throughout, very closely followed it. To use the words of a profound modern scholar, It is astonishing how little obsolete the language of it is, even at this day; and, in point of perspicuity and noble simplicity, propriety of idiom, and purity of style, no English version has yet surpassed it.'* A beautiful edition of it has lately been published.† The following are Tyndale's translations of the Magnificat and Lord's Prayer, in the spelling of the original edition :

And Mary sayde, My soule magnifieth the Lorde, and my sprete reioyseth in God my Savioure.

For he hath loked on the povre degre off his honde mayden. Beholde nowe from hens forthe shall all generacions call me blessed.

For he that is myghty hath done to me greate thinges, and blessed ys his name:

And hys mercy is always on them that feare him thorow oute all generacions.

These translations were speedily followed by others, so that the desire of the people for scriptural knowledge was amply gratified. The dissemination of so many copies of the sacred volume, where neither the Bible nor any considerable number of other books had formerly been in use, produced very remarkable effects. The versions first used, having been formed in some measure from the Latin translation, called the Vulgate, contained many words from that language, which had hardly before been considered as English; such as perdition, consolation, reconciliation, sanctification, immortality, frustrate, inexcusable, transfigure, and many others requisite for the expression of compound and abstract ideas, which had never occurred to our Saxon ancestors, and therefore were not represented by any terms in that language. These words, in the course of time, became part of ordinary discourse, and thus the language was enriched. In the Book of Common Prayer, compiled in the subsequent reign of Edward VI., and which affords many beautiful specimens of the English of that time, the efforts of the learned to make such words familiar, are perceptible in many places; where a Latin term is often given with a Saxon word of the same or nearly the same meaning following it, as humble and lowly,' assemble and meet together.' Another effect proceeded from the freedom with which the people were allowed to judge of the doctrines, and canvass the texts, of the sacred writings. The keen interest with which they now perused the Bible, hitherto a closed book to the most of them, is allowed to have given the first imOure Father which arte in heven, halowed be thy pulse to the practice of reading in both parts of the name. Let thy kingdom come. Thy wyll be ful-island, and to have been one of the causes of the filled, as well in erth, as hit ys in heven. Geve vs flourishing literary era which followed. this daye oure dayly breade. And forgeve vs oure treaspases, even as we forgeve them which treaspas VS. Leede vs not into temptacion, but delyvre vs from yvell. Amen.

He hath shewed strengthe with his arme; he hath scattered them that are proude in the ymaginacion of their hertes.

He hath putt doune the myghty from their seates, and hath exalted them of lowe degre

He hath filled the hongry with goode thinges, and hath sent away the ryche empty.

He hath remembred mercy, and hath holpen his servaunt Israhel.

Even as he promised to oure fathers, Abraham and to his seed for ever.

MILES COVERDALE.

In translating the Pentateuch, Tyndale was assisted by MILES COVERDALE, who, in 1535, published the first English translation of the whole Scriptures, with this title: Biblia, the Bible; That is, the Holy Scripture of the Olde and New Testament, faithfully and newly translated out of the Doutche and Latyn into English. Coverdale was made bishop of Exeter in 1551, but retired to the Continent during the reign of Mary. When Elizabeth ascended the throne, he returned to England, and remained there till his death. His translation of the Bible has lately been reprinted in London. The extent of its variation from that of Tyndale will appear by contrasting the following verse, as rendered by each translator:

SIR JOHN CHEKE.

Among the great men of this age, a high place is due to SIR JOHN CHEKE, (1514-1557), professor of Greek at Cambridge, and one of the preceptors of

the prince, afterwards Edward VI. He is chiefly distinguished for his exertions in introducing the study of the Greek language and literature into England. Having dictated to his pupils an improved mode of pronouncing Greek words, he was violently assailed on that account by Bishop Gardiner, then

The saying of poets, and all their fables, are not te be forgotten. For by them we may talk at large, and win men by persuasion, if we declare beforehand, that these tales were not feigned of such wise men without THOMAS WILSON, originally a fellow of King's cause, neither yet continued until this time and kept College, Cambridge, and who rose to be Dean of in memory, without good consideration; and thereDurham, and to various high state employments upon declare the true meaning of all such writing. under Elizabeth, may be considered as the first For undoubtedly, there is no one tale among all the critical writer upon the English language. He pub-poets, but under the same is comprehended something

thing doen. For what other is the painful travail of Ulysses, described so largely by Homer, but a lively picture of man's misery in this life? And as Plutarch saith, and likewise Basilius Magnus, in the Iliads are described strength and valiantness of body: in Odyssea is set forth a lively pattern of the mind. The poets are wise men, and wished in heart the redress of things; the which when for fear they durst not openly rebuke, they did in colours paint them out, and told men by shadows what they should do in good sothe: or else, because the wicked were unworthy to hear the truth, they spake so that none might understand but those unto whom they please to utter their meaning, and knew them to be of honest conversation.

ROGER ASCHAM.

A still more distinguished instructive writer of this age was ROGER ASCHAM, university orator at Cambridge, at one time preceptor, and ultimately Latin secretary, to Queen Elizabeth. He must be

Aselamus..

considered as the first writer on education in our language, and it is remarkable that many of his views on this subject accord with the most enlightened of modern times. His writings themselves furnished an improved example of style, and they abound in sound sense and excellent instructions. We are the more called on to admire them, when we reflect on the tendency of learned men in that age to waste their talents and acquirements on profitless controversy-which was so strong a passion, that, whenever Sir John Cheke was temporarily absent from Cambridge, his associates immediately forsook the elegant studies to which he had tempted them, and fell into disputes about predestination, original sin, &c. Ascham died in 1568, and Elizabeth did him the honour to remark, that she would rather have given ten thousand pounds than lost him. His principal work, The Schoolmaster, printed by his widow, contains, besides the good general views of education above alluded to, what Johnson has acknowledged to be perhaps the best advice that ever was given for the study of languages.' It also presents judicious characters of ancient authors. Another work, entitled Toxophilus, published in 1544, is a dialogue on the art of Archery, designed to promote an elegant and useful mode of recreation among those who, like himself, gave most of their time to study, and also to exemplify a style of composition more purely English, than what was generally practised. Ascham also wrote a discourse on the affairs of Germany, where he had spent three years in attendance on the English ambassador during the reign of Edward VI. The following extracts from Ascham's writings show generally an intellect much in advance of his age :

[Study should be Relieved by Amusement.]

[The following is from the opening of the Toxophilus. It may Ascham's time is so still, and at the present time the lesson is not less required than it was then.]

be remarked, that what was good sense and sound philosophy in

merrily for a mere matter; this I am sure, which
thing this fair wheat (God save it) maketh me re-
member, that those husbandmen which rise earliest,
and come latest home, and are content to have their
dinner and other drinkings brought into the field to
them, for fear of losing of time, have fatter barns
in the harvest, than they which will either sleep at
noontime of the day, or else make merry with their
neighbours at the ale. And so a scholar, that pur-
poseth to be a good husband, and desireth to reap
and enjoy much fruit of learning, must till and sow
thereafter. Our best seed time, which be scholars, as
it is very timely, and when we be young; so it en-
dureth not over long, and therefore it may not be let
slip one hour; our ground is very hard and full of
weeds, our horse wherewith we be drawn very wild, as
Plato saith. And infinite other mo lets, which will
make a thrifty scholar take heed how he spendeth his
time in sport and play. Toxophilus.-That Aristotle and
Tully spake earnestly, and as they thought, the earnest
matter which they entreat upon, doth plainly prove.
And as for your husbandry, it was more probably told
with apt words, proper to the thing, than thoroughly
proved with reasons belonging to our matter. For,
contrarywise, I heard myself a good husband at his
book once say, that to omit stády for some time of the
day, and some time of the year, made as much for the
increase of learning, as to let the land lie some time
fallow, maketh for the better increase of corn. This
we see, if the land be ploughed every year, the corn
cometh thin up; the ear is short, the grain is small,
and when it is brought into the barn and threshed,
giveth very evil faule. So those which never leave
poring on their books, have oftentimes as thin inven-
tion, as other poor men have, and as small wit and
weight in it as in other men's. And thus your hus-
bandry, methink, is more like the life of a covetous
snudge, that oft very evil proves, than the labour of a
good husband, that knoweth well what he doth. And
surely the best wits to learning must needs have much
recreation, and ceasing from their book, or else they
mar themselves; when base and dumpish wits can
never be hurt with continual study; as ye see in lut-
ing, that a treble minikin string must always be let
down, but at such time as when a man must needs
play, when the base and dull string needeth never to
be moved out of his place. The same reason I find
true in two bows that I have, whereof the one is quick
of cast, trig and trim, both for pleasure and profit;
the other is a lugge slow of cast, following the string,
more sure for to last than pleasant for to use. Now,
Sir, it chanced this other night, one in my chamber
would needs bend them to prove their strength, but
(I cannot tell how) they were both left bent till the
next day after dinner; and when I came to them,||
purposing to have gone on shooting, I found my good
bow clean cast on the one side, and as weak as water,
that surely, if I were a rich man, I had rather have
spent a crown; and as for my lugge, it was not one
whit the worse, but shot by and by as well and as far
as ever it did. And even so, I am sure that good wits,
except they be let down like a treble string, and un-
bent like a good casting bow, they will never last and
be able to continue in study. And I know where I
speak this, Philologe, for I would not say thus much
afore young men, for they will take soon occasion to
study little enough. But I say it, therefore, because
I know, as little study getteth little learning, or none
at all, so the most study getteth not the most learning
of all. For a man's wit, fore-occupied in earnest
study, must be as well recreated with some honest
pastime, as the body, fore-laboured, must be refreshed
with sleep and quietness, or else it cannot endure very
long, as the noble poet saith :-

* Philologus.-How much in this matter is to be given to the authority of Aristotle or Tully, IWhat thing wants quiet and merry rest, endures but a small cannot tell, seeing sad men may well enough speak

while.'

[The Blowing of the Wind.]

[In the Toxophilus, Ascham has occasion to treat very minutely the difficulties which the archer experiences from the blowing of the wind. His own experience of these difficulties in the course of his sport, seems to have made him a natural philosopher to that extent, before the proper time.]

court, which be born and be fitter rather for the cart; some to be masters and rule other, which never yet began to rule themselves; some always to jangle and talk, which rather should hear and keep silence; some to teach, which rather should learn; some to be priests, which were fitter to be clerks. And this perverse judgment of the world, when men measure themselves amiss, bringeth much disorder and great unseemliness to the whole body of the commonwealth, as if a man should wear his hose upon his head, or a woman go with a sword and a buckler, every man would take it as a great uncomeliness, although it be but a trifle in respect of the other.

This perverse judgement of men hindereth nothing be unfittest for learning, be chiefly set to learning. so much as learning, because commonly those that As if a man now-a-days have two sons, the one impotent, weak, sickly, lisping, stuttering, and stammering, or having any mis-shape in his body; what doth the father of such one commonly say? This boy is fit for nothing else, but to set to learning and make a priest of, as who would say, the outcasts of the world, having neither countenance, tongue, nor wit (for of a perverse body cometh commonly a perverse mind), be good enough to make those men of, which shall be appointed to preach God's holy word, and minister his blessed sacraments, besides other most weighty matters in the commonwealth; put oft times, and worthily, to learned men's discretion and charge; when rather such an office so high in dignity, so goodly in which administration, should be committed to no man, should not have a countenance full of comeliness, to allure good men, a body full of manly authority to fear ill men, a wit apt for all learning, with tongue And although and voice able to persuade all men. few such men as these can be found in a commonwealth, yet surely a goodly disposed man will both in his mind think fit, and with all his study labour to get such men as I speak of, or rather better, if better can be gotten, for such an high administration, which is most properly appointed to God's own matters and businesses.

To see the wind with a man's eyes, it is impossible, the nature of it is so fine and subtle; yet this experience of the wind had I once myself, and that was in the great snow which fell four years ago. I rode in the high way betwixt Topcliff upon Swale and Boroughbridge, the way being somewhat trodden afore by wayfaring men; the fields on both sides were plain, and lay almost yard deep with snow; the night before had been a little frost, so that the snow was hard and crusted above; that morning the sun shone bright and clear, the wind was whistling aloft, and sharp, according to the time of the year; the snow in the highway lay loose and trodden with horse feet; so as the wind blew, it took the loose snow with it, and made it so slide upon the snow in the field, which was hard and crusted by reason of the frost overnight, that thereby I might see very well the whole nature of the wind as it blew that day. And I had a great delight and pleasure to mark it, which maketh me now far better to remember it. Sometime the wind would be not past two yards broad, and so it would carry the snow as far as I could see. Another time the snow would blow over half the field at once. Sometime the snow would tumble softly, bye and bye it would fly wonderful fast. And this I perceived also, that the wind goeth by streams and not whole to gether. For I should see one stream within a score on me, then the space of two score, no snow would stir, but, after so much quantity of ground, another stream of snow, at the same very time, should be carried likewise, but not equally; for the one would stand still, when the other flew apace, and so continue sometime swiftlier, sometime slowlier, sometime broader, sometime narrower, as far as I could see. Nor it flew not straight, but sometime it crooked this way, sometime that way, and sometime it ran round about in a comThis perverse judgment of fathers, as concerning pass. And sometime the snow would be lift clean the fitness and unfitness of their children, causeth the from the ground up to the air, and bye and bye it commonwealth have many unfit ministers: and seeing would be all clapt to the ground, as though there had that ministers be, as a man would say, instruments been no wind at all; straightway it would rise and fly wherewith the commonwealth doth work all her matagain. And that which was the most marvel of all, ters withal, I marvel how it chanceth that a poor shoeat one time two drifts of snow flew, the one out of the maker hath so much wit, that he will prepare no west into the east, the other out of the north into the instrument for his science, neither knife nor awl, nor east. And I saw two winds, by reason of the snow, nothing else, which is not very fit for him. The comthe one cross over the other, as it had been two high-monwealth can be content to take at a fond father's ways. And again, I should hear the wind blow in the air, when nothing was stirred at the ground. And when all was still where I rode, not very far from me the snow should be lifted wonderfully. This experience made me more marvel at the nature of the wind, than it made me cunning in the knowledge of the wind; but yet thereby I learned perfectly that it is no marvel at all, though men in wind lose their length in shooting, seeing so many ways the wind is so vaiable in blowing.

[Occupations should be chosen suitable to the Natural Faculties.]

If men would go about matters which they should do, and be fit for, and not such things which wilfully they desire, and yet be unfit for, verily greater matters in the commonwealth than shooting should be in better case than they be. This ignorance in men which know not for what time, and to what thing they be fit, causeth some wish to be rich, for whom it were better a great deal to be poor; other to be meddling in every man's matter, for whom it were more honesty to be quiet and still; some to desire to be in the

hand the riffraff of the world, to make those instruments of wherewithal she should work the highest matters under heaven. And surely an awl of lead is not so unprofitable in a shoemaker's shop, as an upfit minister made of gross metal is unseemly in the commonwealth. Fathers in old time, among the noble Persians, might not do with their children as they thought good, but as the judgment of the commonwealth always thought best. This fault of fathers bringeth many a blot with it, to the great deformity of the commonwealth and here surely I can praise gentlewomen, which have always at hand their glasses, to see if any thing be amiss, and so will amend it; yet the commonwealth, having the glass of knowledge in every man's hand, doth see such uncomeliness in it, and yet winketh at it. This fault, and many such like, might be soon wiped away, if fathers would bestow their children always on that thing, whereunto nature hath ordained them most apt and fit. For if youth be grafted straight and not awry, the whole commonwealth will flourish thereafter. When this is done, then must every man begin to be more ready to amend himself, than to check another, measuring their matters with that wise proverb of Apollo, Know