88 



NOTES AND QUERIES. [a-" s. vi. 135., Jur.T 31. '58. 



eaucrt'ciS. 



" THE TESTAMENT OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS." 



Can any of the readers of "N. & Q." throw- 

 farther light upon the avthenticity of the following 

 work than that to which it itself pretends ? — 



"The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, the Sons of 

 Jacob, Translated out of Greek into Latine, by ROBERT 

 GROSTHEAD, sometime Bishop of Lincoln ; and out of 

 his Copy into French and Dutch by others, and now Eng- 

 lished. To the Credit whereof an Ancient Greek Cop3', 

 Written in Parchment is kept in the University Librarj- 

 of Cambridge. GLASGOW, Printed by Robert Sanders, 

 and are to be sold in his shop in the Salt-mercat, a little 

 below Gibsons IFynd, 1720," small 12mo., pp. 102. 



The Testament of each Patriarch is headed by a 

 rude woodcut giving a full-length portrait of 

 him, with some portion of his pursuits, and a short 

 delineation of characters in verse, besides the 

 prose narration. 



Seemingly to remove all doubt oi genuineness, we 

 are supplied at the end of the work with addi- 

 tional information to that noticed above, as to its 

 history, which being rather of a curious antiqua- 

 rian nature, and the book not now easily to be 

 procured, permission may be granted for quoting 

 in extenso : — 



" How these Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs were 

 first found, and by whose means they were Translated 

 out of Greek into Latine. 



" These Testaments were hidden and concealed a long 

 time, so as the Teachers and the Ancient Interpreters 

 could not find them. Which thing happened through the 

 Spightfulness of the Jews, who, by Reason of the most 

 evident, manifest, and often Prophesies of Christ that are 

 written in them, did hid(e) them a long while. At length 

 the Grcefc, being verj' narrow searchers out of Ancient Writ- 

 ings, sought these Testaments warily, and got them more 

 warilj-, and Translated them faithfully out of Hebrew into 

 Greek. Nevertheless, this writing continued j'et still un- 

 known, because there was not any man to be found that 

 was skilf'ull both in the Greek and Latine, nor any Inter- 

 preter that might procure the Translation of this Noble 

 Work, untill the Time of Robert the Second, Surnamed 

 Grosthead, Bishop of Lincoln, who sent diligent searchers 

 as far as Greece to fetch him a Copy of the said writing 

 without respect of Charges, which he bare most liberally. 

 Therefore to continue the Memories of these most light- 

 some Prophesies to the Strengthning of the Christian 

 Faith, that Reverend Bishop did in the Year of our Lord 

 1242, Translate them Painfully and Faithfully, Word for 

 W%rd, out of Greek into Latine (in which two Tongues 

 he was counted very skilfull) by the Help of Mr. Nicolas 

 Greek, Parson of the Church of Datchot, and Chaplain to 

 the Abbot of St. Albons, to the intent, that bj' that means 

 the evident Prophesies, which shine more bright than the 

 Day-light, might the more gloriously come abroad to the 

 greater confusion of the Jews and of all Hereticks, and 

 Enemies of the Church of Christ, to whom be Praise and 

 Glory for ever. Amen." 



The work appears to have been early known in 

 England, and in a poetical dress, of which there is 

 a notice from the pen of Myles Davies {Critical 

 History, London, 1716, p. 359.) : — 



"Another zealous Protestant Confessor was John Pul- 



laine, a Yorkshire-'SlsM. Born, . . . and a frequent Preacher 

 in King Edward the 6"" Reign) of the Gospel Reforma- 

 tion. He writ a learned Tract against the Arians, and 

 translated into English verse The Ecclesiastes of Solomon, 

 History of Susanna, History o/ Judith, History of Hester, 

 and the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, &c. Some 

 will have it that he did not dye before the year 1565." 



The little handy volume in question contains 

 much entertaining religious reading, and it is said 

 to have been once very popular in the west of 

 Scotland, but is now fallen altogether into disuse. 

 It reaches back to 1720, about which period a 

 great variety of literature of a similar class, 

 printed generally in a coarse cheap form, ema- 

 nated from the Glasgow presses, and the foregoing 

 may be taken as an example of the taste and style 

 of these books. As a feature of those olden times 

 when in counti-y towns booksellers were scarce, 

 and from bad roads intercommunication difficult, 

 it appears that several of the Glasgow merchants 

 grafted on their commercial business the publish- 

 ing of books, who, as tradition affirms, carried them 

 on their ;jac^-horses, and supplied their customers 

 with them, along with their other commodities ; 

 and as .an instance at hand one may be cited, 

 " Spiritual Songs or Holy Poems ; a Garden of 

 True Delight, Printed for John Gibson, Merchant 

 in Glasgow, 1686." Such were of the higher 

 kind of publications issued by the merchants, 

 which, while serving the wants of their country- 

 men, and making a little profit to themselves by 

 an honest industry, were doubtless also intended so 

 far to counteract the pernicious effects of those 

 denounced some years previous by an eminent 

 Scottish divine, who says, " our Schooles and 

 Countrey are stained, yea, pestered, with idle 

 Bookes, your children are fed on fables, love songs, 

 badi-y ballads. Heathen husks, youth's poyson," 

 &c. With the mind so impregnated we are not 

 therefore surprised to find an old Presbyterian 

 minister complaining of his flock : " Thou sees 

 that many people go away from hearing the word, 

 but had we told them stories of Rohin Hood or 

 Dnvie Lindsay, they had staid; and yet none of 

 these are near so good as the word that I preach." 



Another class, commonly named Chap-Books, 

 the origin of the bulk of which is not perhaps 

 much nior£ than a century and a quarter ago, were 

 (to enumerate only a few of them) such as — 



" John Thompson's Man, or a short Survey of the Diffi- 

 culties and Disturbances that may attend a married 

 Life." 



" The witty and entertaining Exploits of George Bu- 

 chanan." 



"The comical Sayings of Paddy from Cork." 



"Fun upon Fun, or the comical and merry Tricks of 

 Leper the Tailor." 



" Janet Clinker's Oration to the Glasgow Society of 

 Clashing Wives." 



" The comical Transactions of Lothian Tom." 



"History of the Haveral Wives." 



" The comical History of Simple John and his Twelve 

 Misfortunes." 



