PART II. CHAP. V. that respect for the learning and character of Reuchlin, which made him not only a student of his works, but a warm sympathiser with the great scholar in the struggle in which he afterwards became involved1. Influence of Nor was Erasmus's influence at Cambridge confined to members of that which he exerted through its chancellor. Other and the univer sity. younger men sought the acquaintance of the illustrious foreigner, and recalled, long after he had left, and with no little satisfaction, the details of their intercourse. It is evident indeed that none but those who felt a more or less genuine interest in his work, were likely to become his friends; and it may be safely inferred that these were only to be found among the most able and promising men in the university at that time. The whole genius of the man,—his wit, his pleasantry, his learning, his cosmopolitanism,—were in exact antithesis to academic dulness. He again, on the one hand, could speak no English; while, on the other, there were few with whom he conversed at Cambridge, but must have often shocked his ears by their uncouth Latinity and strange pronunciation. The one of whom, next to Fisher, Henry Bul- he speaks in the most emphatic praise, is perhaps Henry lock. d. 1525. Bullock (whose name, after the usual fashion, he Latinised into Bovillus), a fellow of Queens' College, mathematical lecturer in the university, and afterwards vice-chancellor2. In him Erasmus found an enthusiastic pupil during his residence, and a valued correspondent when far away. Bullock too it was, who along with one or two others, sustained the tradition of Greek learning, in the perilous interval between their preceptor's departure and the advent of Richard Croke; and somewhat later, we find his talents and attainments earning for him the notice of Wolsey, by whom he was induced to enter the lists against the Lutheran party, and was rewarded by a chaplaincy in the cardinal's household. Another student for whom Erasmus seems to 1 Ei (Johannes Crullius) commendavi codicem, in quo erant Reuchlinica quæ misere desiderabat Roffensis.' Erasmus to More (A.D. 1517), Opera, ш 234. Geiger, Johann Reuch lin, p. 338. 2 Cooper, Athenæ, 1 33-4. 3 'Bovillus gnaviter Græcatur.' Letter to Ammonius, III 106. PART II. William Go d. 1545. Aldrich. have entertained a real regard, was William Gonell, also CHAP. V. afterwards one of Wolsey's household, and at one time tutor in the family of Sir Thomas More'. There was also a young hell. fellow of King's, whom he styles doctissimus and carissimus,-of the name of John Bryan, who subsequently John Bryan. attracted to himself no little criticism in the university, as an assertor of the more genuine Aristotle of the Humanists against the traditional Aristotle of the schoolmen'. Another fellow on the same foundation,-a youth who had but just donned his bachelor's hood,-was Robert Aldrich, the juvenis Robert blandæ cujusdam eloquentiæ, who accompanied Erasmus on d. 1556. his famed expedition to Walsingham,-to interpret for him on the journey, to quiz the guardian of the relics, and to make fun over the 'Virgin's milk;' who lived however to become bishop of Carlisle, to sit in solemn judgement on the rites and ceremonies of the Church, and to be a commissioner against heretics in queen Mary's reign3. There was also one John Watson, fellow of Peterhouse, a select preacher before John Watson. the university, and afterwards master of Christ's College; scarcely, it would seem, so friendly to the new learning as might be desired, for Erasmus rallies him as a Scotist, but to whom he was attracted by the fact that he had travelled in Italy, and numbered among his friends there, some with whom Erasmus was also well acquainted. There is still His letter to extant a pleasant letter to the latter, written by Watson from Peterhouse, informing him that the writer has just been presented to the living of Elsworth, 'only seven miles from Cambridge;''there is a capital rectory,' he adds (somewhat in the mood, apparently, to fancy himself passing rich on twenty pounds a year), but I shall have to spend half my first year's income in repairs; such as it is however, it is completely at your service whenever you may be disposed to come. Among other of Erasmus's acquaintance were two 1 Cooper, Athenæ, 1 94. 2 Ibid. 1 87; Knight, p. 146. 3 Knight, p. 144; Erasmus, Peregrinatio Religionis Ergo; Cooper, Athena, 1 142. 4 Cooper, Athena, 139, 40; Knight, p. 145. 5 Nactus sum sacerdotium intra septem millia a Cantabrigia, ædes habet pulchras, et mediocriter ad victum utile est; porro valet viginti nostrates libras supra omnia annua; d. 1530. Erasmus. CHAP. V. fellows of Queens' College, of maturer years,-Dr Fawne, his PART II. successor in the lady Margaret professorship, and Richard John Fawne. Whitford (to whom he dedicated his translation of Lucian's 1519. Richard Richard Sampson. d. 1554. bookseller. Tyrannicida), confessor to lord Mountjoy, and chaplain to bishop Fox, and lastly, of greater note than either of these, there was Richard Sampson of Trinity Hall, another of Wolsey's clients, afterwards bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, and an active participator in the affairs of state'. It is not improGerard, the bable however that Erasmus found in the shop of Gerard the bookseller, conversation as much to his mind as anywhere in the university. It was customary in those days for the authorities to license only foreigners to this trade, for as the great majority of new works issued from the presses on the continent, the necessary knowledge of books was rarely possessed by Englishmen. During some part of his stay, it would seem indeed that Erasmus was resident with Gerard, for we find him speaking of him in one letter, as his host; and we picture to ourselves the great scholar as often dropping in, to while away a tedious hour, and discussing with the worthy bookseller the typographical merits of the last production of the press at Venice or Basel, or the possibility of getting a respectable Greek fount at Cambridge, or sed hoc anno nunc primo fere dimi- 1 Cooper, Athenæ, i 22, 79, 119; 2 The booksellers were also regarded as agents by whom the suppression of heretical books was to be generally carried out. In a petition presented by the university to cardinal Wolsey in 1529, in the matter of Dr Cliffe, considerable importance is attached to the selection of those appointed:-' unum istud non leve momentum habere credimus, ad ejusmodi in perpetuum profligandos errores (quod tamen, sine tuæ celsitudinis ope, efficere non valemus), nempe si regia indulgentia concedatur academiæ nostræ, tres habere biblio polas, homines probos atque graves, qui sacramento et mulcta grandi adstringantur, nullum vel importare vel vendere librum, quem non prius viri aliquot absolutæ eruditionis (quos censores huic rei præficiet academia), talem pronunciarint ut qui tuto vendatur. Quos tum bibliopolas, quoniam e re nostra magis erit, alienigenas esse, sic enim consuletur librorum pretiis, summe credimus necessarium, illa uti libertate et immunitate gaudere, quibus indigenæ tuæ fruuntur, ita provinciali jure donati, ut Londini aliisque regni hujus emporiis, ab exteris negotiatoribus libros emere possint.' Fiddes's Life of Wolsey, Collection 25. 3 'Salutabis diligenter meis verbis amicos, quos animo mecum circumfero, Doctorem Phaunum, doctissimum Joannem Brianum,...ac veterem hospitem meum Gerardum bibliopolam.' Opera, ш 130. perhaps the commercial prospects of his own forthcoming CHAP. V. editions of the Greek Testament and St. Jerome. PART II. rasmus com those preva university stay. But though Erasmus undoubtedly found at Cambridge some staunch friends and not a few admirers,-while Fisher's patronage protected him from anything like molestation,-it would be contrary to all that we know of the prevailing tone of the university at this time, to suppose that he could long be resident without finding out how strongly his views ran Views of Ecounter to the traditional teaching. The school of theology pared with with which his name is identified, was in direct antagonism lent in the to the whole system then in vogue. The historical element during his in the Scriptures, the existence of which he clearly discerned and so ably unfolded, was precisely that element which the mediæval theologian, with all his untiring industry and elaborateness of interpretation, had neglected and ignored. To those (and such there were) who seriously believed that the Vulgate was to be preferred as a textual authority to the Greek original from which it had been derived, his labours over his Novum Instrumentum appeared a pedantic impertinence; while men of real ability and learning, like Eck of Ingoldstadt, were shocked when they heard of the non-classicality of the New Testament Greek and of erroneous quotations from the Septuagint. His estimate of the whole patristic His estimate literature, again, was almost a complete inversion of that then fathers. accepted at all the universities. Of St. Chrysostom,--the st. Chrysoonly father of the eastern Church who appears to have received much attention from mediæval students, he spoke with undisguised contempt'. St. Augustine was, according to his award, to be ranked far below St. Jerome, whom he St. Jerome. styled theologorum omnium princeps; while with respect to Origen, then but little known and much suspected, he de- origen. clared that a single page of this neglected writer taught more 1 It must be observed however that these criticisms applied only to writings falsely attributed to St. Chrysostom (see Jortin, 11 15). In some of his letters Erasmus speaks of this father in terms of high admiration; see Opera, 1 1343, 1432. 2 Ibid. II 146.-in hoc uno ovλλýßôn, ut aiunt, conjunctum fuit, of different stom. PART II. CHAP. V. Christian philosophy than ten pages of St. Augustine'. Of St. Hilary, it is true, he spoke with praise; but in the preSt. Hilary. face to his subsequent edition of that father's works, there occurred what was perhaps to the scholastic theologian the most galling passage Erasmus ever wrote,-a passage that roused the doctors of the Sorbonne to a man. It is that wherein he contrasts the reverent and moderate tone in which St. Hilary approaches the mysteries of Christian doctrine, with the fierce and shallow dogmatism and unhesitating confidence shewn by the interpreters of such subjects in his own time'. Towards Nicholas de Lyra and Hugo of St. Victor, the two great lights of medieval theology,-whose pages were more diligently studied at Cambridge than those of any other mediæval theologian, Lombardus alone excepted, he shewed but scant respect. He considered indeed that the errors of De Lyra might repay the trouble of correcting, and of these he subsequently pointed out a large number, and challenged any writer to disprove the arguments whereby he impugned their accuracy; with regard to Hugo however, he declared that his blunders were too flagrant to deserve refutation. Nicholas de Lyra and Hugo of St. Victor. 1Aperit enim quasi fontes quosdam, et rationes indicat artis theologica.' Opera, 111 95. 2 Subinde necessitatem hanc [de talibus pronunciandi] deplorat sanctissimus vir Hilarius haudquaquam ignarus quam periculi plenum sit, quam parum religiosum, de rebus ineffabilibus eloqui, incomprehensibilia scrutari, de longe semotis a captu nostro pronunciare. Sed in hoc pelago longius etiam provectus est divus Augustinus, videlicet felix hominis ingenium, quærendi voluptate, velut aura secundiore, aliunde alio proliciente. Moderatior est et Petrus Lombardus, qui sententias alienas recitans non temere de suo addit; aut si quid addit, timide proponit. Res tandem usque ad impiam audaciam progressa est. Sed veteribus sit venia, quam precantur, quos huc adegit necessitas. Nobis qua fronte veniam poscemus, qui de rebus longe semotissimas a nostra natura, tot curiosas, ne dicam impias, movemus quæstiones; tam multa defini But mus, quæ, citra salutis dispendium, vel ignorari poterant, vel in ambiguo relinqui?......Doctrina Christi, quæ prius nesciebat λoyoμaxiar, coepit a philosophiæ præsidiis pendere: hic erat primus gradus ecclesiæ ad deteriora prolabentis. Accreverunt opes, et accessit vis. Porro admixta huic negotio Cæsarum auctoritas, non multum promovit fidei sinceritatem. Tandem res deducta est ad sophisticas contentiones, articulorum myriades proruperunt. Hinc deventum est ad terrores ac minas. Quumque vita nos destituat, quum fides sit in ore magis quum in animo, quum solida illa sacrarum Litterarum cognitio nos deficiat, tamen terroribus huc adigimus homines, ut credant quod non credunt, ut ament quod non amant, et intelligant quod non intelligunt.' Ibid. 11 693, 696. 3 'Qui quicquid Lyranus scripserit oraculi instar haberi volunt, tueantur illum in illis locis in quibus ab eo dissentio. Nam in Hugone quærere quod reprehendas, stultissi |