INDEX.

Alcor, Alfonso Fernandez, Archdeacon of, on the circulation of the ‘Enchiridion’ in Spain, 174 Amerbach, printer at Basle, 302. His sons, id. Ammonius, 223, 256, 270, 283, 284. Death of, 458. Describes More’s family, 256 Aquinas, the ‘Summa’ of, 108-110, 440. On Scripture inspiration, 33, 123. Erasmus and Colet on, 107 et seq. Augustine, Colet prefers Origen and Jerome to, 16, 41. Colet differs from, 36, 82. Luther’s adherence to, 404, 472. Eck charges Erasmus with not having read his works, 435 et seq. The power of his dogmatic theology, 494. Difference between the Augustinian standpoint and that of the Oxford Reformers, 494-497 Baptista, Dr., Erasmus takes his sons to Italy, 186 Battus, tutor to the Marchioness de Vere. Kindness to Erasmus, 164-167 Bembo, secretary to Leo X., 322 Bishops, promotion of, 226-230. Ignorance of some, 227 Boville, at Cambridge, Erasmus writes to, 399 Cain, conversation on sacrifice of, 97 et seq. Erasmus tells a story about, 99 Chalcondyles, 14 Charles, Prince (Charles V.), invites Erasmus to Flanders, 279. Henry VIII. breaks faith with, 308. ‘Institutio Principis Christiani’ written for, 368. Connives at Indulgences, 422. Erasmus loses his faith in, 430. Election to the Empire, 482 Charnock, the Prior, head of the College of St. Mary the Virgin at Oxford, 94. His reception of Erasmus, 96. Dines with Colet, Erasmus, &c., 97. Mention of, 102, 118, 165, 171 Colet, Sir Henry, 14, 113 Colet, John, ordained deacon, 2, n. His father, 14. His family, 15. His mother, 15, n., 251, 397. Graduates at Oxford in Arts, 15. Enters the Church, id. His preferments, id. Visits France and Italy, and what he studies there, id. At Florence (?), 17. Whether influenced by Savonarola, 18, 37, n., 158. Studies Pico and Ficino’s works, 21, 22. Returns to Oxford, 22. Lectures on St. Paul’s Epistles, 1, 32. His mode of interpretation not textarian, 33. Acknowledges human element in Scriptures, 34. Differs from St. Augustine, 36, 82. MS. on the ‘Romans,’ 33-42. Rejects theory of uniform inspiration of Scripture, id. Acquaintance with Thomas More, 24. First hears of Erasmus, 27. Conversation with a priest on St. Paul’s writings, 42. Letter to Abbot of Winchcombe, 45. On the Mosaic account of the Creation—theory of accommodation—letters to Radulphus on, 43-58. Pico’s ‘Heptaplus,’ 59. Abstracts of the Dionysian writings, 60-77. On the object of Christ’s death, 67. On priests, 68. On the sacraments, 70. On sponsors, 71. On self-sacrifice, 74. On the Pope and ecclesiastical scandals, 75. Lectures on I. Corinthians, 78-89. Whether convinced that the Pseudo-Dionysian writings were spurious, 91. His warm reception of Erasmus, 95. His view of Cain and Abel’s sacrifices, 98. Erasmus’s admiration of his earnestness, 98. His position at Oxford, 101. His appreciation of Erasmus, id. Conversation with Erasmus on the Schoolmen, 102-112. Advice to theological students, 106. Discussion with Erasmus on Christ’s agony in the garden, 116-118. His love of truth, 121. On the theory of ‘manifold senses’ of Scripture, 122. On Scripture inspiration, id. Disappointed at Erasmus leaving Oxford, 126. Urges him to expound Moses or Isaiah, 128, 131. Left alone at Oxford, 133. Dean of St. Paul’s, 137, 138. His work in London, habits, preaching, &c., 139-142. More on his preaching, 148. He advises More to marry, 160. Preaches and practises self-sacrifice, 206-207. Succeeds to his father’s property, 206. Resigns living of Stepney, 208. Founds St. Paul’s School, 208-210. Colet’s gentleness and love of children, 211-215. Preface to his Grammar, 213. Advice to his masters, 214. Rejects Linacre’s Grammar, 216. Writes a Grammar, id. On the true method of education, 216-219. Letter to Erasmus, 218. Wants an under-schoolmaster, 220. Sermons liked by the Lollards, 222. Colet’s preaching, 225. Sermon to Convocation of 1512, 230 et seq. Completes his school, 250. Letter to Erasmus, 251. Erasmus in praise of Colet’s preaching and school, 253. Persecuted by Fitzjames, 254. Defended by Warham, id. Returns to his preaching, 255. Preaches against Henry VIII.’s wars, 261. Defended against Fitzjames by the King, 262. Ditto, ditto, again, Good Friday sermon, 264. His troubles about property—quarrel with his uncle, &c., 285. Visits St. Thomas’s shrine with Erasmus, 287 et seq. Letter to Erasmus—harassed by Fitzjames, 305. Sermon on installation of Cardinal Wolsey, 343. Procures release of a prisoner, 393. Letter to Erasmus on ‘Novum Instrumentum,’ &c., 394; ditto on Reuchlin’s speculations, 412. Attacked by sweating sickness, 461. Fixes statutes of his school, 462. His views on marriage, 464. Makes his will and prepares his tomb, 466. Interest in passing events, id. Letter from Marquard von Hatstein, 468. Colet’s retirement from public life, 482. Death of Colet, 503. Character of, 504. Colet’s MS. on Romans, extracts from, App. A; MS. on I. Corinthians, extracts from, App. B. Colet’s preferments, App. D. Colt, Jane, More’s first wife, 160, 180, 193, 256, 498. Dies, 256. Epitaph, 498 Convocation of 1512, 223 et seq. Colet’s sermon to, 230 et seq. Coventry, description of, 414. Mariolatry there, 416 Croke, Richard, at Paris gets first edition of the ‘Praise of Folly’ printed there, 204, n. Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagit, his writings, Colet studies, 16. Translated by Ficino, 21. Abstracts of his ‘Hierarchies’ made by Colet, 60-73. Influence of, on Colet, 41, 58, n., 82, 84, 91, 345. Grocyn rejects as spurious, 91 Dorpius, Martin, attacks Erasmus, 313. Reply of Erasmus, 316. Mention of, by Colet, 395 Eck, Dr., controversy with Erasmus, 434-437. Ditto with Luther, 484 Education, satire on prevalent modes of, 194, 211 et seq. Colet’s views on, 208, 214. Erasmus on the true method of, 217. Schoolmasters looked down upon, 220. In Utopia, universal, 353. Four-tenths of English people cannot read, 353 Eobanus, 480 ‘Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum,’ 407-411 Erasmus at Paris, 28. Comes to Oxford, 94. Character and previous history, 94-96. Object in coming to Oxford, 96. His reception by Charnock and Colet, id. Converses on sacrifices of Cain and Abel, and tells a story about Cain, 99. Admires Colet, 101, 102. Delight with Oxford circle, 102. Conversation with Colet on the Schoolmen, 106-108. Studies Aquinas, 108. Falls in love with Thomas More, 113. Letter to More, 114. Delighted with England, 115. Conversation with Colet on the agony of Christ, 117-120. Theory of ‘manifold senses’ of Scripture, 121-125. Correspondence with Colet on leaving Oxford, 126-133. At Court, 126. Promises to join Colet someday, 133. Leaves Oxford, 133. With More visits the royal nursery, 134. Leaves England for Italy, 135. Robbed at Dover by the Custom House officers, 161. Cannot go to Italy on account of his poverty, 162. His troubles from poverty and ill-health, 163-165. Friendship with Battus and Marchioness de Vere, 164-166. ‘Adagia,’ 163. ‘Enchiridion,’ 165. Remembers his promise to Colet, 167-172. Letter to Colet, his works, poverty, study of Greek, admiration for Origen, 168. His ‘Enchiridion,’ 173. Its popularity, 174. Views expressed in it on free-will Anti-Augustinian, 175. Report of discussion on the ‘agony of Christ,’ 176. His ‘Adagia,’ 177. Preface to Valla’s ‘Annotations,’ 177-179. In England, a second time visits More, 180. Again starts for Italy, 183. Is to instruct the sons of Dr. Baptista, &c., 184. Letter to Colet and Linacre from Paris, 185. Visits Italy, 186-188. Description of German inns, 186. Quarrel with the tutor of his pupils, 187. Disappointed with Italy, 187. Returns to England to More’s home on the accession of Henry VIII., 188. The ‘Praise of Folly,’ 193-204. When first edition published, 204, n. Goes to Cambridge, 205. His views on schools, 210-212. His ‘De Copiâ Verborum,’ 216, 251. ‘On the true method of education,’ 217. Skirmishes with the Scotists, 219. Defends Colet’s school, 251. Epigram on battle of Spurs, 271. At Walsingham, 273. Work at Cambridge, 276. Leaves Cambridge, 279. Invited to the court of Prince Charles, 279. Letter to Abbot of St. Bertin against war, 280. Brush with Cardinal Canossa, 282. Intercourse with Colet, 284 et seq. Letter to Colet, 286. With Colet visits St. Thomas’s shrine, 288 et seq. Goes to Basle, 294. Letter to Servatius, 296 et seq. Accident at Ghent, 300. Reaches Maintz, 301. Strasburg, id. Reaches Basle, incog., 302. At Froben’s office, 234. Writes to England, 305. Returns to England, 306. Letters to Rome, 307. Supports Reuchlin, id. Satire upon kings, 309. Edition of 1,800 of ‘Praise of Folly’ sold, 312. On his way to Basle again, 312. Replies to attack from Dorpius, 316. Reaches Basle, 318. The ‘Novum Instrumentum’ and its prefaces—the ‘Paraclesis,’ &c., 321-335. St. Jerome, 335. ‘Institutio Principis Christiani,’ 365-377. ‘Paraphrases’ and other works, 392. Colet reads the ‘Novum Instrumentum’ and encourages him to go on, 394-397. Reception of the ‘Novum Instrumentum’ in other quarters, 398. By Luther, 402. Erasmus mentioned in ‘Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum,’ 408. Denounces international scandals and Indulgences, 420 and 425-426 and 433. Journey to Basle, 433. Arrival, 434. Attack from the plague, id. Correspondence with Eck, id. His labours at Basle, 438. Letter to Volzius, 438-440. Second edition of ‘New Testament’ and ‘Ratio Veræ Theologiæ,’ 442-454. His health gives way—ill at Louvain, 455. Does not die—letter to Rhenanus, 457. His opinion of Luther and Melanchthon, 477-481. Correspondence on the Hussites of Bohemia, 484 et seq. On ‘The Church’ and Toleration, 488-491. Grieves on the death of Colet, 503-504. His opinion of Colet’s character, id. Early editions of works of, App. E Ferdinand of Spain, 260, 308, 361 Ficino, Marsilio, 9, 11-14, 19, 20, n., 39. His ‘De Religione Christiana,’ 11-12 Fisher, Bishop, Erasmus visits, 399. Erasmus writes to, 412, 431, 503 Fisher, Christopher, More’s host at Paris, 171, 177 Fisher, Robert, 116 Fitzjames, Bishop of London, zeal against heresy, 222-223, 230, 247. Promotions, 228. Mention of, 179. Hatred of Colet and his school, 241, 253. Tries to convict Colet of heresy, 254. Never ceases to harass him, 249, 306, 467 Flodden, Battle of, 272 Florence, Grocyn and Linacre at, 14. See ‘Platonic Academy’ Fox, Bishop of Winchester, 147. Praises the ‘Novum Instrumentum,’ 398 Froben, John, his printing-press and circle of learned men at Basle, 302. Reception of Erasmus, 303, 304, 318, n. Mention of, in ‘Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum,’ 410 Gerson, ends the schism, 6. Persecutes Huss, &c. Giles’, Peter, connection with the ‘Utopia,’ 381-382, 389 Grocyn, at Florence, 14. At Oxford, id. More studies under, 25. Opinion of Erasmus of, 115. Rejects Pseudo-Dionysian writings as spurious, 90, 91. Writes preface to Linacre’s translation of Proclus, 85. In London, 142, 149, 170. Patronises More’s lectures, 143. Goes with Erasmus to Lambeth, 183 Grotius, Hugo, rejects the Machiavellian theory of politics, 369 Hatstein’s, Marquard von, letter to Colet, 468 Henry VII., zeal for reform, and against dissent, 8. Presents Colet to the deanery of St. Paul’s, 138. Avaricious, 144, 161, 189, 190. More offends him by opposing a subsidy, 145, 147 Henry VIII., More and Erasmus visit, when a boy, 134. Accession of, 190. More’s verses on, id. His continental wars, 223. His ambition, 259. His first campaign, 223, 260. Colet preaches against it, but without offending Henry VIII., 261. Ditto, ditto, against second campaign, 262-272. Invades France, 270. Peace with France, 308. Evil results of his wars, 338. Connives at the Pope’s Indulgences, 422. Change in policy, 428. Draws More into his service, 429 Heresy, on the increase, 222, 223. Convocation for extirpation of, 223 et seq. Colet on, 238. Discussion on burning of heretics, 248. Colet accused of, 254 Holbein, Hans, woodcut by, in ‘Utopia,’ 389. Picture of More’s family, 500, and Appendix C Howard, Admiral, 263. Death of, 269 Hussites of Bohemia. Luther discovers that he is one, 485. Their opinions and sects, and Erasmus’s views on the same, 485-491 Hutten, Ulrich, 480, 497 Indulgences, sale of, 419. Erasmus denounces, 420, 426, 441. Luther denounces, 421. Princes bribed to allow of, 422 Isabella of Spain, zeal for reform, 8. Persecutes, id. Jerome, Colet prefers to Augustine, 16, 41. Erasmus also, 435, 437. Follows his opinion on the cause of the agony of Christ, 118. Erasmus opposes it, 120. Colet adheres to it, 120. Erasmus quotes, against inspiration of the Vulgate translation, 317. Erasmus edits works of, 317, 319. Erasmus in praise of, 437 Jonas, Justus, Erasmus writes to, 504 Julius II., satire on, by Erasmus, 202, 203. His ambition, 258. Holy Alliance, 263. Julius de cœlo exclusus, 426, 427 Kings, satire of Erasmus on, 200, 309-311 Latimer, William, on the ‘Novum Instrumentum,’ 398 Lee, Edward, 470, 504 Leo X., a friend of Erasmus, and inclined to peace, 268. His intellectual sensualism, 321. Patronises the ‘Novum Instrumentum,’ 336. His Indulgences, &c., 418 et seq. Censure of Erasmus on, 433 Lilly, William, in companionship with More, 146, 149, 152, 181. His grammar, 148. Master of St. Paul’s School, 215, 250, 466. Had travelled in the East, 150, 250. Had a large family, 464, n. Linacre at Florence, 14. At Oxford, id. Erasmus admires him, 116. Translation of Proclus’ ‘De Spherâ,’ 85. His Latin Grammar, 216. Letter of Erasmus to, 185 Lollards attend Colet’s sermons, 222. Many abjure, id. Some burned, 223 Lorenzo de’ Medici, 9, 11, 14, 17, 18, 20, n., 59 Louis XII. of France, 259. At war with Henry VIII.; loses Tournay, &c., 272. Alliance with England. Dies, 308 Lupset, disciple of Colet’s, 504 Luther reads the ‘Novum Instrumentum,’ 402, 407. His early history and rigid Augustinian standpoint, 404, 472. Erasmus’s opinion of, 478, 479. Finds out he is a Hussite, 484, 485. The Reform of, contrasted with that of the Oxford Reformers, 492, 497 Lystrius, Gerard, 303. Adds notes to the ‘Praise of Folly,’ 312, 313, 420 Machiavelli, his School of Politics. ‘The Prince’ and its maxims, 323, 324, 368, 369 Mahometanism. See Turks Macrobius, quoted by Colet, 57. Mentioned, 10, 58, 59 Martins, Thierry, printer at Antwerp, 167, n. At Louvain, 366, 379, 389, 419, n., 455, 458, 481 Maximilian, 259, 482 Melanchthon, Ode on Erasmus, 401, 402. Erasmus’s appreciation of, 476-478 More, Thomas, his early history, 23. Fascinating character, 25. Comes to Oxford, 25. His father’s strictness, 26. Erasmus meets him in London, 113. Erasmus falls in love with him, 114, 116. Visits royal nursery with Erasmus and Arnold, 134. His legal studies, 27, 142. Oxford friends join him in London, id. Lectures on St. Augustine’s ‘De Civitate Dei,’ 143. Reader at Furnival’s Inn—enters Parliament, 143, 144. Procures the rejection of part of a subsidy, 145. Offends Henry VII., 145, 146. Seeks retirement, id. In lodgings near the Charterhouse, 147. Colet’s influence on him, 148. He studies Pico’s Life and Works, 151-158. Erasmus visits him, 181. His satire upon monks and confession, id. Unrelenting hatred of the King’s avarice and tyranny—his epigrams, 182. Leaves the Charterhouse—marries, 159, 160. His home in Bucklersbury and three daughters, 193. Connection with Henry VIII., 190-192. His practice at the bar, and appointment as undersheriff, id. Erasmus visits him and writes the ‘Praise of Folly’ at his house, 193. More on Colet’s school, 251. Epigrams against French criticisms on the war, 260. Public duties, 256, 338. Writes History of Richard III., id. His first wife dies, id. His practice at the bar—second marriage, 337. Sent on an embassy, 343. Second book of ‘Utopia,’ 346-365. Introductory book to, 378-390. Attempt of Henry VIII. to make him a courtier, 380. Visit to Coventry—strange frenzy there, 414-418. Second embassy, 427. Enters Henry VIII.’s service, 429. At the court of Henry VIII., 458. Letter to the University of Oxford, 459. A monk attempts his conversion—More’s reply, 470-475. His character and domestic life, 497-502. Opinion of character of Colet, 504. Date of More’s birth, note on, Appendix C. Works of, App. F Morton, Cardinal, zeal for reform, and against heretics, 8. More’s connection with, 24, 256, 386 Moses, Colet’s views on; his account of the Creation, 46 et seq. Colet urges Erasmus to lecture on Moses or Isaiah, 128, 131 Mountjoy, Lord, 94, 115, 134, 165, 170, 205, 295, 469, 471 Neo-platonists, 9-13, 39, 41, 61, 77, 158, 159 Origen, the works of, Colet studies, and prefers to those of Augustine, 16. Erasmus studies, 169. His method of allegorical interpretation, 174, 445 Original sin, allusion to, 403, 492 Oxford Reformers of 1498. (See ‘Colet,’ ‘Erasmus,’ and ‘More.’) Difference between their standpoint and that of Luther and all Augustinian Reformers, 492-497. Nature of the Reform urged by, 506. Result of its rejection, 507-509 Parliament of 1503-4. Subsidy opposed by More in, 145. Of 1514, 279. Of 1515, complaints of results of Henry VIII.’s extravagance and the wars, 338. Levy taxes on labourers, 268; and interfere with wages, 340-341. Statute on pasture-farming, 341. Rigid punishment of crimes, id. Eight years without a Parliament, 346 Pico della Mirandola, influenced by Savonarola, 19. Death of, 18-20. His ‘Heptaplus,’ 19, n., 59. More translates his life and works, 152-158. His faith in Christianity, and in the laws of nature, 154. On prayer, 154. On the Scriptures, 155. Study of Eastern languages, 156. His verses, 157. On the love of Christ, 152-157 Platonic Academy, 9, 13, 17, 19 Plotinus, 10, 14, 16, 41 Pole, De la, 133 Politian, 14, 18 Pomponatius, sceptical tendencies of, 323 Popes, satire of Erasmus on, 201, 426. Colet on, 74, 75 Proclus, 10 Pyghards, of Bohemia. See Hussites Radulphus (who?), Colet’s letters to, 41-57 Reuchlin, mention of, 301. Erasmus supports, 307. His ‘Pythagorica,’ &c. Colet’s opinion of, 411, 413 Rhenanus, Beatus, 303, 304, 311, 312, 392, 432, 457 Sacrifice, Colet’s views on, 39, 206. Of Cain and Abel, conversation on, 97 et seq. Sadolet, secretary to Leo X., 321 Sapidus, John, escorts Erasmus to Basle, 302 Savonarola, influence of, 17-22. Do. on Colet (?) id. and 37, n. Whether any connection between his views and Colet’s, id. Indirect connection with the Oxford Reformers through More’s translation of Pico’s life and works, 158, 159 Saxony, Frederic, Elector of, protects Luther, 477-483. His noble conduct on election of Charles V., id. Schlechta’s, Johannes, of Bohemia, correspondence with Erasmus, 485-491 Scriptures, position of study of, at Oxford, 2. Do. plenary inspiration, 29. Interpretation textarian, id. Theory of ‘manifold senses,’ 31, 121-124. Aquinas on do., 30, 122. Tyndale’s account of, 30, 31. Scriptures practically ignored, 14. Colet’s mode of interpretation (see Colet). The theory of accommodation, 52-57. ‘Manifold senses,’ Colet on inspiration, 124. Valla’s ‘Annotations,’ preface of Erasmus, 177. Pico on the Scriptures, 155. Colet translates portions of, 155. Dorpius maintains verbal inspiration of Vulgate version, 315. Eck also, 435. Erasmus rejects it, 317, 331, 436, 443. Advocates translation of, into all languages, 327. Method of study of, 329, 445. Difference between the Oxford and the Wittemberg Reformers on the inspiration of, 492-497 Servatius, prior of Stein monastery, Holland, correspondence with Erasmus, 295, 299 Sherborn, Robert, Bishop of St. David’s, 138 Spalatin, George, writes to Erasmus, 402 St. Andrews, Archbishop of, under Erasmus’s tuition, 184. Killed in battle of Flodden, 272 St. Bertin, Abbot of, 165. Letters of Erasmus to, 280. Erasmus visits, 299 St. Paul’s School, founded by Colet, 209. Salaries of masters, 209. Cost of, to Colet, 210. Completion of, 250. Jealousy against, 251. Statutes of, 463-466 Sweating sickness, 458, 461 Taxation, of clergy, for Henry VIII.’s wars, 247. Amount of a ‘tenth,’ id. n. Of labourers, 340. War taxes, 339. Erasmus on, 374-376. Amount of a ‘fifteenth,’ 145 Tunstal, More on an embassy with, 343. Erasmus writes to, 503 Turks, five times as numerous as Christians, 6, n. Threaten to overwhelm Christianity, 6. Defeat of the Moors in Spain, 7 Tyndale, describes position of Scripture study at Oxford, 3, n. Estimate of number of Mahometans and Christians, 6, n. On the scholastic modes of Scripture interpretation and the theory of ‘manifold senses,’ 31. At Oxford before Colet leaves, 136. Studies Scriptures there, id. Translates the ‘Enchiridion,’ 174 United brethren, of Bohemia. See Hussites Utopia, contents of second book of, 347-365. Introductory book of, 378-390 Valla, Laurentius, Erasmus studies the works of, and writes the preface to his Annotations of, 177 Vere, Marchioness de, aids Erasmus, 164-167 Volzius, abbot of monastery at Schelestadt, Erasmus’s letter to, 439 Walsingham, pilgrimage to, 269-272. Erasmus visits, 273-275 Warham, Erasmus visits, 184, 205. Gives Erasmus a pension, 205. Defends Erasmus against Fitzjames, 254 Wars, Colet’s sermons against Henry VIII.’s, 261, 264, 468. Erasmus against, 203, 280, 311. More’s ‘Utopian’ opinions on, 351 Winchcombe, Kidderminster, Abbot of, Colet’s letter to, 45 Wolsey, begins continental wars, 223. His rapid promotion, 229. Archbishop of York, 306. Installed Cardinal, 343. Lord Chancellor, 346 Ximenes, zeal for reform, and against dissent, 7 Zisca, John, 486

Footnotes

[1] Mr. Lupton’s volume (Bell and Daldy, 1869) has a double interest. Apart from the interest it derives from its connection with Colet, it is also interesting as placing, I believe, for the first time, before the English reader, a full abstract of two of the Pseudo-Dionysian writings, to which attention has recently been called by Mr. Westcott’s valuable article in the Contemporary Review.

[2] To avoid any charge of plagiarism I may also state, that a portion of the materials comprised in this volume has been made use of in articles contributed by me to the North British Review, in the years 1859 and 1860.

[3] Where not otherwise stated, all references to these letters and to the collected works of Erasmus (Eras. Op.), refer to the Leyden edition.

[4] See note on the date of More’s birth in Appendix C.

[5] Of the First Edition. This has since been published by Mr. Lupton.

[6] In a letter written in the winter of 1499-1500, Colet is spoken of as ‘Jam triennium enarranti,’ &c. See Erasmus to Colet, prefixed to Disputatio de Tædio et Pavore Christi, Eras. Op. v. p. 1264, A. Colet was in Paris, apparently on his way home from his continental tour, soon after the publication of the work of the French historian Gaguinus, De Orig. et Gest. Francorum. (See Eras. Epist. xi.) The first edition, according to Panzer and Brunet, of this work, was that of Paris. Prid. Kal. Oct. 1495. Colet may thus have returned home in the spring of 1496, and proceeded to Oxford after the long vacation. Erasmus states, ‘Reversus ex Italia, mox relictis parentum ædibus, Oxoniæ maluit agere. Illic publice et gratis Paulinas Epistolas omnes enarravit.’—Op. iii. p. 456, B.

[7] He was ordained deacon December 17, 1497. Knight’s Life of Colet, p. 22 (Lond. 1724), on the authority, doubtless, of Kennett, who refers to Reg. Savage, Lond.

[8] Erasmus Jodoco Jonæ: Eras. Op. iii. p. 456, C. ‘In theologica professione nullum omnino gradum nec assequutus erat, nec ambierat.’

[9] ‘The degree of Master in Arts conferred also, and this was practically its chief value, the right of lecturing, and therefore of receiving money for lectures, at Oxford.’—Monumenta Academica; Rev. II. Anstey’s Introduction, p. lxxxix.

[10] One of the statutes decreed as follows:—‘Item statutum est, quod non liceat alicui præterquam Bachilaris Theologiæ, legere bibliam biblice.’—Ibid. p. 394. That the word ‘legere,’ in these statutes, means practically to ‘lecture,’ see Mr. Anstey’s Introduction, p. lxxxix.

[11] It is possible also that Colet’s mode of lecturing did not come within the meaning of the technical phrase, ‘legere bibliam biblice,’ which is said to have meant ‘reading chapter by chapter, with the accustomed glosses, and such explanations as the reader could add.’—Observations on the Statutes of the University of Cambridge: by George Peacock, D.D., Dean of Ely. Lond. 1841, p. xlvi. n. See also Mr. Anstey’s Introduction, p. lxxi, on the doubtful meaning of ‘legere cursorie.’

[12] See the remarkable letter of Bishop Grosseteste to the ‘Regents in Theology’ at Oxford—date 1240 or 1246—Roberti Grosseteste Epistolæ, pp. 346-7, of which the following is Mr. Luard’s summary:—‘Skilful builders are always careful that foundation stones should be really capable of supporting the building. The best time is the morning. Their lectures, therefore, especially in the morning, should be from the Old and New Testaments, in accordance with their ancient custom and the example of Paris. Other lectures are more suitable at other times.’—P. cxxix.

[13] It would not be likely that statutes, framed in some points specially to guard against Lollard views, and probably early in the fifteenth century, should ignore the Scriptures altogether. Thus, before inception in theology, by Masters in Theology (see Mr. Anstey’s Introduction, p. xciv), three years’ attendance on biblical lectures was required, and the inceptor must have lectured on some canonical book of the Bible (Monumenta Academica, p. 391), according to the statutes. They also contained the following provision:—‘Ne autem lecturæ variæ confundantur, et ut expeditius in lectura bibliæ procedatur, statutum est, ut bibliam biblice seu cursorie legentes quæstiones non dicant nisi tantummodo literales.’—Ibid. p. 392. The regular course of theological training at Oxford may be further illustrated by the following passage from Tindale’s ‘Practice of Prelates.’ Tindale, when a youth, was at Oxford during a portion of the time that Colet was lecturing on St. Paul’s Epistles.

‘In the universities they have ordained that no man shall look on the Scripture until he be noselled in heathen learning eight or nine years, and armed with false principles with which he is clean shut out of the understanding of the Scripture.... And when he taketh his first degree, he is sworn that he shall hold none opinion condemned by the Church.... And then when they be admitted to study divinity, because the Scripture is locked up with such false expositions and with false principles of natural philosophy that they cannot enter in, they go about the outside and dispute all their lives about words and vain opinions, pertaining as much unto the healing of a man’s heel as health of his soul. Provided yet ... that none may preach except he be admitted of the Bishops.’—Practice of Prelates, p. 291. Parker Society.

What the biblical lectures were it is difficult to understand, for Erasmus wrote (Eras. Epist. cxlviii.): ‘Compertum est hactenus quosdam fuisse theologos, qui adeo nunquam legerant divinas literas, ut nec ipsos Sententiarum libros evolverent, neque quicquam omnino attingerent præter quæstionum gryphos.’—P. 130, C.

[14] Ellis’s Letters, 2nd series, vol. ii. pp. 61, 62. Letter of Richard Layton and his Associates to Lord Cromwell, upon his Visitation of the University of Oxford, Sept. 12, 1535.

[15] ‘Provinciam sumsisti ... (ne quid mentiar) et negotii et invidiæ plenam.’—Eras. Coleto: Eras. Op. v. p. 1264, A.

[16] ‘The Turks being in number five times more than we Christians.’ And again, ‘Which multitude is not the fifth part so many as they that consent to the law of Mahomet.’—Works of Tyndale and Frith, ii. pp. 55 and 74.

[17] See British Museum Library, under the head ‘Garcilaso,’ No. 1445, g 23, being the draft of private instructions from Ferdinand and Isabella to the special English Ambassador, and headed, ‘Year 1498. The King and Queen concerning the correction of Alexander VI.’ The original Spanish MS. was in the hands of the late B. B. Wiffen, Esq., of Mount Pleasant, near Woburn, and an English translation of this important document was reprinted by him in the Life of Valdes, prefixed to a translation of his CX Considerations. Lond. Quaritch, 1865, p. 24.

[18] Chap. v.

[19] Chap. vi.

[20] Chap. vii.

[21] Chap. viii.

[22] Chap. ix.

[23] Chap. x.

[24] Chap. xix.

[25] Chap. xx.

[26] Chap. xxii.

[27] Chap. xxiii.

[28] Chaps. xxiv. and xxv.

[29] Chaps. xxvi.-xxxiv.

[30] Chap. xxxvi.

[31] Chap. xxxvii.

[32] Villari, in his ‘Life and Times of Savonarola,’ book i. chap. iv., does not seem to me to give, by any means, a fair abstract of the ‘De Religione Christianâ,’ though his chapter on Ficino is valuable in other respects. I have used the edition of Paris, 1510.

[33] ‘Chartism,’ chap. x. ‘Impossible.’

[34] Pauli Jovii Elogia Doctorum Virorum: Basileæ, 1556, p. 145. The period of the stay of Grocyn and Linacre in Italy was probably between 1485 and 1491. They therefore probably returned to England before the notorious Alexander VI. succeeded, in 1492, to Innocent VIII. See Johnson’s Life of Linacre, pp. 103-150. And Wood’s Athen. Oxon. vol. i. p. 30. Also Hist. et Antiq. Univ. Oxon. ii. 134.

[35] Eras. Op. iii. p. 455, F.

[36] Erasmus Jodoco Jonæ: Op. iii. p. 455, F. Also Sir Henry Colet’s Epitaph, quoted in Knight’s Life of Colet, p. 7.

[37] ‘Et libros Ciceronis avidissime devorarat et Platonis Plotinique libros non oscitanter excusserat.’—Eras. Op. iii. p. 456, A.

[38] Eras. Op. iii. p. 455, F. ‘Mater, quæ adhuc superest [in 1520], insigni probitate mulier, marito suo undecim filios peperit, ac totidem filias ..., sed ex omnibus ille [Colet] superfuit solus, cum illum nosse cœpissem’ [in 1498].

[39] See list of Colet’s preferments in the Appendix.

[40] ‘Adiit Galliam, mox Italiam.’—Eras. Op. iii. p. 456, A.

[41] Eras. Op. iii. p. 459, A.

[42] Ibid. p. 456, B. The words of Erasmus are the following:—‘Ibi se totum evolvendis sacris auctoribus dedit, sed prius per omnium literarum genera magno studio peregrinatus, priscis illis potissimum delectabatur Dionysio, Origene, Cypriano, Ambrosio, Hieronymo. Atque inter veteres nulli erat iniquior quam Augustino. Neque tamen non legit Scotum, ac Thomam aliosque hujus farinæ, si quando locus postulabat. In utriusque juris libris erat non indiligenter versatus. Denique nullus erat liber historiam aut constitutiones continens majorum, quem ille non evolverat. Habet gens Britannica qui hoc præstiterunt apud suos, quod Dantes ac Petrarcha apud Italos. Et horum evolvendis scriptis linguam expolivit, jam tum se præparans ad præconium sermones Evangelici.’

[43] Savonarola’s first sermon in the Duomo at Florence was preached in 1491.—Villari, i. p. 122.

[44] See Villari, i. 232. Anno 1494.

[45] Lorenzo de’ Medici died in 1492; Pico and Politian in 1494. Colet left England early in 1494 probably, but as he visited France on his way to Italy, the exact time of his reaching Italy cannot be determined.

[46] The influence of Savonarola on the religious history of Pico was very remarkable.

In a sermon preached after Pico’s death, Savonarola said of Pico, ‘He was wont to be conversant with me, and to break with me the secrets of his heart, in which I perceived that he was by privy inspiration called of God unto religion:’ i.e. to become a monk. And he goes on to say that, for two years, he had threatened him with Divine judgment ‘if he fore-sloathed that purpose which our Lord had put in his mind.’—More’s English Works, p. 9.

Pico died in November, 1494. The intimacy of which Savonarola speaks dated back therefore to 1492 or earlier.

According to the statement of his nephew, J. F. Pico, the change in Pico’s life was the result of the disappointment and the troubles consequent upon his ‘vainglorious disputations’ at Rome in 1486 (when Pico was twenty-three). By this he was ‘wakened,’ so that he ‘drew back his mind flowing in riot, and turned it to Christ!’ Pico waited a whole year in Rome after giving his challenge, and the disappointment and troubles were not of short duration. They may be said to have commenced perhaps after the year of waiting, i.e. in 1487, when he left Rome. He was present at the disputations at Reggio in 1487, and this does not look as though as yet he had altogether lost his love of fame and distinction. There he met Savonarola; and there that intimacy commenced which resulted in Savonarola’s return, at the suggestion of Pico, to Florence. (J. F. Pico’s Vita Savonarolæ, chap. vi.; Harford’s Life of Michael Angelo, i. p. 128; and Villari, i. pp. 82, 83.) In 1490, as the result of his first studies of Holy Scripture, according to J. F. Pico (being twenty-eight), he published his Heptaplus, which is full of his cabalistic and mystic lore, and betokens a mind still entangled in intellectual speculations rather than imbued with practical piety. He had, however, already burnt his early love songs, &c.; and it is evident the change had for some time been going on.

About the time when Savonarola commenced preaching in Florence, in 1491 (three years before his death, according to J. F. Pico), Pico disposed of his patrimony and dominions to his nephew, and distributed a large part of the produce amongst the poor, consulting Savonarola about its disposal (J. F. Pico’s Life of Savonarola, chap. xi. ‘De mira Hieronymi lenitate et amore paupertatis’), and appointing as his almoner Girolamo Benivieni, a devout and avowed believer in Savonarola’s prophetic gifts. This was doubtless the time when Pico was wont to break to Savonarola ‘the secrets of his heart;’ the time also to which J. F. Pico alludes when he speaks of him as ‘talking of the love of Christ;’ and adding, ‘the substance I have left, after certain books of mine finished, I intend to give out to poor folk, and fencing myself with the crucifix, barefoot, walking about the world, in every town and castle, I purpose to preach of Christ.’—Vide infra, p. 153. In 1492, a few weeks after Lorenzo’s death, he wrote three beautiful letters to his nephew (Pici Op. pp. 231-236. Vide infra, pp. 153-156)—letters as glowing with earnest Christian piety as the Heptaplus was overflowing with cabalistic subtleties. His religion now, at all events, had the true ring about it. It belonged to his heart, not his head only. Then follow the remaining two years of his life when Savonarola exerted his influence (but without success) to induce him to enter a religious order. On Sept. 21, 1494, he was present at Savonarola’s famous sermon, in which he predicted the calamities which were coming upon Italy and the approach of the French army, listening to which Pico himself said that he ‘was filled with horror, and that his hair stood on end’ (narrated by Savonarola in his Compendium Revelationum); and lastly in November, as Charles entered Florence, Pico was peacefully dying. He was buried in the robes of Savonarola’s order and within the precincts of Savonarola’s church of St. Mark. In the light of Savonarola’s sermon, and the facts above stated, it can hardly be doubted that whilst, in one sense, brought about by the disappointment of his worldly ambitions, the change of life in Pico was at least, in measure, the result of his contact with the great Florentine reformer.

With regard to the history of Savonarola’s influence on Ficino’s religious character, the facts are not so easily traced. In early years he is said to have been more of a Pagan than a Christian. Before writing his De Religione Christianâ, he seems to have become fully persuaded of the truth of Christianity. The book itself shows this. And there is a letter of his (Ficini Op. i. p. 640, Basle ed.), written while he was composing it, during an illness, in which he says that the words of Christ give him more comfort than philosophy, and his vows paid to the Virgin more bodily good than medicine. He also says that his father, a doctor, was once warned in a dream, while sleeping under an oak tree, to go to a patient who was praying to the Virgin for aid.

But the religion of a man resting on dreams, and visions, and vows made to the Virgin, was not necessarily of a very deep and practical character. Superstition and philosophy were easily united without the heart taking fire. Schelhorn (in his Amœnitates Literariæ, i. p. 73) quotes from Wharton’s appendix to Cave, the following statement, ‘Rei philosophicæ nimium deditus, religionis et pietatis curam posthabuisse dicitur, donec Savonarolæ Florentiam advenientis eloquentiam admiratus, concionibus ejus audiendis animum adjecit, dumque flosculis Rhetorices inhiavit, pietatis igniculos recepit: reliquamque dein vitam religionis officiis impendit.’ Wharton does not give his authority. Fleury (vol. xxiv. p. 363) makes a similar statement; also Brucker (Historia critica Philosophiæ, iv. p. 52); also Du Pin; also Harford in his Life of Michael Angelo (i. p. 72) on the authority of Spondanus, who himself gives no contemporary authority. See also Mr. Lupton’s Introduction to Colet’s Celestial and Ecclesiastical Hierarchies of Dionysius, where the subject is discussed. I am informed, through the kindness of Count P. Guicciardini, of Florence, that in Ficino’s Apologia, which exists in the MSS. Stroziani of Libr. Magliabecchiana, class viii. cod. 315, he says of himself that ‘for five years he was one of the many who were deceived by the Hypocrite of Ferrara,’ whom he calls ‘Antichrist.’ The truth therefore seems to be that he was profoundly influenced by Savonarola’s enthusiasm, but only for a time.

[47] Ficino’s editions of his translations of the Dionysian treatises on the ‘Divine Names’ and the ‘Mystic Theology’ seem to have been published at Florence in 1492 and 1496.—Fabricii Bibliotheca Græca, vii. pp. 10, 11.

[48] Herzog’s Encyclopædia, article on ‘Marsilius Ficinus.’

[49] Mr. Harford, in his Life of Michael Angelo, vol. i. p. 57, mentions Colet, among others, as studying at Florence, and cites ‘Tiraboschi, vi. pt. 2, p. 382, edit. Roma, 4to. 1784.’ But I cannot find any mention of Colet in Tiraboschi, after careful search.

In opposition to the likelihood of his having been at Florence it may be asked, why Colet never alludes to it in his letters or elsewhere? In reply, it may be said that we have nothing of Colet’s own writing relating to his early life. All we know of it is derived from Erasmus, and the only allusion by Colet to his Italian journey which Erasmus has preserved is the passing remark that he (Colet) had there become acquainted with certain monks of true wisdom and piety.—Eras. Op. iii. 459, A. ‘Narrans sese apud Italos comperisse quosdam monachos vere prudentes ac pios.’ Whether Savonarola’s monks were amongst these is a matter of mere speculation.

[50] See marginal note on his ‘Romans,’ in the Cambridge University Library, MS. Gg. 4, 26, leaf 3a, in which he refers to him—‘Hec Mirandula,’ and cites a passage from Pico’s Apologia, Basle edition of Pici Opera, p. 117. There is also a long and almost literal extract from Pico in the MS. on the ‘Ecclesiastical Hierarchy,’ in the St. Paul’s School Library. See Mr. Lupton’s translation, p. 161.

[51] See an extract from Ficino in Colet’s MS. on ‘Romans,’ leaf 13b. Another is pointed out by Mr. Lupton, p. 36, n.

[52] ‘Quem ego sermonem ab eo memini, qui colloquentes audiverat, jam tum patri meo renunciatum, cum adhuc nulla proditionis ejus suspicio haberetur.’—Thomæ Mori ‘Latina Opera,’ Lovanii, 1566, fol. 46. As to the authorship of the history of Richard III. see Mr. Gairdner’s preface to Letters of Richard III. and Henry VII. vol. ii. p. xxi. As More was born in February, 1478, there is no difficulty in accepting the authenticity of this incident, which, when 1480 was assumed as the date of More’s birth, seemed quite impossible, as More would only have been three years old when it occurred, and could not have remembered the conversation.

[53] Roper, Singer’s ed. p. 3. Morton was not made a cardinal till 1493.

[54] Roper, p. 4.

[55] Ibid.

[56] Colet probably left Oxford for the Continent about 1494. The most probable date of More’s stay at Oxford was 1492 and 1493. This leaves 1494 and 1495 for his studies at New Inn, previous to his entry at Lincoln’s Inn, in February, 1496.

[57] Eras. Op. iii. p. 477, A. Speaking of More, Erasmus writes: ‘Joannes Coletus, vir acris exactique judicii, in familiaribus colloquiis subinde dicere solet, Britanniæ non nisi unicum esse ingenium.’

[58] Stapleton’s Tres Thomæ, Colon. 1612 ed. chap. i. pp. 155-6. ‘Hanc ob causam sic ei necessaria subministravit ut ne quidem teruncium in sua potestate eum habere permitteret, præter id quod ipsa necessitas postulabat. Quod adeò strictè observavit, ut nec ad reficiendos attritos calceos, nisi à patre peteret, pecuniam haberet.’ See also Eras. Op. iii. p. 475, A, respecting his father’s motive.

[59] Stapleton’s Tres Thomæ, Colon. 1612, p. 156.

[60] ‘Juvenis ad Græcas literas ac philosophiæ studium sese applicuit adeo non opitulante patre ... ut ea conantem omni subsidio destitueret ac pene pro abdicato haberet, quod a patriis studiis desciscere videretur, nam is Britannicarum legum peritiam profitetur.’—Eras. Op. iii. p. 475, A.

[61] ‘Sic voluit pater qui eum ad Græcarum literarum et philosophiæ studium omni subsidio destituit, ut ad istud (i.e. English Law) induceret.’—Stapleton’s Tres Thomæ, p. 168.

[62] XII. February,—11 Henry VII. Foss’s Judges of England, v. p. 207.

[63] Vide supra, p. 1, n.

[64] Eras. Op. iii. p. 456, B. ‘Nullus erat liber, historiam aut constitutiones continens majorum, quod non evolverat.’

[65] Eras. Epist. App. ccccxxxvii.

[66] Eras. Epist. xi.

[67] ‘Ut tribuatur lapsui memoriæ in evangelista gravatim audio. Qui si spiritu sancto inspiratus scripsit, memoria falli non potuit, nisi et ille etiam falli potuerit, quo ductore scripsit. Dicit mihi Ezechiel: Quocunque ibat spiritus, illuc pariter et rotæ elevabantur sequentes eum.’—Annotationes Ed. Leei in annotationes Novi Testamenti Desiderii Erasmi. Basil. 1520, pp. 25, 26. Lee studied at Oxford during a portion of the time of Colet’s residence there. Knight states that he was sent to St. Mary Magd. College (the college where Colet is supposed to have taken his degree of M.A.) in 1499.—Knight’s Erasmus, p. 286.

[68] ‘Quod dicis (non est nostrum definire, quomodo spiritus ille suum temperârit organum) verum quidem est, sed spiritus ipse in Ezechiele definivit: Rotæ non elevabantur nisi sequentes spiritum.’—Annotationes Edvardi Leei, p. 26.

[69] Aquinas, Summa, pt. 1, quest. i. article x.

[70] Tyndale’s Obedience of a Christian Man, chap. ‘On the Four Senses of the Scriptures.’

[71] Preface to the Five Books of Moses.

[72] Tyndale’s Obedience of a Christian Man, chap. ‘On the Four Senses of Scripture.’ That Tyndale was at Oxford during Colet’s stay there (i.e. before 1506), see the evidence given by his biographers. It appears that he was born about 1484. Fox says ‘he was brought up from a child in the University of Oxford,’ and there is no reason to suppose that he removed to Cambridge before 1509. See Tyndale’s Doctrinal Treatises, xiv. xv. and authorities there cited.

[73] Sir Thomas More in a letter to the University of Oxford (Jortin’s Erasmus, ii. App. p. 664, 4to ed.) complains of a Scotist preacher because ‘neque integrum ullum Scripturæ caput tractavit, quæ res in usu fuit veteribus [this was the old method revived by Colet]; neque dictum aliquod brevius e Sacris literis, qui mos apud nuperos inolevit [the scholastic method]; sed thematum loco delegit Britannica quædam anilia proverbia.’ [The practical result of the textarian method when pushed to its ultimate results.]

[74] Eras. Jodoco Jonæ: Eras. Op. iii. p. 456, C. ‘Nullus erat illic doctor vel theologiæ vel juris, nullus abbas, aut alioqui dignitate præditus, quin illum audiret, etiam allatis codicibus.’

[75] Eras. Coleto: Eras. Op. iii. p. 40, F. Epist. xli.

[76] ‘Tamen certe multum ac diu rogatus a quibusdam amicis, et eisdem interpretantibus nobis Paulum fidis auditoribus, quibuscum pro amicicia quod in superiorem epistolæ partem scriptum est a nobis communicavi, adductus fui tandem ut promitterem, quod est ceptum modo me perrecturum, et in reliquam epistolam quod reliquum est enarrationis adhibiturum.’—Cambridge University Library MS. Gg. 4, 26, fol. 27b.

[77] A copy of Colet’s exposition of ‘Romans,’ with corrections apparently in Colet’s handwriting, is in the Cambridge University Library; MS. Gg. 4, 26. A fair copy, apparently by Peter Meghen, is in the Library of Corpus Christi College Cambridge, MS. No. 355.

Amongst the ‘Gale MSS.’ in Trinity Library, Cambridge, is a MS. (O. 4, 44) said to be Colet’s, containing short notes or abstracts of the Apostolic Epistles. Through the kindness of Mr. Wright I had a copy taken of this MS., but on close comparison of passages with the Annotationes of Erasmus, I was obliged to conclude that the writer had before him an edition of the latter not earlier than that of 1522. This MS. cannot, therefore, have been written by Colet. Possibly it may have been written by Lupset, Colet’s disciple. The copy in the Trinity Library is in a later hand.

[78] This appears to have been the character also of the Expositions of Marsilio Ficino. See Fragment on ‘Romans.’—Ficini Opera, ed. 1696, pp. 426-472.

[79] The names of Origen, Jerome, Chrysostom, and Augustine are mentioned, but incidentally, and without any quotations of any length being given from them.

[80] ‘—est ex vehementia loquendi imperfecta et suspensa sententia.’—MSS. Gg. 4, 26, fol. 23, in loco. Rom. ix. 22.

[81] ‘Ita Paulus mira prudentia et arte temperat orationem suam in hac epistola, et eam quasi librat tam pari lance, et Judeos et Gentes simul, etc.’—Ibid. fol. 26.

[82] MSS. Gg. 4, 26, fols. 59b, 61a.

[83] Ibid. fol. 60. ‘Sed ille homo magno animo, fide, et amore Christi, fuit paratus non solum ligari,’ &c.

[84] Ibid. fols. 42-45 (in loco, Rom. xiii.). In these pages Colet compares with great care the information to be collected from passages in the Epistle to the Romans and in the Acts of the Apostles with what is recorded by Suetonius, and admires St. Paul’s ‘sapientissima admonitio opportune sane adhibita.’—Ibid. fols. 42b and 43a. Again, at fol. 44a, Colet says, ‘Hæc autem refero ut magna Pauli consideratio et prudentia animadvertatur; qui cum non ignoravit Claudium Cesarem tenuisse rempublicam, qui fuit homo vario ingenio et improbis moribus, &c.’...

[85] In his exposition of Romans (chap. iv.) he says:—‘Sed caute circumspicienda sunt omnia Pauli, antequam de ejus mente aliqua feratur sentencia. Nunquam enim censuisset revocandum ad ecclesiam fornicatorem illum, quem tradidit Sathanæ in prima Epistola ad Corinthios, si peccatoribus post baptismum nullum penitendi locum reliquisset.’—Ibid. fol. 6b.

[86] It would be difficult in short quotations to give a correct impression of the doctrinal standpoint assumed by Colet in his exposition of the Epistle to the Romans. But it may be interesting to enquire, whether any connection can be traced between his views and those of Savonarola, on this point.

Now Villari states that a ‘fundamental point’ in Savonarola’s doctrine was his ‘conception of love, which he sometimes says is the same as grace,’ and that it was through this conception of love that Savonarola, ‘to a certain extent,’ explained the ‘mystery of human liberty and Divine omnipotence.’—Villari’s Savonarola and his Times, bk. i. c. vii. p. 110.

Whether there be any real connection between Savonarola’s teaching and the following passages from Colet’s exposition, I leave the reader to judge.

‘Wherefore St. Paul concludes, men are justified by faith, and trusting in God alone by Jesus Christ, are reconciled to God and restored into grace; so that with God they stand, and remain themselves sons of God.... If He loved us when alienated from Him, how much more will He love us when we are reconciled; and preserve those whom He loves. Wherefore we ought to be firm and stable in our hope and joy, and, nothing doubting, trust in God through Jesus Christ, by whom alone men are reconciled to God.’—MS. fol. 5. After speaking of that grace which where sin had abounded did much more abound unto eternal life, Colet proceeds:—‘But here it is to be noted that this grace is nothing else than the love of God towards men—towards those, i.e. whom He wills to love, and, in loving, to inspire with His Holy Spirit; which itself is love and the love of God; which (as the Saviour said, according to St. John’s Gospel) blows where it lists. But, loved and inspired by God, they are also called; so that accepting this love, they may love in return their loving God, and long for and wait for the same love. This waiting and hope springs from love. This love truly is ours because He loves us: not (as St. John writes in his 2nd Epistle) as though we had first loved God, but because He first loved us, even when we were worthy of no love at all; but indeed impious and wicked, destined by right to eternal death. But some, i.e. those whom He knew and chose, He also loved, and in loving called them, and in calling them justified them, and in justifying them glorified them. This gracious love and charity in God towards men is in itself the calling and justification and glorification.... And when we speak of men as drawn, called, justified, and glorified by grace, we mean nothing else than that men love in return God who loves them.’—MS. Gg. 4, 26, fol. 6.

Again: ‘Thus you see that things are brought about by a providing and directing God, and that they happen as He wills in the affairs of men, not from any force from without (illata)—since nothing is more remote from force than the Divine action—but by the natural desire and will of man, the Divine will and providence secretly and silently, and, as it were, naturally accompanying (comitante) it, and going along with it so wonderfully, that whatever you do and choose was known by God, and what God knew and decreed to be, of necessity comes to pass.’—MS. fol. 18.

The following passage is from Colet’s exposition of the Epistle to the Corinthians (MS. 4, 26, p. 80). ‘The mind of man consists of intellect and will. By the intellect we know: by the will we have power to act (possumus). From the knowledge of the intellect comes faith: from the power of the will charity. But Christ, the power of God, is also the wisdom of God. Our minds are illuminated to faith by Christ, “who illumines every man coming into this world, and He gives power to become the sons of God to those who believe in His name.” By Christ also our wills are kindled in charity to love God and our neighbour; in which is the fulfilment of the law. From God alone therefore, through Christ, we have both knowledge and power; for by Him we are in Christ. Men, however, have in themselves a blind intellect, and a depraved will, and walk in darkness, not knowing what they do.... Those who by the warm rays of his divinity are so drawn that they keep close in communion with Him, are indeed they whom Paul speaks of as called and elected to His glory,’ &c.

For the Latin of these extracts see Appendix (A).

In further proof that Colet’s views (like Savonarola’s) were not Augustinian upon the question of the ‘freedom of the will,’ may be cited the following words of Colet (see infra, chap, iv.): ‘But in especial is it necessary for thee to know that God of his great grace hath made thee his image, having regard to thy memory, understanding, and free-will.’ Probably both Colet and Savonarola, in common with other mystic theologians, had imbibed their views directly or indirectly from the works of the Pseudo-Dionysius and the Neo-Platonists.

[87] ‘Ex quodam nostro studio et pietate in homines ... non tam verentes legentium fastidium, quam cupientes confirmacionem infirmorum et vacillantium.’—Fol. 22b.

[88] MS. Gg. 4, 26, fols. 13b to 15a.

[89] Ibid. fol. 3b.

[90] Ibid. fols. 28b and 29.

[91] Ibid. fol. 29.

[92] MS. Gg. 4, 26, fol. 30b.

[93] Ibid. fol. 59b. ‘Elicienda est dulci doctrina prompta voluntas non acerba exaccione extorquenda pecunia nomine decimarum et oblacionum.’

[94] Ibid. fol. 60a.

[95] See particularly fol. 27 and 61b.

[96] MS. Gg. 4, 26, fol. 3a.

[97] Ibid. fol. 7b.

[98] Ibid. fol. 15b. Ioannes Baptista Mantuanus, general of the Carmelites, an admirer of Pico.—See Pici Opera, p. 262.

[99] ‘Ibi se totum evolvendis sacris auctoribus dedit.’—Eras. Op. iii. p. 456 B.

[100] ‘... conatique sumus quoad potuimus divina gratia adjuti veros illius sensus exprimere. Quod quam fecimus haud scimus sane, voluntatem tamen habuimus maximam faciendi.’—ffinis argumenti in Epistolam Pauli ad Romanos. Oxonie.

[101] Cambridge University Library, MSS. Gg. 4, 26, p. 62, et seq., and printed in Knight’s Life of Colet, App. p. 311.

[102] In the volume of manuscripts marked 355.

[103] ‘In quibus mihi videtur tanta caligo ut totus ille sermo contentus in ipsis tribus capitulis appareat esse ille abyssus super cujus faciem dicit Moises tenebras fuisse.’

[104] ‘Non me latet plures esse sensus, sed unum persequar cursim.’

[105] ‘... universa simul creasse sua eternitate.’

[106] ‘In principio (i.e. eternitate) creavit Deus cœlum (formam) et terram (materiam).’

[107] ‘... inanis et vacua.’

[108] ‘Terra (materia) erat inanis et vacua (hoc est sine solida et substantiali entitate) et tenebræ, &c. (i.e. tenebrosa fuit materia, &c.).’

[109] ‘Vide quam bellè pergit ordine, significans summariam creacionem copulationemque formæ cum materia.’

[110] ‘... forma et terminacio rerum.’

[111] ‘Quæ sequuntur in Moyse est repetitio et latior explicacio superiorum, ac speciatim distinctio earum rerum quas primum generatim complexus est. Tu aliud si sentis fac nos te queso participes. Vale.’

[112] ... ‘Particulatim res aggreditur, et mundi digestionem ante oculos ponit, quod sic facit meo judicio, ut sensus vulgi et rudis multitudinis quam docuit racionem habuisse videatur.’

[113] See quotation from Chrysostom to a similar effect: Summa, prima pars, lxvii. art. iv. conclusio. After speaking of the views of Augustine and Basil, Aquinas says:—

‘Chrysostomus (Homil. 2 in Gen. circa medium illius tom. i.) autem assignat aliam rationem quia Moyses loquebatur rudi populo qui nihil nisi corporalia poterat capere, quem etiam ab idololatria revocare volebat,’ &c.

[114] ‘... Et hoc more poetæ alicujus popularis, quo magis consulat spiritui simplicis rusticitatis, fingens successionem rerum operum et temporum cujusmodi apud tantum Opificem certè nulla esse potest.’

[115] ‘Crassiter et pingue docenda fuit stulta illa et macra multitudo.’

[116] ‘(1) Moysen digna Deo loqui voluisse. (2) In rebus vulgo cognitis vulgo satisfacere. (3) Ordinem rerum servare. In primis populum ad religionem et cultum unius Dei traducere.’

[117] ‘Partim quia sex numero facile in rebus homini in mentem venire possunt.’

[118] ‘Maxime ... ut imitacio divina (quem, more poetæ, finxit sex dies operatum esse, septimo quievisse) populum septimo quoque die ad quietem et contemplacionem Dei et cultum adduceret.’

[119] ‘Nunquam dierum numerum statuisset, nisi ut illo utilissimo et sapientissimo figmento, quasi quodam proposito exemplari populum ad imitandum provocaret, ut sexto quoque die diurnis actibus fine imposito, septimo in summa Dei contemplatione persisterent.’

[120] ‘Salve Radulphe, ac cum salute puto te rediisse quod tibi opto. Quatuor ut arbitror dies transiisti: ego interea vix unum Moysaicum diem transii. Immo tu elaborâsti in die sub sole; ego hoc tempore in nocte et tenebris vagatus sum, nec vidi quo eundum esset: nec quo perveni intelligo. Sed incepto pergendum erat, ac tandem inveni exitum ut poteram. In quo difficili errore, videor mihi apud Moysen magnum errorem deprehendisse. Nam quum cujusque diei opus concluserat hiis verbis, Et factum est vespere et mane dies unus, secundus, tercius, non addidisset dies sed nox pocius una, secunda, et tercia, propterea quod inchoante vespere deinde mane sequente, est necesse quod intercedat inter antecedens vesper et subsequens mane nox sit. Dies enim incipit mane, vesperi terminatur. Sed maxime profecto quæ Moyses scribens in dies distinxerat, noctes appellâsset magis, propterea quod offuse sint tantis tenebris ut nihil possit nocti videri similius quam dies Moysaicus. Quas nocturnas tenebras cum opinione aliqua lucis conati sumus discutere, fortasse nos quoque tenebrosi tenebras auximus, noctesque produximus. Attamen prestat nos recte facere voluisse, ac quicquid est quod egimus, si tibi obscurum videatur infunde tum aliquid luminis tui, ut et nos videas, utque nos eciam simul tecum Moysen videre possimus.’

[121] ‘More boni piique poetæ.’

[122] ‘Homunculorum cordi consuleret.’

[123] ... ‘A sua sublimitate degenerent.’

[124] ‘Honestissimo et piissimo figmento simul inescare et trahere eos ut Deo inserviant.’

[125] For the above abstracts of these interesting letters I am mainly indebted to the kind assistance of my friend Henry Bradshaw, Esq., of King’s College, Cambridge, who has also furnished me with the following description of the manuscript.

Letters to Radulphus.

1. Beginning (p. 195): ‘Miror sane te optime Radulphe quum voluisti ...;’ ending (p. 199): ‘... fac nos te queso participes. Vale.’

2. Beginning (p. 199): ‘Parumper de reliquis diebus uti petis in calce Epistole. Facta mentione de materia et forma ...;’ ending (p. 207); ‘... scribendi paululum levaverim. Vale.’

3. Beginning (p. 207): ‘Tercium nunc deinceps diem aggrediamur, memores semper ...;’ ending (p. 222): ‘... leviter nos in hiis rebus lucubrasse. Vale.’

4. Beginning (p. 222): ‘Salve Radulphe, ac cum salute puto te rediisse quod tibi opto ...’ breaking off at the end of the quire (p. 226): ‘... id licere facere docet Macrobius in Comen[tario edito]....’

⁂ These letters follow Colet’s Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans, in the volume marked 355, in Corpus Christi College Library.

The Exposition is written in the handwriting of Colet’s scribe, Peter Meghen, the ‘monoculus Brabantinus,’ and there are corrections and alterations throughout, evidently by Colet himself.

The letters to Radulphus are merely bound with the other. Only two quires are now remaining: the handwriting is not the same, but similar.

[126] The following appears to be the passage Colet was about to quote: ‘Aut sacrarum rerum notio, sub figmentorum velamine, honestis et tecta rebus et vestita nominibus enuntiatur; et hoc est solum figmenti genus, quod cautio de divinis rebus admittit.’—In Somnium Scipionis, lib. i. c. 2. The ‘aut’ with which the sentence begins refers to its being an alternative of two kinds of mythical writing, about which Macrobius has been speaking. I am indebted to Mr. Lupton for this reference.

[127] The following passage from Mr. Lupton’s translation of Colet’s abstract of Dionysius’s De celesti Hierarchiâ (pp. 12, 13) will show that he may have derived some of his thoughts from that source. ‘Thus led he forth those uninstructed Hebrews, like boys, to school; in order that like children, playing with dolls and toys, they might represent in shadow what they were one day to do in reality as men: herein imitating little girls, who in early age play with dolls, the images of sons, being destined afterwards in riper years to bring forth real sons: ... “When I was a child,” says St. Paul, “I understood as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” From childishness and images and imitations Christ has drawn us, who has shone upon our darkness, and has taught us the truth, and has made us that believe to be men, in order that we, “with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, may be changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the spirit of the Lord.”’...

‘In these foreshadowings and signs, metaphors are borrowed from all quarters by Moses—a theologian and observer of nature of the deepest insight—inasmuch as there are not words proper to express the Divine attributes. For nothing is fitted to denote God Himself, who is not only unutterable but even inconceivable. Wherefore he is most truly expressed by negations; since you may state what He is not, but not what He is; for whatever positive statement you make concerning Him, you err, seeing that He is none of those things which you can say. Still because a hidden principle of the Deity resides in all things, on account of that faint resemblance, the sacred writers have endeavoured to indicate Him by the names of all objects, not only of the better but of the worse kind, lest the duller sort of people, attracted by the beauty of the fairer objects, should think God to be that very thing which He is called.’

The above is Colet’s amplification of the passage in Dionysius (chap. ii.). The latter part of it is a pretty close rendering of the original.

[128] ‘Heptaplus Johannis Pici Mirandulæ de Septiformi sex dierum Geneseos Enarratione.’

[129] The first edition is without date, but the publisher’s letter at the commencement, to Lorenzo de’ Medici, shows that it was published during the lifetime of the latter, i.e. before 1492—probably in 1490.

[130] The letter preceding the abstract of the ‘Celestial Hierarchy,’ in the Cambridge MS. Gg. 4, 26, is evidently a copy by the same hand as the letter to the Abbot of Winchcombe. Possibly the Abbot may be the person to whom it was addressed.

[131] These treatises were:—1. ‘De Compositione Sancti Corporis Christi mistici.’—Camb. MS. Gg. 4, 26.

2. ‘On the Sacraments of the Church,’ printed with a very valuable introduction and notes, by the Rev. J. H. Lupton, M.A., from the MS. in the St. Paul’s School Library. (Bell and Daldy, 1867.)

3. A short essay in the Camb. MS. Gg. 4, 26, commencing ‘Deus immensum bonum,’ &c.

Mr. Lupton is publishing Colet’s abstracts of the ‘Celestial’ and ‘Ecclesiastical’ Hierarchy of Dionysius, from the MSS. at St. Paul’s School; and it will be seen how much use I have made in this chapter of his admirable translation. I have expressed in the preface to this edition the obligations I am under to Mr. Lupton for bringing to light these interesting MSS., and thus materially assisting in restoring some lost links in the history of Colet’s inner life and opinions.

[132] Balthasar Corderius, in his prefatory observations to his edition of the works of St. Dionysius (Paris 1644), speaks of Dionysius as being the originator of the Scholastic Theology, and proves it by giving four folio pages of references to passages in the ‘Summa’ of Aquinas, where the authority of Dionysius is quoted.

[133] Mr. Lupton’s translation, pp. 135, 136.

[134] ‘God, who is one, beautiful and good—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: the Trinity which created all things—is at once the purification of things to unity, their illumination to what is beautiful, and their perfection to what is good.’—Mr. Lupton’s translation, pp. 15, 24.

[135] ‘God created all things because He is good (p. 16); and because He is good, He also recalls to himself all things according to their capacity, that He may bountifully communicate himself to them.’

[136] All after this is Colet’s own addition to what is said in Dionysius.

[137] Mr. Lupton’s translation of Colet’s Abstract of the Eccl. Hier. p. 92. In a short essay contained in the MSS. Gg. 4, 26, of the Cambridge University Library, entitled ‘De compositione sancti corporis Christi mistici, quæ est ecclesia, quæ sine anima ejus, Spiritu scilicet, dispergitur et dissipatur.’ Colet, after showing how men, if left to themselves, would wander apart and become scattered; and that the purpose of God is, that they should be united in one body the church by the Spirit, as by a magnet, goes on to say, ‘Predestinatum fuit hominem qui decidit a Deo retrahi ad Deum non posse quidem nisi per Deum factum hominem.... Mortuus est ut liberos faceret homines ad talem vitam, ut debita cujusque hominum in illius morte soluta, nunc desinentes peccare deinceps liberi sint justiciæ, ut non amplius maneamus in peccato,’ &c.—Ff. 70b, 71a.

[138] Wilberforce, in his Doctrine of the Incarnation, third edition, 1850, thus expressed the modern sacerdotal theory. In the word Priest, in primitive languages, ‘the notion of the setting apart those who should act on man’s behalf towards God is everywhere visible.’—P. 229.

‘Now if Christ is still maintaining a real intercession (if He still pleads that sacrifice) then is there ample place for that sacerdotal system, by which some actual thing is still to be effected, and in which some agents must still be employed.’—P. 381. ‘We put the Priestly office under the law in a line with the ministerial office under the Gospel; we assert, that if the title of Priest could be given fitly to the first, it belongs also to the second.’—P. 383. ‘Any persons who discharge an office which has reference to God, and who present to Him what is offered by men, may be called Priests.’—P. 384.

[139] See the same views expressed by Colet in his exposition of ‘Corinthians.’—Emmanuel Col. MS. 3, 3, 12, leaf g, 2.

[140] Colet’s Abstract of the Ecc. Hier. ch. ii. s. 2. Mr. Lupton’s translation, pp. 61, 62. Colet writes a little further on:—‘The office of the bishop is, like Christ, to preach constantly and diligently the truth he has received. For he is, as it were, a messenger midway between God and men, to announce to men heavenly things, as Christ did.’—Pp. 63, 64.

[141] ‘Through this bread and this cup, that which is offered as a true sacrifice in heaven is present as a real though immaterial agent in the church’s ministrations. So that what is done by Christ’s ministers below is a constituent part of that general work which the one great High Priest performs in heaven: through the intervention of his heavenly Head, the earthly sacrificer truly exhibits to the Father that body of Christ which is the one only sacrifice for sins; each visible act has its efficacy through those invisible acts of which it is the earthly expression, and things done on earth are one with those done in heaven.’—Wilberforce’s Doctrine of the Incarnation, pp. 372, 373.

[142] Colet’s abstract of the Eccl. Hier. ch. iii. Mr. Lupton’s translation, pp. 78-94. Whilst not disapproving in others daily attendance ‘ad mensam Dominicam,’ Erasmus tells us that Colet did not make a daily habit of it himself.—Eras. Op. iii. p. 459, E.

[143] Eccl. Hier. ch. ii. Colet speaks in his abstract (Mr. Lupton’s translation, p. 65) of the Christian being ‘brought to the captain of the army, the bishop,’ that by the soldier’s oath, &c. ‘he may own himself a soldier of Christ.’ He concludes this section as follows:—

‘Such was the custom and ceremony of baptism and the washing of regeneration in the primitive church, instituted by the holy apostles, whereby the more excellent baptism of the inner man is signified. And this form differs very greatly from the one we make use of in this age. And herein I own that I marvel!... The apostles being fully taught by Jesus Christ, knew well what are convenient symbols and appropriate signs for the mysteries. So that one may suspect either rashness or neglect on the part of their successors in what has been added to or taken from their ordinances.’

Then follows a section on the ‘spiritual contemplation of baptism,’ in which occurs the passage beginning ‘Gracious God!’ &c.—Infra, p. 73. Eccl. Hier. ch. ii. s. 3, pp. 76, 77 of Mr. Lupton’s translation.

[144] ‘Meanwhile the foster father who has undertaken the rearing of the child in Christ, gives a pledge and sacred promise, on behalf of the infant, of all things that true Christianity demands, viz. a renouncing of all sin, &c.... And this he says, not in the child’s stead, since it would be a fond thing for another to speak in place of one that was in ignorance; but when, in his own person, he speaks of renouncing, he professes that he will bring it to pass, so far as he can, that the little infant, as soon as ever it is capable of instruction, shall in reality and in his life utterly renounce, &c....

‘When the bishop, I say, hears him saying, “I renounce,” which means, as Dionysius explains it, “I will take care that the infant renounce,” &c.... Thus we see how in the primitive church, by the ordinance of the apostles, infants were not admitted unreservedly to the sacred rights, but on condition only that some one would be surety for them, that when they came to years of discretion they should thenceforward set before them in reality the pattern of Christ.

‘Mark thus how great a burden he takes upon himself who promises to be a godfather,’ &c.—Mr. Lupton’s translation of Colet’s abstract of the Eccl. Hier. ch. viii. pp. 158, 159.

[145] ‘Men execute the previous decisions of God, and by the ministry of men that is at length disclosed on earth,’ &c.—Mr. Lupton’s translation, p. 149. ‘It must be heedfully marked, lest bishops should be presumptuous, that it is not the part of men to loose the bonds of sins: nor does the power pertain to them of loosing or binding anything.’... ‘And if they do not proceed according to revelation, moved by the Spirit of God ... they abuse the power given to them, both to the blaspheming of God and the destruction of the Church.’—Ibid. 150.

[146] See Eras. Op. iii. p. 459, C and D.

[147] Mr. Lupton’s translation of Colet’s abstract of the Eccl. Hier. p. 83. This was a strictly Dionysian thought and one shared also by Pico. ‘The little affection of an old man or an old woman to Godward (were it never so small), he set more by than all his own knowledge as well of natural things as godly.’... He writeth thiswise [to Politian], ‘Love God (while we be in this body), we rather may than either know Him, or by speech utter Him.’—Life of Picus, E. of Mirandula, Sir Thomas More’s Works, p. 7.

To the same purport is the passage from Ficino, quoted by Colet in his MS. on the ‘Romans.’—Vide supra, p. 37.

[148] Mr. Lupton’s translation, pp. 76, 77.

[149] Ibid. p. 73.

[150] Mr. Lupton’s translation, pp. 150, 151.

[151] Mr. Lupton’s translation, pp. 90, 91. See also pp. 123-126, where Colet inveighs warmly against the nomination by secular princes of worldly bishops.

[152] Camb. University Library, MS. Gg. 4, 26. There is a beautiful copy embodying these corrections in the hand of Peter Meghen, in the Library of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, MS. 3, 3, 12.

[153] Emmanuel Col. MS. leaf e, 5: ‘Homo unus omnium divinissimus et consideratissimus.’ See also leaf k, 6.

[154] Leaf a, 5. ‘Quod tamen facit ubique modestissime homo piissimus.’

[155] ‘Velit ergo prudentissimus Paulus.’—Leaf k, 3.

[156] Leaf k, 6, and p. 8.

[157] In another place Colet writes, ‘Fuit illa græca natio illis argutiis versatilibus humani ingenii semper prompta ad arguendum et redarguendum.’—Leaf c, 2.

[158] Emmanuel Col. MS. 3, 3, 12, leaf a, 4, and Appendix (B, a).

[159] Abridged quotation. Leaf a, 5, and Appendix (B, a).

[160] Emmanuel Col. MS. leaf a, 5, 6, and Appendix (B, a).

[161] Leaf b, 4, and Appendix (B, b). See a very similar remark with reference to St. Paul and Dionysius in Joan. Fran. Pici Mirand. De Studio Div. et Hum. Philosophiæ lib. i. ch. iii. J. F. Pico was living when Colet was in Italy.

[162] Appendix (B, c).

[163] Appendix (B, d). Emmanuel Coll. MS. leaf b, 6, and b, 8.

[164] ‘In these matters regard must be had to condition and strength.... It was thus that Moses taught the truth and justice of God, as it was brought down to the level of sensible things, and diluted for the ancient Hebrews. It was thus that Christ taught to the disciples what they were able to bear. It was thus, lastly, that Paul, both gently and sparingly gave to the Corinthians, as it were, milk instead of meat.... He spoke wisdom to the perfect, to the imperfect he accommodated as it were foolish, more humble and more homely things. With this design, also, he tolerated indulgently less perfect and less absolute morals for a time, dealing gently with them as far as was lawful, not thinking how much was lawful to himself, but what was expedient to others; not how much he himself could bear, but what was adapted to the Corinthians.’...—Leaf c, 7. See also leaf e, 6.

[165] 1 See Eras. Op. iii. p. 1263, and Ibid. p. 184, E. ‘1499 was the date of the 1st edition, which is comprised in eight pages, and forms the last treatise in a volume of ancient writers on astronomy, edited by Aldus. It is intituled, “Procli Diadochi Sphæra, Astronomiam discere Incipientibus Vtilissima, Thomâ Linacro Britanno Interprete.”’—Johnson’s Life of Linacre, p. 152.

[166] In a letter from Politian to Franciscus Casa, there is a description of an ‘orrery’ made at Florence. The letter was written 1484.—Illustrium Virorum Epistolæ ab Angelo Politiano, n. 1523, fol. lxxxiii.

[167] Luther’s Table Talk, ‘Of Astronomy and Astrology.’

[168] So also in Pico’s Heptaplus the same kind of speculation is much indulged in.

[169] Emmanuel Col. MS. 3, 3, 12, leaves d, 3 to d, 5, and Appendix (B, e). See also leaf n, 2.

[170] Eras. Op. iii. p. 459, A.

[171] Leaf g, 4.

[172] Emmanuel Col. MS. Leaf i, 1 to leaf i, 3.

[173] Leaf k, 7 and 8.

[174] Leaves g, 5 to g, 7.

[175] Emmanuel MS. Leaf f, 6, and Appendix (B, f).

[176] ‘Plurimum tribuebat Epistolis Apostolicis, sed ita suspiciebat admirabilem illam Christi majestatem ut ad hanc quodammodo sordescerent Apostolorum scripta.’—Eras. Op. iii. p. 459, F. See also this view supported by Erasmus in his Ratio Veræ Theologiæ. ‘Nec fortassis absurdum fuerit, in sacris quoque voluminibus ordinem auctoritatis aliquem constituere,’ &c.—Eras. Op. v. p. 92, C; and Ibid. p. 132, C.

[177] Eras. Op. vi. p. 503, F; Annotationes in loco, Acts xvii. v. 34. The edition of 1516 does not mention the anecdote at all. Those of 1519 and 1522 mention it as having occurred ‘ante complures annos.’ Also see ‘Declamatio adversus Censuram Facultatis Theol. Parisien.’ Eras. Op. ix. p. 917 and Epist. mccv. The former was written in 1530 or 1531, and in it he says:—‘Is ante annos triginta, Londini in æde Divi Pauli,’ &c.: which gives the date of Grocyn’s lectures as some time before 1500 or 1501. The publication of the Paris edition of Dionysius, in 1498, may have called forth these lectures.

[178] Jewell, however, mentions John Colet as believing that the Areopagite was not the author of these ancient writings.—Of Private Masse, ed. 1611, p. 8.

[179] Vide supra, p. 82.

[180] ‘Apostoli sermo ... (qui in hoc loco artificiosissimus est)....’—MS. on 1 Corinthians, Emmanuel Coll. leaf a, 6.

[181] The date of Erasmus’s coming to England may be approximately fixed as follows. Epist. xxix. dated 12th April, and evidently written in 1500, after his visit to England, mentions a fever which nearly killed Erasmus two years before. Comparing this with what is said in the ‘Life’ prefixed to vol i. of Eras. Op., Epist. vi. vii. and viii., dated 3 Feb., 4 Feb., and 12 Feb., seem to belong to Feb. 1498. Epist. vi. ix. and v. seem to place his studies with Mountjoy, at Paris, in the spring of that year. Epist. xxii. seems to mention the projected visit to England. Epist. xiv. ‘Londini tumultuarie,’ 5 Dec., is evidently written after he had been to Oxford and seen Colet, Grocyn, and Linacre, and yet, comparatively soon after his arrival in England. It alludes to his coming to England, but gives no hint that he is going to leave England. In the winter of 1499-1500 he was at Oxford, intending to leave, but delayed by political reasons. He really did leave England 27 Jan. 1500. Whilst, therefore, it is just possible that Epist. xiv. may have been written in Dec. 1499, it is more probable that it was written in Dec. 1498, and that the first experience of Erasmus at Oxford had been during the previous summer and autumn. This seems to comport best both with Epist. vi. ix. v. and xxii., and also with the circumstances connected with his stay in England, mentioned in this chapter. See also the next note. The years attached to the early letters of Erasmus are not in the least to be relied on.

[182] Coletus Erasmo: Eras. Epist. xi.

[183] ‘Hic (at Oxford) hominem nosse cœpi, nam eodem tum me Deus nescio quis adegerat; natus tum erat annos ferme triginta, me minor duobus aut tribus mensibus.’—Eras. Op. iii. p. 456, B. Erasmus, according to his monument at Rotterdam (Eras. Op. i. (7)) was born 28 Oct. 1467. Colet would be born, say, Jan. 1467-8, if three months younger, and would be ‘annos ferme triginta, in the spring of 1498.’ According to Colet’s monument he would be 31 at that date, as he died 16 Sept. 1519, and the inscription states ‘vixit annos 53.’—Knight’s Colet, p. 261.

[184] Epist. xii. Sixtinus Erasmo.

[185] Else how could Erasmus describe Colet’s style of speaking so clearly in his first letter to him?—Epist. xli.

[186] ‘Virum optimum et bonitate præditum singulari.’—Eras. Epist. xi.

[187] Coletus Erasmo: Epist. xi.

[188] Eras. Epist. xli. Op. iii. p. 40, D.

[189] ‘Dicebat Coletus, Caym ea primum culpa Deum offendisse, quod tanquam conditoris benignitate diffisus, suæque nimium confisus industriæ, terram primus prosciderit, quum Abel, sponte nascentibus contentus, oves paverit.’—Eras. Epist. xliv. Op. iii. p. 42, F. Compare MS. G. g. 4, 26, fols. 4-6 and 29, 30, and Erasmus’s Paraphrases, in loco, Hebrews xi. 4.

[190] ‘At ille unus vincebat omnes; visus est sacro quodam furore debacchari, ac nescio quid homine sublimius augustiusque præferre. Aliud sonabat vox, aliud tuebantur oculi, alius vultus, alius adspectus, majorque videri, afflatus est numine quando.’—Eras. Op. iii. 42, F.

[191] Eras. Epist. xliv.

[192] Erasmus Sixtino, Epist. xliv. Op. iii. p. 42, C.

[193] See his colloquy, Ichthyophagia, in which he describes his college experience at Paris, especially his physical hardships. The latter are probably caricatured, and perhaps too much magnified for the description to be taken literally.

[194] Erasmus to Lord Mountjoy: Epist. xlii. Oxoniæ, 1498.

[195] ‘Beatus Rhenanus Cæsari Carolo.’—Eras. Op. i. leaf * * * 1.

[196] Eras. Op. iii. p. 458, D and E.

[197] Eras. Op. iii. pt. 1, p. 459, F.

[198] ‘Siquidem magnum erat, Coletum, in ea fortuna, constanter sequutum esse, non quo vocabat natura, sed quo Christus,’ &c.—Ibid. p. 461, E.

[199] See the following extract from the colloquy of Erasmus, ‘Pietas puerilis,’ edition Argent. 1522, leaf e, 4, and Basileæ, 1526, p. 92, and Eras. Op. i. p. 653.

‘Erasmus. Many abstain from divinity because they are afraid lest they should waver in the catholic faith, when they see there is nothing which is not called in question.

‘Gaspar. I believe firmly what I read in the Holy Scriptures, and the creed called the Apostles’, and I don’t trouble my head any further. I leave the rest to be disputed and defined by the clergy, if they please.

‘Erasmus. What Thales taught you that philosophy?

‘Gaspar. I was for some time in domestic service’ [as More was in the house of Cardinal Morton before he was sent to Oxford], ‘with that honestest of men, John Colet. He imbued me with these precepts.’ See Argent. 1522, leaf c, 4.

[200] ‘Illic in collegio Montis Acuti ex putribus ovis et cubiculo infecto concepit morbum, h.e. malam corporis, antea purissimi, affectionem.’—Vita, prefixed to Eras. Op. i. written by himself. See the letter to Conrad Goclenius.

[201] ‘A studio theologiæ abhorrebat, quod sentiret animum non propensum, ut omnia illorum fundamenta subverteret; deinde futurum, ut hæretici nomen inureretur.’—Vita, prefixed to Eras. Op. i.

[202] See for this anecdote, Eras. Op. iii. p. 458, E and F.

[203] ‘Tanquam afflatus spiritu quodam, “Quid tu, inquit, mihi prædicas istum, qui nisi habuisset multum arrogantiæ, non tanta temeritate tantoque supercilio definisset omnia; et nisi habuisset aliquid spiritus mundani, non ita totam Christi doctrinam sua profana philosophia contaminasset.”’—Eras. Op. iii. p. 458, F.

[204] Summa, i. quest. 52, 53.

[205] ‘Omnino decessit aliquid meæ de illo existimationi.’—Eras. Op. iii. pt. 1, 458, F.

[206] See The Praise of Folly, Eras. Op. iv. p. 462, where the dogmatic science of the age is as severely satirised by Erasmus as the dogmatic theology of the Schoolmen. Thus Folly is made to say:—‘With what ease, truly, do they indulge in day-dreams (delirant), when they invent innumerable worlds, and measure the sun, moon, and stars, and the earth, as though by thumb and thread; and render a reason for thunder, winds, eclipses, and other inexplicable things, without the least hesitation, as though they had been the secret architects of all the works of nature, or as though they had come down to us from the council of the gods. At whom and whose conjectures nature is mightily amused!’

[207] Cresacre More’s Life of Sir Thomas More, p. 93.

[208] Erasmi aliquot Epistolæ: Paris, 1524, p. 33. Eras. Op. iii. Epist. lxiii. 1521 ed. p. 291. Whether written in 1498 or 1499 is doubtful.

[209] Erasmus Roberto Piscatori: Epist. xiv.

[210] The incidents related in this section are taken from Disputatiuncula de Tædio, Pavore, Tristitiâ Jesu, instante Supplicio Crucis, deque Verbis, quibus visus est Mortem deprecari, ‘Pater, si fieri potest, transeat a me calix iste.’—Eras. Op. v, pp. 1265-1294.

[211] Eras. Op. v. pp. 1291 and 1292.

[212] ‘From this order, any one may perceive the reason of the four senses in the old law which are customary in the church. The literal is, when the actions of the men of old time are related. When you think of the image, even of the Christian church which the law foreshadows, then you catch the allegorical sense. When you are raised aloft, so as from the shadow to conceive of the reality which both represent, then there dawns upon you the anagogic sense. And when from signs you observe the instruction of individual man, then all has a moral tone for you.... In the writings of the New Testament, saving when it pleased the Lord Jesus and his Apostles to speak in parables, as Christ often does in the Gospels, and St. John throughout in the Revelation, all the rest of the discourse, in which either the Saviour teaches his disciples more plainly, or the disciples instruct the churches, has the sense that appears on the surface. Nor is one thing said and another meant, but the very thing is meant which is said, and the sense is wholly literal. Still, inasmuch as the church of God is figurative, conceive always an anagoge in what you hear in the doctrines of the church, the meaning of which will not cease till the figure has become the truth. From this moreover conclude, that where the literal sense is, then the allegorical sense is not always along with it; but, on the other hand, that where there is the allegorical sense, the literal sense is always underlying it.’—Colet’s abstract of the Eccl. Hier., Mr. Lupton’s translation, pp. 105-107; and see Mr. Lupton’s note on this passage.

[213] Summa, pt. i. quest. 1, article x. Conclusio.

[214] Eras. Op. v. pp. 1291 to 1294. This reply of Colet to the long letter of Erasmus does not seem to have been published in the early editions of the latter. Thus I do not find it in the editions of Schurerius, Argent. 1516, and again 1517. The earliest print of it that I have seen is that appended to the Enchiridion, &c. Basle, 1518.

[215] Eras. Op. iii. Epist. lxv. Erasmus Fausto Andrelino, 1521 ed. p. 260.

[216] ‘Torquatis istis aulicis.’—Eras. Op. v. p. 126, E.

[217] Colet’s letter to Erasmus has been lost, but the above may be gathered from the reply of Erasmus.

[218] Eras. Op. v. p. 1263.

[219] It is possible that Colet himself had, at one time, thought of expounding the book of Genesis, but the manuscript letters to Radulphus appended to the copy of the MS. on the ‘Romans,’ in the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, contain no allusion to any such intention.

[220] Probably De la Pole. See Mr. Gairdner’s Letters and Papers, &c. of Richard III. and Henry VII. vol. i. p. 129, and vol. ii. preface, p. xl; and appendix, p. 377; where Mr. Gairdner mentions under date, 20th Aug. 14 Henry VII. (1499) a ‘Proclamation, against leaving the kingdom without license,’ and adds ‘N.B. clearly in consequence of the flight of Edmund De la Pole.’ If this prohibition extended through December, it fixes the date of this letter as written in the winter of 1499-1500.

[221] Eras. Op. v. p. 1263. This letter is generally found prefixed to the various editions of the Disputatiuncula de Tædio Christi. And this is often appended to editions of the Enchiridion.

[222] Epist. lxiv. Erasmus to Mountjoy, and also see Epist. xlii.

[223] Eras. Op. iii. p. 26, E. Epist. xxix.

[224] The fact that Erasmus saw Prince Edmund fixes the date of his departure from England to 1500, instead of 1499. He left England 27th Jan., and it could not be in 1499, for Prince Edmund was not born till Feb. 21, 1499.

[225] See the mention of this incident in Erasmus’s letter to Botzhem, printed as Catalogus Omnium Erasmi Roterdami Lucubrationum, ipso Autore, 1523, Basil, fol. a. 6, and reprinted by Jortin, app. 418, 419.

[226] For the verses see Eras. Op. i. p. 1215.

[227] See Ep. xcii. and lxxxi.

[228] ‘He [Tyndale] was born (about 1484) about the borders of Wales, and brought up from a child in the University of Oxford, where he, by long continuance, grew and increased as well in the knowledge of tongues and other liberal arts, as specially in the knowledge of the Scriptures, whereunto his mind was singularly addicted; insomuch that he, lying there in Magdalen Hall, read privily to certain students and fellows of Magdalen College, some parcel of divinity, instructing them in the knowledge and truth of the Scriptures.’—Quoted from Foxe in the biographical notice of William Tyndale, prefixed to his Doctrinal Treatises, p. xiv, Parker Society, 1848. Magdalen College is supposed to have been the college in which Colet resided at Oxford; as, according to Wood, some of the name of Colet are mentioned in the records, though not John Colet himself.

[229] ‘How many years did he (Colet) following the example of St. Paul, teach the people without reward!’—Eras. Epist. cccclxxxi. Eras. Op. iii. p. 532, E.

[230] In Colet’s epitaph it is stated ‘administravit 16;’ as he died in 1519, this will bring the commencement of his administration to 1504, at latest. See also the note in the Appendix on Colet’s preferments.

[231] Fasti Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ, p. 184.

[232] Eras. Op. iii. p. 456, C.

[233] Eras. Op. iii. p. 456, D.

[234] Ibid. E. and F.

[235] Walter Stone, LL.D., was admitted to the vicarage of Stepney, void by the resignation of D. Colet, Sept. 21, 1505.—Kennett’s MSS. vol. xliv. f. 234 b (Lansdowne, 978). He seems to have retained his rectory of Denyngton.

[236] Eras. Op. iii. p. 465, E.

[237] Ibid. E. and F.

[238] Grocyn and Linacre had also removed to London. More was already there.

[239] ‘Impense delectabatur amicorum colloquiis quæ sæpe differebat in multam noctem. Sed omnisillius sermo, aut de literis erat, aut de Christo.’—Eras. Op. iii. p. 457. A.

[240] Eras. Op. iii. p. 459, F.

[241] Ibid. p. 457, A.

[242] Ibid. p. 459, F.

[243] Ibid. p. 456, E.

[244] ‘Porro in suo templo non sumebat sibi carptim argumentum ex Evangelio aut ex epistolis Apostolicis sed unum aliquod argumentum proponebat, quod diversis concionibus ad finem usque prosequebatur: puta Evangelium Matthæi, Symbolum Fidei, Precationem Dominicam.’—Eras. Op. iii. p. 456, D, E.

[245] Grocyn was apparently rector of this parish up to 1517, when he vacated it.—Wood’s Ath. Oxon. p. 32.

[246] Stapleton, p. 160.

[247] Roper, Singer’s ed. 1822, p. 5.

[248] Rot. Parl. vi. 521, B.

[249] 12 Henry VII. c. 12, also Rot. Parl. vi. p. 514.

[250] 12 Henry VII. c. 13.

[251] See 3 Edward I. c. 36, and 25 Edward III. s. 5, c. 11.

[252] Roper, p. 7.

[253] Possibly, ‘our trusty and right well-beloved knight and counseller,’ Sir William Tyler, who had so often partaken of the royal bounty, being made ‘Controller of Works,’ ‘Messenger of Exchequer,’ ‘Receiver of certain Lordships,’ &c. &c. (see Rot. Parl. vi. 341, 378 b, 404 b, 497 b), and who was remembered for good in chap. 35 of this very Parliament.

[254] A fifteenth of the three estates was estimated by the Venetian ambassador, in 1500, to produce 37,930l.—See Italian Relation of England, Camden Soc. p. 52. The amount of a ‘fifteenth’ was fixed in 1334, by 8 Ed. III. Blackstone (vol. i. p. 310) states that the amount was fixed at about 29,000l. This was probably the amount, exclusive of the quota derived from the estates of the clergy, which latter was estimated at 12,000l. by the Venetian ambassador in 1500. This being added would raise Blackstone’s estimate to 41,000l. in all. From this, however, about 4,000l. was always excused to ‘poor towns, cities, &c.,’ so that the nett actual amount would be about 37,000l. according to Blackstone, which agrees well with the Venetian estimate.

[255] 19 Henry VII. c. 32, Jan. 25, 1503, Rot. Parl. vi. 532-542. In lieu of two reasonable aids, one for making a knight of Prince Arthur deceased, and the other of marriage of Princess Margaret to the King of Scots, and also great expenses in wars, the Commons grant 40,000l. less 10,000l. remitted, ‘of his more ample grace and pity, for that the poraill of his comens should not in anywise be contributory or chargeable to any part of the said sum of 40,000l.’ The 30,000l. to be paid by the shires in the sums stated, and to the payment every person to be liable having lands, &c. to the yearly value of 20s. of free charter lands, or of 26s. 8d. of lands held at will, or any person having goods or cattalls to the value of x marks or above, not accounting their cattle for their plough nor stuff or implement of household.

[256] John More was one of the commissioners for Herts.

[257] This story is told in substantially the same form in the manuscript life of More by Harpsfield, written in the time of Queen Mary, and dedicated to William Roper.—Harleian MSS. No. 6253, fol. 4.

[258] ‘Meditabatur adolescens sacerdotium cum suo Lilio.’—Stapleton, Tres Thomæ, ed. 1588, p. 18, ed. 1612, p. 161. See also Roper, pp. 5, 6.

[259] Stapleton and Roper, ubi supra.

[260] Richard Whitford himself, retiring soon after from public life, entered the monastery called ‘Sion,’ near Brentford in Middlesex, and wrote books, in which he styled himself ‘the wretch of Sion.’ See Roper, p. 8, and Knight’s Life of Erasmus, p. 64.

[261] Stapleton, ed. 1588, p. 20, ed. 1612, p. 163.

[262] That this letter was written in 1504 is evident. First, it cannot well have been written before Colet had commenced his labours at St. Paul’s; secondly, it cannot have been written in Oct. 1505, because it speaks of Colet as still holding the living of Stepney, which he resigned Sept. 21, 1505. Also the whole drift of it leads to the conclusion that More was unmarried when he wrote it. And he married in 1505, according to the register on the Burford picture, which, the correct date of More’s birth having been found and from it the true date of Holbein’s sketch, seems to be amply confirmed by the age there given of More’s eldest daughter, Margaret Roper. She is stated to be twenty-two on the sketch made in 1528, and so was probably born in 1506.

[263] Mori Epigrammata: Basle, 1518, p. 6. See the prefatory letter by Beatus Rhenanus.

[264] Ibid.

[265] See Epigram entitled ‘Gratulatur quod eam repererit Incolumem quam olim ferme Puer amaverat.’—Epigrammata: Basle, 1520, p. 108, and Philomorus, pp. 37-39.

[266] ‘From whence [the Tower], the day before he suffered, he sent his shirt of hair, not willing to have it seen, to my wife, his dearly beloved daughter.’—Roper, p. 91.

[267] Walter’s Life of More, London, 1840, pp. 7, 8. Cresacre More’s Life of More, pp. 24-26.

[268] ‘Maluit igitur maritus esse castus quam sacerdos impurus.’—Erasmus to Hutten: Eras. Op. iii. p. 75, c. Stapelton, 1612 ed. pp. 161, 162. Cresacre More’s Life of More, pp. 25, 26. Even Walter allows that his ‘finding that at that time religious orders in England had somewhat degenerated from their ancient strictness and fervour of spirit,’ was the cause of his ‘altering his mind.’—Walter’s Life of More, p. 8.

[269] Sir Thomas More’s Works, pp. 1-34; and see the note on Pico’s religious history, and his connection with Savonarola, above, p. 19.

[270] Compare this with the line of argument pursued by Marsilio Ficino in his De Religione Christianâ. Vide supra, p. 11.

[271] This remarkable letter was written, ‘Ferrariæ, 15 May, 1492’ (Pici Op. p. 233), scarcely six weeks after Pico’s visit to the deathbed of Lorenzo de Medici.

[272] This letter is dated in More’s translation M.cccclxxxxii. from Paris, in mistake for M.cccclxxxvi. from Perugia. See Pici Op. p. 257.

[273] See More’s Works, p. 19, in loco, v. 6.

[274] Stapleton, ed. 1612, p. 162. Cresacre More’s Life of Sir T. More, p. 27.

[275] Sir T. More’s Works, p. 9.

[276] There is a copy of this translation of More’s in the British Museum Library. ‘276, c. 27, Pico, &c., 4^o, London, 1510.’ This is probably the original edition. More may have waited till Henry VIII.’s accession before daring to publish it.

[277] This date of More’s marriage is the date given in the register contained on the Burford family picture; and as it is in no way dependent on the other dates, probably it rested upon some family tradition or record. It is confirmed by the age of Margaret Roper on the Basle sketch—22 in 1528. Vide supra, p. 149, n. 1.

[278] Cresacre More’s Life of Sir T. More, p. 39.

[279] Erasmus Botzhemo: Catalogus Omnium Erasmi Lucubrationum: Basle, 1523.

[280] Epist. lxxxi. He arrived at Paris ‘postridie Calend, Februarias’ (p. 73, E.), i.e. Feb. 2, 1500.

[281] Epist. iii. This letter is dated in the Leyden edition, 1490, and in the edition of 1521, p. 264, M.LXXXIX. (sic), but it evidently was written shortly after the illness of Erasmus at Paris in the spring of 1500. See also the mention of ‘Arnold’ in Epist. xxix. (Paris, 12 April) and a repetition in it of much that is said in this letter respecting Erasmus’s illness and intention of visiting Italy. See also Epist. dii. App.

[282] ‘In Britannico littore pecuniola mea, studiorum meorum alimonia, naufragium fecit.’—Epist. xcii. p. 84 C.

[283] ‘Tenuiter.’—Eras. Op. iii. p. 73, F. Epist. lxxxi. and see also lxxx.

[284] Erasmus to Battus: Epist. xxix. Paris, 12 April, probably in 1500. See also Epist. lxxx. ‘Græscæ literæ animum meum propemodum enecant: verum neque precium datur, neque suppetit, quo libros, aut præceptoris operam redimam. Et dum hæc omnia tumultuor, vix est unde vitam sustineam.’

[285] Epist. xciv.

[286] Epistolæ xxxvi. lxxvi. lxxi. (20 Nov.), lxxii. (9 Dec.), xciv. xcix. (11 Dec.), lxxiii. (11 Dec.), and lxxiv. seem to belong to this period of flight to Orleans. Epist. xv. and lxxvii. (14 Dec.), lxxviii. (18 Dec.), and xci. (14 Jan.), seem to mark the date of his return to Paris.

[287] Epist. xcii. Paris, 27 Jan. 1500 (should be 1501).

[288] Epist. xxxix.

[289] Epist. ccccvii. App.

[290] ‘Nec est in ullo mortalium aliquid solidæ spei, nisi in uno Batto.’—Eras. Op. iii. p. 48, C. Epist. liii.

[291] Epist. xxx. 2 July [1501] seems to be the first letter written from St. Omer, where Erasmus was then staying with the Abbot. See also Epist. xxxix., where he speaks of having been terrified at Paris with the numbers of funerals. On 12 July and 18 July he writes Epist. liv.-lviii. (‘Tornaco’ evidently meaning the castle of Tornahens). Epist. lix. also was written about the same time. Epist. xcviii. 30 July, if written by Erasmus, shows he was still at St. Omer. All these letters seem to belong to the year 1501.

[292] Eras. Op. iii. p. 52, E. Epist. lix.

[293] Epist. lxii.

[294] Erasmus to Botzhem: Catalogus Omnium Erasmi Lucubrationum: Basle, 1523, leaf b, 4.

[295] Erasmus to Justus Jonas: Epist. ccccxxxv.

[296] ‘Ea quum placerent etiam eruditis, præsertim Ioanni Viterio Franciscano cujus erat in illis regionibus autoritas summa.’—Letter to Botzhem, leaf b, 4. There can be no doubt that the John Viterius mentioned in this letter is the same person as the Vitrarius of the letter to Justus Jonas. See also Mr. Lupton’s introduction to his translation of Colet on Dionysius.

[297] Eras. Epist. clxxiii.

[298] Ibid. xciv.

[299] Lucubratiunculæ aliquot Erasmi: Antwerp, 1503. Biogr. de Thierry Martins: par A. F. Van Iseghem: Alost, 1852, 8vo. See also Letter to Botzhem (Catalogus, &c.), fol. b, 4.

[300] It is very difficult to fix the true dates of these letters, and to ascertain to what year they belong. Epist. ccccxlvi. App., from Louvain, mentions the death of Battus, and that the Marchioness of Vere had married below her. He speaks of himself as buried in Greek studies.