On comparing these titles, two important dif- ferences will be noticed. Before 1537 no place of publication is given; and in the first alone is it specified that the translation is made ‘out of Douche and Latyn.’ With regard to the place, while there can be no doubt that the editions of 1535 and 1536 were printed abroad, opinions differ as to the claims of Antwerp and Ziirich. In favour
* Art. by H. R. Tedder in the Dict. of Nat. Biography.
t Dore, Old Bibles, p. 90.
t Remains (ed. Parker Soc.), pay ; Moulton, p. 96.
§ See Platesi.—iv. of Fry’s The Bible by Coverdale, 1867. No per- fect copy of Coverdale’s Bible is known. In the British Museum (C, 18. c. 9) is a fine copy, with titles in facsimile by J. Harris. The size of leaf is 11} in. x73. The dedication, ‘ Unto the most victorious,’ etc., begins near the top of leaf of 2, and ends on the obverse of leaf ef iiij. In line 13 it speaks of ‘ your dearest iust wyfe and most vertuous Pryncesse, Quene Anne.’ On the reverse of ef liij. begins the ‘ Prologe,’ ‘Myles Couerdale vnto the Christen reader,’ ending on obv. of && 7. On the reverse of this last begins a list of ‘The Bokes of the hole Byble,’ ending
on oby. of leaf viii., and on rey. of this begins ‘ The first Boke of Moses, called Genesis.’
VERSIONS (ENGLISH)
VERSIONS (ENGLISH) 245
(see no cee ee ee ees
of the former is a statement of Symeon Ruytinck, in his Life of Emanuel van Meteren, 1618, that Jacob van Meteren of Antwerp, the printer, em- ployed ‘un certain docte escolier, nommé Miles Coverdal,’ on the work of an English translation of the Bible.*
On the other hand, certain peculiarities of type point to Ziirich; and Westcott, supported by Ginsburg, is convinced that Froschover of Ziirich was the printer. As to the description of the sources from which the version was made, it is most natural to suppose that the words ‘out of Douche and Latyn’ were omitted after the first issue, as likely to offend some English supporters of the undertaking. The mention of ‘ Douche’ (German), in particular, might suggest a Lutheran bias. - But the description was an accurate one, and in his Dedication and Prologue Coverdale openly acknowledges it. He had ‘purely and faithfully translated,’ he says, ‘out of five sundry interpreters.’ And again: ‘To help me herin, I have had sondrye translacions not only in latyn, but also of the Douche interpreters, whom (be- cause of theyr synguler gyftes and speciall dili- gence in the Bible) I have been ... glad to folowe.’ What the ‘five sundry interpreters’ were is a question of much interest. Coverdale’s indebtedness to the Vulgate, the Latin version of Sanctes Pagninus (first published at Lyons in 1528), Luther, the Ziirich Bible (the work of Zwingli, Leo Jude, Pellicanus, and others, 1524 29), and Tindale, are unmistakable.t But, as he specifies only ‘Douche and Latyn’ on his title- page, he may not have meant to include Tindale as one of the five ; and if so, the fifth source may have to be sought for in some other Latin or German interpreter. In any case, the perfect candour of Coverdale’s declaration in his Prologue is apparent. He had not sought the work; but when it was put upon him he had executed it with the best helps le could obtain. One or two short specimens will show the style of his trans- lation—
Gn 4922-25 The frutefull sonne Joseph, that florishinge sonne to loke vpon, the doughters go vpon the wall. And though the shoters angered him, stroue with him, and hated him, yet his bowe bode fast, and the armes of his handes were made stronge by the handes of ye Mightie in Jacob. Of him are come herdmen & stones in Israel. Of y® fathers God art thou helped, of the Almightie art thou blessed, with blessynges of heauen from aboue, with blessynges of the depe that lyeth ynder, with blessynges of brestes and wombes.
2K (i.e. 28) 56S And the kynge wente with his men to Jerusalem, agaynst the Jebusites, which dwelt in the londe. Neuertheles they sayde vnto Dauid: Thou shalt not come hither but the blynde and lame shal dryue y® awaie. (They thoughte planely, that Dauid shulde not come in). Howbeit Dauid wanne the castell of Sion, which is the cite of Dauid. Then sayde Dauid the same daye: Who so euer smyteth the Jebusites, and optayneth the perquellies, the lame & the blynde, which (Jebusites) Dauids soule hateth. Herof commeth the prouerbe : Let no blynde ner lame come in to the house.
Jer 387-11 Now when Abdemelech the Morian beynge a cham- berlayne in the Kynges Courte, vnderstode, that they had cast Jeremy into the dongeon: he went out of the Kynges house, and spake to the kynge (which then sat under the porte off Ben Jamin) these wordes: My lorde the kynge, where as these men medle with Jeremy the prophet, they do him wronge : Namely, in that they haue put him in preson, there to dye of honger, for there is no more bred in the cite. Then the kynge commaunded Abdemelech the Morian. . .. So Abdemelech toke the men with him, & went to ye house of Amalech, & there ynder an almery he gat olde ragges & worne cloutes, and let them downe by a corde, in to the dongeon to Jeremy.