Ms^aiiiPne Bible i)t €arlp ilrinters of €tiinburg}) UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES :'|^ '*.-?! ^ /W^Jf' If^^ THE BASSANDYNE BIBLE. Vignette from Title-page of Bassandyne Bible. HISTORY OF THE Bassandyne Bible The First Printed in Scotland WITH NOTICES OF Z^t 6arfg (printerfi of (EbinBur^^ WILLIAM T. DOBSON AUTHOR OF LITERARY FRIVOLITIES," " POETICAL INGENUITIES, " KOVAL CHARACTERS OF SCOTT," ETC. ETC. IViTH Facsimiles and other Illustrations WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MDCCCLXXXVII \ All rights reseried \ BAI.I.ANTVNK, HANSON AND CO. HDINBIIRGH AND I.ONUON PREFACE. M -J CO HE history and pedigree of books and their writers is no new attraction to the curious, as is evidenced by the numerous scholarly treatises on this branch of knowledge. There appears to be a kind of romantic interest attached to all that concerns rare old editions, and the story of their production is often the story, on the part of either printer or publisher, of perseverance and energy in over- coming no ordinary difficulties. These men seem frequently to have been carried forward by a genuine faith and enthusiasm in the prosecution of the work to which they had given themselves, devoting, as they did, much labour, thought, and anxiety to the accomplishment of their purpose. No doubt the early printers were hampered much by the ignorance and superstition of the common people of the time, to whom their work would appear very mysterious, and it would be long ere the feeling of awe resulting from the strange secrecy which brooded over the houses of the early printers could be shaken off. ^4 viii (jJreface. We cannot but feel amused if we endeavour to picture to our minds the consternation excited by the first printed Bibles exposed for sale. Con- ceive a meeting of two fat friars, both bibliophiles and connoisseurs in manuscripts, quite in raptures over the neat clean copies of the Vulgate which they have managed to secure at an obvious bargain from the German stranger. Each praises his own through all the forms of the superlative. At last the volumes are brought forth and diligently com- pared, when, to the amazement and horror of the two reverend fathers, they are found to be exact counterparts — neither can distinguish his own. They fear to touch the Doppclgdnger — they fear to burn their fingers — there must evidently have been some fell sinister influence at work here ; but then arises the question whether his Satanic majesty could endure the sight of the Word of Truth long enough to produce such exact copies. Difficulties and trials and troubles certainly lay in the way of the early printers, yet it is aston- ishing, in examining old books, to see how soon after the introduction of the art all that was neces- sary to it was found out and developed in the way of "imposing," "registering," "signaturing," and the binding of the sheets of a book. So far as concerns these, we have not, in these days of much mechanical achievement, improved upon the methods of the early craftsmen, while the rapid production now generally aimed at must be, in a great measure, to the neglect of those finer preface. ix features of the art so much cultivated and developed by them. "A real study of our early printed books," says Mr. Blades in his " Life of Caxton," " brings with it a knowledge, more or less, of all the arts and sciences taught in the fifteenth and sixteenth cen- turies. In this lies one of its chief attractions to the bibliographer. The invention of printing gave new life to all branches of knowledge, and if we thoughtfully consider the wonderful effects which have proceeded from it — effects far more important to mankind than even the discovery of steam power, electric power, or any other inven- tion — we shall surely feel deeply interested in all that concerns its introduction and spread in our country." With a feeling akin to this the present writer has sought to give a brief account of some of the early printers of Edinburgh, and particularly of Thomas Bassandyne and the first Bible printed in Scotland, with the difficulties and impediments which lay in the way of its production. In con- nection with this, the little volume will be found to contain many curious and interesting things — things honest and of good report — things of histo- rical and antiquarian interest and value — not readily accessible to ordinary readers, relating to the books and printers of Old Edinburgh. It was not thought, when the work was begun, that information regard- ing Thomas Bassandyne and his Bible would be so very difficult to procure ; but only a few books X (preface. of the many consulted proved to be of much service, and the information had to be gathered piecemeal, here a little and there a little, out of many outlying nooks and corners of our old literature. Histories of the period, and other books which were thought to be most likely to give contemporary side-views of local incidents, were almost absolutely barren in this direction, while even volumes treating of Typographical Antiquities, full enough in other respects, tell comparatively little about Bassan- dyne and his Bible. Even James Watson, an Edinburgh printer of the end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth centuries, gives no information, though he wrote one of the earliest works on the History of Printing — a book one would naturally have supposed to contain some notice of the old printer and his work. Limited time and opportunities may well render this contribution to the socio-history of Edinburgh less complete than otherwise it might be, but the writer has conscientiously availed himself of every advantage within his reach, and where defects or omissions may be found, for these every apology is tendered. It is given to few to feel assured that every particular of a cherished object has been duly accomplished, and the present writer cannot say he is of that happy minorit}', and can only hope that this effort may lead some abler individual to follow suit in the composition of a fuller and more comprehensive work regarding the early printers of Edinburgh. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGK Introduction of the Bible into Scotland . . • i? The Reformation — Importation of Bibles — Patrick Hamil- ton — Henry Forrest — Alexander Ales— The Bible Pro- hibited — Secular Literature — Sir David Lyndsay — Cardinal Beaton— Scots Parliament of March 1543— Reading of the Bible Permitted — The Earl of Arran — Renewal of Per- secution — George Wishart. CHAPTER II. Translations of the Biile ..... 39 The Invention of Printing — Erasmus — William Tyndale — His New Testament — Bishop Tonstal — Burning the Bible — Martyrdom of Tyndale — Coverdale — Matthews' Bible — Taverner's Bible — The Great Bible— Prohibition of the Bible — Queen Mary of England — Bishop Bonner — ^John Bodley — The Geneva Version. CHAPTER III, Introduction of Printing into Edinburgh . . 69 James IV. — Androw Myllar — Walter Chepman— The " Por- teous of Noblenes " — The " Breviarium Aberdonense" — The Poet Dunbar — John Story— Thomas Davidson — PAGE Contents. License to Print Acts of Parliament — John Scott — The " Complaynte of Scotland" — Hamilton's " Catechisme" — The "Twopenny Faith" — Restrictions on the Press — The "Tragedy of the Cardinal" — Niniane Winzet — Henrie Charteris — The General Assembly and the Printers — Robert Lekprevik — First License to Print the Bible — The ' ' Donat " — Regent Morton — Satires against the Regent. CHAPTER IV. Bassandyne and Arhuthnot . . . . loi "Fall of the Roman Kirk" — Alexander Arbuthnot — Pro- posal to Print the IMble — Assent of the General Assembly — The " Corrector" and " Composer" — Impediments and Difficulties — Government License for Bible — Partnership Disputes— Pubhcation of the Bible — The Dedicatory Epistle — Enforced Sale of the Bible — Arbuthnot appointed King's Printer — Thomas Vautrollier, a Huguenot Printer. CHAPTER V. The Bassandyne Bible . . . . . .126 Collation — Size and Type — Title and Vignette — The Illus- trations — The Genevan "Copy" used — The "Arguments" and Notes— King James the Sixth and the Genevan Notes — The Apocrypha — Tables and Indexes. CHAPTER VI. The Successors of Bassandyne . . . -15^ Popular Books — "The Seven Sages" — George Young — Books Printed on the Continent — Andro Hart— Thomas Norton — Customs Daties on Books — Hart's Folio Bible — Napier's Logarithms—" Booke of Godlie and Spirituall Sangs" — Thomas Finlayson — Sir John Skene — " Regiam Majestatem " — Robert Young — The Archbishop of Canter- Contentg. xiii bury's Bibles — The Scottish Service Book — Covenanting Troubles — Proclamations of Charles the First — ' ' The Remonstrance of the Nobility," &c. CHAPTER VII. Evan Tyler — The Andersons . . . -177 Evan Tyler — New Presbyterian Psalm Book — Archibald Hyslop — Andro Anderson — Monopoly of Printing — Robert Sanders — Sir Thomas Murray and the Statutes — Mrs. Anderson — Incorrect Bibles — Curious Blunders — "Satan's Invisible World Discovered" — The Lord Chancellor and the Bookseller — "The Root of Romish Ceremonies." CHAPTER VIII. TVatson, Symson, and Ruddbnan . . . -194 James Watson — The Darien Riots — The Edinburgh Gazette — Captain Donaldson — The Courant — Adam Boig — Scot- tish Newspapers — Robert Freebairn — First History of Printing — Rebellion of 1715— Watson's Bibles — Andrew Symson — Thomas Ruddiman, Author and Printer — First Sale of Books by Auction— The Caledonian Mercury. List of Authorities . . . . . .221 Index ......... 223 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Vignette from Title of Bassandyne Bible . . Frontispiece Sir David Lyndsay ....... Page 33 First Page of Tyndale's Testament ..... 43 Burning Bibles at PauPs Cross . . . . . . 51 The Chained Bible . . . . . . . . 61 Andro^v Myllar's Device 77 Sixteenth Century Printing-Office . . . . . 91 Bookbinding in Sixteenth Century . . . . .109 Paper-tnaking in Sixteenth Century . . . . .113 Title of Bassandyne' s New Testament 117 Initial from Tyndale's Testament . . . . . .126 Facsimile page {reduced) of Bassatidyne Bible . . . 127 Gardc7t of Eden, from Bassandyne Bible . . . . 135 The Ark, from Bassatuiyne Bible . . . . . .143 Ped Sea, from Bassandyne Bible . . . . ■ .151 Initial from Bassandyne Bible . . . . . .176 Title-page of Evan Tyler's Scotch Psalms for English Printed Bibles 179 Thomas Ruddiman 215 Zhe Bassanb^ne Bible. CHAPTER I. Introduction of the Bible into Scotland. HE doctrines of the Reformation, more especially those which asserted the supreme authority of the written Word and the independence of the individual conscience from all ecclesiastical domination, had made con- siderable progress in Scotland about 1525, aided latterly by the importation of some of Luther's writings. This greatly alarmed the clergy, to whom the name of the great Reformer was a word of terror, and they procured an Act of Parliament in 1525, requiring that "no manner of persons strangers that happened to arrive with their ships, within any part of the realm, should bring with them any books of the said Luther, his disciples, or servants, on pain of imprisonment, besides the forfeiture B €^e (§aBBan^isne QBifife. forfeiture of their ships and goods." This edict seemingly failed to effect their purpose, and fresh alarm seized the clergy because of a rumour that the forbidden works were being brought into the country by the "king's lieges." In August 1527, accordingly, an additional clause was added to the former edict. " That all other, the king's lieges, assistaries to such opinions, be punished in seem- able wise, and the effect of the said Act to strike upon them." As the importation of " books of religion " was a clandestine and dangerous traffic, there is no distinct record of it, though little doubt exists that some of Luther's writings had entered Scotland by this time, but the only books which can be certainly traced were copies of T3'ndale's New Testament. Not only was this the case in Scotland, but also in England — both countries being supplied from the Continent; and neither, though so closely connected, being in this matter dependent on the other. John Hackett was English ambassador in Antwerp at the time of this clandestine importation, and one of his duties was to purchase and burn, or " see justice done," to all such English books as were called the New Testament, " for the preservation of Chris- tian faith." In a letter dated 20th February 1526, Hackett informed Cardinal Wolsey that " there were tH Q^ifife in ^coffanb. 19 were divers merchants of Scotland that bought many like books, and sent them from Zealand into Scot- land; a part to Edinburgh, and more part to the town of St, Andrews." As February was the closing month of the year, which then began in March, it is evident, from the first edict referred to above, that these were not the first copies of Tyndale's New Testament brought into Scotland in that manner ; as, besides St. Andrews, the ports of Leith, Montrose, and Aberdeen traded with Zealand. No official steps to exclude the Bible by name being taken for five years after this, it may reasonably be inferred that many copies entered again and again by those ports, and that the best part of them, as Hackett says, found their way to St. Andrews, " the very metropolis of super- stition." By the reception of the Bible into the country, the years 1525 and 1526 thus became, as has been well said, " by far the most remarkable in the annals of Scotland." The welcome the Book received, however, was not an unmixed one. The common people received it gladly, but its introduc- tion met with fierce opposition from men in authority — alike from clergy, lawgivers and lawyers, and scholars, who deprecated its admission as an evil of the greatest magnitude ; for they very soon realised 20 t'^e ^asean^i^ne Q$i6fe. realised that, if the Scriptures once got possession of the minds of the people, their authority and influence would ultimately be undermined. One Scottish priest wrote against the common people having the Word of God in their own hands as follows : " Are all merchands, tailours, souters, baxters, wha cannot learne their awin craftes without skilful maisters, ar thir, I say, and uther temporal men, of whatsomever vocation or degree, sufficient doctor of thame selfis to reid and under- stand the hie mysteries of the Bible ? What folie is it that wemen, wha cannot sew, cairde, nor spin, without they lerne the same of uther skilful wemen, suld usurp to reid and interpret the Bible !" About the same time. Dr. Buckenham, prior of Blackfriars, London, spoke at Cambridge in a similar strain of the danger of having the Scriptures in the native tongue : " If that heresy," said he, " should prevail, we should soon see an end of everything useful among us. The ploughman read- ing that if he put his hand to the plough, and should happen to look back, he was unfit for the kingdom of God, would soon lay aside his labour ; the baker, likewise, reading that a little leaven will corrupt the whole lump, would give us very insipid bread ; the simple man likewise finding himself commanded to pluck out his eyes, in a few years we t^e (§me in ^coffan^. we should have the nation full of blind beggars." When those in authority held such repressive opinions, it is no wonder that martyrdom soon followed in the track of Tyndale's New Testament — that it brought not peace, but a sword. In February 1528, at the very time Cuthbert Tonstal and his vicar-general were sitting in judgment upon the Word of God in London, it was also being condemned in Scotland by the martyrdom of Patrick Hamilton, the leader of the noble army of martyrs in the British Isles during the sixteenth century. Patrick Hamilton, born in 1504, and the great- grandson of James the Second, received the elements of his education at St. Andrews, and afterwards studied on the Continent, chiefly at Paris and Louvaine. On his return to Scotland, to find his mother a widow, his father having been slain in the feud between the Douglases and the Hamiltons on the 30th April 1520, Patrick was again entered at St. Andrews, then the centre of ecclesiastical influence in Scotland, in whose castle the Primate resided, and there pursued his theological studies with special reference to the controversy regarding the doctrines of the Reformation, of which he had heard so much on the Continent. He was not at this early period inclined to Luther — he rather pre- ferred €^c Q$a66anbgne (J$i6fe. ferred Erasmus ; but though he had been Abbot of Feme from his boyhood, such was his hatred to monkish hypocrisy, that an old biographer says "he never assumed the monkish habit or resided with the monks." It is evident that Hamilton when he took orders had no thought of separating himself from the Romish Church, but it was not long before, like Luther, he was driven from her communion, as the conviction forced itself on him that allegiance to the Word of God and to the Pope were incompatible. With increased interest he continued his studies, and especially that of the Scriptures, though he had not as yet seen them in English. However, a copy of Tyndale's New Testament, one of those furtively brought into the country in bales of merchandise, at length fell into Hamilton's hands at St. Andrews, and rumours that he held heretical opinions soon reached Arch- bishop Beaton, who consequently caused " faith- ful inquisition " to be made, and discovered that Hamilton was infected with "heresy, disputing, hold- ing, and manifesting divers heresies of Luther." His liberty and life being now in danger, Patrick Hamilton fled to Germany, and eventually reached Wittemberg, where he found himself side by side with Luther. The happy results which he now saw in Germany, as the fruit of the circulation of the t^e Igifife in ^cotfanb. 23 the Scriptures, both astonished and deHghted him ; the monasteries were deserted, and the churches, purified from Romish observances, now echoed with the voice of prayer and praise in a language which the people could understand. From Wittemberg Hamilton went to Marburg, and became the friend of Francis Lambert, John Fryth, and of William Tyndale, the latter being then busy with his translation of the Old Testa- ment. Hamilton's name stands among the earliest members of the University of Marburg, the first great school which, after the lapse of centuries, was established independently of Papal sanction. Late in the autumn of 1527, Hamilton returned to Scotland, with the resolve at any cost to expose the corruptions of Rome, and enforce " the reading of the Scriptures, and the necessity of repentance towards God and faith in Christ, in order to good works." The ardour with which Hamilton now preached the new doctrines, his learning, courtesy, blameless character, and noble birth, gave great weight to his teaching, and made him specially obnoxious to the clergy, who were panic-struck at his courage. These upholders of the " old learn- ing" therefore determined to crush the heresy at once, lest it should take root in the land. Taking advantage of King James V.'s absence on a pilgrim- age 24 ^^e (§aBBan^isne Q$i6fe. age to St. Duthack's, Beaton summoned Hamilton from Feme to St. Andrews, promising him safety ; but Patrick's friends, seeing his danger, advised him to fly for his life. Not accepting this advice, Hamilton was arrested one night in bed, and carried to the Castle of St. Andrews. Next day, in the presence of the Cardinal, thirteen articles were laid to his charge by Alexander Campbell, a Dominican friar, an inveterate and mortal enemy of his ; and during the examination the head and front of Hamilton's offending was proved to be, his having enforced the reading of the New Testament in English. On the same day on which his judges returned their verdict of guilty, Saturday, Feb- ruary 28, 1528, notwithstanding the Archbishop's promise, he was burnt at the stake, opposite St. Salvador's College, and his body reduced to ashes, before the sun went down. The second martyr at St. Andrews, Henry Forrest, a Benedictine monk of Linlithgow, was also a young man. His martyrdom took place in I533> "for nou uther crime but because he had ane New Testament in Engliss," and had been heard to say that Patrick Hamilton was a true martyr. " He suffered death at the north stile of the Abbe}'- Church of St. Andrews, to the intent that all the people of Forfar and Angus might see the fire, and so t^e (f tfife in ^coffanb. 25 so might be the more feared from faUing into the like doctrine, which they call heresy." Throughout Scotland the martyrdom of Patrick Hamilton aroused much excitement, and nowhere was the feeling deeper than in St. Andrews itself, the Rome of Scotland, and it provoked inquiry everywhere into the reason why he had suffered, and in many cases inquiry led to the new doctrines being embraced. Among those who now cast in their lot with the " New Testamenters," as they began to be called, was Alexander Seaton, the king's confessor ; and the clergy in consequence became generall}'' more and more alarmed, wondering how it would all end. " My lord," said the shrewd John Lindsay to Archbishop Beaton, " if ye burn any more, except 3^e follow my counsel, ye will utterly destroy yourselves. If ye will burn them, let it be in how [hollow] cellars, for the reek [smoke] of Master Patrick Hamilton has infected as many as it blew upon." Despite this and similar warn- ings, an earnest search after heretics began, and for some years many of Scotland's nobility, as well as canons and friars, suffered martyrdom for the Protestant faith, while others recanted, fearing the terrible death which awaited them, and many more fled to England and to the Continent for shelter from their ecclesiastical persecutors. During 26 ^^e (J5a60anbpnc QSifife. During the years between 1 529 and 1 534, frequent traces are met with of the continued arrival of the New Testament. While searching for Tyndale at Cologne, copies of his translation were discovered, " which would," says the inquisitor, writing to Wolsey, " but for my interposition, have been pressed together, and covered over with flax, and, enclosed in packages, would, in time, without any suspicion, have been transmitted by sea into Scot- land and England, and have been sold as merely waste paper." All through these years, the first decided controversy in Britain, which respected the right of every one, " both high and low, rich and poor together," to read the Scriptures in their own tongue, was being carried on. In the forefront of this controversy in Scotland was Alexander Ales, a priest and canon of the Cathedral of St. Andrews. He was but twenty-eight years old when the start- ling fact transpired that by means of prohibited books some canons and students were infected by the " new learning." Ales read the books to refute them, and when Patrick Hamilton was delivered unto death, he strove to reclaim him and save his life. But he failed ; and, overcome by the argu- ments, and still more by the noble constancy of the martyr, he acknowledged himself conquered, and embraced the new doctrines. His faith was sorely tested, t^c (gim in ^coffan^. tested, and after much endurance, he fled to Dundee, from which place he sailed for the Continent in 1 5 3 1. Scarcely had Ales escaped, when the bishops issued an order to prohibit the New Testament from being read or sold in the country. In England, as well as Scotland, the ecclesiastical authorities were at one on this matter — the repres- sion of the Scriptures : and yet for some years past, in both countries, they had been welcomed, and held fast by multitudes even unto death ; while, as if to show that the work was altogether independent of human control, those two men — William Tyn- dale, the English translator of the New Testament, and Alexander Ales, the principal advocate of its free circulation in Scotland, stood, as it were, aloof, both exiles in a strange land. Neither of them ever returned to their native countries, and Tyndale suffered martyrdom in 1536 at Vilvorde ; but still the work went on. The opposition in Scotland to the Bible continued to gather strength, and on the 8th June I535» Parliament not only confirmed the Acts of 1525 and 1527 against prohibited books, but further enacted that " all persons having such books should deliver them up within forty days, under penalty of confiscation and imprisonment." " Discussion of opinions " was likewise forbidden, an exception being 28 t^e O$a0ean^gne Q0i6fe. being made in favour of " clerks in the schools," who might read in order to be able to refute them, and at length, in May 1536, the "reading of God's Word in the vulgar tongue was publicly prohibited." In spite of all this, many of the people were well- disposed to the Scriptures, and at midnight the " New Testamenters " assembled in secret — the Bible was brought from its hiding-place and read by one while the others listened around, and thus the Gospel took firm root throughout the land. Secular literature, in the form of popular songs and satirical verse, was also brought into the servnce of the Reforming party, and this contributed greatly to expose the ignorance, superstition, and immorality of the Romish clergy of the time.'" These rhymes and ballads being easily committed to memor}'-, were repeated from one to another — no small advantage to the cause at a time when the then young * Ignorant, however, as the Scottish clergy were, they were perhaps not more so than many on the Continent at the same time. " A foreign monk, declaiming one day in the pulpit against Lutherans and Zuinglians, said to his audience : A new language was invented some time ago, which has been the mother of all these heresies — the Greek. A book is printed in this language, called the New Testament, which contains many dangerous things. Another language is noiv forfning, the Hebrew; whoever learns it immediately becomes a Jew." — M^ Criers Life 0/ Knox. t^e 0$t6fe in ^coffan^. 29 young art of printing was under ecclesiastical control. In this way perhaps the writings of Sir David Lyndsay had probably the most influence upon the Scottish Reformation, as these were universally popular, and though the bishops managed to have several laws passed against the circulation of his rhymes, they long outlived their enemies. Lyndsay's longest and gravest work, " Ane Dialog betuix Experience and Ane Courteour," is in a lofty tone, and in this poem " Experience " reviews the history of all the mighty bygone kingdoms ; there being also a strong appeal in favour of the translation of the Scriptures into the vernacular tongue, from which there follows an extract, slightly modernised in spelling : " Prudent Saint Paul doth make narration, Touching the divers Leed of every land, Saying there have been more edification In five vpords, that folk do understand, Then to pronounce of words ten thousand In strange language, and knows not what it means ; I think such prattling is not worth two preens. " Unlearned people on the holy day, Solemnedly they hear the Evangell sung, Not knowing what the Priest doth sing or say, But as a Bell when that they hear it rung ; Yet would the Priests in their mother tongue Passe 3° €^e Q$a60an^gne QSifife. Passe to the Pulpet, and that doctrine declare To Laicke people, it were more necessare. " I would that Prelates and Doctors of the Law With Laicke people were not discontent, Though we into our vulgar tongue did knaw Of Christ Jesus the Lyfe and Testament, And how that we should keep commandement. But in our language let us pray and read Our Pater noster, Ave, and our Creed. " I would some Prince of great discretion, In vulgar language plainly causde translate The needful Lawes of this Region : Then would there not be halfe so great debate Among us people of the low estate. If every man the verity did knawe, We needed not to treat these men of Law. " To do our neighbour wrong, we would beware, If we did fear the Lawes punishment : There would not be such brawling at the Bar, Nor men of Law clime to such Royal rent, To keep the Law : if all men were content. And each man do as he would be done to, The Judges would get little thing adoe. " The prophet David King of Israel, Compylde the pleasant Psalmes of the Psalter In his own proper tongue, as I here tell : And Solomon, which was his Son and Haire, Did make his Book into his tongue vulgare : Why should not their sayings be to us shown In our language, I would the cause were known. Let t^e (§iMe in §cotfanb, 31 " Let Doctors write their curious questions, And arguments sown full of sophistries, Their Logick, and their high opinions, Their dark judgements of Astronomie, Their Medicine, and their Philosophic ; Let Poets show their glorious engine, As ever they please, in Greek or in Latine. " But let us have the books necessare To Common-wealth and our Salvation Justly translated in our tongue vulgare ; And eke I make you supplication, O gentle Reader, have none indignation, Thinking to meddle with so high matter. Now to my purpose forward will I fare." Among the many efforts of the intolerant ecclesiastical party, reference may be here made to one which was put forth on the 2d March 1558, when a provincial Synod — worthy of notice as the last ever held in Scotland during Roman Cathohc times — was held in the Black Friars' Church, to consult regarding measures for preserving the faith against the Reforming party of the " Congregation." Amongst other things decreed by this Synod, was the denouncing of Sir David Lyndsay's works, which were ordered to be burnt. No doubt the poet deserved some such reprisal at their hands, for he was very severe on the ignorant Romish clergy of his time, as in the satirical poem of " Kittie's 3 2 €^e (§aeeantisne Q$i6fe. " Kittie's Confession," wherein an ignorant father- confessor is alluded to with sly humour : " He speirit monie strange case, How that my lufe did me embrace. . . . He me absolvit for ane plack, Thocht he with me na price wad mak ; And mekil Latine did he mummill ; I heard na thing but hummill bummill." But the poet was already in his grave when his writings were thus condemned — Lyndsay having died, it is supposed, about the end of 1557. Pre- vious to the Reformation, the corruptions of the Church had risen to a greater height in Scotland than in any other nation within the pale of the Western Church ; and the abuses in morals, to- gether with differences in purely religious matters, had much to do with the spread of the Reforming doctrines. Yet there were other causes at work also, of a perhaps more practical nature. There was, first, the collision between the higher ecclesi- astics and the nobility ; for a long time the latter had seen their property and their power taken from them to enrich the priesthood, and when a set of teachers arose who taught that the clergy had no right to the position and wealth they had assumed, the nobles were very willing to be convinced. As regards the poorer classes, again, the tithes and other t^e Q$t6fe in ^cotfan^. 33 other dues exacted by the Church had long been felt to be a grievous burden, and they were thus SIR DAVID LYNDSAY.* also ready enough to follow in the track of their native nobility. Besides * From frontispiece to Pinkerton's "Scottish Poems." 3 vols. London, 1792. c 34 €^e Q5a66anbpne (J$tfife» Besides the poet Lyndsay, many persons of rank had thus adopted the new doctrines previous to 1540, among whom were the Earl of Glencairn, his son, Lord Kilmaurs, the Earl of Errol, Lord Ruthven, and others, several of whom narrowly escaped the fate of Patrick Hamilton. They pro- bably would have suffered, had not King James V. himself died on the 14th December 1542. Upon the death of the king, Cardinal Beaton presented to the nobility a forged will, in the hope that by this means he might procure the regency of the kingdom for himself during the minority of the infant Queen Mary. His scheme failed, for within forty-eight hours after the burial of James V. on the 8th January, James Hamilton, the second Earl of Arran, was proclaimed Protector and Governor of the kingdom, and the defeated Cardinal was thrown into prison for a time. Shortly after, on the 1 2th March 1543, "the most substantious Parliament that ever was seen in Scotland in any man's remembrance " was called together. Busi- ness began on a Tuesday, and lasted only for three days. On the last day, Robert, Lord Maxwell, a nobleman well disposed towards the New Testa- menters, though, while Beaton was in full sway, he was careful to avoid gaining notoriety regard- ing his opinions, brought in a bill to allow " the Scriptures t^e Q5i6fe in ^coffanb. 35 Scriptures to be read by all, without any limita- tion," and " in the vulgar tongue." This proposal met with fierce opposition from the ecclesiastics present in Parliament, but in spite of all their efforts the bill passed, and stands to this day un- repealed in the statute-book of the country. This bill was in part as follows : "It is statute, and ordanit, that it sal be lefull to all our sovirane ladyis leiges to have the haly writ, to wit, the New Testament and the Auld, in the vulgar toung, in Inglis, and Scotis, of an gude and trew translation, and that thai sal incur na crimes for the hefing and reding of the samen ; providing always that na man dispute, or hald opinizeonis under the pains conteinit in the actis of parliament. The lordis of Articklis beand avisit with the said writting, finds the samin resonable, and therefore thinkis that the samin may be usit amongis all the lieges of this realme of our vulgar toung, of an gude, trew, and just translation, because there was na law shewn, nor producit in the contrar ; and that none of our soverane ladyis legiges incur ony crimes for haifing, or reding of the samin, in form as said is, nor sail be accusit therefor in time coming ; and that na personis dispute, argou, or hold oppunionis of the samin, under the saidis painis containit in the foresaidis actis of parliament." The Regent's proclamation, on the 19th March 1543, regarding this bill was as follows : " C/erk of Register. — It is our will and we charge you, that 3 6 t^c OSaesanbgne Q$i6fe. that ye gar proclaim this day in the mercat cross of Edin- burgh, the Acts made in our Sovereign lady's Parliament, that should be proclaimed and given forth to her lieges ; and in special, the Act made for having of the New Testament in vulgar tongue, with certain additions, and thereafter give forth the copies thereof authentic, as effeiris, to all them that will desire the samyn, and insert this our command and charge in the books of Par- liament for your warrant. Subscrivit with our own hand at Edinburgh, the 19th day of March, the year of God 1543 years. "James G[ubernator]." Still there was in this Act a certain limitation, in so far that while liberty was granted to read the Scriptures, it forbade all discussion upon the doctrines taught in them, under the pains contained in the former Acts of Parliament, and this limita- tion proved to be a source of much trouble in after years. Looking back upon the passing of this bill of March 1543, some twenty-five years after- wards, John Knox writes of the memorable event : " This was no small victory of Christ Jesus, fight- ing against the enemies of His verity : not small comfort to such as were before holden in such bondage, that they durst not have read the Lord's Prayer, the ten commandments, nor the articles of their faith in the English tongue, but they should have been accused of heresy. Then might have been t^e (J?i6fe in ^coffan^. 37 been seen the Bible lying upon almost every gen- tleman's table ; the New Testament was borne about in many men's hands." On the 3rd September 1543, the Earl of Arran, at the Franciscan convent of Stirling, publicly re- nounced all connection and abjured all sympathy with the Reformed religion ; and being now recon- ciled to Beaton, at the same time received absolu- tion at the hands of the Primate, whom he had proclaimed a traitor and had thrown into prison in the preceding January. The Cardinal having regained authority, it is not surprising that per- secution, more bitter and more relentless than hitherto, set in anew against those who dared to express opinions contrary to the dogmas of the Church of Rome. It was then that George Wishart, one of the boldest among the promoters of the Reformation, suffered martyrdom, March 28, 1546 — hurried to death without even the semblance of a trial by Cardinal Beaton, who was himself in the May following assassinated at St. Andrews, and with his death the worst features of the evil tyranny of the Romish Church in Scotland came to an end. It is not to be wondered at that during those dark days of persecution no edition of the entire Bible, or even of the New Testament separately, was 41G7C4 .38 t^e (30a60an^l?ne Q$i6fe. was ever printed at the Scottish press, now many years in existence, though copies of these were to be found in almost every parish in Scotland. It was not till 1579 — thirty-three years after the death of Beaton, its bitter enemy, and seven after the death of Knox, its friend and advocate, that the first copy of the Bible was printed in Scotland. Chapter CHAPTER II. Translations of the Bible. ANY attempts were made during the Middle Ages to satisfy the constant desire of rehgious people to possess the Scriptures in their native tongue, and transla- tions of the Bible in manuscript were made by Wickliffe, Nicolas de Hereford, and John Purvey. These again were copied by friendly hands, and distributed amongst eager purchasers throughout the country. Bitter opposition was made to the circulation of these MS. Bibles, which never indeed could be very plentiful — the labour of transcription being so great — and the possession of a copy in- volving risks so serious, it became even dangerous to possess them ; but all the zeal which the opponents of the Scriptures could display was not sufficient to destroy every copy, or tread down the sparks of spiritual life which had been kindled by their perusal. Just at this time, when the European mind was waking up from the sleep of ages, and new ideas eager 40 €H (30a06an^ene Q$i6fe. eager for dissemination could not wait the slow and uncertain quill of the copyist, and when the Book had been rendered into the native tongue, the needful instrument for its wide-spread diffusion was invented. At the fitting epoch in God's providence, the art of printing was discovered, and soon proved, with its speed of impression and power of multi- plication, the best handmaid for the dissemination of the truth ; among the first, if not the very first com- plete volume which the art gave to the world being a Latin Bible — now called by way of distinction the " Mazarin Bible " — whose date is about 1450. Within a few years after this. Bibles were printed in France, Italy, Holland, and Germany in the native languages ; but these, valuable as they were to their own countries, were of less value than that which was afterwards given to England, being made generally from Latin MS, Bibles, and therefore faulty and imperfect ; while the first one given to this country was translated directly from the original Hebrew and Greek. The Old Testament in Hebrew appeared in a complete form at Soncino in 1488, and various portions of the New Testament in Greek were now and again issued, such as that of the printer Aldus, who in 1504 issued the first six chapters of John's Gospel ; but it was not till about seventy years after the discovery of the art of Ztansfaiione of f^e Q5t6fe. 41 of printing by movable type that there appeared an entire copy of the New Testament in Greek. This was the edition of Erasmus, professor of Greek at Cambridge, who prepared it from a few MSS. which he had at his command, and he had it printed at Basle in 15 16. The publication of this Greek Testament by Erasmus may be said to have begun a new epoch in the history of Western Christendom. The time for England was come — the materials for a translation into English from the original languages direct were now within reach, and a man equal to the work and willing to undertake it was not long in appearing. William T3'ndale, born in Gloucestershire, educated at Oxford, and a pupil of Erasmus at Cambridge, was so fully alive to the need of an English version of the Scriptures that the desire to supply it became the one ambition of his life. Tyndale's character was in harmony with his pursuits and intellectual abilities ; " his manners and conversation were such that all who knew him respected and esteemed him to be a man of most virtuous disposition and life unspotted." He received little favour or encouragement in the work to which he purposed to devote himself from those whose aid and influence he sought. Cuthbert Tonstal, Bishop of London, to whom Tyndale re- sorted 42 t^t (gazBan^i^ne Q^ifife. sorted about 1522, could afford no shelter for such a worker ; and he soon discovered that there was no place in his native country where he might translate the sacred book. Forced into exile, Tyndale travelled to Hamburg early in 1524, where he resided some months, spending his time in the great work to which he had devoted his life ; and he soon gave to the world his translation of Matthew's Gospel, then that of Mark, which shortly after reached England and produced a favourable impression. Late in the year 1524, Tyndale went to Cologne, and having completed his translation of the whole New Testament, it was there put into the hands of the printers. The type was set up, several of the sheets were printed off, when a threatened seizure compelled Tyndale to escape with his printed sheets and blocks to Worms, where the enthusiasm for Luther and the Reformation was then at its height, in which place no time was lost in furthering the work, and a large edition was soon ready for transport to England. In spite of a most vigilant watch along the coasts of Scotland and England, numerous copies of this translation found their way, in cases, in barrels, in bales of cloth, in sacks of flour, and every secret way that could be devised, into the country, and were scattered far and Z\it gofptll of i5.^at!jnu* Ibps p8 tht boKf of t^c^cncr^io of 3efii3 €^n(i t\)c fos; ffe of ©ftrib/^^e fonne alfo ofOihiCi 3r««cbe^Att3«c<5b: 3«cob bcgart 3ubtf0 4n^ ^3?0 bie> Sii^&ehe^atp^avcs: (tlfvcn: an"^ ^ararn of t^amar; pi)avc0 bi^jsatt iEfrom: ^frorn be0att2(ram : I2(rambe0att2(minab4b: 2(mina&abbe0«tt rtaaffan: ilaaflon bcgatt ©afmon: Calmort bcj^attbooeof rafjrtb: B003 bc^att obcbof rut^ : ©bcbbc0att3«|]e: 3e(rc bc^att bavit> the fyngc: C0ft»it) t^eP)>rt£fe bcfiatt Solomoit/of jpef t{)at wrtst^e 0^o(omonbc0atroboflm; QiJyfcofvry: Kobo«mbc^att2(bi« !2(bia becfattafa: 2((abccfflftiofap()at:. 3ofap|iatbcfi[art3oraji^: 3oram bc0att(D(ta6: ta£i : i^ana(]c6 be0att2(nion; 2(monbc0att3ofia6: 3o(ifl3 bc5att3^^«>nf<»« «nb ^I'g bret^f eti ft^ouf t'^c t)?me©f t^e captit)itcof babilon i|E2(|icrt{)cj?tccrcIc^captit^eto5al)^wi/'3ec|^oniai5&ljg * ^b:a^am an;* feavi&arcf|'zftrc bearfi't>/ bccaufc rtjflt c/jnflc was cljeflv promjre& Vntorfecm. levctl2 ctii-ccrfe-^ ^ne generations/ c&ercribetbiCb''/ nf^e^hnaacfrotti aolomo/after tl^c. Iat»eof::^oreff/ but%u(&Bt>ckri^/ betl?icaccort>fng to nature/ fro na^ tba« folomo^br'i' ctl?er.^ortl?elft^ wc calletl? tbem a manned clJI^^re xipf?tcf? I?l0bro^er bcgattofl^/B'tt'V'ii? fe lefte bebl'«)e Facsimile of first page of Tyndales Testament. €tan6faiione of f^e Q^ifife. 45 and wide, being sought after by men of all ranks and degrees. Living in a city where there was a large Jewish population, Tyndale improved the opportunity by acquiring a mastery of the Hebrew language, and then proceeded to translate portions of the Old Testament. These show evident marks of care and patience, and the various notes and inter- pretations given with the text evidence signs of an acute, original, and painstaking scholarship. Tyndale's work was very different from Luther's — Luther being mighty by tongue and pen, for he was a man of war, unwearied in assault, and dealing out to opponents unmeasured scorn and vituperation ; while Tyndale, on the other hand, lived a life of tranquil toil in his study, earnestly working on the one Book of divine truth, which he sent forth " to be known and read of all men." If he did not enter the lists of controversy an active champion like Luther, he wielded a still mightier power when he despatched across " the silver streak of sea " the English Bible, that the people might have and read the simple, plain, and profitable Word of Scripture. Tyndale's English is decidedly superior to the writings of his time which have come down to us ; his Bible is a noble translation, the basis of every subsequent 4^ €^e (J$a60anbgne (J$i6fe. subsequent English version, and in several respects better than all succeeding versions. It has an individuality as pronounced as Luther's ; its Saxon is racy and strong, sometimes majestic, and, above all, it is hearty and true ; the reader feels that the translator felt what he wrote, that his heart was in his work, and that he strove to reproduce in his own mother-tongue what he believed to be the true sense of the Word of God as he under- stood it. " The peculiar genius," says Mr. Froude, "which breathes through the English Bible, the mingled tenderness and majesty, the Saxon sim- plicity, the grandeur, unequalled, unapproached in the attempted improvements of modern scholars — all are here, and bear the impress of the mind of one man, and that man William Tyndale." A few specimens of Tyndale's verses are here given : "And Mary sayde, My soule magnifieth the Lorde, and my sprete rejoyseth in God my Savioure. For he hath loked on the povre degre off his honde mayden. Beholde now from hens forthe shall all gene- racions 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. He hath shewed strengthc with his armc ; he hath scattered ttdmfaiione of i^e (gifife. 47 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 low degre. He hath filled the hongry with good thinges, and hath sent away the ryche empty. He hath remembred mercy, and hath holpen his ser- vaunt Israhel. Even as he promised to oure fathers, Abraham and to his seed for ever." " Oure Father which arte in heven, halowed be thy name. Let thy kingdom come. Thy wyll be fulfilled, as well in erthe, as hit ys in heven. Geve vs this daye cure 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." Revelation ii. 12-17. " And to the messenger of the congregacion in Per- gamos wryte : This sayth he whiche hathe the sharp swearde with two edges. I knowe thy workes and where thow dwellest, evyn where Sathans seat ys, and thou kepest my name and hast not denyed my fayth. And in my dayes Antipas was a faythfuU witnes of myne, which was slayne amonge you where sathan dwelleth. But I have a fewe thynges agaynst the : that thou hast there, they that mayntayne the doctryne of Balam whiche taught in balake, to put occasion of syn before the 48 t^e (3(K6B(irx^i^ne Q$t6fe. the chylderne of Israhell, that they shulde eate of meate dedicat vnto ydoles, and to commyt fornicacion. Even so hast thou them that mayntayne the doctryne of the Nicolaytans, whiche thynge I hate. But be converted or elles I will come vnto the shortly and will fyght agaynste them with the swearde of my mouth. Let him that hath eares heare what the sprete sayth vnto the congregacions : To him that ouercommeth will I geve to eate manna that is hyd, and will geve him a whyte stone, and in the stone a newe name wrytten, whych no man knoweth, saving he that receaveth it." The introduction of Tyndale's translations as- sumed such proportions that the zeal of the clergy against them found vent in England, as it had in Scotland, in most violent and very unecclesiastical measures, which resulted not only in burning the books themselves, but also brought many of their readers to the flames. At the treaty of Cambray in 1529, where Bishop Tonstal and Hackett were among the representatives of England, it was stipulated that the contracting parties were not " to print or sell any Lutheran books on either side." Tonstal took Antwerp on his way to England, and to that visit is referred the following incident, narrated by Halle in his Chronicle. The Bishop sought out Augustus Pakington, a mercer and merchant ^tansfaiiorxB of i^c Q$i6fe. 49 merchant trading between Antwerp and London, and asked him as to the best way of securing the English Testaments for the purpose of burning and destroying them. " My lord," said Pakington, who was a secret friend of Tyndale, " if it be your pleasure, I could do in this matter probably more than any merchant in England ; so if it be your lordship's pleasure to pay for them — for I must disburse money for them — I will ensure you to have every book that remains un- sold." " Gentle Master Pakington," said the Bishop, * deemyng that he hadde God by the toe, whanne in truthe he hadde, as after he thought, the devyl by the fiste,' * " do your diligence and get them for me, and I will gladly give you whatever they may cost ; for the books are naughty, and I intend surely to destroy them all, and to burn them at Paul's Cross." A week or two later Pakington sought the trans- lator, whose funds he knew were low. " Master Tyndale," he said, " I have found you a good pur- chaser for your books." " Who is he ? " asked Tyndale. " My lord of London." "But * Halle's Chronicle. D 5° €^e ^asBCin^i^nc Q0i6fe. " But if the Bishop wants the books it must only be to burn them." "Well," was the reply, "what of that? The Bishop will burn them anyhow, and it is best that you should have the money for the enabling you to imprint others instead." And so the bargain was made. " The Bishop had the books, Pakington had the thanks, and Tyndale had the money." " I am the gladder," said Tyndale, " for these two benefits shall come thereof. I shall get money to bring myself out of debt, and the whole world will cry out against the burning of God's Word, and the overplus of the money that shall remain with me shall make me more studious to correct the said New Testament, and so newly to imprint the same once again, and I trust the second will be much better than ever was the first." The old Chronicler goes on to tell that " after this Tyndale corrected the same Testaments again, and caused them to be newly imprinted, so that they came thick and threefold into England. The Bishop sent for Pakington again, and asked how the Testaments were still so abundant. ' My lord,' replied the merchant, ' it were best for your lordship to buy up the stamps too by the which they are imprinted.' " It ZvansfafioixB of t^e (J5t6fe. 5^ It is with evident enjoyment that Halle presents us with another scene as a sequel to the story. BURNING THE BIBLES AT PAULS CROSS. A prisoner, a suspected heretic named Constantine, was 52 €^e Q5a00an^)?ne (3^i6fe. was being tried a few months later before Sir Thomas More. " Now, Constantinc," said the judge, " I would have thee to be plain with me in one thing that I shall ask, and I promise thee I will show thee favour in all other things whereof thou art accused. There are beyond the sea Tyndale, Joye, and a great many of you ; I know they cannot live without help. There must be some that help and succour them with money, and thou, being one of them, hadst thy part thereof, and therefore knoweth from whence it came. I pray thee, tell me who be they that help them thus ? " " My lord," quoth Constantino, " I will tell thee truly — it is the Bishop of London that hath holpen us, for he hath bestowed among us a great deal of money upon New Testaments to burn them, and that hath been our chief succour and support." " Now, by my troth," said Sir Thomas More, " I think even the same, for I told the Bishop thus much before he went about it." The opponents of the book began at last to see that a printed Testament continually being pro- duced was quite beyond their power to destroy. Bishop Tonstal profited by his lesson, and instead of buying and burning the book any longer, he preached a famous sermon at Paul's Cross, de- claring its " naughtiness," and asserting that he himself ^ranefaftons of f^e QStfife. 53 himself had found in it more than two thousand errors ; * and at the close of his sermon he hurled the copy which he held into a great fire that blazed before him. Tyndale, after his residence at Worms, next went to the quaint old town of Marburg, in the valley of the Lahn, where he appears to have remained for about two years, working with his friend John Fryth at the Pentateuch, besides print- ing here also his " Practice of Prelates." After this he again returned to Hamburg, where various endeavours were made by the ecclesiastical autho- rities of England to induce Tyndale to return home on certain proposed conditions. These efforts fail- ing, the aim henceforth was to get him arrested, and throughout all the turmoil and trouble to which he was at this time subjected, the brave old man still proceeded with his work of translation. In 1533 Tyndale was for a short time at Niirnberg for the sake of printing, and then again at Antwerp, where he was liberally provided for by the English merchants. Four editions of his New Testament were * " There is not so much as one i therein," Tyndale said in reply to this attack, " if it lack the tittle over its head, but they have noted and number it to the ignorant people for a heresy." 54 t-^e ^asBanbi^ne (J0i6fe. were printed at Antwerp in 1534. At last the long search and crafty intrigues of his enemies succeeded, and Tyndale was treacherously seized at the house of his friend Poyntz at Antwerp towards the autumn of 1535, and sent to the castle of Vilvorde. In October 1536 Tyndale was con- demned, strangled, and burnt — his last words being the prayer, " Lord, open the King of England's eyes." " Patriots have toiled, and in their country's cause Bled nobly, and their deeds, as they deserve, Receive proud recompense. We give in charge Their names to the sweet lyre. . . . But martyrs struggle for a brighter prize. And win it with more pain. Their blood is shed In confirmation of the noblest claim, — Our claim to feed upon immortal truth, To walk with God, to be divinely free. To soar, and to anticipate the skies. Yet few remember them. They lived unknown Till Persecution dragged them into fame. And chased them up to heaven. Their ashes flew — No marble tells us whither. With their names No bard embalms and sanctifies his song ; And history, so warm on meaner themes, Is cold on this. She execrates indeed The tyranny that doomed them to the fire, But gives the glorious sufferers little praise." * No * Cowper's " Task." ZtamfaiiorxB of f^e (jSifife. 55 No grander life than Tyndale's shows itself in the whole annals of the Reformation — none which comes nearer in its beautiful self-forgetfulness to His who " laid down His life for His sheep," and no higher honour could be given to any man than the accomplishment of such a work as that to which he gave himself. All the earlier English translations were but translations of a translation, and Tyndale was the first to go back to the original Hebrew and Greek, though the MSS. accessible to him were not of so much authority or value as those available in these latter days. Every suc- ceeding version is in reality little more than a revision of Tyndale's, and his New Testament was a noble aid to the early advancement of the cause of the Reformation in Scotland, and greatly influ- enced the passing of the Act allowing a free Bible in that country. Another most important translation of the Bible made its appearance in October 1535, bearing the name of Miles Coverdale. This was the very first entire Bible which had been seen in print, and is on this account remarkable, Tyndale's New Testament, with several of the books of the Old Testament, were to be had by this time, but Miles Coverdale gave to the people for the first time in one volume the Word of God complete in their own tongue. It 56 Z^e Q5a60anbi?ne Q$i6fe. It is not known where this Bible was first printed, but it is very generally supposed to have been done in some foreign city, and some have asserted that it was printed by Christian Egenolph at Frankfort. Coverdale makes no pretence that his Bible is an original translation, and does not con- ceal that " it is translated out of Douche * and Latin into English," with the help of " five sundry interpreters " (translators) ; the chief of these inter- preters being evidently William Tyndale, whom, in the New Testament, Coverdale closely follows. Although Coverdale's version was thus only secondary, it possessed merits of its own ; and not a little of that indefinable quality that gives popular charm to our English Bible, and has en- deared it to so many generations, is owing to Coverdale. The characteristic features are Tyn- dale's in all their boldness of form and expression, the more delicate lines and shadings are the con- tribution of Coverdale, both in his own version, and in the Great Bible which he afterwards re- vised and edited. The version of Coverdale is also known as the " Treacle Bible," from the render- ing of the twenty-second verse of Jeremiah viii. : "Is * Douche at that time meant what is now called German, not Low German or Dutch. ^ranefafione of t^e Q^i6fe. 57 " Is there no triacle in Galaad ? " A few other passages which appear quaint to modern readers may also be quoted : " And she bare it [an olive leaf] in her nebb," Gen. viii. 1 1 ; " Cast a pece of a mylstone upon Abimelech's heade and brake his brain panne," Judges ix. 53; "And stackered towarde the dores of the gate, and his slaveringes ranne downe his beerde," i Sam. xxi. 13; "The foolish bodyes saye in their hertes, Tush, there is no God," Psalm xiv. i ; " Thou shalt not nede to be afrayde of ony bugges by night," Psalm xci. 5 ; " So that they shal breake their swerdes and speares, to make sythes, sycles, and sawes thereof," Isaiah ii. 4 ; " The erth shal geue a greate crack, it shal haue a sore ruyne, and take an horrible fall," Isaiah xxiv. 20 ; " Because their wyddowes were not looked vpon in the daylie hand-reachinge," Acts vi. I ; " But waysteth his brayne aboute ques- tions and stryuynges of wordes," i Tim. vi. 4, &c. The time of Coverdale was one of great progress in every respect ; but in no one branch of knowledge was there a more perceptible advance than in that of Biblical learning. Following upon Coverdale's, "Matthews' Bible" appeared in 1537. This Bible was really prepared by John Rogers, one of the early Reformers, who afterwards was the first person condemned as a heretic in the reign of Queen 58 t^e OSaesanbgne Q5i6fe. Queen Mary, and was burnt at Smithfield, February i> 1555- "Matthews'" work was Tyndale's trans- lation pure and simple, all but part of the Old Testament, which, with some alteration, is taken from Coverdale. Shortly after appeared "Taverner's Bible," which was little more than an edition of Matthews', with its notes either omitted or toned dow^n. None of these versions were satisfactory, and so it came about that Cranmer and some of Henry VIII. *s chief advisers set their hearts upon a trans- lation worthy of the position of a National Bible. Miles Coverdale was selected to take charge of this one, which became known as the " Great Bible," or " Cranmer's Bible," and he went to Paris with the King's printer, that the book might be pro- duced in the best style of the time. The Inqui- sitor-General, however, got notice of the project, and the result was that Coverdale carried off the printing-press, types, and the printers themselves to complete the work in England. It may be described as a compilation from Matthews' and Coverdale's Bibles, or as a revision of Matthews' by Coverdale, and hence, as Matthews' was almost entirely Tyndale's version, the Great Bible after all was really little more than a revised edition of Tyndale ! " Thus tvansfations of i^e Q^tfife. 59 " Thus had the old martyr triumphed. Only a few years had elapsed since he had been brought to his death, and here was his Bible, authorised by the King, commended by the clergy, and placed in the parish churches for the teaching of the people ! And as if to mark the change with all the emphasis that was possible, an inscription on the title told that ' it was oversene and perused at the commande- ment of the King's Highness by the ryghte reverende fathers in God, Cuthbert bishop of Duresme (Durham), and Nicholas bishop of Rochester.'" And this Bishop Cuthbert was none other than Cuthbert Tonstal, Tyndale's untiring opponent and persecutor, who had bargained with Pakington to purchase the New Testaments, and had hurled into the flames from the pulpit at Paul's Cross the trans- lation which now went forth with royal approval to the people. The desire to read or listen to the words of Holy Writ in their own tongue had now become so intense, that crowds would often gather round one who was able to read the large Bible set up, and frequently chained, to a pillar in the churches. Even Bishop Bonner was so moved by the popu- lar wish as " to set up in certain convenient places in St. Paul's Church six large Bibles," so that the people might come there and learn for themselves 6o ^^e (J$a60Cinbgne Q$t6fe. themselves their duties and privileges as Chris- tians. This halcyon period was not of long duration, and shortly after the publication of the Great Bible a reaction set in, vi^hen all translations bear- ing the name of Tyndale were proscribed, — a pro- hibition which King Henry VIII, renewed in 1546, and at this time included Coverdale's New Testa- ment along with the books of Tyndale. The Great Bible thus alone remained unforbidden, though severe restrictions were laid upon its use, and it is believed that this was the cause of a great destruc- tion of the earlier Bibles and Testaments, while even where the books have been preserved, in a number of cases the titles have been taken out, so that the true character of the volume might escape the observation of a hasty and ignorant inquisitor.* King Henry VIII. died in January 1547, and was succeeded by Edward VI., in whose short reign of six and a half years the restrictions were greatly removed, and many editions of the Bible were printed, * A copy of Miles Coverdale's Bible, issued in 1535, was sold recently in London for ^120. No perfect copy of this Bible is known to exist, and the one sold on this occasion had the title, first few leaves, and map in fac- simile. THE CHAINED BIBLE. tramfatiorxB of t^e Q$tfife. 63 printed, but no new translation was undertaken. Then followed the dark period of Queen Mary, when no Bible was permitted to be printed, and by various proclamations the public or open reading of the Scriptures was prohibited, and when those who had been earnestly striving to put God's Word into the hands of the people had to yield up their lives at the stake, or flee from their native land to foreign countries. How Queen Mary and her minions dealt with the Bible may be learned from the following edict issued by Bishop Bonner in October 1554- " Because some children of iniquit}^, given up to carnal desires and novelties, have by many ways enterprised to banish the ancient manner and order of the Church, and to bring in and establish sects and heresies ; taking from thence the picture of Christ, and many things besides instituted and observed of ancient time laudably in the same ; placing in the room thereof such things, as in such a place it behoved them not to do ; and also have procured, as a stay to their heresies (as they thought), certain Scriptures wrongly applied to be painted upon the church walls ; all which persons tend chiefly to this end — that they might uphold the liberty of the flesh, and marriage of priests, and destroy, as much as lay in them, the reverent sacrament of the altar, and might extinguish and enervate ^4 €de ^aBBCin^i^ne (jBifife. enervate holy-days, fasting-days, and other laud- able discipline of the Catholic Church ; opening a window to all vices, and utterly closing up the way unto virtue : wherefore we, being moved with a Christian zeal, judging that the premises are not to be longer suffered, do, for discharge of our duty, commit unto you jointly and severally, and by the tenor hereof do straitly charge and command you, that at the receipt hereof, with all speed convenient, you do warn, or cause to be warned, first, second, and third time, and peremptorily, all and singular churchwardens and parishioners whosoever, within our aforesaid diocese of London (wheresoever any such Scriptures or paintings have been attempted), that they abolish and extinguish such manner of Scriptures, so that by no means they be either read or seen ; and therein to proceed, moreover, as they shall see good and laudable in this behalf And if, after the said monition, the said churchwardens and parishioners shall be found remiss and negligent, or culpable, then you, jointly and severally, shall see the foresaid Scriptures to be razed, abolished, and extinguished forthwith." This mandate was directed, of course, against the usage introduced in Edward VI. 's reign, of writing Scripture texts on the walls of the churches ; and as a favourite in- scription was one which bore especially against Romish ^ran0fafton0 of f^e Q$i6fe. 65 Romish superstition, i John v. 21, in T3aidalc's version, " Babes, kepe youre selues from ymages," this may account for Bonner's severity. Among those forced into exile through the terror of fire and sword were Coverdale and several others, who found a temporary home at Geneva ; and these earnest men, free in this city to pursue their labours in comparative peace, and allowed to worship God according to their own convictions, set diligently to work in producing another English translation which should avoid the blemishes of either Tyndale's or the Great Bible. Both by day and by night, these learned and pious men engaged themselves with the arduous task — comparing former translations with the original tongues, and searching through the Hebrew and Greek MSS, then at Geneva, in order to detect any errors which might accidentally have been allowed to creep in. They were so diligent in their work that copies of the New Testament found their way into England, surreptitiously no doubt, before the death of Queen Mary, as appears from a declaration by John Living, a priest, who had been robbed in Paternoster Row of his purse, girdle, psalter, and a " New Testament of Geneva." The labours of the exiled Reformers eventually produced a more complete and satisfactory trans- lation of the Bible in 1560, with many important additions 66 Z^t Q5a60an^gne Q5i6fe. additions and improvements, the New Testament portion being issued first in 1557. The chief burden of its expense was borne by the EngUsh congregation at Geneva, of which John Bodley, father of Sir Thomas Bodley, the founder of the Bodleian Library at Oxford, was a member who contributed generously ; and he received a grant, on his return to England, of a patent for printing that edition for seven 3'ears. There was in this Bible a Dedication to Queen Elizabeth, quite free from the fulsome flattery which is so conspicuous in the one to King James, which afterwards appeared in the Authorised Version of 161 1. There is also an " Address to the Christian Reader," describing the nature and features of the work, of which the following is part : " Yet lest either the simple should be discouraged, or the malicious have any occasion of iust cauillation, seeing some transla- tions reade after one sort, and some after another, whereby all may serue to good purpose and edifi- cation, we haue in the margent noted that diuersitie of speech or reading which may also seeme agreeable to the minde of the Holy Ghost, & proper for our language with this marke ||. Againe, whereas the Ebrewe speeche seemed hardly to agree with ours, we haue noted it in the margent after this sort \, vsing that which was more intelligible. And albeit that ttanefaiiom of f^e Q^ifife. 67 that many of the Ebrewe names be altered from the old text, & restored to the true writing & first originall, whereof they haue their signification yet in the vsuall names, little is changed for feare of troubling simple readers. Moreouer, whereas the necessitie of the sentence required any thing to be added (for such is the grace and proprietie of the Ebrewe & Greeke tongues that it cannot but either by circumlocution or by adding the verbe or some worde, be vnderstood of them that are not well practised therein), we haue put it in the text with another kinde of letter, that it may easily bee discerned from the common letter. As touching the diuision of the verses, we haue folowed the Ebrewe examples, which haue so euen from the beginning distinguished them. Which thing as it is most profitable for memorie, so doth it agree with the best translations, & is most easie to finde out both by the best Concordances, & also by the quotations which we haue diligently herein perused & set forth by this *. Besides this, the principall matters are noted and distinguished by this marke H. We haue also indeavoured both by the diligent reading of the best commentaries, & also by the conference with the godly & learned brethren, to gather briefe annotations vpon all the hard places, as well for the vnderstanding of such words 68 Z^e ^aeean^i^ne 0$t6fe. words as are obscure, & for the declaration of the text, as for the application of the same, as may most appertaine to God's glorie, & the edification of his Church," &c. This work, which commonly went under the name of the " Geneva Bible," was well received by all classes and soon gained a high reputation, and from the time of its first appearance became the household Bible of the English-speaking people, continuing to be so for nearly three-quarters of a century. Its size was more handy, and its cost more moderate, than the Great Bible, which thus soon lost its hold on the popular favour. Many editions of the Geneva version were published between 1560 and 161 1, the date of King James's Authorised Version, and to the second edition of the Geneva in 1561 it is that we are indebted for the Bassandyne Bible, that which was first printed in Scotland. Chapter CHAPTER III. Introduction of Printing into Edinburgh. IBERTY having at last been given by the Scottish Parliament, in March 1543, to the people to use the Bible in their own tongue, and a suitable complete ver- sion being now ready, it remains to be seen how this was accomplished, with the help of the new art of printing. Under the energetic government of James IV., Scotland for some years enjoyed the utmost tranquillity and prosperity. The King's amiable and popular manners, his enactment of wise and salutary laws, combined with his stern repression of the disorder and spoliation practised by the turbulent nobility, all contributed to render the reign of this gallant monarch one of the most auspicious the people of Scotland had ever experi- enced. Learning was looked upon with the highest favour by the Court, and literature was rapidly extending its influence under the zealous co-opera- tion of Dunbar, Douglas, Lyndsay, Kennedy, and others. 7° €^e a^ciBBan^i^ne Q^iBfe. others. The husbandman tilled his lands, and the merchant traversed the country with his goods in security, while the foreign trader visited the markets of the different burghs fearless of plunder or interruption. It was during this brief interreg- num of freedom from the foreign and internecine strife which had always more or less been the general characteristic of Scottish history, that the invention of printing — that art which, perhaps more than any other human discovery, has changed the condition and destinies of the world — found its way into Scotland. James IV. evidently took an enthusiastic interest in every new invention, and it is known that he had a strong love for learn- ing, being himself no mean scholar. In connection with this is found the earliest record of Androw Myllar, one of the first Scottish printers, which bears that on the 29th March 1503 he was paid the sum of ten pounds for certain Latin books supplied to the King ; and at another time we find the King's treasurer ordered to pay fifty shillings " for iij. prentit bukis tane fra Andro Myllaris wyf." Interested thus in literature. King James could not look upon the new art with indifference, and it may have been brought more especially under his notice by Walter Chepman, seemingly a man of wealth and consequence, and evidently an officer of ^tiniinQ in (BbinBurg^. 71 of the King's household, as his name frequently appears in the Accounts and Register of the Privy Seal after the year 1494. The facts regarding the introduction of printing into Scotland were ascertained beyond dispute by the discovery, towards the end of last century, among the records in the Register House at Edin- burgh, of the following patent, dated 15 th September 1507, granted by James IV, to Walter Chepman and Andrew Myllar, burgesses of Edinburgh : "James, etc. — To al and sindrj our officiaris liegis and subdittis quham it efferis, quhais knawlage thir our lettres salcum, greting ; Wit ye that forsamekill as our lovittis servitouris Walter chepman and Andro myllar burgessis of our burgh of Edinburgh, has at our instance and request, for our plesour, the honour and profitt of our Realme and liegis, takin on thame to furnis and bring hame ane prent, with all stuff belangand tharto, and expert men to use the samyne, for imprenting within our Realme of the bukis of our Lawis, actis of parlia- ment, croniclis, mess bukis, and portuus efter the use of our Realme, with addicions and legendis of Scottis Sanctis, now gaderit to be ekit tharto, and al utheris bukis that salbe sene necessar, and to sel the sammyn for competent pricis, be our avis and discretioun thair labouris and expens being considerit ; And becaus we understand that this cannot be perfurnist without rycht greit cost labour and expens, we have grantit and promittit to €^e (J0aB0an^ene (J$t6fe. to thame that thai sail nocht be hurt nor preventit tharon be oray utheris to tak copyis of ony bukis furtht of our Realme, to gir imprent the samyne in utheris cuntreis, to be brocht and sauld agane within our Realme, to cause the said Walter and Androu tyne thair gret labour and expens ; And alis It is divisit and thocht expedient be us and our counsall, that in tyme cuming mess bukis, manualis, matyne bukis, and portuus bukis, efter our awin scottis use, and with legendis of Scottis Sanctis, as is now gaderit and ekit by ane Reverend fader in god, and our traist consalour Williame bischope of abirdene and utheris, be usit generaly within al our Realme alssone as the sammyn may be imprentit and providit, and that na maner of sic bukis of Salusbery use be brocht to be sauld within our Realme in tym coming ; And gif ony dois in the contrar, that thai sal tyne the sammyne; Quharfor we charge straitlie and commandis yow al and sindrj our officiaris, liegis, and subdittis, that nane of yow tak apon hand to do onything incontrar this our promitt, devise, and ordinance, in tyme cuming, under the pane of escheting of the bukis, and punising of thair persons bringaris tharof within our Realme, in contrar this our statut, with al vigour as efferis. Geven under our prive Sel at Edinburgh, the xv day of September, and of our Regnc the xx'' yer." — Boo/cs of the Privy Seal, iii. 129. Only a short period after this, Scotland was at the mercy of her southern rival : her King was slain, the chief of her nobles and warriors had perished ^viniinQ in (BbinBurg^. 73 perished at Flodden, on the 8th September 15 13, and adversity and ignorance again replaced all the advantages which had followed the rule of James IV. To what extent Chepman and Myllar made use of their patent cannot now be determined, but it is surmised that a number of works issued from their press ; of these only two, however, were for a long time known — the earliest, a volume of met- rical tales and ballads, such as were popular in those days, and of which the first tale in order is " The Porteous of Noblenes ; " the other work being the " Breviarium Aberdonense." This Bre- viary consists of two volumes, and the first page begins — " In nomine sandce et individuce TrinitatiSy Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Breviarium ad usum et consuetudinem percelebris ecclesiae cathe- dralis Aberdon. in Scotia, regnante principe nostro serenissimo Jacobo, quarto, divina favente dementia Scotorum rege illustrissimi, imperii sui anno vices- simo secundo, pro hyemali parte feliciter sumit exordium." At the end are these words : " Opido Edinburgensi impresso jussu et impensis honora- bilis viri Walteri Chepman ejusdem opidi Mercatoris, quarto die mensis Junii, anno Domino millesimo ccccc decimo." There is on the back of this latter page an engraving of Chepman's device, represent- ing 74 €^e {§aBecir\ti^ne Q$i6fe. ing a savage man and woman at full length — their shoulders bare, their lower limbs clothed with skins of beasts, in their hands flower-stalks, and their heads wreathed with flowers. They are standing one on each side of a tree, from which hangs a shield with the cipher of W. C. At the bottom, between two black lines, are the words : " I caaltenis ; cljepman ::." This kind of device was peculiar to French printers, and the cut agrees with those on several old French books, excepting the cipher. The italic words in the extracts above are printed with red ink in the original. Of the four copies of the Breviary known to exist, all are defective, and it would barely be possible to form a complete copy out of the whole four ; the only one possessing a title is that in the University Library at Edinburgh, and this only to the first volume.* It was not till 1788 that any earlier production of Chepman and Myllar's press than the Breviary was known, but in that year there * " The ' Breviarium Aberdonense ' seems to have esta- blished in Scotland something like the supremacy of the ' Usum Sarum ' in England. The whole Breviary was re- printed in London in 1854, in two volumes quarto, making one of the finest specimens of facsimile-reprinting then in existence." — Nz7/ Burton. ^nnftng in (B^tnfiurg^. 75 there was presented to the Advocates' Library the volume of ballads already referred to. There are in this book eleven separately printed small quartos, some of which indicate the printers and date of printing. The earliest dated piece, and the most complete one in the collection, has the following colophon : "f^t'er cntiis i^z maomtj mti liisport of cljauccr. 3Imprcntit in tl)e soutljgatt of ^liinburgfj be SjKaltcr cl^cpman antj Slntiroto mgllar tlje faurtlj tjag of aprilc f^t gl)£rE of goti iH.ai:ai:^€:C. aiili tiii. gljcris." Another, in six leaves quarto, bears the following title : "f^fer ficggnngs aue liti'l trctte mtftulit tlje goltign targe rompilit ie ffilaister Miloatn tiunbar." These Ballads are printed from a Pica Black, in pages about the size of demy 8vo, and nothing can surpass the regularity of the letters, which are at once carefully formed and beautifully cast. The tracts, it is true, abound in errata, arising no doubt from the circumstance that they were composed, as well as read for press, by foreign workmen, but the press-work would put to shame many modern examples. Especially is this latter point true of the 7^ €^e Q$a06anbgne Q0i6fe. the Aberdeen Breviary, which is in a Longprimer Black type, in double columns, many of the pages having lines and paragraphs in red and black alternately. The Metrical Romances were reprinted, under the supervision of Dr. Laing, by Messrs. Ballantyne & Company in 1827; but after the volume was completed, a disastrous fire occurred in the binder's premises, which destro^^ed the greater portion of the sheets, so that only seventy-six copies (four of which are on vellum) were actually published, and of these not a few bore marks of the conflagration from which they had escaped. The volume, as reprinted, takes its name from the poem first in order — "The Knightly Tale of Golagros and Gawane ; " and the following is a list of the contents : with the aduise and counsale of the bischoppis and uthir prelatis, with doctours of Theologie and Canon law of the said realme of Scotland present for the tyme." ..." Agane reasone na sober man, agane scripture na christin man, agane ye kirk na peaceabil or quiet man will judge, or hald opinioun." Hill Burton says, " The authors of this manual of religious instruction to the laity had no benefit from the celebrated Catechism of the Council of Trent, which was not issued till a later t-^e Q$a60anbgne Q$t6fe. later time. The Scots work had the advantage of appearing in a shape to be read by the people, instead of affording a mere aid to the clergy in the expositions they were told to make in the vernacular." * George Chalmers, who made the productions of Scott's press, and particularly his editions of Lyndsay, a critical study, came to the conclusion that the printer had departed in many cases from his " copy," and believed him to have been an Englishman from his having Anglicised a number of the expressions and the spelling of many of the words. Great liberties appear to have been taken in this way with the original MS. of the Catechism, one of the most curious being on the page where we find " The Prayer of our Lord in Latyne," and below it, " The Same Prayer of our Lord tn Ingh's." This is, indeed, a singular heading to a very fair interpretation of the Lord's Prayer tn Scottis. Hamilton's Catechism has been confounded by some writers with what was commonly called the " Twopenny Faith," a small work of four pages, issued by the authority of the Provincial Synod in 1558—59. This book was intended to be read as a * A copy of Hamilton's Catechism was sold some years ago for ^148. ^tiniirxQ in (B^infiutg^. 89 a preparation for receiving the sacrament of the Eucharist, supplying what in later times has been called "A Companion to the Altar," and it thus began with an exposition of the dogma of the real presence. It was looked upon with much scorn by the Reformers, and was spoken of by Knox as the " Twopenny Faith." The fifth Parliament of Queen Mary, held at Edinburgh on ist February 1551—52, passed an Act which furnishes some insight into the variety and character of the writings then issuing from the press and strongly influencing the public mind. The Act was as follows : " Prenters suld prent na thing without license. Item, For-sa-meikle as there is diverse Prenters in this Realme, that dailie and continuallie prentis buikes concerning the Faith, ballattes, sanges, blasphemationes, rimes, alsweill of Kirk-men, as Temporal, and vthers Tragedies, alsweill in Latine, as in Englis toung, not scene, viewed, and considdered be the Superioures, as apperteinis to the defamation and sclander of the Lieges of this Realme, and to put ordour to sic inconuenientes : it is devised, statute, and ordained be the Lord Governour, with aduise of the three Estaites of Parliament : That na Prenter presume, attempt, or tak vpone hande to prent ony bukis, ballattes, sangis, blasphematiounis, rymes or tra- gedies. po ^^e Q0a6ganbgnc Q0i6fe. gedies, outhir in Latine, or Englis toung, in ony tymes to cum, vnto the tyme the samin be sene, viewit, and examit be sum wyse and discreit per- sounis depute thairto be the Ordinares quhat-sum- evir, and thaireftir ane license had and obtenit fra our Soveraine Ladie, and the Lord Governour, for imprenting sic buikes vnder the pain of confisca- tioun of all the Prentaris gudis, and banisshing him of the Realme for ever." Scott returned to Edinburgh again, after being some years at St. Andrews, and resumed the work of printing. Among his productions after his return may be mentioned the following : " The Tragedie of the Vmquhile maist Reuerend Father Dauid be the Mercy of God, Cardinall Archi- byschope of Sanctandrous, &c. Compilit be Schir Dauid Lyndesay of Mont, king of arms." At the foot of this title is Scott's device of Her- cules and the Centaur. It was probably owing to Scott's issuing this work in 1558, without receiving license according to the Act of February 1551—52, that he was shortly after summoned before the Privy Council " for his demerits and faultes," a summons which by some means or other he seems to have evaded. Scott again got into serious trouble with the authorities for issuing some time after the follow- ing printing in (gbinfiurg^. 91 ing book : " The Last Blast of the Trompit of Godis worde aganis the vsurpit auctoritie of lone Knox and his Calviniane brether, intrudit Pre- SIXTEENTH CENTURY PRINTING-OFFICE. cheouris &c. Put furth to the Congregatioun of the Protestantis in Scotlande, be Niniane Winzet, ane Catholik priest, borne in Renfrew. At the desyre and in the name of his afflictit Catholike Brether 92 €^c Q$a60an^gne Q0i6fe. Brether of ye inferiour ourdoure of Clergie, and laie men. Vir inipitis procacitcr obfirmat vultiun suuni : qui antcm rectus est, corrigit viam suatn. Proverb. 21. Edinburgi vltimo lulii 1562." This work is a Black-letter quarto, of which only five leaves are left in the only copy known. Niniane Winzet, the author, was schoolmaster in Linlith- gow, and was among the most able as well as most active of the Roman Catholics in Scotland at the time of the Reformation. Even after the sup- pression of Popery in the kingdom, he ventured to publish in Edinburgh several works which were exceedingly distasteful to the feelings of the Re- formers. The publication by Scott in May 1562 of one of these, " Certane Tractatis for Reforma- tioun of Doctryne and manneris," had greatly incensed the Reformers, who, upon learning that the " Last Blast " was in the printer's hands, took violent measures to put an end to his proceedings ; and the magistrates of the city, with their officers, broke into the printing-house, arrested Scott, and put him in prison. The sheets of the work were seized, and the printing materials confiscated. But the author himself, who seems to have been on the premises at the time, and whose custody the Reformers chiefly desired, escaped in disguise, and made his way to Flanders. How (jjrtnfing in (Ebmfiutg^. 93 How long Scott was kept in confinement is not known, or how he passed the remaining years of his life, but we next hear of him in 1568, engaged in printing the first complete edition of the works of Sir David Lyndsay for Henrie Charteris, a merchant and burgess of Edinburgh, who shortly after took up the trade of printing on his own account, and continued to exercise it successfully for many years. The imprint on this edition of Lyndsay reads : " Newlie imprentit be lohne Scot, at the expensis of Henrie Charteris : and are to be sauld in his buith, on the north syde of the gait, aboue the trone. Ctwt prinilegio regalia The art of printing, contributing, as it did, to the diffusion of knowledge and of liberal opinions, had ere this become an object of jealousy to the Church as well as to the State, and the General Assembly, in 1563, took the press almost entirely under its direction, prohibiting all books concern- ing religion to be printed, till the printers had ob- tained, not only license as formerly decreed from the civil magistrates, but also the approbation of the Church. Although an exclusive privilege was, by royal patent, occasionally bestowed on printers of vending or reprinting for a limited period those books which they had published, yet the occupa- tion appears at this time still to have been by no means 94 n/ 14, 1568, "Ane Letter maid with awise of my Lord Regent To Robert Lekprevik our Soverane Lordis imprentare Givand grantand and committand to him full licence priuelege and power To imprcnt all and haill ane buke callit the Inglis bybill imprentit of before at Geneva And that continuallie induring the space of tuenty zeiris nixt following the dait heirof Chargeing all and sindrie imprentaris writtaris and utheris his hienes liegis within this realme That nane of thame tak upoun hand to im- prent or caus be imprentit be quhatsumever persoun or persounis within this realme in ony tyme heircftir indur- ing the said space under the panis of confiscatioun thairof The said buke callit the Inglis bibill viz. samony as sal- happin ^riniinq in (Bbtnfiurg^. 97 happin to be imprentit and payment of the soume of twa hundreth pundis money of this realme &c At Glasgw the fourtene day of Apiile The zeir of God In v<^ Ixviij zeiris." Lekprevik's license of January 1567-68 em- powered him also to print exclusively the " buikes callit ' Donatus pro Pueris/ ' Rudiments of Pelisso,' togedder with the gramer to be set furth callit the general gramer to be usid within scolis of this realme for erudition of the zouth." * Lekprevik appears to have gone afterwards for a time to St. Andrews, and several books with " Imprentit at Sanctandrois be Robert Lekprevik " are noted under the date of 1572 in Ames' "Typographical Antiquities." The press was not likely to be a friend to the arbitrary Regent Morton, and the Regent, there- fore, was not a friend to the press ; and on July 29, 1574, he induced the Privy Council to issue another edict, to the effect " that nane tak upone hand * The " Donat " was a grammar by Donatus, a cele- brated grammarian, who was the preceptor of Jerome, and lived at Rome about 354. The " Donat" was one of the first books printed by Caxton, and also by Fust at Mentz. By an easy transition, the Donat — the name by which the work of Donatus was commonly known — came to signify in those limes the elements of any art. G 98 ^^e ^atsBant^ne Q^tSfe. hand to emprent or sell whatsoever book, ballat, or other werk," without its being examined and licensed, under pain of death or confiscation of goods. The repeated issue of similar edicts at different times shows that their provisions were either not very stringently carried out, or that the printers paid little or no attention to them. One instance, however, of Morton's stern dealing with those who in this way gave him offence may be here given ; though it would appear that it was the authors alone who suffered in this case. In September 1579, Walter Turnbull and William Scott were taken into custody in Edinburgh for writing a satire against Regent Morton, enumerat- ing his crimes, and particularly insisting upon his connection with the death of the late Chancellor, the Earl of Athole. Turpbull appears to have been well known as an able schoolmaster, and both he and Scott, a " notar," for their good-humour and knack of rhyming, were in great repute both with the gentry and the common people. Many interested themselves in their behalf, and when they were carried to Stirling to be tried, the King was " pestered " with petitions for their liberty, Morton, on the other hand — for he never knew how to forgive an enemy — managed the process with so " much heat and concern," and so much overawed the ^tintinq in (B^tn6urg^. 99 the young King James VI. 's inclinations to mercy, that upon the last day of October they were both publicly hanged. " Whilke was thought a pre- cedent, never one being hanged for the like before ; and in the meantime, at the scattering of the people, there were ten or twelve despiteful letters and infamous libels in prose found, as if they had been lost among the people, tending to the reproach of the Earl of Morton and his predecessors." " Some people alleged that the King was never inclined to pardon these two poets, because Scott one day, before some company, reading the Stirling Articles, suddenly stopped when he was but half- way, and being desired to go on, said, * We will what Morton wills, and that is all.' ' Nay,' said Turnbull, ' add the Queen of England too,' The satire here was obvious enough to those who had read the Articles, and indeed it is not unlikely that this jest helped the unfortunate authors to the gallows." The following incident, related by Calderwood, in all probability forms the sequel. At the fall of Morton, less than two years after, when he was taken prisoner for his alleged com- plicity in the murder of Darnley, and conducted to Edinburgh Castle, " as he passed the Butter Tron, a woman who had her husband put to death at Stirling for a ballad entitled ' Daff and dow Z^e t^aBBdYi^i^nc Q$i6fe. dow nothing,' * sitting down on her bare knees, poured out many imprecations against him." Whether as a cause or a consequence of the edict of 1574 is not very clear, but in the same year Robert Lekprevik fell into disgrace, and was confined for a time in Edinburgh Castle for pub- lishing, without license, " Ane dialogue or mutuall talking betwixt a clerk and a courteour, concerning four parische kirks till ane minister, collectit out of thair mouthis, and put into verse be a young man quha did then forgather with thame in his jornay, to the reproach and slander of our Sovereign Lord's Regent," &c. There is no doubt, however, that Lekprevik now forfeited his license as King's printer, though he continued to print for some years after ; and about the same time he thus lost the royal favour, the printing of the first Bible in Scotland was undertaken in good earnest b}' Thomas Bassandyne — a matter of personal enter- prise on the part of this printer which forms an important era in the literary as well as the religious history of Scotland. * " Sport, and be at ease." Chapter CHAPTER IV. Bassandyne and ArbutJmot. HOMAS BASSANDYNE was a native of Scotland, and was educated at Antwerp, from whence he seems to have gone to Paris, and afterwards to Leyden, where he learned the art of printing. He returned to Edinburgh in 1558, when he joined himself to the party of the Lords of the Congregation, as the Reformers were then called, and at the same time began business as a printer, having, it is believed, taken up that formerly conducted by Lekprevik, who had removed to St. Andrews. Bassandyne's workshop is referred to in the imprint to the rare quarto edition of Sir David Lyndsay's poems, printed in 1574, while " dwelland at the Nether Bow," and appears to have been in a tall narrow tenement nearly opposite John Knox's house. This building is supposed to be the one repeatedly referred to in the evidence of the accomplices of the €^e f§aBBan^i^ne (§iMe. the Earl of Bothwell in the murder of Darnley, an event which took place in the lifetime of this old printer. In the deposition of George Dalgleish, one of those executed for his share in the crime, it is stated that " eftir thay entirit within the [Nether Bow] Port, thai zeid up abone Bassyntine's house, on the south side of the gait, and knockit at ane dur beneth the sword slippers, and callit for the Laird of Ormistounes, and one within answerit he was not there ; and thai passit doun a cloiss beneth Frier Wynd, and enterit in at the zet of the Black Friers." Bassandyne printed a number of books, and as the press was now fully under the special protection and control of the dominant Reformed Church, which had been established on December 20, 1560, and was sorely jealous of any encroachment of the civil powers, he appears to have fallen under the Church's displeasure for two works which he issued in 1568. On the 7th of July in that year, the General Assembly " declared and fund, that Thomas Bassendie, printer in Edinburgh, printed ane book, intituled the Fall of the Roman Kirk, nameing our King and Sovcraigne supreame Head of the primitive Kirk, Also, that he had printed ane Psalme Book, in the end whereof was fund printit ane baudy sang callit Wellcome Fortune ; whilk books he had printit printit without license of the magistrat or revis- ing of the Kirk : Therefore, the haill Assembly ordained the said Thomas, to call in againe all the foresaids books that he has sauld, and keep the rest unsauld untill he alter the foresaid title, and also that he delait the said baudy sang out of the end of the Psalme Book ; and, further, that he abstaine in all tyme comeing from further printing any thing without license of the supreame magistrat, and reviseing of sic things as pertaine to religione be some of the Kirk appointit for that purpose." Whether it was Bassandyne's object to get the song into circulation under the shelter of the Psalm Book, or to promote the sale of the Psalm Book by the insertion of the song, does not appear; but no doubt he had to obey the Assembly's mandate as to its withdrawal. Bassandyne seems afterwards to have regained the favour of the Church, as the title of the following book which he published fully indicates : " CL Psalms of David, in English Metre. With the forme of prayers, and ministration of the Sacraments, used in the Church of Scotland. Whereunto, besydes that was in the former bookes, are also added sundrie other prayers, with a new exact Kalendar, for xvi yeres next to come. Printed at Edinburgh by Thomas Bassendyne, dwell- ing at the Nether Bow, 1575. Cum privilegio." It 104 ^^e (J$a0san^gne Q$i6fe. It has been already noticed that while Lekprevik was printer to the King and the Church, he received an annuity of ;^50 from the Kirk to help him. This allowance was made on March 3, 1569— 70, in these terms : " The Kirk having respect to his [Lekprevik's] povertie, the great expenses he has made in bying printing irones, and the great zeal and love he beirs to serve the Kirk at all tymes, has assigned to him fifyftie punds yearly, to be payit to him out of the thrids of the Kirk." In spite of this annuity and other occasional help to the printers generally, it still appears that the art was not a prosperous one in those troublous times, as Bassandyne found himself necessitated to take into association in his business a burgess of the city named Alexander Arbuthnot, a man with a better connection and of more means. Their part- nership was evidently also entered into for the pur- pose of undertaking the printing of a Bible, and instead of the usual thick quarto, in which Bibles had hitherto been done, their idea was to do it in folio form, as being possibly more within the com- pass of their resources. Accordingly, in March 1575, " Alexander Arbuthnot, burgess of Edinburgh, presented to the General Assembly certain articles for printing of the English Bible ; whereof, with the answers of the brethren, the tenor followeth : "Anent \ (J$a0fffin^ette anb ^rSut^nof. 105 " Anent the godly proposition made to the bishops, superintendents, visitors, and commis- sioners, in this General Assembly, by Alexander Arbuthnot, merchant burgess of Edinburgh, and Thomas Bassanden, printer and burgess of the said burgh, for printing and setting forward of the Bible in the English tongue, con forme to the proof given and subscribed with their hands ; it is agreed betwixt this present Assembly, and the said Alex- ander and Thomas, that every Bible which they shall receive advancement for, shall be sold in albis for £4, 13s. 4 pennies Scottis, keeping the volume and character of the saids proofs delivered to the clerk of the Assembly. " Item, for advancement of the godly and neces- sary work, and furtherance thereof, and home- bringing of men, and other provisions for the same, the bishops, superintendents, and commissioners, bearing charge within this realm under written, viz. James, Archbishop of Glasgow, &c., have, in presence of the Assembly, faithfully bound them, and obliged them, and every one of them, that they shall travel, and do their utter and exact diligence, for purchasing of such advancement as may be had and obtained within every one of their respec- tive jurisdictions, at the hands of the lords, barons, and gentlemen of every parish, as also with the whole io6 Z2)t Q0a06an^pne QBifife. whole burghs within the same, and shall try how many of them will be content to buy one of the saids volumes, and will advance voluntarily the foresaid price, whole, or half at the least, in part of payment, and the rest at the receipt of their books, and shall try what every burgh will contribute to the said work, to be recompensed again in the books in the prices foresaid. And so many as be content to the advancement of the work foresaid, that the said bishops, superintendents, and visitors, collect the said sums, and enrol the samen with their names, what every one of them gives ; which roll, subscribed with their hands, and money, shall be sent by them to the said Alexander and Thomas, betwixt and the last of April next to come, and shall receive, upon their deliverance of the saids sums and rolls, the said Alexander and Thomas's hand writ, to the effect they and their cautioners may be charged for the said books conform to their receipt. " Item, That every person that is provided of old as well as of new, be compelled to buy a Bible to their parish kirk, and to advance therefor the price foresaid, and the said prices to be collected and inbrought by the said bishops, superintendents, and visitors, within each bounds and shire within their jurisdiction, betwixt and the last day of June. And And because the said Act appertains and is expe- dient to be ratified by my Lord Regent's Grace, and the Lords of the Secret Council, and an Act of Council to be made thereupon, the Assembly ordains Mr. David Lindsay, minister of Leith, Mr. James Lawson, minister of Edinburgh, and Alexander Hay, Clerk of Council, to travel with his Grace and their Lordships, for the obtaining the same, together with the privilege of the said Alexander and Thomas for imprinting of the said work. " The Kirk ordains the said Mr. James and Mr. David to travel with Mr. Andrew Polwart and Mr. George Young, or any of them, for correcting of the said Bible, and to appoint a reasonable grati- tude therefor at the cost of the said Alexander and Thomas. " Item, The Kirk hath promised to deliver the authentick copy which they shall follow, to them betwixt and the last day of April. " Item, for reforming [performing] of the said work by the said Alexander and Thomas, they have found cautioners, Archibald Seinzeour and James Norvell, burgess of Edinburgh, with them- selves conjunctly and severally, that they shall deliver so many as they shall deliver advancement for perfecting of the said work, which shall be (God willing) betwixt and the last of March, the year jo8 ^^e Q$a60anbgne (§iMe. year of God 1576 years ; and the said Alexander and Thomas are bound and obliged to relieve them. Sic subscribe- Alex. Arbuthnot, with my hand. Archibald Seinzeour. James Norvell, with my hand. Thomas Bassanden, with my hand." The General Assembly gave favourable answer to the proposals, and appointed several persons " to oversee every book before it be printed, and like- wise to oversee the labours of others that have travelled therein, to be given in to the printing betwixt and the last of April." The Government, under the Regent Morton, also gave a favourable ear to the project, and the Privy Council, seeing that " the charge and hazard of the wark will be great and sumptuous," decreed that each parish in the kingdom should advance ;^5 as a contribution, to be collected under the care of the said officers of the Church ; £4., 13s. 4d. of this sum being con- sidered as the price of a copy of the impression, to be afterwards delivered, " weel and sufficiently bund in paste or timmer," and the remaining 6s. 8d. as the expense of collecting the money. The money was to be handed over to Alexander Arbuthnot Q^afigan^gne anb ^tBut^nof. 109 Arbuthnot before the first of July next. The Bible was thus, in fact, a present from the people to their respective places of worship ; and as a BOOKBINDING IN SIXTEENTH CENTURY. proof of their zealous desire, it deserves to be recorded that in most instances the money was furnished about three years before the Bibles were delivered. no Mraku- f ■n.>.i..*of 'ihatjOf whether boihcrtiaJbealilwgood. fliaibcaburdcn,andconcupirccoccflialbe iToSi>.i.i« ^■pj'" ~ 7 Surety the light is a picalant thing : and drjneDaway.fgxinangortn ro the houfc '><"i''<»i"i>«'« ■oCcJ. itisagoodthuigtotbccycstofcpfiinoe. ofhisagc^nd the tooutdcis go about iofltti flooji"' 8 Thogha manTiireraaDicycrc5,[and5in Itrcte. ^^ ■' " thcmallheretoycc, ycthclhalremcmbci 6 Whilesf filucr^cordcisnotlengthencd „,£^rf^ ( TTui ii . of thcdaicsofsdaitrene^jbccaulcthciareiiia nor the golden? ewer broken,norf ipit- «« Jui-siiui. 'IIm','! "^ nif^llihatcoajcth(;i5>anitit. chetbiolci.natihe'well, iiotihc fwhclciVui'tSir.-. k Ht dnidnk p ■> Rcioyce,6 yong man^D thy youth , & brokeaatthc'dHCTnc: 't'*I,''t'^°'" tb." dciMi n. let thine heart cherc ihce in the daycs of 7 Andduftreiurneiotbe earth as it was, '„!f^""^ woridtwpit.- thy yonih:&walltc in tbewaies of thine & thc^rpirittiettimetoGodthatgaueh. ™ JJ™ "'"* God'^dtnot heart.andintJic fightofthinc eyes : but « Vanitieofv3mtics,fiithdiePrcad)et,all „ ,(„*J,,"fl-" ""'■'""»*» Inowethatforatlthefc things, God will isvaoiiie. mo of »n u bring thee to iudgcmcnt. iTo^cingK [o Therefore takeav^aye' Brief outofthinc k M*!]^^«i hcart,andcaafceuil 'todeparie frotnthy •'"»"" •'^- fle(h:forduldehode andyouihcarc>ant- «iirwo fowhu I <• ' giua. tic* CHAP. XII. 7 ThefoaleretiwnrtSioGod. .. WKdomeh ti.»gift «rO,nn»' wherein ihoQUiauiayJ haue ao pUafaie ::£cl"^J. in them: cn»rel. a VVhilesihePjnneis not datke, nor the ^J^^^^' light,nprthenwoBe,nortbe(Urics,nor i 1,0 Ji^ •doudestcturne after the raine: St>.ISc.- » When the '■kepers of the houfcfhal from • TtniM'- fcle^ndt'he' nrongtnenlbal bowe them tliluf""*" ielofs.andfhe'grtndersftalccafe.becau- g vviia .!« fc thei are fewe, and they W3XC darke that jJ^J?" *„j ' 'olfe out by the windowes: rott. jbi. .04 Aandthe'dotresflialbcfhut withoutby *"" °° ""'" thf bafefoundcofthesgtinding.and he 9 Ar.dthctnorewifethcPreacher'was,thCo -n,, Thiib. mote he taught the pcoplekDowlcdgc,& 'f''^ b"r« cau(edthemtohfate,& fearcncdforihc, „ M«m»g.i,. and prepared tnanie parables. T'TV °' *! ^! J^ i /- 1 /■ t 1 b«kfbof«4iia 10 The Preacher foght to. bnae out plea- ,i,j s<.„vo. fantwordes.&an vprigbt writiBg,Ccuen] ^^^''''Jj" the wotdcs of trueih. >«o.uw i.fab>., 11 Thcwordesofthewifeare liltegojdcs,* "'J^*^""' and like nailes 'faflencdby ihemaliersof ,, Tnab. t)» the afTcmblies , Cwbich3 arc giuen by one ;*j;^ j„ 'paftour. ire«j. tj And of other ihinfisbcfides there, tnyf^^'''"''- fonne , take ihouhcde:f6rihercisnoDc , Th« ;..*.- endmmakingmanie'bokes:andrauche^^^°^'°'* reading is a weannes of the flefh. d««vnti* tte n Letvshcjrethcendofa!l:feareGod8f P°?j;7J^f^;;'-^ kcpebiscommandements-- for this is the to.in hi, ,ch» wbolc[dueticjofn>an. fo'^.^JkoH. 14 For Cod wd bring eueric workc vnto pi>c< .■ ih. iudgement.witheuericfecictthing.whe- "J''"' ""*'■ therit begoodoreuit ■ vvki* .rt well»pj>n»dSTrhw»ifl«»t.«*oni(hpoiWrttin)aft«tv ? Thai it.b)' God. ■ TiiflaAiiib«ni>ue ib.iu nuii*iote4feGofo«i^S«t4wiK>obTeKi(U^rce«ndc.aDK>n3l4calUt^nM&pitd noi tv S : Ki:^c s /br onlf^iH ox bteatUli Uiat u 10 hci. 'Ebr.afofiftAf fongi-fcwIlH bccjufc HHtKe • 005 , which Salomon rv.Ac laJihrul 1. of thy good ointments thy name [is as} , an Ointment powred out . therefore the ( nt»tlKir,-^ O C rt -C >« ' o 1 6 J o ./, (ir > « c " ^ '".O <« -.-£ a 3 ^ — 0^0 - ^ >-^ " »^ " O 1: " nJ !* ^ — in 2 * *^ " u -t: JO 1; -js a. ocv2 u -a O .3 ■^ Z^e (§(ie6an^isne (§iMe, 153 shulde not hence forthe liuc vnto them selues, but vnto him which dyed for them, and rose againe. ^ His feareful iudgement, ^ He proueth the dignitie of his ministerie by the frute and effect therof, whiche is to bring men to Christ. » By imbrac- ing the same faith whiche we preache to others. ^ As they who more estemed the outwarde shewe of wisdome and eloquence, then true godlines. ' As the aduersaries said, who colde not abide to heare them praised. ™ Our folic serueth to Gods glorie. ° Therfore whosoeuer giueth place to ambicion or vaine glorie, is yet dead, and liueth not in Christ. ° As the onelie faithful do in Christ. I Peter iii. 1—7. 1. Likewise let the wiues be subiect to their housbands that euen thei whiche obeye not the worde, may without ye worde be wonne by the conuersacion of ye wiues, 2. While thei beholde your pure conuersacion, whiche is with feare. 3. Whose apparelling let it not be outwarde, [as] with broyded heere, and golde put about, or in putting on of apparel. 4. But let the hid man of the heart be vncorrupt, with a meke and quiet spirit, which is before God a thinge muche set by. 5. For J 54 €^e Q0a66an^gne Q0i6fe. 5. For euen after this maner in tyme past did the holie women, which trusted in God, tier them selues, and were subiect to their housbands. 6. As Sarra obeied Abraham, and called him t Syr : whose daughters ye are, whiles ye do wel, not being ^ afraide of anie terrour. 7. Likewise ye housbands, dwel with them as men of ^ knowledge, '^ giuing honour vnto the woman, as vnto the weaker vessel, euen as they which '^ are heires together of the grace of life, that ^ your prayers be not interrupted. t Or, master. ^ But willinglie do your dutie : for your condition is not the worse for your obedience, ^ By nether keping them to streite, nor in giuing them to much libertie. ' Taking care and prouiding for her. ^ Man oght to loue his wife, because they lead their life together, also for that she is the weaker vessel, but chieflie because that God hathe made them as it were felowe heires to- gether of life euerlasting. " For they cannot pray when they are at dissencion. The Bassandyne Bible contains also at the end of the New Testament several tables or indexes, of which there follow a few examples : I. A brief c Z^e (jSaeean^gne Q$i6fe. 155 I. A brief e tabic of the interpretation of the proper names whiche are chieflic found in the Olde Testament, &c. Abel, mourning, the name of a citie, but Habel, the name of a man, doeth signifie vanitie, Gen, 4, 2. Bacchides, one that holdeth of Bacchus, or a drunkard, I Mace. 7, 8. Elymas, a corruptor, or sorceror, Acts 1 3, 8. lob, sorrowful, or hated, lob 1,1. Shimshon, there the second time, because the Angel appeared the second time at the prayer of his father, Judges 13, 24. A table of the principal things that are conteined in the Bible, after the order of the alphabet. The first nomber noteth the chapter, and the seconde the verse. F. Olde wiues Fables, i tim. 4, 7. euerie one oght to proue his Faith, 2 cor. 13, 5, the shield of Faith, ephes. 6, 16. Christ prayeth for Peters faith, luke 22, 32. the definition of Faith, ebr. 11, i, faith cometh by hearing, rom. 10, 17. The apostles praye to haue their Faith increased, luke 17, 5- learne to Feare God, deut, 14, 23. the 156 t^e (§aBB(in^i^ne Q0i6fe. the Feare of God is true wisdome, iob 28, 28. H the Feareful must absent them selues from warre, deut. 20, 8. the worthiest place at Feasts, matt. 23, 6. feastes made at the shepeshearings, 2 sa. 13, 23. 51 God teacheth to Fight, 2 sa. 22, 35. the Finger of God, for his power, exod. 8, 19. the First borne in the land of egypt, exod. 1 1, 4. the First frutes, exod. 22, 29. the First frutes perteined to the hie priests, nomb. 5, 9. fishes cleane and vncleane, leuit. n, 9. H paul neuer vsed Flatterie, i thess. 2, 5. H by the Folde is vnderstand the church, ioh. 9, 16. our Forerunner, Christ, ebr. 6, 20. Christ deliuered by the determinat counsel & Fore- knowledge of God, act. 3, 23. euerlasting Fyre prepared for the deuil, mat. 25, 31. A perfite siippvtation of the yeares and tymes from Adam unto Christ, proiied by the Scriptures, after the collection of diuers autors. This contains the reckoning of " The summe of the yeres of the first age," in different paragraphs — " From Adam to Noe. From Noe to Abraham's departure to Chaldee. From Abraham's departure to the Exodus. From the Exodus to the first building of the Temple. From the first building of the Temple to its re- building." The The following is the concluding paragraph of the " Suppvtation : " " From the reedifying of the citie vnto the comming of Christ are 483 yeres, after this suppvtation or nombring. It is mentioned in the 9 of Daniel that Jerusalem shulde be buylt vp againe, and that from that tyme vnto the comming of Christ are 67 weekes, & euerie weeke is reckoned for seuen yeres. So 67 weekes amount to 483 yeres. For from the 32 yere of Darius vnto the 42 yere of Augustus, in the whiche yere our Saviour Christ was borne, are iust and complet so many yeres, wherevpon we recken, that from Adam vnto Christ are 3974 yeres, six moneths and ten dayes, and from the byrth of Christ unto this present yere, is 1576. " Then the whole summe and nomber of yeres from the begynning of the whole vnto this present yere of our Lord God 1576 are iust 5550, 6 moneths, and the said odde ten dayes." The End, Joshua, chap. i. vers. 8. Let not this boke of the Lawe departe out of thy mouth, but meditate therein daye and night, that thou mayest obserue and do according to all that is writen therein : so shalt thou make thy way prosperous, and then shalt thou haue good successe. The volume concludes v^ith a table shovi^ing " The order of the yeres from Paul's conuersion shewing the time of his peregrination, and of his Epistles writen to the Churches." Chapter CHAPTER VI. The Successors of Bassandyne. MONG the sixteenth-century Scottish printers contemporary with and follow- ing Bassandyne and Arbuthnot, besides Thomas Vautrollier, the refugee Huguenot, who is credited with having printed the first edition of Knox's " History of the Reformation," were John Ros (1574), Henrie Charteris (about 1582), Robert Waldegrave, and Robert Smith. The last named received a license from the King to print the following works, the titles of which show the books which were then probably the most popu- lar in Scotland : " The Double and Single Cate- chisme ; " " The Four Parts of Grammar, accord- ing to Sebastian ; " " Select Epistles of Cicero ; " " The Plain Donat ; " the Psalms of Buchanan ; "The Ballat Bulk;" "The Fables of iEsop," &c. Among the books for which Smith received license was the following, and as it appears to have been very popular and often printed, the full title is given : €^e ^ucceeeote of ^asean^i^ne, 159 given : " Hier beginnis the sevin Seages, Trans- latit out of Prois in Scottis Meiter, be lohne Rolland in Dalkeith, With ane moralitie eftir euerie doctouris Tale, and Siklyke eftir the emprice Tale ; Togidder with ane louing and lawd to euery Doctour eftir his awin Tale : and ane Exclamation and outcrying vpon the Empreour is Wyfe, eftir hir fals contrusit tale. Edinburgh, Printit be Robert Smyth, dwelland at the\Nether Bow. Cum prhtilegio regalia There was also George Young, who, in Sep- tember 1585, obtained full right to print whatsoever books had been included in the gift to Arbuthnot, including " all sic workes and volumes as sal be thocht meet and expedient to his Majesties estaitis and lordis of his privie council to be set furth in the Latine, Inglis, or vulgar Scottis toungis tend- ing to the glorie of God and common weill of this realme." In 1588 a work by King James, "Ane fruitfull Meditation on Rev. xx.," &c., and in 1589 another, "Ane Exposition of i Chron. xv. 25," &c., were both printed by Henrie Charteris, cum privilegio regali. Of these, and many other pro- ductions of the early Scottish printers, notwith- standing the largeness of the impressions, some have entirely disappeared. However strange it may now appear, when we consider i6o ^^e Q0a06anbgne Q0t6fe. consider that printers thus grew more plentiful, and that the demand for Bibles among the reli- gious population of Scotland must have certainly increased, it is a fact that no edition of the Scrip- tures was issued in this country from the time of Bassandyne's Bible till 1610, the year before the publication of King James's Authorised Version. There are records, however, of editions of the Psalms and Catechisms for the Church of Scotland being frequently printed on the Continent, and imported into this country, as these were not used anywhere else ; and also that one edition at least of the Scriptures was printed in 1 601 at Dort for Scottish use. This latter work appears to have been done at the expense of Andro Hart and the heirs of Henrie Charteris, two Edinburgh printers, and the quality of the paper and the workmanship of the books printed abroad were generally such as to secure for them a preference at this time, although the Scottish press was then considered very respectable. In May 1590, for instance, John Gibson, the bookbinder to his Majesty, was empowered to print several books, such as the works of Sir David Lyndsay, the Dunbar Rudi- ments, the Seven Sages, and the Colloquies of Corderius. These he may have had printed in Edinburgh, but having in July 1599 received a license t^^e ^ucceesors of (§a6(ianti^ne, 16 1 license to print the Psalm Book, it is evident that he had this done abroad, as in the preamble to his license it is stated that "John Gibson has, on his awin grit chargeis, and be his privat mean and devyse, causit imprent within Middleburgh in Flanders, ane new psalme bulk in littil volume, conteining baith the psalmes in verse, as likewise the same in prose upon the margin, in ane forme never practisit nor devisit in any heirtofor, and tending gritly to the furtherance of the trew religion." Andro Hart, to whom reference is made above, seems to have carried on the business of a bookseller on the north side of the Cross in the High Street of Edinburgh for a number of years, and his name appears on so many interesting title-pages, that he is really a notable man of his time. He and John Norton, an Englishman, also a bookseller, sent a petition to the Privy Council in February 1589-90, setting forth " what hurt the lieges of this realme susteinit through the scarcity of buiks and volumes of all sorts," and the high prices taken for these when brought from England. They, " upon an earnest zeal to the propagation and incress of vertue and letters within this realme, had, two years ago, enterprisit the hame-bringing of volumes and buiks furth of Almane and Germanie, fra the whilk parts the L i62 ^^e Q$a60an^ene (J3i6fe. the maist part of the best volumes in England are brought, and in this trade have sae behavit them- selves that this town is furnist with better buiks and volumes nor it was at ony time heretofore, and the said volumes sauld by them in this country are als guid cheap as they are to be sauld in London or ony other part of England, to the great ease and commodity of all estates within this realme." Many popular books must have been at this time imported from abroad, as it is said that in l6iO there were in circulation about thirty foreign editions of Buchanan's Psalms, nine or ten editions of the works of Sir David Lyndsay, some of these latter having been printed in France and some in England. The complaint of Hart and Norton now was that " John Gourla}^, the customer " (that is, the farmer of customs), had laid hands upon the books which Hart and Norton were importing, and demanded that they should pay a duty. The petitioners referred to a like complaint formerly made by Thomas Vautrollier, printer, when " he obteinit ane decreet dischargeing the provost and bailies of this burgh and their customer fra all asking of ony customs for ony books sauld or to be sauld by him," and Hart and Norton only sought to be treated in like manner. The Lords unhesitatingly granted the prayer of the two book- sellers. Z^e ^ucce60or6 of Q^aecan^i^ne. 163 sellers. In the course of a few years Hart appears to have severed his connection with Norton ; and in 1597 Hart found it necessary again to petition the Lords of Exchequer against the customer's exac- tions, and the Lords repeated that they " declaris and ordanis that thair salbe na maner of custome or customes askit sutit or tane fra the said com- plenar for ony bukis or volumis alreddie brocht in or to be brocht in be him within this realme in ony tyme cuming. And therfoir ordanis the said John gourlay customar foirsaid and all vtheris customaris of Edinburgh present or that salhappin to be for the tyme as alsua all vtheris customaris of quhatsumevir burrowis and portis of this realme To decist and ceis fra all asking craving or suting of ony custome fra the said andro hart complenar foirsaid for ony bukis or volumis brocht in or to be brocht in or sauld be him within this realme in ony tyme cuming," &c. Andro Hart printed another Bible in 16 10, which was so much esteemed for its general cor- rectness, that many subsequent editions bore upon their titles *' conform to the edition printed by Andro Hart " — a very handsome one, printed at Amsterdam by Thomas Stafford, an Englishman, claiming this distinction ; and similarly another so late as 1644. Hart's Bible, like that of Bassan- dyne, 1 64 €^e ^asBanbisne 0$t6fe. dyne, was also in folio, and, though well adapted for general use, could hardly be obtainable by people in humble circumstances. This Bible has been described as an edition of the Geneva ver- sion ; still it was not a reprint of Bassandyne's, or of that printed at Geneva in i6io. The Old Testament is indeed the same in both text and notes, but the New Testament is not from the Geneva, but from one published by Laurence Tomson in 1576, which, though not var3'ing much in the text, has very different annotations in the margin. In this way it turns out that many of the verses which have marginal notes in Bassan- dyne's have none in Hart's, and, on the other hand, copious notes are often given by Hart where Bassandyne has none. The following is the full title of Hart's New Testament : " The New Testa- ment of our Lord Jesus Christ, translated out of Greeke, by Theod. Beza. Whereunto are adjoyned briefe Summaries of Doctrine upon the Evangelists and Acts of the Apostles, together with the Methode of the Epistles of the Apostles, by the said Theod. Beza. And also short Expositions on the Phrases and Hard Places, taken out of the large Annota- tions of the foresaid Author, and Joach. Camerarius, by P. Los Valerius. Englished by L. Tomson. Together with the Annotations of Fr. Junius, upon Revelation ^^e ^ucce00or0 of ^aeBan^i^ne, 165 Revelation of St. John." There follows at the end two tables : the first, " Of the Interpretation of Proper Names, which are chiefly found in the Old Testament ; " the second table is, " Of the principal things that are contained in the Bible, after the order of the alphabet." It is curious that Hart published this book in the face of Robert Charteris, then printer to his Majesty, who had, in June i6o6, received a special license for twenty-five years to print the Bible in the vulgar tongue ; but the fact is, that, like Lekprevik, his predecessor in the office, he never published any edition of the Scriptures. Below the title of Hart's Bible is an engraving represent- ing the passing of the Red Sea, which is encom- passed with the words, " Great are the troubles of the righteous ; but the Lord delivered them out of them all " — Psalm xxxiv. Under this again is the text : " ' The Lord shall fight for you ; therefore hold you your peace.' At Edinburgh, printed by Andro Hart, and are to be sold at his buith, at the north side of the gate, a little beneath the cross. Anno Dom. i6io." The Diocesan Synod of St. Andrews, in April i6ii, recommended all ministers of the Church to urge upon their parishioners to " buy ane of the Bybles laitlie printed be Andro Hart," and the brother failing to follow out this instruction 1 66 ^3e Q^aseanb^ne Q$i6fe. instruction was to pay at the next Synod a fine of ten shillings sterling. It is interesting to note that Andro Hart in 1614 published Barbour's "Bruce," and, about the same time, a small volume entitled " Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio, &c. Auctore et Inventore loanne Napero, Barone Mer- chistone, Scoto." This was a remarkable event, considering the many traits of bigotry and ignorance that distinguished the time, for in Napier's volume was presented a mode of calculation which has been of service ever since in the solution of all the great problems involving numbers which have presented themselves to the scientific studies of the race. Hart also printed a volume in Black letter entitled " Ane Compendious Booke of Godlie and spirituall Sangs, collectit out of sundrie partes of the Scripture, With sundrie other Ballates, changed out of prophane sanges," which is believed to have been partly written by Wedderburn, the author of " The Complaynte of Scotland." Although the authorities tried several times to repress their circulation, yet these ballads were not only great favourites, but they had," in their day, also consider- able influence on the life of the common people. One of these " blasphematiounis rimes " was the following direct hit at the Romish clergy, in which the spelling is modernised : "With €^e ^uueBBotB of Q$a0ganbgne. 167 ** With hunts up, with hunts up, It is now perfect day ; Jesus our King is gone a-hunting, Who likes to speed, they may. An cursed fox lay hid in rocks This long and many a day, Devouring sheep, while he might creep, None might him shape away. It did him good to lap the blood Of young and tender lambs ; None could him miss, for all was his. The young ones with their dams. The hunter is Christ, that hunts in haste ; The hounds are Peter and Paul ; The Pope is the fox ; Rome is the rocks, That rubs us on the gall. That cruel beast, he never ceased By his usurped power. Under dispense, to get our pence, Our souls to devour. Who could devise such merchandise, As he had there to sell, Unless it were proud Lucifer, The great master of Hell ? He had to sell the Tantonie bell ; And pardons therein was, Remission of sins in old sheep skins. Our souls to bring from grace. With x68 t^e t3aetianti^ne (§iMe. With bulls of lead, white wax, and red, And other whiles with green, Closed in a box, this used the fox ; Such paultry was never seen," Another remarkable book, published June 13, 1616, was a work called " God and the King," " shewing that his sacred majesty being imme- diately under God within his dominions, doth rightfully and lawfully claim whatsoever is required by the aith of allegiance," and was proclaimed as a book of instruction for youth in schools and universities, " whereby, in their tender years, the truth of that doctrine may be bred and settled in them, and they thereby may be the better armed and prepared to withstand any persuasion that in their riper years may be offered and usit towards them for corrupting of them in their duty and allegiance." Hart died in 162 1, at an advanced age. Following Hart, the progress of the printer's art may be briefly noticed till the time of Mrs. Anderson, one of the most remarkable of Bible printers, and among the names now will be found those of Thomas Finlayson and Robert Young. Finlayson seems to have possessed the usual aptitude of the printers of those early times for getting into trouble with the authorities, as is shown €^e ^ucceeBors of QSaeean^gne. 169 shown in the following incident. In 1607, Sir John Skene of Curriehill, a Lord of Session, completed his " Regiam Majestatem " and " Quo- niam Attachiamenta," treatises concerning the an- cient laws of Scotland, and presented them to the Privy Council, who recommended the work to James VI. in a letter dated 15 th March that year. The volume was afterwards presented to Parlia- ment and ordered to be printed, for which purpose the learned author employed Thomas Finlayson. The expense of printing, and the remuneration to Sir John Skene, was evidently to be defrayed by contributions from the various burghs, as in April 1609 we find the magistrates of Glasgow called upon to make payment of ;^I00 for this purpose. In September 1607, the author had some dispute with his printer about the work, of importance enough to come under the attention of the Privy Council. It was alleged that Finlayson, after pcr- fyting the volume, " upon some frivole consait and apprehension of his own, without ony warrant of law or pretence of reason," maliciously refused to deliver the book to Sir John Skene, " but shifts and delays him fra time to time, with foolish and impertinent excuses, to Sir John's heavy hurt and prejudice." The Lords ordered Finlayson to de- liver the book to its author within eight days, on pain €^e Q^aeeanbgne Q$i6fe. pain of being denounced rebel ; and " wheras there is some little difference and question betwixt the said parties anent their comptis," a committee was appointed " to sort the same and put them to ana rest." Robert Young had the honour of being printer to Charles I., and in 1633 he turned out the first edition of any part of the Scriptures, according to King James's Authorised Version, which was published in Scotland. This was only, however, the New Testament portion, and he issued two impressions, both of small size ; and the number of copies of the second one is said to have been very limited, some of these having plates. This is believed to be the edition referred to in a re- markable letter contained in the Wodrow Collec- tion of Manuscripts, and printed by Lord Hailes in his " Memorials and Letters." " That you may taste a little of our condition," says the writer, " I have sent you two of our own Scots Bibles, the New Testament only, wherein they have placed such abominable pictures, that horrible impiety stares through them. These come forth by public authority. Do you show them to such as you think meet." It is asserted in one of the charges against Archbishop Laud that he had brought these Popish pictures from foreign parts, and that with ^^e ^ucce60or0 of QSasean^gne. 171 with his " good liking " they were bound up in English Bibles, which were called the Archbishop of Canterbury's Bibles. The number of plates in the original book is said to be seventy-four, most of them finely executed. The Edinburgh edition of 1633, in which in some instances they have been inserted, is printed in double columns, and bears a great resemblance to some London editions of the same period. Young in 1637 produced a Book of Common Prayer or Scottish Service Book in folio, which was considered to be far superior to those executed in England at that time. Watson (" History of Printing," 171 3) says of this Prayer Book, the merit of which apparently proved the printer's ruin in Scotland, " I have, with great Pleasure, view'd and compar'd that Book with the English one in the same Volume, printed about the same Time by the King's Printers in England : And indeed Mr. Young's Book so far exceeded the other, that there could be no Comparison between them. You'll see by That printed here, the Master furnish'd with a very large Fount, Four Sheets being inset together ; a vast Variety of curiously cut Head-Pieces, Finis's, Blooming-Letters, Fac-totums, Flowers, &c. You'll see the Compositor's Part done with the greatest Regularity and Niceness in the Kalendar ; and throughout €^c (3$a66an^gne QBifife. throughout the rest of the Book. The Press-Man's Part done to a Wonder in the Red and Black, and the whole printed in so beautiful and equal a Colour, that there is not any Appearance of Varia- tion. But this Good and Great Master was ruin'd by the Covenanters for doing this Piece of Work, and forc'd to fly the kingdom." It appears from the letters of Archbishop Laud that Young must after this have resided in London, whence he transmitted types and instructions to his work- people in Edinburgh. Charles L's " Large De- claration concerning the Tumults in Scotland " was printed in London by Young, his Majesty's then printer for Scotland, in 1639, at which time many tracts and pamphlets professing to be printed in Edinburgh bear the same name and desig- nation. The tumults referred to in Charles L's " Large Declaration " were the results of the attempts begun by James VI. to introduce the Episcopal service into Scotland, because it was thought dangerous to the English Church that a form of worship resem- bling that of the Puritans should exist in any part of the King's dominions. The same object was further carried on with greater zeal by Charles L ; and although the people were generally adverse to it, he had succeeded, after a visit which he paid to ^0e ^ucceeeoxB of i§(i6Ban^i^ne. 173 to Scotland in 1633, in settling thirteen bishops* over the Church, by whom he hoped to govern the Scottish clergy as he did those of England, But when he attempted in 1637 to introduce the new Book of Common Prayer into the Scottish churches, the spirit of the people could no longer be kept within bounds. On the liturgy being opened in the principal church in Edinburgh, the congregation rose in a violent tumult, and threw their clasped Bibles, and the very stools they sat on, at the minister's head ; and it was not till the people were expelled by force that the worship was permitted to proceed. It was found necessary by the Scot- tish state officers to withdraw the obnoxious liturgy till they should consult the King, who, not dreading any mischief, gave orders that it should be used as he had formerly directed, and that the civil force should be used in protecting the clergymen. In connection with all this, we learn further that " Mr. Andrew Ramsay and Mr. Henry Rol- lock, ministers in Edinburgh, were accused for not buying * These bishops were known as the Tulchan Bishops : a tulchan being a calf's skin stuffed to induce the cow to give milk, and the bishops being regarded by the Scottish people as an invention of the lairds to get the rents out of the Church lands, to which otherwise they had a difficulty in establishing a right. 174 €^e (J$ae0anbi?ne (^t6fe. buying and using the Common Prayer Books at the King's command. They answer, it was con- trary to the orders of their Kirk and their own consciences, and so would not use them. Followed another Council day, where there were convened about one hundred ministers, well backed with their nobles and gentlemen, who refused using the service books, as contrary to the constitution of the Kirk and worship of God, whereupon they offered public disputation, and so departed. Upon the first Sunday of October 1637, the provincial synod sat down in Murray : the Bishop of Murray desired the ministry to buy and use the service book, conform to the King's command, as all the bishops had done ; so some bought, some took to be advised, and some refused. The bishops had caused imprint thir books, and payed for the samen, and should have gotten frae each minister four pounds for the piece." King Charles thus found it quite impossible to force observance to his commands in the face of a united people, repre- sented by nobles, ministers, gentry, and burghers, who endeavoured to awe the King into an abandon- ment of the liturgy ; and he used every means in his power to avoid such humiliation, which he believed would give immense force to the innovators in England. But the Scottish people, when they found €de ^ucce06or0 of ^ciBBan^tm. 175 found him hesitating, bound themselves (March 1638) under a bond called the National Covenant, which was signed by a large proportion of the adult population, to resist their sovereign in every attempt he might make to bring in upon them the errors of Popery, for such they held to be the forms of worship and ecclesiastical government which Charles had lately imposed upon their Church. In November the same year we read of Raban, a well-known printer in Aberdeen, issuing " diverse copies of a proclamation of the King against dis- obedient subjects, relating to a dispute between him and the General Assembly," and it must have been to this proclamation, or to the Declaration printed by Young in London, that the Covenanters wrote out an answer, called " The Remonstrance of the Nobility, Barons, Burgesses, Ministers, and Commons, within the kingdom of Scotland. Im- printed at Edinburgh by James Bryson, 1639. By the whilk they set down an answer to ilk particular reason contained in the King's proclama- tion, and that they had done no wrong in their haill procedure, and that any proclamation made in England, or sent down here to be proclaimed in Scotland, declaring them, and the most part of the body of the kingdom, to be rebels and traitors, was in 176 €^e ^aztiCinti^ne (J5i6fe. in itself null and unlawful, as done by the King upon information of wicked and seditious persons, seeking their own ends, without advice of council or parliament, who had special power in declaring matters of treason, and therefore had good reason to stay the publication of such illegal proclama- tions." Specimen of Initial Letters in Bassandync Bible. Chapter CHAPTER VII. Evan Tyler — The Andersons. VAN TYLER, the next printer who held the royal office in order of time, had been appointed jointly with Young in 1641, and he published in 1642 a neat Pocket Bible in two parts, and also in 1643 an octavo New Testament in Black letter. The largest size Tyler is known to have ever printed was an octavo in 1649, whilst he also furnished editions of the Scotch Psalms to be bound up with Bibles printed by Charles Bill in London, after the certified approval of these Psalms for public worship by the General Assembly in May 1650.* After the death of Young, Tyler became sole possessor of the royal appointment, but during the Civil Wars, according to Watson's " History of Printing," he basely deserted * A facsimile of a title-page of Evan Tyler's Scotch Psalms is given on page 179, from a copy of a "Bill" Pocket Bible. M 178 t^e ^aBBan^2^e (J$i6fc. deserted his master's interest, and was in his turn obliged to fly when Charles II. was in Scotland in 1650, a sentence of forfeiture having been passed on him at Scone. On Cromwell gaining ascendancy in the North, however, Tyler assigned his patent to some London stationers, who sent down Christopher Higgins, with some other English printers. These carried on a business at Leith, which consisted chiefly in reprinting a newspaper called "A Diurnal of Some Passages of Affairs," first printed in London ; they also issued some small books, said by Watson to have been very badly done. After the death of Higgins, the London stationers appointed a Scottish printer named Patrick Ramsay to oversee their printing- office, but eventually the establishment was broken up and sold to several booksellers in Edinburgh, who very soon divided and set up distinct houses. The statement of Watson's History that Tyler was declared rebel by Charles II. in 1650 seems at variance with the fact that he printed at Edinburgh " A Declaration of the King's Majesty to his Sub- jects of the Kingdomcs of Scotland, England, and Ireland," said to be "given at our Court at Dun- fermline the 1 6th day of August 1650, and in the second year of our Reign." It bears to have been "printed by Evan Tyler, Printer to the King's Most PSALMS OF DAVID In M EETE R. Newly Tranflated, and Diligently Compared with the Original Text, and former Tranflations : More plain, fmooth and agreeable to the Text, than any heretofore. Allowed by the Authority of the General Affembly of the Kirk oi Scotland ; and ap- pointed to be fung in Congregations and Families. -^ "^f? ^ff^ '^ -yj^ •^I^ -^^ -^Tj^ "^ WW EDINBURGH Printed by Evan Tyler , Printer to the King's moft Excellent Majefly, 1698. SBan tt^et. i8i Most Excellent Majesty, 1650." Spottiswood (Mis- cellany, vol. i.) also disputes Watson's accuracy on this point ; and says : " During the Commonwealth, it was but natural to suppose that the existing powers would not employ a person who had per- mitted the Proclamations and official documents of Charles II. to issue from his press, and in the interval between the flight of Charles and his restoration, Tyler could not expect to receive any countenance from Cromwell ; but after the Stuarts were restored to the throne of their ancestors, his truckling to the Parliament was overlooked, pro- bably on account of his non-adherence to the Pro- tector, and he was restored to the office of King's printer. How long he continued to hold that office has not been ascertained, but Proclamations by the Privy Council that issued from his press have been found, dated in 1664." During the troubles, Robert and James Bryson made application for the appointment of royal printers, but were unsuccessful in their attempt, for evidently Evan Tyler printed both the Acts of Par- liament and of the General Assembly for many years, thus showing that the services of the alleged renegade were considered by the dominant party more worthy of reward than those of the consistent Covenanters. However, as some small recompense, several i82 ^^e Q$a06anbgne (J$i6fe. several books were given to the Brysons to print by the General Assembly. Among other works printed by Robert Bryson were two of the poetical lucubrations of William Lithgow the traveller. One of these was entitled : " The Gushing Tears of Godly Sorrow, containing the Causes, Condition, and Remedies of Sinne, depending mainly upon Contrition and Confession ; and they Seconded with Sacred and Comfortable Passages under the Mourning Cannopic of Teares and Repentance." This small quarto was printed in 1640, "at the expense of the author," and dedicated to the Earl of Montrose, and affords a very favourable speci- men of Bryson's typographical abilities. In May 1650, the "new Psalm-books [the Psalms referred to above] were read and ordained to be sung through all the kingdom." This was the translation of the Psalms which is still used by the Church of Scotland and other Presbyterian congregations. It was based on a homely version produced originally in 1643 by Francis Rous, a member of the Long Parliament, who ultimately became Provost of Eton, and died in 1658. What was rather curious, Rous was at this time joined to the sectaries, against whom the Scottish Church entertained so bitter a feeling. It must be admitted that his version underwent great improvements in the t^e (^nOctBone, 183 the hands of the committees of the General Assembly appointed for its revision. As now finally sent forth, it was in many respects most felicitous. The general strain and metre is that of the old homely ballad. It is occasionally harsh and obscure, has a few Scottish idioms, and sometimes requires an obsolete pronunciation to make out the prosody ; yet, with all these obvious faults, it perhaps comes nearer to the simple beauty of the original than any other metrical translation. After Tyler, about 1650, came Archibald Hyslop, a bookseller, who set up a printing-office with William Carron, an excellent workman. They brought new materials from Holland, and printed an edition of Thomas-a-Kempis, as well as other books. While the art seemed at this time about to revive, it received an almost mortal blow through the conferring of a monopoly of printing on Andro Anderson, by the administration of Charles II. — " an administration whose attention seems to have been divided between exalting the royal preroga- tive and gratifying their own rapacity, but seldom applied to a consideration of the welfare of the people." Andro Anderson was the son of George Ander- son, who, in 1638, introduced the art of printing into Glasgow, having been invited from Edinburgh by 1 84 t^e Q0a66anb)?ne Q$i6fe. by the magistrates for tliat purpose, and it appears from the Council Records of the former city that he was allowed ;^iOO for the liquidation of his expenses in transportation of his gear to that burgh, and in full of his bj'gone salaries from Whitsunday 1638 till Martinmas 1639. His son Andro succeeded him in Glasgow, but removed to Edinburgh about 1660, receiving sixty merks " to help to transport his guids and flitting to Edin- burgh again," where he obtained the appointment of printer to the city and college. Andro Anderson printed a New Testament in Black letter for the use of children and schools ; but this work had so many errors in it that the Privy Council in 167 1 ordered all the copies to be called in and the blunders amended, and before it could be re-issued Anderson had to prefix a new title-page announc- ing the correction of the errors. Notwithstanding this grievous fault, " for payment of a composition in exchequer and other weighty reasons," Anderson soon after received a gift under the Great Seal, appointing him his Majesty's " sole, absolute, and only printer," and giving him the supervising of the presses and printing-houses in the kingdom, — a privilege so exclusive that no one dared print any book, from a Bible to a ballad, without license from Anderson. After his death in 1676, Agnes Campbell, Campbell, widow of Andro Anderson, carried on the printing business under the same privileges, in company with some others who had apparently been in partnership with Anderson himself; but the company soon disagreed, as they thought them- selves injured by the acting partners, and they all, with the exception of one George Swinton, sold their shares in the printing-house and patent to the widow, who thus became possessed of the monopoly of printing over all Scotland. Mrs. Anderson now began to prosecute the printers throughout the country for issuing books without her permission, and several were imprisoned and their places of business shut up. Swinton's share having been bought up by Robert Sanders, he assumed the title of one of the King's printers, and printed some books in an excellent manner, but he also was prosecuted. At length, John Reid, one of those against whom Mrs. Anderson had taken proceedings, petitioned the Duke of York in i68o against the exclusiveness of her privilege, setting forth that she had endeavoured to keep him out of the trade, Mrs. Anderson maintaining that she had the sole right, and that " one press is sufficiently able to serve all Scotland, our printing being but inconsiderable." The matter being moved in the Privy Council, the Duke declared it could only be the i86 t^c i§a66ani)i^ne (jSifife. the King's pleasure that his printer should enjoy those privileges which his royal predecessors had been in use to grant to their printers, such as printing of Bibles, Acts of Parliament, &c. ; upon which the Privy Council allowed the printers to carry on their ordinary work, Mrs. Anderson's monopoly being limited to such works as had been specified in the gift to her husband's predecessor, Evan Tyler. Baffled by the printers, Mrs. Ander- son now fell foul of the booksellers, and seized a quantity of Bibles brought by them from London ; but they complained of this to the Council, and having printed the errata of one of her Bibles to justify their importing the books, after close debate the Council ordered the books to be returned. In 1682, Sir Thomas Murray of Glendoick, having digested the statutes more carefully than had been done formerly, obtained liberty from Charles II. to employ in printing them those whom he might find most capable of executing so im- portant a work. Sir Thomas having for this pur- pose contracted with David Lindsay, merchant in Edinburgh, and John Cairns, printer, a patent was made out, giving them the sole privilege of printing the Acts of Parliament for nineteen years. To execute the work, two tradesmen, named Joshua Van Solingen and Jan Colmar, as well as new printing ^0e (^n^ereons. 187 printing materials, were brought from Holland. Cairns dying, the Dutchmen acquired the property of the printing-house and published the Acts of Parliament in folio. As Mrs. Anderson, notwith- standing the check she had received from the Privy Council, harassed the Dutchmen in the exer- cise of their business, Lindsay obtained a patent from Charles II. for himself and his partners for printing any book which was not the peculiar privilege of the King's printer, and this patent shows that Anderson's monopoly had proved dis- honourable to the King and disastrous to the country. The Dutchmen's business eventually fell into disorder, and they sold the printing-house to James Watson, merchant in Aberdeen, who had, in lieu of repayment of money lent by him to Charles II. when in exile, procured the gift of an exclusive privilege of printing almanacs in Scotland, and of the office of printer to his Majesty's household, with a salary of ;^ioo a year ; and for his son, a reversionary grant of the office of King's printer on the expiry of Anderson's patent. By the father's death, however, which happened some time after, it was neglected to get the patent to pass the seals. " Nothing," says Watson's Plistory, " came from the Royal Press (as Mrs. Anderson vainly termed it), but the most illegible and incorrect Bibles and books €^e QBa60an^l?ne Q$i6fe. books that ever were printed in any one place in the world. She regarded not the honour of the nation, and never minded the dut}' lay upon her as the sovereign's servant. Prentices, instead of the best workmen, were generally employed in printing the sacred word of God. And, in fine, nothing was studied but gaining of money by printing Bibles at any rate, which she knew none other durst do, and that nobody could want them." Many of the errata in Mrs. Anderson's Bibles were quite ungrammatical, and seriously affected the sense, as rigJiteousness iov unrighteousness; he killed, for he is killed; for iliat have sinned, for for that all have sinned; enticed in every thing, for enriched in every thing; zve for ye; either for neither; world for word; loveth pleasure, for liveth in pleasure; perfect for priest ; thou hast slain, for thou wast slain ; his testimony, for their testimony ; of the flesh, for of the will of the flesh ; ye were not the servants of sin, for ye were the servants of stn ; be not better against them, for be not bitter against them. Few pages can be opened in some of her Bibles without notic- ing such careless misspellings as Tins for Titus, Timoty for Timothy ; and tJie saints which are at Ephesus, reads in one case the salts which are at Epesus. Again, in a quarto Bible, we have the following examples of carelessness in the metrical Psalms ; Z^c ^n^evBone. 189 Psalms ; as in Psalm xxv. 3, where the word be, which should conclude the first line of the verse, is carried down to the third — thus : " Yea, let thou none ashamed that do on thee attend : Ashamed let them be, O Lord, be who without cause offend."' In Psalm xliii. 5 we find " He of my count'nance is the head" instead of " He of my count'nance is the health." In Psalm xix. 3 the words to which are omitted at the end of the first line, thus : " There is no speech nor tongue their voice doth not extend." In another Bible there are five columns in which the Italic a occurs 700 times for the Roman " a," exhausted in her fount of type ; as in this verse, Gen. xxi. 14 : ".<4nd Abraham rose up e^rly in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave // unto Hagffr (putting // on her shoulder) and the child and sent 19° €^e (§aB6anti^ne Q0i6fe. sent her avfay : and she depi/rted tznd wandered in the wilderness of Bcer-sheb^." Another edition in i2mo, published in 1705, is printed in such a manner as might puzzle any reader not previously acquainted with the sacred text, and must have been incomprehensible to learners. Thus, what could be made of the sen- tence: Whyshoulditbethoug tathingincredi blew'you, y* God should raise the dead ? " The page from which these words are taken contains other errors. In the same year in which this Bible was published, Mrs. Anderson seems to have given offence by the price she charged for some of her books, and the Privy Council on November 20 found it necessary to interfere with her in this way also : " The Lords of Her Majesties Privie Counscll doe heirby ap- poynt and ordaine the Actis past in the last Session of Queen Ann's Parliament to be sold at one pund ten Shillings Scots, and discharges Mrs. Anderson, her Majesties Printer, to exact any more for the samen." On February 26, 1685, the curious book, " Satan's Invisible World Discovered, by George Sinclair, professor of philosophy at the College of Glasgow," was endowed by the Lords of the Privy Council with a copyright of eleven years, all per- sons whatsoever being prohibited " from printing, reprinting. reprinting, or importing into this kingdom, any copies of the said book," during that space of time. This little volume, which was often reprinted during the eighteenth century, contains, in the language of its own title-page, a " Choice Collection of Modern Relations, proving evidently against the Saducecs and Atheists of this present age, that there arc Devils, Spirits, Witches, and Apparitions, from authentic records and attestations of witnesses of undoubted verity." The Council also in June and September 1686 issued edicts against the selling of books reflecting on Popery, and sent their officer round the various booksellers to warn them. The following is a copy of one of these edicts : " Act prohibiteing the printing or reprinting of any New Books or Pamphletts, without License from the Lord High Chancellour, Sept. 7, 1686 : The Lords of his Majesties Privy Councill Doe hereby Pro- hibite and Discharge all personis whatsomever from granting any license for printing or reprinting any new Books or Pamphletts, untill the same be first seen and perused by the Lord High Chancellor, as they will be answerable ; And Ordaines Intima- tions hereof to be made by one of the Macers ot Councill to the Printers and Stationers in and about Edinburgh, that they may not pretend igno- rance. Perth, Cancell." Amongst 19^ €^e ^asBanti^ne QBi6fe. Amongst others, the officer brought the edict to a bookseller named James Glen, who quietly observed that " there was one book in his shop which condemned Popery very directly, namely, the Bible, — might he sell that ? " Some time after, when the Government were rigorously enforcing the laws against unlicensed printing, to prevent the issue of controversial pamphlets, James Glen was imprisoned by an order from the Chancellor, Lord Perth, for publishing a pamphlet called " The Root of Romish Ceremonies," designed " to prove Popery to be only paganism revived." This was con- sidered a strong step for the Government to take at the time, when a Popish printer was at work at Holyrood ; but perhaps Lord Perth — who had become a Catholic, " some say to please his wife, some to please the King, no one to please him- self" — felt sore at the sharp answer Glen had given to the Council's officer on the former occasion, and thus was the more inchned to deal rigorously with him. Similar decrees, both permissive and restrictive, were afterwards at different times issued by the authorities to Robert Blaw and James Watson ; and several are in existence referring to early newspapers, " Prognostications " or " Al- manacks," and even to " Buriall Letters," respec- tively to Charles Chalmers in 1695, to James Donaldson t-^e (/Xn^eveone. 193 Donaldson and to George Mosman in 1699, and to various other printers and booksellers in 1703 and 1704, in which latter years there were several petitions to the Council regarding the restrictions on the art of printing. Chapter N CHAPTER VIII. Watson, Symson, and Ruddiman. MONG the early printers who now follow, few names are of historical note, ex- cept those perhaps of James Watson, Andrew Symson, and Thomas Ruddiman. When the elder Watson came from Aberdeen, he set up his printing business somewhere in the Grassmarket, near Heriot's Hospital, but was evidently not suc- cessful, as we learn that in 1685-86 his landlady poinded his goods for rent due by him, and he took sanctuary within the precincts of Holyrood Abbey, taking his printing establishment with him. In all probability, it was at the time of the printer's indebtedness to his landlady that he made appli- cation for the repayment of his loan to Charles II. ; but, as usual, the cash not being forthcoming, his improvident Majesty gave Watson the grant already referred to of printer to the Royal Family, with a privilege of printing Almanacks, or Prog- nostications, as they were then called. On the death 3ame0 OJJateon. 195 death of the elder Watson in 1687, his son James being then too young to succeed him, the office thus created was given by James VII. to Peter Bruce, or, as Watson calls him, " Bruschii," an engineer by trade and a German by birth. But Bruce did not make much by being so favoured, for though he got possession of the printing- house at Holyrood, and did some work there, he not long after was ruined by the rioters at the Revolution. James Watson, bred a printer " from his infancy," as he himself says, and associated with his father at the Holyrood House press, set up in 1695, was, like the other printers of Edinburgh, very soon involved in trouble with Mrs. Anderson. A more serious difficulty awaited him, however, for he gave offence to the authorities by printing a pamphlet called " Scotland's Grievance respecting Darien," and he was apprehended and put in prison. Here he did not remain long, for on the 19th June 1700, a rumour having reached Edinburgh that the Spaniards had attacked the Scots colony at Darien and been signally defeated, these glad tidings raised such a tumult of rejoicing that a large mob as- sembled, kindled bonfires, and forced the citizens to illuminate their houses, breaking the windows of those who declined to similarly manifest their pleasure. 196 Z^e Q$a66an^gne Q^ifife. pleasure. The mob also forced its way into the house of Sir James Stewart, the King's Advocate, and compelled him to sign a warrant for liberating Watson, and also Paterson — the latter, no doubt, the projector of the Daricn Scheme, While one portion of the mob was thus engaged, another body of rioters, more earnest and more zealous, without waiting for legal warrants, assaulted the prison, forced an entrance, and liberated Watson, Paterson, and other prisoners. Watson after this for a time prudently abstained from making any public appear- ance, till the general excitement had greatly abated ; and Mrs. Anderson took the opportunity of Watson's partial retirement to again set the law in motion against him for infringing her monopoly, alleging also that he was a fugitive from justice, and had been educated a Papist, but for the purpose of carrying on his business professed to be a Protestant. She was so far successful on this occasion that she procured a warrant in 1701 to shut up Watson's workshop ; but an appeal being made, Watson says, " On a full consideration of the case and debate before their Lordships, she was so well exposed that she made no attempt afterwards of that kind." Watson's first printing-house was in Warriston Close, but at this time it was in Craig's Close, opposite the Cross, where he had removed in 1697, and 3cime6 T2?at0on. 197 and here he continued to print while he lived, the place being long known after his death as the King's Printing-House. He also opened a book- seller's shop in 1709, opposite the Luckenbooths, near to St. Giles's Church. Attention has already been directed (p. 178) to the "Diurnal" reprinted by Higgins in 1652 at Leith ; this was superseded by the " Mercurius Politicus," also at Leith, in 1653, and transferred to Edinburgh in November 1654, where it was published till 1660. Some numbers of " Mercurius Publicus " were republished in Scotland also in 1660, being succeeded by the " Kingdom's Intelligencer " in 1 66 1, which continued till 1674. The first news- paper written as well as printed in Scotland, those previously named being all reprints of English origin, was the " Mercvrivs Caledonivs : Comprising the Affairs now in Agitation in Scotland. With a Sur- vey of Forraign Intelligence." This small quarto, of varying extent, from 8 to 12, 14, or 16 pages, was begun in January 1660, and published weekly by " a society of Stationers," and edited by Thomas St. Serfe, or Tom Sydserfe, but only reached its twelfth number. No further effort seems to have been made to establish a native newspaper for nearly twenty years, when in December 1680 appeared the " Edinburgh Gazette," which also was was very short-lived ; but its title was revived in March 1699 by the first number of another " Gazette," a foho of two pages, edited by James Donaldson, and printed by James Watson in Craig's Close. The Privy Council Register throws some light on the history of this journal, and on the scanty measure of liberty then accorded to the press in the North. "Acts in favors of James Donaldson for printing the gazette. [March 10, 1699.] " Anent the petition given in to the Lords of his Majes- ties Privy Councill be James Donaldson merchant in Edinburgh, Shewing, That the petitioner doeth humbly conceive the publishing of ane Gazett in this place containeing ane abridgment of fforaigne newes togither with the occurrances at home may be both useful! and satisfieing to the leidges, and actually hath published one or two to see how it may be liked, and so farr as he could understand the project was approven of by very many. And therefore Humbly supplicating the saids Lords to the effect after mentioned ; The Lords of his Majesties Privy Councill haveing considered this petition given in to them by the above James Donaldsone, They doe hereby Grant full warrand and authority to the petitioner for publishing the above Gazette, and Dis- charges any other persones whatsoever to pen or publish the 3ameg TTafeon. 199 the like, under the penaltie of forfaulting all the coppies to the petitioner, and farder payment to him of the soume of ane hundred pounds Scots money, by and attour the forsaid confiscatioun and forfaulture, and Recommends to the Lord high Chancellor to nominat and appoint a particular persone to be Supervisor of the said Gazetts before they be exposed to publict view, printed, or sold." Captain Donaldson, the projector of this paper — " writer of the Gazette " he called himself — began life as a merchant in Edinburgh. In 1689 he levied a company of foot at his ov^rn charge, and served in the Earl of Angus's regiment, until, on the termination of the Revglution wars, the strength of the regiment was reduced from twenty to thirteen companies. Donaldson was then turned adrift on the world — his business gone, his fortune spent — and it was in this strait that he conceived the idea of starting the Gazette, combining with his editorial labours the dolorous printing of funeral cards after a new fashion, "with the decencie and ornament of a border of skeletons, mortheads, and other emblems of mortality." The enterprise did not wholly answer his expectation, but he made shift to live thereby, till his fortunes were once more overcast by the appearance of the first number of "The Edinburgh Courant " in February 1705, printed €^e ^aeeatx^i^ne (§iMe. printed also by James Watson, the printing of the " Gazette " having been transferred to John Reid. This first number is made up of extracts from the Paris and Amsterdam Gazettes and a " London- written " letter ; the only local news being the following brief paragraphs : "On Saturday last, Captain Green, Captain of the Ship Worchester, and the rest of his Crew who are Prisoners here, and are to be try'd as Pyrats, before the Judge-Admiral, has each of them got a Copy of their Inditement to answer against the 5th. of March next ; and the Lords of her Majesty's Privy-Council, has appointed five of their number to be Assessors to the Judge-Admiral. " This day Robert Pringle one of the Tellers of the Bank, who lately went off with about 425 lib. sterling of the Bank's Money, is to be Try'd for Life before the Lords of Justiciary, upon a Lybel rais'd at the instance of the Treasurer of the Bank, and the said Pringle's Cautioners, with concourse of Her Majesty's Advocat. "Leith, Feb. 16. This day came in to our Port the Mary Galley, David Preshu Commander, laden with Wine and Brandy." There are also three advertisements, and two official notices regarding the paper itself. The advertisements refer to a sale of land, a post-office notice, and the third to some " Famous Loozengees for curing the Cold, stopping and pains in the Breast, ^iarncB OJ^ateon. Breast, the Kinkhost," &c. " Price 8 sh. the Box." Donaldson had interpreted the grant of the Privy Council given him in March 1699 as con- ferring a monopoly of the Edinburgh press ; but the Lords of Council understood it differently, and did not hesitate to sanction the publication of the new journal as follows : "Act in favours of Adam Boig for printing the Edinburgh Currant. [Feb. 13. 1705.] "Anent the petition given in and presented to the Lord high Chancellor and remanent Lords of Privie Councill By Adam Boig, Humbly Shewing, That wheras their petitioner intends to sett forth a paper by the name of Edinburgh Currant which will come out thrice weekly, viz. Monday, Wednesday, and Fryday, containing most of the remarkable forreign newes from their prints, and also the home newes from the ports within this King- dome, when Ships comes and goes, and from whence, which its hoped will prove a great advantage to mer- chants and others within this Nation, (it being now altogether neglected) ; And Seeing their petitioner has no inclination to give offence therby to the Govern- ment, and that he cannot safely doe the same without he be empowered therto by their Lordships, And therfore craving to the effect after mentioned as the said petition bears ; ^^e ^asBan^i^ne QStfife. bears ; The Lords of her Majesties Privie Councill having considered the above petition given in to them by Adam Boig, and the samen being read in their presence, The saids Lords doe heirby allow and grant warrand to the petitioner to sett furth and print ane paper entituled Edinburgh Currant, containing the remarkable forreign newes from their prints and letters, as also the home newes from the ports within this Kingdome, when Ships comes and goes, and from whence ; he alwayes being answerable for the samen, and for the newes therin specified and sett doun." Captain Donaldson strove hard against the new paper, complaining principally about its undersell- ing him ; but it quickly made its way into favour, and soon began to push the " Gazette " from the field. Though strong in public support, the career of the new paper was not without its crosses, and before it was five months old it got into trouble with the authorities about what seems now an inno- cent enough advertisement from Evander M'lver, manager of the " Scots Manufactory Paper-Mills." The Privy Council not only stopped the publica- tion of the " Courant, " but also of the " Gazette," though Donaldson states the advertisement did not appear there. The restriction of the " Gazette " lasted only a few weeks, that of the " Courant " extended to five months, and was removed only by %ame6 Watson. 203 by the editor subscribing a declaration, " That I shall publish nothing in my Courant concerning the Government till first the same be revised by the Clerks of Her Majesty's Privy Council." Boig died on the 27th June 17 10 — the last number which he edited being No. 685 ; and on the margin of a copy of this issue, preserved in the Advo- cates' Library, is written the words, " This day the Courantier dyed." With Boig's death the Privy Council privilege took end, and though the paper continued to appear for a short time, it no longer bore to be " Published by Authority." At this time James Watson was engaged in printing the " Scots Courant," edited by James Muirhead, first begun in September 1705, and which Watson continued to issue till 1718. Boig's privilege was extended to another journal with the original name, edited by Daniel Defoe ; but the editor having returned to London, the paper came under different management, requiring a consequent change of title to guard against any legal .^infringement, and it became known as the " Edinburgh Evening Courant " — a name it long continued to bear. The editor, James M'Ewen, obtained the exclusive privilege of the title, on the condition that " he be obliged before publication to give ane copy of his print to the Magistrates." M'Ewen's 204 t'^e Q^aesanbgne (J0t6fe. M'Ewen's paper appears to have been really a revival, in slightly altered form, of the original " Courant." It was published three times a week, and consisted of six pages. This paper finally relinquished publication in February 1886. Besides the early newspapers already mentioned, there was the " Edinburgh Gazette," a new series in 4to, begun in 1706; the "Edinburgh Gazette," a third series in folio, begun in 1707 ; the " Scots Postman, or the New Edinburgh Gazette," estab- lished in 1708 ; the " Scots Postman," another series, begun in August 1709; the "Edinburgh Flying Post," commenced in October 1708; the " Northern Tatler," in April 1710 ; the " Examiner," in September 1710 ; the "Evening Post; or the New Edinburgh Gazette," in 1710 ; the " Edin- burgh Gazette; or Scots Postman," in March 1715 ; the " Caledonian Mercury " having its re-birth, after an interval of sixty years, in April 1720, &c. Watson no doubt was connected with several of these papers, as well as the first " Gazette " and first " Courant," and one periodical with which he was connected in 1699 may be noted here. This was a monthly literary journal or magazine in the form of a small quarto of 56 pages, entitled " The History of the Works of the Learned ; or, an Impartial Account of Books lately Printed in all parts ^amea ^aison. parts of Europe. With a particular Relation of the State of Learning in each country." The periodical contains reviews of recent books, with notices of others about to be printed. This, though only a reprint of a London publication, probably may have been the precursor of the " Scots Magazine," a periodical of like nature, begun in 1739. In August 171 1, on the approach of the expiry of Mrs. Anderson's patent, Watson, along with Robert Freebairn, another Edinburgh printer, and John Baskett, Queen's Printer for England, made an endeavour to secure the appointment of Royal Printers for Scotland, each of the three partners to have an equal share. This effort was success- ful, and the patent was made out in Freebairn's name for forty-one years, and passed the seals in October 171 1. The malevolent spirit of Mrs. Anderson was again brought into play by this, and working on the avarice of Freebairn, she endea- voured to exclude Watson from his third share in the patent, and herself become a partner in the company. A lawsuit arose in consequence, which, after considerable delay, was decided by the Court of Session in June 171 5 in Watson's favour. It was at this time, while the lawsuit was pending, that Watson brought out his " History of Printing," to which reference has already been made, a small sixpenny 2o6 76 " Practice of Prelates," the, 53 Printing, discovery of the art of, 40 ; introduction into Edin- burgh, 69 ; patent permitting in Edinburgh, 71 ; Chepman and Myllar, 71-73 ; the Aber- deen Breviary, 73, 74 ; Metri- cal Romances, 75, 76 ; Myllar at Rouen, 78 ; Chepman's bequests to the Church, 79, 80 ; John Stoiy, 81 ; Thomas Davidson, 81-84 ; royal li- cense for printing parliamen- tary papers, 82, 83 ; Johne Skot, 85 ; the " Complaynte of Scotland," 86 ; Hamilton's Catechisme, 87 ; edict against printers, 89 ; aid of the art in diffusing liberal opinions, 9J ; Robert Lekprevik, 94 ; license to print " Inglis Bibill," 96 ; edict against un- licensed, 98 ; Bassandyne and Arl)uthnot, 101-122 ; on the Continent, 160 ; Andro Hart, 161-168; Thomas Finlayson, 168, 169 ; Robert Young, 168-172; Evan Tyler, 177- 181 ; Andro Anderson, 183 ; Mrs. Anderson, 184 ; dete- rioration of the art of, 187- 190; edicts against unlicensed, 191-193 ; James Watson, 194; the early Scottish newspapers, 197-204; curious poem on the art of, 206-209 ; revival and progress of the art under Watson, 210, 211 ; Andrew Symson, 211-213 ; Thomas Ruddiman, 213-218 Jnbex. 231 Prognostications or Almanacks, 192, 194 Raban, printer in Aberdeen, 175 Ramsay, Andrew, 173 Ramsay, Patrick, 178 Reformation, causes promoting the, 29-33 Reformers, the exiled, 65 " Regiam Majestatem," Skene's, 169 Reid, John, 1S5, 200 " Remonstrance," Dunbar's, 80 " Remonstrance," the Cove- nanters', 175 Rogers, John, 57 Roilock, Henry, 173 Romish clergy, ignorance of, 28, 32 " Root of Romish Ceremonies," the, 192 Ros, John, 1 58 Rous, Francis, 182 Ruddiman, Thomas, 2 1 3-2 1 8 "Rudiments of Latin Tongue," 217 Ruthven, Lord, 34 St. Andrews, importation of Bibles into, 19 ; martyrdom of Hamilton at, 24, 25 ; assassination of Beaton at, 37 St. Giles's Church, Chepman's chaplainries at, 79, 80 "Satan's Invisible World Dis- covered," 190 Scotch Psalms, the, 177, 182 " Scotland's Grievance respect- ing Darien," 195 Scots Manufactory Paper Mills, the, 202 "Scots Poems," Watson's, 211 " Scots Postman," the, 204 Scott, William, 98, 99 Seaton, Alexander, 25 " Seven Sages," the, 159, 160 Skene's, Lord, "Regiam Majes- tatem," 169 Skot, Johne, 85-93 Smith, Robert, 158 Solingen, Joshua van, 186 Spilman, John, 114 Stafford, Thomas, 163 Stewart, Sir James, 196 Story, John, 81 Swinton, George, 185 Sydserfe, Tom, 197 Symson, Andrew, 21 1-2 13 Synod, last Roman Catholic, 31 Synod of St. Andrews, 165 Tate, John, 113 Taxing imported books, 161- 163 Tonstal, Bishop, 21, 41, 42, 48- 50. 52, 59 " Tragedie," Lyndsay's, 90 " Tripatriarchion," Synison's, 212 Tulchan Bishops, 173 Tumults in Scotland concerning Liturgy, 172-176 Turnbull, Walter, 98, 99 " Twopenny Faiih," the, 88, 89 2,32 3ntcx. Tyler, Evan, appointed royal printer, 177 ; joins Crom- well's party, 178 ; restored to his office, 181 Tyndale, William, 26, 27 ; edu- cation and character, 41 ; exile, 42 ; translates New Testament, 42 ; the Old Testament, 45 ; style and writing, 45, 46 ; peculiar genius of, 46 ; his interview with Pakington, 49, 50 ; his " Practice of Prelates," 53 ; martyrdom of, 54 Type, in Metrical Ballads, 75 ; in Aberdeen Breviary, 76 ; used by Hostingue, 78 ; used by Story, 81 ; used by David- son, 82 ; in Bassandyne Bible, 129 ; Greek and Hebrew, 129, 130 Vautrollier, Thomas, 123, 124, 158, 162 Vilvorde, martyrdom of Tyndale at, 54 Waldegrave, Robert, 158 Watson, James, 194; imprisoned for printing pamphlet con- cerning Darien Scheme, 195 ; released by riotous mob, 196 ; Mrs. Anderson attempts to close his printing-house, 196 his bookseller's shop, 197 prints the "Gazette," 198 the " Courant," 2CX3 ; prints the "Scots Courant," and other papers, 203, 204; applies for appointment of royal printer, 205 ; lawsuit against Mrs. Anderson, 205, 206 ; his History of Printing, 205-210 ; revival of the art under, 210 ; his editions of the Bible, 211 ; death of, 211 Wedderburn, James, 86, 166 "Whig" Bible, the, 133 Williamson, John, 121 Winzet, Niniane, 91, 92 Wishart, George, martyrdom of, 37 Young, George, 159 Young, Robert, 168 ; printer to Charles I., 170; meritorious work done by, 171 York, Duke of, 185 THE END. PRINTED BY BALLANTVNE, HANSON AND CO. EDINBURGH AND LONDON. f^ UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY This book is DUE on the last date stamped below m "'^^^ 5 [954 MAY 1 6 195t m 1 J98; r reftAY 1 1995 ^.f ^^•: LI HH A ft Y C^4. ■ History of the Bas sandy ne '^.7^^ kn 3 1158 01174 7?9R W^ . JJ^ ^fcYieiasi AA 001 094 823 Z152 E4D6