29 JULY 1905, Page 14

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—All students of the

Apocrypha will be grateful for the excellent paper on this subject which appeared in your issue of July 15th; but surely the writer is too enthusiastic when he says that "the English rendering of the Apocrypha is as glorious a piece of work as any of the Biblical translations of the Elizabethan age." It is the inferior English of the Authorised Version of the Apocrypha that has partly helped to lessen the esteem in which these books were once held. Professor Sayce's judgment is truer to fact:—" By the side of the Canonical Books, the Apocryphal Books of the Old Testament make but a poor show in their English dress. The rhythm is defective, the construction is frequently involved, and the language itself sometimes lacks dignity and grace."—