Bible.

When we turn from the Bible material which, as we have seen, supplies
both subject and inspiration, to the _source_ from which the selections
in their literary form as here given are derived, we find that the old
foundations have sufficed for many kinds of structure. Probably the
source from which the editor has drawn most largely is the Golden
Legend. This work, which was translated into English and printed by
Caxton in 1483, although little heard of now, was for several centuries
a household word in Christendom. It was the creation of a Genoese
Archbishop, Jacobus de Voragine, and dates from about the middle of the
thirteenth century. The good Archbishop, using the Bible and the Lives
of the Saints as a basis, and as a sharer of the superstitions of the
time having unbounded faith in every legend of the Church, put together
in simple form for the edification of his flock the various stories
about Jewish and Christian worthies which compose the original Legenda
Aurea. This was translated into French by one Jean de Vignay in the
fourteenth century, and the English version was in turn mainly made from
this translation. In the simple, sturdy language of Caxton the book
became a most popular one, being often read aloud in the Parish Churches
of England, where it helped to familiarize the people, especially the
young, with sacred story as represented by the heroes of the Old
Testament and the saints of the Church. In Caxton's introduction there
is a quaint sentence regarding the name of the book. After mentioning
the Latin title, he adds "that is to say in Englyshe the golden legende
for lyke as passeth golde in vallwe al other metallys, soo thys legende
exedeth all other bokes." Whether the good printer's judgment be
justified or no, it is not for us to say. It is true, however, that
after the passing of over six centuries since its original production,
the editor of this volume in looking for religious classics for young