his hands ready to be given to his people, as he might see their manners and behaviour meet, apt, and convenient to receive the same!!" At the same time, they took care to inform the people that the King "thinketh in his conscience," and that by their "deliberation and advice, that in not suffering the Scripture to be then divulged in English, he did well!!" By the good providence of God, however, we have seen that seven years before 1530, Tyndale had resolved that his countrymen should actually possess the Divine Word; and thus come to know more of the Scripture than such men as these; and as both husbandmen and artizans had been brought before Tunstal, Bishop of London, so early as 1528, Tyndale, confessedly, had laboured with great effect. For nine years past we have seen one edition after another coming into the country. But now, at the last, it seemed as if something were actually going to be done, and by Henry's learned men. Even the Bishop of Winchester himself has told us, that by the month of June, he "had been spending a great labour in translating Luke and John!" This was an incident by far too remarkable to pass now without farther notice; and the more so, as it admits of an explanation, fully as curious as the fact itself. In the Convocation last December, it will be remembered that the necessity for a translation of the Scriptures had been urged, while all other books of suspected heretical doctrine were to be called in within three months; and though nothing was done as to the latter design, the King seems to have been addressed as to the former. This was, in fact, a second implication of all that Tyndale had translated or written. One is curious, therefore, to observe the first attempt of these men, standing as it does, in contrast with the hitherto unaided, nay, despised exertions of the persecuted and now imprisoned Translator and patriot. In proceeding with the plan, Cranmer took an existing translation, Tyndale's, of course, for as yet there was no other, and having divided it into eight or ten parts, he got them transcribed. These he transmitted to so many Bishops, the best learned, accompanied by a request, that each part should be returned to him, with their corrections, by a certain day. The time appointed having arrived, every portion, including Gardiner's, no doubt, is said to have been returned to Lambeth, with one exception-the Acts of the Apostles, which had been assigned to Stokesly. Cranmer then sent to Fulham, for the corrected manuscript; but Stokesly, far less compliant than Gardiner, not being then in such fear of court favour, or of his neck, only made the following reply. "I marvel what my Lord of Canterbury meaneth, that he thus abuseth the people, in giving them liberty to read the Scriptures; which doth nothing else but infect them with heresy. I have bestowed necer an hour upon my portion, and never will. And, therefore, my Lord shall have his book back again; for I never will be guilty of bringing the simple people into error." When the Archbishop was informed of this uncourteous speech, he merely observed-"I marvel that my Lord of London is so froward, that he will not do as other men do."-" Why, as for that," said Lawney, one of the Duke of Norfolk's chaplains, who stood by,-" Your Grace must consider that the Acts of the Apostles are a portion of the New Testament. Peradventure, my Lord of London knows that Christ has left him no legacy, and therefore he prudently resolves to waste no time upon that which will bring him no profit! Or it may be, as the Apostles were a company of poor illiterate men, My Lord of London disdaineth to concern himself about their Acts!"76 That such an attempt as this should have entirely failed, can excite no surprise; and it not only did so, but Cranmer ever afterwards, from this moment, despaired of obtaining a translation of the Scriptures by any such means; and of this he will himself inform us, two years hence. These men of name and pretension must stand aside, for never shall even a single book of the Sacred Volume be conveyed to their country by one of them. In contrast, therefore, once more, to these prelates, whether in Convocation, as in 1534, or out of it, as in 1535, in the printing press of Antwerp we can discover no pause or hesitation; no sympathy whatever with the scruples of the blind in 76 Strype's Cranmer. This Thomas Lawney, who was so facetious at Stokesly's expense, had been one of Wolsey's selected Cañons in 1525, and one of the earliest readers of Tyndale's New Testament; having, above nine years before this, suffered for his attachment to the new learning. He was, in truth, the fellow prisoner of John Fryth, in the noisome cell under Cardinal College in 1526. With regard to the portions actually returned to Cranmer, they must have formed a singular medley, and had they remained in existence, must have forcibly illustrated the character of Cranmer's associates. But not one fragment survives, and it is well. They have been consigned to oblivion, with the vain efforts, in ancient time, of many who had taken in hand that for which they were not competent, and that of which God did not approve. Luke, i., 1. England, or any fear of the enemy in Antwerp itself. During last year and the present, not fewer than seven if not eight editions of Tyndale's New Testament had issued from the press! Nor was any printer ever prosecuted, save the first in 1526, or Christopher of Endhoven. Thus, if the Translator himself throughout the whole of even this year continued to war with the enemies of Divine truth on the Continent; it was as if the stars in their courses" were fighting with England; nor was there to be any truce in this contest till the enemy was overcome, nay overruled, and constrained to accept of the longproffered boon. The editions of the New Testament to be ascribed to 1535 were at least three. Of the first, which has hitherto been ascribed to last year, Dr. Cotton has said,— "This book was doubtless printed at Antwerp, but from the great variations observable in it, I cannot believe the date 1534 to be the true one: especially when it is considered that Tyndale's own (corrected copy,) from which it is principally copied, did not appear till November in that year." But still by their computation, as the year continued to the 25th of March, till that day 1534 would be their date. Owing to the circumstances now stated, however, we rank it under 1535. Collation. Title, within four wood-cuts, "The Newe Testament, Anno MDXXXIIII." On the reverse of the title, "the bokes conteyned in the Newe Testament." The cut of the Apostle Paul prefixed to the Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Colossians, Thessalonians and Hebrews, in Tyndale's edition of 1534, is small; in this it occupies the breadth of the page. Such is a brief notice of the book described by Herbert, p. 1543, and by Dr. Cotton, now in the Bodleian Library. That copy, however, is but very imperfect. Of the second edition, distinguished by its being in folio, one copy is mentioned by Dr. Cotton to be ascribed to this, if not the following year. The third edition, in small 8vo, or 12mo, may be easily distinguished by its orthography, which is very peculiar, having the colophon in large letters,"fynesshed 1535." There is one copy in Exeter College, Oxford, wanting the first title and preface; and in which the prologue to the Romans seems to be transposed, but there is a beautiful one, quite perfect, in the University Library of Cambridge. Collation. After the first title and Tyndale's preface, tables for the Evangelists and the Acts, and "The bokes conteyned in the Newe Testament,” we find a second title,—“ The newe Testament, dylgdently corected and compared with the Greke by Willyam Tyndale: and fynesshed in the yere of our Lorde God A. MD and XXXV." There are small wood-cuts at the beginning of each gospel, and larger ones in the Revelations, with heads of Chapters, supposed to be for the first time. A full page contains 38 lines. While we at present, regret our inability to give an explanatory account of this book, it remains a great curiosity of its kind. Witness its orthography, so different from all the other editions. faether, moether, broether, maester, stoene, oones, thoese, sayede, whorsse, behoelde. But is it possible that this could have been part of Tyndale's occupation within the walls of the castle at Vilvorde? While warring with these Doctors of Louvain, on the one hand, was he, on the other, at the same time engaged in earnest pity for the ploughboy and husbandmen of Gloucestershire ?77 This orthography, being regarded as provincial, so it has been supposed. If the conjecture be well founded, and Tyndale himself had to do with this edition, it is but seldom that, in the history of any man, such an instance of the true sublime can be produced. The book has never been assigned to any Antwerp printer; but if Tyndale only furnished a list of words, to be employed whenever they occurred in the translation, the volume could have been printed in Holland or any other place in Brabant. At all events, the book comes before us in the light of a step in advance, or additional triumph. The Translator was suffering trouble as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the Word of God was not bound," nor to be bound. To those who have not before been acquainted with the history of the English Bible, and in conclusion of the year 1535, one fact remains to be stated, which must occasion some surprise. For some time past, there had been another translation of the Scriptures into English in progress, which was now completed. From the degree of mystery which still hangs over it, the undertaking must have been conducted with great privacy; but it is a curious and not unimportant circumstance, scarcely before observed, if indeed at all known, in connexion with the late Lord Chancellor, so barbarously put to death by Henry, in July; that, though not a party concerned in the cost, while yet alive, nay, long before his death, and at the very time he was writing against Tyndale, with this proceeding he may, if not must, have been acquainted all along, even from its origin! From a single line throughout his many pages, no one could have imagined this; but the evidence will come before us in due time. Meanwhile, it was on the 11th of October that the last sheet was put to press, under the eye of Miles Coverdale. Printed, as it had been, abroad, copies could not have been ready for importation to England, till about the opening of next year, at the soonest; but if any had reached this country, at whatever time, the book, owing to very peculiar circum 77 See before, page 36. stances, to be explained, could not have been shown to Henry the Eighth, before the month of June. This, indeed, was the earliest moment; for, most probably, it was not presented to the King till much later in that year. But the origin and history of this translation we must reserve for the year following, or 1537. Then, only, can we view with advantage and effect, the whole case at once, and in comparison with that translation, on which our eye has been fixed from the beginning. In other words, Coverdale's will then be compared with that Bible which became the prototype, or basis, of all that have since followed, to the present day. No such digression is admissible here, as the reader must be impatient to follow the history of that memorable enterprise, which has engrossed his attention throughout all the war, as well as that of the man who had been raised up to carry on to victory. it SECTION XIII. LAST YEAR OF TYNDALE-STATE OF ENGLAND-MONASTERIES-THE QUEENS -ANNE BOLEYN-MOCK TRIAL-QUEEN EXECUTED-SCENE SUCCEEDING― THE NEW OR UNPRECEDENTED PARLIAMENT QUEEN ANNE'S TREATMENT REVIEWED HER CHARACTER-THE NEW OR UNPRECEDENTED CONVOCATION-LATIMER PREACHING BEFORE IT-STATE OF PARTIES THERE-OLD AND NEW LEARNING-PROCEEDINGS IN CONVOCATION-THE FIRST ARTICLES -CRUMWELL'S FIRST INJUNCTIONS-NO BIBLE MENTIONED TYNDALE'S LATTER DAYS-PHILLIPS ONCE MORE-COLD INDIFFERENCE OF ENGLAND THE COURT OF BRUSSELS-HOME AND ABROAD NOW DEEPLY IMPLICATED THE MARTYRDOM OF TYNDALE-HIS BENEVOLENT CHAR ACTER HIS REWARD-POYNTZ, THE FRIEND OF TYNDALE-FUTURE HISTORY OF THE MISERABLE BETRAYERS-STATE OF THE CONTINENT AT THE TIME OF TYNDALE'S DEATH-STATE OF ENGLAND AND HER KING THE ONLY PROSPEROUS CAUSE, OR THE YEAR WHICH EXCELLED ALL THE PRECEDING. We are now within nine months only of the martyrdom of Tyndale; but as it is necessary that the reader should have before him all that previously transpired in England, we recerse the order hitherto pursued. With the leading events, Tyndale himself may have become partially acquainted, but, whether or not, it is due to his memory that they be first |