15 OCTOBER 1932, Page 18

THE BIBLE AND KING JAMES I

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The dedication of the Authorized Version has, of course, no spiritual value, but it is an exceedingly interesting historical document which can, therefore, never be wholly an " ana- chronism." However fulsome the matter, the language is magnificent English, setting a standard that might be sought with profit to-day. Your correspondent probably resents it on the ground of its obsequions tone. No historian would find that an intolerable objection, for it was merely characteristic of the age. Compare Coverdale's dedication of his Bible to Henry VIII. Again, though James I was in some ways an unpleasant character, he was the most scholarly of our Sover- eigns since King Alfred, and he had summoned the Hampton Court Conference to which we owe the Version for which we should for ever thank him. The translators' feelings must be judged in the light of their recollections of the reign of Queen Mary I, and their expectation until 1587 that Mary, Queen of Scots, might reign. Under neither Mary would the translation have been authorized as it was by James for whose succession they were genuinely thankful on that account.—I am, Sir, &c., ERASTUS.