no 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 118. 



cessarily loses it, Tyndale neglects it, Coverdale 

 copies Luther's vague expression. Our authorised 

 version has correctly. By the river. 



Ver. 2. rhv "IKTI'P, literally, Out of the river 

 ascending ; LXX, E/c rov ttotuixov ave^aivov ; Vulg., 

 Dequoascendehant; Luther, liwi bem SBaffec fteigen; 

 €overdale. Out of the water thei^e came ; Tyndale, 

 There came out of the river. 



Ver. 3. nilDynij Tyndale, And stode, which is 

 quite literal; Vulg., Et pascebantur ; Luther, Unb 

 traten ; Coverdale, And went. ' 



Ver. 7. D^n n:ni, lit. AtuI behold a dream ; 

 Vulg., Post quietem ; Tyndale, And see, here is his 

 dream; Luther, Unb mercfte ia^ eg ein Sraumwar; 

 Coverdale, And saw that it was a dream. 



Such instances might be multiplied to any ex- 

 tent. Tlieir eifect vipon my mind was to convince 

 me that Coverdale did not even know the Hebrew 

 letters when he published his version of the Bible. 

 In fact, the Jews being then expelled from Eng- 

 land, and the only Hebrew Lexicon, that of 

 Xantes Pagninus, having probably not arrived 

 here, it was scarcely possible for an Englishman to 

 master the Hebrew tongue, without going abroad 

 to obtain access to learned Jews, as Tyndale did, 

 and as Coverdale himself did after the appear- 

 ance of his Bible; and then, as I think Mr. 

 Pearson has afforded some evidence, he may have 

 become acquainted with Hebrew. 



If H. H. H. V. desires to know more of Cover- 

 dale, he can find all that late researches have been 

 able to discover in the first volume of Mr. C. An- 

 derson's Annals of the English Bible, and in the 

 biographical notice of Coverdale prefixed to the 

 Parker Society's edition of his Remains, by the 

 Kev. G. Pearson. But when that gentleman de- 

 scribes Coverdale's portion of Matthew's Bible, 

 and says that the book of Jonah is of Tyndale's 

 version, he has made a mistake. Perhaps I may 

 be allowed to say, that the question, whether 

 Tyndale put forth any version of Jonah, is adhuc 

 subjudice. At any rate, I can say, from collation, 

 that the Jonah in Matthew's Bible is identical 

 with that which Coverdale put forth in his own 

 version. 



The account of our early versions in Macknight's 

 Introduction to the Epistles is very erroneous ; and 

 that prefixed to D'Oyley and Mant's Bible, pub- 

 lished by the Christian Knowledge Society, is far 

 from being correct. Henrt Walter. 



SEEJEANTS KINGS AND MOTTOES. 



^ (Vol.v., pp.59. 92.) 



For much curious information upon these sub- 

 jects, I would refer your correspondents to a rather 

 scarce and privately printed tract or volume, en- 

 titled Observations touching the Antiquity and Dig- 

 nity of Serjeant-at-Luw, 1765. I am not sure that 



it was not subsequently reprinted and published. 

 The author was Mr. Serjeant Wynne. He says : 



" The first introduction of rings themselves on this 

 occasion (of making Serjeants) is as doubtful as that of 

 mottoes. They are taken notice of by Fortescue in the 

 time of Hen. VI., and in the several regulations for 

 general calls in Hen. VI 1 1, and Queen Elizabeth's time. 

 The antiquity of them, therefore, though not to be 

 strictly ascertained, yet being thus far indisputable, 

 makes Sir H. Spelman's account rather extraordinary 

 (see Gloss, tit. Serv. ad Legem) ; but whatever is the 

 antiquity of these rings, that of mottoes seems to fall 

 short of them at least a century. That in the 1 9 & 20 

 Eliz. (1576-77) may perhaps be the first; because, 

 till that time, they are nowhere mentioned. 



" When Dugdale speaks (p. 136.) of the posies ' that 

 were usual,' he must be understood to speak of the 

 usage of his own time." 



The motto which Serj. Wynne notices as of the 

 earliest occurrence in 19 & 20 Eliz., was Lex regis 

 presidium. The earliest of subsequent date appear 

 to be as follow : 



13 Car. 11. Adest Caroliis Magnus. 



2 Jac. 11. Deus, rex, lex, (at the call of Chris- 

 topher Milton, the poet's brother, John Powell, 

 and others). 



3 Jac. II. Rege lege. 



1 Wm. & Mary. Veniendo restituit rem. 

 12 Wm. Imperium et libertas. 



2 Anne. Deo et regina. 



5 Anne. Moribus, armis, legibu^. 



9 Anne. Unit et imperat. 



1 Geo. Plus quam speravimus. 



10 Geo. Salva libertate potens. 



20 & 21 Geo. II. Mens bona, fama, fides. 



Serjeant Wynne brings his list of the Serjeants 

 called down to the year 1765, and gives in most 

 cases the mottoes, which were not confined, it 

 would seem, to individuals, but adopted by the 

 whole call. He remarks, that in late years they 

 have been strictly classical in their phrase and 

 often elegant in their application, — whether in 

 expressing the just idea of regal liberty — in a 

 wish for the preservation of the family — or in a 

 happy allusion to some public event, and, at the 

 same time, a kind of prophetic declaration of its 

 success. At p. 1 1 7. will be found an account of the 

 expense and weight of the rings, which, upon the, 

 occasion referred to, were 1,409 in number, and 

 the expense 773?. I will not occupy further space, 

 but refer your correspondents to the work of 

 Serjeant Wynne. G. 



The custom of Serjeants-at-law presenting 

 rings on their creation was used in (and pro- 

 bably before) the reign of Henry VI. (See For^ 

 tescue De Laudibus Legum Anglice, cap. 50. ; and 

 see instances and particulars in the reigns of 

 Henry VIII., Edward VI., Philip and Mary, and 

 Elizabeth in Dugdale's Origines Juridiciales, 2nd 



