512
NOTES AND QUERIES, m s. vm. DEC. 27, ma
To this list I should like to add Messrs.
Dent & Co.'s pretty little edition of the play
in the "Temple Dramatists " Series (1901),
under the editorship of Messrs. W. H.
Williams and P. A. Robin. In the Preface
these editors clearly incline to the belief
that the lines in Act V. sc. vi. 11. 45-58,
and the single reference to " the Queen "
(I. i. 38), refer to Queen Mary :
" These alterations [say they] may have been made during Mary's reign, for we can hardly be wrong in believing that the play was one of the interludes performed under his direction before that Queen."
This decision, considering what Udall Owed to his royal patron, is, I think, the best solution that can be arrived at as to which sovereign was the object of the dramatist's praise, for, presuming that the play was written before 1553, he had plenty of time before his death at the end of 1556 to make the desired alterations.
Here then I will leave it, merely saying that it is, of course, quite impossible that the words could have been intended for the surviving queen-consort, Catherine Parr, at whose instance, as MB. HILL states, he had produced his translation of Erasmus's ' Para- phrase upon the New Testament.' This earlier work, of which I possess the first volume, containing the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles (minus the last chapter), in the original embossed leather-covered boards, was printed in black-letter in two volumes in 1548 by Edward Whitchurch. In connexion with this I would ask leave if my paper be not already too long to refer to some notes which I made on the occasion of a meeting of the Dorset Field Club held at Dorchester on 28 Jan. last, when the President (Mr. Nelson Richardson) exhibited a complete copy of this work in the original black-letter, and made some very interesting remarks in recording the history of its publication, wherein the share which, strange to say, the Princess after- wards Queen Mary took in the translation was specifically alluded to, a short resume of which I am sure the learned President will forgive me for setting before the readers of
- N. & Q.' :
" The translation was made under the special authority of Edward VI., who in 1547, the first year of his reign, ordered a copy to be placed in every church, where a few of them still remain (e.g., Yeovil, co. Somerset). References to them occur in churchwardens' accounts of the period, one of which shows the price, 7s., and 4rf. for a chain.
" It would seem that Queen Catherine Parr had much to do with the initiation or carrying out of the work of translation soon after her marriage
to the King in 1543, and the first five dedications
(of the four Gospels and Acts) are to her, the only
other three dedications by the author being to
Edward VI., John Hales, and Anne, Duchess of
Somerset. At least eight translators are men-
tioned as undertaking different parts of the workv
and amongst these is no less a personage than
Queen Mary, who translated a considerable part
of St. John's Gospel, as detailed at some length
in folio 2 of the dedicatory preface to Queen
Catherine preceding it by Nicholas Udall.
" The actual text of the Bible used is not a new translation, but follows that of the Great Bible of 1539, ten years previous, at that time the authorized version in general use.... Later on the Genevan or Breeches Bible was much more popular than the Bishops' Bible, which was the authorized version from 1568 to 1611. No com- plete Bible had been printed before 1539-41, the last years of Henry VIII. 's reign having only produced New Testaments. The present book is a small folio in black-letter. .. .Perfect copies are rare, as the book was much used, and few church copies are likely to have survived Mary's reign, as all English Church Bibles were then ordered to be destroyed. Printing was a slow process in those days, and in these early Bibles one often gets variations in different copies. Of the first volume of these Paraphrases there are said to be no less than six varieties known, each differing slightly from the rest."
As to the very large share taken by Nicholas Udall (or Udal) in this important work I would refer your readers to Mr. W. Durrant Cooper's Introduction (p. xxvii) to his edition of ' Ralph Roister Doister ' already mentioned (No. 5). Mr. Cooper states that there was another folio edition of both volumes published in 1551. Both editions were printed by Edward Whitchurch.
J. S. UDAL, F.S.A.
Inner Temple.
COLONIAL GOVERNOES (11 S. viii. 329, 377).
A full answer to this question would
require a long search and much space, since
the titles varied not only in different colonies,
but at different times in the same colony ;
a few notes may, however, prove useful.
In Massachusetts the Governor was in early days called " Honored Governor," and addressed as " Honored Sir " ; but later was called " Honorable Governor',' and ad- dressed as " Honorable Sir." On 20 Dec., 1686, Sir E. Andros (the first royal Governor) reached Boston, and the same day was called " His Excellence " a form which soon became " His Excellency." Andros was overthrown 18 April, 1689, and govern- ment under the old charter of 1629 was resumed, lasting until May, 1692, when Sir W. Phips arrived as Governor of the Pro- vince. From that day to this the Governors and Lieutenant-Governors have been called
