ibrary, shewed me a
rare head of Bale, of a very different cast of features--in
a small black-letter book, of which I have forgotten the
name.

[Illustration]]

Before I enter upon the reign of Elizabeth, let me pay a passing, but
sincere, tribute of respect to the memory of CRANMER; whose _Great
Bible_[323] is at once a monument of his attachment to the Protestant
religion, and to splendid books. His end was sufficiently lamentable;
but while the flames were consuming his parched body, and while his
right hand, extended in the midst of them, was reproached by him for
its former act of wavering and "offence," he had the comfort of
soothing his troubled spirit by reflecting upon what his past life had
exhibited in the cause of learning, morality, and religion.[324] Let
his memory be respected among virtuous bibliomaniacs!

[Footnote 323: I have perused what Strype (_Life of
Cranmer_, pp. 59, 63, 444), Lewis (_History of English
Bibles_, pp. 122-137), Johnson (_Idem opus_, pp. 33-42), and
Herbert (_Typog. Antiquities_, vol. i., p. 513,) have
written concerning the biblical labours of Archbishop
Cranmer; but the accurate conclusion to be drawn about the
publication which goes under the name of CRANMER'S, or THE
GREAT BIBLE, [Transcriber's Note: 'is' missing in original]
not quite so clear as bibliographers may imagine. However,
this is not the place to canvass so intricate a subject. It
is sufficient that a magnificent impression of the Bible in
the English language, with a superb frontispiece (which has
been most feebly and inadequately copied for Lewis's work),
under the archiepiscopal patronage of CRANMER, did make its
appearance in 1539: and it has been my good fortune to turn
over the leaves of the identical copy of it, printed UPON
VELLUM, concerning which Thomas Baker expatiates so
eloquently to his bibliomaniacal friend, Hearne. _Rob. of
Gloucester's Chronicle_; vol. i., p. xix. This copy is in
the library of St. John's College, Cambridge; and is now
placed upon a table, to the right hand, upon entering of the
same: although formerly, according to Bagford's account, it
was "among some old books in a private place nigh the
library." _Idem_; p. xxii. There is a similar copy in the
British Museum.]

[Footnote 324: "And thus"--says Strype--(in a strain of
pat