About two hundred years after this in the time of Henry the VI. (as appears by a large manuſcript Velume Bible in the Oxford-Library, ſaid to have been this Kings, and by him to have been given to the Carthuſians in London;) It was rendred thus.
Oure fadir that art in hevenes, halewid be thi name, thi kingdom come to thee, be thi wil don in eerthe, as in hevene, give to us this day oure breed over othre ſubſtanc, and forgive to us oure dettis, as we forgiven oure dettouris, and lede us not into temptation, but delivere us from ivel. Amen.
In another M.S. of Wickliffes Tranſlation, who lived in Richard the 2ds time, it is rendred with very ſmall difference from this.
About a hundred years after this, in a Bible ſet forth with the Kings licens, tranſlated by Thomas Mathew, and printed in the year 1537, it was rendered thus:
O oure father which arte in heven halowed be thy name. Let thy kingdome come. Thy will be fullfilled, as well in erth, as it is in heven. Geve us this daye oure dayly bred. And forgeve us our treaſpaſes, even as we forgeve oure treſpacers. And lead us not into temptacion, but delyver us from evyll. Amen.
After the ſame manner it is rendered in the Tranſlation of William Tyndall, with ſome little differences in the ſpelling.
This one inſtance may ſufficiently manifeſt by what degrees this Language did receive its ſeveral Changes, and how much altered it is now from what it hath been, and conſequently what is to be expected in future times. Since Learning began to flouriſh in our Nation, there have been more then ordinary Changes introduced in our Language: partly by new artificial Compoſitions; partly by enfranchiſing ſtrange forein words, for their elegance and ſignificancy, which now make one third part of our Language, and partly by refining and mollifying old words, for the more eaſie and gracefulfound: by which means this laſt Century may be conjectured to have made a greater change in our Tongue, then any of the former, as to the addition of new words.
And thus, in all probability , muſt it have been with all other vulgar Languages. So that ’tis not likely that any of theſe Mother-tongues now in being, are the ſame that they were at the firſt Confuſion. So true is that of the Poet:
Ut ſylvæ foliis pronos mutantur in annos,
Prima cadunt; ita verborum vetus interit etas,
Et, juvenum ritu, florent modo nata vigenique.
Debemur morti nos noſtraque
And a little after,
Multa renaſcentur que jam cecidere, cadentque
Que nune ſunt in honore vocabula, ſo solet uſus;
Quem penes arbitrium eſt, & vis, & norma loquendi.
2. As to the ſecond Quere, Whether any of the Ancient Languages be now quite loſt, it may be anſwered, That if in ſome few hundreds of years a Language may be ſo changed as to be ſcarce intelligible; then, in a much longer tract of time it may be quite aboliſhed, none of the moſt radical and ſubſtantial parts remaining: For every change is a gradual corruption.
