Within fifty years after the completion of his holy work, a copy of Wycliff’s Testament is said to have cost about $150 of our money. “Those who could not give money would give a load of hay for a few favourite chapters, and this in times when the possession of such a manuscript might very probably be the means of bringing the owner to the dungeon or the stake. They were forced to hide their treasure under the floors of their houses, and sit up all night, or retire to the lonely fields or woods, to hear and read without interruption the word of the Book of Life.”—Martineau.

* * *