Welsh Journals

One of the most obvious was the different demands imposed on trans- lators by the principles of Renaissance scholarship on the one hand, and the principles of Protestant evangelism on the other. Translators responded to this dilemma in different ways. Although Salesbury was prepared to adapt his principles and methods to changing circumstances, he invariably gave literary and scholarly standards (together with his own idiosyncracies) pride of place. Conversely, Richard Davies and Thomas Huet, always mindful of the enormous problems facing Protestant reformers, remained primarily loyal to their spiritual obligations and thus couched their trans- lations in language which would engage the sympathy and emotional response of those placed under their care. To a large extent, William Morgan married the two schools of thought in 1588. He brought greater intellectual rigour, organisation and understanding to the task of trans- lating the scriptures, and his literary standards were again further enriched by Richard Parry and John Davies in 1620. Apart from this major theme, Isaac Thomas's book also reveals a number of absorbing and important matters of detail. He shows that William Salesbury turned constantly to Erasmus (whom he described as 'the head learned man of all our tyme'), Luther, Tyndale and Coverdale in his early days, but that he was later to lean heavily on the contributions of Robert Estienne, Théodore de Beze and the translators of the Genevan Bible. He provides specific information about Richard Davies's version of the four books in the New Testament found in a Gwysaney manuscript. And he draws attention to the literary importance of the long-forgotten version of the 'Epistles and Gospels' penned by William Morgan and John Davies in the Welsh Prayer Book of 1599. Although the subject matter for this kind of work is necessarily technical and complex, the author's analysis is sometimes laboured, and this tendency is not helped by lengthy quotations from contemporary sources. Nevertheless, the book is well-organized and is sumptuously-produced at a reasonable price. Let us hope that the complexity of this subject will not deter Isaac Thomas from producing a similarly fine piece of work on early Welsh translations of the Old Testament. GERAINT H. JENKINS Aberystwyth THE REVOLT OF THE PROVINCES: CONSERVATIVES AND RADICALS IN THE ENGLISH CIVIL WAR, 1630-1650. By J. S. Morrill. Historical Problems: Studies and Documents, No. 26. George Allen and Unwin, 1976. Pp. 234. £ 5.75. That the provinces in the English Revolution have been accorded the status of an 'historical problem' is due in large measure to the pioneering work of Professor Alan Everitt. It was he who, in his original study of Kent, turned our attention away from the centre and focused it on the county community as a key to our understanding of the causes, nature, and out- come of the civil wars and the Interregnum. Everitt argued that the behaviour of county governors in Kent can only be understood in the light of their devotion to their local community. He has shown that the overriding concern of the majority of the county community, whatever