[T]hree sources ... say that they've read the whole General Prologue and can't find anything remotely similar to the "government of the people ..." quote.
For example, see Wolfgang Mieder, Proverbs are the Best Policy: Folk Wisdom and American Politics, Utah State University Press, 2005: Chapter 2, "Government of the People, by the People, for the People": The making and meaning of an American proverb about democracy: p. 16: "The British journal Notes & Queries included several short paragraphs between 1908 and 1916 on the phrase, starting with the question whether anybody could verify the claim that John Wycliffe included the following declaration in the preface to his Bible translation of 1384: 'This Bible is for the government of the people, by the people, and for the people.'[fn2] This matter came up again in 1916, but once again nobody was able to find the statement in the various editions of the Wycliffe Bible."
FN2, p. 248-249: "Dewitt Miller, 'Abraham Lincoln: Wycliffe Bible,' Notes and Queries, 10th series, 9 (1908), 10. The claim was made by Ward Hill Lamon, The Recollections of Abraham Lincoln (Chicago: McClurg, 1895), p. 176 ... I have checked the entire preface of the Wycliffe Bible, and the statement is nowhere to be found."
See Also Stephen Booth, Precious Nonsense: The Gettysburg Address, Ben Jonson's Epitaphs on His Children, and Twelfth Night, University of California Press, 1998, p. 33: "Lincoln scholars have long hoped to find a specific source for the prepositional triad in government of the people, by the people, for the people; they have not found one [fn 7], but the number of similar locutions they have come up with testifies both to the cause and the justice of their search." FN7: "Mark Womack points out to me that The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations (New York, 1993) gives the following s.v. "Bible": "The Bible is for the Government of the People, by the People, and for the People" and cites its source as the "General Prologue to the Wycliffe Translation of the Bible (1384)." The Columbia Dictionary's confidence about the date and its apparent indifference to the distinction between the early version of the Wycliffite Bible and the later one are surprising. I have not found the quoted sentence in any printed text of any of the Wycliffite prologues."
Finally, see also Hoyt's New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations, Completely Revised and Greatly Enlarged, by Kate Louise Roberts, New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1923. p. 332, "The phrase 'of the people, for the people and by the people' is not original with Lincoln. There is a tradition that the phrase, 'The bible shall be for the government of the people, for the people and by the people,' appears in the preface of the Wyclif bible of 1384, or in the Hereford Bible, or in a pamphlet of the period treating that version. See Notes and Queries, Feb. 12, 1916, p. 127. Albert Mathews, of Boston, examined the reprint of 1850 of the Wyclif bible, and finds no reference to it."
I did find a print version that included the whole text of the General Prologue to the Wycliffe Bible, edited by Josiah Forshall & Frederic Madden, Oxford University Press, 1850 (in 4 volumes). I read the Preface and there is no reference to any such quote. I read the supposedly "controversial" chapters referenced in the Dove book, below, but found nothing similar.
I looked at the sections on Wycliffe in the following books and found nothing referring to the quote:
Benson Bobrick, Wide as the Waters: the Story of the English Bible and the Revolution in Inspired, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001
Margaret Deanesly, The Lollard Bible and other Medieval Biblical Versions, Cambridge University Press, 1920
Mary Dove, The First English Bible: The Text and Context of the Wycliffite Versions, Cambridge University Press, 2007
F.F. Bruce, The English Bible: A History of Translations, London: Lutterworth Press, 1961.
I did see all the info on the internet, including the Wycliffe organization, stating that Wycliffe had made this alleged statement. However, if so, it's odd that none of the books above would mention it. The Preface to the Forshall & Madden 1850 reprint mentions earlier writings of Wycliffe, some of which are quoted, but none of those mentions the alleged phrase, either. One of those writings (a commentary on Luke) includes the phrase: "Crist Jhesu, for thyn endeles power, mercy, and charitie, make thi blessed lawe knowun and kept of thi puple, and make knowun the ypocrisie and tirauntrie and cursidnesse of Antecrist and his meynee, that thi puple be not disseyued by him." But that's a big stretch (and missing 2 prepositions).
Ability and and best Constitution defend do execute faithfully I I of of of of Office preserve President protect solemnly States States swear that the the the the to United United will will.
I I do of of of of to and and the the the the best that will will swear defend Office States States United United Ability execute preserve faithfully solemnly President Constitution
Still in publication, I see. Though it seems contrary to the spirit of the journal that it's not available online. Perhaps that raises the quality of the responses, at the cost of diminishing the odds of finding one's answer.
The real question for me is how would such a tradition of sourcing the quote to Whycliffe even begin?
http://www.rochester.edu/englisc/gemathel.html
... I have to wonder if ol' "Joe Hair Plugs" might be related to any of those folks.
It fits.
Unfortunately, the witnesses you quote don't seem particularly useful since they all seem to refer back to the 1850 printed version of the book, which, while the first printed version, represents one transcription -- and there is no indication what was or was not edited from those or any previous manuscripts.
However, from the 14th century to 1850, there was no single manuscript and no printed version. The "Wycliffe Bible" was the product of multiple people and came in multiple versions, with multiple differences in multiple dialects of Middle English falling into two broad families (early and late).
As I remember, the 1850 printed version compares two translations. The fact that review of this one printed edition merely shows that the version(s) used for printing did not contain the phrase, or that it was simply not included. Editors do funny things. A review of this one source is a good start at answering the question, but is only a start.
John Hobhouse (February 16, 1819: "I am a man chosen for the people, by the people; and, if elected, I will do no other business than that of the people."
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