[Illustration: JOHN WYCLIFFE. _From an old print_.]

John Wycliffe.--Wycliffe (1324-1384) was born at Hipswell, near
Richmond, in the northern part of Yorkshire. He became a doctor of
divinity and a master of one of the colleges at Oxford. Afterward he
was installed vicar of Lutterworth in Leicestershire, where he died.
In history he is principally known as the first great figure in the
English Reformation. He preceded the other reformers by more than a
century. In literature he is best known for the first complete
translation of the _Bible_,--a work that exerted great influence on
English prose. All the translation was not made by him personally, but
all was done under his direction. The translation of most of the _New
Testament_ is thought to be his own special work. He is the most
important prose writer of the fourteenth century. His prose had an
influence as wide as the circulation of the _Bible_. The fact that it
was forced to circulate in manuscript, because printing had not then
been invented, limited his readers; but his translation was,
nevertheless, read by many. To help the cause of the Reformation, he
wrote argumentative religious pamphlets, which are excellent specimens
of energetic fourteenth-century prose.

Of his place in literature, Ten Brink says: "Wycliffe's literary
importance lies in the fact that he extended the domain of English
prose and enhanced its powers of expression. He accustomed it to terse
reasoning, and perfected it as an instrument for expressing rigorous
logical thought and argument; he brought it into the service of great
ideas and questions of the day, and made it the medium of polemics and
satire. And above all, he raised it to the dignity of the national
language of the _Bible_."