II. HISTORY. The king ward the scheme. the proposed revision'. Bancroft had expressed CHAP. what was probably a very general feeling; and in EXTERNAL the Convocation which followed shortly afterwards (March—July 1604) it was enjoined that every presses for parish as yet unfurnished of the Bible of the 'largest volume"' should provide one within a convenient time, so that it seems unlikely that they even expected that it would be speedily carried out. But about the same time the King had matured his scheme. It is not known in what manner the scholars to be entrusted with the revision were selected. It appears however that some were submitted to the king who approved of the choice, and the list was complete by June 30th. The undertaking was no doubt really congenial to James' character, and Bancroft writing to Cam 1 Still in the note which was made apparently by Bancroft himself of things as shall be ' reformed,' occurs 'One uniform 'translation of the Bible to be 'made, and only to be used in all the churches of England' (Cardwell, Hist. of Conferences, p. 142). 2 Canon 80. From a comparison with Whitgift's injunctions (p. 138) the reference is probably to the Bishops' Bible. But Dr Reynolds' quotations from the Great Bibles allowed It is worthy of notice that in II. CHAP. bridge on that day to hasten on its execution adds, EXTERNAL 'I am persuaded his royal mind rejoiceth more in HISTORY. 'the good hope which he hath for the happy success 'of that work, than of his peace concluded with 'Spain.' Three weeks afterwards (July 22nd) the king wrote to Bancroft, who was acting as representative of the vacant see of Canterbury, announcing that he had 'appointed certain learned 'men, to the number of four and fifty, for the trans'lating of the Bible,' and requiring him to take measures whereby he might be able to recompense the translators by church preferment. Further 'more,' he adds, 'we require you to move all our 'bishops to inform themselves of all such learned men within their several dioceses, as, having especial 'skill in the Hebrew and Greek tongues, have taken 'pains in their private studies of the Scriptures for the clearing of any obscurities either in the Hebrew 'or in the Greek, or touching any difficulties or ' mistakings in the former English translation, which 'we have now commanded to be thoroughly viewed 'and amended, and thereupon to write unto them, ' earnestly charging them and signifying our plea'sure therein that they send such their observations 'either to Mr Lively, our Hebrew reader in Cam'bridge, or to Dr Harding, our Hebrew reader in II. HISTORY. Oxford, or to Dr Andrews, dean of Westminster, CHAP. 'to be imparted to the rest of their several com- EXTERNAL 'panies; that so our said intended translation may 'have the help and furtherance of all our principal 'learned men within this our kingdom."" Having provided in this manner for the future An immediate proremuneration of the scholars whose services he had vision for the revisers engaged, the king was equally prudent in endea- proposed. vouring to obtain the means of defraying their immediate expenses. These 'his majesty,' it is said, 'was very ready of his most princely disposi'tion to have borne, but some of my lords, as 'things now go, did hold it inconvenient;' so 'he ' requested the bishops and chapters to contribute 'toward this work,' with the additional stimulus that 'his majesty would be acquainted with every 'man's liberality.' Bancroft, in communicating this notice to the different dignitaries to whom it applied, adds, 'I do not think a thousand marks 'will finish the work,' so that the amount of the tax might not be left altogether in uncertainty2. But in spite of the royal request nothing seems to have been subscribed, and from the life of one of the translators it appears that they received nothing but free entertainment in the colleges till 2 Cardwell, .c. 87 ff. 1 Cardwell, Doc. Annals, 11. 84. L CHAP. EXTERNAL sers chosen. some of them met in London for the final revision of the work'. It does not appear in what way the actual The revi- selection of the revisers was made, but it is most likely that names were suggested by the universities and approved by the king. There is also some discrepancy as to the number engaged upon the work. The king speaks of fifty-four, and only forty-seven names appear upon the list. It is possible that some were originally appointed who did not in the end take any part in the revision, or that a committee of bishops was chosen as an independent group of revisers; but no satisfactory solution of the difficulty has yet been proposed *. The delay, however, which took place in the commencement of the revision is sufficient to account for its existence; for though the preliminaries were settled before the end of 1604, the revision does not appear to have been seriously undertaken till 16073. The death of Mr Lively in 1605 was 1 Walker's Life of Boys, quoted by Anderson, II. 381. 2 Of the bishops, Bancroft, though not among the translators, is said to have 'altered the trans'lation in fourteen places' to make it 'speak prelatical lan'guage,' and to have been 'so 'potent' in pressing his correc tions that there was no contra'dicting him' (Dr Hill quoted by Mr Anderson, II. 378). 3 Some of the revisers may indeed have begun their work at once. Thus Boys is said to have worked for four years before the final revision, which took nine months (Life, quoted by Ander II. no doubt a grave check to the progress of the CHAP. scheme, and it is not hard to imagine other ob- EXTERNAL stacles which may have hindered it. HISTORY. When at length the whole plan was ready for The revisers diexecution, the translators were divided into six vided into six groups. companies, of which two met respectively at Westminster, Cambridge, and Oxford, and the whole work was thus divided among them1. |