SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
521
and abore £100 per annum to Mr. Marchmont Needham and his wife, out of the profits of the sales of their bibles ; deriding, insultinf, and triumphing orer others, out of their confidenve in theu great friends and purse, as if they were lawless and free, both from offence and punish- ment — Harieian manutcriptt, 7580.
In a quarto bible, printed at London, in 16S3, the following erratum occurs in the singing psalms Ixvii. 2.
Thkt an the world may know The way to wortdlp wealth.
For Godly wealth.
Not only, had the bible to suffer these indigni- ties of size and price, but the prayer-book was once printed in an illegible and worn out type ; on which the printer being complained of, he stoutly replied, " that it was as good as the price afforded; and being a book which all persons ought to hare by heart, it was no matter whether it was read or not, so that it was worn out in thair hands." The puritans seem not to have been so nice about the source of purity itself.
These hand-bibles of the sectarists, with their dx thousand errata, like the false Duessa,coTered their crafty deformity with a fair raiment; for when the greatSelden, in the assembly of divines, delighted to confute Uiem in their own learning, he would say, as Whitelock reports, when they had cited a text to prove their assertion, " Per- haps in your little pocket-bible with gilt leaves," which they would often pull out and read, "the translation may be so, but the Greek or the Hebrew signifies this."
In 1617, Zachariah Schureis, a bookseller of Wittemberg, published an edition of Luther's German BihU, in 4to., which he republished in 1625. In this latter edition, a Roman Catholic printer had the audacity to corrupt the text in different places, especially in Rev. xiv. 6, where, by the substitution of n«u for ewig, the passage reads, " I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the noveP' (instead of everlasting) " Gospel ;" intending to mortify the disciples of Luther, who were accustomed to apply this pas- sag^ to that great reformer. A few copies got abroad, but the edition was speedily suppressed. A similar corruption was attempted in an edition published at Nuremberg, 1670, folio, in which the printer introduced the doctrine of Purgatory, in the epistle of Jude, 23.
An imitation of Field's 24mo. bible, was printed in Holland, in 1658 ; but the genuine one is known by having the four first Psalms upon a page without turning over. Field printed several other bibles, 8vo. larg^ and small, and 12mo., but they do not rank as curiosities. During the latter half of this century, several curious flat bibles were printed, which are de- nominated Preaching Bibles, from the use made of them in the pulpits of the dissenters. The print of many of these is very clear, a broad faced letter upon thin paper, with some margi- nal notes, which gives them a superiori^ over the clumsy thick books printed since.
1653, Jan. 1 1. An order was made that a bill should be brought into the house of commons, for a new translation of the Bible out of the original tongues ; but as the house only sat about two months, being dismissed April 20, 1653, little or no prog^ress was made in the design. It was, however, revived during the protectorate of Cromwell, when " grand committees" were chosen by the parliament, for special purposes, one of which was for " Religion." This com- mittee was appointed Jan. 16, 1656, and often met at Whitelocke's house at Chelsea, who bad been appointed " lord commissioner to take care of this business." After many consultations and g^eat pains taken therein, it became fruit- less by the parliament's dissolution. — Lewit.
1653, Jon. 6. The True Informer.
1653, Jan. 30. Loyal InUlligencer, No. 73.
1653, Jan 30. PoUtiqve Informer, No. 1.
1653. Perfect Occurre.tcet.
1653, Feb. II. T/ie Faithful Post, for George Horton, No. 1 .
1653, Feb. 27. The moderaU Messenger, No. 1
1 653, Feb. 27. MercuHvM Poeticus, comprising the Sum of all Intelligence, Foreign and Do- mestic, No. 1 .
1653, March 20. Mercwrius Avlicus, No. 1.
1653, April 16. The moderate Publisher of every Day's Intelligence, No. 93.
1653, June 8. Mercurius PragToaticus, No. 1.
1653, June 17. The Daily Proceedings of the Armies by Sea and Land, tmder the command of his Excellency the Lord General Cromwell, by authority.
1653, June 27. Mercurius Rhadamanthus, the chief judge of hell, his circuit through all the courts of law in England, No. 1.
1653, July 3. True and petfect Dutch Diurnal
1653, July 4. Several Proceedings in Parlia- ment, No. 1 . This was Cromwell's parliament, which sat from the 4th to the 26th of July, 1652.
1653, July 12. Impartial Intelligencer, No. 2.
1653, Aug. Mercurius Classicus, No. I.
1653, Aug. 10. The Loyal Messenger, No. 1.
1653, S^. A further continuanee of the grand Political Informer, 4rc.
1653, Oct. 7. The Moderate Publisher, No. 1.
1653, Oct. 26. Mercurius Politicus. This paper was first reprinted, at Leith, on this day, by Christopher Higgina See November, 1654.
1663, Nov. 2. Great Britain's Post, No. 136.
1653. Mercurius Nullus.
1663. The Army's Scout.
1653, Nov. 2. Mercurius Demoeritus ; or, a true and perfect Nocturnal. No. 80.
Of the character of the intelligence furnished by the early English newspapers, many amusing examples might be given : from the above paper we may safely infer that a smack of the miracu- lous was nothing uncommon in their columns. — " A perfect mermaid was, by the last great winde, driven ashore neere Greenwich, with her combe in one hande, and her lookinge glasse in the other. She seemed to be of the countenance of a most faire and beautiful woman, with her armes crossed, weeping out many pearly drops of
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