  it  is  geuen  for  Chryst. 

„    but  also  suffre.  but  also  that  ye  shulde  suffre. 

1  Tim.  iii,  16,  was  beleued  on  erth.  was  beleued  ou  in  the  woiide. 
Heb.      xi,  16,  God  is  not  ashamed.  God  himself e  is  not  ashamed. 
James      i,  13,  God    cannot    tempte  vnto     as  God  can  not  be  tempted 

euyll  because  he  tempteth         with   euill,   so    nether   he 
no  man.  hymselfe    temptethe     eny 

man. 

2  Pet.     ii,  14,  exercysed  with  couetousues.      exercysed  with  robrie. 

In  the  Apocalypse  there  are  several  clauses  inserted,  as  in 
x,  5  (And  the  erth  and  the  thynges  that  therein  are) ;  xii,  10, 
For  (the  accuser  of  our  brethren)  is  cast  doune ;  xviii,  23 
(and  candell  lyght  shalbe  no  more  burnynge  in  the):  these 
clauses  and  readings  not  being  found  in  the  earlier  Greek 
editions  of  Erasmus  nor  in  the  versions  of  Tyndale  and 
Coverdale,  and  the  translation  of  them  is  printed  in  smaller 
type.  But  Erasmus  admitted  them  into  his  fourth  edition 
of  1527;  in  fact  he  inserted  ninety  emendations  of  the  text 
of  the  Apocalypse  on  the  authority  of  the  Complutensian 
Polyglott.  Canon  Westcott  has  brought  to  light  a  strange  fact, 
that  portions  of  the  editions  of  November,  1540,  and  of  May, 
1541,  do  not  follow  that  of  April,  1540,  but  that  of  1539.  It  is 
impossible  to  guess  who  suggested  this  retrogression,  or  for 
Avhat  reason  the  first  revision  was  preferred. 

There  were  thus  published,  within  a  brief  space,  seven 
editions  of  the  Great  Bible — Crumwell's  in  1539,  and  Cranmer's 
in  April,  July,  and  November,  1540,  and  in  May,  November, 
and  December,  1541.  These  editions  are  very  similar;  the  point 
ing  hands  are  retained  in  the  three  first  of  them,  and  the  -J*  keeps 
its  place  in  all  of  them.  Five  have  sixty-two  lines  in  a  page, 
and  two — November,  1540  and  1541 — have  sixty-five.  At  the 
beginning  of  some  of  the  Books,  in  the  volume  of  April,  1540, 
are  large  woodcut  initials,  which  are  peculiar  to  this  edition.  In 
the  edition  of  November,  1540,  there  is  only  a  flourished  capital 
at  the  beginning  of  Genesis,  and  the  pages  of  the  New  Testa 
ment  are  faulty  in  numeration.  These  editions  have  a  strange 


xxvm.]    GREAT  BIBLE  STILL  THE  AUTHORIZED  BIBLE.        333 

misprint  in  the  heading  of  Genesis  xxxix,  where  it  is  said  of 
Joseph,  "Pharaoh's  wife  tempteth  him."  The  Books  of  the 
Apocrypha  are  called  Hagiographa,  and  the  strange  reason  is 
given,  "  because  they  were  wont  to  be  read,  not  openly  and  in 
common,  but  as  it  were  in  secret  and  apart."  The  mistake 
perhaps  arose  from  a  false  reading  in  Jerome's  Preface  to  Tobit 
and  Judith.1  But  Martianay,  Vallarsi,  and  other  editors,  have 
shown  from  manuscript  authority  that  the  true  reading  is 
Apocrypha,  and  that  this,  the  proper  reading,  is  in  accordance 
with  Jerome's  own  opinion  on  the  Canon.2 

Coverdale  was  in  no  way  partial  to  his  own  work,  but 
changed  his  earlier  renderings  without  hesitation,  though 
sometimes  without  sufficient  reason.  Thus,  in  Isaiah  liii,  he 
has  made  about  twenty  alterations  on  the  edition  of  1539;3 
and  in  chapter  xl  of  the  same  book  there  is  on  an  average  a 
change  in  each  verse,  resting,  nearly  every  one  of  them,  on 
Pagninus  and  Miinster,  and  about  a  third  of  them  on  Miinster 
alone.  In  fact,  he  has  made  most  changes  in  the  part  of 
Matthew's  Bible  which  was  his  own  work,  as  if  he  had  felt  the 
insecurity  of  a  version  which  was  not  taken  directly  from  the 
original  Hebrew.  This  Great  Bible  was  the  Authorized  Version 
for  twenty-eight  years.4 

But  though  it  was  a  double  revision  of  Matthew's  of  1537, 
the  Great  Bible  is  not  only  inferior  as  a  translation,  but  has 
interspersed  through  it  a  great  variety  of  paraphrastic  and 
supplementary  clauses  from  the  Vulgate,  some  being  preserved 
in  the  Bishops'.  The  following  examples  are  taken  almost  at 
random,  and  similar  instances  may  be  found  on  almost  every 
page. 

Genesis      iv,     8,  Cain  spake  with  Abel  hys  brother  [let  us  go  furth]. 
xxxi,  31,  But  [whereas  ye  layest  theft  to  my  charge]  wyth 
whome  soeuer  thou  fyndest  thy  goddes  let  hym 
dye. 

1  Apud  Hebrceos  Judith  quae  inter  4  In  the  strict  sense  it  is  the  only 

Hagiographa  legitur.  Prolog.  Gal.  authorized  version  still—  for  the 

"  Hieronymi  Opera,  torn.  X,  p.  2,  Bishops'  Bible  and  the  present  Bible 

ed.  Vallarsi,  Venet.,  1771.  never  had  the  formal  sanction  of 

3  See  p.  370.  royal  authority. 


384  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

Exodus  ii,  22,  [And  she  bare  yet  another  sonne,  whome  he  called 
Eliezer,  sayinge  :  the  God  of  my  father  is  myne 
helper,  &  hath  ryd  me  out  of  the  handes  of 
Pharao]  —  after  Coverdale  and  Matthew,  the 
authority  being  some  copies  of  the  Septuagint, 
Vulgate,  and  other  versions.  The  verse  is  taken 
from  chapter  xviii,  4. 
Numb,  xiii,  30,  Caleb  stylled  the  [murmur  that  was  raysed  vp  of] 

the  people, 
xxii,  33,  els  yf  she  had  turned  from  me  [geuynge  place  to  me 

that  stode  in  the  waye]. 
Deut.  i,  37,  [wonderfull  was  that  indignacyon.  agayn  the  people, 

seyinge  that]  the  Lord  was  angry  with  me. 
Joshua        ii,  11,  as  we  hearde  these  thynges  [we  were  sore  afraied  &] 

our  heartes  dyd  fainte. 
iii,  13,  the  waters  of  Jordan  [that  are  beneth,  shall  ronne 

downe]  shall  be  deuided. 
iv,     3,  twelve  [of  the  most  hardest]  stones. 
ix,     9,  we  haue  heard  ye  fame  [of  the  power]  of  him. 
xxii,  25,  Therfore  we  [toke  better  aduisernent  and]  sayd. 
Judges       ix,  49,  so  that  [with  smoke  and  fyre]  all  the  men  of  the 

tower  of  Sicheni  were  slayne. 
2  Samuel     i,  18,  [And  he  sayde  :  Consyder  O  Israel,  these  that  be 

deed  and  wounded  upon  the  hye  hilles.] 
vi.  12,   [And  there  were  with  David  seven  sorts  of  dancers 

and  calves  for  sacrifice.] 

xiv,  30,  [and  Joabs  servauntes  came   with  their  garments 
rent,  and  sayde,  Absaloms  servauntes  have  burnte 
the  piece  of  land  with  fyre.  ] 
iv,     8,  corn  and  wine  [and  oyle]. 
xi,  25,  For    [the   chaunce   of  warre    is  dyuerse    and]   the 

sworcle  deuoureth  one  as  well  as  another. 

2  Kings       v,  17,  And   Naaman.    sayd   [Euen    as    thou  wylt,   but   I 
beseche  thee].1 

1  There  is  a  peculiar  addition  or  the  clause,  "  that  which  was  found 

mistranslation  in  2  Chron.  xxxvi,  8 —  upon  him,"  the  Bishops'  adds  a  note : 

"  the  carved  images  that  were  laid  to  "marks  of   idolatrie  found  printed 

his  charge,"  after  Matthew,  Minister  in  his  bodie  when  he  was  dead." 
having  "  sculptse  impressiones."     To 


xxvin.]  ADDITIONS  FROM  THE  VULGATE.  385 

Job  xiv,     6,  he  maye  rest  [a  lytle]  vntyll  hys  daye  come. 

Psalm        vii,  11,  God  is  a  righteous  judge  [strong  and  pacient]. 

xiii,     6,   [yee  I  wyll  prayse  the  name  of  the  Lord,  the  most 

hyest.] 

xiv,     5,  a  great  fear  [even  where  no  fear  was]. 
xxix,         Syng  unto  the  Lorde,  O  ye  mightie  [brynge  younge 
rammes  unto  the  Lorde]  ascrybe  unto  the  Lorde 
worshippe  and  strengthe. 

xxxix,  11,  like  as  it  were  a  mothre  [putting  a  garment]. 
Ixviii,  1,  unto  thee  vow  be  performed  [in  Hierusalem]. 
Ixviii,  4,  to  hym  that  rydeth  upon  the  heavens  [as  it  were 

upon  a  horse.] 
cxi,          [Prayse  the  Lorde  for  the   returnyng   agayne  of 

Aggeus  and  Zachary  the  prophetes.] 
cxxxii,     4,  nor    rnyne   eye    lyddes    to   slomber    [nether    the 

temples  of  my  heade  to  take  anye  rest]. 

cxxxvi,  26,  [O  give  thankes  unto  the  Lord  of  Lordes,  for  hys 
mercie  endure th  for  ever.] 

There  are  more  than  seventy  such  additions  in  the  Book  of 
Psalms. 

Prov.  iii,    9,  [give  unto  the  poor.]     At  the  end  of  chap,  v  are 

two  long  verses. 

v,    2,  [apply  not  thyself  to  the  deceitfulness  of  a  woman.] 
vi,  11,  [But  if  thou  be  not  slowthful,  thy  harvest  shall 

come  as  a  spryngynge  well,  and  poverty  shall  flye 

farre  from  thee.] 
x,     4,  [whoso  regard  eth  leasynges  fedeth  the  wynde,  and 

doth   but  followe   byrdes   that  have   taken  their 

%ght,] 

All  these  accretions  are  from  the  Vulgate,  and  they  are  found 
in  both  the  earlier  Wycliffite  versions. 

Isaiah         xl,     1,  Comforte  my  people  [O  ye  prophetes]. 

Luke  x,  21,  That   same   houre   reioyced    Jesus   in    [the   holy] 

ghoste. 

xvi,  21,  [and  no  man  gave  unto  him.] 
xvii,  36,  [Two  in  the  felde,  the  one  shall  be  receaved  and  the 

other  forsaken.] 

xxiv.  36,  Peace  be  vnto  you.     [It  is  I,  feare  not.] 
VOL.  I.  2  B 


386  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

John  vi,  41,  I  am  the  bread  [of  lyfe]. 

Acts  v,  15,  that  the  shadowe  of  Peter  myght  shado\ve  some  of 

them  [and  that  they  myght  all  be  delyuered  from 

their  infirmytyes]. 
xiv,     7,  [&  all  the  multitude  was  moued  at  their  doctryne, 

but  Paul  and  Bai-nabas  taryed  styll  at  Lystra.] 
xviii,     4,  [settynge  forth  in  the  mean  while  the  name  of  the 

Lorde  Jesus.] 

Romans       v,     2,  the  glory  [of  the  chyldren]  of  God. 
1  Cor.       xvi,  19,   [with  whom  also  I  am  lodged.] 
Gal.  v,  13,  but  by  loue  [of  the  sprete]  serue  one  another. 

Phil.  iv.     8,  yf  there  be  eny  prase  [of  leriiynge]. 

1  John        ii,  22,   [he  that  knowelageth  the  Sonne  hath  the  Father 

also]  •  but  the  clause  is  now  accepted  as  genuine 

on  preponderant  authority. 

The  titles  of  the  Psalms  are  sometimes  expanded  after  the 
Vulgate.  At  Ps.  xxiv  the  inscription  is  "  in  the  first  day  of 
the  sabbath,"  and  at  Ps.  xlviii,  "  in  the  second  daye  of  oure 
sabbathe  " ;  but  the  Vulgate  is  not  followed  at  Ps.  xxxvii.  Ps. 
xxvi  is  inscribed  "  a  Psalm  of  David  [afore  he  was  embalmed]/' 
and  Ps.  xxix  has  "  a  Psalm  of  David  at  the  perfourmynge  of 
the  Tabernacle."  At  Ps.  xvi,  and  in  other  places,  Michtam  is 
"the  badge  or  armes  of  David."  Maschil  is  "instructyon  in 
the  chauntes  or  melodyes."  The  Chief  Musician  becomes  the 
Chaunter,  or  "  to  him  that  excelleth  in  songs  of  musick,  or  on 
Gittith,  &c.,"  or  "  to  him  that  excelleth  among  the  lylies,"  Ps.  xlv. 
The  poor  cut  prefixed  to  the  Book  of  Psalms  [1540]  represents 
Bathsheba  bathing  in  nudity,  and  David,  with  his  crown  on 
his  head,  intently  gazing  down  upon  her  from  an  opposite 
window.  The  Psalms  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  are  from 
the  Great  Bible,  and  they  were  retained  in  1602,  when  the 
Epistles  and'Gospel  were  taken  from  the  Authorized  Version  of 
1611,  for  "the  choirs  were  accustomed  to  the  old  Psalter,  and 
its  language  was  considered  more  smooth  and  fit  for  song." 1 

o        o  o 

1  Proctor's  History,  p,  216.     Mr.  no  such  Bible;  and  of  "Cramner's 

Proctor  speaks   in   the   same  para-  version  of  1539,"  but  his  Bible  did 

graph  "of  the  version  of   Tyndale  not  appear  till  1540.     Many  in  the 

and  Coverdale,    1535,"  there   being  nation  were  thankful  for  the  Bible, 


XXVIII.] 


TERRIBLE  YEARS. 


387 


The  seven  years — from  1534  to  1541 — that  intervened  be 
tween  the  published  translation  of  Tyndale,  the  volume  of 
Matthew,  and  the  issues  and  revisions  of  Coverdale,  as  well  as 
the  six  following  years,  that  ended  with  Henry's  death,  form 
an  eventful  period  in  the  history  of  the  English  Bible.  It  came 
into  national  circulation  during  a  time  of  stormy  transition,1  and 
was  hailed  by  many  as  the  bow  in  the  cloud.  After  the  earlier 
and  more  promising  part  of  Henry's  life  had  been  passed,  he 
was  swayed  alternately  by  opposite  influences.  The  wars  of 
the  Roses  had  left  suspicions  and  hatreds  in  his  mind,  and  his 
throne  was  not  surrounded  by  royal  children,  some  one  of 
whom  might  take  the  sceptre  without  challenge.  The  harder 
elements  of  his  nature  had  been  intensified  by  the  circum 
stances  of  his  reign,  the  separation  from  the  Pope,  the  long 
battle  of  the  divorce,  with  its  "traverses  and  tossings,"  and 
the  antagonistic  views  and  feelings  battling  among  his  subjects, 


and  grateful  to  the  king  for  his 
sanction  of  it.  Thus  Becon,  in  his 
"News  from  Heaven,"  1451,  "The 
most  sacred  and  holy  Bible — thanks 
be  to  God  which  hath  brought  these 
things  to  pass  by  his  dearly  beloved 
servant  our  king,  Henry  VIII  .  .  . 
whose  grace's  highness  I  most  be 
seech  Almighty  God  to  beautify  with 
the  benefit  of  perpetual  health." 
And  again,  in  his  "  Christmas  Ban 
quet,  1542,"  "  This  supply  of  Bibles 
hath  God  unfeignedly  brought  to 
pass  by  his  well-beloved  servant  and 
our  king,  Henry  VIII."  But  many 
were  careless  about  the  royal  gift ; 
"for  a  man  may  come  into  a  church, 
and  see  the  Bible  so  enclosed  and 
wrapped  about  with  dust,  that  with 
his  finger  he  may  write  upon  it  this 
epitaph — Ecce  nunc  in  pulvere  dor- 
mio."  Works,  vol.  I,  p.  38,  Parker 
Soc.  ed. 

1  There  were  suppressed,  at  differ 
ent  times,  six  hundred  and  forty-five 


monasteries,  ninety  colleges,  two 
thousand  three  hundred  and  seventy- 
four  chaimtries,  and  one  hundred 
and  ten  hospitals — their  revenues, 
amounting  to  £161,100  —  an  im 
mense  sum  in  present  currency. 
Bishop  Fisher  himself  had,  in  1521, 
suppressed  a  house  in  his  own  dio 
cese  to  endow  New  College,  Oxford. 
College  endowments  taken  from 
dissolved  houses  were  given  at  an 
earlier  period — by  Bishop  "Wainflete 
to  Magdalene  College,  and  Wolsey 
to  Cardinal  College,  Oxford.  Bishop 
Alcock  iu  the  same  way  enriched 
Jesus  College,  Cambridge;  and 
Bishop  Smith  gave  the  revenues  of 
Cold  Norton  to  Brasenose;  and  All 
Souls,  Oxford,  was  thus  supported 
by  Chichele.  During  the  three  cen 
turies  between  the  Conquest  and 
the  accession  of  Richard  II,  twelve 
hundred  religious  houses  had  been 
founded  in  England. 


388  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CIIAF. 

the  majority  of  whom  clung  to  the  creed,  though  they  had 
renounced  the  jurisdiction,  of  Rome.  The  laws  passed  at  this 
period  indicate  strange  oscillations.  The  "Act  of  the  Six 
Articles,"  or  the  "  Bloody  Statute,"  which  calls  itself  an  "  Act 
for  abolishing  diversity  of  opinion,"  was,  with  its  sanguinary 
penalties,  a  measure  befriending  Popery ;  but  another  Act  was 
also  passed,  vesting  the  property  of  the  dissolved  monasteries 
in  the  crown,  the  king  promising  to  set  up  and  endow  thirteen 
additional  bishoprics.  The  parliament  which  passed  the  "Act 
of  the  Six  Articles  "  was  no  sooner  prorogued  than  a  proclama 
tion  was  issued,  forbidding,  on  the  one  hand,  the  application  of 
such  names  as  papists  and  heretics ;  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
declaring  "  that  the  king  was  pleased  and  contented  that  such 
as  could  read  might  read  the  Scriptures  in  the  English  tongue, 
at  all  times  and  places  convenient,  for  their  own  instruction 
and  edification,  and  increase  thereby  godliness  and  virtuous 
learning,  and  to  bring  them  from  their  old  ignorance  and 
blindness."  While  the  public  pulse  was  in  this  way  beating 
wildly,  both  in  assault  and  defence,  society  was  appalled  by 
scenes  of  "judgment  without  mercy  ";  men  held  their  breath 
at  the  demolition  of  the  monasteries,  and  the  scandals  brought 
to  light  in  connection  with  many  of  them — such  imposture 
as  the  hidden  machinery  that  moved  the  Eood  of  Boxley. 
Charges  of  treason  filled  the  air,  and  the  scaffold  at  Tower  Hill 
did  not  want  victims.  Bishop  Fisher,  who  had  been  Lady 
Margaret's  first  Professor  of  Divinity  in  Cambridge,  fell  in 
1534,  and  Sir  Thomas  More  in  1535.  The  axe  may  be  said  to 
have  been  suspended  in  front  of  the  royal  closet,  and  even  of 
the  royal  bridal  chamber.  The  mighty  were  smitten  down 
without  remorse ;  no  offending  head  was  spared  for  its  crown 
or  its  coronet.  Two  queens  perished — one  on  the  19th  May, 
1536,  and  the  other  six  years  afterwards,  on  the  12th 
February,  1542.  The  aged  "  Lady  of  Sarum,"  the  last  of 
the  Plantagenets,  laid  her  grey  hairs  upon  the  block 
on  the  27th  of  May,  1541.  To-day  the  sky  might  be 
clear,  but  to-morrow  it  was  darkened  with  thunder  clouds. 
Familiars  and  councillors  high  in  favour  were  helpless  when 
the  storm  burst;  and  the  hand  that  gave  Crumwell  the 


xxvm.]  SCENES  AT  BIBLE  READINGS.  389 

patent1  to  authorize  the  printing  of  the  Scriptures,  signed, 
almost  at  the  same  moment,  the  death  warrants  of  the 
Abbots  of  Reading  and  Glastonbury — the  second  of  whom, 
an  old  man  of  fourscore,  was  hanged  on  the  summit  of  the 
Torre. 

For  several  years — indeed  as  far  back  as  1537 — the  reading 
of  the  Bible  had  been  accompanied  by  scenes  of  irregularity 
sometimes  approaching  to  riot.  Such  ebullitions  of  feeling 
were  natural  in  the  circumstances,  but  might  have  been  kept 
under  some  measure  of  restraint.  On  the  one  side  there  was 
revelling  in  the  new  liberty,  and  on  the  other  side  there  were 
dismay  and  indignation  at  the  novel  and  formidable  privilege 
gloried  in  by  the  people.  Conflict  was  inevitable ;  the  Catholic 
party  frowned  defiance,  and  men  with  the  Bible  in  their  hands 
scowled  back  with  undue  exultation.  The  fresh  words  of 
Froude  narrate  some  of  these  scenes.2 

"A  circle  of  Protestants  at  Wincanton,  in  Somersetshire, 
wrote  to  Cromwell  complaining  of  the  curate,  who  would  not 
teach  them  or  preach  to  them,  but  '  gave  his  time  and  atten 
tion  to  dicing,  carding,' bowling,  and  the  cross  waster.'  In  their 
desire  for  spiritual  food  they  applied  to  the  rector  of  the  next 
parish,  who  had  come  occasionally  and  given  them  a  sermon, 
and  had  taught  them  to  read  the  New  Testament;  when 
suddenly,  on  Good  Friday,  '  the  unthrifty  curate  entered  the 
pulpit,  where  he  had  set  no  foot  for  years,'  and  '  admonished 
his  parishioners  to  give  no  credence  to  the  new-fangled  fellows 
which  read  the  new  books.'  '  They  be  like  knaves  and  Phari 
sees,'  he  said;  'they  be  like  a  dog  that  gnaweth.a  marry -bone, 
and  never  cometh  to  the  pith,  therefore  avoid  their  company ; 
and  if  any  man  will  preach  the  New  Testament,  if  I  may  hear 
him,  I  am  ready  to  fight  with  him  incontinent' ;  and  'indeed,' 
the  petitioners  said,  '  he  applyeth  in  such  wise  his  school  of 
fence  so  sore  continually,  that  he  feareth  all  his  parishioners.' 

"  So  the  parish  clerk  at  Hastings  made  a  speech  to  the  con 
gregation  on  the  faults  of  the  translation.  '  It  taught  heresy; 
he  said ;  '  it  taught  that  a  priest  might  have  a  wife  by  God's 

1  2G  Henry  VIII,  cap.  1,13. 

2  Fronde's  History  of  England,  vol.  Ill,  pp.  240-243. 


390  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

law.  He  trusted  to  see  the  day  that  the  book  called  the  Bible, 
and  all  its  maintainers  and  upholders,  should  be  brent.' 

"Here,  again,  is  a  complaint  from  the  parishioners  of  Lang- 
ham,  in  Essex,  against  their  village  potentate,  a  person  named 
Vigors,  who  with  the  priest  oppressed  and  ill-used  them. 

"  Upon  Ascension  day  last  past  did  two  maidens  sit  in  their 
pew  or  stool  in  the  church,  as  all  honest  and  virtuous  persons 
used  to  do  in  matins  time,  saying  their  matins  together  upon 
an  English  primer.  Vigors  this  seeing  was  sore  angry,  in  so 
much  that  therefore,  and  for  nothing  else,  he  did  bid  the 
maidens  to  avoid  out  of  the  church,  (calling  them)  errant 
whores,  with  such  other  odious  and  spiteful  words.  And 
further,  upon  a  time  within  this  year,  one  of  Vigors's  servants 
did  quarrel  and  brawl  with  other  children  many,  whom  he 
called  heretics ;  and  as  children  be  light  and  wanton,  they 
called  the  said  serva.nt  again  Pharisee.  Upon  this  complained 
Robert  Smyth  of  our  town  to  Vigors,  saying  that  it  was 
against  reason  that  the  great  fellow  his  servant  should  quarrel 
with  children.  Whereupon  Vigors  said  to  his  servant,  '  See 
that  thou  do  cut  off  their  ears,  oh  errant  whoreson,  if  they  so 
call  thee  hereafter ;  and  if  thou  lack  a  knife,  I  shall  give  thee 
one  to  do  it.  And  if  thou  wilt  not  thus  do,  thou  shalt  no 
longer  serve  me.' 

"On  the  other  hand,  the  Protestants  gave  themselves  no 
pains  to  make  their  heterodoxy  decent,  or  to  spare  the  feelings 
of  their  antagonists.  To  call  '  a  spade  a  spade,'  and  a  rogue  a 
rogue,  were  Protestant  axioms.  Their  favourite  weapons  were 
mystery  plays,  which  they  acted  up  and  down  the  country  in 
barns,  in  taverns,  in  chambers,  on  occasion,  before  the  vicar- 
general  himself;  and  the  language  of  these,  as  well  as  the 
language  of  their  own  daily  life,  seemed  constructed  as  if  to 
pour  scorn  on  the  old  belief.  Men  engaged  in  a  mortal  strife 
usually  speak  plainly.  Blunt  words  strike  home;  and  the 
euphuism  which,  in  more  ingenious  ages,  discovers  that  men 
mean  the  same  thing  when  they  say  opposite  things  was  as  yet 
unknown  or  unappreciated." 

These  scenes  were  to  be  witnessed  in  various  parts  of  the 
country,  and  they  afforded  to  watchful  enemies  a  tempting 


xxviri.]  ROYAL   WARNING.  391 

opportunity  to  show  their  hostility,  under  pretence  of  guarding 
law,  loyalty,  faith,  and  decency  of  worship.  Before  the  Act  of 
the  Six  Articles  was  passed,  the  king,  speaking  as  the  head 
of  the  Church,  issued  a  proclamation  on  Bible  reading,  which 
contains  many  excellent  advices,  though  they  are  given  in 
autocratic  spirit.  Some  persons  are  accused  of  attempting  to 
"bring  back  his  subjects  to  the  old  devotion  to  the  usurped 
power  of  the  Bishop  of  Home ;  others  of  wresting  Scripture, 
and  untruly  alleging  the  same,  to  the  subversion  of  law  and  the 
authority  of  magistrates;1  some  of  them  also  using  the  Scrip 
ture  permitted  to  them  by  the  Kings  goodnes  in  the  English 
tongue,  *  at  such  times  and  places,  and  after*  [much  contrary  to 
his  Highnes  expectation  :  for  his  Majesties  intent  and  hope  was, 
that  they  that  would  read  the  Scripture,  would,  with  meeknes 
and  wil  to  accomplish  the  effect  of  it,  read  it,  and  not  to  main 
tain  erroneous  opinions,  and  preach  [them,]  nor  for  to  use  the 
reading  and  preaching  of  it  in  undue  time  and  places,  and 
after]  such  fashions  and  sorts,  as  it  is  not  convenient  to  be 
suffered.  And  thus  each  of  them  dispute  so  arrogantly  against 
the  other  of  their  opinions,  as  wel  in  churches,  ale-houses, 
tavernes,  and  other  places  and  congregations,  that  there  is 
begun  and  sprung  among  themselves  slander  and  rayling  each 
at  other,  as  wel  by  words  as  writing ;  one  part  of  them  calling 
the  other  Papist,  and  the  other  part  calling  the  other  heretic : 
wherby  is  like  to  follow  *  sedition  *  [dissension]  and  tumult, 
*  to  their  own  destruction,  *  [not  only  to  their  own  confusions, 
that  teach  and  use  the  same,  but  also  to  the  disturbance,  and 
liklihood  to  destruction  of  al  the  rest  of  the  'Kings  true  and 
welbeloved  subjects,]  if  his  Majesty,  like  a  godly  and  Catholick 
Prince,  of  his  excellent  goodnes,  by  his  princely  power  and 
authority  given  him  by  God,  should  not  politicly,  in  the  be 
ginning,  provide  for  the  same. 

"For  remedy  wherof  his  most  royal  Majesty,  by  his  most 
excellent  wisdome,  knowing  and  considering  his  kingly  office 

1  Strype's    Ecclesiastical    Memo-  and  followed   by  an   asterisk   were 

rials,  vol.  I,  pt.  ii,  pp.  434-437.     The  erased    by  his   majesty,  and  those 

king  himself    corrected   this    docu-  within  brackets  inserted  by  him  iii 

ment.     The  word  or  clauses  begun  their  place. 


392  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

and  charge  touching  the  premisses,  and  daily  painfully  study 
ing  and  devising,  with  a  most  noble  and  earnest  heart,  to 
reduce  his  people  committed  by  God  to  his  care,  to  unity  of 
opinion,  and  to  encrease  love  and  charity  among  themselves, 
and  constantly  to  conserve  them  in  the  same,  intendeth,  God 
willing,  by  advice  of  his  Prelates  and  Clergy,  and  other  of  his 
Council,  to  precede  to  a  ful  order  and  resolution  to  extinct  al 
such  diversities  of  opinions  by  *  terrible*  [good  and  just]  laws 
to  be  made  for  the  same,  by  authority  of  his  Parliament.  .  .  . 
And  over  this,  his  Majesty  straitly  chargeth  and  commandeth, 
that  no  person,  except  such  as  be  curates,  or  graduates  in  any 
of  the  Universities  of  Oxford  or  Cambridge,  or  such  as  be  or 
shal  be  admitted  to  preach  by  the  Kings  licence,  or  by  his 
Vicegerent,  or  by  any  Bishop  of  the  realm,  shal  teach  or  preach 
the  Bible,  or  New  Testament,  nor  expound  the  mysteries  therof 
to  any  other ;  nor  that  any  person  or  persons  shall  openly  read 
the  Bible  or  New  Testament  in  the  English  tongue  in  any 
churches  or  chappels,  [or  elsewhere]  with  any  loud  or  high 
voice ;  [and  especially]  during  the  time  of  divine  service,  or  of 
celebrating  and  saying  of  masses :  but  virtually  and  devoutly 
to  hear  their  divine  services  and  masses,  and  use  that  time  in 
reading  and  praying  with  peace  and  stilnes,  as  good  Christen 
men  use  to  do  [for  his  own  erudition]  upon  the  like  pains,  as 
is  afore  rehersed.  *  And  also*  [notwithstanding]  his  Highnes 
is  pleased  and  contented,  that  such  as  can  [and  wil]  in  the 
English  tongue,  shal  and  may  quietly  and  reverently  read  the 
Bible  and  New  Testament  by  themselves  [secretly]  at  al  times 
and  places  convenient  for  their  own  instruction  and  edification, 

to  encrease  therby  godliness  and  vertuous  learning 

Wherfore  his  Majesty  chargeth  and  commandeth  al  his  said 
subjects  to  use  the  H.  Scripture  in  English,  according  to  his 
godly  purpose  and  gracious  intent,  as  they  would  avoid  his 
most  high  displesure  and  indignation,  beside  the  pain  above 
remembred." 

It  is  the  Dean  of  Chichester  who  says  that  at  this  period 
"  the  demand  for  an  English  Bible  was  the  political  or  radical 
cry  of  the  age  " ;  and  certainly  ecclesiastics  dreaded  above  all 
an  English  Bible  in  open  circulation,  as  if  God's  Book  was 


xxvm.]  HERESY  AND  TREASON.  393 

not  the  foundation  and  charter  of  God's  Church.  The  Dean  as 
serts  also,  without  reserve,  that  "  when  Henry  wished  to  intimi 
date  the  clergy,  he  threatened  them  with  an  authorized  version," 
and  "  when  he  would  win  their  favour  he  proscribed  it." l 

The  Act  of  Supremacy,  passed  in  1534,2  and  the  Act  of  the 
Six  Articles,  carried  through  by  Lord  Chancellor  Audley  in  1539  3 
wrought  like  a  double  net  with  many  fatal  meshes,  so  that 
reformers  and  Catholics  were  entangled  side  by  side,  and  per 
ished  at  the  same  time — the  first  burned  for  heresy,  and  the 
second  hanged  for  treason.  If  men  shrank  from  the  one 
danger,  they  were  caught  in  the  recoil  by  the  other.  As  if  to 
manifest  the  equality  of  the  procedure,  the  victims  were  some 
times  dragged  on  hurdles,  two  and  two,  a  Papist  and  a  Protes 
tant,  the  Catholics  asserting  that  this  "  unequal  matching  was 
worse  than  death  itself." 4  The  statute  was  interpreted  by 
"  branches  of  inference  " — so  that  rare  attendance  at  mass  was 
equivalent  to  speaking  against  it,  slowness  in  lifting  the  hands 
"  in  sacring  time,"  and  gentle  striking  of  the  breast  at  confes 
sion,  were  sufficient  to  bring  a  worshipper  within  sweep  of  the 
law.  Heading  of  Scripture  was  especially  regarded  as  very 
suspicious ;  and  in  a  fortnight  five  hundred  persons  were  in 
dicted  in  London  alone.  As  years  passed  on,  it  was  supposed 
that  heresy  might  bleed  to  death  under  the  ruthless  hands  of 
an  English  inquisition.  Latimer  and  Shaxton  were  sent  to 
prison,  and  were  obliged  to  give  up  their  dioceses.  Barnes, 
who  had  been  prior  of  the  Augustinian  convent  at  Cambridge, 
and  the  spiritual  father  of  Coverdale,  was  burned  at  Smithfield 
on  the  30th  July,  1540,5  along  with  Jerome,  and  with  Garrett 

1  Lives    of  the    Archbishops    of  he  returned,  in  1540,  he  had  .again 
Canterbury,  Second    Series,  vol.  I,  indulged   in  personal  raillery  from 
p.  334,  &c.  the  pulpit  of  St.  Paul's  Cross,  and 

2  26  Henry  VIII,  cap.  7  and  13.  played   upon   the  name   of    Bishop 

3  31  Henry  VIII,  cap.  14.  Gardyner  as  a   "garden   cock   that 

4  Ipsa  morte  gravius  ct  intolcrabil-  lacked   good  spiu-s."     But  he  soon 
ius.     Fuller's  Church  History,  vol.  found  that  the  episcopal  spurs  were 
II,  p.  105,  l°ug  enough  and  sharp  enough,  for 

5  Barnes,  by  creating  an  impression  he   was  at  once  arrested,  and  sen- 
that  he  had  been  drowned,  had  escaped  tenced  to  the  fire.     (See  page  256.) 
and  fled  to  the  Continent,  but  after 


394  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

who  had  taken  an  early  and  energetic  part  in  the  circulation 
of  Tyndale's  Testaments — all  three  having  been  attainted  ;  and 
at  the  same  time  three  priests  Abel,  Featherstone,  and  Powell, 
were  executed  with  them  as  traitors.  Between  the  publication 
of  the  third  and  fourth  editions  of  the  Great  Bible,  Crumwell 
himself,  the  Vicar-general  and  Vicegerent,  the  patron  and  pro 
moter  of  Biblical  translations,  was  beheaded.  His  influence  for 
eight  years  had  been  paramount  at  Court,  and  in  Parliament 
and  Convocation :  and  he  had  possessed  his  earldom  but  one 
hundred  days  when  he  was  attainted  without  scruple,  and 
swiftly  sent  to  death.  His  arms — found  in  the  first  three 
editions,  1539,  April  and  July,  1540 — are  erased  in  the  four 
last.  In  these  earlier  ones  Cranmer  and  Crumwell  are  pictured 
each  with  his  shield  below  him,  but  after  the  Vicegerent's 
death  his  figure  stands  alone ;  the  heraldry  was  carefully 
erased,  and  the  circular  space  is  a  blank.1  Crumwell's  rise  had 
been  rapid  and  steady,  but  his  fall  was  sudden.  The  orphan 
boy  of  a  tradesman,  he  was  a  man  of  rare  and  resolute  ability, 
and  was  at  one  time  in  the  service  of  Wolsey.  He  was 
knighted  in  1531,  became  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  in 
1532,  Secretary  of  State  in  1534,  Vicegerent  in  1535,  a  Baron 
and  Master  of  the  Rolls  in  1536,  the  Garter  and  the  Deanery 
of  Wells  were  given  him  in  1537.  He  rose  to  be  Great 
Chamberlain,  and  was  created  Earl  of  Essex  on  the  17th  of 
April,  1540;  and  he  was  beheaded  on  the  28th  of  July.  The 
Lincolnshire  and  Yorkshire  rebels,  during  "  the  Pilgrimage  of 
grace,"  had  prayed  that,  as  he  was  of  "  villein's "  blood,  he 
should  be  removed  from  the  council;  but  the  king  bluntly 
told  them  they  "were  but  brutes"  and  inexperts,  and  could 
not  judge  in  such  matters.  His  garter  gave  great  offence  to 
the  old  nobility.  He  had  tried  to  entrap  Gardyner  under 
the  Act  of  Supremacy ;  but  the  bishop  easily  eluded  the 
danger.  Crumwell  suffered  under  a  law  which  himself 
had  carried  through  the  year  before — to  wit,  that  a  person 
named  in  a  bill  of  attainder  might  be  condemned  without 
trial.  His  connection  with  heretical  books  and  men  was  a 
strong  charge  against  him.  The  edition  of  November,  1540, 

1  See  p.  362. 


xxvm.j  TUNSTALL  AND  HEATH.  395 

with  the  melancholy  memento  of  Crumwell's  fallen  greatness, 
is  the  first  bearing  the  names  of  Tunstall  and  Heath.  Among 
the  many  surprises  of  the  period,  the  occurrence  of  these 
names  in  such  a  connection  is  not  the  least ;  for  Tunstall  had 
been  the  Bible  burner — the  same  "  My  Lord  of  London  "  into 
whose  house  Tyndale  vainly  asked  admission,  and  who  after 
wards  gathered  and  gave  to  the  flames  so  many  copies  of  his 
translation.  Crumwell  had  been  executed,  and  lest  the  Bible 
in  which  he  had  taken  such  an  interest  might  draw  suspicion 
upon  itself,  and  sink  in  popular  esteem,  episcopal  revision  and 
authority  are  set  in  prominence,  by  royal  command,  on  the 
front  of  two  editions.  The  title-page  bears  the  declaration, 
"  Oversene  and  perused  at  the  commandment  of  the  Kynges 
Highnes,  by  the  ryghte  reverende  fathers  in  God,  Cuthbert, 
Bishop  of  Duresme,  and  Nicolas,  Bishop  of  Rochester."  The 
full  title  of  the  editions  of  November,  1540  and  1541,  is — 

"  The  Byble  in  Englyshe  of  the  largest  and  greatest  volume, 
auctorysed  and  apoynted  by  the  commaundemente  of  oure  moost 
redoubted  Prynce,  and  soueraygne  Lorde  Kynge  Henry  the 
VIII,  supreme  heade  of  this  his  Churche  and  Realme  of  Eng- 
lande :  to  be  frequented  and  used  in  euery  churche  within  this 
his  sayd  realme  accordynge  to  the  tenour  of  his  former  iniunc- 
tions  given  in  that  behalfe.  Oversene  and  perused  at  the 
commaundmente  of  the  Kynges  Hyghnes,  by  the  ryght  reve 
rende  fathers  in  God,  Cuthbert  bysshop  of  Duresme,  and 
Nicolas  bisshop  of  Rochester.  Printed  by  Edwarde  Whit- 
church.  Cum  privilegio  ad  imprimendum  solum."  Colophon : 
"  The  ende  of  the  newe  Testamente  and  of  the  whole  Byble. 
Fynyshed  in  November,  Anno  MCCCCCXL.  A  domino  factum 
est  istud."  Of  course  the  other  edition  has  MCCCCCXLI. 

The  Act  of  1538  had  commanded  that  all  published  books  of 
Scripture  should  have  the  sanction  of  the  king,  a  privy  coun 
cillor,  or  a  bishop.  These  two  bishops  had  certainly  no  heart 
to  the  work,  and  the  belief  was  that  they  had  not  revised  the 
version  as  they  professed.  But  they  durst  not  thwart  the 
king,  and  they  gave  their  names  to  a  virtual  imposture,  so  far 
as  the  title-page  is  concerned. 

Tunstall,  one  of  the  episcopal  editors  of  the  Great  Bible, 


396  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

Avas  a  scholar  of  eminence.  When  Pole,  in  a  letter  to  the  king, 
wished  him  to  allow  Tunstall  to  read  his  book  De  Unitate, 
he  calls  the  bishop  "a  sad  and  learned  man" ;  and  More,  in  the 
Utopia,  styles  him  "  a  man  doubtless  out  of  comparison,"  and 
in  his  Epitaph  he  describes  him  as  so  "  excelling  in  learning, 
wit,  and  virtue,  that  the  whole  world  scant  hath  at  this  day 
any  more  learned,  wiser,  or  better."  Tunstall  was  a  pupil  of 
Grocyn,  but  he  could  have  had  no  great  leisure  for  study  after 
he  entered  public  life,  for,  with  rapid  promotion  in  the  church, 
he  filled  a  succession  of  public  or  civil  offices — Vicar-General  to 
Warham  in  1508,  Master  of  the  Rolls  in  1516,  Keeper  of  the 
Privy  Seal  in  1523,  besides  being  Ambassador  to  the  Archduke 
Charles,  to  Charles  V  in  1516,  at  Worms  in  1519,  to  Francis  I 
in  1527-29,  and,  with  More,  at  Cambray  in  1529.  He  became 
Bishop  of  London  in  1522,  was  translated  to  Durham  in  1530, 
was  finally  deprived  in  1559,  and  committed,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-four,  to  the  custody  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 
He  had  permitted  no  persecution  in  his  diocese  of  Durham, 
and,  according  to  Strype,  he  was  before  his  death,  by  the 
Archbishop's  kindness  and  conversation,  "brought  off  from 
papistical  errors."  He  had  been  godfather  to  Elizabeth  when 
he  baptized  her  at  Greenwich  in  1533 ;  and  on  the  coronation 
of  Mary  he  stood  at  the  queen's  right  hand. 

Some  years  afterwards,  or  in  15 46,  there  was  published  "The 
Supplication  of  the  Poor  Commons  to  the  King,"  and  the  story 
there  stated  is  not  beyond  the  bounds  of  belief.  "We  heard  say 
that  they  proffered  your  Highness,  that  if  you  would  please  to 
call  in  the  Bible  again,  forasmuch  as  it  was  not  faithfully  trans 
lated  in  all  parts,  they  would  oversee  it,  and  within  seven  years 
set  it  forth  again.  Your  bishops,  most  victorious  Prince,  if  they 
might  have  gotten  in  the  Bible  for  seven  years,  would  have 
trusted  that,  by  that  time,  either  your  Highness  should  have 
been  dead,  or  the  Bible  forgotten :  or  they  themselves  out  of 
your  Highness'  reach ;  so  that  you  should  not  have  like  power 
over  them  as  you  have  now.  .  .  .  When  your  Majesty 
appointed  two  of  them  (Tunstall  and  Heath)  to  overlook  the 
translation  of  the  Bible,  they  said  they  had  done  your  High 
ness'  commandment  therein :  yea,  they  set  their  names  there- 


xxvni.]  ANTHONY  HAULER.  397 

unto :  but  when  they  saw  the  world  somewhat  like  to  wring 
on  the  other  side,  they  denied  it,  and  said  they  never  meddled 
therewith,  causing  the  printer  to  take  out  their  names, 
which  were  erst  set  before  the  Bible,  to  certify  to  all  men  that 
they  had  diligently  perused  it,  according  as  your  Highness  had 
commanded." l 

Grafton  had  risked  five  hundred  pounds  in  the  first  edition 
of  1539,  and  in  the  six  subsequent  editions  no  small  amount  of 
capital  must  have  been  embarked — probably  towards  fifty 
thousand  pounds  sterling  of  present  value.  The  expense  of 
these  last  editions  was  defrayed,  wholly  or  partially,  by  An 
thony  Maiier,  a  haberdasher  in  London,  who  also  presented 
to  his  Majesty  a  magnificent  copy  on  vellum,  with  an  inscrip 
tion.  This  Bible  is  still  preserved  in  the  British  Museum. 
The  minutes  of  the  Privy  Council  are  significant.  "  Greenwich, 
25th  April;  it  was  agreed  that  Anthony  Marler  of  London, 
merchant,  might  sell  the  Bibles  of  the  Great  Bible  unbound 
for  xs.  sterling,  and  bound,  being  trimmed  with  bullyons, 
for  xiis.  sterling  " — the  first  being  equal  to  about  £7,  and  the 
second  to  £9  of  present  value.  But  copies  were  lying  on  his 
hands,  and  he  might  be  "  undone  for  ever,"  as  he  complains. 
The  best  way,  therefore,  to  reimburse  the  petitioner  was  to 
help  the  volumes  off  his  hands ;  and  a  proclamation  was  issued 
on  the  7th  of  May,  1540,  which  ordered  all  churches  to  provide 
themselves  with  a  Bible  of  the  largest  volume,  and  another  on 
the  6th  of  May,  1541,  went  fully  into  the  subject:2 

" .  .  .  .  The  which  godly  commandment  and  injunc 
tion  was  to  the  only  intent  that  every  of  the  King's  Majesty's 
loving  subjects,  minding  to  read  therein,  might,  by  occasion 
thereof,  not  only  consider  and  perceive  the  great  and  ineffable 
omnipotent  power,  promise,  justice,  mercy,  and  goodness  of 
Almighty  God ;  but  also  to  learn  thereby  to  observe  God's 
commandments,  and  to  obey  their  Sovereign  Lord,  and  high 
powers,  and  to  exercise  godly  charity,  and  to  use  themselves 
according  to  their  vocations,  in  a  pure  and  sincere  Christian 
life,  without  murmur  or  grudging :  By  the  which  injunctions, 

1  Strype,  vol.  I,  pt.  i,  p.  612,  -  Bui-net,  vol.  I,  pt.  ii,  p.  377. 


398  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

the  King's  Royal  Majesty  intended  that  his  loving  subjects 
should  have  and  use  the  commodities  of  the  reading  of  the 
said  Bibles,  for  the  purpose  above  rehearsed,  humbly,  meekly, 
reverently,  and  obediently,  and  not  that  any  of  them  should 
read  the  said  Bibles  with  high  and  loud  voices,  in  time  of  the 
celebration  of  the  holy  mass,  and  other  divine  services  used 
in  the  Church ;  or  that  any  his  lay  subjects  reading  the  same, 
should  presume  to  take  upon  them  any  common  disputation, 
argument,  or  exposition  of  the  mysteries  therein  contained; 
but  that  every  such  layman  should,  humbly,  meekly,  and 
reverently  read  the  same  for  his  own  instruction,  edification, 
and  amendment  of  his  life,  according  to  God's  holy  word 
therein  mentioned.  And  notwithstanding  the  King's  said 
most  godly  and  gracious  commandment  and  injunction,  in 
form  as  is  aforesaid,  his  Royal  Majesty  is  informed  that  clivers 
and  many  towns  and  parishes  within  this  his  realm,  have 
neglected  their  duties  in  the  accomplishment  thereof,  whereof 
his  Highness  marvelleth  not  a  little  ;  and  minding  the  execu 
tion  of  his  said  former  most  godly  and  gracious  injunctions, 
doth  straitly  charge  and  command  that  the  curats  and  par 
ishioners  of  every  town  and  parish  within  this  his  realm  of 
England,  not  having  already  Bibles  provided  within  their 
parish  churches,  shall,  on  this  side  the  Feast  of  All -Saints 
next  coming,  buy  and  provide  Bibles  of  the  largest  and  great 
est  volume,  and  cause  the  same  to  be  set  and  fixed  in  every 
one  of  the  said  parish  churches,  there  to  be  used  as  is  aforesaid, 
according  to  the  said  former  injunctions,  upon  pain  that  the 
curat  and  inhabitants  of  the  parishes  and  towns,  shall  lose 
and  forfeit  to  the  King's  Majesty,  for  every  month  that  they 
shall  lack  and  want  the  said  Bibles,  after  the  same  feast  of  All- 
Saints,  40s.,  the  one  half  of  the  same  forfeit  to  be  to  the  King's 
Majesty,  and  the  other  half  to  him  or  them  which  shall  first 
find  and  present  the  same  to  the  King's  Majesties  Council. 
And  finally,  the  King's  Royal  Majesty  doth  declare  and  signify 
to  all  and  singular  his  loving  subjects,  that  to  the  intent  they 
may  have  the  said  Bibles  of  the  greatest  volume,  at  equal  and 
reasonable  prices,  his  Highness,  by  the  advice  of  his  Council, 
hath  ordained  and  taxed  that  the  sellers  thereof  shall  not 


xxvm.]  ROYAL   WARRANT  FOR  PRICE  OF  BIBLES.  399 

take  for  any  of  the  said  Bibles  unbound,  above  the  price  of  ten 
shillings ;  and  for  every  of  the  said  Bibles  well  and  sufficiently 
bound,  trimmed  and  clasped,  not  above  twelve  shillings,  upon 
pain  the  seller  to  lose,  for  every  Bible  sold  contrary  to  his 
Highness's  proclamation,  four  shillings;  the  one  moiety  thereof 
to  the  King's  Majesty,  and  the  other  moiety  to  the  finder  and 

presenter  of  the  defaulter,  as  is  aforesaid 

"  God  save  the  KING." 

The  price  was  fixed  at  the  terms  suggested  by  Marler.  The 
measure  was  a  strange  one,  and  the  language  of  the  proclama 
tion  sounds  very  oddly  when  the  subject  is  the  Word  of  God. 
The  fixing  down  of  the  price  of  copies,  the  stepping  in  of  the 
law  between  buyer  and  seller,  and  the  employment  of  in 
formers,  were  in  accordance  with  the  false  notions  of  political 
economy  current  at  that  epoch.  If  a  man  were  fined  for  not 
having  bought  a  Bible,  he  was  not  likely  to  regard  the  volume 
with  special  affection.  Another  plan  to  secure  a  wide  circula 
tion  was  apparently  not  thought  of — namely,  to  print  the  book 
in  smaller  and  cheaper  form. 

The  title-page  of  the  last  volume  of  this  series  of  the  Great 
Bible,  December,  1541,  by  its  distinct  declaration  of  being  the 
authorized  Bible,  as  in  the  edition  of  April,  1540,  and  by  its 
translation  of  the  Latin  motto,  seems  to  glance  back  at  the 
two  editions  "  overseen  "  by  Tunstall  and  Heath — , 

"  The  Byble  in  Englishe,  that  is  to  saye,  the  content  of  all 
the  holy  sciypture  both  of  the  olde  and  newe  testament,  with 
a  prologe  thereinto,  made  by  the  reverende  father  in  God, 
Thomas  archebisshop  of  Canterbury.  *F  This  is  the  Byble 
appoynted  to  the  use  of  the  Churches.  *T  Printed  by 
Rycharde  Grafton.  Cum  priuilegio  ad  imprimendum  solum 
An.  do.  MDXL."  The  colophon  is — "The  ende  of  the  Newe 
Testament,  and  of  the  whole  Bible,  Finysshed  in  December 
MCCCCCXLI.  -f-A  domino  factum  est  istud.  This  is  the 
Lordes  Doynge."  The  pointing  hands  disappeared  after  Crum- 
well's  death. 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 


rpHE  circulation  of  the  Bible  by  royal  command  went  on 
with  increased  speed,  and  even  Edmund  Bonner,  in  his 
unaccountable  zeal,  and  as  he  had  promised  to  Grafton  in  Paris, 
commanded  his  archdeacon  by  letter,  on  the  llth  of  May,  1542, 
to  execute  the  royal  mandate,  and  issued  this  Injunction  : — 

"By  the  authority  given  to  me  of  God,  and  by  our  said 
Sovereign  Lord  the  King's  Majesty,  I  exhort,  require,  and  com 
mand,  that  every  parson,  vicar,  and  curat,  shall  read  over  and 
diligently  study  every  day  one  chapter  of  the  Bible,  and  that 
with  the  gloss  ordinary,  or  some  other  doctor  or  expositor, 
approved  and  allowed  in  this  Church  of  England,  proceeding 
from  chapter  to  chapter,  from  the  beginning  of  the  Gospel  of 
Matthew,  to  the  end  of  the  New  Testament ;  and  the  same  so 
diligently  studied  to  keep  still  and  retain  in  memory,  and  to 
come  to  the  rehearsal  and  recital  thereof,  at  all  such  time  and 
times  as  they,  or  any  of  them,  shall  be  commanded  thereunto 
by  me,  or  any  of  my  officers  or  deputies."  l 

Bishop  Bonner  also  set  up  six  Bibles  in  St.  Paul's.2  Latimer 
ordered  a  copy  to  be  chained  in  the  monastery  of  Worcester, 
and  Hooper  directed  every  church  to  have  a  Bible,  and  the 

1  Vol.  I,  pt.  ii,  p.  381.  Bonner  and   his  chaplains  rebuked 

2  Many  readers  may  have  seen  Sir  him  ;  but  he  quietly  replied  to  the 
George  Harvey's  picture  "  The  Eead-  bishop  that  he   had    done   nothing 
ing  of  the  Bible  in  old  St.  Paul's."  "  contrary    to    his    advertisements 
The  person  figured  as  reading  to  an  which  had  been  fixed  in  print  over 
eager  group  aroimd  him  represents  every  Bible."     He  was  then  sent  to 
John  Porter,  "a  fresh  young  man,  Newgate,   and  tortured  so  terribly 
and    of  a    big  stature,   who    could  that  he  soon  died  in  his  dungeon, 
read  well,  and  had  an  audible  voice."  Foxe,  vol.  V,  p.  452. 


xxix.]  BONNET'S  THREATENING  ADMONITION.  401 

early  opponent  of  Erasmus,  Lee,  now  Archbishop  of  York, 
ordered  all  curates  to  provide  a  Bible  within  forty  days,  and 
have  it  chained  in  some  open  place  in  the  Church.  But  abuses 
crept  in ;  people  read  mostly  during  service  and  sermon,  and 
Bonner,  "  for  the  said  abuses,"  threatened  "  to  take  down  the 
said  Bibles."  In  September  of  the  same  year,  in  imitation  of 
Crumwell's  address  on  the  same  subject  in  1538,  and  of  the 
king's  in  the  previous  year,  he  issued  an  admonition  to  all 
readers  of  the  Bible  in  the  English  tongue,  to  bring  with  them 
"  discretion,  honest  intent,  charity,  reverence,  and  quiet  behav 
iour,  that  there  should  be  no  such  number  meet  together  there 
as  to  make  a  multitude  ;  that  no  such  exposition  be  made  there 
from  but  what  is  declared  in  the  book  itself;  that  it  be  not  read 
with  noise  in  time  of  divine  service ;  and  that  no  disputation 
or  contention  be  used  at  it." 

After  the  death  of  Crumwell,  who  was  so  cordially  detested 
by  the  Catholic  leaders  and  partizans,  the  enemies  of  the  Eng 
lish  Scripture  raised  their  heads.  The  text  had  been  author 
ized,  but  the  "  Notes  "  had  not  been  appended.  Yet,  according 
to  Foxe,  Grafton,  on  being  called  before  the  authorities,  and 
questioned  strictly  about  the  proposed  annotations,  was  sent 
to  prison  for  six  weeks,  and  bound  over  in  £300  to  sell  or  print 
no  more  Bibles. 

The  Great  Bible  of  December,  15-11,  was  therefore  the  last 
edition  printed  in  the  reign  of  Henry,  for  a  reaction  had  set 
in,  and  the  royal  mind  was  sinking  into  indifference,  if  not 
into  hostility,  to  the  English  Scriptures. 

There  had  thus  been  for  some  years  a  supply  of  English 
Scriptures  in  the  country,  but  the  result  had  not  been  satis 
factory  to  the  Catholic  interest.  Papal  authority  had  been 
more  and  more  undermined,  theological  questions  were  freely 
discussed,  and  in  the  light  of  the  Bible  many  Catholic  doc 
trines  and  practices  were  condemned,  and  ceased  to  com 
mand  faith  and  obedience  on  the  part  of  hundreds  who 
were  secretly  or  more  openly  nonconformists.  The  Book 
was  in  wide  circulation,  and  it  could  not  now  be  sup 
pressed  or  gathered  into  bundles  and  burned.  The  name  of 
Tyndale  was  odious  to  all  papal  adherents;  and  he  had  "suf- 

VOL.  I.  2  c 


402  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [-CHAP. 

fered  trouble  as  an  evildoer,  even  unto  bonds  "  and  death  ; 
Coverdale  was  little  less  obnoxious,  for  he  had  been  patronized 
by  Crumwell,  whose  overthrow  and  death  had  been  chiefly 
compassed  by  Bishop  Gardyner  and  the  faction  that  clung 
to  him  as  their  life  and  their  leader;  and  Thomas  Matthew 
or  John  Rogers  was  also  well  known  for  his  sturdy  and 
courageous  character,  so  that  all  the  Scriptures  in  use  were 
tainted  in  their  source  and  authorship,  and  could  not  be 
forgiven  by  bigoted,  or  accepted  by  conscientious,  vassals  of 
the  Romish  Church,  and  they  at  this  time  formed  a  majority 
of  the  people.  But  if  the  English  Bible  could  not  be  with 
held,  as  it  had  enjoyed  royal  license,  it  might  be  transformed 
and  so  modified  as  to  serve  the  aims  of  ecclesiastical  intoler 
ance.  If  it  could  not  be  rudely  plucked  out  of  the  people's 
hand,  it  might  be  taught  to  utter  an  uncertain  sound,  or  it 
might  be  so  vailed  in  its  renderings  as  to  be  brought  into 
unison  with  the  traditions  and  service  of  the  Church.  The 
purpose  formed,  in  these  circumstances,  by  the  more  astute  mem 
bers  of  the  hierarchy  was  to  produce  a  volume  of  their  own, 
which  should  have  no  heretical  pravity  about  it,  but  should  so 
commend  itself  to  the  nation  as  perhaps  to  win  many  back  to 
the  old  paths,  and  thrust  out  its  predecessors  by  its  superior 
popularity,  and  the  priestly  authority  which  should  sanction 
and  hallow  it.  The  familiar  Latin  version  consecrated  by 
long  use  was  to  be  the  one  means  of  correction ;  and  the 
omission  of  any  reference  to  the  Greek  text  throws  a  direct 
light  on  the  motives  of  the  contrivers  of  this  reactionary 
enterprise.  The  motion  of  Gardyner  is  self-explanatory.  The 
sacerdotal  authorities  hoped  to  mould  the  English  Bible  into 
ecclesiastical  form,  and  to  deprave  its  popular  English  speech 
with  Latin  terms  unintelligible  save  to  the  educated. 

The  plot  was  ripe  when  Convocation  met  in  the  early  part 
of  1542.  Proposals  were  made,  in  the  king's  name,  for  a  new 
translation.  Cranmer  obeyed  the  royal  order,  though  he  had 
seen  the  good  work  already  fall  through  the  Bishops'  hands,  who 
had  not  only  no  heart  to  it,  but  were  ready  to  mar  and  impede 
it.  It  was  decided  in  the  Upper  House  that  the  Great  Bible 
should  be  revised  "according  to  that  Bible  which  is  usually 


xxix.]  REVISION.  403 

read  in  the  English  Church,"  that  is,  the  Vulgate.  There  were 
some  honest  minds  among  the  party,  and  how  did  they  hope 
to  effect  a  thorough  revision  by  the  mere  aid  of  the  Latin  ver 
sion  ?  But  the  scheme  was  agreed  to,  and  the  work  was  thus 
apportioned,  the  New  Testament  being  given  to  the  Bishops, 
and  the  Old  Testament  to  members  of  the  Lower  House. 
Fuller  copied  from  the  Records  of  the  Convocation  (since 
destroyed)  the  order  of  distribution,  which  was  as  follows  : — 
St.  Matthew  —  Archbishop  Cranmer  ;  St.  Mark  —  Longland, 
Bishop  of  Lincoln  ;  St.  Luke — Gardyner,  Bishop  of  Winchester  ; 
St.  John — Goodrich,  Bishop  of  Ely  ;  Acts  of  Apostles — Heath, 
Bishop  of  Rochester  ;  Romans — Sampson,  Bishop  of  Chichester ; 
1  and  2  Corinthians — Capon,  Bishop  of  Sarum ;  Galatians, 
Ephesians,  Philippians,  Colossians  —  Barlow,  Bishop  of  St. 
David's ;  1  and  2  Thessalonians — Bell,  Bishop  of  Worcester ; 
1  and  2  Timothy,  Titus,  Philemon — Parfew,  Bishop  of  St. 
Asaph  ;  1  and  2  Peter — Holgate,  Bishop  of  Llandaff ;  Hebrews 
— Skyp,  Bishop  of  Hereford ;  St.  James,  1,  2,  and  3  John,  and 
Jude — Thirlby,  Bishop  of  Westminster;  Revelation — Wake- 
man,  Bishop  of  Gloucester,  and  Chambers,  Bishop  of  Peterboro'. 
The  name  of  Tunstall  does  not  appear  on  the  list. 

On  February  13th,  the  Lower  House  sent  up  to  the  Arch 
bishop  and  Bishops  a  list  of  places  which  in  their  opinion 
needed  emendation,  and  Convocation  then  appointed  joint- 
committees  to  consult  as  to  the  best  means  and  method  of 
revising  the  entire  Scriptures.  The  Old  Testament  commit 
tee  consisted  of  Lee,  Archbishop  of  York ;  Goodrich,  Bishop 
of  Ely ;  Redmayne,  afterwards  Master  of  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge;  Taylor,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Lincoln;  Heynes, 
afterwards  Dean  of  Exeter;  Robertson,  afterwards  Dean  of 
Durham;  Cox,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Ely;  and  others.  The 
New  Testament  committee  consisted  of  Tunstall,  Bishop  of 
Durham;  Gardyner,  Bishop  of  Winchester;  Skyp,  Bishop  of 
Hereford ;  Thirlby,  Bishop  of  Westminster  ; l  Dr.  Wotton, 

1  On  the  dissolution  of  the  religious  Twenty-one  were  intended,  but  six 

houses,  in  1539,  in  an  Act  drawn  by  only  were  founded  and  endowed  out 

his  own  hand,  and  passed,  the  king  of  the  rich  spoils.     The  abbey  and 

too'.c  power  to  erect  new  bishoprics,  monastery  of  St.  Peter  was  dissolved 


404  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

afterwards  Dean  of  Canterbury ;  Dr.  Day,  afterwards  Bishop 
of  Chichester ;  Dr.  Corcn,  Archdeacon  of  Oxford ;  Dr. 
Wilson;  Dr.  Leighton;  Dr.  May,  Dean  of  St.  Paul's;  and 
others. 

At  the  sixth  meeting  Gardyner  handed  in  a  list  of  about 
ninety-nine  Latin  words  which  should  be  retained  in  their 
original  form,  "  for  their  genuine  and  native  meaning,  and 
for  the  majesty  of  the  matter  in  them  contained,"  or  "  be  fitly 
Englished  with  the  least  alteration."  The  strange  list  is  as 
follows  : — "  Ecclesia,  Pcenitentia,  Pontifex,  AnciHa,  Contritus, 
Holocausta,  Justitia,  Justificare,  Idiota,  Elementa,  Baptizare, 
Martyr,  Adorare,  Dignus,  Sandalium,  Simplex,  Tetrarcha, 
Sacramentum,  Simulacrum,  Gloria,  Conflictationes,  Ceremonia, 
Mysterium,  Religio,  Spiritus  Sanctus,  Spiritus,  Merces,  Con- 
fiteor  Tibi  Pater,  Panis  propositionis,  Communio,  Perseverare, 
Dilectus,  Sapientia,  Pietas,  Presbyter,  Lites,  Servus,  Opera, 
Sacrificium,  Benedictio,  Humilis,  Humilitas,  Scientia,  Gentilis, 
Synagoga,  Ejicere,  Misericordia,  Complacui,  Increpare,  Distri- 
bueretur  orbis,  Inculpatus,  Senior,  Apocalypsis,  Satisfactio, 
Contentio,  Conscientia,  Peccatum,  Peccator,  Idolurn,  Pruden- 
tia,  Parabola,  Magnifico,  Oriens,  Subditus,  Didrachma,  Hospi- 
talitas,  Episcopus,  Gratia,  Charitas,  Tyrannus,  Concupiscentia, 
Cisera,  Apostolus,  Apostolatus,  Egenus,  Stater,  Societas,  Zizania, 
Christus,  Conversari,  Profiteer,  Impositio  manuum,  Idolatria, 
Inenarrabilis,  Infidelis,  Paganus,  Commilito,  Virtutes,  Domina- 
tiones,  Throni,  Potestates,  Hostia." l  The  adoption  of  Gardy- 
ner's  2  suggestion  would  have  sadly  marred  the  revision,  and 


in  January,    1540,   and    the    abbot  Abbey,   by  Dean   Stanley,   p.   450. 

became  a  dean  ;  twelve  prebendaries  London,  1868. 

succeeded  the  monks,  and  Thirlby  *  Fuller's  Church  History,  vol.  II, 

was  consecrated  on  the  15th  Decem-  p.  108. 

ber,  1540,  the  first  bishop,  with  a  2  Gardyner,    notwithstanding    his 

diocese  including  the  whole  of  Mid-  domineering  dispute  with  Cheke  on 

dlesex  except  Fulham.    Queen  Mary  Greek  pronunciation,  was  no  mean 

upset    all    this    arrangement  ;     the  scholar.     At  college,  in  Cambridge, 

monks  were  restored,  and   Fecken-  he  joined  the  party  of  the  "  Cicer- 

ham  was  the  last  mitred  abbot  of  onians";  and  as  Chancellor  of  the 

England.    Memorials  of  Westminster  University  he  lent  his  influence  to 


xxix.]  GARDYNERS  PROPOSAL.  405 

made  it  as  incongruous  and  un-English  as  the  Rhemish  version. 
Gardyner  could  not  have  selected  his  words  at  random,  though 
some  of  them,  "fitly  Englished/'  were  already  in  the  Great  Bible, 
and  many  of  them  are  no  longer  novelties  in  the  language,  as 
justice,  justify,  elements,  baptize,  mystery,  adore,  glory,  spirit, 
apostle,  confession,  prudence,  gentile,  humility,  communion, 
perseverance,  synagogue,  grace,  charity.  Other  words  have  no 
special  meaning  attached  to  them,  as  idiota,  ancilla,  egenus, 
humilis,  ejicere,  oriens,  which,  if  they  had  been  preserved, 
would  have  disfigured  any  translation.  But  the  indifferent 
words  were  probably  only  a  cover  for  the  more  distinctive 
ecclesiastical  terms.  The  project  was,  without  doubt,  the  fruit 
of  Gardyner's  ingenuity,  but  he  outwitted  himself.  Cranmer 
at  once  saw  through  the  scheme,  and  after  consulting  with 
the  king,  on  Friday,  10th  March,  he  announced  it  to  be  the 
royal  "  will  and  pleasure  "  that  the  translation  should  be  ex 
amined  by  both  universities.  The  bishops,  with  the  exception 
of  Goodrich  of  Ely,  and  Barlow  of  St.  Davids,  vehemently 
protested  that  learning  had  decayed  at  the  universities,  and 
that  all  things  were  carried  by  "  young  men,  the  regent's 
masters,"  so  that  the  "  learning  of  the  land  was  chiefly 
in  the  Convocation  "  ;  but  Cranmer  "  stuck  close  "  to  the 
king's  resolution.  The  conspiracy  was  in  this  way  easily 
baffled,  and  no  further  attempt  was  made  to  papalize  the 
Authorized  Version,  and  put  a  foreign  mask  on  its  honest 
every  man's  English.  Convocation  was  not  again  troubled 
with  the  subject,  and  the  Universities  put  no  hand  to  the  work. 
Yet  on  Sunday,  the  12th  of  the  month  before  Convocation 
broke  up,  a  royal  proclamation  was  issued,  giving  to  Marler, 
"  himself  or  his  assigns,"  for  four  years,  the  "  sole  right  to  print 
the  Bible  in  our  English  tongue,"  and  sternly  prohibiting  all 
interference  on  the  part  of  "subjects  or  strangers"  with  the 
monopoly.1  As  the  project  of  the  bishops  to  get  a  new  version 
might,  if  carried  out,  have  injured  Marler's  interests,  and 
neutralized  all  previous  proclamations,  the  king,  therefore, 

the  introduction  of  new  studies,  in     Trinity  Hall  in  1520,  and  Bishop  of 

opposition    to    Aristotle     and    the    Winchester  in  1531. 

Schoolmen.      He  became  Master  of        1  Patent  Eolls,  33  Henry  VIII. 


406  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

in  sharp  and  imperative  terms,  forbade  such  a  result.  The 
proclamation  implies  perhaps  that  the  king  and  Cranmer  were 
aware  of,  or  suspected  greatly,  more  in  the  episcopal  movement 
than  has  come  to  light.  But  Marler  did  not  print  or  publish 
anymore  folio  Bibles;  indeed  no  others  were  printed  in  Henry's 
reign,  though  it  lasted  four  years  longer. 

The  portion  of  the  nation  that  could  read  had  now  been 
furnished  with  the  Divine  Word  in  their  "  maternal  tongue." 
During  the  last  five  years  there  had  been  issued  at  least 
twelve  editions  of  the  entire  Bible — ten  in  folio  and  two 
in  quarto — each  impression  probably  averaging  1,500  copies. 
Thousands  of  copies  of  the  New  Testament,  from  15 26 
and  onwards,  were  also  in  use  through  the  country.  Becon, 
who  had  heard  Latimer  proving  in  his  sermon  delivered  at 
Cambridge,  in  1526,  that  the  Holy  Scriptures  ought  to  be  read 
in  the  English  tongue  by  all  Christian  people,  was  now  enabled, 
sixteen  years  after,  to  record  "there  is  no  realm  throughout 
Christendom  that  hath  so  many  urgent,  weighty,  and  necessary 
causes  to  give  thanks  unto  God  as  we  Englishmen  have  at  this 
present.  .  .  .  The  most  sacred  Bible  is  freely  permitted  to 
be  read  of  every  man  in  the  English  tongue.  .  .  .  Many 
savour  Christ  aright,  and  daily  the  number  increaseth." l  Still 
there  must  have  been  a  great  disproportion  between  all  this 
free  circulation  of  expensive  Bibles  and  the  masses  of  the 
people — "  What  were  these  among  so  many  ?  " 

But  the  reaction  indicated  in  Gardyner's  proposal  grew 
more  powerful,  and  the  king  was  brought  more  fully  under 
perverse  influences,2  wielded  by  some  of  the  adherents  of  the 
old  religious  party  which  had  sullenly  bowed  to  the  separa 
tion  from  Rome,  but  was  still  in  heart  thoroughly  opposed 
to  the  open  circulation  of  the  Word  of  God,  and  really  terrified 
by  it.  The  circulation  of  Scripture  could  not  now  be  easily 
fettered ;  but  the  reading  of  it  might  be  placed  under  legal  re- 

1  Early  Works,  p.  180,  &c.,  Parker  Henry  VIII  died  at  what  should  now 
Society  ed.  be  called  the  early  age  of  fifty-six,  and 

2  The  common  phrase  that  the  re-  his  father  had  died  at  fifty-two.     Of 
action  took  place  in  the  king's  mind  his  two  great  rivals,  Francis  died  at 
in  his  old  age  rather  tends  to  mislead,  fifty-three  and  Charles  at  fifty-nine. 


xxix.]  VARIOUS  ABUSES.  497 

straint.  Indeed,  the  king  had  more  than  once  complained  of 
scenes  of  disorder  connected  with  the  reading  of  Scripture, 
and  Parliament  had  said  that  people  "  wrangled  over  it  in  ale 
houses,"  and  that  it  was  degraded  "  in  rhymes,  printed  ballads, 
plays,  songs,  and  other  fantasies."  One  form  of  abuse,  which 
had  been  already  forbidden,  was  peculiar — the  reading  of  the 
New  Testament  aloud  during  divine  service.  It  is,  indeed, 
little  matter  of  surprise  that  a  man  with  an  English  New 
Testament  in  his  hand  should  look  into  it  during  a  long  Latin 
service,  not  one  word  of  which  he  understood ;  but  to  disturb 
others  around  him  was  wholly  unwarranted.  Three  persons 
of  St.  Albans  parish  were  "  prosecuted  for  disturbing  the  ser 
vice  of  the  church,  with  brabbling  of  the  New  Testament"; 
and  one,  William  Plane,  was  taken  hold  of  "  for  loud  reading  of 
the  English  Testament."  Such  a  scene,  in  the  village  of  Vassy, 
in  France,  led,  in  1562,  to  bloodshed,  when,  the  Duke  of  Guise 
being  the  avenger,  sixty  people  were  killed  and  two  hundred 
wounded — the  first  of  those  massacres  that  crowned  their 
atrocity  on  the  day  of  St.  Bartholomew. 

At  an  earlier  period l  the  reading  of  the  English  Bible  had 
been  sadly  abused — conceited  and  opinionative  men  made  it 
their  text-book,  and  ignorant  men,  of  extreme  opinions,  disdain 
fully  tossed  its  verses  in  the  faces  of  opponents.  It  is  no  less 
true,  as  already  stated,  that  many  readers  of  the  Bible  in 
rural  parishes  were  frowned  upon  and  insulted,  the  book  being 
fraught  with  terror  to  reactionary  ecclesiastics.2  The  infer 
ence,  in  high  quarters,  from  all  such  agitations  was,  that  none 
should  read  it  but  those  who  might  be  supposed  to  profit  by  it. 
Such  a  distinction  was  attempted  by  the  politicians  and  the 
priesthood,  not  because  they  held  the  Word  in  supreme  regard, 
and  sought  to  keep  it  from  desecration  ;  but  because  they  had 
seen  the  results  of  its  circulation  in  advancing  freedom  of 
opinion,  and  in  diminishing  attachment  to  the  Romish  ritual 
and  observances.  Those  who  read  the  Scripture  and  felt  ite 

1  See  page  389,  &c.  the  Duke  of  Northumberland,  con- 

8  Sir  John    Gates,   who   suffered  fessed  on  the  scaffold  that  he  had 

under  Queen  Mary,  in  1553,  for  his  been  a  great  reader  of  Scripture,  but 

connection   with    the    misdoings  of  not  to  his  edification. 


408  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

power,  turned  instinctively  to  the  cross  rather  than  to  the 
altar  with  its  Latin  service,  opened  their  hearts  more  to  God 
and  less  in  confession  to  the  priest,  put  themselves  under 
the  inspired  teaching  of  the  Bible  rather  than  under  sacer 
dotal  authority.1  "  It  is  plain,"  wrote  Cranmer,  referring  to 
papal  errors  and  ceremonies,  "  that  the  Word  of  God  hath 
got  the  upper  hand  of  them  all."  In  alarm  at  this  growing 
revolution,  caused  mainly  by  free  Scripture  reading,  a 
species  of  discrimination  was  tried  between  such  as  might, 
and  such  as  might  not  read  the  Word  of  God,  and  Par 
liament,  no  doubt  under  ecclesiastical  inspiration,  passed  an 
Act  in  1543,  for  the  "Advancement  of  true  religion"  2  in  the 
following  terms : 

"  That  all  manner  of  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  in 
English,  of  this  (Tyndale's)  translation  should  by  authority  of 
this  act  clearly  and  utterly  be  abolished  and  extinguished,  and 
forbidden  to  be  kept  and  used  in  this  realm  or  elsewhere,  in  any 
of  the  king's  dominions."  ..."  That  the  Bible  and  Testaments 
in  English  not  being  in  Tyndale's  translations,  should  stand  in 
force  and  not  be  compromised  in  this  abolition  or  act.  Never 
theless,  if  there  should  be  found  in  any  such  Bibles  or  New 
Testaments,  any  annotations  or  preambles,  that  then  the  owners 
of  them  should  cut  or  blot  the  same  in  such  wise  as  they  cannot 

1  Dr.  London,  who  had  been  busy  his  intense  desire  to  catch  Master 
years  before  in  the  search  at  Oxford  Garret,  consulted  an  "  astronomer, 
(seep.;165),had  shown  some  activity  by  whom  a  figure  was  made"  ;  and 
in  the  abolition  of  monasteries,  and  the  oracle  declared  that  the  fugitive 
had  fallen  into  immoral  scandals,  had  "fled  in  a  hairy  coat  south-east- 
He  was  now  a  prebendary  of  St.  ward."  London  tells  this  story  openly 
Georges,  Windsor,  and  in  furious  to  Archbishop  "Warham,  on  the  21st 
zeal  against  Bible-readers,  he  had  of  February,  thus  pleading  guilty 
laid  an  accusation  against  four  himself  to  a  capital  crime,  and  mak- 
of  the  citizens,  three  of  whom  ing  the  primate  so  far  a  party  to  it, 
were  burned.  But  in  trying  to  if  he  acted  on  the  information  so 
entrap  some  gentlemen  of  the  obtained.  London  was  also  a  tool  in 
royal  household,  he  committed  per-  the  hands  of  Gardyner  in  the  plot 
jury,  was  degraded,  pilloried,  and  against  Cranmer.  Strype,Memorials, 
sent  to  the  Fleet  prison,  where  he  vol.  I,  p.  581;  Life  of  Cranmer,  vol. 
died.  This  same  zealot,  when  com-  I,  p.  245. 
missary  at  Oxford,  had,  in  1528,  iii  -  34  and  35  Henry  VIII,  cap.  1. 


xxix.]  CRUEL  AND  ABSURD  RESTRICTIONS,  409 

be  perceived  or  read,  on  pain  of  losing  or  forfeiting  for  every 
Bible  or  Testament  forty  shillings  (or  equal  to  £30),  provided 
that  this  article  shall  not  extend  to  the  blotting  any  quota 
tions  or  summaries  of  any  chapters  in  any  Bible."  .  .  . 
"  That  no  manner  of  persons,  after  the  1st  of  October,  should 
take  upon  them  to  read  openly  to  others  in  any  church  or 
open  assembly,  within  any  of  the  king's  dominions,  the  Bible 
or  any  part  of  the  Scripture  in  English,  unless  he  was  so 
appointed  thereunto  by  the  king,  or  by  any  ordinary,  on  pain 
of  suffering  one  hundred  months'  imprisonment.  The  Chan 
cellor  of  England,  Captains  of  the  Wars,  the  King's  Justices, 
the  Recorders  of  any  city,  borough,  or  town,  and  the  Speaker  of 
Parliament  may  use  any  part  of  the  Holy  Scripture  as  they 
have  been  wont."  And  "  every  nobleman  and  gentlewoman, 
being  a  householder,  may  read  or  cause  to  be  read,  by  any  of 
his  family,  servants  in  his  house,  orchard,  or  garden,  to  his  own 
family,  any  text  of  the  Bible ;  and  also  every  merchantman, 
being  a  householder,  and  any  other  persons,  other  than  women, 
apprentices,  &c.,  might  read  to  themselves  privately  the  Bible. 
But  no  women,  except  noblewomen  and  gentlewomen,  might 
read  to  themselves  alone ;  and  no  artificers,  apprentices, 
journeymen,  servingmen  of  the  degrees  of  yeomen  (officers  in  the 
king's  family  between  servants  and  grooms),  husbandmen  or 
labourers,  were  to  read  the  New  Testament  to  themselves  or  to 
any  other,  privately  or  openly,  on  pain  of  one  month's  im 
prisonment."1 

The  absurdities,  contradictions,  and  impossibilities  contained 
in  this  enactment  almost  exceed  belief.  Tyndale's  translation 
was  expressly  forbidden,  and  yet  though  it  was  stigmatized  as 
"  crafty,  false,  and  untrue,"  it  had  imbedded  itself  in  the  versions 

1 34  Henry  VIII,  cap.  1.  Statutes  be  for  a  month  or  two  observed  ; 
at  large.  And  yet  in  1544,  the  but  that  the  people,  feeling  the  godly 
king  says  in  a  royal  mandate,  "  We  taste  thereof,  may  gladly  and  joyous- 
have  set  forth  certain  godly  prayers  ly  with  thanks  receive  and  embrace 
and  suffrages  in  our  native  English  the  same."  This  translation  of  the 
tongue,  to  the  setting  forward  of  the  Litany  was  the  germ  of  the  Book  of 
glory  of  God,  and  the  true  worship-  Common  Prayer, 
ping  of  His  most  holy  name,  not  to 


410  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

which  were  allowed  to  circulate.  The  Bible  might  be  read  in 
private  by  the  higher  classes  ;  but  plebeians  were  not  to  taste 
the  forbidden  luxury.  The  industrial  myriads  were  put  under 
ban,  and  God's  Word  was  not  to  be  polluted  by  their  vulgar 
breath.  Members  of  the  peerage  were  tolerated,  but  others  of 
lower  degree  might  not  touch  the  hem  of  His  robe.  The  Book 
permitted  to  the  patrician  was  forbidden  to  those  of  inferior 
station,  as  if  both  had  not  been  "made  of  one  blood,"  or 
had  not  been  in  the  same  need  of  the  "  common  salvation "  ; 
as  if  under  such  a  sumptuary  regulation,  rags  and  home 
spun  put  a  man  beyond  the  pale  of  divine  regard,  and  vel 
vet  and  brocade  were  identical  with  the  "  wedding  garment." 
The  study  of  the  Life  of  the  carpenter's  Son — of  Him  who 
Himself  used  hammer  and  hatchet — was  cruelly  refused  to 
craftsmen  and  artizans,  "  earning  their  bread  in  the  sweat  of 
their  face";  and  the  records  of  the  religion  of  Him  whom  "the 
common  people  heard  gladly"  would  have  become  the  monopoly 
of  peers  and  gentry.  The  insane  prohibition  did  not  last  many 
years,  but  it  must  have  created  no  little  jealousy,  confusion, 
and  evasion  among  the  masses,  on  whom  the  brand  of  disquali 
fication  had  been  so  visibly  stamped.  The  old  taunt  had  been 
"  Have  any  of  the  rulers  or  of  the  Pharisees  believed  on  him," 
implying  that  the  learned  aristocracy  as  a  body  rejected  him ; 
but  the  further  insolent  and  uncharitable  censure,  "  this  people 
that  knoweth  not  the  law  are  cursed,"  though  unjust  in  Judea, 
would  have  come  to  be  true  in  England  if  this  Act  had  been 
carried  out  for  any  length  of  time. 

The  change  from  freedom  to  restriction  in  the  reading  of  the 
Bible  is  indicated  also  in  another  way.  In  the  dedication  by 
the  prelates  to  the  king  of  "  The  Institution  of  a  Christian 
Man"  (1537),  they  "give  thanks  unto  Almighty  God,  that 
it  hath  pleased  Him  to  send  such  a  king  to  reign  over  us, 
which  so  earnestly  mindeth  to  set  forth  among  his  subjects  the 
light  of  Holy  Scripture."  But  in  15-iS  the  restriction  is  alluded 
to  by  the  king  himself  in  his  proclamation  that  forms  the 
preface  to  the  "  Necessary  Doctrine  and  Erudition  for  any 
Christian  Man," l  which  is  a  fuller  edition  of  the  previous 
1  London,  Thomas  Berthelet,  1543. 


xxix.]  MORE  SWEEPING  RESTRICTIONS.  411 

treatise.1  After  granting  that  the  clergy  should  have  the  Bible, 
the  royal  words  in  reference  to  the  laity  are,  "  It  ought  to  be 
deemed  certainly,  that  the  reading  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa 
ment  is  not  so  necessary  for  all  those  folks,  that  of  duty  they 
ought,  and  be  bound  to  read,  but  as  the  prince  and  policy  of 
the  realm  shall  think  convenient,  so  to  be  tolerated  or  taken 
from  it.  Consonant  whereunto  the  politic  law  of  our  realm 
hath  now  restrained  it  from  a  great  many,  esteeming  it  sufficient 
for  those  so  restrained  to  hear  and  truly  bear  away  the  doctrine 
of  Scripture  taught  by  the  preachers,  and  so  imprint  the 
lessons  of  the  same,  that  they  may  observe  and  keep  them 
inwardly  in  their  heart."  -  But  this  graduated  toleration  must 
have  defeated  its  own  ends,  for  the  law  could  be  evaded  in 
hundreds  of  ways,  so  that  three  years  afterwards,  on  the  8th 
of  July,  1546,  the  Act  was  renewed  in  a  more  relentless  and 
sweeping  form  :  "  No  man  or  women,  of  what  estate,  condition, 
or  degree,  was  after  the  last  day  of  August  to  receive,  have, 
take,  or  keep,  Tyndale's  or  Coverdale's  New  Testament." 
Other  works  were  also  condemned :  the  whole  Bible  of  Miles 
Coverdale,  and  the  works  of  Fryth,  Wycliffe,  Joye,  Roye, 
Turner,  Tracy,  &c.,  and  were  to  be  delivered  up  to  be  burned, 
the  only  mercy  allowed  being  that  "no  bishop,  chancellor,  com 
missary,  mayor,  bailiff,  sheriff,  or  constable,  shall  be  curious  to 
mark  who  bringeth  forth  such  books."  In  December,  1546,  a 
year  before  his  death,  and  on  his  last  personal  meeting  with  his 
Parliament,  the  king,  calling  himself  God's  "  vicar  and  high 
minister  here,"  for  he  had  taken  the  place  of  the  Pope,  complains 
of  abuses  in  Bible  reading :  "  For  the  book  was  disputed, 
rhymed,  sung,  and  jangled  in  every  alehouse  and  tavern,  con 
trary  to  the  true  meaning  and  doctrine  of  the  same."  The 
royal  discourse  was  touching,  the  king  wept,  and  many  of  his 
audience  were  in  tears,  and  yet,  such  was  the  perverseness 
of  the  times  that,  after  this  last  and  earnest  discourse  on  charity, 
"  spoken  so  sententiously,  so  kingly,  or  rather  fatherly,"  the 
next  dark  tragedy  of  his  closing  reign  was  the  cruel  martyrdom 
of  Anne  Askew,  who  had  often  been  seen  reading  the  Bible  in 

1  London,  1537.  reign  of  Henry  VIII,   ed.  Cardwell, 

2  Formularies  of  Faith  during  the     Oxford,  1825. 


412  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAT. 

the  aisles  of  Lincoln  Cathedral,  and  who,  after  sentence  of 
death  had  been  pronounced  upon  her,  was  so  tortured  on  the 
rack,  that  she  had  to  be  carried  to  the  stake,  at  which  she 
was  burned  with  three  companions.  Bonner,  Wriothesly,  Rich, 
and  Gardyner  (the  king  being  apparently  passive),  were  the 
chief  agents  in  this  lady's  heartless  murder.1 

But,  though  the  true  remedy  was  not  to  forbid  the  study 
or  possession  of  a  Bible,  it  was  resolved  to  put  the  divine 
book  out  of  existence,  though  fire  had  failed  before,  Bonner, 
who  had  been  so  kind  to  Coverdale  and  Grafton  in  Paris,  while 
they  were  superintending  the  press,  and  who~had  helped  to 
transmit  to  England  the  endangered  sheets  of  the  Great  Bible, 
took  naturally  to  the  pastime  of  Bible  burning.  Numerous 
copies  must  have  perished,  and  to  prevent  identification  the 
title-pages  of  many  must  have  been  torn  off.  The  "  Suppli 
cation  of  the  Poor  Commons  "  2  offers  this  comment : — "  The 
remnant  of  the  sturdy  beggars  not  yet  weeded  out,"  they  say, 
"tell  us  that  vice,  uncharitableness,  lack  of  mercy,  diversity 
of  opinions  and  other  like  enormities,  have  reigned  ever  since 
men  had  the  Scriptures  in  English.  And  what  is  this,  other 
than  to  cause  men's  consciences  to  abhor  the  same,  as  the  only 
cause  and  original  of  all  this  ?  They  say  it  sufficeth  a  layman 
to  believe  as  they  teach,  and  not  to  meddle  with  the  interpreta 
tion  of  Scripture ;  and  what  meaneth  that,  but  that  they  would 
have  us  as  blind  again  as  we  were  ?  They  have  procured 
a  law  that  none  shall  be  so  hardy  as  to  have  the  Scripture 
in  his  house,  unless  he  may  spend  £10  by  the  year  "  (i.  c.,  equal 
to  £150  now),  "and  what  meaneth  this  but  that  they  would 
famish  the  souls  of  the  residue,  withholding  their  food  from 
them  ?  Had  God  put  immortal  souls  in  none  other,  but  such 
as  be  possessioners  in  this  world  ?  Did  not  Christ  send  word 
to  John  the  Baptist  that  the  poor  received  the  Gospel  ? — Why 
do  these  men  disable  them  from  reading  of  the  Scriptures,  that 
are  not  endued  with  the  possessions  of  this  world  ?  Undoubt 
edly,  most  gracious  Sovereign,  because  they  are  the  very  same 

1  See  page  195.  which     appeared    originally    many 

2  There  was  also  printed  with  it,     years   before.     Strype's  Memorials, 
"  The     Supplication     of     Beggars,"    vol.  I,  pt.  I,  p.  608,  Oxford,  1832. 


xxix.]  SUPPLICATION  OF  THE  POOR  COMMONS.  413 

that  shut  up  the  kingdom  of  heaven  before  men.  They  enter 
not  in  themselves;  nor  suffer  they  them  to  enter  that  would. 
They  are  like  to  a  cur  dog  lying  in  a  cock  of  hay:  for  he  will 
eat  none  of  the  hay  himself,  nor  suffer  any  other  beast  that 
comes  to  eat  thereof." l 

The  statement  of  Mr.  Anderson,  that  Tunstall  and  Heath 
omitted  the  motto  "  A  Domino  factum  est  istud  "  is  not  accord 
ing  to  fact.2  It  occurs  in  both  editions — twice,  indeed,  in  that 
of  1540,  at  the  end  of  the  colophon  and  at  the  end  of  the 
Table. 

1  The  following  is  an  example  of  the  pray  God  amende  that   blyndness. 

working  of  the  Act,  the  note  being  Wry  t  by  Robert  Wyllyams,  keppy  ing 

found  on  a  spare  leaf  of  a  copy  of  shepe   upon    Seynbury  hill,    1546." 

Polydore  Vergil's  "  History  of  Inven-  This  book  had  been  printed  by  Graf- 

tiou."  "  When  I  kepe  Mr.  Letymers  ton    during  the    same  year.    Cam- 

shepe   I   bout  thys   boke  when  the  den's    Annal,    ed.    Hearne,   vol.   I, 

Testament    was    oberragated,    that  p.  xxx. 

shepeherdys  myght  not  rede  hit.     I  2  See  p.  395. 


CHAPTER   XXX. 


OCOTTISH  History,  contemporary  with  the  last  years  of 
Henry  VIII,  and  the  circulation  of  the  Great  Bible  in  his 
kingdom,  has  many  stirring  incidents.  Scotland  produced  no 
divine  or  scholar  that  engaged  in  the  sacred  and  responsible 
work  of  translation.  The  supply  of  Bibles  therefore  came  from 
beyond  the  realm ;  but  the  enmity  of  the  popish  ecclesiastics 
was  as  rancorous  against  the  English  Scriptures  in  the  north 
as  it  was  in  the  south.  Cardinal  Beaton  had  at  this  time 
prepared  a  list  of  intended  victims,  to  the  number  of  more 
than  a  hundred  of  the  nobility  and  gentry,  because,  in  the 
words  of  Sir  Ralph  Sadler,  the  English  Ambassador,  they 
were  "gentlemen  all  well  minded  to  God's  Word" — the  Earl 
of  Arran,  heir-presumptive  to  the  crown,  being  among  the 
number.  The  king  could  not  stand  even  the  sight  of  the 
list;  but  the  ecclesiastics,  alarmed  at  the  proposed  interview 
of  James  with  his  uncle,  Henry  VIII,  pledged  themselves 
to  grant  him  an  enormous  sum  of  money  if  he  would  give 
them  a  secular  judge  to  sentence  criminals,  for  there  were 
41  many  thousands  who  did  not  hesitate  to  study  the  books 
both  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament."  The  reading  of  the 
New  Testament  at  this  period  is  frequently  referred  to ;  and 
the  authorities,  so  alarmed  and  blindly  wrathful,  ordered 
that  all  persons  having  the  books,  the  importation  of  which 
both  by  foreigners  and  natives  had  been  now  forbidden 
by  statute,  should  deliver  them  up  to  their  ordinary, 
on  pain  of  confiscation  and  imprisonment.  Especially  the 
reading  of  the  New  Testament  in  the  vulgar  tongue  was  for- 


THE  VICAR  OF  DOLLAR.  415 

mally  denounced  and  prohibited.1  That  such  an  act  should 
have  been  deemed  necessary  shows  that  there  must  have  been 
throughout  the  country  numerous  copies  of  the  New  Testa 
ment,  and  numerous  students  of  it.  Through  the  influence  of 
Cardinal  Beaton,  five  persons  were  burned  on  the  Castle  Hill  of 
Edinburgh,  on  the  1st  of  March,  1539,  the  king  himself  being 
present  at  the  martyrdom.  The  trial  of  one  of  them,  Dean 
Thomas  Forrest,  a  canon  regular  of  the  Augustinian  Monastery 
of  St.  Colme's  Inch,  and  Vicar  of  Dollar,  on  the  charge  of 
having  and  using  the  New  Testament  in  English,  brings 
out  that  he  had  been  in  the  habit  of  doing  a  novel  thing ; 
for  though  he  was  a  dignitary,  he  preached  out  of  the 
Scripture,  and  committed  every  day  three  chapters  to 
memory.  It  was  brought  against  him,  not  merely  that  he 
would  not  take  the  cow  and  corpse  cloth,  but  that  he  taught 
his  parishioners  to  say  the  Paternoster,  the  Creed,  and  the 
Ten  Commandments  in  English,  "which  is  contrary  to  our 
Acts,  that  they  should  know  what  they  say."  When,  in  vindi 
cation,  he  quoted  the  declaration  of  the  apostle,  that  "  he  would 
rather  speak  five  words  with  the  understanding  than  ten 
thousand  in  an  unknown  tongue,"  he  was  challenged  by  his 
interrogators,  "  Where  foundest  thou  that  ?  "  and  his  reply  was, 
"  In  my  book  here  in  my  sleeve."  It  was  at  once  plucked 
from  him,  and  his  accuser,  holding  it  up,  shouted,  "Behold,  sirs, 
he  has  the  book  of  heresy  in  his  sleeve  that  has  made  all  the 
din  and  play  in  our  kirk."  At  this  trial  the  Bishop  of  Dun- 
keld,  who,  eleven  years  before,  had  sat  in  judgment  on  Patrick 
Hamilton,  merrily  exclaimed,  "  I  thank  God  that  I  never  knew 
what  the  Old  or  New  Testament  was."  In  1540,  under  the 
primacy  of  Beaton,  Sir  John  Borthwick,  a  younger  son  of  Wil 
liam  third  Lord  Borthwick  who  fell  at  Flodden,  was  charged 
with  having  in  his  possession  Novum  Testamentum  in  vulgari 
Anglico  impressum.2  He  escaped,  however,  but  was  burned  in 

1  Despatch  by  Lord  Howard,  and  God's  "Word  as  he  had  opportunity  ; 
Barlow.     State  Papers,  vol.  V,  p.  48.  "  whereat,  though  the  clergy  shall  re- 
Barlow,  at  the  time  Bishop  of  St.  pine,  yet  many  of  the  lay  people  will 
Davids,  writes  to  Crumwell,  that  he  gladly  give  hearing." 
would  preach,  with  the  king's  license,         2  He  returned,  however,  in  better 


41 G  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAT. 

effigy  at  the  market  cross  of  St.  Andrews,  on  the  28th  day  of 
May.  David  Straiton  of  Lauriston,1  and  Norman  Gourlay  a 
secular  priest,  were  condemned  by  a  Council  held  at  the  Abbey 
of  Holyrood — the  king  presiding,  clothed  in  scarlet  as  a  Scot 
tish  judge ;  and  were  burned  the  next  day  at  the  Rood  of 
Greenside  near  the  northern  top  of  the  Calton  Hill,  that  the 
inhabitants  of  Fife  might  see  the  fire,  and  be  "  stricken  with 
terror."  Similar  scenes  followed  in  the  West  of  Scotland. 
Two  young  men,  one  a  Franciscan  and  the  other  a  youth 
from  England,  suffered  in  Glasgow.  George  Buchanan,  the 
prince  of  Latinists,  who  had  enraged  the  ecclesiastics  by 
his  Franciscanus  and  his  Somniurn,  made  his  escape  from 
prison  in  St.  Andrews.  The  Duke  of  Norfolk,  writing  from 
Berwick,  on  the  29th  of  March,  informs  Crumwell,  "Daily 
cometh  unto  me  some  gentlemen  and  some  clerks  which  do 
flee  out  of  Scotland,  as  they  say,  for  reading  the  Scriptures 
in  English,  saying  that  if  they  were  taken  they  should  be  put 
to  execution.  I  give  them  gentle  words  and  some  money." 2 

After  the  melancholy  death  of  the  James  V,  on  the  14th  of 
December,  1542,  the  weak  Earl  of  Arran  became  Protector. 
But  two  factions  at  once  sprang  up:  the  clerical  one  assembling 
at  Perth  sent  among  other  stipulations  to  Edinburgh  that  the 
New  Testament  in  the  native  tongue  should  not  go  abroad.  The 
stipulations  were  refused,  and  when  Parliament  met  at  Edin 
burgh  on  the  12th  of  March,  1543,  it  was  proposed,  on  the  motion 
of  Lord  Maxwell,  that  "  all  the  lieges  in  this  realm  may  read 
the  Scriptures  in  our  native  tongue."  The  New  Testament 
had  been  now  about  seventeen  years  in  the  country,  and  it  was 
time  that  it  should  be  unfettered.  In  one  of  these  sudden  turns 
of  affairs  so  common  in  Scottish  history,  Cardinal  Beaton  was 
flung  into  prison  on  a  charge  of  forging  a  will  in  the  late  king's 
name.  But  Chancellor  Dunbar  Archbishop  of  Glasgow  rising 
in  his  place  dissented  simplwiter,  in  his  own  name  and  in  the 
name  of  the  prelates  of  the  realm  that  were  present.  He  and 
his  party  wished  the  measure  to  be  postponed  till  a  provincial 

times,  and  raising  an  action  of  "  tie-         *  The  Laird  of  Lauriston  was  the 
clarator,"  he  had    his  sentence    re-     first  of  his  social  rank  that  suffered, 
versed,  and  his  estates  restored.  2  State  Papers(Hemy  VIII),V,154. 


xxx.]  FREE  CIRCULATION  IX  SCOTLAND.  417 

council  of  all  the  clergy  should  discuss  the  question,  "  to  advise 
and  conclude  thereupon,  if  the  same  be  necessary  to  be  had  in 
the  vulgar  tongue,  to  be  used  among  the  Queen's  lieges  or  not," 
and  thereupon  he  "  craved  instruments."  The  Bible  was  pro 
duced  in  this  meeting  of  parliament,  and  its  opponents  yielded 
so  far  as  to  allow  that  it  might  be  read  if  the  translation  were 
true.  They  were  challenged  to  produce  a  fault,  and  they  in 
stanced  the  use  of  "love"  instead  of  "charity";  but  when 
asked  what  the  difference  between  the  terms  was,  they  were 
dumb.  The  opposition  was  vain,  and  an  Act  was  passed  to 
the  following  effect :  "  It  is  statute  and  ordained  that  it  shall 
be  lawful  to  all  our  sovereign  lady's  lieges  to  have  the  Holy 
Writ,  both  the  New  Testament  and  the  Old,  in  the  vulgar 
tongue — in  the  English  or  Scottish,1  of  a  good  and  true 
translation,  and  that  they  shall  incur  no  crimes  for  the 
having  or  reading  of  the  same ;  provided  always  that  no 
man  dispute  or  hold  opinions,  under  the  pains  contained  in 
the  Acts  of  Parliament."  2  The  Dean  of  Restalrig  "  long  re 
pugned,"  and  certain  "  old  bosses  along  with  him."  The  com 
missioners  of  burghs  and  part  of  the  nobility  then  demanded 
that  it  might  be  "  permitted  to  every  man  to  use  the  trans 
lation  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  which  they  had,  till 
the  prelates  and  kirkmen  set  forth  a  translation  more  correct. 
But  all  compromise  was  negatived ;  every  man  was  made  free 
to  read  "  the  Scriptures  in  his  own  or  the  English  tongue,"  and 
all  Acts  made  to  the  contrary  were  abolished.  No  time  was 
lost ;  proclamation  was  made  at  the  Market  Cross  of  Edinburgh, 
and  letters  were  sent  through  the  country,  enjoining  proclama 
tion  to  be  made  in  the  more  important  towns,  among  which 
Glasgow,  the  episcopal  seat  of  the  prime  opposer  and  protester, 
is  not  mentioned.  The  regent's  proclamation,  19th  March,  1543, 
was  in  the  following  terms : — 

"  GUBERNATOR. 

"  CLERK  OF  REGISTER.  It  is  our  will  and  we  charge  you, 
that  ye  gar  proclaim  this  day  in  the  mercat  cross  of  Edinburgh, 
the  Acts  made  in  our  Sovereign  lady's  Parliament,  that  should 

1  "  Scottish"  means  here  the  Gaelic  tongue.  2  Act.  Parl.,  II,  415. 

VOL.  I.  2  D 


418  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

be  proclaimed  and  given  forth  to  her  lieges ;  and  in  special,  the 
Act  made  for  having  of  the  New  Testament  in  vulgar  tongue, 
with  certain  additions,  and  thereafter  give  forth  the  copies 
thereof  authentic,  as  effeiris,  to  all  them  that  will  desire  the 
samyn,  and  insert  this  our  command  and  charge  in  the  books 
of  Parliament  for  your  warrant.  Subscrivit  with  our  own 
hand  at  Edinburgh,  the  19th  day  of  March,  the  year  of  God 
1543  years. 

"JAMES    G."1 

The  general  possession  of  the  Book  had  nursed  the  desire 
to  have  the  readin^  of  it  removed  from  the  list  of  felonies. 

o 

It  is  difficult  to  say  what  number  of  copies  of  the  Scriptures 
was  printed  abroad,  for  so  many  of  them  bore  the  London 
imprint,  and  the  eye  of  the  initiated  alone  can  recognize  the 
differences.  The  English  Parliament  at  this  time  was 
forbidding  the  Bible  to  all  the  industrial  classes,  who 
were  not  to  read  it  on  pain  of  a  month's  imprisonment. 
No  mention  was  made  of  issuing  any  Bibles  from  the  press 
in  Scotland,  or  of  any  measures  conducing  to  it,  and  none 
were  printed  there  for  more  than  thirty  years  afterwards.  No 
one  can  doubt,  therefore,  that  there  had  been  a  very  large 
importation  of  Testaments,  probably  also  of  the  editions  of 
Coverdale,  Matthew,  and  of  the  Great  Bible.  That  the  Bible 
was  very  common  twenty-five  years  afterwards  may  be  in 
ferred  from  the  words  of  John  Knox.  Describing  the  result 
of  the  Act  which  removed  all  restriction,  he  relates,  with 
great  glee,  "  This  was  no  small  victory  of  Christ.  Jesus 
fighting  against  the  conjured  enemies  of  His  verity:  not 
small  comfort  to  such  as  before  were  holden  in  such  bondage, 
that  they  durst  not  have  read  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Ten 
Commandments,  nor  articles  of  their  faith  in  the  English 
tongue,  but  they  should  have  been  accused  of  heresy.  Then 
might  have  been  seen  the  Bible  lying  upon  almost  every  gen 
tleman's  table.  The  New  Testament  was  borne  about  in  many 
men's  hands.  .  .  .  Some  would  touch  their  familiars  with  it 
and  say,  '  Thou  hast  been  under  my  bed-feet  these  ten  years.' " 

1  James  Hamilton,  second  Earl  of  Arran. 

2  Works,  vol.  I,  pp.  100,  101,  Edinb.,  1846. 


xxx.]  GEORGE  WISHART.  419 

But  a  crisis  soon  came ;  Arran  recanted,  Beaton  was 
set  at  liberty,  the  work  of  murder  again  commenced,  and 
many  fled  from  suffering.  Adam  Wallace,  who  could  read  the 
Bible  in  three  languages,  was  seized,  and  burned  on  the  Castle 
Hill  of  Edinburgh.  The  mode  of  destroying  heretics  was 
somewhat  changed.  Four  men,  instead  of  being  burned,  were 
hanged  at  Perth,  and  a  woman,  the  wife  of  one  of  the  four 
sufferers,  after  giving  the  infant  in  her  arms  to  a  sympathizing 
neighbour,  was  drowned  in  the  Tay.  George  Wishart,  a 
younger  son  of  the  laird  of  Pitarrow  Justice  Clerk  in  1513, 
had,  when  master  of  a  school  in  Montrose,  been  guilty  of  the 
heinous  crime  of  reading  the  Greek  New  Testament  with  his 
scholars.  On  being  summoned  to  appear  before  Hepburn  Bishop 
of  Brechin,  he  fled,  in  1538,  into  England.  He  is  called,  in 
the  records  of  the  city  of  Bristol,  the  "  obstinate  Scot " ;  and 
having  preached  in  St.  Nicholas  Church  some  form  of  theo 
logical  error,  he  was  seized,  sent  to  London,  and  tried  and 
condemned  by  Cranmer  —  when  he  recanted  and  bore  his 
faggot.1  Returning  to  Scotland  about  1544,  he  discoursed  from 
his  English  New  Testament,  and  was  arrested,  and  burned  on 
the  1st  of  March,  154G,  at  St.  Andrews  ;  the  windows  and 
battlements  of  the  castle  opposite  the  stake  being  fitted  with 
silk  hangings  and  cushions  to  enable  the  cardinal  and  his 
associates  to  enjoy  the  spectacle.  The  country  was  now  kept 
in  wretched  turmoil  by  armed  feuds  and  factions,  and  contend 
ing  parties  bent  on  supremacy  put  to  hazard  life  and  estates. 
Though  the  aristocracy  of  Scotland  had  been  little  better  than 
&  set  of  coronetted  savages,  yet  change  of  religious  opinion 
began  first  among  them  and  the  landed  gentry ;  but  the 
commons  awoke  to  consciousness  and  "  newness  of  life  " 
with  the  dawn  of  the  Reformation,  for  the  truths  of  Scrip 
ture  had  not  been  lost  upon  them. 

1  Dr.  M'Crie,  from  misreading  one  the  heresy  which  he  retracted  is  not 

letter  of  a  single  word  in  the  Bristol  very  intelligible  ;   it  seems  to  have 

Record,  gave  currency  to  the  story  been  a  serious  and  uuscriptural  error 

that  Wishart  recanted  what  he  had  regarding  the  merit  of  Christ  as  a 

preached   against  the  papacy.     But  Redeemer.     Life  of  Knox,  p.  481. 


CHAPTER   XXXI. 


TZING  HENRY  died  on  the  morning  of  the  28th  of  January, 
154-7,  and  the  accession  of  Edward  VI  gave  immediate 
ascendancy  to  the  Reforming  party.     According  to  common 
report  the  young  monarch  manifested  great  veneration  for  the 
Divine  Word,  and  an  English  Bible  is  said  to  have  been  used  at 
his  coronation.     When  three  swords  were  presented,  the  sym 
bols  of  his  being  the  royal  head  of  three  kingdoms,  he  told 
his  courtiers  that  another  sword  was  yet  wanting,  the  Bible — 
"the  sword"  of  the  Spirit — which  with  the  greatest  reverence  he 
commanded  to  be  brought  and  carried  before  him.     Sir  Thomas 
More  had  alleged  that  if  the  Bible  were  in  common  use,  it  would 
be  sometimes  employed  as  a  footstool;  but  the  prince  in  his  ear 
lier  years,  "  when  proffered  a  boss-plate  Bible  to  stand  upon  to- 
heighten  him,  with  holy  indignation  refused  it."  l     The  old 
incubus  had  now  passed  away,  and  the  people  breathed  freely. 
The  possession  of  the  Bible  was  no  longer  restricted  by  statute ; 
every  one,  whatever  his  social  position,  might  have  it  and 
study  it.     It  was  free  to  all  as  the  light  and  air  of  heaven. 
But  the   minds   of  the   rulers  in  church  and    state   were   so- 
occupied  with  the  guidance  of  the  changes  passing  over  them 
that  no  new  translation  was  undertaken  during  this  reign  of 
six  years  and  a  half.     At  the  same  time  the  instructions  of 
Archbishop  Cranmer  to  the  two  foreigners,  Fagius  and  Bucer, 
during  their  stay  with  him  at  Lambeth  prior  to  their  installa 
tion  as  professors  at  Cambridge,  would  almost  imply  that  the 
idea  of  a  new  translation  was  before  his  mind.     His  words  are, 
"  It  had  been  a  great  while  his  pious  and  most  earnest  desire 
1  Heylin's  Eeformation,  vol.  I,  p.  27,  Cambridge,  1849. 


REIGN  OF  ED  WA RD.  421 

that  the  Holy  Bible  should  come  abroad  in  the  greatest  ex 
actness  and  true  agreement  with  the  original  text,"  and  they 
were  therefore  to  devote  themselves  to  the  scientific  exegesis 
both  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament.1  Castalio  ascribes  a 
similar  purpose  to  the  young  king.2  Anderson  states  that  the 
Scripture  was  simply  "  let  alone "  during  Edward's  reign. 
The  fact  is,  however,  that  his  father's  last  act  against  the 
English  Bible  was  at  once  declared  to  be  "  utterly  void  and  of 
none  effect,"  and  there  was  also  an  injunction  issued  "  that 
parsons,  vicars,  and  curates,  were  to  provide,  within  three 
moneths  next  after  this  visitation,  one  book  of  the  whole 
Bible  of  the  largest  volume ;  and  within  one  twelve  monethe 
next  after  the  said  visitation  the  paraphrasis  of  Erasmus  also 
in  English  upon  the  Gospels,  and  the  same  set  up  in  some 
convenient  place  within  the  said  church  that  they  have  cure 
of,  whereat  their  parishioners  may  most  commodiously  resort 
unto  and  read  the  same.  .  .  .  That  every  parson,  vicar, 
curate,  chambrey  priest,  and  stipendiary  being  under  the 
degree  of  a  bachelor  of  divinity,  should  have  of  his  own  the 
New  Testament  both  in  Latin  and  English,  with  the  para 
phrase  of  Erasmus  upon  it ;  and  that  the  bishops,  &c.,  in 
their  synods  or  visitations,  should  examine  them  how  they 
had  profited  in  the  study  of  Holy  Scripture  .  .  .  That  in  the 
time  of  high  mass  the  epistle  and  gospel  of  that  mass  should 
be  read  in  English  ;  and  that  on  every  Sunday  and  holy-day 
the  parsons,  &c.,  should  plainly  and  distinctly  read  one  chapter 
of  the  New  Testament  in  English  at  matins,  and  one  chapter 
of  the  Old  Testament  at  even-song,  and  that  when  the  priest 
reads  the  Scripture  to  the  parishioners,  no  manner  of  persons, 
without  a  just  and  urgent  cause,  should  depart  out  of  the 
church."  Cranmer's  Articles  of  Visitation  were  based  on  these 
injunctions.3  But  the  superstitious  love  of  the  Latin  Bible 
and  service  lay  deep  in  the  popular  mind,  and  the  substitution 
of  English  provoked  great  opposition  in  various  parts  of  the 
country.  An  insurrection  broke  out  in  Devonshire  in  1549, 
and  the  rebels  sent  up  fifteen  demands,  among  them  one  that 

1  Strype's  Cranmer,  vol.  II,  p.  149.         3  Card  well's  Documentary  Anuals 

2  Dedication  of  his  Latin  Version,      vol.  I,  p.  8,  &c. 


422  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

"  they  must  have  the  mass  in  Latin  celebrated  by  the  priest 
alone,  and  that  the  sacrament  should  be  worshipped  as  it  was- 
wont  to  be,"  that  "they  utterly  refused  the  new  English," 
though  they  confessed  that  "  certain  of  us  Cornish  men  under 
stand  no  English  "  ;  and  that  "  all  books  of  Scripture  should  be 
called  in  again,  as  otherwise  the  clergy  shall  not  of  long  time 
confound  the  heretics."  l  On  the  other  side,  and  on  the  part 
of  furious  and  sturdy  Protestants,  the  English  Bible  and 
Prayer  Book  were  idolized.  When,  toward  the  end  of  1581, 
Campian,  the  Jesuit,  kneeled  on  the  cart  at  Tyburn,  and  began 
to  use  Latin  prayers,  some  of  the  reckless  spectators  shouted  to 
him  to  pray  in  English.2 

About  1550  Sir  John  Cheke  translated  Matthew  and  a  por 
tion  of  Mark  into  a  species  of  old  English3 — to  the  exclusion  of 
all  Latin  and  foreign  terms — using  moon'd  for  lunatics  ;  tabler 
for  money  changer;  toller  for  publican;  toll-booth  for  the  place 
of  receipt  of  custom;  frosent  for  apostle;  ground-wrought  for 
founded;  byword  for  parable;  crossed  for  crucified;  freshman  for 
proselyte;  hunderder  for  centurion;  and  such  phrases  as  "beggars- 
be  gospelled,"  Matt,  xi,  5  ;  "brood  gardes  and  large  welts,"  Matt, 
xxiii,  5.  Such  a  style  appears  like  a  rebound  on  purpose  from 
Gardyner's  attempt  to  Latinize  the  English  version,  but  it 
was  English  born  out  of  due  season.  Cheke,  the  first  regius- 
professor  of  Greek  at  Cambridge,  had  been  tutor  to  Prince 
Edward,  and  afterwards  was  Privy  Councillor  and  Secretary  of 
State.  On  Mary  Tudor 's  accession,  he  went  to  the  Continent, 
but  was  arrested  there.  At  his  trial  he  broke  down,  and  he 
was  forced  to  make  a  public  recantation,  which  so  filled  him 
with  shame  that  he  died  in  1557  of  a  broken  heart,  "carrying 
God's  pardon  and  all  good  men's  pity  along  with  him." 

In  the  reign  of  Edward  numerous  editions  of  former  versions 
were  published,  amounting  to  thirty-five  editions  of  the  New 
Testament  and  thirteen  of  the  whole  Bible.  Thirty-one  out  of 

1  Coke  apologizes  for  writing  his  3  The  version  was  edited  from  a 
Commentaries  on  Littleton  in  Eng-  MS.    in    the    Library    of    Corpus, 
lish,   and   hopes    that    it    will   not  Christi     College,     Cambridge,     by 
"  work  any  inconvenience."  James      Goodwin,    B.D.,    London, 

2  Froude,  V,  p.  167.  1843. 


xxxi.]  NUMEROUS  EDITIONS.  493 

fifty-seven  printers  were  engaged  in  printing  and  publishing 
the  sacred  volume.  Each  of  them  selected  what  edition  he 
preferred  himself  or  what  he  thought  was  most  likely  to  be 
preferred  by  the  public.  According  to  the  best  accounts  there 
were  two  issues  of  Coverdale  in  1550  (Andro  Hester),  and  a 
third  issue  in  1553  (R.  Jugge).  Of  Cranmer's  Bible  there  seem 
to  have  been  seven  issues,  and  of  his  Testament  eight.  Of 
Matthew's  there  were  five;  one  of  them  being  a  joint  enterprise, 
the  Bible  being  printed  by  Nicholas  Hyll  for  eight  "honest 
menne" — publishers,  each  of  these  publishers  having  a  title- 
page  with  his  name  for  his  own  quantity  of  copies.  Taverner's 
version  was  also  issued  in  1549,  and  there  was  apparently  a 
reprint  in  1551.  This  Bible  was  published  in  five  volumes  in 
1549,  1550,  and  1551 — "printed  in  sundry  partes  for  these 
pore,  that  they  which  ar  not  able  to  bie  the  whole  may  bie  a 
part."  An  English  translation  of  the  new  Testament  accom 
panied  the  paraphrase  of  Erasmus  in  1548,  and  there  are  said 
to  have  been  two  other  editions,  the  translator  of  Erasmus 
being  Nicholas  Udall,1  under  the  patronage  of  Queen  Catherine 
Parr.  Of  the  New  Testament  of  Tyndale  or  Matthew  there 
were  twenty-four  editions,  and  fifteen  editions  at  least  bear 
the  name  of  Tyndale.  An  edition  of  the  New  Testament 
was  issued  at  Worcester  in  1550,  and  a  New  Testament  of 
1552-53,  was  by  royal  order  to  be  sold  for  22d.,  representing 
as  many  shillings  of  present  value.  Cranmer  threw  no 
patronage  over  his  own  version,  nor  did  he  in  any  jealousy 
discredit  its  rivals.  Indeed,  two  impressions  of  Matthew's 
Bible,  one  in  August  and  another  in  October,  1549,  preceded 
the  reprint  of  the  Great  Bible  in  December  of  the  same  year. 
In  each  year  of  this  short  reign  there  were  eight  issues  of  the 
Bible.  Edition  followed  edition  so  quickly  that  the  image  of 
the  Hebrew  prophet  was  realized,  "  The  plowman  shall  over 
take  the  reapers,  and  the  treader  of  grapes  him  that  soweth 

1  Nicholas  Udall  was  for  a  time  at  Doyster.    The  Princess  Mary  assisted 

the  head  of  the  Eton  School,  then  in   the  translation  of  the  notes  of 

first   master    of    the    Westminster  Erasmus,  and,  as  the  preface  states, 

School.     He  was  the  author  of  the  rendered  those  on  St.  John.     Udall 

first  English  comedy,  Ralph  Eoyster  was  not  molested  during  her  reign. 


424  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CIIAP. 

seed  " — such  continuous  and  self-renewing  abundance  as  if 
spring  were  blended  with  harvest.,  or  harvest  encircled  with 
spring. 

Cranmer  has  sometimes  been  condemned  for  his  alleged 
complicity  in  the  burning  of  Joan  of  Kent,  whose  error  was  a 
peculiar  and  misty  inconsistency  of  opinion  on  the  subject  of 
the  incarnation.  The  story  is  that  the  prelate  pleaded 
earnestly  with  the  reluctant  boy-king  to  sign  her  death- 
warrant,  and  that  Edward  at  length  with  many  tears  attached 
his  signature,  calling  God  to  witness  all  the  while  that  his 
spiritual  adviser  must  bear  the  blame.  But  the  fact  is  that 
Edward  did  not  sign  the  fatal  paper,  and  that  the  prelate's 
name  is  absent  from  the  list  of  those  who  in  Council  pro 
nounced  the  sentence  of  execution.  The  general  belief  at  the 
period  was  that  the  judicial  law  of  Moses  was  of  perpetual 
authority.  What  has  been  called  the  "great  crime"  of  Calvin 
was  justified  by  Melanchthon  and  Beza,  and  even  the  poor 
victim  Servetus  himself  held  that  blasphemy  was  a  crime 
worthy  of  capital  punishment.  John  Knox  and  Peter  Dens 
use  the  same  analogy  in  proving  death  to  be  the  due  penalty 
of  heresy.  The  First  Book  of  Discipline  affirming  that  heretics 
should  die,  for  they  are  like  those  who  falsify  the  "coine  of  a 
king,"  quotes  in  proof  the  edict  of  Darius,  which  "  pronounced 
that  a  balk  should  be  taken  from  the  house  of  that  man 
and  he  himself  hanged  upon  it,  that  durst  attempt  to  hinder 
the  re-edifying  of  the  temple."  The  Catholic  casuist  argues 
the  same  conclusion  against  heretics,  as  they  resemble  falsarii 
pecunia? — forgers  of  the  current  coinage.  Persons  were  put  to 
death  for  religious  aberrations  in  Elizabeth's  reign,  without 
any  protests  from  great  statesmen  and  divines  ;  and  when  under 
James  an  incorrigible  man  was  burned,  Archbishop  Abbot 
gratefully  acquiesced  in  the  deed,  and  Isaac  Casaubon,  then  in 
England,  cordially  approved,  though  he  had  witnessed  the 
deplorable  results  of  persecution  in  his  own  country.  Men 
have  been  slow  to  learn  that  conscience  is  the  Holy  of  holies 
in  the  bosom  of  humanity  the  temple  of  God,  and  that  no  one 
Las  a  right  to  enter  into  it  but  the  Great  High  Priest  alone. 

Edward  died  on  the  6th  July,  1553,  and  was  succeeded  by 


xxxi.]  GARDYNER  AND  BONNER.  425 

his  elder  sister  Mary.  Her  reign  forms  one  of  the  gloomiest 
periods  of  English  history,  and  an  epithet  of  terrible  colour 
cleaves  to  her  and  to  her  Bishop  of  London.  Reginald  Pole 
(Rainold  Pool),  who  had  been  so  long  a  busy  plotter  on  the 
Continent,  came  over  to  England,  and  he  had  such  coadjutors 
as  Gardyner,  Bonner,  and  Tunstall,  called  by  the  queen  "  her 
own  bishops,"  though  they  had  advocated  her  father's  repudia 
tion  of  the  Pope,  but  they  had  been  maltreated  under  Edward. 
Tunstall's  sermon  against  the  papal  jurisdiction  had  been  pub 
lished  in  1539,  and  Gardyner's  "  De  Vera  Obedientia"  was  in 
wide  circulation,  with  or  without  the  alleged  preface  by  Bon 
ner.1  Gardyner  was,  in  fact,  as  much  in  favour  of  the  divorce 
and  of  the  royal  supremacy  as  Cranmer,  and  in  the  tract 
referred  to  he  affirms  that  the  royal  supremacy  was  the  intro 
duction  of  "no  new  thing" — but  only  a  "clearer  assertion  and 
a  more  significant  expression  of  it."  -  Bonner  had  vindicated 
Henry  and  his  cause  at  Rome  in  a  style  so  rough  and  defiant 
that  his  Holiness  threatened  at  once  to  burn  him,  or  boil  him 
in  a  cauldron  of  molten  lead.  Gardyner,  the  ablest  man  of  the 
whole  party,  became  her  Lord  Chancellor ;  and  in  the  record  of 
her  bestowment  of  the  Great  Seal,  she  is  called  supreme  "  head 
on  earth  of  the  English  and  Irish  Church."  He  also  performed 
the  ceremony  which  belonged  of  right  to  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  and  crowned  the  queen.  Mary  was  aware  of 
Gardyner's  subtility ;  and  when  he  opposed  her  marriage  with 
her  cousin  Philip  of  Spain,  she  declared  that  she  "  would  prove 
a  match  for  all  the  cunning  of  the  Chancellor."  Gardyner  was 
opposed  to  the  reunion  of  England  with  the  Pope,  and  wished 
the  English  Church  to  keep  its  independence,  with  Mary  as  its 
head ;  but  her  reported  answer  was,  "  Women,  I  have  read  in 
Scripture,  are  forbidden  to  speak  in  the  Church.  Is  it  then 
fitting  that  your  Church  should  have  a  dumb  head  ?  "  Forced 
by  his  position  as  a  statesman  and  lawyer  to  be  an  ecclesiastic, 
Gardyner  was  a  subtle  diplomatist,  a  matchless  intriguer,  and  a 
wary,  watchful,  and  unscrupulous  antagonist  of  the  Reformers. 
King  Henry,  provoked  and  angered  by  his  audacity  and  ambi- 

1  See  Maitland's  Essay  on  the  Re-        2  Browne's  Fasciculus,  Appendix, 
formation,  p.  345,  &c.  vol.  II,  p.  800. 


42G  THE  EXGL1SH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

tion,  had  left  him  out  of  his  will ;  and  his  ally,  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk,  had  the  king  lived  a  few  hours  longer,  would  have 
been  executed.  Lloyd,  in  his  "State  Worthies,"  says  of  Gar- 
dyner,  though  their  epigrammatic  form  gives  his  words  an 
air  of  exaggeration,  "He  never  did  what  he  aimed  at,  never 
aimed  at  what  he  intended,  and  never  said  what  he  thought, 
whereby  he  carried  it  so  that  others  should  do  his  business 
when  they  opposed  it,  and  he  should  undermine  theirs  when  he 
seemed  to  promote  it;  a  man  that  was  to  be  traced  like  the  fox, 
and  read  like  the  Hebrew  backward;  if  you  would  know  what 
he  did,  you  must  observe  what  he  did  not."  Sitting  as  judges, 
men  like  Gardyner  and  his  compeers  were  sometimes  twitted  by 
the  prisoners  at  their  bar  for  again  accepting  the  Pope,  thus 
getting,  as  from  Rogers,  Bradford,  Taylor,  and  Sandars,  some 
"  privy  nips." 

Heath,  in  succession  Bishop  of  Rochester,  and  Worcester,  and 
Archbishop  of  York,  and  co-editor  with  Tunstall  of  two 
issues  of  the  Great  Bible,  had  some  scholarly  reputation. 
When  he  was  only  Archdeacon  of  Stafford,  he  went  along 
with  Foxe,  Bishop  of  Hereford,  and  Barnes,  to  Germany  on 
an  embassy;  and  Melanchthoii  writes  to  Camerarius  about  him, 
"Only  one  of  the  guests,  the  Archdeacon  Heath,  excels  in 
amiableness  of  disposition  and  sound  learning."  Cranmer  also 
praises  "his  learning,  wisdom,  and  discretion."1  He  succeeded 
Gardyner  as  Lord  Chancellor  in  155G,  and  during  his  rule  two 
hundred  and  seventeen  persons  suffered  martyrdom.  The 
Primate  of  England  had  the  unenviable  honour  of  signing 
the  death  warrant  of  the  Primate  of  all  England,  as  Pole 
would  not  consent  to  be  consecrated  as  long  as  Cranmer  his 
predecessor  lived.  On  his  refusal  to  take  the  oaths  under 
Elizabeth,  Heath  was  imprisoned,  letters  of  a  treasonable 
nature  being  found  in  his  house.  Being  released,  he  retired 
to  Chobham,  where  he  died  in  1579. 

The  English  Bible,  even  in  effigy,  could  not  now  be  endured. 

On  the  marriage  of  Mary  to  Philip,  July,  1554,  when  the  royal 

pair  went  in  procession  through  the  city  of  London,  they  passed 

the  conduit  in  Gracechurch   Street,  which  had  been  gaudily 

1  Todd's  Life  of  Cranmer,  vol.  I,  p.  147. 


xxxi.]  CONNER'S  RACE.  427 

adorned   in  honour   of  the   festive    occasion.      Amono-   other 

O 

scenic  pieces  there  was  a  tableau  which  represented  the  "  nine 
worthies,"  of  which  Henry  VIII  was  one;  and  the  painter, 
having  probably  seen  Holbein's  frontispiece  to  the  Great  Bible, 
presented  him  with  a  sword  in  the  one  hand,  and  in  the  other 
the  Verbum  Dei — the  Word  of  God  or  the  English  Bible,  which 
he  was  delivering  to  his  son  Edward.  The  indiscreet  artist 
was  at  once  laid  hold  of  and  brought  before  Bishop  Gardyner, 
the  Chancellor,  who,  in  angry  tones,  hurled  at  him  the  epithets 
of  "  villain  "  and  "  traitor,"  and  peremptorily  commanded  him 
to  efface  the  volume  and  put  a  glove  in  its  stead.  The  terrified 
workman,  on  being  so  admonished,  set  to  the  task  without 
delay,  and  fearing  lest  he  should  leave  some  part  of  the  book 
in  King  Henry's  hand,  applied  his  brush  so  sweepingly  that  he 
"  wiped  away  a  portion  of  the  fingers  withal." 

Not  only  the  Bible  as  a  whole,  but  any  text  or  fragment  of 
it,  was  also  detested.  Verses  had  been  painted  on  the  walls  of 
many  churches,  but  they  were  not  to  be  tolerated,  Bishop 
Bonner  therefore,  on  the  25th  of  October,  1554-,  issued  a  man 
date  in  these  terms  : — 

"  Edmund,  by  God's  permission  bishop  of  London — to  all  and 
every  parsons,  vicars,  clerks,  and  lettered,  within  the  parish  of 
Hadham,  or  within  the  precinct  of  our  diocese  of  London, 
wheresoever  being — seiideth  greeting,  grace,  and  benediction. 

"Because  some  children  of  iniquity,  given  up  to  carnal 
desires  and  novelties,  have  by  many  ways  enterprised  to 
banish  the  ancient  manner  and  order  of  the  church,  and  to 
bring  in  and  establish  sects  and  heresies  ;  taking  from  thence 
the  picture  of  Christ,  and  many  things  besides  instituted  and 
observed  of  ancient  time  laudably  in  the  same ;  placing  in  the 
room  thereof  such  things,  as  in  such  a  place  it  behoved  them 
not  to  do ;  and  also  have  procured,  as  a  stay  to  their  heresies 
(as  they  thought),  certain  Scriptures  wrongly  applied  to  be 
painted  upon  the  church-walls  ;  all  which  persons  tend  chiefly 
to  this  end — that  they  might  uphold  the  liberty  of  the  flesh, 
and  marriage  of  priests,  and  destroy,  as  much  as  lay  in  them, 
the  reverent  sacrament  of  the  altar,  and  might  extinguish  and 
enervate  holy-days,  fasting-days,  and  other  laudable  discipline 


428  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

of  the  catholic  church;  opening  a  window  to  all  vices,  and 
utterly  closing  up  the  way  unto  virtue :  Wherefore  we,  being 
moved  with  a  Christian  zeal,  judging  that  the  premises  are  not 
to  be  longer  suffered,  do,  for  discharge  of  our  duty,  commit  unto 
you  jointly  and  severally,  and  by  the  tenor  hereof  do  straitly 
charge  and  command  you,  that  at  the  receipt  hereof,  with  all 
speed  convenient,  you  do  warn,  or  cause  to  be  warned,  first, 
second,  and  third  time,  and  peremptorily,  all  and  singular 
churchwardens  and  parishioners  whosoever,  within  our  aforesaid 
diocese  of  London  (wheresoever  any  such  Scriptures  or  paint 
ings  have  been  attempted),  that  they  abolish  and  extinguish 
such  manner  of  Scriptures,  so  that  by  no  means  they  be  either 
read  or  seen ;  and  therein  to  proceed,  moreover,  as  they  shall 
see  good  and  laudable  in  this  behalf.  And  if,  after  the  said 
monition,  the  said  churchwardens  and  parishioners  shall  be 
found  remiss  and  negligent,  or  culpable,  then  you,  jointly  and 
severally,  shall  see  the  foresaid  Scriptures  to  be  razed,  abolished, 
and  extinguished  forthwith." 

Mary  reigned  only  five  years  and  four  months,  and  the  work 
of  fire  and  blood  began  about  a  year  and  a  half  after  she 
ascended  the  throne.  The  statement  sanctioned  by  Lord 
Burghley  is,  that  during  three  years  and  nine  months  almost 
the  number  of  four  hundred  perished — men,  women,  maidens, 
and  children — by  imprisonment,  torments,  famine,  and  fire.  A 
hundred  thus  perished  annually.  At  Bow,  thirteen  persons 
were  burned  at  once,  eleven  men  and  two  women ;  ten  in  the 
same  way  at  Lewes,  including  a  mother  and  her  son  ;  and  ten 
also  at  Colchester,  six  in  the  morning  and  four  in  the  afternoon. 
Five  months  before  the  queen's  decease,  the  last  fire  was 
kindled  at  Smithfield.  Seven  martyrs  were  consumed;  but 
the  scene  was  the  triumph  of  the  sufferers,  and  the  sympathy 
of  the  spectators  responding  with  a  loud  and  hearty  Amen  to 
the  martyrs'  prayers,  in  spite  of  a  heartless  prohibition  of  all 
such  demonstrations,  alarmed  the  persecutors,  and  showed  the 
fruitlessness  of  their  cruelty.  For  force  could  not  extirpate 
what  argument  was  unable  to  overthrow.  The  song  chanted 
in  the  Church  of  England  celebrates  "  the  noble  army  of 
martyrs,"  and  she  has  "  the  witness  within  herself."  During 


xxxi.]  DESTRUCTION  OF  BIBLES.  429 

such  a  reign  the  Bible  could  not  but  be  neglected.  By  a 
proclamation  of  the  18th  of  August,  1553,  the  open  read 
ing  of  the  Scriptures  was  prohibited.  Many,  however,  clung 
to  them.  When  Edward  Underbill,  "the  hot  Gospeller," 
was  sent  to  Newgate,  he  asked  especially  "  for  his  Bible 
and  his  lute."  In  March,  1555,  William  Hunter,  a  London 
apprentice,  and  not  very  regular  in  his  attendance  at  mass, 
was,  when  reading  his  Bible  in  Brentwood  Church,  discovered 
by  a  priest  who  reprimanded  him,  and  told  him  "it  was 
never  a  merry  world  since  the  Bible  came  forth  in  English." 
The  young  man  was  seized,  and  sent  up  to  Bonner,  by  whom 
he  was  condemned  to  die  in  his  native  village.  There  were  no 
new  issues  of  the  sacred  volume ;  for  no  one  ventured  to  pub 
lish  it,  and  the  English  Bible  ceased  to  be  used  in  public  service. 
A  second  proclamation  of  13th  June,  1555,  forbade  the  im 
portation  of  the  works  of  twenty-five  authors,  twelve  of  them 
English,  such  as  Tyndale,  Coverdale,  Cranmer,  Fryth,  Latimer, 
Hooper,  &c.  A  third,  issued  five  months  before  the  queen's 
decease,  ordered  wicked  and  seditious  books  to  be  given  up 
without  delay,  on  pain  of  death  by  martial  law.  But  though 
there  was  no  direct  edict  against  the  Scriptures  by  name,  many 
copies  must  have  been  destroyed. l  The  churchwardens  of  a 
parish  in  Kent  reported  in  1565  that  they  "had  no  Bible  since 
their  church  was  defaced  ten  years  before."  The  current 
report  was  that  numerous  Bibles  chained  to  the  desks  in  the 
churches  were  torn  away  and  trampled  on.  When  the  bones 
of  Fao-ius  and  Bucer  were  exhumed  and  thrown  into  the  fire 

O 

at  Cambridge,  in  presence  of  Christopherson  Bishop  of  Chiches 
ter,  there  was  a  repetition  of  this  enormity ;  and  Bibles  with 
other  books  were  destroyed  when  posthumous  indignity  was 
inflicted  on  the  corpse  of  Peter  Martyr's  wife. 

John  Rogers,  the  editor  of  Matthew's  Bible,  was  the  first  to 
die  under  Mary,  and  in  the  strange  and  gallant  words  of  Brad 
ford  in  reference  to  such  a  form  of  death,  "he  bravely  brake  the 

"  But  in  Paul's  church  may  a  Note  on  the  margin  of  the  first 
man  see  the  leaves  of  the  Bibles  torn  edition  of  Becou's  New  Year's  Gift, 
out,  and  that  no  small  number."  Early Writings,p.322,ParkerSoc.ed. 


430  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

ice."  l  Cranmer,  whose  name  is  imperishably  associated  with 
the  English  Bible,  perished  also  at  the  stake.  The  incidents 
of  his  examination  and  martyrdom,  when  "  out  of  weakness 
he  was  made  strong,"  need  not  be  written  at  length.  Ridley, 
Hooper,  Latimer,  Taylor,  Sandars,  and  Ferrars  also  served  the 
truth  by  dying  for  it.  Hooper,  who  was  in  the  Fleet  prison 
for  eighteen  months,  had  at  first  good  accommodation,  as  he 
paid  well ;  but,  after  he  had  been  deprived,  Gardyner  ordered 
him  to  be  shut  up  in  a  common  cell,  which  had  the  sink  of  the 
prison  on  the  one  side,  and  the  Fleet  ditch  on  the  other,  and 
where  he  had  "a  wicked  man  and  a  wicked  woman"  for  his 
fellows.  John  Rough,2  a  Scotchman,  and  Cuthbert  Symson, 
were  apprehended  in  December,  1557,  as  belonging  to  the 
"  brethren  "  who  assembled  in  secret  for  divine  worship — one 
principal  element  of  which  was  the  reading  of  the  English 
Scriptures.  Bonner,  after  tearing  the  beard  of  the  first,  and 
racking  the  other  three  times  in  one  day,  sent  them  both 
to  the  flames.  Other  sufferers  were  caught  as  they  were  in 
meditation  on  God's  holy  Word.  Some  died  in  prison,  while 
others  escaped,  and  seven  were  burned  on  the  28th  of  June, 
1558.  The  queen  was  a  poor  lonely,  disappointed,  and  hys 
terical  woman,  labouring  under  mortal  disease,  wedded  to  a 
"  man  stone-hard,  ice-cold  ";  but  the  Spanish  blood  in  her  veins 
occasionally  showed  itself,  and  in  her  unenlightened  conscience 
she  imagined  that  she  was  propitiating  God,  and  securing 
health  and  domestic  blessing,  by  offering  human  sacrifice,  as  if 

"  The  blood  and  sweat  of  heretics  at  the  stake 
Were  God's  best  dew  upon  the  barren  field." 

Her  mind  was  soured  also  by  the  execution  of  so  many  of  her 
friends.  Featherstone  had  been  her  schoolmaster,  and  Abel 
her  mother's  chaplain;  and  the  Countess  of  Salisbury  was  a 
special  favourite  and  a  near  kinswoman. 

A  few  sentences  may  now  be  given  to  the  life  of  Coverdale, 
after  the  publication  of  the  Great  Bible.     He  seems  to  have 

1  See  page  348.  some  time  before   his  own  capture 

-  It  was  Rough  that  had   called  to   see  a  martyrdom,  in    order,    as 

John  Knox  to  the  ministry  in  St.  he    quaintly    said,    "  to    learn    the 

Andrews.    lie  had  gone  to  Islington  way." 


xxxi.]  MACALPINE  AND  COVERDALE.  431 

gone  abroad  after  the  fall  of  Crumwell,  and  on  his  return,  at 
Henry's  death,  he  was  selected  by  the  queen  dowager  to  be  her 
almoner.  On  the  30th  of  August,  1551,  he  was  consecrated 
Bishop  of  Exeter,  under  King  Edward,  and  he  had  enjoyed 
his  bishopric  only  a  brief  period  when  Edward  died.  Mary 
succeeded,  and  Coverdale  was  summoned  to  her  Council  at 
Richmond,  on  the  22nd  of  August,  and  made  a  prisoner  at 
large.  In  April  of  the  following  year,  "  he  was  about  upon 
sureties."  During  an  earlier  residence  on  the  Continent  he 
had  married  Elizabeth  Macheson,  "a  sober,  chast,  and  godly 
lady,"  of  Scottish  extraction,  and  his  connection  with  this  Scot 
tish  lass  now  saved  his  life,  as  Dr.  Johannes  Maccabceus  Mac- 
Alpinus,  a  learned  Scotsman,  had  married  her  sister.  Macalpine 
would  have  spurned,  with  Celtic  pride,  the  thin  and  poor  name 
of  M'Bee,  sometimes  invented  for  him,  as  if  it  had  been  repre 
sented  by  Maccabseus.  He  was  of  the  famous  clan  Alpine,  to 
which  Roderigh  of  the  "  Lady  of  the  Lake  "  belonged.  In  1532 
he  became  prior  of  the  old  and  opulent  Dominican  Monastery 
at  Perth ;  but  to  escape  a  charge  of  heresy  he  fled  to  England 
in  1534,  where  he  was  kindly  sheltered  by  Bishop  Shaxton,  of 
Salisbury,  who  gave  him  a  stall  in  his  cathedral.  As  late  as 
1550,  in  the  accounts  of  the  Lord  Treasurer  of  Scotland,  he  is 
called  simply  Johne  Makalpyne ;  and  according  to  Stephanus, 
in  his  Historia  Danica,  the  name  Maccabeus  was  invented  for 
him  by  Melanchthon,  in  allusion  to  the  famous  heroes  of  Hebrew 
history.  When  the  Senatus  Academicus  of  Wittemberg  met  to 
confer  upon  him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity,  Martin  Luther 
himself  occupied  the  chair.1  Macalpine  had  become  chap 
lain  to  King  Christian  II  of  Denmark,  and  Professor  of  Theology 
at  Copenhagen ;  and  he  had  been  one  of  the  translators  of  the 
Danish  Bible,  published  in  1550.  Macalpine  and  Coverdale  were 
"like  brothers";  and  the  Danish  king,  influenced  by  his  chaplain, 
wrote  to  Queen  Mary  on  the  25th  of  April,1554,  asking  the  release 
of  Coverdale  as  a  great  favour,  for  he  felt  assured  that  no  crime 

1  Macalpine  had  at  an  earlier  period  Theologice     Forniatus.       Gerdesius, 

studied  at  the  University  of  Cologne,  Historia,  vol.  Ill,  p.  417,  describes 

and  prior  to  his  leaving  it  had  been  him  as  sprung  ex  nobili  et  autiqua 

admitted  to  the  degree  of  Baccalarius  Macalpinorum  in  Scotia  familia. 


432  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAI-. 

or  disloyalty  could  be  laid  to  his  charge,  and  he  trusted  that  the 
queen,  "as  well  for  her  own  character  as  for  his  earnest  request, 
would  set  him  at  liberty."  The  letter  was  not  attended  to  for 
some  time,  and  the  reply  at  length  vouchsafed  was  a  mere 
pretext,  for  it  gave  out  that  Coverdale  had  been  dealt  with 
simply  as  a  debtor  to  the  treasury,  being  in  arrears  with  the 
tenths  of  his  diocese,  which  he  had  held  only  for  two  years. 
The  Danish  monarch  wrote  a  second  time  on  the  24th  of 
September,  in  stronger  terms,  saying  that  he  was  glad  to  hear 
that  "  debt "  only  was  charged  on  Coverdale ;  that  he  there 
fore  hoped  his  request  would  be  the  more  readily  complied 
with ;  and  that  he  would  be  under  profound  obligation  to 
her  majesty  if  Coverdale  should  be  permitted  to  appear  before 
him,  and  assure  him  in  person  of  his  safety.  Some  months 
were  still  allowed  to  pass.  At  length,  in  February,  1555, 
the  queen  answered  that  a  "  greater  weight  was  to  be  given 
to  your  request  than  our  debt,"  and  on  the  following  day,  a 
fortnight  after  the  martyrdom  of  John  Rogers,  Coverdale  got 
passports  for  himself  and  two  servants,  and  set  out  at  once  for 
Denmark — "  escaped  as  a  bird  out  of  the  snare  of  the  fowlers." 
The  queen's  reluctance  to  part  with  Coverdale  is  manifest  in 
the  dilatory  and  hypocritical  correspondence;  and  had  not  this 
powerful  intercession  for  him  come  from  a  monarch  whom  she 
durst  not  offend,  Coverdale,  as  one  who  had  been  so  influential 
in  the  production  of  the  English  Bible,  would  most  certainly 
have  gone  the  way  of  Tyndale  and  Rogers,  and  left  the 
world  in  a  chariot  of  fire. 

The  first  translator  had  met  his  death  with  firmness,  and 
triumph  and  with  a  fervent  and  patriotic  ejaculation  on  his 
lips  ;  but  his  successor's  escape  from  a  similar  death  seems 
to  be  grudged  by  some  biographers,  because  Tyndale,  Rogers, 
and  Cranmer  fell  victims.  If,  however,  Coverdale  escaped 
the  fire,  he  lost  the  pre-eminence  and  came  short  of  the 
highest  glory.  No  power  less  than  that  of  the  Danish 
sovereign  could  have  shielded  him,  for  he  had  taken  a  de 
cided  step  towards  martyrdom.  After  the  public  disputation 
at  Oxford,  and  the  recorded  resolution  of  Rogers,  Hooper, 
Bradford,  and  the  other  ministers  in  confinement,  "  to  suffer  as 


xxxi.]  COVE RDALE'S  ESCAPE.  433 

the  will  and  pleasure  of  the  higher  powers  shall  adjudge,"  he 
cast  in  his  lot  with  them,  and  wrote  "  the  things  above  said,  do 
I,  Miles  Coverdale,  late  of  Exon,  consult  and  agree  with  mine 
afflicted  brethren,  being  prisoners — mine  own  hand."  The 
"  higher  powers  "  were  thus  dared  to  their  face,  and  Coverdale's 
formal  accession  and  signature  must  have  now  given  him  a 
jeopardous  notoriety.  An  incident,  however,  had  taken  place  by 
which  probably  he  was  unconsciously  favoured.  Gardyner,  on 
being  accused  at  the  trial  of  Rogers  of  instigating  the  queen  to 
persecute  heretics,  had  been  so  provoked  as  unguardedly  to 
retort,  "  The  queen  went  before  me,  and  it  was  her  own 
motion."  The  saying  was  at  once  "  noised  abroad,"  and  her  own 
popularity,  as  well  as  that  of  Philip,  was  at  stake ;  but  as  if  to 
neutralize  the  report,  his  Spanish  chaplain  and  confessor, 
Alphonso  di  Castro,  of  all  men  in  the  world,  preached  on  the 
10th  of  February,  and  inculcated  the  doctrine  of  toleration  in 
his  sermon,  condemning  in  severe  terms  the  taking  of  human 
life  for  the  sake  of  religion ;  for  the  Scripture  taught  bishops  to 
instruct  their  flocks,  and  not  to  burn  them  if  they  erred.  One 
result  was  that  the  burnings  were  stopped  for  about  five  weeks.1 
A  week  after  this  remarkable  sermon,  and  as  if  to  present  an 
illustration  of  its  doctrine  and  a  proof  of  the  integrity  of  the 
preacher,  Bishop  Coverdale,  with  her  majesty's  letter,  was  sent 
out  of  the  country.  There  might  be  other  circumstances,  un 
known  to  us,  that  may  have  induced  the  queen  or  her  council 
to  deny  themselves  the  pleasure  of  putting  him  to  death.  At 
all  events,  there  is  no  ground  for  Colonel  Chester's  remark, 
that  "by  his  comparative  insignificance  he  passed  safely  through 
the  storm."  The  man  who  had  been  prominently  connected 
with  so  many  editions  of  the  English  Bible  at  the  beginning 
of  the  struggle;  who  had,  in  this  work  which  had  so  notori 
ously  helped  to  evoke  the  religious  revolution,  been  a  client  of 
Crumwell,  and  a  welcome  and  trusted  instrument  under  Cran- 
mer;  who  had  written  decidedly  and  earnestly  against  the 
mass  and  prayers  for  the  dead,  and  who  had  defended,  with 
an  ardour  approaching  to  vehemence,  the  "  Protestation  "  of 
the  martyred  Barnes;  who  had  been  a  royal  chaplain  and  a 

1  Strickland's  Lives  of  the  Queens  of  England,  vol.  II,  p.  C41. — Bolm's  ed. 
VOL.  I.  2  E 


434  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAI-. 

married  bishop ;  for  whose  advancement  to  the  see  of  Exeter 
a  catholic  prelate,  the  queen's  "  governor  "  in  her  earlier  years, 
had  been  thrust  aside ;  whose  works  had  been  specified  and 
named  in  royal  proclamations;  whose  history  had  been  marked 
by  positions  and  filled  with  successes  so  provocative  of  popish 
alarm  and  vengeance,  and  whose  recantation  was  so  hopeless 
that  no  one  thought  of  attempting  either  to  menace  or  in 
veigle  him  into  it ; — such  a  man  could  not  be  a  "  nobody  "  in 
the  reign  of  Mary  and  Philip,  and  under  the  administration  of 
Gardyner,  Bonner,  and  Pole.1 

Chancellor  Gardyner,  who  had  procured  the  re-enactment  of 
the  old  and  savage  Act  of  Henry  IV,  de  Haeretico  Comburendo,2 
who  would  have  sacrificed  the  Princess  Elizabeth,  and  who  had 
zealously  inaugurated  the  present  cruelties  against  which  even 
Henard  was  forced  to  protest,  soon  retired  from  the  sad  work. 
He  died  on  the  12th  of  November,  1555,  but  the  persecution 
went  on  after  his  death,  Bonner  being  a  prime  agent  in  his 
own  diocese.  In  the  previous  reign  Gardyner  had  himself 
been  roughly  treated,  and  kept  for  some  years  in  close  confine 
ment,  so  that  he  returned  to  power  with  a  soul  exasperated 
to  fierce  retaliation.  After  Philip  left  his  wife  and  England, 
Cardinal  Pole  became  the  queen's  principal  if  not  sole  ad 
viser,  and  the  persecution  not  only  did  not  abate,  but  was 
specially  fierce  in  his  own  diocese — eighteen  men  and  women 
being  burned  under  the  shadow  of  his  own  cathedral.  In 
November,  1558,  three  men  and  two  women  were  burned  at 
Canterbury.  They  were  personally  presented  by  Pole  for 
punishment;  and  they  were  the  last  that  suffered  in  the  perse 
cution.  Yet  Pole  was  a  man  of  blameless  life,  and  very  far 
from  being  cruel  by  nature.  Though  he  held  the  Lutheran 
doctrine  of  justification  by  faith,  he  was  filled  with  the  Romish 
horror  of  heresy;  and  his  moderate  successor,  Archbishop 
Parker,  does  not  hesitate  to  call  him  carnifex  ct  flagellum 
EcclesicB  AnglicancB, 

Coverdale  came  home  at  the  accession  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 
but   he   was  not    restored  to    his  former   diocese   of   Exeter, 
though  he  was  chosen  to  take  part  in  Parker's  consecration. 
1  Life  of  Rogers,  p.  40,  London,  It-Gl.  -  See  p.  85. 


xxxi.]  HIS  PUBLIC  MERITS.  435 

The  question  of  the  vestments  had  again  turned  up,  and 
Coverdale,  though  at  his  own  consecration  at  Croydon  he 
was  "  habited "  like  the  three  prelates  who  set  him  apart, 
appeared  at  the  Archbishop's  in  a  "plain  black  gown,"  the 
other  bishops  wearing  "  surplices."1  It  is  not  known  if  Exeter 
were  offered  to  him ;  but  the  Act  of  Uniformity  was  passed, 
and  in  spite  of  all  his  claims  as  the  giver  of  the  first 
full  Bible  to  England,  and  the  editor  of  the  Great  Bible  or 
Authorized  Version  of  the  period,  he  was  put  aside,  though,  in 
consideration  of  his  past  services,  his  might  have  been  made 
an  exceptional  case.  Grindal,  Bishop  of  London,  thought  of 
him  for  the  see  of  Llandaff :  "  if  any  competency  of  living  could 
be  made  of  it,  I  would  wish  it  to  Father  Coverdale,  now  lately 
recovered  of  the  plague.  Surely  it  is  not  well  that  he,  qui 
ante  nos  omnes  fuit  in  Christo,  should  be  now  in  his  age 
without  stay  of  living."  But  surely  he  deserved  some  re 
cognition  of  his  former  labours.  He  had,  under  Crumwell, 
made  a  visitation  in  1539  at  Newbury,  in  Berkshire,  for  the 
purpose  of  calling  in  popish  books  and  detecting  popish 
practices.  At  the  insurrection  in  Devonshire,  in  1551,  he 
went  down  with  Lord  Russell  to  preach  tcr  the  rebels  and 
treat  with  them.  The  enterprise  was  not  without  danger, 
and  "who  hazarded  his  life  with  that  old,  honourable  Earl  of 
Bedford  ?  Ye  shall  find  that  none  of  the  clergy  were  hasty  to 
take  that  service  in  hand  but  only  old  Father  Coverdale."2 
There  is  a  note  in  the  Register  Book  of  King  Edward's 
Council,  "  anno  1550,  20  Julii,"  ordering  40  Ib.  to  be  given 
to  Miles  Coverdale,  preacher,  as  a  reward  from  the  king.  In 
1550  he  had  been  one  of  a  judicial  committee  of  bishops  and 
divines,  who,  under  Cranmer,  had  in  charge  the  trial  of  Ana 
baptists  and  other  sectaries ;  and  he  had  been  a  member  of  a 
royal  commission,  appointed  in  1551,  to  revise  the  ecclesiastical 
laws,  a  work  to  which  no  small  labour  was  given.  At  Exeter, 
Bishop  Coverdale  was  a  "great  keeper  of  hospitalitie,  very 
sober  in  diet,  godlie  in  life,  freendly  to  the  godlie,  liberall  to 

1  He  came  to  have  very  decided  along  with  Humphrey  and  Sampson, 
opinions  about  the  vestments,  as  may  to  Farell, Viret,aud  Beza,in  July,  1 566. 
be  seen  in  a  joint  letter  sent  by  him  -  Troubles  at  Frankfort,  p.  19C. 


430  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

the  poore,  and  courteous  to  all  men,"  ajid  he  attended  regularly 
in.  the  House  of  Lords  during  the  session  of  Parliament.  He 
had  been  in  great  hardships  and  privations  on  the  Continent, 
and  he  had  taught,  preached,  and  translated  at  Wesel  and 
Bergzabern.  Bale  says  of  him  during  his  exile,  "  Nunc  antem 
in  Germania  pauper  ac  peregrinus  manet."  *  At  length 
Bishop  Grindal,  in  15G3,  collated  him  to  the  living  of  St. 
Magnus,  near  London  Bridge.  The  good  old  confessor  was 
again  so  poor  that  he  could  not  pay  the  queen  the  first-fruits, 
amounting  to  £60,  IGs.  lOd.  His  petition  to  the  archbishop 
and  the  bishop,  urging  their  interference  for  him  with  Her 
Majesty  to  have  the  debt  remitted,  is  simple  and  touching 
in  its  allusion  to  his  age  and  poverty.  The  see  of  Exeter  was 
poor,  and  had  been  suddenly  wrested  from  him,  according  to 
his  own  description,  "  I  being  compelled  to  resign.  And  how 
I  never  had  pension,  annuity,  or  stipend  of  it  these  ten  years 
and  upwards ;  how  unable  also  I  am  to  pay  the  first-fruits,  or 
long  to  enjoy  the  said  benefice,  going  upon  my  grave,  as  they 
say,  and  not  like  to  live  a  year.  .  .  .  And  as  I  am  bold  most 
humbly  to  crave  your  grace's  help  herein,  so  am  I  fully  per 
suaded,  God  willing,  to  shew  myself  again  as  thankful,  and  in 
my  vocation  during  my  short  time  as  fruitful  as  I  can.  20 
Jan.,  new-year.  Myles  Coverdale,  quondam  Exon."  "Writing 
to  Cecil,  on  the  same  subject,  he  says :  "  That  heretofore 
(he  praised  God  for  it)  his  honour  had  ever  been  his  special 
help  and  succour  in  all  his  rightful  suits :  and  that  if  now 
poor  old  Myles  might  be  provided  for,  it  would  please  him  to 
obtain  this  for  him  ;  he  should  think  this  enough  to  be  as 
good  as  a  feast.  And  so  beseeching  him  to  take  this  his 
boldness  in  good  part,  he  committed  him  and  all  his  to  the 
gracious  protection  of  the  Almighty.  From  London,  6  Feb. 
Myles  Coverdale,  quondam  Exon."  But  his  age  and  poverty 
did  not  bar  all  recognition  of  his  claims.  He  had  already 
become  a  Doctor  of  Divinity  at  Tubingen,  and  he  was  admitted 

1  Script.    Illustr.,  p.    721.      T?/;;c  1553,  and  retired  to  Basle,  where  lie 

autem,  that  is,  at  the  time  of   his  lived  till  his  return  to  England,  in 

writing    the   volume   quoted    from.  1559. 
Bale   escaped    on   Michaelmas   day, 


xxxi.]  CO  VER DALE'S  DEA  TIL  437 

to  a  similar  honour  at  Cambridge,  per  gratiam,  in  1563  ;  and 
he  himself,  by  authority  of  the  vice-chancellor  of  Cambridge, 
admitted  Grindal  to  the  same  degree,  in  his  palace  at  London, 
15th  April,  15G4.  Coverdale  resigned  his  living  in  15G6, 
perhaps  under  the  actual  or  threatened  enforcement  of  con 
formity;  but  he  continued  to  preach  as  often  as  he  had 
opportunity.  The  people,  according  to  Strype,  "  ran  after 
father  Coverdale";  but  he  would  not  have  it  known  where  he 
was  to  preach,  "  though  many  came  to  his  house  to  ask  where 
he  was  to  officiate  next  Lord's  day."  He  did  not  care  for 
tumultuous  meetings,  lest  he  should  give  offence  to  the 
government ;  but  he  never  forgot  his  former  episcopal  dignity, 
for  though  his  signature  during  his  exile  is  often  Michael 
Anglus,  or  Miles  Coverdalus,  he  usually  signs  himself,  after 
his  last  return  to  England  from  an  exile  of  three  years  and  a 
half,  "Myles  Coverdale,  quondam  Exon."  Latimer,  on  the  other 
hand,  was  happy  at  being  released  from  his  bishopric,  and 
rejoiced  in  calling  himself  a  "  quondam." 

Coverdale  died  in  February,  1569,  at  the  great  age  of  eighty- 
one,  fourteen  years  to  a  day  after  his  escape  from  Mary  and 
her  bishops,  and  was  buried  in  St.  Bartholomew's  Church, 
behind  the  Exchange.  His  grave  was  in  the  chancel,  and  a 
"  fair  plated  stone  "  on  the  ground  bore  an  elegant  Latin  in 
scription.  The  stone  was  destroyed  in  the  great  fire,  but  the 
parishioners  of  St.  Magnus  erected  a  tablet  to  his  memory  in 
1837.  When  the  church  of  St.  Bartholomew  was  taken  down, 
in  1840,  his  remains  were  discovered,  and  reinterred  in  his  old 
church  of  St.  Magnus. 

The  character  of  Coverdale  has  been  unduly  depreciated 
by  several  authors.  What  his  work  was,  what  his  merit  was, 
has  been  briefly  stated.  Colonel  Lemuel  Chester,  who  exalts 
John  Rogers,  says  of  Coverdale  that  he  was  "  an  honest  and 
well-meaning,  but  a  very  ordinary  plodding  sort  of  man,  like 
whom  there  can  be  ten  thousand  found  any  day  in  London, 
with  no  remarkable  ability  for  either  good  or  evil."  1  But 
whatever  his  ability,  Coverdale  did  his  own  work  when  none  of 
the  "  ten  thousand"  thought  of  attempting  it;  and  though  his 
1  Life  of  Rogers,  p.  46. 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE.  [CHAP. 

talent  was  certainly  not  transcendent,  it  qualified  him  to  be 
the  first  to  give  a  whole  Bible  to  the  English  people,  and  to 
edit  the  Great  Bible,  which  for  so  many  years  occupied  a 
high  place.  He  has  the  great  honour  of  priority  in  this 
hallowed  enterprise.  John' Rogers  did  not  translate  ;  he  only 
put  together  a  Bible  out  of  Coverdale  and  Tyndale :  but  a 
nobler  crown  than  that  of  a  translator  was  set  upon  his  head, 
for  he  sealed  his  testimony  with  his  blood,  and  was  the  first  at 
that  critical  period  to  suffer,  and  to  show  the  dignity,  honour, 
and  tenderness  of  a  Christian  martyr.  Christopher  Anderson 
glorifies  Tyndale,  and  for  the  best  of  reasons;  but  in  his  glorifi 
cation  of  Tyndale,  he  does  no  small  injustice  to  Coverdale, 
whom  he  persistently  and  on  all  occasions  undervalues. 
Tyndale  was  certainly  of  a  far  higher  style  of  manhood, 
decided,  earnest,  and  noble  in  purpose  and  act,  possessed 
of  high  scholarship,  doing  a  primary  work,  and  having 
his  lasting  monument  in  our  present  New  Testament.  But 
Coverdale's  secondary  work  filling  up  a  chasm  was  indeed  a 
necessary  and  welcome  supplement.  The  Psalms,  as  revised 
by  him  for  the  Great  Bible,  are  read  many  times  a  year  in  the 
Church  of  England,  and  will  not  be  readily  displaced.  Ander 
son  has  an  ingenious  and  pleasant  way  of  speaking  of  Tyndale's 
Bible,  nay,  he  calls  Rogers  the  editor  of  "Tyndale's  Bible," 
though  he  knew  that  there  was  really  no  such  book,  for  his 
reference  is  to  Matthew's  Bible  of  which  at  least  a  third 
belongs  to  Coverdale.  He  also  sneers  at  him  as  attempting 
to  "  push  "  his  version  in  the  reign  of  Edward,  though  from  the 
first  he  had  laid  emphasis  on  the  benefit  derived  from  the  use 
of  various  translations.  He  did  not  wish  to  alter  his  version, 
but  to  present  it  as  at  "  first  issued  " ;  but  he  wrongly  retained 
such  a  word  as  "  penance,"  while  he  quite  knew  the  meaning 
of  the  term,  and  that  "  penance  "  is  in  no  sense  "  satisfaction  " 
for  sin.  He  had  not  the  compact  rigidity  of  Tyndale,  the 
"  divine  stoutness  "  of  Latimer,  nor  the  impulsive  energy  of 
Barnes.  When  he  preached  the  funeral  sermon  for  the  queen 
dowager,  he  quietly,  but  emphatically,  warned  his  audience 
that  the  "  offerings"  were  not  "to  profit  the  dead,"  but  were 
meant  "  for  the  poor  only,"  and  that  the  "  lights  about  the 


xxxr.]  ESTIMATE  OF  HIS  LIFE.  439 

corpse"  were  in  no  sense  superstitious  symbols.  He  did 
not  employ  the  coarse  fulminations  of  Bale,  nor  indulge  in 
such  railing  accusations  as  to  stigmatize  "  the  most  holy 
sacrament "  of  the  Papists  as  "  Jack  in  the  Box  and  Hound 
Eobin,"  "lest  he  should  be  an  offence  or  stumbling-block  to 
the  weak  brothers."  l  Bale  himself  is  subdued  into  gentle 
ness  when  he  describes  Coverdale's  "  friendly  and  open  disposi 
tion  and  most  gentle  spirit.  The  Spirit  of  God,  which  in  some 
was  like  a  powerful  wind  overturning  rocks  and  mountains, 
was  in  him  even  as  a  gentle  breath  of  air,  infusing  vigour  into 
irresolute  and  wavering  minds." 2 

But  the  eulogy  of  one  reformer  needs  not  to  be  connected 
with  the  disparagement  of  another,  for  they  were  all  ser 
vants  of  the  same  Master.  Which  of  them  could  have  been 
wanted  ?  Which  of  their  gifts  and  graces  could  have  been 
spared  ?  "  The  eye  cannot  say  to  the  foot,  I  have  no  need 
of  thee,"  for  guidance  and  progress  are  correlative.  The 
watering  of  Apollos  was  as  indispensable  to  the  divine  "  in 
crease  "  as  the  planting  of  Paul.  Forms  of  common  service 
differ  greatly  in  character  and  value,  but  each  in  its  place  is 
necessary.  Paul  dictated,  Tertius  wrote,  and  Phebe  carried  the 
epistle  to  the  Church  in  Rome.  Without  any  further  minute 
or  invidious  adjudication  of  claim  or  position  among  those 
great  and  good  fathers  of  an  eventful  and  perilous  time,  we  may 
say  in  a  word  that  Coverdale  was  very  high  in  honour  "  among 
the  thirty,"  but  "  he  attained  not  to  the  first  three." 

Reference  is  made  in  the  previous  paragraphs  to  Coverdale's 
poverty,  both  by  himself  and  others.  His  work  in  the  west  of 
England,  at  the  period  of  the  rebellion,  naturally  led  to  his 
appointment  to  the  see  of  Exeter.  But  the  see  had  been 
scandalously  impoverished  by  his  predecessor  Voysey,  who 
was  103  years  of  age  when  he  resigned  in  favour  of  Coverdale. 
Hoker  says  that  "  of  xxii.  lordships  and  mannors,  which 
his  predecessors  had  left  vnto  him,  of  a  goodlie  yeerelie 
reuenewe,  he  left  but  three,  and  them  also  leased  out.  And 

1  Works,  vol.  II,  p.  426.    Preface  to        2    Memorials     of     Coverdale,     p. 
a  translation  of  Calvin's  Treatise  on     140. 
the  Lord's  Supper,  Parker  Soc.  ed. 


440  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 

where  he  found  xiiii.  houses  well  furnished,  he  left  onelie  one 
house  bare,  and  without  furniture,  yet  charged  with  sundrie 
fees  and  annuities ;  and  by  these  meanes,  this  Bishoprike,  which 
sometimes  was  counted  one  of  the  best,  is  now  become  in  tem- 
porall  lands,  one  of  the  meanest :  and  a  place  scarse  left  for 
the  Bishop  to  laie  and  rest  his  hed  in."  l  The  bishopric  had 
been  estimated  in  1534  to  be  of  the  clear  annual  value  of 
£1,566,  l-ls.  7Jd. ;  but  it  was  now  diminished  to  £500  a  year 
only.  The  alienations  that  Voysey  had  made  were  connived 
at,  in  order  to  induce  him  to  give  up  the  bishopric  quietly ; 
and  Coverdale,  who  had  no  other  preferments,  and  was  not  in 
very  good  circumstances,  had  no  objection  to  the  see,  merely 
because  the  income  was  reduced  from  what  it  formerly  had 
been. 

The    following    was    the    epitaph    on     Coverdale's    tomb 
stone  : — 

HIC    TANDEM    REQUIEMQUE 

FERENS    F1NEMQ.    LABORUM, 
OSSA    COVERDALIS 

MORTUA   TUMBUS   HABET, 
EXONIJE   QUI    PR^SUL 

ERAT   DIGXISSIMCS   OLIM, 
IXSIGNIS   VITjE 

V1R    PROBITATE    SUJE. 
OCTOGINTA   AXXOS 

GRAND^EVUS   VIXIT,   ET   UXUM, 
IXDIGNUM   PASSUS 

S^EPIUS   EXILIUM. 
SIC   DEJIUM   VARIIS 

JACTATUM    CASIBUS,    ISTA 
EXCEPIT   GREMIO 

TERRA    BENIGNA    SUO. 

1  Catal.  Bps.  Exon.     Le  Neve's  Fasti,  vol.  I.  p.  377. 


END    OF    VOLUME    I. 


GLASGOW  :    PRINTED    AT    THE    UNIVERSITY    PRESS. 
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