subscripsi ac sigillum meu una cu sigillo officii mei Regis armoru his pntibus apposui. Dat primo die mens Septemb Anno Regi Regis Edwardi sexti Dei gracia Anglie Francie et Hibnie Regis &c. There is no exemplification of the coat attached, nor is the date of the year affixed to this grant. It was discovered in an un-indexed volume in the College of Arms, by the Rev. R. H. Barham, who kindly furnished it for this work, together with the literal translation which follows. (TRANSLATION.) To all Christian people who may see or hear of these presents, Gilbert Dethick, otherwise Garter, Knight, Chief Herald, and Principal King at Arms of the most renowned Order of the Garter, sends health. Justice wills and reason requires that men of virtuous and praiseworthy disposition and honourable life, should for their deserts be honoured and rewarded in their own persons while yet in this mortal life, so brief and transitory, exhibiting signs and examples of virtue, honour, and also of courtesy; to wit, with the intent that through their examples others may the more endeavour to pass their lives in actions and deeds of the best repute, whereby they may acquire and attain the reputation of antient nobility. Wherefore, I the aforesaid Gilbert, otherwise Garter, being, not only by common fame, but also by my own knowledge and by the testimony of divers credible and trustworthy persons truly instructed and informed that the Reverend Father in Christ Myles Coverdale Bishop of Exeter hath long been eminent for and continued in virtue, and in all his actions and manners hath borne himself fairly, soberly, discreetly, and honourably, so that he deserveth and is worthy to be admitted, accounted, and received into the number and society of other antient and illustrious persons. Wherefore for a memorial of his so great virtue and worth, by the authority and power to me the said Gilbert, and to my office, by our illustrious Lord the King especially given, annexed and granted, I have ordained to the said Myles, the Bishop aforesaid, a shield with insignia of honour such as shall be here in the French language declared. That is to say of gules and or quarterly indented by fess three flowers and three roses counterchanged of the field as more plainly in the shield here depicted doth appear, to have and to hold to him the said Myles, and that he may in them be adorned to his honour for ever. In witness whereof I have subscribed these presents with my hand, and also to these presents have affixed my seal together with the seal of my office of King at Arms. Given the first day of the month of September in the Year of our Lord King Edward the Sixth by the grace of God of England France and Ireland King. AT CAMBRIDGE, IN THE MONASTERY OF THE AUGUSTINS. STATE OF LEARNING AT THE UNIVERSITY. - COMMENCEMENT OF REFORMED DOCTRINES. CROMWELL, AFTERWARDS -- DR. HIS RE EARL OF ESSEX, AN EARLY PATRON OF COVERDALE. WHICH HE STATES THAT COVERDALE WAS THE MEANS OF LEADING HIM INTO HERESY. COVERDALE THEREFORE, FOR FEAR OF PERSECUTION, DETERMINES TO LEAVE ENGLAND. MYLES COVERDALE, the subject of the present work, was born in the year MCCCCLXXXVIII, in the county of York. His early life is little known; and who or what were his parents cannot now be ascertained. That no account should be handed down to us of the parentage and birth of this eminent man, will be matter of little surprise, when we observe how carelessly and superficially events, that now seem to us B of the highest importance, are treated by the early chroniclers and biographers. And what may be a still stronger reason for this neglect is, that, as the first notice taken of him mentions him to have been a monk of the Augustine order, it was probably not easy, even for his contemporaries, except from his own relation, to give any light as to the place of his birth, or who were his parents. When a person devoted himself to a monastic life, he was regarded as a being cut off from the world. Its cares, and pains, and tumults, were not to disturb the mind of him, who was consecrated to the service of his God. He was to be superior to the frailties of human feelings; and because the heart would still fondly turn to thoughts of joy and pleasure, every method to alienate his affections from worldly things, and to break the ties that associations and recollections would necessarily strengthen, was had resort to. With this view, the monk, on entering the convent, formally renounced the name that he had hitherto been known by, and assumed a new one, which was such as suited the fancy or inclination of each individual. There is little doubt, therefore, that Coverdale was a personal, not an inherited name; and as all writers agree in stating that he was born in Yorkshire," it may not be unfair to presume that he took his name from the place of his birth, and that, as the learned Mr. Whitaker suggests,' we are therefore justified in assuming him to have been a native of the district of Coverdale, in Richmondshire. He was brought up at the convent of the Augustines at Cambridge, of which order he professed himself a brother. Cambridge at that time was in a state of lamentable ignorance. No polite literature was there known or encouraged. The reading of the ancient Latin authors was confined to a very few, and Greek and Hebrew were languages scarcely heard of. Indeed, when some began to study these languages, in order to understand the Scriptures in the original, the ignorant monks actually preached against them, calling Greek a language newly discovered, the cause of all the heresies,-and Hebrew a language lately started up, the learners of which turned Hebrews." Nothing, in fact, was taught at Cambridge but the learning of the schools, a crabbed philosophy, which neither rendered the mind more expanded, nor was of any practical utility to the possessor. The commencement of the reformation in Cambridge was amongst a few learned men. The disputes in Germany concerning matters of religion had awakened the attention of all Europe; and the writings of the reformers which were now brought This convent shared the general fate, on the dissolution of the convents in 1539. Its site was pointed out by Carter, (History of Cambridge, p. 17) in 1753, as being that spot of ground, which lay between Freeschool Lane and Slaughter-house Lane; having St. Thomas's Lays on the north, Pease Hill on the south, Free-school Lane on the east, and Slaughter-house Lane on the west. d Hody de Bibl. text. orig. lib. iv. p. 465. into England and eagerly perused, began to gain ground. Although those who kept these books were obliged to use all secrecy, to avoid being punished as heretics; yet the study of the Scriptures in their original language was thought to be open to all men, and they who had sufficient knowledge were very diligent in studying them. But even this was objected to; for Erasmus tells us, that not only was much opposition made to his publishing the New Testament in its original language, but that one college in particular, at Cambridge, absolutely forbad the use of it. "These," says he, "object to us the feigned authority of synods, and magnify the great peril of the Christian faith, and the danger of the "church, which they pretend to support with their shoulders, that are much fitter to prop a waggon. "And these clamours they disperse among the igno"rant and superstitious populace, with whom, having "the reputation of being great divines, they are very "loth to have their opinions called in question, and "are afraid that when they quote the Scripture wrong, 66 66 66 66 as they often do, the authority of the Greek and "Hebrew verity should be cast in their teeth, and that, by-and-by, appear to be a dream, which was by them given out for an oracle."" 66 66 The facility of disseminating doctrines which was afforded by the recent introduction of the art of printing, was one of the great means of furthering the Reformation. So alarmed were some of the ignorant and bigoted priests at the rapid strides of • Lewis's transl. Bible, p. 55, incorrectly numbered as p. 71. |