2nd s. Ho 71., Mat 9. '67.] 



KOTES AND QUERIES. 



377 



can be named, from WicHfFe and Chaucer to 

 James I., whose English style resembles that of 

 the authorised version of the Old dnd New Tes- 

 taments. 



There are several such writers, writers whose 

 style closely resembles that of our received version ; 

 and writers whose publications, during the period 

 specified, were more read, and had a greater in- 

 fluence in forming the national character, than 

 any other works that appeared in that interval of 

 time. Amongst these writers I would especially 

 name Coverdale and Tyndale. 



On their versions of the Scriptures, and on the 

 versions of Geneva and Abp. Parker, in which 

 the style of Tyndale and Coverdale is discernible 

 throughout, was formed the style of our Autho- 

 rised Version. 



When our present Bible appeared, then, its style 

 was no novelty. To prove this, it will only be 

 requisite to transcribe a brief portion from the 

 Versions in most general circulation up to 1611, 

 when King James's Bible was first published. 

 Any person reading these short extracts, and com- 

 paring them with the corresponding passages in 

 our present Bible, will recognise at once an " En- 

 glish style," which closely " resembles that of the 

 Authorised Version." 



1. Coverdale. Ps. cxxxiii. (now cxxxiv.) : 



"Behold, O prayse the Lorde all ye servantes of the 

 LoRDE, ye that by night stode in the house of the Lorde. 

 O lift up youre handes in the Sanctuary, and prayse the 

 Loede. The Lorde y* made heaven and earth, blesse 

 thee out of Sion." 



2. Abp. Parker's Bible. Ps. i. 1. : 



" Blessed is the man that walketh not in the couasell 

 of the ungodly : nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor 

 sitteth in the seate of the scornfuU." 



3. Geneva Bible. Ps. xxiii. 1, 2. : 



" The Lord is my shephearde, I shall not want. 

 " He maketh me to rest in green pasture, and leadeth 

 me by the still waters." 



Our Authorised Version differs indeed, in 

 many of its renderings, from the versions here 

 cited. Its tone, also, is somewhat more elevated, 

 its language more finished and more nervous ; 

 advantages which it derives from its stricter con- 

 formity to the original text. But anyone may 

 perceive, by a comparison with preceding versions, 

 that, however improved and in advance, it adopted 

 a style in use, and one already familiar to the 

 public mind. Thomas Boys. 



LSrot (2°'i S. iii. 289.) — E. G. R. will find this 

 word in Noel (French Diet., Brux. 1841), also in 

 Alberti {Voc.Frang. It, Genes, 1781), also in the 

 Diet. Nat. (par Bescherelle, Par. 1846), and a very 

 interesting account of this animal is contained in 

 the Encyc. MSthod. (Par. 1782, " Hist. Nat.") I 

 possess a full extract, which might however take 

 up too much room in •' N. & Q." If your corre- 



spondent has not access to the work in question, 

 I will forward him my extract, upon his sending 

 to me or to " N. & Q." his address. Both loir and 

 lerot are without doubt from the same root. Thus, 

 e\os, eKftos, 4\eths, JEo\. ytXfos, glis, gliris, gleris, 

 leris ; O. Fr. loirs, loir ; loirol (petit loir), lerot. 



R. S. Chabnock. 

 Gray's Inn Square. 



Marriage hj Proxy (2"'' S. ii, 315.) — Lord 

 Bacon, in his History of Henry VII., says, p. 77. : 



" The summe of his [the King's] designe was to en- 

 courage Maximilian to goe on with his suit for the mar- 

 riage of Anne, the heire of Britaine, and to aid him in the 

 consummation thereof." 



P. 80. : 



"Which Maximilian accordingly did, and so farre forth 

 preva5led both with the young lady and with the prin- 

 cipall persons about her, as the marriage was consummate 

 by Proxie with a Ceremonie in these parts new. For 

 shee was not onely publikely contracted, but stated as a 

 Bride and solemnely Bedded ; and after shee was layd, 

 then came in Maximilian's Ambassador with Letters of 

 Procuration, and in the presence of sundry Noble Per- 

 sonages, men and women, put his Legge (stript naked to 

 the knee) betweene the Espousall Sheets, to the end that 

 that Ceremonie might be thought to amount to a Con- 

 summation and actual Knowledge." " Meanwhile 



the French King (consulting with his Djuines, and find- 

 ing that this pretended consummation was rather an In- 

 uention of Court than any wayes valide by the Lawes of 

 the church) went more really to work, and by secret In- 

 struments and cunning Agents, as well Matrons about the 

 young Lady as Counsellors, first sought to remove the 

 point of Eeligion and Honour out of the minde of the 

 Lady herselfe." " For as for the pretended Consum- 

 mation they made sport with it, and said That it was an 

 Argument that Maximilian was a IViddower and a cold 

 wooer, that could content himselfe to be a Bridegroome by 

 Deputie, and would not make a little lourney to put all out 

 of question. So that the young Lady secretly yielded to 

 accept of King Charles, who sent a ' solemne Ambassage 

 to the King of England,' off'ering by a ludiciall proceed- 

 ing to make void the Marriage of Maximilian by Proxy." 



The personages here mentioned are King Henry 

 VII. of England, King Charles VIII. of France 

 (son of Louis XL), Maximilian and King of the 

 Romans ; the lady being Anne, daughter and 

 heiress of the Duke of Bretagne. The marriage 

 by proxy took place in April, 1491, the Prince of 

 Orange being the representative of the King of 

 the Romans. F. A. Cabrington. 



Ogbourne St. George. 



Tom Warton (2"'^ S. iii. 307.) — I am afraid 

 Tom Warton was never a Wykehamist ; when 

 fifteen years of age, he entered Trinity College, 

 either from Basingstoke School or his father's 

 house. The verses which I printed were partly 

 collected from oral tradition, and partly from a 

 MS. collection of verse and medal tasks and 

 Wykehamical verses, which I made, as was the 

 practice in my day, from earlier note-books of a 

 similar kind. Tom Warton was frequently a 

 guest of his brother, and a great favourite with 



