8

The Alterations of Languages,

Book I.

About two hundred years after this in the time of Нету the Vl. ( as appears by a large manufcript Velume Bible in the Oxford-Library, ИМ to have been this Kings , and by him to have been given to the Cartha/ì-Y am in London 5 ) 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 fubftanc, 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 пёс/(1%: Tranllation, who lived in Richard . the ad’ time, it is rcndred with very fmall difference from this. About a hundred years after this , ln a Bible let forth with the Kings licens,tranllated by Thomas Mathew, and printed in the year i 5 57, it was rendered thus:

‹ I

О oure father which arte in heven halowed be thy name. Let thy kingdorne come. Thy will be fulfilled, as Wellin erth, as it is in heven, Geve us this daye oure dayly bred. And forgeve us our treafpafes, even

as we forgeve oure trefpacers. And lead us not into temptacion, but de lyver us from evyll.

Amen.

'

After the fame manner it is rendered in the Tranflation of William Tyndall, with fome little differences in the (решив. This one infiance may fuliiciently шапке“ Ьу what degrees this Lan guage did receive its feveralChanges , and how much altered it is now

from what it hath been, and coniequently what is to be expected in fu ture times. Since Learning began to flourìfh in our Nation, there have been more then ordinary Changes introduced in our Language : partly by new artihcial Couptyìtions .­, partly by enjì'anehijing ftrange forein Words, for their elegance and Íignilicancy, which now make one third part of our Language, and' partly by refining and mollzfying old words, for the more ealie and gracefulfound: by which means this lali Centu ry may be conjeétured 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 , muli it have been with all other vulgar Languages. So that ’tis not likely that any of thefe Mother-tongues now in being,are the fame that they were at the hrli Confulion. So true is that of the Poet: —

naar. de arte

‘Ut jylv'a fbliis pronos mutantur in annos,

Poética'

Prima сайт! r, ita verborum теги.‘ interit mtas,

' Et, juvenurn ritu, florent modo nata vigéntque. _

Debemur mqgti nos noßrdque­~­­

And a little after, Multa renafeentur qua: jam cecidere, cade’ntque Que nunc funi in honore vocabula, ß volet ußts; ,Queria penes arbitrium (ß, Ú vis, Ó“ norma loquondi.

è. I II'

z. As to the fecond Quere, Whether any of the Ancient Languages be now quite laß, it may be anfwered, That if in fome few hundreds of years a Language may be fo changed as to be lcarce intelligible; then, in

a much longer tract of time it may be quite abolißted, none of the moli radical and fubfiantial Parts remaining

‘ For every change isa grae/ual

corruption. l y ’

Before