BIBLE. 



other translators; as, 1. The psalms, by 

 Adelm, bishop of Shireborn, contempo- 

 rary with Bede ; though by others this 

 version is attributed to king 1 Alfred, who 

 lived 200 years after. Another version 

 of the psalms in Anglo-Saxon was pub- 

 lished by Spelman, in lt>40. 2. The 

 Evangelists, still extant, done from the 

 ancient Vulgate, before it was revised by 

 St. Jerome, by an author unknown, and 

 published by Matth. Parker, in 15:1. An 

 old Saxon version of several books of the 

 bible, made by Elfric, abbot of Malmes- 

 bury, several fragments of which were 

 published by William Lilly, in 1638, the 

 genuinecopy by Edm. Thwaites, in 1639, 

 at Oxford. 



BIBLES, Indian, A translation of the 

 bible into the North American Indian lan- 

 guage, by Elliot, was published in4to. at 

 Cambridge in 1685. 



BIBLES, English. The first English bi- 

 ble we read of was that translated by J. 

 Wickliffe, about the year 1360 ; but ne- 

 ver printed, though there are MS. copies 

 of it in several of the public libraries. J. 

 de Trevisa, who died about the year 

 1398, is also said to have translated the 

 whole bible ; but whether any copies of 

 it are remaining does not appear. 



Titulars. The first printed bible in 

 our language was that translated by Will. 

 Tindal, assisted by Miles Coverdale, 

 printed abroad in 1526; but most of the 

 copies were bought up and burnt by bish- 

 op Tunstal and Sir Thomas More. It 

 only contained the New Testament, and 

 was revised and republished by the same 

 person in 1530. The prologues and pre- 

 faces added to it reflect on the bishops 

 and clergy ; but this edition was also sup- 

 pressed, and the copies burnt. In 1532, 

 Tindal and bis associates finished the 

 whole bible, except the Apocrypha, and 

 printed it abroad; but while he was after- 

 wards preparing for a second edition, he 

 was taken up and burnt for heresy in 

 Flanders. 



Mattheivs's. On Tindal's death, his 

 work was carried on by Coverdale, and 

 John Rogers, superintendant of an En- 

 glish church in Germany, and the first 

 martyr in the reign of queen Mary, who 

 translated the Apocrypha, and revised 

 Tindal's translation, comparing it with the 

 Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and German, and 

 adding prefaces and notes from Luther's 

 bible. He dedicated the whole to Henry 

 VIII. in 1537, under the borrowed name 

 of Thomas Matthews; whence this has 

 been usually called Matthews's bible. It 

 ivas printed at Hamburgh, and licence ob- 



tained for publishing it in England, by the 

 favour of Archbishop Cranmer, and the 

 bishops Latimer and Shaxton. 



Cranmer^s. The first bible printed by 

 authority in England, and publicly set up 

 in churches, was the same Tindall's ver- 

 sion revised, compared with the Hebrew, 

 and in many places amended, by Mile 

 Coverdale, afterwards bishop of Exeter; 

 and examined after him by archbishop 

 Cranmer, who added a preface to it : 

 whence this was called Cranmer's bible. 

 It was printed by Gratton, of the largest 

 volume, and published in 1540 ; and, by 

 a royal proclamation, every parish was 

 obliged to set one of the copies in their 

 church, under the penalty of forty shil- 

 lings a month ; yet, two years after, the 

 Popish bishops obtained its suppression 

 of the king. It was restored under Ed- 

 ward VI. suppressed again under queen 

 Mary, and restored again in the first year 

 of queen Elizabeth, and a new edition of 

 it given in 1562. 



Geneva. Some English exiles at Gene- 

 va, in queen Mary's reign, Coverdale, 

 Goodman, Gilbie, Sampson, Cole, \Vhit- 

 tingham, and Knox, made a new transla- 

 tion, printed there in 1560, the New Tes- 

 tament having been printed in 1557, 

 hence called the Geneva bible, contain- 

 ing the variations of readings, marginal 

 annotations, &c. on account of which it 

 was much valued by the Puritan party in 

 that and the following reigns. 



Bishop's. Archbishop Parker resolved 

 on anew translation for the public use of 

 the church, and engaged the bishops and 

 other learned men to take each a share 

 or portion. These being afterwards join- 

 ed together, and printed with short an- 

 notations, in 1568, in a large folio, made 

 what was afterwards called the great Eng- 

 lish bible, and commonly the bishop's 

 bible. The following vear it was also 

 published in octavo, in a small, but fine 

 black letter, and here the chapters were 

 divided into verses; but without any 

 breaks for them, in which the method of 

 the Geneva bible was followed, which 

 was the first English bible where any 

 distinction of verses was made. It was 

 afterwards printed in large folio, with cor- 

 rections, and several prolegomena, in 

 1572: this is called Matthew Parker's 

 bible. The initial letters of each transla- 

 tor's name were put at the end of his 

 part : e. gr. at the end of the Pentateuch, 

 W. E. for William Exon; that is, Wil- 

 liam, bishop of Exeter, whose allotment 

 ended there : at the end of Samuel, R. 

 M. for Richard Mtnevensis, or bishop of 



