William Wotton and His Translation of Shabbat and Eruvin
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chapter 22 William Wotton and His Translation of Shabbat and Eruvin We conclude Part 3 about translations of the Talmud same year, Wotton received the sinecure of Llandrillo in with a second London imprint, Shabbat and Eruvin: Two Denbigshire. He was appointed curate in Brimpton on Titles of the Misna or Code of the Traditional Laws Which September 20, 1686, nominated by Richard Worrell, vicar Were Observed by the Scribes and Pharisees … Translated of the same and afterward as vicar, ad Vicariam perpetu- into English, with Annotations by W. Wotton. William amin, in Lacock from October 3, 1693.4 Wotton’s positions Wotton (1666–1727) and his Shabbat and Eruvin, addressed and achievements included his positions as a scholar of St. here, give us insight into the background, character, and John’s College, Cambridge, a Fellow of the Royal Society, perspective of a Christian-Hebraist. Also, this transla- and a prebend of Salisbury. tion into English, rather than into Latin as almost all the In 1694, Wotton published Reflections upon Ancient contemporary translations of mishnayot were, is more and Modern Learning, addressing the branches of litera- accessible to most readers of this book. ture, arts, and sciences, as extended by both ancients and Wotton, an erudite person of considerable accomplish- moderns. The work is a defense of moderns, in response ments, indeed a prodigy and a polymath, was described to which Jonathan Swift attacked and satirized Wotton in by Alexander Chalmers as “an English divine of uncom- his Tale of a Tub and “Battle of the Books” (1704).5 Wotton mon parts and learning … and well skilled in Oriental described Tale of a Tub as having “a good deal of wild wit” Languages.”1 In a letter dated September 16, 1671, from Sir but on the whole as being “the profanest piece of ribaldry” Philip Skippon to Mr. John Ray, we read about Wotton’s since Rabelais. Another work by Wotton is a History of background, Rome (1701), and he is also remembered for his collection and translation of Welsh works. In 1714, Wotton relocated I shall somewhat surprise you with what I have seen to Carmarthen, Wales, where he learned to speak and in a little boy, William Wotton, five years old the last write Welsh and wrote Leges Wallicae, for the most part month, the son of Mr. Wotton, minister of this par- printed in 1727; the finished work was published by his ish, who hath instructed his child within the last son-in-law in 1730 after his death.6 three quarters of a year in the reading the Latin, Given his extraordinary talents, much was expected Greek, and Hebrew languages, which he can read of Wotton. However, his personal life and the circum- almost as well as English; and that tongue he could stances that resulted in relocations and Wotton’s failure read at four years and three months old as well as to fully achieve the positions and successes anticipated most lads of twice his age.2 of him can be attributed to his personal failings; he had feet of clay. The antiquary Abraham de la Pryme described Chalmers continues, concerning Wotton’s memory, Wotton in his diary as “a most excellent preacher, but a that he is “never forgetting anything.”3 Wotton was admit- drunken whoring soul.” Such comments were repeated ted to Catherine Hall, Cambridge, several months prior over the years. William Cole, rector of a neighboring par- to his tenth birthday, where the masters of the college ish, wrote that Wotton was “known in the learned World praised his learning and skill in languages. He received for his ingenious writings and in the country where he his BA when twelve and five months, his MA in 1683, inhabited for his Levities and Imprudencies.”7 and commenced his Bachelor of Divinity in 1691. In the Although this reflects poorly on his personal life, it does not detract from his many intellectual and literary 1 Alexander Chalmers, The General Biographical Dictionary: Containing an Historical and Critical Account of the Lives and Writings of the Most Eminent Persons in Every Nation, Particularly 4 CCEd, the Clergy of the Church of England database, http://db.the the British and Irish, from the Earliest Accounts to the Present Time, clergydatabase.org.uk/jsp/search/index.jsp. vol. 32 (London, 1817), 306. Wotton’s skill as a linguist is also noted 5 Berlin and Katchen, Christian Hebraism, 55n108. in George Godfrey Cunningham’s A History of England in the Lives 6 David Stoker, “William Wotton’s Exile and Redemption: An Account of Englishmen, vol. 4 (London, 1853), 241, where it states “he died in of the Genesis and Publication of Leges Wallicae,” Y Llyfr yng 1726 [sic], leaving behind him no competitor, perhaps, in variety of Nghymru/Welsh Book Studies, 7 (2006): 7–106, a detailed work on acquisitions as a linguist.” Leges Wallicae, as the book is known, with considerable detail as to 2 Chalmers, General Biographical Dictionary, 306. Wotton’s life. 3 Ibid., 319. 7 Quoted in Stoker, “William Wotton’s Exile,” 12. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004376731_024 340 chapter 22 accomplishments, among them the translation of tractates Shabbat and Eruvin. Indeed, while living in Carmarthen, he reformed and became a model clergyman, visiting the sick and resuming his studies. Wotton undertook this translation in 1714 to give young divinity students a basic understanding of Jewish learning to “show of what authority it was and what use it might be made of within Christian teaching.”8 Wotton wrote Shabbat and Eruvin in South Wales, hav- ing retired there in 1714. Shabbat and Eruvin is part two of a two-volume work entitled Miscellaneous Discourses Relating to the Traditions and Usages of the Scribes and Pharisees (1718). Part one is Texts Relating to the Religious Observation of One Day in Seven, with Annotations. The second volume ([16], [1] folded leaf, 279, [25] pp.), of inter- est to us, is comprised of the Hebrew with an English translation of the Mishnah of the two tractates. The text of the title page begins: SHABBATH AND ERUVIN Two Titles of the MISNA or CODE Of the Traditional Laws, Which were observed by the figure 22.1 Scribes and Pharisees … to assign the Grounds upon which these Masters went in all and concludes that Shabbat and Eruvin was “printed these Constitutions; and where they are rational, as many of D. D. Printed by W. Bowyer for Tim Goodwin at the them are, I have given my Judgment in their Favor.” Queens-Head.” In a section entitled “An Explication of the Two Figures,” The dedication is to Thomas Kilpin of the Middle two pages of foldouts illustrate various Sabbath activities. Temple, Esq., which is indicative of Wotton’s positive view. An example of this text follows: It begins “You will wonder possibly, Sir, that I should prefix your Name to two Hebrew Tracts, when your studies have TAB. I all along lain in so different a Road. But when you see that Fig. V. Here are two Balconies in the same house, they are Decrees and Constitutions of eminent Lawyers, with the Street underneath. One Man in one Balcony upon a Subject of no less Importance than one of the Ten holds forth a Stick to another Man in the Second, Commandments …” who reaches out his Hand to take it from him. In his preface Wotton reiterates what was then the nor- Shabbath, XI. 2. mative Christian view of the Jewish nation, writing that “So that, at this judicial Desertion of the Jewish Nation for TAB. II so many Ages, has been a just Punishment from God upon Fig. V. We have here a House broken through to one those who wished that the Blood of the Lord of Glory, who of its Corners, by which means part of the Wall on was crucified at their Instance, might be upon them, and both Sides is fallen down. This Breach then could not upon their Children.” However, toward the conclusion of be mistaken for a Door. Eruvin, IX. 3. his preface, Wotton expresses a much more positive view, noting the rationality of the Mishnah, “I have endeavor’d Each volume begins with a brief description of the con- tents of the various chapters. For example, the description 8 Ibid., 24. of the first chapter of Shabbat follows:.