1588. Two more editions of the Bible were printed in French at Geneva, and the Psalms of David were published in Hebrew, Greek, Latin and Syriac at Paris by Peter l' Huillier.

An edition of the Bible was printed in Hebrew at Hamburg by Wolfius, and one in Latin at Lyons by Rovillius.

An edition of the Pentateuch in Hebrew passed through the press at Mantua. The first Welsh Bible was printed at London by the deputies of C. Barker. A Welsh translation was made from the original in the time of Queen Elizabeth, in consequence of a bill brought into the House of Commons for that purpose, and it was published by Georgius Dalmatinus. The Welsh is a dialect of the Celtic and is sometimes called the British language, on account of its former predominance in Britain. It was once diffused throughout the greater part of Europe, but now it is confined to certain sections of the British Isles. The Welsh is derived from the Cymric branch of the Celtic language at one time spoken throughout Germany, whereas Gaelic, Erse, and Manks probably owe their origin to the ancient language of Celtic Gaul, The great number of Latin words which enter into the Welsh vocabulary may in part be accounted for by the long supremacy of the Romans in Britain, to which cause may also be traced the adoption by the Welsh of the Roman characters which took

place at an early period, as is evident from the old inscriptions and legends on coins. To account for the numerous Celtic words which are detected in the Latin and Greek languages, we must resort to the hypothesis that the Umbri, the Osci, and perhaps some of the other colonists of Italy and Southern Europe, were of Celtic descent. Mention is made of an epistle prefixed by Dr. Richard Davis, Bishop of St. David's, to an earlier Welsh version of the N. T., and it is stated that there was a version of the Pentateuch extant in the third decade of the sixteenth century, but no information is given respecting the translator. Several short portions of Scripture were also translated into Welsh, and printed during the reign of Edward VI., for the use of the Service Book compiled at that period. The Welsh Bible of the date above given contains a curious mistake in rendering the word vials-as viols (Rev. v. 8th). It reads, "Having every one of them harps and golden. fiddles full of odour." Such unfortunate errors often have a tendency to reverse the meaning of the Hebrew and Greek texts, or to render them obscure. Dr. William Morgan, raised to the See of Llandaff, and later to that of St. Asaph, prepared a version of the O. T. in Welsh, from the Hebrew, and revised Salesbury's version of the N. T. He engaged voluntarily in this important undertaking and several eminent scholars rendered him valuable assistance. He printed

both Testaments with the Apocrypha in one folio volume. The work was divided into verses throughout, and was dedicated to Queen Elizabeth. This edition of 500 copies was printed in black letter. A copy is in the library of the Dean of Westminster.

A Latin version of the O. T. was made from the Greek and published at Rome by Flaminio Nobile.

An edition of the Bible was printed in French at Lyons by Mosano, and one in Italian at Venice, by Jolitos.

An edition of the Genevan Bible, printed in French, appeared again at Geneva, Switzerland. It was a reprint of the "Breeches" Bible, and contained corrections by the College of Pastors and Professors of the Reformed Church at Geneva. Beza, Goulart, Jaquemot, La Faye and Rotan were all engaged in this revision, and are said to have consulted the rabinical writers, as well as the Latin versions of Munster and

Tremellius. A copy is in the possession of Mr. W. H. H. Newman.

1589.

An edition of the New Testament was printed in Greek and Latin at Geneva by Stevens, and one, of the Bible, in English, at London by Barker.

It was not until the close of this year that an edition of the Bible in Danish was issued in folio at Copenhagen. Three years previous to this time a revision of the Scriptures had been commenced by the command of Frederick II. That monarch

wrote to the rector, professors, and others of the University of Copenhagen, ordering them to read carefully the version of the Bible which had been made in the reign of his royal father, to collate it with the Hebrew text, and where any defect was found, to amend and correct it. The heads of the University appointed the most learned divines of the day to execute this important undertaking, and the work was revised by Nicholas Hemmingius,

whose name is famous in the ecclesiastical history of Denmark.

1590.

The first translation of the Bible into the Lithuanian dialect was made by Rev. John Bretkius, pastor of Labiau. He commenced the version in 1579, and continued it after he became pastor of the Lithuanian Church at Konigsberg. He did not live to see the work committed to the press, but deposited the MS. in the Royal Library at Konigsberg. Konigsberg. Lithuania was formerly part of the ancient kingdom of Poland, and the Lithuanian dialect is now spoken only by the peasantry, Polish being the language of the middle and upper classes. Thus excluded from the influences of refinement, Lithuanian, which is closely allied to the old Prussian, has preserved its peculiar structure more faithfully than most of the other languages of its class.

Plantin, another of the world's most famous printers, published at Antwerp an edition of the Bible in

Latin. A version of the Bible, translated from the Vulgate, by Melchoir Brunos, of Cologne, was printed in German from an original MS. The New Testament, translated from the Syriac by Tremellius, with Beza's translation from the Greek, appeared in a second edition published in Latin at Geneva.

An Arabic Bible, without preface or title page, was printed in Rome by Raymond.

Pope Sixtus V., during this year, which was the year of his death, issued an authoritative edition of the Holy Scriptures, and threatened with excommunication any one who should vary from his text. Little did his friends think that so much power would be invested in this potentate, when they saw him as a boy tending the swine of a farmer. He was drawn from his obscurity by a cordelier, and placed in a school where his improvement was so rapid that he soon became a priest. Subsequently he was appointed a professor of theology at Sienna, where he took the name of Montalto, and distinguished himself as a preacher at Rome and Genoa, He afterwards went to Spain with Buoncompagno, and was raised to the rank of Cardinal by Pius V. On the death of Gregory XIII., the successor of Pius, the opinions of the conclave were divided, and as Father Felix Peretti (as he was then called) was regarded. as a man of weak constitution, with

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but a short time to live, he was accepted by the opposite factions as a proper person to settle the dispute of the rival parties. No sooner was the tiara upon his head than the weakness that he had hitherto feigned disappeared, and he threw aside the cane on which he had leaned. So remarkable was the activity which he displayed that the people could with difficulty believe him to be the same weak, helpless and languid Montalto. His first care was to destroy the robbers which infested the Pontifical States, and everywhere justice was administered with impartiality, and with celerity. Anxious not only to embellish Rome, but to immortalize his memory, he caused an obelisk to be erected which Caligula had brought from Spain to Rome, and after the labor of four months, this stupendous column, above one hundred feet high, was raised at the entrance of the Church of St. Peter. He fixed, by a bull, the number of Cardinals at seventy, and labored to improve the collection of the Vatican library; but his popularity was lost in the protection which he wished to afford Clement, the vile assassin of Henry III. of France. His third successor, Clement VIII., took hold of the "authorized edition" which Sixtus V. had issued, and published a very different text, professing merely to correct the errata of the Sixtine text.

CHARLES W. DARLING.