Regarded simjily as a translation, the version deserves high praise, being based on a careful revision of the (jreat Bible in the OT, and, under the intlaence of Beza's Latin translation and Com- mentary, of Tindale's latest edition in the NT. The changes thus introduced were as a rule marked improvements, and many of them were subse- quently adopted in the AV. The new version was also abundantly supplied with maiginal notes principally of an explanatory character, and these, combined with the convenient size in which it appeared, did much to account for the popxilarity which for long it enjoyed, $ passing as it did through IGO editions, 60 of them during the reign of Eliza- betli alone,§ and continuing to be printed for some time even after the publication of the AV in 1611.11
• From the fact that several of these editions were printed by Whitchurch, the Great Bible is sometimes known as VVhit- chnrch'a.
t The scheme which Whittinjrham adopted was that prepared by K. Stephanus for the 4th ed. of his Greek NT, published in 1651. In the OT the division into verses was already in exist- ence in the Hebrew Bible.
I In 164ft an edition of the AV itself was actually broupht out with the Genevan notes, evidently for the purpose of commend- ing It to public favour.
8 After 1587 a revised version of the NT made by Laurenoe T omson In 1576 pencrally took the place of the earlier version.
H The Genevan was the first Bible printed in Scotland in an iiaae gener&lly known as the Batsandyne Bible, from the print«r'8
viii. It was not to be expected, however, that the successors of Cromwell and Cranmer could look with favour on a translation emanating from the scliool of Calvin, and containing so many 'prejudicial notes.' Accordingly, in 15G3-64 Arch- bishop Parker set on foot a scheme for the revision of Coverdale's version by a number of learned men working separately ; and in 1568 the Bishops' Bible, so called from the number of bishops en- gaged on it, was completed, and a copy presented to the queen. An eUbrt was made at tlie same time to secure that it alone should be licensed ' to draw to one uniformity.' But, from whatever cause, this licence was never granted, and, although the version gained a considerable circulation, tliis was due ratlier to the support accorded to it by Convocation than to its own merits.*
The truth is that as a translation it was marked by the inetiuality inevitable to a work which had been sorted out into ' parcels ' amongst a number of independent workers. In the OT the historical books as a rule followed the Great Bible very closely ; but in the prophetical books greater variation was indulged in, many of the changes being distinctly traceable to the influence of the Genevan Bible. The Psalter was practically a new translation ; and on this account failed to maintain its ground against the version in the Great Bible, already endeared by constant use. In tlie 2nd edition of 1587 the two versions were printed side by side, but in all later editions except one (1585) the old Psalter alone appeared. In tlie NT, on the other hand, more particularly in the 1572 edition, the bishops introduced many marked improvements, pointing to a careful study of the original text, though their renderings were occasionally marked by cumbrousness and a love of mouth-hlling phrases. On the whole, however, the influence of the Bisliops' Bible on succeeding versions cannot be said to liave been very great, and, as has already been indicated, it failed to oust the Genevan Bible from its place as the favourite Bible for household use. The authority of the latter was now, however, to be subjected to a fresh challenge.
ix. This came from the Church of Rome, and it is again interesting to notice that the new version, like the Genevan and Tindale's, was pro- duced in exile. At the beginning of queen Eliza- beth's reign a number of English Romanists had taken refuge on the Continent, and in 1582 there was published a NT ' translated faithfvUy into English out of the authentical Latin, according to the best corrected copies of the same, diligently conferred with the Greeke and other editions in divers languages, ... In the English College of Rhemes.' The translation of the OT had been pre- viously completed, but 'for lack of goodmeanes' its publication was delayed until 160U-10, when it came out at Douai. The whole Bible thus i.ssued is generally known as the Rheims and Douai Bible, and to three men, William Allen, Gregory Martin, and Richard Bristow, the credit of its production principally belongs. Prefixed to the Rheinish NT was an elaborate Preface, in which the translators warned readers against the then existing ' profane ' translations, laid the odium on Protestants of casting ' the holy to dogges and jiearles to hogges,' and claimed for themselves to liave at least been ' very precise and religious ' in following their copy, ' the old vulgar approved Latin.' The new version was thus, like the
name Thomas Bassandvne (see Hittory of the Bassandimf Bible, by W. T. Dobson, 1887) ; and so firm was the hold it obtained in the country, that so recently as towards the close of the Ibth cent, a Bible of the Genevan translation was still in use in the church of Crttil in Fifeshire.