Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1853, by CHARLES SCRIBNER, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. TOBITT'S COMBINATION-TYPE, 181 William-street. 1 PREFACE. 5 THIS little volume has been long in preparation. It is more than twenty years since the Author's attention was directed to the inquiry, What were the personal qualifications for their work possessed by King James's Translators of the Bible? He expected to satisfy himself without difficulty, but found himself sorely disappointed. There was abundance of general testimony to their learning and piety; but nowhere any particu lar account of the men themselves. Copious histories of the origin, character, and results of their work have been drawn up with elaborate research; but of the Translators personally, little more was told than a meagre catalogue of their names, with brief notices of such offices as a few of them held. The only resource was to take these names in detail, and search for any information relative to each individual. For a long time, but little came to hand illustrative of their characters and acquirements, except in relation to some of the more prominent men included in the royal commission. The Author quite despaired of ever being able to identify the greater part of them, by any thing more than their bare surnames. But devoting much of his time to searching in public libraries, he 606 5177 606 (RECAP) |