XXXII.] TRANSLATIONS OF THE BIBLE. 145 for North America, and settled in New England. These are the most ancient of those colonies which afterwards, throwing off the rule of the mother-country, formed the United States of North America. Fresh efforts were made in this reign to find a north-west passage. Henry Hudson in 1610 sailed through the Strait and discovered the Bay since called by his name. In those seas he perished, for his crew, which had suffered much from want of provisions, mutinied, and sent him and eight of his followers adrift in an open boat. Nothing more was ever heard of them. Further discoveries were made by Thomas Button, the first navigator who reached the eastern coast of America through Hudson's Strait, and by Bylot and Baffin, who discovered and penetrated to the most northern extremity of Baffin's Bay. 8. Translations of the Bible.-High among the early English Reformers stands William Tyndal, who, settling at Antwerp, devoted himself to translating the Scriptures, which he printed with side-notes and commentaries of his own. During the Primacy of Warham, Cranmer's predecessor, efforts were made to stop the circulation of Tyndal's Testament by publicly burning in London all the copies which could be bought up-a proceeding which only supplied Tyndal with the means of sending forth fresh editions. By and by there came a change in England, and the Bible which, under Thomas Cromwell's administration, was placed in the churches, was a compilation of Tyndal's scattered translations, collected, edited, and completed by his friend Miles Coverdale. In that same year Tyndal came to his end, being put to death near Antwerp as a heretic. Coverdale's Bible served as the basis for all succeeding translations. Upon this and other versions of the reign of Henry VIII. was founded the Bishops' Bible, edited by Archbishop Parker; and although in the preparation of the present Authorized Version extraordinary care was bestowed upon its translation from the originals, the eminent divines employed on the task adhered as closely as possible to the language and style of its predecessors. 9. Learning and Literature.—In the sixteenth century, classical learning began to flourish in England, the study of the ancient Greek language, till then almost unknown, being introduced. William Grocyn, who having acquired a knowledge of Greek in Italy, had begun to teach it at Oxford about the end of the preceding century, is honoured as “the patriarch of English learning." He and a small knot of like-minded men in 1510 brought over the great scholar of the Netherlands, Erasmus, to teach at Cambridge. Thomas Linacre, eminent in medicine, who was the first president of the College of Physicians, also held high rank among men of learning. Sir Thomas More, a pupil of Grocyn, is the author of Utopia, a work in Latin, descriptive of an imaginary commonwealth, from which the epithet of "utopian" is now applied to fanciful political schemes. Although education was not general, yet in a select circle of scholarly taste or exalted rank the standard was high. Lady Jane Grey, who spoke, as well as wrote, Greek, Latin, Italian, and French, and also understood Hebrew and Arabic, was especially renowned for her learning. When found at home reading Plato, while the rest of the household were out hunting, she accounted for her love of books by saying that her parents were so harsh and severe, that she was never happy except when with her tutor, who was always gentle and pleasant. Henry VIII., himself a good scholar, had his children carefully taught. Sir John Cheke, one of the tutors of Edward VI., was the first professor of Greek in the University of Cambridge. He was a Protestant, but in Mary's reign recanted to save himself from burning, and pined to death with shame at his own weakness. Queen Elizabeth could speak Greek fairly, Latin fluently, and French and Italian as readily as her mother tongue; and these acquirements she kept up after she had ascended the throne, reading with her tutor Roger Ascham for some hours daily. Among the learned men who graced the reigns of Elizabeth and James was William Camden, author of the Britannia, a survey of the British Isles written in Latin, who founded in the University of Oxford an historical lecture, still called after him the Camden professorship. Francis Bacon, successively created Baron Verulam and Viscount St. Albans, who has already been spoken of as Lord Chancellor stands intellectually, though not morally, among the greatest of mankind. The philosophical work on which his fame rests is in Latin; but to ordinary readers he is best known by his English Essays, a name which he was the first to give to that species of composition. The finest of the Elizabethan prose authors was Richard Hooker, Master of the Temple, who defended the established form of Church government against the Puritans. Two of Elizabeth's favourite courtiers held literary rank-Sir Philip Sidney, author of the Arcadia, a half chivalrous, half pastoral romance, which, though to modern taste tedious, was long exceedingly popular; and Sir Walter Ralegh, who, while a prisoner in the Tower, employed himself in the laborious undertaking of writing a History of the World. This however he never finished. Much both of the poetry and prose of the time is deformed by a strained and fantastic style, of which the great master was John Lyly, from whose novel of Euphues it has got its name of Euphuism. IO. Poetry and the Drama.-The ill-fated Earl of Surrey, who died on the scaffold in 1547, was the first to introduce blank verse. Although he is more to be admired for his taste and polish than for genius, he was the leader of a school of poets who followed Italian models. Of these was the great Elizabethan poet, Edmund Spenser, author of the Faery Queen, a long though unfinished tale of chivalrous adventure, veiling a religious and political allegory. The age was fertile in poets, and some of the most spirited of the English ballads belong to the reigns of the Queen and her successor. Dramatic art was now making an advance. Of the earliest attempts, the mysteries or miracle plays, we have specimens as old as the time of Edward III. These were rude representations of Biblical stories, acted in churchyards or streets, which, in the days of few books and little general education, were thought useful for teaching Scripture history to the people. Next came the moral plays or allegorical dramas, which, in the time of Henry VIII., were distinguished by the introduction of a character called the Vice, who played a part much like that of Punch in the puppet-shows. The first regular English comedy was composed probably as early as the reign of Henry VIII., by Nicholas Udal, master first of Eton, and afterwards of Westminster School, who was wont to write plays for his scholars to act. Ralph Roister Doister was the uncouth name of this piece, which gave a picture of the manners of the London gallants and citizens. Under Elizabeth the taste spread, and a school of playwrights sprang up. These early dramatists however are almost forgotten, having been eclipsed by the glory of William Shakspere, the greatest name in English literature. Little is known of his life beyond the mere outline. Born at Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564, he became an actor and playwriter, and also held a share in the Blackfriars theatre, which was built in 1575. Retiring in his latter days to his native town, he there died in 1616. In the deep knowledge of human nature which his dramas display, no other has ever approached him; and he is further distinguished by his healthy moral tone, and by the national spirit, ardent though without being narrow, which pervades his historical plays. Other dramatists of high repute were Benjamin, or, as he is always called, Ben Jonson, and Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, who wrote for the most part in concert, and so identified themselves with each other that it is impossible to distinguish their respective shares in the plays bearing their joint names. After his comrade's death, Fletcher is said to have been sometimes assisted by Philip Massinger, the last of the great dramatic poets of the school of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Massinger died in the reign of Charles I. CHAPTER XXXIII. CHARLES I. Charles I.; Henrietta Maria; Petition of Right; murder of Buckingham (1)— Wentworth and Laud; the Star Chamber (2)—Shipmoney (3)—the Long Parliament; beheading of Strafford (4)— the Irish Rebellion; the Five Members; the Civil War; Presbyterians and Independents; Oliver Cromwell; battles of Marston Moor and Naseby; Charles given up by the Scots (5)-the Covenant; beheading of Laud (6)—the Army; second Civil War (7)—“ Pride's Purge;" the High Court of Justice (8)—trial and beheading of the King (9)—his children (10). 1. Charles I., 1625-1649. The Petition of Right.—Shortly after his accession the young King married Henrietta Maria, daughter of the great Henry IV. of France-an alliance which was not liked, as the bride was a Roman Catholic. Charles himself, dignified in his bearing, well conducted, and religious, was welcomed as a great improvement on his predecessor; but events soon showed that his father's |