Page:A dictionary of printers and printing.djvu/257

 passages of Erasmus's New Testament,) that not even the royal protection of Francis I., though powerfully exerted in the favour of Ber- quin, was sufficient to shield him from their ven- geance ; and this unfortunate man was, after a tedious process, condemned to expiate his offence in the flames ; and was actually, burned at Paris in this year. — ^Noel Bedier, who affected the name of Beda after the veneiahle Bede, was syndic of the Sorhonne at this period. He was a fierce fanatical pedant, and an incessant dis- putant ; always on the look out for heresy, and for some new victim to persecute ; and such was his hatred to heterodoxy that he would have burned every individual whom the Sorbonne condemned. . — ^The first abridgement of the Etu/lish Stalutet, printed in English, was done by John Rastell. The pre&ce to this work details the arguments which caused the old Norman French to give place to the English language, in enact- ing the laws of this country. It is on this ac- count an interesting relic; and we therefore give the following extracts from Luckombe : — "Because that the lawys of this realme of England, as well the statutes as other juge- mentys and decreys, be made and wrytyn most commynly in the Frenche tongue, dyuerse men thereof muse, and have oftimis communycacion and argument consyderyng, that in reason euery law wherto any people shuld be boundyn, ought and shulde be wryttrn in such manere and so opynly publishyd and declaryd, that the people myght sone, wythout gret dyffyculte, have the kitouleg^ of the seyd laws. But the verey cause why the seyd laws of Englond were writin in the French tonge, shuld seme to be this : furst, yt ys not unknowyn, that when Wyllyam, duke of Normandy, came in to thvs land., and slew kyug Herrold, and conquerya the hole realme, there was a grete nomber of people, as well g^en- tylmen as other, that cam wyth hym, whych understode not the vulgar tong, that was at uat tyme vsyd in this realme, but onelv the French tong: and also, because the seyd kyng, and other grete wyse men of hys counsel, perseyuyd and suposyd that the vulgar tong, which was then usyd in this realme was, in a manere, but homely and rude, nor had not so grete copy and haboundaunce of wordys as the Frenche tong than had, nor that vulgare tong was not of yt selff sufiycyent to expown and tu declare the matter of such lawys and ordenauncis, as they had determynid to be made for the good govei- naunce of ibe people so effectually, and so sub- stancyally, as they cowd indyte them in the French tong, therefore they orderid, wrot, and indytyd the seyd lawys, that they made, in the French tong. And lorthermore, long after the commyng off kyng Wylyam conquerour, because that the vse of the French tong in this realme began to mynysh, and be cause that dyuers people that iuhabityd wythin this realme, wich could nother speke the vulgare tonge of thys realme, nother the French tong; therefore the wys men of this lealme causyd to be ordyryd. that the matters of the law, and accions betwen partes shuld be pledyd, shewyd and defendyd, answerd, debatyd and juggyd in the Eng-lish vulgar tong ; and more over, that wiyttyn and enteryd of record in the roUys in the latyii tongr« because that every man generally, and indiffe- rently, myght haue the knolege thereof as ap- peryth by a statute made in the xxxxvi yere of £. iii. c. vltimo; wherfore, as I suppose, for these causis before rehersyd, which was mtendyd for a ryght good purpose." " Thoughe the statutys, made as well in the re of the seyde kyng Henry the VII., as in tyme of our souerein lorde, that now ys, be sufficyendy indytid and writyn in our Ene^Iysh 'tong, yet to them that be desirous shorUy to knowe the effect of them, they be now more tedyottse to rede, than though the mater and effect of them were compendyously abbreuiat : wherefore now, as farr as my symple wytt and small lemynge wyll extende, I haue here takyn upon me to abbregg the effect of them more shortly in this lyttyll book, besechyng all them, to whome the syght here of .shall come, to accept hyt in gree ; and though they shall fortune to fynde any thynge mysreportya, or omytted by my neglygens, elis by neglygens of the prynters, tliat yt wolde lyke them to pardon me, and to consyder my good wyl, which haue intendid ty for a comyn welth, for the causis and considera- cyons before rehersyde; and also, that Yt for- tune them to be in dout in any poynt tnereof, ret, yf it please them, they may resorte to the hole statute, whereof diys book is but a brege- ment, and in manere but a kalender. And S>t- thermore I wyll aduertyse every mon, that shall fortune to haue any matter in ure, to resorte to some man, that ys lemyd in the laws of thys realme, to haue his councel in such poyntis, which he thinkith doubtfull concemyng these seid statutis, by the knolege wherof, and by the dylygent obseruyng of the same, he may the better do hys dewte to hys prynce and souerine, and also lyf in tranquilite and pease wyth his neyghbour, accordyng to the pleasure and com- mandment of all mighti God, to whom be eternal laud and glori. Amen.", Nov. 30. Died Cardinal Wolsev, the celebrated minister of Henry VIII. Thomas Wolsey was the son of a butcher at Ipswich, bom in 1471 , and educated at Magdalen College, Oxford. He was a youth of great parts ; and, making considerable proficiency in learning, be became tutor to the sons of Grey, marquis of Dorset, who gave him the rectory of I.ymington, in Hampshire, and opened the way for him at court. Prompted by ambition, he sought and obtained promotion and favour under Henry VII., who sent him on an embassy to the em- peror, and, on his return, made nim dean of Lincoln. Henn' VIII. gave him the living of Torrington, in Devonshire ; and afterwards ap- pointed him register of the garter and canon of Windsor. He next obtained the deanery of York ; and, attending the king to Toumay in France, in 1513, was made bishop of that city. Digitized by LjOOQ IC