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duke,' I have betaken myself to this famous Uni- CHAP. III.

versity that I might rather spend two or three months 'with men of your class than with those be-chained

' courtiers.

• Be it, indeed, far from me to oppose your glorious

A.D. 1499.

day will

' and sacred labours. On the contrary, I will promise But some'(since not fitted as yet to be a coadjutor) sedulously to join Colet encourage and further them For the rest, whenever in fellow

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I feel that I have the requisite firmness and strength I

will join you, and, by your side, and in theological teaching, I will zealously engage, if not in successful at least in earnest labour. In the meantime, nothing 'could be more delightful to me than that we should go on as we have begun, whether daily by word of mouth, or by letter, discussing the meaning of Holy Scripture.

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'Vale, mi Colete.

'Oxford: at the College of the Canons of the

'Order of St. Augustine, commonly called
'the College of St. Mary.'"

2

work.

VII. ERASMUS LEAVES OXFORD AND ENGLAND (1500).

Erasmus took leave of Colet, and left Oxford early in January, 1500.

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CHAP. III.

He proceeded to Greenwich, to the country-seat of A.D. 1500. Lord and Lady Mountjoy; for his patron had, appaErasmus rently since his arrival in England, married a wife.1

at Lord Mountjoy's.

More and
Erasmus
visit the
Royal
Nursery.

They see

the Prince Henry.

While he was resting under this hospitable roof, Thomas More came down to pay him a farewell visit. He brought with him another young lawyer named Arnold-the son of Arnold the merchant, a man well known in London, and living in one of the houses built upon the arches of London Bridge.2

More, whose love of fun never slept, persuaded Erasmus, by way of something to do, to take a walk with himself and his friend to a neighbouring village.

He took them to call at a house of rather imposing appearance. As they entered the hall, Erasmus was struck with the style of it; it rivalled even that of the mansion of his noble patron. It was in fact the Royal Nursery, where all the children of Henry VII., except Arthur the Prince of Wales, were living under the care of their tutor. In the middle of the group was Prince Henry (afterwards Henry VIII.), then a boy of nine years old. To his right stood the Princess Margaret, who afterwards was married to the King of Scotland. On the left was the Princess Maria, a mere child at play. The nurse held in her arms the Prince Edmund, a baby about ten months old.3

More and Arnold at once accosted Prince Henry, and presented him with some verses, or other literary

uncula de Tædio Christi. And this
is often appended to editions of the
Enchiridion.

1 Epist. Ixiv. Erasmus to Mount-
joy, and also see Epist. xlii.

Eras. Op. iii. p. 26, E. Epist. xxix.

3 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.

A.D. 1500.

offering. Erasmus, having brought nothing of the kind CHAP. III. with him, felt awkward, and could only promise to prove his courtesy to the Prince in the same way on some future occasion. They were invited to sit down to table, and during the meal the Prince sent a note to Erasmus to remind him of his promise. The result was that More received a merited scolding from Erasmus, for having led him blindfold into the trap; and Erasmus, after parting with More, had to devote three of the few remaining days of his stay in England to Erasmus the composition of Latin verses in honour of England, Henry VII., and the Royal children. He was in upon good humour with England. He had been treated with a kindness which he never could forget; and he was leaving England with a purse full of golden crowns, generously provided by his English friends to defray the expenses of his long-wished-for visit to Italy. Under these circumstances it was not surprising if his verses should be laudatory.2

writes

verses

England.

Dover.

By the 27th January, he was off to Dover, to catch Leaves for the boat for Boulogne.

So the three friends were scattered. Each had evidently a separate path of his own. Their natures and natural gifts were, indeed, singularly different. They had been brought into contact for one short year, as it were by chance, and now again their spheres of life seemed likely to lie wide apart.

1 See the mention of this inci- | a. 6, and reprinted by Jortin, app. dent in Erasmus's letter to Botzhem, 418, 419.

printed

as Catalogus Omnium 2 For the verses see Eras. Op. i. Erasmi Roterodami Lucubratio- p. 1215. num, ipso Autore, 1523, Basil, fol.

See Ep. xcii. and lxxxi,

The three friends are scattered.

CHAP. III.

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How could it be otherwise? Even Colet, who had A.D. 1500. longed that his friendship for Erasmus might ripen into the fellowship of fellow-work, could not hope against hope. The chances that his dream might yet be realised, seemed slight indeed. Whenever I feel that I have the requisite firmness and strength, I 'will join you!' So Erasmus had promised. But Colet might well doubtfully ask himself— When will 'that be?'

CHAPTER IV.

I. COLET MADE DOCTOR AND DEAN OF ST. PAUL'S (1500-5).

CHAP. IV.

A.D.

COLET, left alone to pursue the even tenor of his way at Oxford, worked steadily at his post. It mattered little to him that for years he toiled on without any 1500-5. official recognition on the part of the University authorities of the value of his work. What if a Doctor's degree had never during these years been conferred upon him? The want of it had never stopped his teaching. Its possession would have been to him no triumph.

Colet's

Oxford.

That young theological students were beginning more and more to study the Scriptures instead of the work at Schoolmen-for this he cared far more. For this he was casting his bread upon the waters, in full faith that, whether he might live to see it or not, it would return after many days. And in truth-known or unknown to Colet-young Tyndale, and such as he, yet in their teens, were already poring over the Scriptures at Oxford.1

1 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

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'specially in the knowledge of the Scriptures, whereunto his mind was singularly addicted; insomuch that he, lying there in Magdalen 'long continuance, grew and in-Hall, read privily to certain stu'creased as well in the knowledge'dents and fellows of Magdalen Col' of tongues and other liberal arts, as 'lege, some parcel of divinity, in

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