Sir, Your report (Oct 16) about the notebook of a contributor to the King James Bible ignores the existence of earlier good English translations. The phrase “suffer fooles gladly” appeared in print at least as early as the “Geneva” Bible of 1560. This is almost certainly the version from which Shakespeare took his Bible quotations. That these frequently match the King James Version merely underlines the extent to which the King James “translation” was primarily a revision.
The Rev Martin King
Welwyn Garden City, Herts