June 11. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



579. 



word " its " in the version of the Bible. It has 

 long been an established opinion that this word 

 did not exist in it; and the fact has been re- 

 cently referred to by two different authorities, 

 Mr. Keightley in "N. & Q.," Vol. vii., p. 160., 

 and Mr. Watts of the British Museum, in a paper 

 " On some philological peculiarities in the English 

 authorised Version of the Bible," read before the 

 Philological Society on December 10, 1852. 



Feeling curious on the subject, I have taken the 

 trouble of referring to several different versions of 

 the Bible in the British Museum, and the follow- 

 ing variorum readings of the verses quoted by 

 your correspondent B. H. C. are the result : 



1. The Wickliffite version, before 1390 (edit. 

 Forshall and Madden) : 



" And he shal beii as a tree, that i.s plauntid beside 

 the doun rennyngis of watris ; that his frut shal ^ive 

 in his time." — Ps. i. 3. 



" Duke of the weie thou were in his (sc. the vine) 

 si5t ; and thou plauntidist his rootis, and it fulfilde the 

 erthe." — Ps. Ixxx. 10. 



2. Coverdale's Bible, 1536 : 



" Y' brigeth forth his frute in due season." 

 " Thou maydest rowme for it, and caused it to take 

 rote, .so y' it fylled the lode." 



3. Matthews, 1537 : 



" That bryngeth forth his frute in due season." 

 " Thou madest rowme for it, and caused it to take 

 rote, so that it fylled the lande." 



4. Cranmer, 1539 : 



" Y' wyll brynge forth hi/s frute in due season." 

 " Thou madest rowme for it, and whan it had taken 

 rote it fylled y" lande." 



5. The Bishops' Bible, 1568 : 



" That bryngeth foorth her fruite in due season." 

 " Thou madst roome before it, thou causedst it to 

 take roote, and it hath filled the lande." 



6. Geneva Bible, 1578. In this there are two 

 translations, one " according to the Ebrewe," the 

 other " used in the Common Prayer " : 



i. " That wil bring forth her fruite in due season." 

 ii. " That wil bring forth his fruite in due season." 

 i. " Thou madest roome for it, and when it had 

 taken roote, it filled the lande." 



ii. " Thou madest roume for it, and didest cause it to 

 take roote, and it filled the land." 



7. The Douay Bible (Roman Catholic version), 

 1609-10 : 



" Which shal geue his fruite in his time." 



" Thou wast the guide of the way in the sight ther- 



of; thou didst plant the rootes therof, and it filled the 



earth," 



8. Authorised version, 1611 : 



" That bringeth forth his fruit in his season." 



" Thou preparedst roome before it, and didst cause it 

 to take deepe roote, and it filled the land." 



It will thus be perceived that "its" is wanting 

 in all the above passages, and that " his," " her," 

 and "thereof" invariably supply its place. I have 

 been equally unsuccessful in detecting the word in 

 the Common Prayer-Book version of the Psalms, 

 which is well known to be that of the " Great 

 Bible," or Cranmer's edition of 1539, and which 

 has remained in use without alteration ever since. 

 May I therefore ask B. H. C. to be so good as to 

 point out the particular " Old version of the 

 Psalms" from which he has derived his quotation? 



W. B. Rye. 



BOHN S EDITION OF HOVEDEN. 



(Vol. vii., p. 495.) 



In reply to your correspondent's remarks (May 

 21) on my translation of Hoveden, I beg to state 

 that, in suggesting Cork, I did not allude to the 

 city of Cork, but the territory of Desmond or 

 Cork, which probably extended to within a short 

 distance of Water ford. Hoveden more than once, 

 in his foreign geography, confounds places with 

 territories or kingdoms; this fact, and the simi- 

 larity of the names. Crock and Corch, as the king- 

 dom of Cork is elsewhere called by him, led me to 

 believe that a landing in the territory of Cork was 

 meant. " Crook," " Hook Point," or " The Crook," 

 is only supposed to have been the place of landing 

 on this occasion. I confess tliat 1 was not aware 

 that "Erupolis" was an alias of the diocese of 

 Ossory : I cannot find it mentioned as such in the 

 dictionaries at my command. My Note, however, 

 was worded in such a way as to give offence to no 

 reasonable person : and, among the many hun- 

 dreds, perhaps thousands of suggestions, made in 

 the notes (in a proper spirit, I hope,) I should be 

 greatly surprised to find that I had miscarried in 

 none. For your correspondent's information, I 

 beg to state, that I am not an Irishman either by 

 birth or descent ; and that I have never had the 

 good fortune to pay a visit to that country. Were 

 I inclined to follow his example in making remarks 

 upon the " ominousness" of names, I might per- 

 haps retaliate upon him with interest. 



Why I have forfeited all claim to be treated by 

 this gentleman with courtesy or common polite- 

 ness, I am quite at a loss to conceive ; but I beg 

 to remind him that vituperation does not carry 

 conviction, and that criticism is enfeebled by an 

 alliance with abuse. Henry T. Riley. 



BOOKS OF emblems. 



(Vol. vii., p. 469.) 



In your 185 th Number, two or three Queries 

 are proposed by the Rev. Mr. Corser in con- 



