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Shakespeare and Precious Stones
of heaven in its clearness." However, that Shakespeare wrote of "the heaven-hued sapphire" ("Lover's Complaint," 1. 215) has no necessary connection with this, as the celestial hue of the beautiful sapphire is spoken of time and again by many of the older writers.
It should be borne in mind that the great English translation of the Bible, popularly called "King James' Bible," was published only after Shakespeare had completed his last play in 1611. Before that time, dating from Tyndale's version of 1525, and in great measure based on it, a number of English translations had appeared, the most authoritative in Shakspeare's time being perhaps the "Bishops' Bible," printed under the patronage of Queen Elizabeth in 1568, and edited by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Geneva Bible of 1560, the first entire Bible in English in which the division into chapters and verses was carried out, had, however, the widest dissemination in Shakespeare's time, and a careful study of passages in his works referable to Biblical texts appears to prove that this version was the one with which he was most familiar. His plays testify to his close knowledge of the Scriptures, although no writer is less fettered by purely doctrinal considerations. The
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