printing, they hinted that the work would not fare the worse, if his lordship would further his request. They added, that the Bible was getting well forward, and within a few months, by the grace of Almighty God, would draw to an end.

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On the 8th of December, Coverdale sent a letter' to Lord Cromwell, begging to know his lordship's pleasure, concerning the annotations of the Bible, whether he should proceed in them or not. Pity "it were, said he, that the dark places of the text (upon the which he had always set a hand) "should so pass undeclared. As for any private

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opinion or contentious words, as he would utterly "avoid all such, so would he offer the annotations "first to his Lord of Hereford; to the intent that he "should so examine the same, afore they were put "in print, if it were his lordship's good pleasure "that he should do so."-" And whereas his said "Lord of Hereford was so good unto them as to convey this much of the Bible to his good lordship, "he humbly besought the same, to be the defender " and keeper thereof: to the intent that if those men proceeded in their cruelnesse' against them & con"fiscated the rest; yet that, at the least, might be "safe by the means of his lordship, whom God the Almighty evermore preserve to his good pleasure." What Coverdale here feared, soon took place; for Regnault, the printer, was, on the 17th of this month,"

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ש

6

Orig. Harl. MS. cod. 604, p. 98. See Appendix, No. 6.

Cott. MS. Cleop. E. v. fol. 326.

cited to appear before the Inquisition, and was there charged with heresy, for printing the sacred writ in a vulgar tongue, whereby people were led into errors of faith and belief. And then the Englishmen concerned in this work, were sent for; but they, having some warning of what would follow, "posted away "as fast as they could to save themselves, leaving

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behind them all their Bibles, which were to the "number of 2500."" These were seized and condemned, and delivered over to the lieutenant-criminal to be burnt, "in a place of Paris (like Smithfield), "called Haulbert Place." The cupidity of this officer, however, induced him to sell "four great dryfats of them to a haberdasher, to lay caps in,” which were afterwards bought again, but the rest were burned. "But notwithstanding the said losse "after they had recovered some part of the foresaid books, and were comforted and encouraged by the Lord Cromwell, the said English men went again "to Paris, and there got the Presses, letters, and "Servants, of the foresaid Printer, and brought them "to London, and there they became Printers them"selves (which before they never intended), and

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printed out the said Bible in London; and after "that printed sundrie impressions, but yet not with"out great trouble and losse, for the hatred of the Bishops, namely, Stephen Gardiner and his fellows, "who mightily did stomack and maligne the printing "thereof."

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2

Fox's Acts and Monuments, vol. ii. p. 516.

2 Id. ibid.

This Bible was accordingly finished and published in London, in April, 1539. It is a large folio, and is often called Cranmer's Bible, because some copies have Cranmer's prologue in them; but it seems doubtful whether, in such cases, the prologue is not that of the real Cranmer's Bible of 1540, bound up in the edition of 1539. This view seems the more likely, as there is no mention of the prologue in the title-page of the edition of 1539, which there is in that of 1540.

There is a letter from Cranmer to Lord Cromwell, in the MSS. in the Chapter House at Westminster," in which he begs, if his majesty has seen and allowed the preface which he wrote to the Bible, that it may be given unto the printer to print. The date of this letter is the 14th of November, but whether of 1538 or 1539, cannot be clearly ascertained; although, from one or two circumstances, it would appear that the latter date is most probably

the correct one.

In a preface from the setters forth of this edition, there is the following passage: "We haue also (as

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ye maye se) added many handes both in the mergent of thys volume, and also in the texte, vpon "the which, we purposed to haue made in the ende of the Byble (in a table by them selues) certen godly annotacions: but for so moche as yet there

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Copies Brit. Mus.-Lambeth.-St. Paul's.-Baliol Coll.-Linc. Coll.-St. John's Coll. Cambr.-Bapt. Mus. Bristol.-Dr. Coombe. b Bundle C.,

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"hath not bene suffycient tyme minystred to the Kynges moost honorable councell, for the ouersyght "and correccyon of the sayde annotacyons, we will "therfore omyt them, tyll their more cōuenient leysour. Doynge nowe nomore but beseake the "moost gentle reader, that whe thou commest at "soche a place where a hande doth stande (or any "other where, in the Byble) and thow canst not attayne to the meanynge and true knowledge of "that sentence, then do not rashly presume to make any pryuate interpretacyon therof: but submyt thy selfe to the iudgement of those that are godly "learned in Chryst Jesu. To the which Jesu with the father and holy ghost be honoure and prayse foreuer. Amen."

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Although they were thus prevented from making any annotations, the marks served the purpose of pointing out those texts to notice, which, Strype says, were such "as did more especially strike at "the errors and abuses of the Romish church.""

Life of Cranmer, p. 82.

CHAPTER VII.

LATIN AND ENGLISH NEW TESTAMENT BY COVERDALE 'SYNISTRALLY' PRINTED IN LONDON. - DEDICATED ΤΟ KING HENRY. - PREFACE TO READER, EVIDENTLY NOT BY COVERDALE. AN AUTHORIZED COPY BY COVERDALE PRINTED AT PARIS. DEDICATED TO LORD CROMWell. COMPLAINS OF FORMER EDITION.

BUT EXCUSES THE PRINTER ON AC

In the mean time, a New Testament, in Latin and English, had been published by James Nicholson, in the Lent of 1538. The English was of Coverdale's translation, and it was dedicated by him " Το "the moost noble, moost gracious, and oure moost "dradde soueraigne lord Kynge Henry ye eyght,

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kynge of Englade and of Fraunce. tc. Defender "of Christes true fayth, a vnder God the chefe and

a

Copies: King's Library.-Bodleian, imperfect. This edition is very rare. There was another edition, however, by the same printer. See List of Works, Art. 13.