=2. Prose.= There were no outstanding achievements in prose, but facts all helped to reveal the waning influence of Latin and the increasing importance given to English. English prose appeared in theological works, as in those of Fisher; and =Cranmer (1489–1556)= gave it a new field in his notable English Prayer Book. Historical prose was represented by _The Chronicle of England_ of =Capgrave (1393–1464)=, who wrote in a businesslike fashion; a species of philosophical prose appeared in _The Governance of England_ of =Fortescue (1394–1476)=, and in _The Boke named the Governour_ of =Eylot (1490–1546)=, a kind of educational work; _The Castle of Health_, also by the last author, was a medical work. The great race of Elizabethan translators is well begun by =Lord Berners (1467–1533)=, who translated Froissart with freedom and no mean skill; and, lastly, the English Bible was taking shape. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE The work on the English Bible began as early as the eighth century, when Bede translated a portion of the Gospel of St. John into Old English prose. The work was ardently continued during the Old English period--for example, in the Lindisfarne Gospels (about 700) and the prose of Ælfric (about 1000). During the Anglo-Norman period, owing to the influence of French and Latin, English translation did not flourish; but efforts were made, especially in the Psalms and the Pauline epistles. Translation was systematically undertaken by =Wyclif (1320–84)=, under whose direction two complete versions were carried through about 1384 and 1388. How much actual translation Wyclif accomplished will never be known, but his was the leading spirit, and to him falls the glory of being the leader in the great work. To the second of the Wycliffian versions is sometimes given the name of =John Purvey=, the Lollard leader who succeeded Wyclif. The two versions are simple and unpretentious renderings, the second being much more finished than the first. After Wyclif translation flagged till the Reformation bent men’s minds anew to the task. The greatest of all the translators was =William Tyndale (1485–1536)=, who did much to give the Bible its modern shape. Tyndale suffered a good deal of persecution owing to his hardihood, and was driven abroad, where much of his translation was accomplished, and where it was first printed. It was at Cologne that the first English Bible appeared in print. A feature of Tyndale’s translation was its direct reliance upon the Hebrew and Greek originals, and not upon the Latin renderings of them. Of these Latin texts the stock version was the Vulgate, upon which Wyclif to a large extent relied. =Miles Coverdale (1488–1568)= carried on the work of Tyndale. Though he lacked the latter’s scholarship, he had an exquisite taste for phrase and rhythm, and many of the most beautiful Biblical expressions are of his workmanship.