SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
336
them the name of Liesvdd^t Bibles. — He was condemned and beheaded at 'Antweip, because in the Annolatiotu of one of his Bibta, he had said, that the saivation of matikind proceeds from Christ alone! .'
The following extracts from a work printed in lAtin and English, prose and verse, will serve as a specimen of the peculiar style of poetry in which Skelton,* the laureate to King Henry VIII., wrote. The work is entitled — A Beply- eaeion agaynst certayne yang Scolers abjured of late ^ \}ay John Skelton]. Thus endelh the Replieaeyon of Skel. L. jrc. Imprinted by Jtichard Pynson printer to the Kyng's most noble Grace, (^arto.
" Howe yong scolers nowe a dayes embolden with the fly-blowen blast of the moche vayne glorious pipplying wynde, whan they haue de- lectably lycked a lytell of the lycorous electuary .of InsQr lemyng m the moche studeous scole boos of scrupulous philology, counting them selfe derkes exellently enformed and transcend- ing^y sped in moche high conyng, and whan they hare ones superciliusly caught."
A lyteQ ngg« of Bethorike
A lesw Imnpe of Logrke
A pece or > patche of FhOoaophj
Tina itarthwlth by ami by
Ttiej tomUe ao in TbeolocT
Drowned in dreegea of DiTUiIte
That tfaev iii«e Qam aelfe able to be
Doctoon of the Cliayre in the Vyntre
At the thre Cranes
To macr^ifye tfaeir names
But madlr it frames.
For ail that they pieche and teche
Is fiutbrr tlian their wytte wyll reehe
llios by demeiyttes of thdr abnsyon
Finally they fiul to carefnll confusyon
To beare a fogot or to Iw enHamed
Thos aie they undone and utterly sliamed.
The work consists of ten leaves, and is con- sidered very rare.
Skelton, speaking of a book, and enn^tured with the splendour of its binding, thus breaks out in Terse : —
■■\ntlitiuitofthebokelozends were Uie elaspea, TIk martin was illumined al with golden rules. And bice empictored with giaas-0|>pe8 and waspes, With butterlUes, and freah pecodie tailes, Snglond with flowies, and slyme anayles, Baryved pictores well toncbed and qnickely, It wonld have made a man hole that had be right slcUy, TO behold liow it was gamished and boond, Sncoverde over with gold and Uaaae line. The daspes and boUions were worth a H ponnde, Witti >™i«««i« and carbnncles the liorder lUd shine, mb II Ml an wufneum emj other line," ftc
1526. James Nicholson commenced the art of printing at Soutbwabk, but a work with this date with his name is at present unknown. In 1537, he leaded in St. Thomas's hospital, and had a patent ftom Henry VIII. for printing the New
- John Skelton is soppoaed to have been born in Cnm-
beriand. He was edncated at Oxfbrd, and obtained the Uring of Diaa in Norfolk; bat bis condoct was very iixe- rnlar. Having reflected sevetely on cardinal Wolsey in Us poons, he was obUged to take refuge with Islip abbot of Weatmlnater, where be continued till his death, which took place June SI, 1529. He wrote satires, sonnets, and an InvectiTe against LOy the gnmmarian, whoansirered lum in bis own way.
Testament in Latin and English. He printed in the whole eighteen works, which are lully des- cribed in the Typographical Antiquities.
1626. The first edition of the New Testament in English. As Luther had translated the bible into Gennao, William Tyndale, or Tyndall, an Englishman, or as some say, a native of Wales, determined on translating the scriptures into the English language. He attempted to accomplish this noble work in England; but the opposition and persecution he met with at home, necessi- tated him to withdraw to the continent; and after a conference with Luther and his associates in Germany, he settled at Antwerp, as the safest place to carry his project into effect, and where, in the coarse of this year, he finished an edition of the New Testament, without the name of trans- lator, or printer, or of the place where printed. Only 1600 copies were pnnted. Tyndall was assisted by Miles Coverdale, a Franciscan friar, and who was well informed in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages; also by John Frith, and William Roye. Richard Grafton, an Eng- lishman, was the printer, under the direction of Tyndall. A great number of this edition was brought to England, and sold at three shillings and sixpence per copy. The dispersion of them caused prohibitions against them to be issued by cardinal Wolsey, Tonstall, bishop of London,* archbishop Warham, and sir Thomas More. The people were acquainted " that certain chil- dren of iniquity, bhnded by malice, had trans- lated the New Testament into English, to spread heresy, and ruin men's souls; and that some of these pernicious books had been brought into England. The clergy were directed to search and deliver up to the bishop of the diocese or his commissary any of these dangerous books within thirty days, under pain of excommunication, and of being punished as heretics those who detained them. The only copy known to exist of Tyndall's translation is that which is pre- served in the Baptist's library at Bristol. Of this copy Mr. Beloe, in his "Anecdotes of Literature
- Tonstall, bishop of London, happened to pass throncft
Antwerp on a Journey, and to tntify his abhorence cf Tindall'a principles, and for printing a sealed book far the multitude, he thought of porcliaaing all the copiea, and ».in Hin«Hn |f them ui one common flame. He employed an BngUah merchant residing there, and who happened to be a secret follower and IMend of Tindall. He furnished the merchant with all his unsold copies, which the bishop as eagerly bought, and bad them all publiely bnmed In Cheapside: which the people not only declared was "a burning of the word of Ood," but it ao inflamed the desire of readmg that volume, that (he second edition was sought after at any price! and when one of the Tindallists (Qeorge Constantlne), who was sent to London to sell them, was promised by the lord chancellor, in a private ezamina- tion, that he should not snflte if ha would reveal who en- couraged and supported his party at Antwerp, theTindal- list immediately accepted the offer, and assured tha lord cbancellor that the gratcst encouragement they had was ftom TXmstall, the bishop of London, who had bought up half the impression, and enabled them to prodnceasecond!
At this time many of ilie Ignarantmonks declaimed flrom
their pulpits, that printing was the invention of the devU, and warned their bearers from uaing such diabolical books as were written with the blood of the victims, who devoted themselves to heU. One of them (the vicar of Croydon In 8urry) exclaimed, "We must root out printing, or printing will root oat us!"
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