[A] “And for as moche as this ſayd worke was grete & over chargeable to me taccompliſſhe, I feryd me in the begynnynge of the tranſlacion to have contynued it / bycauſe of the longe tyme of the tranſlacion / & alſo in thenpryntyng of y^e ſame and in maner halfe deſperate to have accompliſſd it / was in purpoſe to have lefte it / after that I had begonne to tranſlate it / & to have layed it aparte ne had it be(en) at thynſtance & requeſte of the puyſſant noble & vertuous erle my lord wyllyam erle of arondel / whych deſyred me to procede & contynue the ſaid werke / & promyſed me to take a reſonable quantyte of them when they were acheyeued & accompliſſhed / and ſente to me a worſhypful gentylman a ſervaunt of his named John Stanney which ſolycyted me in my Lordes name that I ſhold in no wyſe leve it but accompliſſhe it promyſyng that my ſayd lord ſhold duringe my lyf geve & graunt to me a yerely fee / that is to wete a bucke in ſommer / & a doo in Wynter / with whiche fee I holde me wel contente,” &c. [B] [Sidenote: _Length of Adam’s life._] This apparently long life of Adam is admitted on all hands, even in the Reviſed Verſion of the Bible. The Talmud ſays that God promiſed him one thouſand years of life, and it is recorded that he begat Seth when he was a hundred and thirty years old. On this the Talmud (_Eruvin_, fol. 18, col. 2) has the following comment: “Rav Yirmyah ben Elazer ſaid: All thoſe years, which Adam ſpent in alienation from God, he begat evil ſpirits, demons, and fairies; for it is ſaid, ‘And Adam was an hundred and thirty years, and begat a ſon in his own likeneſs, after his image’; conſequently, before that time, he begat after another image.” This term of one hundred and thirty years ſeems to have been a period in Adam’s exiſtence, for we again find (_Eruvin_, fol. 18 b.): “Adam was a Chaſid, or great ſaint, when he obſerved that the decree of death was occaſioned by him; he _faſted_ a hundred and thirty years, and all this time he abſtained from intercourſe with his wife.” [Sidenote: _Talmud legends reſpecting Adam’s length of life._]