formation, originally published at Cologne in 1535, and
reprinted at London in 1690.

[750] Opera Innocent III. p. 468, 537. A translation of the Bible had
been made by direction of Peter Waldo; but whether this used in Lorrain
was the same, does not appear. Metz was full of the Vaudois, as we find
by other authorities.

[751] Schilteri Thesaurus Antiq. Teutonicorum.

[752] Mem. de l'Acad. des Inscript. t. xvii. p. 720.

[753] The Anglo-Saxon versions are deserving of particular remark. It
has been said that our church maintained the privilege of having part of
the daily service in the mother tongue. "Even the mass itself," says
Lappenberg, "was not read entirely in Latin." Hist. of England, vol. i.
p. 202. This, however, is denied by Lingard, whose authority is probably
superior. Hist. of Ang.-Sax. Church, i. 307. But he allows that the
Epistle and Gospel were read in English, which implies an authorized
translation. And we may adopt in a great measure Lappenberg's
proposition, which follows the above passage: "The numerous versions and
paraphrases of the Old and New Testament made those books known to the
laity and more familiar to the clergy."

We have seen a little above, that the laity were not permitted by the
Greek Church of the ninth century, and probably before, to read the
Scriptures, even in the original. This shows how much more honest and
pious the Western Church was before she became corrupted by ambition and
by the captivating hope of keeping the laity in servitude by means of
ignorance. The translation of the four Books of Kings into French has
been published in the Collection de Documens Inedits, 1841. It is in a
northern dialect, but the age seems not satisfactorily ascertained; the
close of the eleventh century is the earliest date that can be assigned.
Translations into the Provencal by the Waldensian or other heretics were
made in the twelfth; several manuscripts of them are in existence, and
one has been published by Dr. Gilly. [1848.]

[754] The application of the visions of the Apocalypse to the
corruptions of Rome has commonly been said to have been first made by
the Franciscan seceders. But it may be traced higher, and is remarkably
pointed out by Dante.

Di voi pastor s' accorse 'l Vangelista,
Quando colei, chi siede sovra l'acque,
Puttaneggiar co' regi a lui fu vista.

Inferno, cant. xix.

[755] Walsingham, p. 238; Lewis's Life of Pecock, p. 65. Bishop Pecock's
ans