Bale was taken up on suspicion of treason. The accusation was brought against him by one Walter, an Irishman, the pilot of the Dutch ship. The captain and purser, however, fearing lest they should be deprived of the property they had taken from him, deposed in his favour, and he was honourably acquited. The fugitive was soon brought into circumstances of still more imminent peril. In a few days the ship arrived in Dover roads, where one Martin persuaded the captain and his crew that Bale had been the principal instrument of pulling down the mass in England, and in keeping Dr Gardiner so long in the Tower, and that he had poisoned the king. With this information, the captain and purser went ashore, carrying along with them his episcopal seal and several letters from Melancthon and other celebrated reformers, with the council's letter of his appointment to the bishopric of Ossory. It was proposed to send Bale to London, or to send two persons to the privy council with information, but, upon his strong remonstrances to the captain, and offering to pay fifty pounds for his ransom, on his arrival in Holland, he was carried into Zealand, and lodged in the house of one of the owners of the ship, by whom he was treated with great kindness. He had only six days allowed him to raise the money agreed on for his ransom, and was not permitted to go abroad to find his friends. While in this state of perplexity and distress, he was sometimes threatened to be thrown into the common gaol, sometimes to be brought before the magistrates, or the clergy, at other times, to be sent to London, or to be delivered to the queen's ambassador at Brussels. At length his kind host interposed, and obtained his discharge on paying thirty pounds for his ransom.

Dr Bale, having obtained his liberty, retired to Frankfort, where the English exiles were favoured by the magistrates with the use of one of the churches. The exiles having found a quiet home in a foreign land, first settled their new congregation and then entered into a correspondence with their brethren who had found refuge in other places. Their harmony was interrupted by the arrival of Dr Cox, when Dr Bale retired to Basil, in Switzerland, where he remained until the death of Queen Mary. On the accession of Queen Elizabeth, he returned to England, but not to his bishopric in Ireland. The queen had, during her minority, and while exercised with troubles under her sister Mary, showed him the highest respect, but it was very manifest afterwards, that she had withdrawn her affections from him. Probably he had imbibed too deeply the principles of the reformed churches to be acceptable to so bigotted an episcopalian as Elizabeth. The Doctor contented himself with a prebend in the church of Canterbury, the rest of his days, and refused to accept of his bishopric. Many of the pious reformers, while living among foreign protestants, examined more minutely the grand principles of the Reformation; on those principles they acted while in a foreign land; nor could they forget them on their return to their native country. They laboured to obtain a more perfect reformation of the English church. Dr Bale was among their number, and this accounts for his having refused preferment, as he was a zealous opposer of the Romish superstitions, and was against the English rites and ceremonies. It was a settled principle with him, that the government of the church by bishops did not commence till the beginning of the seventeenth century, and consequently he was

opposed to the divine institution of bishops. When summoned to assist in the consecration of Archbishop Parker, he refused to attend, doubtless because he entertained these principles. He died at Canterbury, November, 1563, aged sixty-eight years, and his remains were interred in the cathederal at that place. The character of Dr Bale has been drawn by his friends and his enemies; the representation of the latter being in perfect contrast with that of the former. His writings against the papacy were both voluminous and pungent, and they stung his enemies to madness: but, in reading the testimony of such men in such times, it becomes us to bear in mind that they were wont to call evil good and good evil, and therefore the censure of his enemies may be reckoned as his highest commendation.

Dr Bale wrote much, but his most celebrated work consisted of the 'Lives of the most Eminent Writers.' It came out at three different times. His "Summarium illustrium majoris Brytanniæ Scriptorum" was pub lished at Wesel, 1549. This was addressed to King Edward, and contained only five centuries' of writers. Afterwards, he added four more, and made several corrections and additions. The book, thus enlarged, was entitled, "Scriptorum illustrium majoris Brytanniæ, quam nunc Angliam et Scotiam vocant, Catalogus; a Japheto per 3618 annos, usque ad annum hunc Domini 1557, &c." It was completed and printed at Basil, while the author was in a state of exile. The writers whose lives are contained in this celebrated work, are those of Great Britain, including England and Scotland. The work commences from Japhet, one of the sons of Noah, and is carried down through a series of 3618 years, to the year of our Lord 1557.

Miles Coverdale.

BORN A. D. 1487.-DIED A. D. 1567.

MILES COVERDALE, one of the most important names which occur in the history of biblical literature, was bishop of Exeter in the reign of Edward the Sixth. He was born in Yorkshire, 1487. For this we have the authority of his epitaph. He received his education at Cambridge, in a house of Augustine friars, of which Dr Barnes, afterwards one of the protestant martyrs, was then prior. Godwin tells us that he received the degree of D.D. from the university of Tubingen, but has neglected to mention the date of this transaction. It was not till many years after this, that Cambridge conferred upon him the same honour. Early impressions in favour of the religion in which he had been educated, induced him to become an Augustine monk. In 1514 he entered into holy orders, and was ordained at Norwich; but he afterwards renounced popery, and Bale tells us that he and Dr Barnes, his former superior, were amongst the very first who preached the doctrines of the Reformation. It was about 1530 that the reformed religion began to make progress at Cambridge. Men of learning, both from colleges and monasteries, met together for friendly conference on those points which had been discussed by the reformers in various parts of Europe. Their usual place of assembling was called the White House,' and being close to King's, Queen's, and St John's colleges, was

easily accessible. Here Miles Coverdale imbibed the principles of the Reformation, and was certainly one of the earliest converts to them. Soon after this, he appears to have been abroad assisting Tyndale in his translation of the Bible; and in 1535 he published his own, dedicating it to King Henry VIII. It was printed in one volume folio. From the appearance of the types, it has been conjectured that it was printed by Christopher Froschower, at Zurich. As his revision of the press was most careful and accurate, he must have resided in the place -wherever it was-at which his Bible was printed. This translation was called special, because it differed from the former translations; as may be seen by a comparison of it with Tyndale's. The Psalms are those now used in the Book of Common Prayer. Coverdale, then, is entitled to the honour of having been the first who had translated the whole Bible into English, and of bringing it out under the express sanction of royal authority.

No sooner had Coverdale finished this great work, than he commenced another. In 1538, a quarto Latin (Vulgate) Testament appeared, with Coverdale's English, and a dedication by him. In this dedication is found the following passage:-" He does not doubt but such ignorant bodies as, having cure of souls, are very unlearned in the Latin tongue, shall, through this small labour, be occasioned to attain unto true knowledge, or at least be constrained to say well of the thing which they have heretofore blasphemed."

At the close of 1538, Coverdale again visited the continent to superintend a new edition of the Bible. It appears that, on account of the superior skill of the workmen at Paris, as well as the greater cheapness and better quality of the paper, King Henry requested Francis I. to allow Grafton, the celebrated printer, to send forth an edition of the English Bible. To this the French monarch acceded; and the indefatigable Coverdale was despatched to superintend the press. But just as the work was completed, the Inquisition interfered, and demanded that the press should be stopped and the whole impression burnt. They dated their order, Dec. 17, 1538. It was forthwith executed, and 2,500 copies instantly committed to the flames. This shows at once the jealousy with which the Romanists regarded the translation of the Scriptures into the vernacular tongues, as well as the irresistible power which they wielded. The will of monarchs was obliged to yield to theirs. That Providence, however, which can turn even the vices of men to account, not only defeated the machinations of the inquisitors, but rendered them subservient to the most important and beneficial results. It appears that one of the officers of the Inquisition, whose avarice got the better of his bigotry, rescued a few chests of the heretical volumes from the flames, and sold them to a haberdasher as waste paper. The English proprietors ventured to return to Paris, after the alarm had somewhat subsided, and succeeded not only in obtaining some of the copies of the condemned impression, but-what was far more important-in bringing the presses, types, and printers, to England. Here they instantly set to work, and Cranmer's,' or the 'Great Bible,' as it was called, issued, in 1539, from the work-shop of Grafton and Whitchurch. In this edition, Coverdale carefully compared the translation with the original; but notwithstanding all his care, various suspicions were insinuated, not only of its inaccuracy, but even of the

heterodoxy of some portions. Against this gross charge, Coverdale took an opportunity of vindicating himself, when he preached at Paul's cross,—a task of which he acquitted himself with equal candour and courage. He said, "that he himself now saw some faults, which, if he might review the book once again, as he had twice before, he had no doubt he should amend; but for any heresy, he was sure that there was none maintained in his translation."

In these arduous and most important labours, equaily honourable to himself and beneficial to his country, Coverdale was not permitted to work-as too many have been-uncheered by the smiles of patronage. Thomas Lord Cromwell was a liberal patron of his. He was also alinoner to Catharine Parr-the last of King Henry's queens-who was a decided friend of the Reformation. In virtue of this office, he officiated at her funeral, at Sudely castle in Gloucestershire, the residence of her last husband, Thomas Lord Seymour; on which occasion, by the bye, our reformer took an opportunity not only of giving utterance to the great doctrines of the Reformation, but of explaining away, in quite a protestant style, the popish trumpery with which, as usual, the funeral was celebrated. "The offeringe," he said, "which was there don, was not don any thinge to profytt the deade, but for the poor onlye; and also the lights which were caried, &c. were for the honour of the person, and for no other entente nor purpose." &c. In 1547, he preached at St Paul's against some Anabaptists, whom, with greater effect than is found generally to accompany the efforts of the controversialist, he is said to have reclaimed. In 1551 he was raised to the see of Exeter, and his elevation was accompanied with the most flattering testimonials of the esteem in which King Edward held him. It was expressly stated, that "he was promoted on account of his extraordinary knowledge in divinity, and his unblemished character." The circumstances which, it is conjectured, were partly the cause of his elevation, are very curious, and deserve to be recorded. It appears that Lord Russel was sent, in 1549, to suppress the rebellion in the west, and Coverdale was appointed to accompany him. It is said that the reformer's preaching was the most effectual means of quieting the minds of the people. This probably suggested the propriety of choosing such a man for such a quarter; and upon the death of the then bishop-a bigoted catholic, and in every respect the opposite of Coverdale he was chosen his successor. At his first appointment, his poverty would not permit him to pay the first-fruits; from which, therefore, the king, at the request of Cranmer, exempted him.

In his diocese, he, of course, favoured the spread of the reformed religion. In the administration of all its affairs, however, he displayed the strictest equity. So anxious was he that the law, both civil and ecclesiastical-in which he did not pretend to be very profoundly skilled— should be justly executed, that he requested the university of Oxford to recommend a suitable chancellor for his diocese. They recommended Dr Robert Weston, afterwards the Irish lord-chancellor, whom Coverdale treated with the greatest liberality.

All his noble qualities, however,-his integrity, his humility, his generosity, his hospitality, his unwearied efforts to do good, his diligent discharge of his functions,-could not protect him from the slanders of the enemies of the Reformation. So long as Edward VI. lived, they

little troubled him, he could defy their calumnies. But no sooner did Mary accede to the throne, than he was ejected from his bishopric and cast into prison. After two years' confinement, he was released at the solicitation of the king of Denmark. This auspicious interposition was brought about in a very remarkable manner. It appears that Dr Machabæus, the chaplain of the king of Denmark, and Coverdale, had married sisters. On Coverdale's imprisonment, Dr M. informed his royal master of the perilous circumstances in which his relative was placed. It was not, however, until the king had written two or three times, that Mary yielded to his solicitation. Coverdale has sometimes been charged with having taken a part in an insurrection against the queen; and this has been sometimes represented as the cause of his imprisonment. As the queen, however, did not urge this in her reply to his Danish majesty, we may conclude it to be utterly false. It seems to have been more likely owing to his non-payment of the tenths; as the first-fruits had been already remitted by the royal permission. The plea which Coverdale set up when charged with this, was, that he had not enjoyed the bishopric long enough to meet their claims. No sooner was he set at liberty-which was on the hard condition of expatriating himself—than he repaired to the court of Denmark. The monarch who had procured his pardon was anxious to detain him. But the conscientious reformer not being able to preach in Danish, preferred those places where his lips would not be sealed on the most important themes, and was contented to be a wanderer, and homeless, so that he might glorify his Master. He repaired, therefore, to Wesel, then to Bergzabern, and lastly to Geneva, where he joined many of the English exiles, and assisted in the translation of the 'Geneva Bible.' This translation had notes, which brought it into very general use,—so much so, that between the years 1560 and 1616, there were not less than thirty editions printed, in folio, 4to, and 8vo.

When Elizabeth ascended the throne, Coverdale returned to his native land, but with much altered. views on the subjects of church discipline and the ceremonies, in which he pleaded for the severe simplicity of the Geneva school. At the consecration of Archbishop Parker, at which Coverdale assisted, he refused to wear any thing more than a long black cloth gown. Such conduct, in such times, of course, completely blocked up the way to preferment. Many of his friends were, it is true, extremely anxious for his advancement, and none more so than Grindall. That amiable prelate was known to say on this subject-"I cannot excuse us bishops;" he even applied to the secretary of state, telling him that it was unjust "that father Coverdale, who was in Christ before us all, should now be without support." He then proceeded to recommend him to the bishopric of Llandaff, which was effected; but the increasing infirmities of our reformer caused him to decline so important a charge. The bishop then collated him to the rectory of St Magnus, near old London bridge. Here, again, he had to complain that his abject poverty-of which he makes affecting mention in some of his letters-would not permit him to pay his firstfruits, which were again remitted. He exercised his ministry here no more than two years; when he either resigned, or was compelled to abandon his charge. This was in 1566, only a little before his death. While he did preach, he was, as may readily be supposed, the favour