1530 - Tyndale, William - Prologue to Book of Genesis
By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2018-10-26. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2018-10-26.
Allusion
This comfort shalt thou evermore find in the plain text and literal sense. Neither is there any story so homely, so rude, yea, or so vile (as it seemeth outward), wherein is [p. 38:] not exceeding great comfort. And when some, which seem to themselves great clerks, say, 'They wot not what more profit is in many gests of the scripture, if they be read without an allegory, than in a tale of Robin Hood:' say thou, 'That they were written for our consolation and comfort; that we despair not, if such like happen unto us. We be not holier than Noe, though he were once drunk; neither better beloved than Jacob, though his own son defiled his bed. We be not holier than Lot, though his daughters through ignorance deceived him; nor, peradventure holier than those daughters. Neither are we holier than David, though he brake wedlock, and upon the same committed abominable murder. All those men have witness of the scripture that they pleased God, and were good men, both before that those things chanced them, and also after. Nevertheless such things happened them for our ensample, not that we should counterfeit their evil; but if, while we fight with ourselves, enforcing to walk in the law of God as they did, we yet fall likewise, that we despair not, but come again to the laws of God, and take better hold.'[1]
Source notes
IRHB's brackets.
P. 38, marginal note against "'That they were written for our consolation": "A goodly comfort against desperation."
Published in 1530, cf. pp. xvii, 30.
IRHB comments
This is one of at least five allusions to Robin Hood in the writings of Tyndale.
Lists
- Not included in Dobson, R. B., ed.; Taylor, J., ed. Rymes of Robyn Hood: an Introduction to the English Outlaw (London, 1976), pp. 315-19.
- Not included in Sussex, Lucy, compil. 'References to Robin Hood up to 1600', in: Knight, Stephen. Robin Hood: A Complete Study of the English Outlaw (Oxford, UK; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell, 1994), pp. 262-88.
Editions
- Tyndale, William; Duffield, G.E., ed.; Bruce, F.F., introd. The Works of William Tyndale (Appleford, Berkshire, 1964), pp. 36-43; see pp. 37-38.
Background
Notes