• These and many other Interestinff details will be found in A Bil/tiajraphicaJ Dexriplion o/lhe Jiilitunu of the AT, Tynr dale's Verifitm, in Enqtish, by Francis Fry, lb"8.
t According to an eminent German scholar, H. Buschius, who met him at Worms in 1526, Tindale was "so skilled in seven lanifuages, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, English, French, that whichever he spoke you would suppose it his native tongue' (Schelhorn, AiitctnitatfS Literarice, iv. p. 431).
1 The Greek Testament vihich he used was that pubhshed by Erasmus, edd. of 1619, 1522.
§ It has been calculated that in the whole of Tindale's NT the number of stranger words, or words that do not occur i» the AV, is probablv below 360, many of which are used once or twice only (Moultbu, The Histonj of f r Eryjlinh Bihh-. pp. 70, 71). Of his work as a whole, our Bibles are said to retaiu at the present day about 80 % in the OT and 90 % in the NT.
VEKSIOMS, ENGLISH
VERSIONS, ENGLISH
867
matic bias and scrupulous fidelity to the exact letter of Scripture which have been in general such littppy features of our English Versions.* (3) It would be idle indeed to pretend that Tindale fell into no mistakes. Many of his renderings are in- correct, others are uncouth, others are paraphra.ses rather than translations. Serious blemishes, too, are his constant disregard of connecting particles, and his habit of translating the same word in ditierent ways even in the same sentence. But, take it all in all, his translation is a noble one, and its very faults, as Fuller saj-s, are ' to be scored on the account rather of that age, than of '..he author himself.'
iii. Nor had Tindale left himself without worthy successors. Amongst those wlio are stated bj' Fo.xe to have assisted him in translating the Pentateuch was one Miles Coverdale (b. 1488, d. 1jG9), who, urged on by Cromwell, now devoted himself so steadily to the work of Bible-translation that on Oct. 4tli, 1535, the first complete printed English Bible was is.sued, the sheets of which are believed to have been printed by J. van Meteren of Antwerp, and then sold to Nicolson the South- wark printer. The original title ran as follows : — 'Biblia, The Bible : that is, the Holy Scripture of the Olde and New Testament, faithfully and truly translated out of Douche and Latyn into Englishe, MDXXXV.' The English printer in substituting a new title-page of his own omitted for some reason the reference to ' Douche [German] and Latyn,' and added several preliminary pages containing a Dedication to king Henry Vlll. and a Prologue to the Christian Reader, both signed by Coverdale. In this Dedication, Coverdale disclaims the position of an independent translator, and speaks of having 'with a clear conscience purely and faithfully translated this out of five sundry interpreters' (new generally identified with Luther, the Ziirich Bil le, the Vulgate, the Latin version of Pagninus, and in all probability Tindale), and to the same ellcct in the Prologue he specially acknowledges his indebtedness to ' the Dutch interpreters, whom (because of their singular gifts and special diligence in the Bible) I have been the more glad to follow for the most i)art, according as I was required.'
Notwithstanding these admissions, it would be wrong, however, to regard Coverdale as a mere ' proof - reader or corrector,' for, while making diligent and discriminating use of the ditierent autliorities within his reach, he supplied many of those hajijjy turns of e.xpression which len(f so much of its charm to our ICnglish Bible. This is perhaps specially noticeable in the Psalter, of which Coverdale's version in the revised form in which it appeared in the Great Bible still retains its place in the English Book of Common Prayer. Two new editions of Coverdale's Bible were is.sucd by Nicolson in 1537, on the title-page of which there now appeared for the first time the significant words, • Set lorth with the Kynges most gracious licence.' The following year found Coverdale engaged in biblical work in Paris, and the fruit was seen in a Latin- English Testament, of which in one year three eilitious were called for. New editions of the Bible ajijicared in I5.ji) and 1553.t
iv. Other translations now followed in rapid enccession, one of which is generally known as Matthew's Bible. Its real editor, however, was a certain John liogers, who adopted the alias of Thomas Matthew — perhaps, as Vo.\e suggests, to
• ' 1 call Ood to record ajjainBt the day we shall appear before cor IfOrd Jesua, to givo a reckoning of our doiiiKH, that 1 never altered one Bytlable of CJoiI'b word ai^iiiHt my coimcieiicu, nor would thit day, It all tliat in in llie eanh, wlicthir it be plcaaure, honour, or riches, mlKht l>o jfiven rae.'— Tindale In Letter In Fryth, 1533 (Demaus' Tiindalt, p. 336).
t A convenient reprint of C'overd:ilo'» Uible of 1636 hu within rereut years been ij»ued by Uagater,
hide his connexion with Tindale. As to the close- ness of this connexion there can at least be no doubt. The whole of the NT and about half the or in the new edition are Tiudale's, while the remainder is Coverdale's. Signs are not wanting, however, of critical editorship. Thus in the Psalter various readings are introduced in the margin, and many technical terms are carefully explained. Numerous notes have also been added, many of which breathe a spirit of ardent Protestantism, and there is a large amount of prefatory matter