d a girdil of skyn about
his leendis; sothely his mete weren locustis and hony of
the wode. Thanne Jerusalem wente out to hym, and al
Jude, and al the cuntre aboute Jordan, and thei weren
crystened of hym in in Jordon, knowlechynge there synnes.

It is somewhere recorded that at a meeting in Yorkshire recently a long
passage of Wycliffe's Bible was read, which was quite intelligible
throughout to those who heard.

It will be seen that this specimen (Matt. iii. 1-6) is not divided into
verses. Verse division belongs to a much later period, and, though
convenient for reference, it sometimes a good deal spoils the sense. The
division into chapters appears in Wycliffe's as in our own Bibles. This
chapter division had shortly before been made by a cardinal Hugo, for
the purpose of a Latin concordance, and its convenience brought it
quickly into use. But, like the verse division, it is often very badly
done, the object aimed at seeming to be uniformity of length rather than
any natural division of the subject. Sometimes a chapter breaks off in
the middle of a narrative or an argument, and, especially in St. Paul's
epistles, the incorrect division often becomes misleading. The removal
as far as possible of these divisions is one of the advantages of the
Revised Version to be noticed later on.

The book had a very wide circulation. While the Anglo-Saxon versions
were confined for the most part to the few religious houses where they
were written, Wycliffe's Bible, in spite of its disadvantage of being
only manuscript, was circulated largely through the kingdom; and, though
the cost a good deal restricted its possession to the wealthier classes,
those who could not hope to possess it gained access to it too, as well
through their own efforts as through the ministrations of Wycliffe's
"pore priestes." A considerable sum was paid for even a few sheets of
the manuscript, a load of hay was given for permission to read it for a
certain period one hour a day,[70] and those who could not afford even
such expenses adopted what means they could. It is touching to read such
incidents as that of one Alice Collins, sent for to the little
gatherings "to recite the Ten Commandments and parts of the epistles of
SS. Paul and Peter, which she knew by heart." "Certes," says old John
Foxe in his _Book of Martyrs_, "the zeal of those Christian days seems
much superior to this of our day, and to see the travail of them may
well shame our c