in Yorkshire, who died in 1349, had the courage to translate the Psalter, and the hymns of the church, into English; and he has the honour of being the first who rendered a portion of the contents of this venerable volume into his vernacular language. He also wrote a gloss in English, upon the Psalter; of which there is a somewhat different translation in the Harleian library, also with a gloss; and in the King's library another, from psalm 89, to 118. At the end of the MS. of Hampole's Psalter, in Sidney College, Cambridge, follow the Canticles translated and commented on, as the book of Psalms.

It seems likewise, that some parts, if not the whole of the New Testament, were also translated by different persons, and glossed and explained in the same manner. In the MS. library of Bennet College, Cambridge, is a gloss, in the English, spoken after the conquest, on the following books of the New Testament; viz. the Gospels of St. Mark and St. Luke, the Epistles to the Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and Hebrews; among which is inserted, between the Epistles to the Colossians and Thessalonians, the Apocryphal

Epistle to the Laodiceans.

The comment

which accompanies this version, resembles that of Hampole; being for the most part mystical and allegorical.

Whether Trevisa's version, before mentioned, consisted of the whole Bible, or merely of some particular portions of it, is doubtful; though the latter supposition is the most probable.

These translations, then, of parts of the Old and New Testament, not of the whole Bible, were all made before Wicliffe began to flourish. It is probable, too, that they were not published; but designed merely for the translator's own use.

That the reader may form some idea of these several versions, I shall transcribe the Magnificate, as a specimen from each.

Hampole.

My soul worships the Lord, and my ghost joyed in God, my hele.

For he looked on the meekness of his handmaiden.

Lo! for why; of that, blissful me shall say all generations.

For he hath done to me great things, that mighty is, and his name haly*.

And the mercy of him fro kinreden to kinredens, to tho dreaden him.

He did might in his arm, he scattered the proud fro the thought of her heart.

He did down the mighty off settle', and he heghed the meek.

The hungerand he fulfilled of goods, and the rich he left tome".

5

He received Israel his child, he is umthought of his mercy.

As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed in worlds.

MS. Bennet.

My soul hogis or lofys God, and my spirit joyed God my heal.

For he has beholden the meekness of his handmaiden.

Lo! therefore blessed me shall say all generations. For he hath done great things, for he is mighty, and holy tho name of him.

And his mercy from progeny to progeny to tho

dreaden him.

6

1 seat.

2 hegh, or high; to raise, or exalt.
5 mindful.

4 empty?

3 hungry.

hogy, to high, raise, or exalt. 7 lofy, to lofty, raise, or exalt.

He made power in his arm, he sparbylde1 tho proud in thought of their heart.

He down put the mighty off settle, and he heghed tho meek.

Tho hungry he filled with goods, and the rich he left void.

He took Israel his child umthought of his mercy. As he spake to our fathers, Abraham and seed of him in worlds.

MS. Sydney.

My soul magnifieth the Lord, and my spirit hath gladed in God mine health.

For he hath beholden the meekness of his handmaiden.

Lo forsooth! of this, all generations scholen say me blessed.

For he that is mighty hath done to me great things, and his name is holy.

And his mercy fro kindred to kindred, to men dreading him.

He made might in his arm, he scattered proud men with mind of his heart.

He putted down mighty men fro seat, and enhansed meek.

He hath fulfilled hungry men with good things, and hath left rich men void.

He having mind of his mercy, took up Israel his child.

As he hath spoken to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed into worlds.

Wicliffe's translation, in which he was assisted by several of his followers, probably occupied the last ten years of his life. As he was not sufficiently acquainted with the Hebrew and Greek to translate from them, his version was made from the vulgate, of which he collated numerous copies. His method of translating was literal, or word for word, as had been done before, in the Anglo-Saxonic translation, without much attention to the difference of idiom in the two languages. Hence, this version, in some places, is not very intelligible to those who are unacquainted with the Latin. Wicliffe seems to have done this by design; since, in a prologue to his Psalter, he says, "They who know not the Latin, by the English, may come to many Latin words." It should be observed too, that the vulgate text from which Wicliffe translated, though collated from numerous copies, differed, in many places, from the established vulgate of modern