The replies I have gained to previous Queries encourage me to trouble
you with the following:--
1. Has the Roman Catholic Church ever published a translation of the
Scriptures, or any part of them, into the vernacular _Irish_? Have their
missionaries in _China_ ever translated anything beyond the Epistles and
Gospels of the Missal? Or, is there any Roman Catholic translation into
any of the vernacular languages of _India_? Or, are there any versions
in any of the American dialects by Roman Catholic authors, besides those
mentioned by Le Long in his _Bibliotheca Sacra_. And is there any
continuation of his work up to {230} the present day? I am acquainted
with Bishop Marsh's volume, but he seems ill-informed and speaks vaguely
about Roman Catholic versions.
2. What is the authority for the familiar story of a bill being brought
into parliament for the suppression of all vernacular translations in
Richard II.'s reign, and of its being stoutly opposed by John of Gaunt?
"What, are we the dregs of the earth not to hear the Scriptures in our
own tongue?" Usher mentions the circumstance (_Historia Dogmatica_,
&c.), and it is borrowed from him by Fox. But I am so ignorant as not to
know the original and cotemporary authority.
3. Your learned correspondent, DR. MAITLAND, in his _Dark Ages_, snubs
D'Aubigné most unmercifully for repeating an old story about Luther's
stumbling upon a Bible, and pooh-pooh's D'Aubigné's authority,
Mathesius, as no better than a goose. May I ask whether it is possible
to discover the probable foundation of such a story, and whether Luther
has left us in his writings any account of his early familiarity with
Scripture, that would bear upon the alleged incident, and show how much
of it may be true?