tS4 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 120. 



Frith, and Barnes, and the translation of JonaA by 

 Tyndale is denounced by Sir Thomas More. Why 

 3V1r. Walter doubts its existence I cannot imagine. 

 The title-page is given at full length by Herbert 

 in his Typographical Antiquities ; and it is a fact 

 that Henry Walter, in 1828, in his Second Letter 

 to the Bishop of Peterborough, clearly states that 

 which in 1852 he says is " adhuc sub judice." 

 Coverdale rejected from the canon all apocryphal 

 ciiapters and books, and placed them together as a 

 distinct part, in four of his editions, between the 

 Old and New Testaments, and in one between 

 Esther and Job. In this he neither copied from 

 the Latin nor the German. 



No subject connected with English history has 

 been more confused and misrepresented than the 

 history of the English Bible. Mr. Anderson's 

 errors in quotation are most remarkable, — a fact 

 much to be regretted in so laborious a com- 

 pilation. In his selection of passages to prove 

 the superiority of Tynd.de over Coverdale {Annals, 

 vol. i. pp. 587, 588.), in copying Ibrty-six lines he 

 has made two hundred and sixty-one errors; viz. 

 191 literal errors in spelling, 5 words omitted, 1 

 added, 2 words exchanged for others, 11 capitals 

 put for small letters, 47 woi-ds in Italics which 

 ought to be Roman, 3 words joined, and 1 divided. 

 These exti'acts ought to have been correct, for 

 accurate reprints were within his reach ; it pro- 

 bably exliibits the most extraordinary number of 

 blunders in as short a space as could be found in 

 the annals of literature. Mr. Anderson is equally 

 unfortunate in nearly all his extracts from written 

 documents and printed books : let one more in- 

 stance suffice. He quotes the just and memorable 

 words of Dr. Geddes in eulogy of our translations 

 made in the reign of Henry VIH. It is astonish- 

 ing how little obsolete the language of it is, even 

 at this day, and " in point of perspicuity and noble 

 simplicity, propriety of idiom, and purity of style, 

 no English version has yet surpassed it." To this 

 extract Mr. Anderson adds a note (vol. i. p. 586.) : 

 "These words are ap[)lied by Geddes, by way of 

 distinction, to Tyndale, and not to Coverdale, as 

 s imetimes quoted." They occur in V)r. Geddes's 

 Prospectus for a New Translation of the Holy Bible, 

 4to. 178G, p. 88. His words are : " The first com- 

 pleat eilition of an English version of the whole 

 Bible, from the originals, is that of Tyndaie's and 

 Coverdale's together." It is to the united labours 

 of these two great men that Dr. Geddes applies his 

 just, and, for a Roman Catholic, liberal eulogium. 



Amidst a muss of errors Mr. Anderson com- 

 plains, in a note on p. 569., that Lewis's History 

 of the English Bible is " grievously in want of 

 correction ! " Mr. Anderson's Annals are en- 

 cumbered with a heavy dis(|uisition on the origin 

 of printing, which reminds us of Knickerbocker's 

 History of New York, in which we find to a con- 

 siderable extent learned accounts of the cos- 



mogony of creation, because, if the world had 

 not been created, in all probability New York 

 would not have existed : the same probability con- 

 nects the origin of printing with the history of the 

 English Bible. Why the annalist should have 

 omitted any notice of those important Roman 

 Catholic translations at Rheims and Douay, after 

 a long account of WicklitFe's, which was from the 

 same source, is as diflScult to account for as is 

 his total silence with regard to a most important 

 revision of the New Testament made in the reign 

 of Edward VI., called by the Company of Sta- 

 tioners " the most vendible volume in English," 

 and which was introduced into Parker's, or the 

 Bishop's Bible, in 1568. A good historical work 

 on this subject is greatly needed, showing not only 

 the editions and gradual improvement, but also 

 the sources whence our translation was derived, 

 and its faithfulness and imperishable renown. 



Geokge OrroB. 



*'as stars with trains of fire,' etc. 

 (Vol. v., p. 75.) 



Your correspondent A. E. B. has shown on more 

 than one occasion so high an appreciation of the 

 wonderful powers of Shakspeare, and his specula- 

 tions in connexion therewith are so ingenious, that 

 I feel considerable regret when I am compelled to 

 dissent from his conclusions. I believe with him, 

 that Shakspeare's learning has been very much 

 underrated ; but at the same time it must be con- 

 fessed, that so soon as we abandon the intuition, 

 which some would substitute for learning, by 

 which his knowledge was acquired, the latter 

 ceases to be '• mysterious." I regret, however, 

 to say that, if it could be shown that he wrote 

 "asters," and with the intention which A. E. B. 

 claims for him, my conclusion would be against 

 that misuse of learning which left the meaning of 

 a passage dependent on the antithesis between two 

 words used each in a sense different from the 

 usual one, and not understood by the audience to 

 Avhom they were addressed. 



Let us now take another view of the question. 

 The purpose of the passage is to record the occur- 

 rence of a series of omens, the harbingers of 

 " fierce events." " The graves stood tenantless ; " 

 " the sheeted dead did squeak and gibber ;" "the 

 moist star was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse :" 

 each circumstance is distinct. But what did "asters 

 with trains of fire," and " disasters in the sun" do? 

 Mr. Kniglit says that Malone's proposal to substi- 

 tute " astres" for " as stars," appears to get rid of 

 the difficulty ; but not until the English languagts 

 admits of the formation of a perfect sentence 

 without a verb will it do so. In short, there is 

 nothing gained by the substitution, as Malone 



