represents agreement in the reading that omits the specific detail and thus converts the report into the statement that Bede translated the (entire) Gospel of St. John. This suppression of the particularizing clause has been regarded as being consistent with those later passages in the letter that have been interpreted to mean that the last sentence of the Gospel was reached or hastily dictated in preparation for the remaining moments preceding an exultant death.[1] The character of the particularized account, however, establishes a presumption in favor of its acceptance. Durior lectio preferenda est. Referring to this translation of the Gospel of St. John, Mr. Stopford A. Brooke remarks that "the history of English literature speaks of it with pleasure and regret; with pleasure, for it is the first translation into our tongue of any book of the Bible; with regret, for the translation has not come down to us."[2]
3. The Manuscripts of the West-Saxon Gospels
An enumeration of the manuscripts of the West-Saxon Gospels (here designated the Version) is given in the Bibliography attached to the Notes of this volume. The following is a brief description of these manuscripts.
1. Corp. MS. CXL (formerly S. 4) of the Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, belongs to the famous collection of MSS. bequeathed by Archbishop Parker. It is described by Professor Skeat in his Pre-
- ↑ Professor Plummer argues thus (op. cit. 1, p. lxxv: "This insertion of the St. Gallen MS. seems inconsistent with what is said below about the one chapter,' the 'one verse,' needed to complete the work; for Bede can hardly have intended to stop abruptly in the middle of a narrative."
- ↑ The History of Early English Literature (New York and London, Macmillan & Co., 1892), p. 350.
