|
**List: Welsh Ministry
the Bible ( y Bibl )
Welsh...
|
"III.--VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE.
The earliest mention of a Welsh version of any part of the
Scriptures occurs in an epistle prefixed
by Dr. Richard Davis, bishop of St. David's, to the first printed edition of
the Welsh New Testament
(that of 1567), in which he states that there was a version of the Pentateuch
extant about the year
1527, and that he himself saw a copy of the work in the possession of a
learned gentleman, a relative
of his own: he does not, however, give any information respecting the
translator, or the period at
which the version was executed.1 Several short detached
portions of Scripture were translated into
Welsh, and printed during the reign of Edward VI., probably for the use of
the Liturgy or Service
Book compiled during that period. In 1562, a law was enacted by
parliament enforcing the translation
of the entire Scriptures into the Welsh language, under the superintendence
of the Bishops of St. Asaph,
Bangor, St. David, Llandaff, and Hereford. In consequence of this
enactment, William Salesbury,
a Welshman of liberal education, and a good linguist of the age, was
appointed by the bishops to
take the oversight of the projected edition; and by him the entire New
Testament was translated,
except the Book of Revelation, which is ascribed to Huet, a chantor or
præcentor of St. David's, and
five of the Epistles (2 Timothy, Hebrews, St. James, and the two Epistles of
St. Peter), which were
translated by the above-named Dr. Richard Davis, bishop of the same place.
The whole version was
made from the Greek, collated with the
Latin: its general
fidelity has never been disputed, but it is
faulty in style and orthography. It is divided, like our present
Testaments, into chapters, but has no
distinction of verses except in some books toward the end. It was
dedicated to Queen Elizabeth, and
was printed in 1567 in London, at the expense of Humphrey Toy. The
edition, which consisted of
500 copies, was in quarto, and printed in black letter.
More than twenty years elapsed after the publication of the New
Testament, before a version
of the Old Testament was bestowed upon the people of Wales. This boon
was at length conferred by
Dr. William Morgan, originally vicar of Llanrhaiadr-mochnant, in
Denbighshire, and raised in 1595
to the see of Llandaff, and in 1601 to that of St. Asaph. With the aid
of several eminent scholars, he
prepared a version of the Old Testament from the
Hebrew, and revised Salesbury's version
of the New
Testament. He was not nominated to this important undertaking, but
engaged in it spontaneously.
In 1588 he printed both Testaments, with the
Apocrypha, in one volume
folio. The work was divided
into verses throughout, and, like the former edition of the New Testament,
was dedicated to Queen
Elizabeth. This edition also consisted of 500 copies, and was printed
in black letter: a copy, presented
by the translator himself, may be seen at Westminster in the library of the
dean and chapter, and
another in the library of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Dr.
Morgan afterwards subjected the
New Testament to a second revisal, and the corrected version was ready for the
press in 1604, when he
died: it does not appear to have been ever printed. The important work
which had occupied so many
years of this prelate's life, was not discontinued after his decease.
His successor in the see of St. Asaph,
Dr. Richard Parry, manifested equal zeal in the preparation
of a faithful version of the Welsh Scriptures.
Of his own accord, and in concert with his chaplain, the celebrated Dr. John
Davies, Dr. Parry
undertook a complete revision of the Old and New Testaments, in the course of
which he introduced
so many corrections and alterations, that the work is deservedly regarded as
a new and independent
version, rather than as an amended translation. It has always been
held in such high estimation that
it has been used as the text of all succeeding editions; and the few
variations that from time to time
may have been made from it, are chiefly of an orthographical nature: it is,
in fact, the standard
version of the Welsh Scriptures. It was first published in 1620, by
Norton and Hill, his Majesty's
printers in London, and contained a dedication to
King James. The copy
which was presented to
the king is now in the British Museum. The edition, however, only
consisted of 500 copies: like the
two previous editions, it was printed in black letter and
in folio, and the total want of copies of the
Scriptures printed in a more accessible form was at this period severely felt
in Wales. In consequence
of this lamentable deficiency, some noble-minded citizens
of London combined together to furnish a
portable edition of the Welsh Bible at their own expense. Their
edition, which was published in 1630
in London, was in small octavo, and contained, besides the Old and New
Testaments, the Apocrypha,
1 A Welsh version of the Bible
was preserved in MS. at Celydd Ifan, near Bridgend in Glamorgan: it
appears
to have been executed from the Latin Vulgate,
by an ancestor of the family residing in that place, about the year
1470. A considerable portion of the MS. was still extant a few
years ago, though no trace of it can be found at
present. It may have been a MS. of the Pentateuch of this version to
which Dr. R. Davis referred. We may, how-
ever, also mention that it has been stated that the
translation of the Pentateuch into
English, by William
Tyndale,
was the basis of a Welsh version."
|
"the Book of Common Prayer, and a metrical version
of the Psalms. Prŷs, archdeacon of Merioneth,
was the translator of this Psalter, which is now used in the Welsh churches.
Another metrical version
of the Psalms, by Captain Middleton, had been printed by Salesbury in London
as early as 1603.
The other principal editions of the Scriptures, issued during the 17th and
18th centuries, may be
briefly enumerated as follows:--
1647. The New Testament in 12mo., without headings to the chapters; 1000
copies.
1648. Second edition of the Metrical Psalms, by Archdeacon Prŷs, in
12mo.
1654. The whole Bible in 8vo.; 6000 copies. This is sometimes called
Cromwell's Bible.
1654. A separate edition of the New Testament, also in 8vo., 1000 copies;
printed in larger
type than the Bible of the same date.
1672. The New Testament with the Psalms, both in prose and metre. This
edition was pub-
lished by means of subscriptions collected in Wales and England: it was
printed in 8vo.,
and consisted of 2000 copies.
1678. The whole Bible with the Book of Common Prayer, in 8vo., printed in
London. Of
this edition, which consisted of 8000 copies, 1000 copies were distributed
gratis among
the poor, and the rest were sold at a price below the cost of printing.
Mr. Thomas
Gouge, a man of noted benevolence, was the principal promoter of this
edition: it passed
through the press under the care of his friend, the Rev. Stephen Hughes, who
formerly
held the living of Mydrim, in Caermarthenshire, but was ejected at the
passing of the
Act of Uniformity. The corrections in orthography and punctuation,
introduced by
Mr. Hughes, were numerous and important; and this edition, though not without
its
defects, has in consequence been held in high estimation.
1690. Bible in 8vo., 10,000 copies. This edition was published by the
Rev. David Jones, the
ejected minister of Llandisilio near Narberth, under the patronage of Lord
Wharton,
and with the assistance of some ministers and citizens of London.
1690. Bible in folio, 1000 copies, printed at Oxford, for the use of
churches. This is sometimes
called Bishop Lloyd's Bible, because he is believed to have had some hand in
the pub-
lication, and to have supplied the chronology and references. It was
printed under the
superintendence of Mr. Pierce Lewis, a gentleman of Anglesea. This was
the first
edition printed in Roman characters; it varies from preceding editions in the
orthography
of many words.
1718. Bible in 8vo., 10,000 copies, printed in London. This is often
called "Moses Williams'
Bible," because that gentleman, then vicar of Dyfynog, in
Brecknockshire, super-
intended the publication. This edition was the first published under
the patronage of
the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: it has the
Apocrypha, the Psalms in
metre, some hymns and forms of prayer; also marginal references and the
contents of
chapters.
1727. Bible in 8vo., 5000 copies, London. This edition was published
under the same patronage
as the last, but without the references or the headings of the chapters: on
account of
this omission it was never so highly valued or sought after by the people.
1746. Bible in 8vo., 15,000 copies, Cambridge. This was the third
edition brought out under
the superintendence of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
It contains
nearly all that was printed in the edition of 1718, and passed through the
press under
the care of Mr. R. Morris, of the Navy Office, a distinguished Welsh scholar.
In this
and the following edition the orthography of Bishop Lloyd's Bible was
adopted.
1752. Bible in 8vo., 15,000 copies, London. This, like the edition of
1746, was printed under
the superintendence of Mr. Morris, at the expense of the Society for
Promoting Christian
Knowledge: these two editions cost the sum of £6000.
1752. New Testament and Psalms in 8vo., 2000 copies, London: printed from the
edition of
1672 by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Several
reprints from this
edition have been made at Shrewsbury.
1769. Bible in 8vo., 20,000 copies, London: published by the Society for
Promoting Christian
Knowledge. The orthography is that of Bishop Lloyd's Bible.
1770. Bible in quarto, Caermarthen, with notes by the Rev.
Peter Williams. This has been
reprinted at least twelve different times at Caermarthen, and similar
editions have issued
from other Welsh presses. The same Bible has been printed in folio
size, with plates,
by Fisher and Co., London.
1789. Bible in folio, London. This was a small edition, printed for
the use of churches by the
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
1790. Bible in 12mo., with Mr. John
Canne's References, printed at
Trevecca, in Brecknockshire,
under the superintendence of Mr. Peter Williams. An edition of the
same Bible was
subsequently printed at Caermarthen.
1799. Bible in 8vo., 10,000 copies; and New Testament printed separately
(also in 8vo.), 2000
copies. These editions were published under the care of Rev. John
Roberts at Oxford,
by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
The editions above enumerated, with the exception of 10,000
copies of the New Testament in
various sizes, printed in the year 1800 at Shrewsbury, were all that appeared
before the formation of
the British and Foreign Bible Society. At the close of the last, and
commencement of the present
century, great scarcity of the vernacular Scriptures prevailed in Wales.
The large edition of 1799
was no sooner published than sold, and the last copy was disposed of before
one fourth part of the
country was supplied. Several urgent applications were made to the
Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge, entreating them to grant farther supplies of the Welsh Scriptures,
but the state of their
funds debarred the Society from giving efficient assistance. At this
juncture, when no aid seemed
attainable from any existing source, the Rev. Thomas Charles, of Bala,
formerly a clergyman of the
established church, but then officiating in connection with the Welsh
Calvinistic Methodists,
suggested
the idea of forming a great printing society among Christians, for the
purpose of supplying the prin-
cipality with Bibles. Several influential individuals, both
Churchmen and Dissenters, co-operated in
carrying out this scheme, which, after being farther developed, and
receiving a more comprehensive
character, intimately resulted in the formation of the British and Foreign
Bible Society. As the
scarcity of Bibles in Wales had thus been the proximate cause of the origin
of this noble institution,
so one of the first measures of the Society, when established, was an attempt
to meet the urgent
demands of the Welsh people for copies of the Scriptures. The Society
resolved in 1804 to print an
edition of the Welsh Bible and Testament on stereotype plates: the number
ordered was 20,000 Bibles
in 12mo., with 5000 additional Testaments in a larger type. The text
selected was the Oxford edition
of 1799, and the proffered services of Mr. Charles were accepted in revising
and preparing a copy for
the press. While this revision was being vigorously carried on, a
communication, emanating from
the Rev. J. Roberts, rector of Tremeirchion, Flintshire, was conveyed,
through the Society for
Promoting Christian Knowledge, to Lord Teignmouth, the president of the
British and Foreign
Bible Society, impeaching the accuracy of certain orthographical alterations
introduced by Mr. Charles.
A sub-committee was appointed to investigate the validity of these
complaints; and after a lengthened
controversy it was proved, that though Mr. Charles had in his revised copy
ventured on the adoption
of certain orthographical changes, chiefly in accordance with the system of
Dr. Pughe, yet that he was
guiltless of innovation so far as the general sense or meaning of the sacred
text was concerned. The
expediency of the alterations in orthography adopted by Mr. Charles formed
the next subject of
inquiry; and as the sub-committee, from their imperfect acquaintance with the
language, felt them-
selves incompetent to decide the question, the matter was referred to the
arbitration of the Rev.
Walter Davies, vicar of Meifod, Montgomeryshire. This gentleman
declared his opinion to be in
favour of the old system of orthography, which the Society accordingly
determined to adopt in their
forthcoming edition; and it must be mentioned to the honour of Mr. Charles,
that he liberally gave
his services to the correction and revision of the text by which his own was
superseded. In 1805 the
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge announced their intention of
printing 20,000 copies of
the Welsh Bible from the text of 1746; afterwards, however, preferring the
text of 1752. To avoid
the serious evil of discrepancy between their versions, the British and
Foreign Bible Society resolved
that they likewise would adopt this latter text; and their edition, prepared
from this standard, left the
press in 1806. Including this their first edition, the number of
copies issued at successive intervals
by the British and Foreign Bible Society from the year 1806 to the year 1860
may be briefly stated
as follows:--
Bibles . . . . . . . 499,635
Testaments . . . . . . 563,130
Diglots, Welsh and English . . . 42,936
--------
Total . . . 1,105,701
Other large editions besides those above described have been published by
the Society for Promoting
Christian Knowledge, but the exact number cannot be ascertained; of these the
principal was that
printed at Oxford in 1809, for which collations were made from previous
editions, typographical errors
were corrected, and the orthography of proper names was
restored according to the text of 1620.
More recently still, in 1853, a large folio edition has been printed at
Oxford for the use of Welsh
churches. The American Bible Society completed in
1858 an edition of the Scriptures in Welsh,
together with a Welsh and
English Testament in parallel
columns." --1860 S. Bagster [Info only]
|
WELSH. SALESBURY'S VERSION. London, Folio.--1860
S. Bagster [Info only: GOTHIC CHARACTER "1567" John 1:1-
12 unknown.]
WELSH. DR. W. MORGAN'S VERSION. London, Folio.--1860
S. Bagster [Info only: GOTHIC CHARACTER "1588" John 1:1-
12 unknown.]
WELSH. BISHOP PARRY'S VERSION. London, Folio.--1860
S. Bagster [Info only: GOTHIC CHARACTER "1620" John 1:1-
12 unknown.]
WELSH. BRITISH & F. BIBLE SOCIETY VERSION. London, 16
mo.--1860 S. Bagster [Info only: "1859" John 1:1-12
unknown.]
|
"IV.--FACTS RELATIVE TO THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION.
The manner in which the Bible Society's first edition of the
New Testament was received in Wales
is thus described by an eye-witness:--"When the arrival of
the cart was announced which carried
the first sacred load, the Welsh peasants went out in crowds to meet it,
welcomed it as the Israelites
did the ark of old, drew it into the town, and eagerly bore off all the
copies as rapidly as these could
be dispersed. The young people were to be seen spending the whole
night in reading. Labourers
carried some with them to the fields, that they might enjoy them during the
intervals of their labour, and
lose no opportunity of becoming acquainted with their sacred truths."
The increase in the issues and
circulation of the Scriptures in Wales since that period is highly
encouraging. Adding the circulation
of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and that of private
printers, to the number issued
by the British and Foreign Bible Society, as stated above, the total number
of Welsh Bibles and
Testaments printed at different times, and in different places, is probably
little short of a million and
a half copies. Those circulated by the British and Foreign Bible
Society alone, as the Table shows,
number considerably upwards of A MILLION."--The
Bible of Every Land. (1860, Second Edition) Samuel Bagster [Info
only]
|
|
