given to the English nation the first translation of the entire Scriptures in their mother tongue, which he made, however, not from the original languages, but from the Latin Vulgate. The following are his reasons for this great undertaking:1 WICLIF'S APOLOGY. Oh Lord God! sithin' at the beginning of faith, so many men translated into Latin, and to great profit of Latin men; let one simple creature of God translate into English, for profit of Englishmen. For, if worldly clerks look well their chronicles and books, they shoulden find, that Bede translated the Bible, and expounded much in Saxon, that was English, either common language of this land, in his time. And not only Bede, but king Alfred, that founded Oxenford, translated in his last days, the beginning of the Psalter into Saxon, and would more, if he had lived longer. Also Frenchmen, Bemers, and Britons han the Bible and other books of devotion and exposition translated into their mother language. Why shoulden not Englishmen have the same in their mother language? I cannot wit." No, but for falseness and negligence of clerks, either for our people is not worthy to have so great grace and gift of God, in pain of their old sins. 4 THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF THE SCRIPTURES. Christian men and women, old and young, shoulden study fast in the New Testament, and that no simple man of wit should be aferde unmeasurably to study in the text of holy writ; that pride and covetisse of clerks," is cause of their blindness and heresy, and priveth them fro very understanding of holy writ. That the New Testament is of full autority, and open to understanding of simple men, as to the points that ben most needful to salvation; that the text of holy writ ben word of everlasting life, and that he that keepeth meekness and charity, hath the true understanding and perfection of all holy writ; that it seemeth open heresy to say that the Gospel with his truth and freedom sufficeth not to 1 For this noble labor, which he completed in 1380, he received abuse without measure from the priests. The following is but a mild specimen of papal rage. It is from one Henry Knyghton, a contemporary priest. "This master John Wiclif translated out of Latin into English, the Gospel which Christ had intrusted with the clergy and doctors of the church, that they might minister it to the laity and weaker sort, according to the exigency of times and their several occasions. So that by this means the Gospel is made vulgar, and laid more open to the laity, and even to women who could read, than it used to be to the most learned of the clergy, and those of the best understanding. And so the Gospel jewel, or evangelical pearl, is thrown about and trodden under foot of swine." Even in the third year of Henry V., (1415,) it was enacted by a Parliament held in Leicester, "that whosoever they were that should read the Scriptures in their mother tongue," (which was then called Wiclif's learning,) "they should forfeit land, cattle, body, life, and goods, from their heirs forever, and be condemned for heretics to God, enemies to the crown, and most arrant traitors to the and." 2 Since. 3 Or. 4 Bohemians. 5 Have. 6 Know, or tell. 7 Scholars. 8 Or because. salvation of Christian men, without keeping of ceremonies and statutes of sinful men and uncunning, that ben made in the time of Satanas and of Anti-Christ; that men ought to desire only the truth and freedom of the holy Gospel, and to accept man's law and ordinances only in as much as they ben grounded in holy scripture, either good reason and common profit of Christian people. That if any man in earth either angel of heaven teacheth us the contrary of holy writ, or any thing against reason and charity, we should flee from him in that, as fro the foul fiend of hell, and hold us stedfastly to life and death, to the truth and freedom of the holy Gospel of Jesus Christ; and take us meekly men's sayings and laws, only in as much as they accorden with holy writ and good consciences; no further, for life, neither for death. And so (says Wiclif) they would condemn the Holy Ghost, that gave it in tongues to the apostles of Christ, as it is written, to speak the word of God in all languages that were ordained of God under heaven, as it is written. MATTHEW, CHAP. V.1 2 And Jhesus seynge the peple, went up into an hil; and whanne he was sett, his disciplis camen to him. And he openyde his mouthe, and taughte hem; and seide, Blessid be pore men in spirit; for the kyngdom of hevenes is herun. Blessid ben mylde men: for thei schulen weelde the erthe. Blessid ben thei that mournen; for thei schal be coumfortid. Blessid be thei that hungren and thirsten rightwisnesse : for thei schal be fulfilled. Blessed ben merciful men: for thei schul gete mercy. Blessed ben thei that ben of clene herte: for thei schulen se God. Blessid ben pesible men: for thei schulen be clepid goddis children. Blessid ben thei that suffren persecucioun for rightwisnesse: for the kyngdom of hevenes is hern. Ye schul be blessid whanne men schul curse you, and schul pursue you: and schul seye al yvel agens you liynge for me. Joie ye and be ye glade for your meede is plenteous in hevenes: for so thei han pursued also prophetis that weren bifore you. Ye ben salt of the erthe, that if the salt vanishe awey wherynne schal it be salted? to nothing it is worth over, no but it be cast out, and be defoulid of men. Ye ben light of the world, a citee set on an hill may not be hid. Ne men teendith not a lanterne and puttith it undir a bushel: but on a candilstik that it give light to alle that ben in the hous. So, schyne your light bifore men, that thei see youre gode workis, and glorifie your fadir that is in hevenes. Nyle ghe deme that 1 The original spelling is preserved in this extract from Wiclif's Bible as a curiosity. I cam to undo the Lawe or the prophetis, I cam not to undo the lawe but to fulfille. Forsothe I sey to you till hevene and erthe passe, oon lettre, or oon title, schal not passe fro the Lawe til alle thingis be don. Therefore he that brekith oon of these leeste maundementis, and techith thus men, schal be clepid the Leest in the rewme of hevenes: but he that doth, and techith, schal be clepid greet in the kyngdom of hevenes. JOHN BARBOUR. 1326-1396. AMONG the very earliest of the poets of Scotland was John Barbour, Archdeacon of Aberdeen. But very little is known of his personal history. The only work of consequence which he has left, is entitled "Bruce." It is a metrical history of Robert the First (1306-1329)-of his exertions and achievements for the recovery of the independence of Scotland, including the principal transactions of his reign. Barbour, therefore, is to be considered in the double character of historian and poet. As he flourished in the age immediately following that of his hero, he enjoyed the advantage of hearing, from eye-witnesses themselves, narratives of the war for liberty. As a history, his work is good authority. He himself boasts of its "soothfastness;" and the lofty sentiments and vivid descriptions with which it abounds, prove the author to have been fitted by feeling and principle, as well as by situation, for the task which he undertook. As many of the words in Barbour are now obsolete, we will give but one quotation from his heroic poem. After the painful description of the slavery to which Scotland was reduced by Edward I., he breaks out in the following noble Apostrophe to Freedom. It is in a style of poetical feeling uncommon not only in that but many subsequent ages, and has been quoted with high praise by the most distinguished Scottish historians and critics. "A fredome is a nobill thing! Fredome mayse man to haiff liking! May nocht knaw weill the propyrte, Then all perquer he suld it wyt; 1 The following paraphrase of the above lines is taken from Chambers's Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen : Ah! freedom is a noble thing, And can to life a relish bring; ទ We now come to one of the brightest names in English literature to him who has been distinctively known as "The Father of English poetry”— Geoffrey Chaucer. Warton, with great beauty and justice, has compared the appearance of Chaucer in our language to "a premature day in an English spring, after which the gloom of winter returns, and the buds and blossoms which have been called forth by a transient sunshine, are nipped by frosts and scattered by storms." Chaucer was born probably about the year 1328, though all attempts to fix the precise year have utterly failed. His parentage is unknown, nor is there any certainty where he was educated. His great genius early attracted the notice of the reigning sovereign, Edward III., and he soon became the most popular personage in the brilliant court of that monarch. It was in this circle of royalty that he became attached to a lady whom he afterwards married, Philippa Pyknard. She was maid of honor to the queen Philippa, and a younger sister of the wife of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. By this connection, therefore, Chaucer acquired the powerful support of the Lancastrian family, and during his life his fortune fluctuated with theirs. To his courtly accomplishments he added much by foreign travel, having been commissioned by the king in 1372 to attend to some important matters of state at Genoa. While in Italy he became acquainted with Petrarch,1 and probably with Boccacio, whose works enriched his mind with fresh stores of learning Freedom all solace to man gives; He lives at ease that freely lives. 1 The three distinguished scholars of Italy of the fourteenth century were, DANTE, (1265-1321,) the father of modern Italian poetry; PETRARCH, (1304-1374,) the reviver of ancient learning, and the first founder and collector of any considerable library of ancient literature: and Boccacio, (1313 —1375,) the father of modern Italian prose. and images of beauty, and whose great success was doubtless a spur to his ambition to attain a like enviable fame. On his return home, the friendship and patronage of the reigning monarch were continued to him. He was made controller of the customs of wine and wool, the revenue from which office, together with a pension that was granted to him, gave him a liberal support. During the whole of the reign of Edward III., his genius and connections ensured to him prosperity, and also during the period of John of Gaunt's influence in the succeeding reign of Richard II., 1377—1399. But during the waning fortunes of that nobleman, Chaucer also suffered, and was indeed imprisoned for a short time; but on the return of the Duke of Lancaster from Spain, 1389, he had once more a steady protector, and on the accession of Henry IV., he had an additional annuity conferred upon him. But he did not live long to enjoy this accession to his fortune, for he died on the twenty-fifth of October, 1400, and was interred in Westminster Abbey. We know little of Chaucer as a member of society; but we know that he had mingled with the world's affairs, both at home and abroad. Accomplished in manners and intimately acquainted with a splendid court, he was at once the philosopher who had surveyed mankind in their widest sphere, the poet who haunted the solitudes of nature, and the elegant courtier whose opulent tastes are often discovered in the graceful pomp of his descriptions. The vigorous yet finished paintings, with which his works abound, are still, notwithstanding the roughness of their clothing, beauties of a highly poetical nature. The ear may not always be satisfied, but the mind of the reader is always filled.1 Chaucer's genius, like Cowper's, was not fully developed till he was advanced in years; for it was not until he was about sixty, in the calm evening of a busy life, that he composed his great work on which his fame chiefly rests, his CANTERBURY TALES. He took the idea, doubtless, from the Decameron of Boccacio,2 at that time one of the most popular of books. He supposes that a company of pilgrims, consisting of twenty-nine "sundry folk," meet together at the Tabard inn, Southwark, on their way to the shrine of Thomas á Becket,4 at Canterbury. While at supper they agreed, at the suggestion of their host, not only to pursue their journey together the next morning, but, in order to render their way the more interesting, that each should divert the others with a tale, both in going and returning, and that whoever told the best, should have a supper at the expense of the rest; and that the landlord should be the judge. It will thus be seen that the plan of Chaucer is vastly superior to that of Boccacio. His characters, instead of being youthful and from the same city, 1 Read Hippisley's Early English Literature: also, Todd's Illustrations of Gower and Chaucer. "I take unceasing delight in Chaucer. His manly cheerfulness is especially delicious in my old age. How exquisitely tender he is."-Coleridge's Table Talk. Read, also, Chaucer Modernized, 1 vol. 12mo, with a well-written introduction on English poetry by R. H. Horne, and versifications by Wordsworth, Leigh Hunt, and others. 2 Boccacio supposes that when the plague began to abate in Florence, (1348,) ten young persons of both sexes retired to the country to enjoy the fresh air, and pass TEN DAYS agreeably. (Hence the name DECAMERON, from the Greek dɛɛα (deka) “ten,” and ǹμɛpa (hemera) "a day." Their principal amusement was in telling tales in turn; and as each of the ten told a story a day, and as they continued together ten days, the Decameron consists of one hundred tales. 3 Opposite the city of London, on the Thames. 4 For the murder of this famous archbishop in the reign of Henry II., A. D. 1171, see History of Er and, Canterbury is 53 miles south-east from London. |