BIB 
the Avoi ds azymes, tunike, rational, holocaust, 
prepuce, pasche, &c. However, many of the 
copies were seized by the queen’s searchers, 
and confiscated ; and Thomas Cartwright was 
solicited by Secretary Walsingham to refute 
it : but, after a good progress made therein, 
Archbishop Whitgift prohibited his further 
proceeding therein, as judging it improper 
that the doctrine of the Church of England 
should be committed to the defence of a 
Puritan, and appointed Dr. Fulke in his 
place, who refuted the Rhemists with great 
spirit and learning. Cartwright’s refutation 
was also afterwards published in 1618 , un- 
der Archbishop Abbot. About 30 years 
after their New Testament, the Roman 
Catholics published a translation of the Old 
at Doway, in 1609 and 1610, from the Vul- 
gate, with annotations ; so that the English 
Roman Catholics have now the whole Bible 
in their mother tongue ; though it is to be 
observed, they are forbidden to read it with- 
out a license from their superiors. 
King James's. The last English Bible 
was that which proceeded from the Hamp- 
ton-court conference, in 1603, where many 
exceptions being made to the Bishop's 
Bible, King Janies gave orders for a new 
one ; not, as the preface expresses it, for a 
translation altogether new, nor yet to make 
of a bad one a good one; but to make a 
good one better, or of many good oiles one 
best. Fifty-four learned persons were ap- 
pointed for this office by the king, as ap- 
pears by his letter to the archbishop, dated 
in 1604 ; which being three years before 
the translation was entered upon, it is pro- 
bable seven of them were cither dead or 
had declined the task, since Fuller’s list of 
the translators makes but 47 ; who being 
ranged under six divisions, entered on their 
province in 1607. It was published in 1613, 
with a dedication to James, and a learned 
preface, and is commonly called King 
James’s Bible. After this, all the other 
versions dropped and fell into disuse, except 
the Epistles and Gospels in the Common 
Prayer Book, which were still continued ac- 
cording to the Bishops translation till the 
alteration of the liturgy in 1661, and the 
Psalms and Hymns, which are to this day 
continued as in the old version. The judici- 
ous Selden, in his Table Talk, speaking of 
the Bible, says, *f The English translation 
of the Bible is the best translation ip the 
world, and renders the sense of the original 
best, taking in for the English translation 
the Bishops Bible as well as King James’s. 
The translators in King James’s time took 
BID 
an excellent way. That part of the Bible 
was given to him who was most excellent 
in such a tongue (as the Apocrypha to An- 
drew Downs), and then they meet together, 
and one read the translation, the rest hold- 
ing in their hands some Bible, either of the 
learned tongues, or French, Spanish, Italian, 
&e. If they found any fault, they spoke ; 
if not, he read on.” King James’s Bible 
is that now read by authority in all the 
churches in Britain. 
Bibles, Welsh. There was a Welsh trans- 
lation of the Bible made from the original 
in the time of tlueen Elizabeth, in conse- 
quence of a bill brought into the House of 
Commons for this purpose in 1563. It was 
printed in folio in 1588. Another version, 
which is the standard translation for that 
language, was printed in 1620. It is called 
Parry's Bible. An impression of this was 
printed in 1690, called Bishop Lloyd’s 
Bible. These were in folio, The first 8vo. 
impresson of the Welsh Bible was made in 
1630. 
Bibles, Irish. Towards the middle of the 
sixteenth century, Bedell, Bishop of Kii- 
more, set on foot a translation of the Old 
Testament into the Irish language ; the New 
Testament and the Liturgy having been be- 
fore translated into that language. The 
bishop appointed one King to execute this 
work, who not understanding tiie Oriental 
languages, was obliged to translate it from 
the English, This work was received by 
Bedell, who, after having compared the 
Irish translation with the English, compai ed 
the latter with the Hebrew, the LXX. and 
the Italian version of Diodati. When tin's 
work was finished, the bishop would have 
been himself at the charge of the impression, 
but his design was stopped upon advice 
given to the Lord Lieutenant and the Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, that it would prove a 
shameful tiling for a nation to puhlish a 
Bible translated by such a despicable hand 
as King. However the manuscript was not 
lost, for it went to press in the year 1685. 
Bibles, Erse. There is also a version of 
the Bible in the Gaelic, or Erse language, 
published at Edinburgh. 
BLDENS, in botany, a genus of the Syn- 
genesia Polygamia /Equaiis class of plants, 
The compound flower is uniform and tu- 
bulose, and the proper one infundibuliform, 
The seed is single, obtuse, and crowned 
with two or more erect and sharp awns. 
There are 14 species, most of which are 
herbaceous annuals. Some however are 
shrubs. Leaves generally opposite, some 
