VERSIONS (ENGLISH)
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VERSIONS (ENGLISH)
Antwerp most probably, his translation of the Book of Jonah.* Antwerp was a dangerous re- treat, but it was conveniently situated for com- municating with England. Here accordingly he resided from 1533, if not earlier, to his arrest in 1535. The last two years of his life were years of great literary activity. In 1534 appeared at Antwerp his revision of the Pentateuch, Genesis being the only book in which any changes were made ; ‘+ and in November of that year his revised NT.+ This is commonly called the second edition, and it is strange that nine years should have elapsed before Tindale himself published one.§ But if there had been any delay, there was none now. ‘Two editions appeared in 1535. These must be carefully discriminated. The first is entitled : The newe Testament dylygently corrected and com- pared with the Greke by Willyam Tindale, and fynesshed in the yere of owre Lorde God A.M.D. and XXXV.|| No place or printer’s name is given, but it is considered to be from the press of Hans van Ruremonde at Antwerp. Itisin 8vo. A striking peculiarity of this edition is the curious mis. spelling of English words, such as ‘faether’ for father, ‘stoede’ for stood, and the like. This gave rise to the fancy that Tindale had adapted his version to the pronunciation of the Gloucester- shire farmers. But the more rational explanation is that Dutch or Flemish compositors were em- ployed upon this edition ; and that in fact it was not superintended by Tindale at all, but a private enterprise of Dutch printers, who had observed the censure passed on Joye’s unauthorized pro- duction of the previous August, and wished to anticipate the final revision which Tindale was understood to be preparing.
This last revision, in which ‘yet once again’ Willyam Tindale addressed the reader, has two titles, the first bearing date 1535, the second 1534 ; denoting, we may suppose, the times of publica- tion and printing. It is in 8vo size, with black letter type, and has a calendar prefixed. While bearing no printer’s name, or place, it has a - printer’s mark with the initials G. H. These were conjectured by Stevens to denote Guillaume Hychyns, a form of the translator’s name ;** but the late Henry Bradshaw has shown convincingly that they are the initials of the Antwerp pub- lisher, Godfried van der Hagen, who latinized himself as Dumcaus. The printer he employed was frequently Martin Emperour, who was prob- ably the printer of this last revision. ++
We must hasten to the close. On the 23rd or 24th of May 1535 Tindale was entrapped and car- ried off from Antwerp to the fortress of Vilvorde, where he was strangled and burnt on Oct. 6th, 1536. Even in his imprisonment he was not idle. In the touching letter t+ to the governor of the fortress, the Marquis of Bergen-op-Zoom, in which
* Copies of this had so completely disappeared, that some began to doubt its ever having existed. But in 1861 Lord Arthur Hervey discovered a copy, bound up in an old volume with other pieces, in his library at Ickworth. ’ :
t Dore, Old Bibles, 1888, p. 69, where the book is described.
t The newe Testament, dylygently corrected . . - by Willyam Tindale. It was printed in Gothic letter by Martin Emperour, in 8vo. This is the edition used in Bagster’s Hexapia. In Fry’s Bibliographical Description it is No. 8. The copy in the British Museum is marked ©. 23. a. 5. as
§ This is not taking count of surreptitious editions, such as Dore gives instances of (op. cit. p. 27), nor of Joye’s un- authorized edition in August 1534. For this last, see West- cott, General View, 1872, pp. 46-49.
|| The titles of this and of the next are taken from the Cata- logue of the British Museum Library. The press-marks of the two copies are C, 36. a. 2 and C. 36. b. 5.
§] See the Introduction to Bagster’s Hexapla, p. 19, col. 1. This edition is the one numbered 5 by Fry.
** See above, p. 241, note t. :
tt See Bradshaw’s paper, ‘ Godfried van der Hagen,’ reprinted from the Bibliographer, 1886. : ;
tt Reproduced in facsimile by Fry, with a translation.
he petitions for warmer clothing, he asks also for a Hebrew Bible, grammar, and dictionar . And it is said that he finished in prison a sca. tion of the books Joshua to 2 Chronicles inclusive.* His last words at the stake were: ‘Lord, open the king of England’s eyes !’
The influence exercised by Tindale’s version on subsequent ones will be best considered later on. But it seems proper to notice here a question that has been raised as to his competence for the work of translating. Was he able to form an independ- ent judgment on his Greek and Hebrew originals, or did he take his Pentateuch from Luther, and his New Testament from Luther and Erasmus?+ It may be admitted at once that Tindale availed himself freely of the labours of both those scholars. His object being what it was, he would probably have thought it mere perverseness not to do so. But he did not borrow as one who could not pay back. Even in the pro- logues, he sometimes not only differs from, but argues against, the German translator, as in the case of the prologue to James, Tindale’s great aptitude for languages is shown by various testimonies. That of Herman von dem Busche t would be thought high-flown if we did not know that it came from one not likely to be imposed upon. As regards Hebrew, in particu- lar, one of the seven languages that von dem Busche declared Tindale to be at home in, it is not likely that he would have found it difficult to obtain instruction in it at Cologne, or Worms, or other cities where he stayed.