(Vol. iv., p. 59.)
John Bodley is a name that ought not to be passed over without due
reverence. He not only fostered the translation of the Genevan Bible,
but was specially interested in its circulation throughout England.
Neither Fox, Burnet, or Strype, Mr. Todd, or Mr. Whittaker give us any
particular information respecting him. Lewis glances at him as _one_
John Bodley; and Mr. Townley, in his valuable _Biblical Literature_,
after some notice of Whittingham, Gilby, Sampson, &c., closes by saying,
"Of John Bodleigh no account has been obtained."
This good and pious man was the father of the celebrated Sir Thomas
Bodley. He was born at Exeter, and according to the statement of his son
(_Autobiography_, 4to., Oxf. 1647),--
"In the time of Queen Mary, after being cruelly threatened and
narrowly observed by those that maliced his religion, for the
safety of himself and my mother (formerly Miss Joan Hone, an
heiress in the hundred of Ottery St. Mary), who was wholly
affected as my father, knew no way so secure as to fly into
Germany; where, after a while, he found means to call over my
mother, with all his children and family, when he settled for a
while at Wesel, in Cleveland, and from thence we removed to the
town of Frankfort. Howbeit, we made no long tarriance in either of
these towns, for that my father had resolved to fix his abode in
the city of Geneva, where, as far as I remember, the English
Church consisted of some hundred members."
John Bodley returned to England in 1559, and on the 8th of January,
1560-61, a patent was granted to him by Queen Elizabeth, "to imprint, or
cause to be imprinted, the English Bible, with annotations." This
privilege was to last for the space of seven years. In 1565 Bodley was
preparing for a new impression; and by March the next year, a careful
review and correction being finished, this zealous reformer wished to
_renew_ his patent beyond the seven years first granted. It does not
appear, however, that his application to the authorities had the desired
effect; for it will be remembered that Archbishop Parker's Bible was now
in the field, and the Queen's Secretary, Sir William Cecil, was
compelled to act with caution. A curious letter, addressed by the
Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London to Sir William Cecil,
concerning the extension of Bodley's privilege, is printed from the
Lansdown MS. No. 8. (Art. 82.), in _Letters of Eminent Literary Men_,
edited by Sir Henry Ellis for the Camden Society.
For a full history of the Geneva Bible, I beg to refer S. S. S. to the
second volume of Anderson's _Annals of the English Bible:_ Lond. 2 vols.
8vo. 1845.