THE LIFE OF THOMAS LINACRE, A.D.1460

CHAPTER I.

Birth—Family—Early Education—William Tilly, alias William de Selling—Established Mode of Instruction in the Fifteenth Century—Sent to Oxford—State of Learning—Grocyn—Latimer—More.

Thomas Linacre was born at Canterbury. The names of his parents have eluded research, and the time of his birth is uncertain; it probably took place A.D. 1460. The genealogy of the family, from which he boasted a descent, has been recorded with more certainty. It was seated in Derbyshire, and was respectable by its antiquity, a sufficient reason why his birth has been assigned to that county, with which he could have been only collaterally connected. Holinshed, who wrote in an age when the fact might have been ascertained without difficulty, gives this honour to the town of Derby; and Fuller, the quaint, but more learned chronicler of the succeeding century, rested satisfied with repeating this information on the authority of Wiever; but apparently without any evidence on which the assertion of that writer was founded. Caius, however, the president and early annalist of the college, of which Linacre was the founder, in enumerating the promoters of the liberal arts in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, has not forgotten his endowments in favour of medicine; and, in citing him as a benefactor to his art, has recorded the place of his nativity by the epithet, “Cantuariensis” an authority scarcely admitting of question, and sufficiently decisive of the point in debate.

Like most families of old and considerable possessions, that of Linacre derived its surname from its place of abode. It boasted of Saxon blood, or at least existed as early as the Saxon dynasty, and was seated, previously to the Norman Conquest, at Linacre, a hamlet, or subordinate manor to that of Chesterfield, in Derbyshire, where it flourished from the time of Lamberte de Linacre, the founder, or first recorded of his stock, to the close of the sixteenth century, when the chief branch became extinct, after a long and uninterrupted line of nineteen generations. During this time John Linacre enjoyed the rank of esquire, either by descent or creation, in an age when that honour was estimated in proportion to the difficulty of attaining it; and the commission issued for inquiring into the names and number of the nobility and gentry of the different shires, returned two of this lineage, as holding the latter rank. The families, with which their name has been successfully connected, proclaim their importance; and their fortunes were increased by successive marriages with the heiresses of Bralesworth, Glasswell, Hakenthorpe, Bakewell and Plombley. In addition to their possessions at Linacre, they also held other property in the same county; since their arms, in compliance with the usage of proprietorship or benefaction, are noted in a window of Beighton church as late as the year A.D. 1569. William de Linacre held lands in Hampshire of the prior and convent of St. Swythin, at Winchester, of which he died seised in the fourteenth century.

Robert Linacre also, in the sixteenth century, held the manor of Brompton in Derbyshire, under the Earl of Shrewsbury; and a younger branch was seated at Hasland Hall, which expired in the person of John Linacre, who died without issue male in 1488. From what member of this pedigree the descent of the subject of this work is to be traced does not appear; but the affirmation of his connection with it, by all writers who have mentioned his name, justify the presumption of it as a fact, which even the errors of Holinshed and Wiever tend to support. He left behind him no record of his birth, a proof of the little value he attached to hereditary rank, and that he considered it more honourable to confer reputation on his family, than to inherit it from them.

The first instructions in grammar which Linacre received, were obtained at the public school within the monastery of Christchurch, at Canterbury. This institution was supported by the archbishop and convent, and, like the society on which it depended, is believed to be coeval with the introduction of Christianity into this island, if not to have been instituted by St. Augustine himself.

The master, to whom the care of this establishment had been confided, was a monk, who merits a notice, superior to that of the majority of his brethren in the fifteenth century. This man was William Tillmore generally known by the surname of Selling, which he assumed from a village of that name in Kent, where he was born. Of his family and early life little is known. He studied at Oxford, and was destined for the church; Wood has enumerated him among the fellows of All Souls College in that university, about the period of Linacre’s birth; and admission into which implies a gentleman by birth, and a consanguinity not very remote from the founder. He afterwards became a monk of the Augustine monastery of Christchurch, and in this capacity presided over the convent school, where Linacre enjoyed the benefit of his instructions. A zeal for ancient literature, and a refinement of taste almost at variance with the habits generated by a monastic life, induced him to solicit permission for his chapter to travel. With means sufficient for this indulgence he passed into Italy, and became not only a diligent student in the canon and civil law, but a successful disputant with its professors in the Italian schools. His residence was at Bologna, at that time one of the most celebrated of the universities of modern Italy; there he enjoyed the friendship of Angelo Politiano, to whom he had recommended himself by a similarity of taste and an attachment to the literature of the ancients. Under this master he acquired a knowledge of Greek, and the eagerness, with which he pursued whatever related to the object of his travels, was displayed in the collection of numerous MSS. with Which he enriched the library of his convent upon his return to England.

The method of instruction, which had been established by custom, or maintained by necessity, in the public schools of the kingdom, when Linacre received the elements of his education, was little adapted to excite a desire of knowledge in those, who were destined under such circumstances to acquire it; and it was his glory to have afterwards laid the foundation, and to have contributed the materials, of a better and more perfect system. The monasteries, particularly the houses of the Dominicans, the Franciscans and the Augustines, were the chief depositories of the grammatical knowledge of the age; and their inhabitants continued to supply that instruction, which it was considered necessary that the better classes of society and the candidates for the priesthood should receive. To each school, which had been established under these orders, vanity had assigned the title of university; and the same feeling led the heads of every less privileged institution to adopt an equally false and deceptive appellation. In these institutions grammar, the foundation of all higher attainments, was generally neglected, and a disdain of that accuracy of expression, which results from its use, either induced false views of things, or begat that corruption and disorder of real science, to which an imperfection of judgment and the abuse of terms have at all times materially contributed. The usual period allowed for the attainment of this instrument of science seldom exceeded three months. The pupils found themselves bewildered in the mazes and mysteries of logic, till they reached the very threshold of divinity, by a path of which they could have but little knowledge, and retain as little recollection—a march strangely disproportioned to the infancy of intellect—whilst the unhappy travellers, like streams flowing in contrary directions from the same source, found themselves, the farther they advanced from the first elements of knowledge, more widely separated and remote from those of higher and more difficult attainment. Into this scheme the eloquence and poetry of antiquity never entered. The works of the Roman writers were sealed books, on which the eyes of the pupil were scarcely allowed to dwell, whilst pretended difficulties and perverted explanations inculcated only a barbarism of expression, in unison with the barren and superficial information, which was derived from an attempt at their perusal.

The qualifications of Selling, and the taste for a sounder literature in which he indulged, saved Linacre from those errors, and from the task devoting his earlier years to pursuits, so unprofitable, and so repugnant to the progress of intellect The master had devoted his time to better occupations, than the exclusive study of dialectics, or of the lives and miracles of the saints of his church; and whilst he defied the authority, which inculcated them, as the means most necessary to the attainment of wisdom, the pupil, guided either by a similarity of taste, or by the example of his master, had imbibed the same opinions, and sedulously cultivated the more neglected elements of ancient learning. Circumstances render it probable that Selling and his pupil were united by closer ties, than those of instruction and pupilage, and it is no wonder that he, who disdained the fruitless wisdom of the age, should endeavour to excite in the mind of him, to whom he was bound by the double ties of relation and preceptor, feelings as correct and as elevated as his own.

With a store of learning calculated rather to excite the contempt, than the admiration of his contemporaries, Linacre was removed to Oxford, under the direction, or by the advice of his tutor, Selling. His admission to the university was delayed till 1480, when he had reached the age of twenty years, a later period of life than custom warranted, and when the novice was obnoxious to a discipline, which, like other academical forms, has yielded gradually to the changes, which have been effected in the manners and usages of society. Collegiate establishments also were, not, at that time, the habitations of students, who resided at their own charges under the same roof with those, who shared the bounty of the founders; but institutions, which imposed on their members many of the ceremonies of a monastic life, joined to the more active duties of a secular communion. The majority of the former were accommodated as “convictores” in halls or hostells, which were rented of the citizens, and attached to particular colleges, which required of their inhabitants a submission, as well to the laws of the university, as to the statutes by which their own societies were regulated.

Of some such institution Linacre became a member on his entrance at the university. His connection with Canterbury and its school, render it probable that he was admitted into the hall or college of that name, which had been founded by Simon de Islip, in the fourteenth century, for the instruction of the younger monks of his convent, with whom, however, secular students were sometimes allowed to mix. From this, or some other society, he was elected a fellow of All Souls College in the year 1484, and in the twenty-fourth year of his age. Not more than forty years had then elapsed from the death of the founder of this establishment, and the claim of consanguinity, to which he referred in its statutes, as an essential qualification in the election of its fellows, justify the assertion of a close connection between the family of Linacre and that of its founder, Henry Chichele. However great the merit of the candidate, such a qualification could scarcely have been overlooked. It subsisted in obedience to the statutes of the college, in full force, and without limit ; and it could only have been on the ground of collateral kindred, that he was elected to this preferment, in common with his preceptor, Selling, who had enjoyed it nearly thirty years before him.

Prone to retirement, and of an age capable of estimating the advantages which it afforded, Linacre resigned himself to those studies, in favour of which his mind had received an early bias. The idiom and structure of the Latin language, then, by common consent, the instrument of communication between the learned, were barbarous and corrupted; and although a small portion of Greek learning prevailed in the university, its cultivation was so limited, as neither to excite the regard, nor the hostility of the many, who were occupied in the more fashionable exercise of dialectic discussion. Private application and individual instruction enabled him to augment the superficial knowledge of this language, which he had brought with him to Oxford. Amongst the foreigners, particularly those of Italy, with whom England abounded, was an Italian, named Cornelio Vitelli, or Vitellio, a man of noble birth, and a native of Corrieto, a maritime town in the patrimony of Saint Peter. Domestic misfortunes, or the political distractions of the country, had driven him an exile to England, and he resided at Oxford, either for the sake of study, or of obtaining a livelihood by communicating to others the principles of that language, with which his country had been for some years enriched. He is believed to have been the first, who gave instructions in Greek, not only to the members of the university, but to the learned of England. With Vitelli for his master, Linacre applied himself to the study of Greek, and laid the foundation for that perfection in it, which he so amply displayed at a later period of his life, in, opposition to the studies, which were sanctioned by the statutes and customs of the place. The different sects of logicians, which had multiplied from their origin, in the thirteenth century, still contested the possession of the schools; and the disputes of the Thomists, the Nominals, and the Reals, formed a confusion of tongues, which seemed to remove their followers from the Truth, which they professedly sought, in proportion to the clamour with which they asserted their claim to its discovery. To live the associate of men, who knew no higher glory, than to affect the reduction, or to detect the fallacy of a syllogism, implies the acquirement of some portion of that art, by which these operations were directed. That Linacre did not neglect to cultivate the better part of this learning, I shall afterwards have occasion to prove, and he neglected its more worthless portion only, in the anticipation of that revolution of opinion, which was about to consign the discipline of the schools to the station which it merited, and against which its sophisms were to be exerted in vain.

It was his happiness, whilst engaged in this task, to meet with a few, whose tempers were in unison with his own. Amongst them were two, whose' names deserve more than a cursory notice, and in whose society he achieved the labour of acquiring a language, which was almost new, and pregnant with difficulties. The zeal, which had animated him to cultivate the literature of the ancients, had also disposed his companions to a similar attempt, and the friendship, which this circumstance proved the means of exciting between the parties, was preserved uninterrupted through life. As they divided with him the labour, so also were they associated with him in the glory of being the first in this country, to whom learning owed its cultivation and revival.

The first of these friends, although more advanced in years, and of academical rank' superior to his own, was William Grocyn, who was born about the year 1442. He was a native of Bristol, and was designed by his parents for the church, with which view he was sent to the school of Winchester College, where he fulfilled the hopes, which had been formed of his progress, as a sound and elegant scholar. Whilst resident there, he is said to have displayed in his exercises a quickness of comprehension, and a refinement of thought, rather belonging to a maturity of intellect, than according with the crudities, by which the compositions of the schoolboy may usually be detected. Such productions, however, may probably have been the efforts of manhood, as he continued at Winchester till his twenty-second year, when he was elected to a scholarship at New College, of which, after a probation of two years, he was admitted a fellow in the year 1467. His attachment to the university, from the literary leisure, which he there enjoyed, was ardent, for although he had vacated his fellowship in the year 1479, by accepting from his college the rectory of Newnton Longville in Buckinghamshire, it is certain that he never officiated at his cure, but continued to reside at Oxford; a breach of duty of which the lax discipline of the age took no cognizance. He had obtained a high reputation as a scholar, and whilst zealous in the cultivation of the Greek language, he sustained, for nearly twenty years, an equal reputation in the scholastic exercises, which were prescribed by the university, as amongst the chief duties of its members. About the year 1483 he was chosen Reader in Divinity, in Magdalen College, and his reputation in the art of dialectic recommended him to that society, as a proper person to partake in the disputations, which had been prepared in honour of King Richard III, who had signified his intended visit to that college, as amongst the first acts of his usurpation. On the twenty-fourth day in the same year the king arrived at Oxford from Windsor. His suit, which was lodged with him in the college, consisted of the Bishops of Durham, Worcester and St. Asaph, the Earls of Lincoln and Surrey, the Lord Treasurer, and the Lords Lovel and Beauchamp. The tribute, which had been prepared by the university for the monarch and his attendants, was accepted, and the anniversary of Saint James was selected for the exhibition. The questions were discussed in the hall of the college, in the presence of the monarch, his court, and the university, and the subjects proposed were selected from moral philosophy and divinity, The opponent of Grocyn was John Taylor, professor of the latter faculty, with whom he had to contend in the quality of respondent. He sustained this character to the satisfaction of the king and the college, and received the royal approbation in the present of a buck and five marks.

Of the parentage and early education of William Latimer, the last of the triumvirate, no account has been preserved by his biographers; like Linacre, the time of his birth has been determined only by his known age at the time of his death; and admitting this calculation to be correct, that event must be assigned to the year 1460. He was sent to Oxford to pursue the study of divinity, and was afterwards associated with Linacre in the College of All Souls, where, although of the same age, he did not obtain a fellowship till the year 1489. The modesty, which marked his character, has afforded to posterity few memorials, either of his writings or of his pursuits, nor was his name distinguished amongst his contemporaries, till the learning and piety with which it was adorned, rendered it no longer capable of concealment. His views were directed to the acquirement of logic and philosophy, and the intervals between these were occupied by the study of humanity under the same roof with his colleague, Linacre, and in the graver and more scholastic society of his friend and preceptor, Grocyn.

Under such favourable circumstances had the acquaintance of these individuals with each other commenced. It had for its basis the laudable desire of literary reputation, and it improved into a friendship, with which the concerns of active life, or the caution of age, were never allowed to interfere. The station, which Linacre now enjoyed, was one of academical distinction; since younger candidates for collegiate honours were committed to his guidance and instruction, a presumptive proof of a well-earned character in those branches of knowledge, for which he was afterwards justly celebrated. Social intercourse was here substituted for the harsher discipline, which a disparity of years sometimes justified, although the respect, which was due from a pupil, was never forgotten in any familiarities into which the preceptor might relax as a friend.

Amongst other distinguished persons, whose education was partly confided to Linacre, was Thomas More, son of Sir John More, a Justice of the King’s Bench, whose elevation, at a later period of his life, conferred not less honour on his preceptor, than his persecution disgraced the king, whom he had served. He owed his connection with Oxford to the care of John Morton, Cardinal of St. Anastatius, Primate of all England, by whom he was placed in Canterbury College, an institution immediately connected with the church over which that prelate presided, and of which there is good reason to believe that Linacre had been also a member, More’s entrance at Canterbury was about the year 1497, and in the seventeenth year of his age; his previous education had been liberal, and he had been early placed by his father at the free school of St. Anthonie in London, where he was taught the rudiments of grammar and the elements of the Latin language under Nicholas Holt, a master of some eminence, and one of the earliest writers on grammar in this country. Latimer, whose name has been just mentioned, was his schoolfellow. Of the tutelage within his college we have no account, but it is certain from the testimony of his biographers, as well as from his private correspondence, that he owed his knowledge of Greek to the precepts of Linacre: Grocyn also was now reading public lectures in the same language, and his acquaintance with it was improved by his attendance upon them. To the tutor of his college was probably limited the instruction, which he received in Latin and in logic, as his attendance was voluntary, and formed no part either of the discipline or regulations, which its members were required to obey.

The advantages, which resulted from this connection, were favourable to the interests of More, and bespeak a mind, as correct in the estimate, as it was ardent in the pursuit of knowledge. Erasmus, who afterwards shared the friendship of preceptor and pupil, has confirmed this literary intercourse, and has summed up the character of the latter in brief, but not exaggerated terms. The letter, in which this eulogium is contained, was addressed to his friend, German de Brie, (Germanus Brixius,) with the hope of conciliating him towards More, with whom he was at variance. “My opinion,” says he, “is that of all, who know him. His disposition is altogether incomparable, his memory is the happiest, and his powers of declamation the most ready.” The fruits of the instruction, which Moro received, were given to the world at an early period of his life. A custom prevailed among such younger members of the university, as had acquired a reputation of superior learning, to become occasional teachers, and to lecture from some subject or text, for the discussion of which they had collected materials, or of which they had made themselves masters. It is evident that such exhibitions Were liable to abuse, and were open to the objection, that the age of the lecturer qualified him for an auditor rather than for a teacher; although the motive was laudable, in as far as they proved a test of the powers of the candidate, and enabled him to estimate the opinion of the public, as to his qualifications for the task which he had undertaken. By such an ordeal he was also enabled to put a corresponding Value upon his attainments, and was prepared to encounter the difficulties and the opposition with which his entrance into public life might be assailed, The abilities of More were tried early in this way, and, although a layman, he was the successful commentator or expounder of St. Augustine to a crowded audience, not only of men his equals, but of the gravest and most eminent of the clergy. It will hereafter appear, that Linacre, with less presumption, read similar lectures on medicine; but at a more advanced age, and probably with better qualifications for the undertaking.

CHAPTER II.

Schools in the Time of the Aborigines—Previously to the Ninth Century—Introduction of Christianity—Institutions of Alfred— Opposition to his proposed Alterations—Consequences of the Incursions of the Danes—Restoration of Schools—Foundation of Colleges—Norman Conquest—Growth of Individual Institutions —Monasteries—Croyland Abbey—Ingulph—Learning of the Age confined to Theology, Philosophy and Grammar—General Decay of Letters and Schools—Introduction of Argumentative Theology—Success of University of Paris—Aristotle—Re-establishment of Schools in England by Henry III,—Alexander of Holes—Learning of the Schools—Thomas Aquinas—John Duns —Course of Study at the Universities—Ejfect of the Introduction of the Pandects—Morley—Grostest—Council of Vienne—Constitutions of Clement—Contest of Graduates in Theology, Law and Medicine for Priority—General State of Literature—State of Public Libraries and those of Religious Houses—Dawn of more profitable Learning—Foundations of Wainfleet, Bishop of Winchester,

As one design of this work was to illustrate the learning of England from its infancy to the revival of letters in the fifteenth century, I shall here pause in the narrative, and solicit the reader’s patience during the following digression, in which an attempt has been made to trace it briefly through a tedious course of many generations.

The great change which had been effected by the success of the Mahommedan arms in the East, and the burst of mind, which was amongst the chief and most important of its consequences, render the literary state of Britain during the middle ages an object, worthy at least of the contemplation of the scholar. The revolution of opinion, to which the nations of the South of Europe had been subjected by that success, had also extended itself to the islands of the West, where its effects and its triumphs were still the same. The origin and advantage of a system, which, in combination with other causes, had holden the capacities of men in bondage, and blinded them to the higher exercises of intellect, present a history necessary to the proper estimation of the character of those, who were eminent in the great work of its overthrow. The difficulties, which were opposed to a successful contest against the rooted prejudices by which the reign of the schoolmen was so long maintained, gradually gave way, and the vast benefits, which were derived from their defeat, justified the defection, and sanctioned the opposition of their adversaries.

At a period not less than 1100 years before the Christian era, places in this island are said by historians to have been selected for the study of the liberal arts, and for the promotion of learning amongst the aboriginal inhabitants of Britain. The existence of these places, and the purposes for which they were instituted, may reasonably be doubted, not less from the remote date to which their foundation has been carried, than from a poverty in the evidences which their authors have adduced in support of such unsatisfactory hypotheses. The history also, with which these pretended facts are connected, is enveloped in so much obscurity, that it would have been scarcely worthy of notice, had not an author, to whose opportunities and observation much respect is due, reposed confidence in the chronicler of the middle ages, on whose unauthorised assertions he rests his claim to credit and support. No authentic records are preserved either of the systems of philosophy, or of the studies which were here pursued, and all knowledge of their founders is lost in the pretended antiquity of their origin. The warfare of contending dynasties, which so often rendered the nation desolate between the pretended period of the introduction of Greek letters into Britain and the ninth century, induced a state of morals and habits of society, as unfavourable to the foundation of literary institutions, as to the progress and influence of learning. When the Saxon dynasty was established, and Christianity became the religion of the nation, its influence was felt in the cultivation and encouragement of the beneficial arts of peace; and in the foundations of Alfred are to be traced the models of those societies, to which philosophy and humanity owe their rise and cultivation.

The advantages, which were expected by the monarch to arise from these proofs of his wisdom and munificence, were but partially fulfilled, and were almost frustrated by the interruptions to which they were exposed from the barbarism of the age, and the disputes of those who presided over them. The old scholastics zealously opposed the forms and discipline which their new associates attempted to introduce amongst them, whilst the quarrels of the teachers were readily embraced by their followers, to the exclusion of that salutary instruction which was the chief object of their appointment. Three years of useless argument and opposition were consumed in prescribing the mode of teaching, till the virulence of the contending parties was curbed only by the royal presence. The king determined these disputes in person, and exhorted their authors to peace and learning and concord, without which their efforts would he vain. The doctrines of the rival scholastics were thus consolidated, but the heresies of Arius and Pelagius soon furnished grounds for the renewal of the dispute, and divided the passions and opinions of men, to which the opportunities of instruction were again rendered subservient. The schools were closed by a papal interdict, leaving the: banished disputants to seek refuge in the religious houses of the kingdom, where these heresies had: excited less attention, and attracted fewer converts. The frequent incursions of the Danes completed the work, to which the polemical discussions of the schools had powerfully contributed. Their professors were again scattered from the desolation with which all places, dedicated to instruction of devotion, were visited; and the facilities for receiving knowledge, which had been afforded to the population of the kingdom, were either generally abridged or altogether destroyed.

To these calamities succeeded the work of restoration, with the institution of more extensive establishments, and the introduction of better systems. The learning of the age was limited to- an acquaintance with the arts of theology, philosophy and grammar, and the views of Alfred were directed to their encouragement and cultivation. The professors, who had survived the slaughter consequent upon invasion and war, were recalled, and to each faculty were assigned twenty-six professors, to whom was permitted the privilege of instruction, according to the different stages into which each of these arts was divided. Halls, or habitations, were erected for the residence of the respective teachers, to whose support the' king devoted a fourth of his revenue, which he endeavoured to establish in perpetuity, by entailing a similar charge upon his heirs and successors. With such ample support the fame of these schools extended throughout Europe, and strangers of all nations travelled to reap instruction from them. The celebrity which Oxford had acquired, as the seat and centre of these arts, was preserved undiminished for nearly 200 years, till a new and foreign dynasty succeeded to the government of the Saxons. The seizure of its revenues was amongst the first consequences of the Norman conquest; whilst the resistance of the citizens to the measures of the sovereign was punished by fine and confiscation. With the loss of its revenues the importance of its teachers ceased, its schools no longer possessed attraction, and the laws and privileges by which it had been governed were the only remains of the wisdom and piety of its founder.

Individual institutions did not fail to take advantage of these events, and to promote the interests of their own establishments by transferring to themselves the discipline, from which the schools of Oxford had derived their fame. Amongst the monasteries with which the kingdom abounded, was the abbey of Croyland, in Lincolnshire, over which an Englishman, named Ingulph, presided. He was elected superior of this establishment by the monks, who had settled at Croyland, some of whom were Normans, and formed a part of the king’s train, when he effected the conquest which transferred the crown of Britain to himself. The education, which Ingulph had received at Oxford and Westminster, fitted him for the appointment to which he had been delegated; and. his first efforts were directed to institute a plan of instruction modelled upon that, which prevailed in the schools where he had studied. Lectures were delivered upon the sciences the most esteemed by the age; the monks expounded such authors of antiquity as were known or admired, and the house of Ingulph was celebrated as a college, which furnished the opportunities of learning to all who had the inclination, or power to partake of them. Although the plan, which this great man had laid down for the encouragement of learning, was interrupted by his death, a successor was found competent to its completion, amidst the discords and distractions in which the nation was involved by changes in the form and policy of its government. An accidental conflagration combined with these circumstances to abridge the revenues of the monastery, and desolation succeeded to the provisions, which its ample endowments had furnished, leaving its monks to seek an asylum in other countries. From these misfortunes, however, its new abbot, Joffrid, resolved to extract good; arid as the district, in which the old building was situated, was dreary, ill-peopled, surrounded with immense forests and marshes, and accessible for the most part only by water, he sent Gislebert, a fellow monk, and professor of divinity, with three others of his order, to a more convenient site, from which their labours might be more widely extended. The manor of Cottenham in Cambridgeshire, a part of the possessions of the convent, was chosen for this purpose, and a barn at first sufficed to contain the auditors who wished to profit by their labours. Two years served to augment the means of accommodation; and the celebrity which had attached to the halls of Alfred was transferred for a time to the school of the Norman abbot and his monks. The forms and discipline, which were instituted by these men, were well adapted for the purposes which they proposed to fulfil. They were copied from those which prevailed at Orleans, one of the most celebrated of the schools of Europe; and the manner, in which they were carried into effect, partook of the regularity which can belong only to experienced and well-governed establishments. Early in the morning the young pupils heard the lectures of brother Odo in grammar. At noon Terricus, a sophist, explained to those of advanced years the logic of Aristotle, with the introductions and comments of Porphyrrius and Averroes. Brother William was occupied in the afternoon by an exposition of the rhetoric of Cicero and Quinctilian. On Sundays and holidays Gislebert preached in the neighbouring churches, and chiefly directed his arguments against the errors and infidelity of the Jews.

In these humble imitations of the academics and philosophy of Greece, are to be found the seeds of that scholastic wisdom, the progress of which remains to be traced. In examining the different opinions which have prevailed upon the origin and state of learning from the rudest periods to the eleventh century, it will be found that all attempts to discover places, or societies, especially dedicated to instruction, before the Saxon era, must be fruitless; and that the learning of the age was confined to theology, philosophy, and grammar; the last of which, limited as it may appear, was attained only by a few, to whom rank and office rendered the acquisition of it a duty or necessity. It is true that other arts were sometimes cultivated, and that logic, music and arithmetic, although not considered of equal value with the former, were estimated as subordinate to, or emanating from them. The first of these was inferior in degree, and restricted in its application; but the facilities, which it afforded to argument, were soon felt, and, in an age when humanity was sacrificed to subtleties and evasion, its advantages were too obvious to be relinquished: it usurped in its progress the possession of the schools, nor did it halt, till the better part of literature was left remote in the distance, or subdued to its dominion.

In the meantime other causes, in addition to those which resulted from the Norman conquest, had operated to the depression of letters, and the twelfth century afforded as few inducements to attempt their revival, as it presented opportunities for their successful cultivation. Learning for nearly 200 years had been retrograding, and the regular system under which theology and philosophy, the highest attainments of the age, had acquired perfection, was abandoned for a brief but laser discipline, which inculcated the theory of these arts, regardless of their practice, or of their application to the uses and purposes of life. Two causes powerfully contributed to this effect, the influence of the imperial laws among the western governments of Europe, and the neglect of the old scheme of scholastic instruction with its divisions, which served as boundaries to science, and marked the difference by which the qualifications of the student were more readily determined. Correctness and elegance of language, which resulted from an acquaintance with Grammar and rhetoric, were despised as useless, and men passed by a premature and rapid course to the study of logic, without previously acquiring the means by which it could alone be rendered an useful instrument of science; whilst eloquence, which would have followed from an union of the three branches, was superseded by a garrulity, which possessed the form without the substance, either of argument or acuteness. Scholars now aspired to the rank of teachers, and a space of three or four years sufficed for the imperfect attainment of an useless learning, which they hastened to communicate as imperfectly to others. These means were a sufficient passport to the more lucrative exercises of law or physics—a rank, says a contemporary historian, of which men in calmer and happier days were only enabled to boast, after the full study of philosophy, and of the rules of prosody and grammar, in which a tedious labour of twenty years scarcely conferred a proficiency.

The consequences of a system so pernicious were the utter decay of all useful learning, and the birth of a spurious erudition, which threatened anew the introduction of barbarism. Polite literature was daily growing out of use, the elegance of the Roman language was disregarded, and the purity of Latin diction sacrificed to the intricacies in which theology was involved by the intrigues of the polemics, whose canons were expressed in an idiom not less rugged, than were their questions corrupted from the pure and simple precepts of the Gospel. The speculative knowledge, which the mind so readily embraces, in preference to the painful deductions from accumulated evidence, was preferred to that correctness of judgment on which depends the discernment between truth and error. Men used their reasoning powers as instruments for the acquirement of knowledge, but that knowledge was in no way regarded as an instrument, by whose mutual operation those powers were to be rendered perfect. The formation of the judgment, and exactness in the exercise of it, were the motives by which these polemical speculations were least directed. Their discussions became an empty amusement, from which Christianity derived no benefit, and its founder no glory, compared with which ignorance was hurtless, in proportion to its freedom from that sottish vanity, which fruitless and unprofitable pursuits ultimately tend to produce.

The founder of this argumentative theology, which proved alike injurious to the interests of religion and of. literature, was Pierre, the Lombard, (Petrus Lombardus). The university of Paris had for many years enjoyed a distinction, which influenced the similar, but less celebrated institutions of Europe; and the system of study which prevailed in them was almost universally derived from that, which reigned in the schools, and regulated the theology of France. The dominion, which was exercised over the English clergy by King Henry II, and the exactions of heavy tributes from them, to which the Pope had also lent his sanction, added to the numbers already attracted by the fame of these schools. The French monarch favoured this defection of the English, by assigning a Cistercian convent for their residence, which became a college, to which their countrymen long after regularly resorted. The opinion of the old and more sober schoolmen is not very favourable to the advantages, which accrued from this education, for the English are not only accused of sacrificing the solidity of their own discipline to the sophisms and triflings of France; but of returning with the pollutions of a foreign capital, as little favourable to the progress of morality, as their superficial acquirements were to that of sound and useful literature.

The forms and machinery, by which this theology was brought into action, and the application of them to less fashionable and momentous subjects, may be considered the parents of that discipline, which constituted the wisdom of the middle ages amongst the inhabitants of Europe, to which, by common consent, was afterwards given the appellation of The Learning of the Schools. The principles contained in the Organon of Aristotle had always been taught, as a necessary part in the great scheme of education; but its professors were wanting in sufficient dexterity to wield so formidable a weapon with effect, and the art of reasoning, which had hitherto holden only a subordinate, or at least a middle station in the scale of science, was about to be elevated to the highest rank, and to be enforced as the engine by whose successful operation the student was to be conducted to the fulness and perfection of wisdom. The political and religious feelings, which had directed the enterprises of the sovereigns of Europe, seem to have been transferred from the court to the school, and the same enthusiasm, which had guided one-half of the laity of Europe in their expeditions to the East, now induced the ecclesiastics to grasp a weapon which promised them equal success in establishing the truths of Christianity at home. Men, with more boldness than dexterity, seized the instrument, as a talisman, which, by separating what was essential in argument from what was adventitious, was to enable them to overcome fallacy, by confining their opponents within the narrow confines of syllogistic art, from which, as from the alchymist’s fire, was to emanate a perfect metal, unamalgamated with the baser alloy of error and deceit.

It was to these events, and to these pursuits, that the introduction of the works of Aristotle into the south of Europe, with the application of their principles, dissonant as they were from the uses and languages of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, are to be traced. When the overthrow of the Greek empire had been accomplished in the seventh century, the dominion of a new and less polished people, who cultivated the philosophy of Greece, was established in a distant part of Asia, and to the schools of Arabia is to be ascribed the preservation of those systems, which would otherwise have perished in the wreck of the empire, in which they had originally flourished. The supposed aptitude of the Arabic language to the translation of the idiom and phrases of philosophy was favourable to this adoption; although the Latin language had been previously, but less successfully, applied to a similar purpose by Boethius, in the sixth century, who had attempted to transfer the Dialectics of Aristotle into a language unfavourable to the exposition of Greek philosophy. The Arabic translation, with the works of the Arabian commentators, were introduced into Spain by the Moorish conquerors of that country, where the Latin language became a second time the medium by which the philosophy of Aristotle was circulated and exclusively established in the schools of Europe.

As a consequence of the monopoly which the schools of Paris enjoyed, those of England were deserted, and a general decay of learning prevailed throughout the kingdom. The taxes imposed upon the clergy, which had been amongst the causes of this desertion, produced a like effect in the monasteries, and the inmates not only departed from the rules of their orders, but permitted a laxity of discipline, at variance with the purposes for which they were established. In this unhappy condition was the literature of this country in the thirteenth century, when the fame, which had been acquired by the French schools, was turned to the advantage of the English. The same policy, which had guided Henry II in the imposition of tax and tribute also regulated the measures of the French king, by virtue of which the citizens of Paris exercised an authority, which encroached upon the rights of the English, who sojourned within their capital. The students complained of injuries received, of hindrance to their studies, and of the abrogation of their customs and ancient privileges. The prospect, afforded by these remonstrances of re-establishing the English schools, was not neglected by Henry III, and accordingly by letters-patent, dated at Reading in the year 1228, he invited the aggrieved to partake of his patronage and protection. He commiserated the troubles and difficulties which they had sustained from the unjust laws of the Parisians, and expressed a desire to restore them to their proper station, by an affectionate alleviation of their sufferings. In case of their translation to England, he agreed to assign them any of his cities, burghs, or towns, which they might select for the purposes of study, with that due degree of liberty and peace, as might be gratifying to God, and sufficient for themselves.

These letters, with the assurances which accompanied them, were too important to be neglected, and the advantages, which they promised, were accordingly embraced by the discontented, as well as by natives of France to the amount of several thousands. The crowd of students in England soon increased beyond measure, and at Oxford alone, they were rated at a number, not less than thirty thousand. How long the Parisians continued to frequent the English schools is uncertain, but an intercourse was established between the rival academies of Paris and Oxford, from which resulted a familiarity and friendship between the inhabitants of the two countries, which influenced the manners, as well as promoted the literature of the age. The rights of hospitality were enforced, and each academy deemed the education of the candidates for its honours incomplete, unless they had availed themselves of the opportunities, which were afforded them by a temporary residence at the other.

Of those, who had repaired to the schools of Paris, was Alexander, surnamed of Hales (Halensis or Alensis) from a monastery in Gloucestershire, where he was educated. He was by tilth an Englishman. After devoting himself for some years to the study Of philosophy and theology in his own country, he travelled to France, in compliance with the custom of the age, where his application was rewarded with the high title of Chief Inceptor-Laureate in the faculty of Theology. He was at a subsequent period promoted to the royal chair Of Theology, Which he filled with the greatest reputation to himself, and to the admiration of his hearers. Having resolved to dedicate himself to the austerities of a religious life, he entered a convent of Friars Minorites, to whose order he recommended himself by the wish of becoming a true disciple of its founder, in poverty and humility, and in the profession of the same system of philosophy. He was the author of an exposition of the rules of the order of St. Francis; the reputation of which order was adorned by his erudition, and increased by his sanctity, and of whose doctors he was numbered as the chief. He occupied the first place amongst the fifteen celebrated schoolmen, whose names were inscribed on the tomb of John Duns Scotus at Cologne; but his name was Tendered still more illustrious by its connection with those of his two scholars,—the great lights of the Catholic faith, St. Thomas of Aquino and St. Bonaventura,—and by the possession of the more substantial dignity of the purple, under the title of Cardinal of Saint Eustace. He was appointed by Pope Innocent IV to compose a system of theology, which he executed with such singular judgment, that it was afterwards remitted to the revision of seventy divines, and ordered by Alexander IV to be received in the schools and academies of Europe, as the authorized code of scholastic theology. In addition to this his great work, he composed many treatises, which are now lost. The rank which he held as one of the chief of the theologians of his age, gave an authority to his writings, which was enhanced by his clearness of arrangement, and the subtlety of his reasoning. He died in the year 1245, and was buried in the church of the Franciscan convent at Paris, leaving a character, which may be comprised in this short eulogy: To a superior sanctity of life, he added an equally rare and solid erudition. From his followers he received the proud but empty titles of the Doctor of Doctors, the Irrefragable, and the blasphemous attribute of the Fountain of Life.

Such were the labours, and such the character of the man, who was regarded in his generation as the father of that scholastic wisdom, to which England was so zealously attached, and to which she bowed with an entire and unlimited devotion. To the profundity contained in his system of theology, to his endless propositions of futile and doubtful questions, and to the ingenuity displayed in their solution, is to be dated the establishment of that dialectic discipline, to whose foundation the Parisian theology had for a long time insensibly contributed. To these causes was added an imperfect knowledge of the system on which that wisdom was reared; for although the peripatetic philosophy, as translated by Boethius, had made rapid progress amongst the inhabitants of the western nations of Europe, its progress in England was more tardy, and the text of Aristotle not only unknown, but the design of his system was entirely perverted. The commentaries of Averroes, whether in the language of their author, or in their translation by the Spaniards into Latin, favoured these abuses by the misinterpretations or interpolations with which they abounded. As was the foundation, so also was the superstructure, and from this multitude of errors followed an equal multitude in the theology, which they were designed to illustrate. These difficulties were increased not only by the neglect of pure Latinity, but by a total ignorance of the rules and application of grammar. Rhetoric, the ornament of language, was separated from logic with which it had common origin, and from this division sprang a garrulity, as pernicious as it was useless. Logic was confounded with science, of which it was only the instrument, and wrangling, whose object was victory, prevailed over syllogism, whose object was truth. Thus armed, the argument was frequently relinquished, as doubtful and as inexplicable as it had commenced; and the disputants retired from the contest, as remote from the attainment of truth here by the weapons which they employed in its search, as they were from life hereafter by an exclusive obedience to the tenets prescribed by the theology, in behalf of which they so eagerly contended.

Although the system of dialectics, which had been introduced into England by Alexander of Hales, occupied for a time the exclusive attention of the schools, the restlessness and virulence by which the discussions of the respective parties were characterized, soon suggested new expositions and applications of his. doctrines, at variance with that homage, with which they had been originally embraced, as a complete and. authorized code of divinity. Divisions soon arose amongst his followers; new points of doctrine were proposed, and each interpreter aspired to become the leader of a new sect. Amongst the earliest and chief of these parties were the Thomists, who relied upon the dogmas of St. Thomas of Aquino (Aquinas). This father of the church had been an early convert to the discipline and rules of the order of St. Dominic, the brethren of which were his chief supporters. Believing himself called to undertake the great work of theological reformation, he rigidly secluded himself from all secular occupations, and proceeded to embody the ideas, which sedulous and repeated perusals of the Scriptures had suggested to him. His foundation was laid in this precept, that the perfect worship of God was the fountain of all good; and he endeavoured to attain it by renouncing his family, and by voluntary submissions to the abstinence and mortifications of a religious life. He regulated his conduct by that of the most severe of his predecessors of the church, and taught himself humility, as the first of Christian virtues, and a shield against vanity, to whose temptations public applause might render him obnoxious. He promulgated his doctrines successively at Paris, Bologna, Rome and Naples, where the superstition or admiration of his followers attributed miracles to their exposition. His object was to digest and elucidate the whole scheme of Christianity; his Summa Theologies survived its early reputation, and its merits were acknowledged when the absurd works of his contemporaries had ceased to excite regard. It was compiled partly from Scripture, and partly from the writings of antiquity, mixed with opinions which were then current, or received as truths; and although he has been accused of sacrificing his own judgment to the opinions of the vulgar, the solidity of its principles, the exactness of its reasonings, with a happy selection of proofs joined to unusual powers of language and discernment, caused it to be hailed as a perfect compilation, and a model for the studies of the thirteenth century. Unlike many of his brethren, he cared little for abstract or useless questions, compared with the more important precepts of the Gospel and the conduct which they inspire, although he unceasingly opposed the dictum of Averroes, that one and the same reasoning and contemplative power or soul belongs to all men, however modified or individually distributed. His arguments were also urged with equal zeal against the reputed errors of the Greek church, particularly against its denial of the title of the Roman Pontiff to spiritual dominion, and of his power to determine matters of faith. His style was copious and. methodical, and although he had studied Cicero and other profane authors, he judged it more prudent to adopt the drier style, which custom had sanctioned, than to step forward as the deviser of novelties, or a corrector of the language, which it was the fashion to employ. Such was his moderation, that he would rather have been thought unlearned than ostentatious, and one great object, which he proposed to himself in teaching, was to render the topics of which he treated as comprehensible to his hearers as possible. In his sermons to the multitude he forgot the saint in the preacher, and was more solicitous to instruct them in the duties which they ought to know, than to acquaint them with what he himself knew. His expositions of the works of Aristotle are numerous and laboured, and his treatises upon syllogism, demonstration, and fallacies, present an abridgement of that author, which deservedly enjoyed a preference over other writings drawn from the same source. Not satisfied with refitting the errors and heresies which had preceded him, or which then prevailed, he foresaw and calculated upon those which were to follow, and his treatises display an acuteness of genius, tempered with a greater portion of Christian humility and charity, than belonged to many of his inferiors, and second only to those of St. Augustine, with whom he was by common consent compared.

From this view of the doctrines instituted by the founder of the Thomists, it will be evident that they embraced questions, not less affecting the happiness of mankind, than promoting the temporal interests of the church. So little, however, were many of his followers convinced of their truth, or satisfied with the motives by which they believed their author to have been guided in the promulgation of them, that they readily gave their support to the new sect of the Scotists or Reals, who relied upon the dogmas of John Duns, from whom they had received their appellation. The birth of this great sophist was claimed by three kingdoms, and although he is gravely asserted to have derived his surname Scotus from the obscurity of his diction, others have, with more probability, assigned it to him from the country to which he owed his birth. After deriving extraordinary fame from the propagation of his opinions in England, he obeyed the invitation of his fellow labourers in the same calling by travelling to Paris, where his doctrines were successfully circulated and embraced, not only by the Franciscans, of the tenets of whose order they formed a part, but also by the doctors of that university, to the gratification of whose vanity his interpretations of Scripture were artfully rendered subservient His great argument was founded on the mystery of the Incarnation, in the discussion of which he zealously maintained the purity of the Virgin, and her freedom from original sin. He was slavishly attached to the Roman church, and anticipated, that absolute dominion over the possessions and minds of men, which the authority of general councils subsequently conferred upon its head. He asserted the efficacy of the ceremonies of the old law after the passion of Christ, and that from the sovereign Pontiff, as second only to the Messiah, proceeded salvation and the gift of the Holy Spirit. He believed the same efficacy was attached to the adoration of images, as to that of the saints which they represented, and he enjoined the same veneration towards them. The arguments, by which these and similar doctrines were supported, failed him when he undertook to establish the real presence in the Sacrament. His subtleties were unsuccessfully exerted in the discussion of this question, and he sheltered himself under the unanimous consent of his church, and a belief in the miracle of the bleeding wafer, as sufficient evidence of the fact, and of its claims to universal credence and support. The choicest of his works, at least the one which was most valued by his followers, was his commentary on the four books of Sententiae by Peter the Lombard, and so profound were his expositions of the peripatetic philosophy, that his writings gradually grew into disuse from containing equal difficulties with the original, which they professed to illustrate. The Physics of Aristotle he applied to the solution of the great scriptural mysteries, which less hardy disputants feared to encounter, and although his reputation was chiefly derived from his success in these speculations, he was equally distinguished for his skill in mathematics, and his knowledge of civil law. His great doctrine of the immaculate conception was published at Paris in opposition to Albert the Great (Albertus Magnus), immediately after his creation of Regent m Theology of that university, and so eagerly was it embraced by his faculty, that none were admitted to degrees who did not first receive it as an article of their belief, and swear to defend the Virgin from the imputation of sin. The universities of Coimbra, Salamanca and Alcola, had chairs expressly devoted to the exposition of this and other of his doctrines, and the same honour was decreed to him at Padua, Pavia and Rome. His great excellence consisted in a determined investigation of the peculiar meaning or essence of things, or in the language of his sect, in quidditatibus et rationibus formalibus indag andis. Ignorant however of nature, or at variance with her operations, the language of this philosopher was obscure and difficult of comprehension, and he counterfeited idle terms to fathom subjects, which were alike invisible and incomprehensible. His advocates apologized for the obscurity of his diction by attributing it to the obscurity of the subjects of which he treated, and by vaunting the advantages which it offered in furthering the knowledge of things; but they gloried in it, as in the possession of an unerring guide, which was to conduct them to the comprehension of the highest and most sublime mysteries.

The doctrines of these rival candidates were scarcely established, or the merits of their opinions determined, when a third sect arose, in whose front was William Occham, an English Franciscan monk, whose writings, less intelligible than those of St. Thomas, rivalled, in subtlety and nicety of distinction, those of his more immediate predecessor and instructor in early life, John Duns. His 'System essentially consisted in assigning terms or names to certain objects, as well as to the relations which existed between them, and to the different modes of conceiving them, without affording any clear explanation of these terms, of which the greater part was barbarous, out of common use, and the offspring of his own inventive faculties. His followers were appropriately called Nominals or Terminists, and himself acquired the epithet Invincible, from the intrepidity with which he resisted the Papal authority, against which his system was successfully directed. Occham, jointly with Michael of Cesena, the chief of his order, had undertaken the defence of Peter Corbariensis against John XXIII, whose dominion, with that of the Italian prelates, he held up to contempt, by contrasting it with the poverty and humility which characterized the lives of the founder of Christianity and his Apostles. Although these doctrines were partly sanctioned by the rules of his order, he was accused of teaching that neither Christ nor his Apostles had any possessions in common, or in particular. This heresy, which under the pretence of exposing the pomp and luxury of the papal court, aimed at the subversion of its temporal power, drew down the vengeance of the church against the chief of a faction which so daringly impugned its authority, and Occham, in alarm, quitted Avignon, which was within the papal territory, and the occasional residence of the Pontiff, to seek protection from the Emperor Louis IV of Bavaria, his avowed and resolute opponent. A host of writers now disputed with Occham on the lawfulness of the jurisdiction of the Pope in temporal matters, and, under the pretence of fairly discussing the question, invited him to a conference at Avignon. The wily Nominal penetrated the artifice of his enemies, defeated them with their own weapons, and, in sheltering himself under the arms of the Emperor, is said to have exclaimed, Defend my person with your sword, and, I will maintain your rights with my pen. The university of Paris condemned him as an heretic, banished him from its schools, and committed his writings to the flames; whilst the church revenged itself upon his heresies by a bull of excommunication, dated from Avignon, 1328, the language of which presents a melancholy proof of disappointed revenge, and betrays the weakness of its arguments in the abuse which it pours upon its victim. The writings of Occham boast of more judgment than those of the Scotists, and what he wanted in elegance of Style is made up by the strength of his arguments, of which the Protestant Churches have sometimes availed themselves in justifying their secession from the creed of their fathers. His disciples attempted to ridicule the metaphysical subtleties of their rivals by treating them as fables, but the merits of each party were nicely weighed; the objects which each discussed were immaterial, and of what the eye has not seen the sense will seek in vain to take cognizance.

The reign of these three systems, which were partially supported by most of the universities of Europe, comprised a period of more than a century. The Sententia of Peter the Lombard, the models of all subsequent theological discussions, were not introduced into England till the return of Alexander of Hales from Paris at the beginning of the thirteenth century, and Occham, the last of the systematics, survived till the year 1347.

As the mode of reasoning on the opinions, in which the difference of these systems essentially consisted, was derived from logic, and was equally applicable to abstract questions of philosophy as to those of divinity,—in the comprehension of the principles, by means of which this mode was exercised, and the ready application of them to practice, were centered the education and acquirements of the age. The forms to which the pupil was subject, and the steps by which he arrived at the fulness of this wisdom, were slow and painful, and present a picture of laborious but ill-directed application. The two first years of his residence in the university were devoted to the acquisition of the elements of his art, and in their private use with opponents of an equal age and standing. The first attempts at public argument then commenced—the subject was barely stated, and the force of syllogism was exerted to detect the fallacy of an elench, or to elude the artifice of a dilemma. These exhibitions occupied a further period of two years. A due display of ingenuity and learning was required from the disputants in their course, and on the suffrages of the masters and auditors, which were solicited at its termination, depended an admission to the first degree in arts. This dignity brought to its possessors new difficulties, and an obligation for greater exertions. Theses in logic and philosophy were required to be publicly defended against all opponents. The honours of the contest were shared by the college to which the victor belonged, whilst the disgrace of a defeat seldom passed with impunity to the unfortunate competitor. To these trials was added a farther probation of three years, the necessary qualification for a second degree in arts. In the interval the student was required to hold frequent private and public declamations, and to defend theses on philosophical questions, over which a master presided as moderator. He was to give short and cursory explanations of a portion of Aristotle’s writings in the schools, and he sometimes reverted to the elements of his art in renewing the quod-libetical disputations, which had been amongst the chief occupations of his earlier years. In these exercises were consumed the three years which intervened between his two degrees, and on their due and laudable performance depended his elevation to the rank of master. This degree was celebrated with the pomp of a public act, the performance of which was distinguished by unusual preparation and ceremony. It was a conference of degrees in the three faculties, to which scholars of every rank and class resorted. The claimants of the academical distinctions, which were bestowed during its celebration, were men eminent for their talents and their piety, which were afterwards called into action by their elevation to the honours and offices of the state. Whilst some were selected to discharge the highest duties of the magistracy at home, others advocated the claims, or sustained the dignity of the sovereign in the station of ambassadors (oratores) to the different courts and councils of Christendom.

To the attainment of the forms, by which these honours were to be compassed, the highest exertions of the mind were alone considered adequate; nor were its powers believed to be capable of higher exertion than the reduction of them to practice, whether in sustaining the idle propositions of the schools, or the public duties of an active life. The portion of evil, which emanated from them, generally outweighed the good, since victory was often preferred to truth; and when the discovery of the latter became the object of dispute, the means were either disproportioned to the end, or it was hidden in the labyrinths which sophistry had woven around it. Men, who had consumed the better half of their lives in useless wrangling, or in advocating the dogmas of the sect which they espoused, were frequently incompetent to the serious discussion of common topics, whilst heresy and infidelity triumphed, to the discomfiture of the church, and in defiance of the resistance which she opposed to their progress. The unconquered leader of the fictitious theses of the schools became a mere novice, when tried against the real evils by which his progress through life was everywhere impeded.

To these exercises all learning was rendered subservient, and a despotism exercised which reduced all that was refined or useful, to a state of slavery and degradation. It is true that other causes also contributed to this decay of humanity, and mutually tended, with the theology of the age, to effect its destruction. One, if not the principal of these causes, was the exposition of the Justinian pandect of civil law. The principles of this code, and the arguments used in its illustration, were new to the learned of England, and their novelty, combined with the advantages which they presented, not less in a literary than a pecuniary view, caused them to be as eagerly embraced by the clergy as by the laity. The erudition of the few, who cultivated polite literature, gradually lost ground in the estimation of the public, and their jealousy was roused by the successes and rewards which attended the new code. In a complaint, which they preferred to the king, they not only decried it as the common source from which had sprung the chief portion of the errors which abounded; but censured it as at variance with the laws of England, and incompatible with the genius and customs of its inhabitants. They even solicited a royal edict for imposing silence on its interpreters, and obtained a decree by which its exercise was suppressed, and the communication of its principles expressly forbidden. This edict, however, was either never enforced, or at least but partially executed. The proscription, under which the primate Theobald had laboured, was withdrawn, and upon his restoration to the royal favour he re-established the promulgation of these laws, of which he had always been the advocate and supporter.

Although the influence of the Roman law over the literature of the twelfth century was less marked, and of shorter duration than that of the theology which it threatened for a time to supplant, it tended nevertheless to defile the springs of purer learning, and to defeat the attempts which were occasionally made for its propagation and increase. During a period of more than three centuries a dozen individuals can scarcely be enumerated whose taste had not been corrupted by the follies which prevailed, or who had the resolution to withstand the ridicule and contempt by which they were everywhere assailed. To these were opposed the crowds which supported the systems and theories of the schools of France: and the little progress which humanity made under the protection of the few who had the courage to become its advocates, barely served to keep alive a knowledge of ancient learning, and to prevent its total neglect and extinction. The Jews, who were tolerated in the principal cities of the kingdom, kept alive the language of their nation by erecting schools in which it was taught, and the decrees of their Rabbins expounded; but Greek was unknown to the universities and schools. A Latinity was indeed cultivated, whose character was rudeness and severity, but the purity of the language was not deemed worthy of being studied.

The difficulties, which accompanied every trial of change or amendment, did not, however, deter those who had the resolution to make the attempt, from attaining the object of their wishes. The first resistance to the established discipline of the schools was displayed at the end of the twelfth century, when Daniel Meslac or Morley (Morilegus) forsook theology for mathematics, and travelled into Arabia and Spain,—the countries where real science was then to be found. To a contempt of speculations purely theological, he openly accused their professors of ignorance, and ridiculed the mode in which instruction was communicated. “To the solemn authority, with which the masters were seated in the schools, were added the appendages of two or three benches groaning under the weight of importable volumes, written in golden letters, and resembling the traditions of Ulpian, in which they reverentially inscribed marks of omissions and interpolations with pencils of lead; and the deep silence which they preserved, in order to conceal their ignorance and the puerility of their arguments, gave them more the appearance of statues than of men.” The zeal and progress of the pupils seem to have been proportioned to the supineness and ignorance of the teachers, to whom is to be ascribed the barbarism which passed current for a sounder erudition.

Whilst few had the resolution or opportunities to pass the barriers by which the avenues to learning were guarded, there lived, in the thirteenth century, a man whose genius enabled him not only to surmount the obstacles Opposed to him, but almost to create, by his single effort and example, as great a revolution in matters of human knowledge and opinion as that which the world was destined to see at the distance of three centuries from his existence. This individual was Robert Grouthead or Grostest, (Capito vel Grostêt,) Bishop of Lincoln, whose merits as a scholar have generally been sacrificed to the more prominent transactions of his life as an ecclesiastic. His birth and parentage were humble, and he owed his elevation and his fame to the zeal with which he cultivated the powers of his mind and the purposes to which he applied them. He successfully devoted himself to the study of grammar, philosophy and logic, and acquired the name of the sovereign philosopher, from his skill in these as well as in other liberal arts, which he afterwards illustrated by his writings. Whilst resident at Oxford he was directed to the attainment of the Hebrew and Greek languages by a desire of reading the Scriptures, free from the perversions and glosses in which they had ignorantly or designedly been involved. The Jews of that city communicated to him the principles of the former tongue, and Nicholas or Elicherus, a native of Greece, who was also sojourning there, initiated him into the neglected and almost unknown language of that country. The knowledge which Grostest obtained from these sources was afterwards improved by a residence at the university of Paris. His return to England was marked by a laborious exercise of his duties as a teacher, of which his dicta, his sermons, and other writings afford ample testimony. When his fortune was increased by promotion in the church, he devoted a part of it to the support of the poorer academicians; he restored the scholastic discipline according to the forms of the schools of Paris, with an admiration for which he seems to have been fondly inspired; and he proclaimed his affection for the interests of his own university, which in the thirteenth century was included in the diocese over which he presided, by his visitations, and his letters respecting its members, its government and increase. The limits, which were imposed by the ignorant to human attainments, subjected him to a suspicion of magic and a participation in the agency of demons; whilst the intrepidity with which he opposed the papal tyranny in England, and more particularly his contempt of the letters apostolic of Innocent IV which directed the induction of an infant alien into a prebend of his own cathedral, without his permission or authority, and the fearless manner in which he met the sentence of excommunication from his church, out of the pale of which he died, gave a celebrity to his character, which confirmed the vulgar in the opinion that he was endowed with gifts derived from more than earthly power. His reputation survived his death, and his tomb was the resort of the many who believed in the efficacy of human intercession,—the pious reward of that sanctity and learning for which through a long life he was eminently distinguished. In estimating the value of his labours in the cause of literature, the difficulties which he had to encounter must not be forgotten. As a translator of Greek authors considerable merit is due to him, and one author and competent judge has mentioned him as the only linguist of his time, although he did not attain perfection in the Greek tongue till a late period of his life. This statement is now generally admitted, and it is confirmed by the testimony of Matthew Paris, who says, that he was assisted in his translations by his preceptor, Nicholas, and John de Basyng; but such co-operation will not be considered a disgrace, when his various attainments, his literary labours, and the time which he devoted to the discharge of his ecclesiastical duties are weighed against it. It is, however, to be regretted, that his labours at translation were wasted on writings to which little value must ever be attached as literary compositions. His choice of authors was either unavoidably unfortunate, or he selected those which he considered were most interesting in that benighted age; since many Greek manuscripts were imported into England about this time by John de Basyng, who had travelled to Athens, and made such importation a special object of his mission.

John de Basyng, or Basingstoke, was contemporary at Oxford and Paris with Grostest, to whom, on his return from the East, he communicated much that he had seen and learned which was unknown to the schools of Italy and the West. Amongst other things was the book entitled the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, a work which had been translated by the Greeks from the Hebrew, and which, although long considered of equal authority with the Bible, and proscribed and hidden by the Jews on account of the prophecies which it contained relating to the Messiah, is now attributed to the second century, and ranked amongst the literary impositions of the early ages of Christianity. In such esteem was this work held, and so anxious was Grostest to be the possessor of it, that he sent expressly to Greece for a copy. The preceptor of Basyng, at Athens, was a daughter of the archbishop, named Constantina, who, at twenty years of age, had not only conquered the difficulties of the trivium and quadrivium, but lectured on natural philosophy and the different topics which it embraces. From this female he declared the best part of his wisdom to have been derived. He wrote or translated a grammar, under the title of Donatus Graecorum, with a tract on the difference of particles; and he was the first who made England acquainted with the knowledge of the Greek numerals and their signification.

To the writings of this prelate, and to the influence of his example, may in some measure be attributed the rescue of sound learning from extinction during the latter part of the thirteenth century. This influence was not of long duration, for the opinions which had been broached by John Wicliff, and by which the minds of the clergy now began to be agitated, soon gave a motive for fresh pursuits, and humanity was sacrificed to the polemical discussions which followed the promulgation of his doctrines. Many years of vain opposition and fruitless controversy were wasted by the learned on the subjects of which these doctrines were the parents, in defiance of the penalties which were incurred by all who undertook their defence; nor were any means devised to arrest the progress of this schism till the beginning of the fourteenth century, when a more systematic attempt was made for the advancement of literature than individual exertion had been able to accomplish, by the establishment of regular courses of humanity, of which the study of the tongues was expressly enjoined as a part. This attempt is to be traced to one of those general councils, which, summoned under pretence of providing for the public weal, usually terminated in gratifying the ambition of its promoters, or in confirming the designs of the papal court on the kingdoms with which it chanced to be joined in alliance. This was the council of Vienne, in Dauphiné, which was called by Clement V in the year 1311, at the instigation of Philip the Fair of France. The views, by which that monarch was guided in thus gathering an assembly, to which every part of the Christian world sent its delegates, were neither the advancement of letters nor the welfare of the church, but a self-interest in the revocation of the acts and decrees by which he had been denounced as a heretic by Boniface VIII. This wish, however, was not seconded by the council, and the processes of the Pope were only declared to. have been unjust, and thenceforth to be of no effect, without any abrogation of the instruments in which sentence of heresy had been pronounced against him.

The depravity and abuses which prevailed in the articles of belief and canons of the church, at the period when the council of Vienne was called, induced the pontiff to avail himself of the approbation and assistance of its members in compiling a code of laws, which, by regulating points of faith, solving doctrines of doubtful tendency, and establishing salutary forms, might guide the clergy in the discharge of their duties, and render the church less liable to be afflicted with distractions and differences. Other causes also operated in the production of the decretals of Clement, amongst which was the necessity of insisting upon a knowledge of the languages of antiquity as a qualification for the priesthood, consistent with the exhortations addressed by Roger Bacon to Clement IV, in favour of whose opinions his successor, Clement V, was also supposed to have been biassed. The regulations, which were exacted for the accomplishment of this end, were founded on a feeling for the welfare of mankind, which little accorded with the manners of the fourteenth century, or the views of an establishment, of whose infallibility the ignorance and superstition of the vulgar have been ever cherished, as the keystone and centre. In the individual constitution relating to masters, and to the licence of teaching with which they were to be invested, he reflects, amongst other anxieties incumbent upon him, how the errant may be enlightened and led into the path of truth, not doubting of the accomplishment of these wishes by a suitable exposition and faithful translation of the Scriptures. Conscious, however, of the emptiness and efficacy of these, if preached to ears insensible to their truths, and desiring that men should abound, versed in the languages of unbelieving nations, by whose instructions the infidel might be gathered to the fellowship of Christ, and made acquainted with the precepts of his Gospel, he provides for the foundation of schools in the universities of Paris, Oxford, Bologna, and Salamanca, and for the appointment of professors, with competent salaries, in Hebrew, Greek, Arabic, and Chaldee. Two professors were to be assigned to each tongue, and to these the direction of the schools was to be committed. They were to translate the sacred writings, as they existed in these several languages, into Latin; to teach the grammar, and communicate the principles of each, and thus lay a foundation for the diffusion of knowledge, from which society was to reap the most ample and solid benefit.

These constitutions, embracing subjects of so much importance to the interests of the holy see and of mankind, received the sanction of the council, and were designed by their author to be collected into one volume under proper titles. The constant occupation, however, in which he was officially involved prevented the execution of this intention, and their collection and publication was left for his successor, John XXII, who addressed them to the university of Bologna, by a bull dated at Avignon, in the second year of his pontificate. It is by no means clear whether the delay of Clement in their publication was not rather pretended than real, and whether he had not meditated their entire revocation; at least his successor is believed to have incorporated several innovations with the original copy, adapted to the political changes which had occurred in the interval between their enactment and publication. This suspicion is further strengthened by the omission of Greek, in several copies, as one of the languages respecting the propagation of which the pontiff was solicitous. The two chief commentators on the Clementine constitutions assert, that the directions in the autography of the decree were limited to the languages of the three great infidel nations, the Jews, the Arabians, and the Chaldeans; whilst others deny their exclusive existence in the early copies of these decretals, which, however acknowledged as genuine by some, have been more frequently rejected as spurious and of no authority. This difference can be reconciled only by a consideration, that the opponents to the introduction of Greek into the decretal, as a part of academical education, would not advocate its cause, from religious prejudices against the people who used the language. The Greek church, unsettled in its tenets, and occasionally only considered in alliance with that of Rome, always differed from it in the article respecting the procession of the Holy Spirit, and sometimes denied the supremacy of the Roman pontiff, and for that reason was termed schismatic, instead of receiving the obnoxious appellation of infidel, which was reserved for nations who wandered still further from its communion. To this difference in the tenets of the Greek church at different periods, and to its schism, is probably to be attributed the disagreement which exists between the copies of the decree relating to the establishment of schools for the increase of humanity, and for the cultivation of Greek amongst other languages in the principal universities of Europe.

The source, from which this plan of instruction was drawn, and the fruits, which were expected to be reaped from its enactment, were evidently of high authority, and were a humble imitation of the gift of tongues, by which the immediate successors of Christ were to communicate the Gospel to all mankind. The advantages, which followed the attempt, were not proportioned to the hopes or wishes of its projector, and religion and learning were as little promoted after the promulgation of his decrees as they had been for some ages before it. The language of Arabia had shared a better fate than that of Greece, and had been cultivated to a certain extent in the West, before the constitutions of Clement enjoined that its study should form a part of scholastic education. The Arabians, who had become the possessors of Greek learning, had not only translated the works of Aristotle, but had illustrated them by comments in their own tongue, and as the originals were not known, or if known, were not understood, the possession of the translations, with the numerous commentaries with which they had been enriched in the East, were a sufficient inducement for many to undertake the study of Arabic in the hope of arriving at a more perfect knowledge of the author, to whose system their time and occupation were devoted. Morley had travelled into Arabia to acquire mathematics on the soil to which they were almost confined in the twelfth century, and returned with a competent knowledge of the language of that country. Hebrew had been kept alive by the translations of the sacred writings, first into the Saxon, and afterwards into the English language, whilst the toleration, which was granted to the Jews in the principal cities of the kingdom, afforded them opportunities for communicating their language to all who were disposed to make themselves masters of it. Whether, however, the acquisition of Arabic and Hebrew formed, as it has been believed, a part of the Trivium, and were introduced into the schools before the thirteenth century, as a necessary part of the system adopted by the universities, is a question of difficult solution. The admission of the fact would limit their introduction to grammar only, for although the principles of that art were generally taught, they were in reference to universal language, or at least to the languages then cultivated, rather than to the idiom of one in particular. As to Greek, it was not less unfortunate in the paucity of its cultivators, than in the progress which they made in the acquirement of it. Robert Retenensis travelled to Athens in the twelfth century, but returned with more knowledge of the country and its customs than of its language, and although Grostest, in the following century, cultivated it with more success, he seems to have had but few imitators.

The disputes of the different faculties, respecting rank and precedence, presented at this period more inviting results, than were likely to accrue from the more peaceable occupation of enlarging the boundaries of human knowledge. As the supreme dignity was vested in the Church, and the graduates in divinity enjoyed an undoubted superiority over those in other faculties, the clergy rested satisfied with their own power, and took little trouble to ascertain the precedence, which belonged to those who were professedly beneath them. But the graduates in civil law and medicine, whose rank was less marked, and whose station had never been determined, embarked with vehemence in a contest, which was to decide the rights of their respective faculties. The dispute, which was carried on with equal acrimony by both parties, terminated in the victory of the latter, and a decree was issued, which assigned to the graduates in medicine seats in convocation on the right side of the chancellor, and to the civilians seats on the left. This warfare, and the feelings which it engendered, however gratifying to the vanity of the victors, now operated with other and more potent causes, if not to the extinction of letters, at least to their lowest stage of depravation and decay. The civil distractions, which agitated the public mind, and the tumults, in which the kingdom was engaged, alike unfitted the teacher and the pupil for the calm and unbiassed discussion of religion, or of philosophy. The penury, which weighed upon the nation, drove many to seek a support by engaging in these distractions, in preference to the more slow and uncertain livelihood to be derived from the practice of divinity or civil law. The increase of the papal provisions, which held captive the minds and property of men, was more favourable to the mechanical than to the liberal arts. The heresies, which had been broached by Wicliff occupied the priesthood in abstract questions, to the destruction of the practice of piety, and to the neglect of the more important duties of their office, whilst the vices and intrigues of the higher clergy, the connivance at pluralities in proportion to the rank and influence of the candidates, and the rendering money a qualification for degrees and preferment, instead of learning and purity of life, all tended to threaten its entire overthrow. Such was the indigence of those, who had devoted themselves to the schools, that a licence, under the seal of their university, by the commissary, chancellor, or vice-chancellor, according to a statute previously enacted, was granted to all who chose to avail themselves of it, to wander through the country as common vagrants, soliciting charity from door to door. To crown this state of poverty and disgrace, the university of Paris, more successful in its fortunes, renounced an alliance with that of Oxford, with which it had been so long and intimately connected, and disclaimed all intimacy with its members, as too poor and contemptible to merit notice. However great the degradation to which the ecclesiastical dignity in England was reduced by these proceedings, the faculty of Paris was justified in a resolution, which preserved to them the respect of the rival and more flourishing establishments of other kingdoms.

The mode, by which the Latinity of the age was acquired, appears to have been by hearing the dialogues and phrases of the schools, and by applying them to other topics, regardless alike of the idiom and of the inflexions and terminations of words. Examples of theses and discussions have been recorded, which justify this opinion, and however successful such a mode might prove in the attainment of living languages, it must ever fail when applied to the acquisition of those, which exist only in the writings of ancient authors. In these examples the very elements of grammar are disregarded, and had they not been cited by authors who lived at a period, which renders it impossible to impeach the correctness or veracity of the quotations, they might justly be regarded as libels on the understandings of those, by whom they were employed in the investigation and discovery of the most important part of human knowledge—truth. It is but justice, however, to add that many exceptions occurred, for the monkish historians at all times used a correct and sometimes even a pure style.

Can it, however, excite a wonder, that with such materials, and with so bare a knowledge of the first principles of language, the sources from which a correct taste could alone be obtained should be disregarded, or that the best authors of antiquity should be entirely neglected?

The libraries of the more opulent ecclesiastical and conventical establishments of the kingdom were enriched with many of the best writings of the ancients, where they were fortunately left to undisturbed repose, until a better taste had begun to arise, instead of being sold or purloined for the worst and most common uses. The zeal for learning, which drew so many Englishmen to the South of Europe in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, also directed them in quest of the best authors of antiquity, and as they were often little understood by their possessors, the labour of the discovery of them generally exceeded the expense of procuring them. Eloquence was affected but by few, and the academies of Italy were selected, as affording the best opportunities for its acquisition. Guarinus of Verona (Guarino Veronese), celebrated as the poet and orator of his age, had given a renown to the university of Ferrara; and his lectures on philology, including the languages of Greece and ancient Italy, were amongst the earliest attempts to rival the eloquence and imitate the imagery of antiquity. Of the English who frequented this school, several afforded proofs of the benefits which they had derived from it, as well in their own writings, as in the possession of valuable MSS. Robert Fleming, an ecclesiastic, showed the fruits of his studies in the composition of his Lucubrationes Tiburtianee, and in the correspondence and friendship of the learned of Italy, to whom the office of papal prothonotary had especially introduced him. John Freas, or Free, a graduate in medicine, and a skilful lawyer, made a compilation from the Natural History of Pliny, under the title “Cosmographia," and a translation of Diodorus Siculus into Latin, which although dedicated to Paul II., was claimed by the Italians as the work of their countryman Poggio Bracciolini. John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, whose title and fortunes placed him upon an equality with the Pontiff and the members of the college, wrote orations to Pius II, and made translations from the Latin into his native language. His accomplishments did not prevent him from falling a victim to the turbulence of the age in which he lived, but they have preserved for him a fame, which would have been denied to his station. Ludovico Calbo has done justice to his memory in a funeral oration, which he wrote to commemorate the virtues and learning of his preceptor and friend, Baptista Guarario, the son of Guarano of Verona.

. The means of instruction afforded by the volumes, which the religious houses of the kingdom had accumulated, from the time of their foundations to the fifteenth century inclusive, in many instances ample, were neglected not only by their owners, but by those, to the furtherance of whose studies and pursuits their perusal would have proved of advantage. In some establishments in this land these literary stores were on a large and even costly scale, and partook of the collections of books deposited in chests, for occasional consultation or amusement, as was the universal custom in the middle ages. Amongst the houses to which such possessions ought to have been the occasion of just pride, had imposture been less regarded than wisdom, was that of the order of St. Dominic and St. Francis at Oxford, the reputation of whose members for humility in the thirteenth century had been exchanged for pride and indolence,—the consequences of the wealth with which the piety of successive benefactors had largely enriched them. To this society belonged two separate libraries: one appropriated to the Friars Minorites or brethren of the house and to graduates, and distinguished by the name of the Convent Library; the other, to the secular brethren and scholars, who resided in it, for the benefit of instruction, and called the Scholars’ Library. It is not clear to whom is to be assigned the title of founder of these collections, although the credit has been given to Robert Grostest, who bequeathed to the order the original MSS. of his own numerous works, and is further believed to have also contributed many volumes of the writings of other authors, of which those of the arch-philosopher Bacon formed a material part.

The possession of these collections and the marked manner in which the bequest of them was made by their illustrious owner, added to the celebrity which the Franciscans had previously acquired. Estimating the works of Didymus, the grammarian, at 4000 volumes, the labours of Grostest will not be overrated at a computation of as many hundreds. Bacon is asserted to have compiled at least 100 separate treatises, and when the works of inferior writers are added to this catalogue, a library must have been formed, which no individual power or expense could ever hope to equal. A store of materials in every branch of erudition was accumulated, which the zeal of early Franciscans augmented from every source. Astronomy and mathematics were largely discussed in the MSS of Grostest and Bacon, and in the collection of the former were many volumes relating exclusively to the language of Greece. Seculars and individuals complained that the gratification of purchase was denied to them by this monopoly of the order, especially in the departments of jurisprudence and theology, nor was the objection less valid in respect of the number and value of the Hebrew MSS., which forfeiture from the Jews had at different times conferred upon it.

At the distance of more than three centuries from the existence of these literary treasures, it would be fruitless to inquire respecting their fate. The reputation for learning, which this order had acquired at its settlement in England, had been so little regarded by its brethren in the fifteenth century, that careless of the character of which their predecessors had made them the heirs, they slighted also the means which were bequeathed to them for its preservation. Many of their volumes were purloined, and others were sold without hesitation to anyone who offered a sufficient price for them. A curious specimen of this traffic has been recorded, in which the convent, by an instrument under their common seal, conveyed to Thomas Gascoigne, a doctor in civil law, certain of their books, amongst which was a copy of Augustine De Civitate Dei enriched with the marginal notes of Grostest, its original owner, and of whose magnificent bequest it had formed a part. The total neglect in which the brethren indulged towards what they ought to have considered as amongst the most valuable of their possessions, did not fail to draw complaints from the few, whose better judgment rendered them capable of appreciating their worth. Erasmus, lamenting how the writings of the ancients were trampled upon, scarcely refrained from tears, when he read the catalogues of the middle ages, and saw the greatest efforts of the mind despised, whilst the affected productions of the moderns were cherished and preferred as models of taste and sound erudition. Leland, whose bias led him to a personal examination of the antiquities of his country, has left a singular memorial of the wretched state in which the libraries of the sixteenth century were preserved. To his request to be allowed to see the library of the Franciscans at Oxford, which he had an ardent desire to examine, it was objected by some of the members that access to so sacred a retreat could be permitted to none but their prior and the holy bachelors of their house. By a royal edict, however, the reluctant monks were compelled to gratify his curiosity; and great was his astonishment, when instead of the precious and valuable volumes, which had been bequeathed to them by Grostest, he found nothing but dust, cobwebs, worms and dirt, and a few worthless books, for which he would not have given three halfpence. The collections of Bacon had shared no better fate than that of Grostest; the few works, which had not been disposed of, were kept fastened with chains in the most obscure parts of the house, the victims of filth and damp. A similar neglect is also chargeable on other religious houses. The library of Christchurch in Canterbury, which the care and good taste of Selling, or some other of its abbots, had enriched with Greek and Latin MSS., was so little estimated, that there were no uses, however vile, to which the monks did not appropriate the materials of which they were composed.

Nor will the universities be found to have been behind hand in an obstinate attachment to the corrupted pursuits of the age, and in the lack of profitable and substantial knowledge. Sufficient proofs of this assertion have been adduced, as far as regards the pursuits of Oxford, nor had Cambridge advanced one step further either in the quality or measure of learning. At the end of the fifteenth century, the sum of wisdom, of which that university could boast, was comprised in the sophistries of Alexander of Hales, in some old precepts of Aristotle, and in the questions of John Duns. Humanity and the mathematics were not cultivated till sometime after this period, when Aristotle also appeared either in his original text, or in a more perfect translation:—with his works was introduced a taste for the Greek language, and for the study of authors with whose names England till this period had been entirely unaquainted. The collegiate foundations of the fifteenth century encouraged the cultivation of grammar and rhetoric, and an earnest anxiety for the increase of these arts was shown by Wainfleet, Bishop of Winchester, in the establishment of three schools, in which they were especially taught,—the preliminary stages to the great foundation at Oxford, for which his munificence had bounteously provided.

From this brief and imperfect sketch may be gathered the value of the literary occupations of the learned for seven successive generations. Should the digression, in which the rise and progress of these occupations are narrated, appear out of place, let it be remembered that the merits of those, who freed themselves from their yoke, could not be fairly appreciated without it. The time, however, had now arrived, when the bonds of error and superstition were to be burst asunder, and England was to participate in the revolt, of which Italy had set the example. In this enterprise Linacre and his associates were amongst the first to embark, and disdaining the reproach to which a neglect of dialectics exposed them, they patiently awaited the time when the discipline of the schools was to yield to humanity, and occupy that station in the scale of human wisdom, from which it ought never to have been elevated.

CHAPTER III.

Visits Italy—Introduction to Politian at Bologna—State of Greek and Latin Languages in Italy—Johannes Argyropylus—Politian—Demetrius Chaicondyles—Linacre received into the Family of Lorenzo de Medici at Florence—Studies under Politian and Chaicondyles—Goes to Rome—Acquaintance with Hermolaus Barbaras—Hermolaus Barbaras—Literary Entertainments— Proceeds to Venice—Aldus Manutius—Albertus Pius, Duke of Carpi—Proceeds to Padua—Vicenza—Milan—Paris—Calais —Returns to England.

The life of Linacre had hitherto been marked by no important event, and had partaken only of the common character which belonged to the graduate of the academy and the schools. A new era now opened upon him, and the barren prospect of a scholastic life was relieved by an event, to which may be traced his superior reputation as a scholar, and the motives for the projection of that institution, of which he was afterwards distinguished as the founder. The taste for foreign travel, which had always prevailed in a greater or less degree amongst the English, according to the different motives by which this propensity was directed, has been already noticed, and the example of those, who had been enabled to gratify this taste in the early part of the fifteenth century, was now eagerly followed by all who had the means or opportunity of indulging a similar desire, and of availing themselves of the advantages, which the republics of Italy had received from the East, about the middle of that century. The auspices, under which the gratification of this desire was accomplished, and the letters of introduction, with which our traveller was furnished, were admirably adapted to further the views which such an undertaking had suggested to him, and every expectation was fulfilled by his own perseverance and the assiduity with which he availed himself of his resources.

Although this event may be considered as one of the most prominent of his life, Linacre has left no memorial by which the year of its accomplishment may be ascertained. It was at the close of the fifteenth century, a period when the church was assailed with rival and conflicting doctrines, and when the minds of men, agitated by opposite opinions, and irritated by the virulence which they seldom fail to engender, seemed to anticipate some great and important revolution. The conferences of the English with the Papal court, which arose out of these dissensions, whilst they favoured a communication with the South of Europe, served to confer the same benefits upon the cause of learning, as upon that of religion, or of the state.

The union of the two rival houses of York and Lancaster, combined with the security which that event had promised the country, insensibly gave to its government an ecclesiastical, rather than a civil form. The individuals, to whom the execution of these conferences was committed, were generally ecclesiastics, selected by the persons at the head of affairs, as much on account of their learning and prudence, as of their skill in the artifices and intrigues of the court. A better learning now distinguished the Romish church. The correspondence also of its ministers, which was marked by a purer style of Latinity than had hitherto prevailed in Italy, excited a spirit in other nations to depute men equally able, to promote the interests of their respective sovereigns by a ready use of the language, in which their arguments were to be clothed. The Englishman, who answered to this character, was William Selling, Prior of Christchurch in Canterbury, and the preceptor and presumed relative of Linacre, of whose literary qualifications for such an office, an example has been already adduced. The leading statesman, and great favourite of the court, was the Primate, William Warham, who had survived the civil dissensions of the former reign, and formed his habits to the ecclesiastical policy of that of Henry VII. To the manner in which Selling had discharged the office of prior of his convent, and to his intimate connection with the affairs of the church, over which Warham presided, may be assigned his introduction at Court, and the opinion which the king entertained of his abilities for the high appointment to which he was promoted. The double connection between Selling and Linacre enabled the latter to avail himself of the mission with which his preceptor had been charged, and he travelled with him as a friend and companion during a considerable portion of his journey to Rome. Leland relates that he was to have taken a subordinate part in this embassy; but on his arrival at Bologna Selling, meeting with Agnolo Politiano whose friendship he had experienced upon a former occasion, introduced Linacre to the notice of that scholar, and left him there to enjoy the advantages which the introduction promised; whilst he himself proceeded on his journey to execute the duties of his embassy.

Although the year, in which Linacre left England, has not been recorded, it may be referred with sufficient accuracy, by a comparison of dates, to a period between the years 1480 and 1487. Selling was elected prior of his convent in 1472, and retained that dignity till his death in 1495. Politian was born in 1454, and resided at Florence previously to 1487, having been called to that city to undertake the education of the children of his patron, Lorenzo de Medici. If Leland’s statement be correct respecting the introduction of the parties at Bologna, where it is to be inferred that Politian then resided, that circumstance must have occurred before the year 1487, when it is certain that Politian was an inhabitant of Florence. By this comparison the period at which Linacre commenced his journey may be referred to the year 1485, when he was twenty-five years of age. Politian was at the riper age of thirty-three, and Selling will be found to have been qualified, both in years and dignity, for the discharge of the duties with which he had been commissioned. The proceedings of Linacre at Oxford, which have been already related, also unite to strengthen this conjecture.

The university of Bologna held at this period a high rank, amongst the schools and academies of Europe. It was one of the universities which had been chosen by the few native Greeks, who had anticipated the general return of their countrymen to the soil of their forefathers in the middle of the fifteenth century, for the communication and exposition of their native tongue. It was here also that Francesco Filelfo had read with applause the institutes which he had received from Emanuel Chrysoloras, and although less fortunate than the rival academies, with which it had to contend in its government, and in the conflicts in which its inhabitants had been involved, it still preserved a celebrity derived not less from the zeal with which learning was cultivated within it, than from its society and climate, to the superiority of which its name, with more ingenuity than truth, has probably been ascribed.

The rapid progress, which the Greek language had made, and the extent, to which it had been cultivated when Linacre first trod upon the soil of Italy, form a subject allied to all which is great in literature, and furnish materials for a history consistent with the design, but incompatible with the limits, of the present attempt. Fortunate above other countries, Italy, nevertheless, shared the darkness which prevailed in the long interval between the fall of the Roman empire and the fifteenth century, although her vicinity to the East and occasional intercourse with its inhabitants gave her many advantages, and enabled her to keep alive a partial knowledge of the Greek tongue, which had almost perished in other parts of Europe from the remoteness of their situation, or from an attachment to the learning which was exclusively and perversely cultivated within them. The descendants of the Grecian colonists, who had established themselves in Calabria, preserved the dialect and idiom of their ancestors. Their liturgies, which were as frequently recited in the language of Greece as in that of Rome, implied a grammatical knowledge of it in all who were devoted to the offices of the church. These ceremonies were, however, limited to the individual districts which comprised the narrow territory of Magna Graecia; beyond these it found, as in England, a few cultivators only, who reaped more gratification from the authors, whose writings they had perused, than profit from the labour expended in their acquisition.

The success of the purer style of Latinity, which began in the fourteenth century to prevail throughout Italy, excited the ambition of its scholars to attempt a similar purity in the language of Greece; and the more valuable authors of the latter country were as accurately illustrated, as they were eagerly sought after and read. Not a small portion of the credit, which belongs to this attempt, is to be ascribed to Francesco Petrarche, who, to a perfect knowledge of the languages of ancient and modern Italy, added, like his predecessor Grostest in this country, an ardour for an equal perfection in that of Greece, undismayed by the novelties and the difficulties which he had to encounter in the attainment of it. The master, under whom he studied, was Barlaas or Barlaamus, a Calabrian monk, who was better versed in the language which he taught, than in that through which his instructions were to be conveyed. The information, which was derived from such a preceptor, was of necessity scanty and unsatisfactory; to him succeeded Leontius Pilatus, a native of Thessalonica, who may be regarded as the first who professed the language in Italy, and who first illustrated it by commentaries and prelections.

To the example of this great scholar and poet, and to the occasional efforts of his successors, during the period which intervened between his individual exertions and the fall of the Christian empire in the East, Italy was indebted for all she knew of the language and philosophy of Greece. The successors of the Caesars had been driven to seek that security on the banks of the Tiber and the Arno, which the successes of the second Mahomet had denied them upon their native shores. The vessels of the victors, which sailed from the capital, were laden with the spoils of the vanquished, amongst which were innumerable copies of the writings of antiquity. So little were these treasures estimated in proportion to the richer plunder which accompanied them, that ten volumes of Plato and Aristotle were sold for a crown, and were thus dispersed through the provinces and cities of the East. Happily for the West of Europe, the study of the works in a new character and language, which this event had been the means of diffusing amongst its inhabitants, was sanctioned by the academies into which they had been introduced; nor did the princes of Italy less munificently encourage the cultivation of the tongue of a people, whose orators, philosophers, and poets inculcated maxims of liberty and a form of government at variance with the policy by which the states and monarchies of Europe were at that time universally directed.

Linacre’s stay at Bologna was limited. He travelled from thence to Florence, where he renewed his acquaintance with Politian, of whom he shortly afterwards became the pupil. Florence was celebrated for the protection and encouragement which its dukes extended to literature and its professors. It had profited by the calamities which had fallen upon the Greek empire, and in affording an asylum to a number of banished natives, furnished also the best opportunities to the traveller for reaping knowledge by an intimacy with the learned. A commercial intercourse had been established between its merchants and those of England; and the treaties which secured their interests and privileges, promised equal safety to all their countrymen who were engaged in different occupations. The family of Medici, less illustrious by origin than by the uses to which its power and possessions were applied, favoured, and encouraged a policy which promised the most beneficial results, and Italy saw the return of an Augustan age, of which Tuscany justly claimed the glory, and of which other nations of Europe largely shared the advantages.

The chief instruments in the furtherance of this design, when Linacre arrived at Florence, were two individuals, rivals in country and in fame, Politian and Demetrius Chalcondyles. The extent, to which the endeavours of these scholars were carried, and the value, which is to be placed upon their exertions, will be determined by a comparison of their writings, and of the occupations, to which their time and talents were mutually devoted.

The name of Politian has been so long familiarized to the public by the many and various relations of his biographers in the sixteenth century, as to leave to later narrators little more than the opportunity of abridging their details, or of reconciling the differences into which they have mistakenly or designedly fallen. He was born in the year 1454, at Mons Politianus, (Monte Pulciano,) from which, as from a place of hereditary possession, a foolish vanity induced him to assume the surname, by which he was in after-life distinguished, in exchange for that of Basso, or as others say of Cino, which his family had previously used. He had little pretension to this feudal distinction. The poverty of his parents precluded any higher expectations, than what a menial occupation, about the persons of the children of the reigning Duke of Florence, might entitle him to indulge, or, than the favourable opportunities for advancement which such a situation presented. His earliest years were devoted to study under the best masters of the age. He acquired the Greek language from Johannes Andronicus Callistus and Johannes Argyropylus, by virtue of whose instructions, in conjunction with those of Marsilius Ficinus (Marsilio Ficino), he was deeply imbued with the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle. The humble services of his earliest years were rewarded by the patronage of the house of Medici. His genius for poetry, perhaps the most precocious on record, was displayed in the composition of a poem upon a tournament (giostra) of Giuliano de Medici, in which he bore the wreath from Luca Pulcius (Luigi Pulce), who had, with inferior powers, commemorated a similar exercise, which had been celebrated at Florence by Lorenzo, the brother of Giuliano de Medici. These pastimes were followed by the conspiracy of the Pazzi and Salviati against the government and family of Lorenzo, and by the assassination of Giuliano in the church of St. Mary the Virgin ; an act meriting the execration of posterity above others of a similar kind, of which Italian history is so fertile in the narration, from the circumstances under which it was accomplished, and from the privity, if not the approval, of the reigning pontiff. Of this event Politian was a spectator, and of the conspiracy, which preceded it, he afterwards composed a full and moving relation.

Joannes Argyropylus, a native of Constantinople, who had solicited, with other Greeks, the protection of the Florentine government, had been employed in the common occupation of his countrymen—the exposition of the Greek language to the youth of Florence, in which capacity he had obtained the approbation of Cosmo de Medici, who had honoured him with the charge of educating his son, Pietro, and his grandson, Lorenzo. A pestilence, which ravaged Tuscany, drove this scholar from Florence to Rome; when Politian, who had also been his disciple, was nominated in his place, and to the two pupils of his predecessor were added Giovanni, the son of Lorenzo de Medici, afterwards more known and illustrious by the name and title of Pope Leo X., and the modest, but less illustrious subject, of the present volume. With such satisfaction to his employer did Politian discharge the duties of his office, that he was further promoted to the Greek school, which had been instituted by the Florentine senate in favour of Emanuel Chrysoloras, who had visited their city, as ambassador from the Emperor Joannes Palaeologus to the states of Christendom, but who, weary of civil negotiations and of the mortification which resulted from them, had exchanged the office of legate for that of a teacher, from which occupation at Florence he had been called by the emperor, Manuel Palaeologus, who had reached the court of Joannes Galeatius (Giovanni Galeazzo), at Milan, on his progress to the West. This appointment, to which a regular stipend was attached, was sustained by Politian with a reputation, which however well deserved, was probably derived rather from the correctness and elegance of his Latin, than from a critical knowledge of Greek. To this cause may be attributed the little attraction of his colleague and rival, Demetrius Chalcondyles, who added to a foreign accent and an occasional faulty pronunciation the want of that accuracy of language, which his auditors knew so well how to appreciate in the discourses of their countryman. To these imperfections and to the intrigues of his rival Demetrius was compelled to yield, and their common patron assigned them separate occupations, that the progress of his children might not be retarded, or an aversion from learning generated in their minds by the peevish contention and jealousy of their preceptors. From the same source was also derived the literary enmity of Politian against Joannes Argyropylus, whose lectures were composed in a scornful and haughty tone, in unison with the character and disposition of their author: nor were the sarcasms of this Greek respecting the ignorance of Cicero in the language of his country, which he never failed to inculcate upon his auditors, better calculated to conciliate the favour of the Florentines, who boasted of that author as the first and finest model of antiquity.

The succession of Joannes Baptista Cibo (Giambattista Cibo), Bishop and Cardinal of Melfi, to the Pontificate by the title of Innocent VIII, having called forth an address from the court of Florence, Politian formed a part of the embassy, which was deputed to congratulate the new Pope upon his elevation. During the residence of the mission at Rome the new Pontiff projected a history of the Roman empire, to be compiled from the several Greek authors who had recorded the transactions of the emperors; the execution of this task was committed to Politian, which he commenced with the lives of Herodian: upon his return to Florence he completed a translation of that author into Latin. Upon the presentation of the translation to the Pope, the answer of the latter was gracious and dignified: he thanked the author for the additional ornament to his library, and, whilst he exhorted him to persevere in such honourable labours, did not neglect to reward them by a present of 200 pieces of gold. The further execution of this undertaking was prevented by the death of the projector and translator. The last works of Politian were a collection of his Latin poems, and the well-known Century of Miscellanies, which he composed at the instance of Lorenzo de’ Medici, to whom it was dedicated. He did not long survive these publications, for he died at the age of 44, A. D. 1494, a year fatal to the interests of literature by the loss of two of its brightest ornaments, Hermolaus Barbaras and Joannes Picus of Mirandola.

Politian, in the variety and extent of his attainments, was inferior to none of his contemporaries; and his skill in every department of composition gave a lustre to his name, which was reflected upon those with whom he was associated. In the writings of no modern author were eloquence and learning more eminently conspicuous, and to the possession of these two qualities his fame as an author may unquestionably be traced. In his first production, the Giostra of Giuliano dd Medici, he united the imagery to the language of antiquity, nor was he less exact in the construction of his Latin prose, nor less scrupulous with regard to the purity of his expressions, or to the excellence of the models which he proposed to himself for imitation. The morals of Politian have been arraigned on sufficient authority, and his manners are admitted to have corresponded less to the beauty of his genius, than to the deformity of his visage. The traditionary cause of his death, is mixed with too much metaphor to merit implicit credence, and however his enemies may have laboured in the task of extortion and exaggeration, his advocates have striven with equal zeal to remove the odium of an accusation, which is corroborated by the charge of mingling in his epigrams the most polished sweetness with a depravity of expression almost unworthy of a Christian. Although a priest and canon of Florence, to this impeachment were added the sins of Atheism and a contempt of the sacred writings. Later observations have detected, that malice or ignorance has transferred to the Bible that censure, which was intended for the breviary of the Romish church; and the calumny is altogether disproved by his own authority, for he has alluded to an exposition by himself of the Scriptures to the populace during Lent in a letter of thanks to Joannes Gottius Ragusinus, in return for the dedication of a volume of poems, with which that author had just complimented him. These inventions were the reward of that attachment and support, which he uniformly gave to the house of Medici, and the tributes of his fellow citizens to his memory, when the Tuscans, infatuated with liberty, insulted the name of their exiled rulers, and gave rein to the boldest and most vindictive satires. With whatever truth the character of Politian has been drawn, it is certain that the pride and envy, which superior learning generally engenders, were amongst the most predominant qualities of his mind. Learning sustained an irreparable loss by his death, and Italy justly mourned the memory of a man, whose attainments were equalled by few, and whose genius was surpassed by none.

In Demetrius Chalcondyles were united superior abilities in philosophy, with a simplicity of disposition, of which his nation afforded few examples. He was born at Athens about the year 1430, and was a disciple of Theodorus Gaza, of Thessalonica. His arrival in Italy was at an early age; for he was invited with other Greeks by Nicholas V before the year 1455, to execute a translation of certain authors of his country into Latin, in connection with George of Trebisond, Laurentius Valla, Petrus. Candidas, December, and Georgius Castellanos. The Greek school of Chrysoloras, at Florence, to which Politian had been temporarily appointed on the secession of Joannes Argyropylus, having at this time decreased by the defection of native teachers, the direction of it was committed to Chalcondyles by Lorenzo de’ Medici, about the year 1479. In this capacity he became the associate of Politian in the instruction of Piero and Giovanni de’ Medici, till wearied with his arrogance, or jealous of his popularity, Chalcondyles abandoned the chair to his more ambitious rival, and travelled to Milan, at the instance of Ludovico Sforza, where he published bis Rudiments of Grammar to supply defects in similar treatises of Chrysoloras and Gaza. During his residence in Tuscany he married a Florentine lady, whose reputation as a mother failed in protecting her from the suspicion of infidelity to her husband, which, however, the unequal age of the latter, and the literary seclusion in which he indulged, tended in some measure to fortify. Of a large family two sons and a daughter only survived their parents. Theophilus, the elder, received instructions in Greek from his father, and in Latin from Janus Parrhasius, his brother-in-law; he was nominated to a Greek professorship in the university of Pavia, but fell by the hands of an assassin in the streets of that city, a victim to his own imprudence during a midnight broil, in which the turbulence of his disposition had led him to take a part. Basilius, the second son, gifted with greater prudence, filled a chair in the gymnasium, which had been restored at Rome by Leo X; but the expectations, which his genius had excited, were destroyed by his death, after a short residence in the capital, at the age of 24 years, leaving Joannes Lascares the only survivor of that illustrious school, which for more than half a century had contributed so much to the glory and advantage of Italy. A knowledge of the premature death of his sons is said to have been spared the father by his death at the age of 80, and about the year 1510, somewhat previous to the expulsion of the French from Italy by the united arms of Julius II and the Venetians.

Of all the exiled Greeks none could compare with Chalcondyles in the virtue of integrity, of which he reaped a recompense in poverty and want, which were meted to him in a degree, to which the superior artifice or good fortune of his countrymen happily rendered them strangers. The patronage, which he enjoyed, led to no solid remuneration, and his erudition was rewarded only by the precarious revenue, which accrued from his exertions in the schools over which he presided. Amongst his patrons was Nicholo Perotti, Archbishop of Sipunto, by whom he was recommended to Giacopo Picolomini, of Pavia, the cardinal legate at Perusia, as a fit person for ecclesiastical promotion. He appears to have been wanting in the disposition and address which were necessary to ensure success with the great; for the cardinal, after doing justice to his character and qualifications, dismissed him with the common consolation, that an earlier communication of his wishes would have afforded him an opportunity of bestowing upon him an appointment, adequate to the recommendation, with which he had been favoured, and to the views and merits of its bearer. Notwithstanding his celebrity as a philologist, his only original work was a grammar, which he composed as a text-book for the use of his auditors, and as a supplement to the Erotymata and Institutes of Chrysoloras and Gaza. He was a diligent expositor of the writings of the ancients, and from his success in this branch of learning his renown was chiefly derived. His time was devoted to the correction of the entire works of Homer, the Orations of Isocrates and the Lexicon of Suidas; a task, which was accomplished by a patient accumulation of materials in the cities, in which he successively resided, and sufficiently arduous to occupy the long life to which he arrived. His scholars were numerous and eminent, and the gratitude, which they evinced towards their preceptor, is the best tribute to his talents and to the manner in which he discharged his duty towards them. So great were his integrity and erudition, his frugality and the courtesy of his manners, that one of the most devoted and intimate of his friends has lauded him as inferior to none of his contemporaries; and he was approached by all as the Socrates of the age, in which it was his fortune to live.

To the introduction of Linacre to Politian, as already mentioned, succeeded on his arrival at Florence the friendship of that scholar, and the notice of Lorenzo the Great, under whose countenance and protection his studies were prosecuted. This great encourager of letters had chosen for the education of his sons Piero and Giovanni, the two rival masters in the languages of antiquity just mentioned, and the superiority of Linacre’s attainments, joined to the modesty of his demeanour, so far conciliated the approbation of Lorenzo, as to procure for him the advantage and privilege of being associated with the young princes in their studies, and of residing with them as their chosen companion in their hours of relaxation and amusement. These distinctions were rendered more flattering by the estimate, which this good parent had formed of education, and of the respect due from society towards its directors. “How much,” says he, in his correspondence with Politian, “ought the feelings of a parent for his offspring to exceed the fondness of animals towards their young? If they, who provide for their country’s good, are dear to us, surely the instructors of our children, whose labours regard futurity, and whose precepts, advice and merits tend to support the dignity of our family and the state, ought to be especially the objects of our affection.” Of his younger associates in these pursuits Linacre lived sufficiently long to learn the destinies. The elder succeeded to the title and government of his ancestors, and became the victim of an insurrection, which enjoined the banishment of his person and the proscription of his name. The second, happier in his private fortunes, was elected to the sovereignty of the church; In the encouragement which he gave to letters, and in the means which he employed to render the arts subservient to the external splendour of the temple, he unconsciously contributed to a revolution, which separated one half of Europe from the Romish communion. If other proofs were wanting of Linacre’s modesty and moderation, they might be found in his conduct during the interval between the elevation of his former companion to the chair of St. Peter in 1513 and his own death in 1524. Although a priest, he never solicited preferment from the court of Rome, or made the friendships and associations of his youth the claims for the support of his old age; nor was it till the year 1521, that he reminded the Pontiff of their former acquaintance in the dedication of his translation of one of the works of Galen, which he appears to have composed in return for some favour, which had been previously and spontaneously conferred upon him.

Beyond this general information of Linacre’s pursuits at Florence, little has been recorded respecting him, and all particulars of the course of his studies and the disposition of his time are wanting. As an intimate acquaintance with the ancient languages was the point at which he aimed, the opportunities afforded him at Florence contributed to protract his residence there beyond the period he had contemplated at the commencement of his travels. Admitting that the licences of an Italian court were not opposed to the gravity and sobriety of his character through life, it may still be in fairness presumed, that the arrogant temper, and the polished, but lighter, discourses of Politian, operated less in occasioning this delay, than the unassuming manners and the dry but more solid praelections of Chalcondyles.

After a residence of more than twelve months at Florence, Linacre left that city for Rome to enjoy there the superior advantages which the Christian capital afforded to the mature and perfect scholar. The same encouragement was there given to science and the arts, as in other cities and universities of Italy, and the pontificate of Innocent VIII was distinguished by a patronage, of literature, and by the reward of its cultivators and professors. The libraries of Rome were numerous and rich, to which were added the associations, excited in the mind of the stranger by a contemplation of the external objects by which he was surrounded. The silence of his biographers on the manner in which Linacre entered Rome, and in which his chief acquaintance there commenced, would induce a belief that he travelled friendless and unrecommended; but the circumstances under which he left England, and the introductions with which he had been previously favoured at Florence, are at variance with this conclusion. He had been the companion of his countryman, William de Selling, who, little more than twelve months before, had resided at the papal court as ambassador from his sovereign: nor can it be supposed that the disciple of Politian, and the associate of the children of Lorenzo de’ Medici, would want recommendations to the great or the learned, wherever a love of literature might induce him to fix his abode. On whatever foundations these presumptions rest, he had scarcely arrived when a fortunate incident introduced him to the notice of one of the most celebrated characters of which Rome could boast. A perusal or collation of ancient MSS. contained in the libraries of the capital, had been one great motive of Linacre’s journey. He was one day engaged in the Vatican; in an examination of the Phoedon of Plato, when Hermolaus Barbarus suddenly approached the press were he was seated, and expressed his conviction that the stranger had no claim, like himself, to the epithet Barbarus, from his choice of the book to which his attention was directed. Linacre recognized the speaker, notwithstanding the equivocation under which his name was communicated; and this accidental interview became the foundation of a firm and lasting friendship, which was afterwards improved by the similarity of their dispositions and pursuits. Of the acquaintance which Linacre formed in Italy, this was perhaps the most distinguished, and the value of the friendship was enhanced by the literary celebrity of the individual with whom it was contracted. The first service of Hermolaus Barbaras to literature, was the restoration of the younger Pliny to the town of Novum Comum, whose writings he rescued from neglect and obscurity by emendations of corrupted passages, to the amount of more than two thousand. Of the thirty-six books of which this work was composed, not more than three or four were intelligible, and the corruptions in which the remainder had been involved, by the ignorance and negligence of copyists, served either to render them illegible or to embarrass the reader at every stage of his progress. In the accomplishment of this laborious task, Barbarus adopted the readings of ancient MSS., and when they were insufficient or at variance with the sense of the author, he had recourse to the writings of the Greeks and Romans on the same subjects, and established the text upon their interpretation. When these means were wanting to him, he adopted his own conjectures, and with such happiness that later interpreters have neither impugned nor rejected his authorities. The services which he rendered to Greek literature did not in a less degree merit the gratitude of the. scholar. New light was thrown upon the obscurities of Aristotle by his translation of Themistius, and these obligations were afterwards increased by an attempt to improve the practice of medicine, and to promote a knowledge of plants and their virtues, by a translation of the Materia Medica of Dioscorides.

The society of a man, so eminently gifted, could not be otherwise than advantageous to one, who aspired to tread in the same path; whilst the favour which he enjoyed at the papal court rendered his friendship an object of policy to all who sought an introduction to it. He was by birth a Venetian, and the grandson of Franciscus Barbarus, a man who adorned his country in the opposite characters of a statesman, a soldier and a scholar. His father was a senator: his mother was of the house of Vendramino, and the daughter of the Doge, Andrea: whilst the collateral branches of his family were distinguished by literary talents, and by the honours which they had successively accumulated. Hermolaus Barbaras was born in 1454. At the age of thirty-two, he was deputed envoy from the states of Venice to the Emperor Frederic and his son, Maximilian I, Archduke of Austria and King of the Romans. His merits and talents afterwards raised him to the rank of senator, in which capacity he was sent ambassador from the Venetian states to the court of Rome. He discharged, the duties of this appointment with so much ability and so much to the satisfaction of Innocent VIII, that he was nominated by that pontiff to the patriarchate of Aquileia,—a dignity which he accepted without previously obtaining the permission of the republic, and in defiance of its laws, which denied to its ministers the privilege of possessing any preferment, benefice or reward, which other courts in their favour might judge it proper to bestow. The plea of compulsion on the part of the donor availed little with the Venetian senate, and their delegate had the option of a resignation of his primacy, or, in the event of contumacy, of incurring the sentence of degradation and of the confiscation of his property. The influence of his father was exerted in vain to procure the repeal of this sentence, and he ultimately fell a victim to the chagrin and mortification of which it was the occasion. The son, determined in his purpose, persisted in retaining the title and office which had been conferred upon him; and the jealousy of the contending parties would probably have operated further to his advantage had his life been prolonged till a favourable opportunity occurred for the exercise of it.

Proscribed by his government, and in defiance of the penalties with which he was threatened, Barbarus continued to reside at Rome when Linacre arrived in that city. Amidst the various occupations which his high station imposed upon him, he never lost sight of literature, and his house was an academy to which the learned resorted for instruction or gratification. With the revival of letters in Italy had been introduced a new and delightful amusement, to which may be traced the foundation of many of the most celebrated societies in Europe, by whose exertions the bounds of science have been enlarged, and to which mankind have been largely rendered debtors. These entertainments had become frequent in the principal cities of Italy, and were amongst the best results of the restoration of learning. They were frequented by characters the most distinguished for their rank, for eloquence, or for knowledge. By constituting a bond of union between the severe and the gay, they had enticed the latter, if not to the cultivation, at least to the patronage of letters, and had given a polish to the learned, with which literary retirement and abstract pursuits have been generally found at variance. They have been uniformly spoken of with delight by all who had the good fortune to partake of them. They consisted of conversations succeeded by a frugal repast. They were opened by readings from some author of antiquity, or by the discussion of some calm and ingenious question in philosophy, calculated to awaken the attention, and excite the interests of those who were engaged in the argument. In the pleasure of these entertainments Linacre often participated. It was at one of these suppers, which had been protracted beyond the usual hour, that a question was agitated, Whether the vessel of the Argonauts, which was preserved at Athens in the time of Demetrius Phalereus, was the original vessel built by Theseus? Barbaras assumed the negative, and confirmed his superior reputation in dialectics, by founding his argument upon the distinction between the physical and grammatical sense of a word, by which the truth or fallacy of the question was to be determined. Thus simple were the amusements of Barbaras in the intervals of public employment, to which was added a freedom from the cares which the obligations of a family demand from its master. His time was devoted to study and contemplation, and with an indifference to worldly honours he acknowledged but two masters,—Christ and letters. In a letter written from Venice, in 1486, to the father Arnold, in answer to an inquiry, whether he had married, he has communicated some account of his family, and stated the motives by which he was guided in his preferment of a literary celibacy. He found study a sufficient occupation, and believed that nothing existed, more hostile to its interests than the yoke of matrimony and the care of children. He condemned not the conjugal state abstractedly, but required that the man, who devoted himself to learning and to the contemplation of God and of nature, should be free from its obligations. He had at this period of his life not taken orders, and his parents were living. The bias which Linacre possessed towards a single life may have been strengthened, and his choice of it influenced, by the arguments and example of his friend.

The division of the day by Barbarus was uniform: neither public employment, nor the labours imposed upon the possessors of office, interfered with its allotted hours; although in early life he had twice borne the magistracy, and discharged the duties which accompanied the acceptance of it. Ponticus Virunnius had desired to be made acquainted with the occupations and habits of his life, and the answer of Barbarus to the request comprised a day’s journal of his private life at Padua, which, with little variation, may be considered as a journal of his whole life. He rose at eight: the first hour was spent in dressing and in taking refreshment: and at nine he took a part in the sacred offices of the church. His studies commenced at ten, and were continued for five hours. Each hour had its allotted subject: to some part of the writings of Aristotle succeeded the orations of Demosthenes, or the rhetoric of Hermogenes, and these were followed by the poetry of Aratus or of Apollonius. At three he dined: his diet was as primitive and frugal as his mode of life and the disposition of his time. A soft egg, figs, a pumpkin, and fresh almonds, with white bread and diluted red wine, furnished his table. The ensuing hours till eight were devoted to business, to amusement, or to contemplation. Sometimes a friend read to him, or his amanuensis was called: the intervals of the time being filled up with conversation and arguments on such topics as were accidentally started. As the evening advanced the number of his friends was increased, and a purely literary conversation, unmixed with public or private debate, occupied the attention of his guests till the hour of supper. One detailed the result of his reading; a second some information which he had received during the day; and a third the subjects which had employed his thoughts. Their discourses were unpremeditated, no ostentatious contention was permitted in the discussion of them, and by so much simplicity were they marked, that the lighter and more trifling the subject, the greater was its charm. “Nothing,” says the writer, “could be happier than this intercourse.” The supper was marked by an equal frugality with the dinner, and was plain and easy of digestion. The first dish consisted of eggs, which were followed by various herbs with vinegar, oil, salt, and a mixture of new wine. The more solid part of the repast was a young crane roasted, and the entertainment was Concluded by a dessert of melons or apples. The day was terminated by a walk in his garden, and an hour and a half was dedicated to the study of plants, and to the consideration of Dioscorides, of whose works he had at this time contemplated a translation.

However favourable to the literary pursuits of Barbarus a life of retirement must have proved, a few only of its hours were devoted to actual study. A contemplation of the time allotted to the different subjects, which his studies embraced, affords an example of how much more may be effected by steady application and by a regular distribution of a small portion of time, than by a larger portion ill-directed and distracted by a number and variety of pursuits. His determination in favour of celibacy must have been early formed; for at eighteen he wrote a treatise upon it; and he neither afterwards altered the opinions which he had formed respecting it, nor retracted the arguments which he had urged in its favour. At nineteen he translated Themistius, of which the publication was delayed till his twenty-sixth year; at twenty-five the Rhetoric of Aristotle; at twenty-eight, Dioscorides; and at thirty, the entire Organon of Aristotle. His exertions in the inferior department of letters were not less extensive than those in Greek. He held a numerous correspondence with the learned and the great, amongst whom were two Greeks, Justinus Decadyus and Antonius Pyropylus, a physician and philosopher, with whom he corresponded in their native tongue; his orations were numerous, and he composed verses to the amount of many thousands. “If,” says he with much modesty, “my writings are estimated by their quantity, I am an old man, but if by their quality, a boy.” He held a chair at Padua, and conferred equal benefit upon the public and his friends, by reading the ethics of Aristotle for two years in that university. These arduous labours had been accomplished when his powers were scarcely matured. The plans which he laid down for the future, embraced a still more extensive range, and were dictated by a mind undismayed by, but not insensible to, the magnitude of the undertaking. He contemplated a translation of the remaining works of Aristotle, with such emendations and corrections as he was able to supply, which task he calculated upon accomplishing within a period of four years. In his copious expositions of that author, he adopted the too much neglected plan of making the author his own expositor, and of elucidating his difficulties and obscurities by a selection from the works of his commentators. He saw the necessity of taking his writings as a whole, and of reconciling apparent contradictions by an accurate comparison of different parts, without which the author would be at variance with himself.

The learned have been divided in their opinions respecting the style in which Barbaras wrote. John Picus de Mirandola, one of the wisest and most eloquent men of his age, and whose correspondence breathes an air of genuine piety and sincerity, seems to have viewed it in a more favourable light than was anticipated even by its author. He considered it as learned and nice, his words not less naturally adapted than well arranged, and exempted from all that was vulgar or trifling, whether in his phrases or sentences. These qualifications have been censured by another author as terminating in a somewhat severe style, made up of the most obsolete and modem phrases, and derived as much from Ennius and Plautus as from Apuleius and Capella. Politian, with some degree of flattery, regarded him as a remnant of the golden age, with this superiority, that he was far wiser, without any want of the sanctity by which it was distinguished. Jacobus Antiquarius, who considered it a chief part of his happiness on earth to have lived in the fifteenth century when men appeared to have descended from heaven to take learning under their protection, and to expel uncleanness from the earth, has done Barbaras ample justice for the perspicuity of his illustrations of the doctrines of the peripatetics respecting fate, fortune and chance, and for the mode by which he brought before the view of his hearers, the order of the heavenly causes on which they depended. The temper of Barbaras was in unison with his acquirements; he was void of all envy and ambition; and bore his sentence of banishment with equanimity. How long he survived the decree of the senate is uncertain, but his enemies were not remiss in propagating a report, that he died like his father, a victim to despair, occasioned by the sentence, which his contumacy had justly provoked. Anxious to deprive him of the glory and tranquillity, with which he had sustained his misfortunes, they attributed that to chagrin, which was really caused by a pestilential disease, with which he was suddenly afflicted. Politian and Picus forwarded to him the sovereign remedy, a bezoar, inclosed in a vase of agate, or according to Crinitus an antidote, composed of the oil of scorpions and the tongues of asps, which modem practitioners will judge these friends might have spared themselves the trouble of sending, and the patient the necessity of taking. This testimony of regard, however, arrived too late to put its efficacy to the test. He fell prematurely, and his panegyrists, whilst they exercised their ingenuity in proclaiming the little connection, which existed between his manners and his name, did justice to the qualifications and to the virtues by which his life was uniformly distinguished.

In comparing the life and character of Linacre with those of the individual, whose private habits have been so minutely detailed, the reader can scarcely fail in detecting a great and striking similarity. His conduct was marked by an equal love of retirement and of letters, as well as by an equal indifference to honours, and forms a strong contrast to the envy and ambition, which distinguished that of his first companion and associate in Italy, Politian. The mode of life, which he adopted on his return to England, closely assimilated with that which he had led at Rome in the company of Barbaras, and he appears to have received from this friend a bias in his course of study, and particularly in his estimate of the writings of Aristotle, from which he was at no time induced to swerve.

After leaving Rome, Linacre proceeded to Venice and Padua. His motive for visiting the first of these cities may be traced less to a curiosity of witnessing the Superior splendour and power which it had attained over other capitals in Europe, than to a desire of seeking the acquaintance of a distinguished scholar, who had there fixed his abode. This individual was Aldus Manutius, the printer, who has given to the world editions of the best and purest models of Greece; the accuracy of whose text, and the beauty of whose execution, have been duly appreciated by the learned of every age and country. So flattering were the results, which Linacre derived from this visit, that when he meditated the publication of the Sphere of Proclus, the translation of which he had now probably in part effected, he committed it to the charge of Manutius, by whom it was printed in 1499. That the parties had been on terms of familiarity is to be gathered from an epistle of Manutius, written from Venice to Albertus Pius in 1500, where he alludes to this translation, and to the motives of Linacre in executing it, accompanied with an expression of regret that he could not also send to him other writings of the same author, particularly his translations of the commentaries of Simplicius and Alexander on the Physics and Meteora of Aristotle. Grocyn also, in a letter written to Manutius, shortly after Linacre’s return to England, alludes to the civilities which he had received at Venice, hesitating not to assign them as a cause of his own esteem, and considering the favours, which were paid to his friend, as paid also to himself. He compliments Manutius upon the gratitude which the world owed him on account of his typographical labours, his choice of authors, and his preference of Aristotle to Plato, and concludes with encouraging him in his great attempt of a triglot edition of the Scriptures, of which he had been informed by Linacre that he meditated the execution.

To the friendship of this scholar Linacre was also indebted for other introductions, and in particular for a recommendation to his pupil, Albertus Pius, Duke of Carpi, with whom he is described by Manutius as associated in strictest intimacy. Unfortunate or impolitic in his alliances, this prince, in taking arms against Francis I of France, incurred the jealousy of his adversaries with the confiscation of his territory and the annexment of it to the more powerful duchy of Modena. He entered largely into the religious questions of his age, and became the opponent, or as his enemies assert, the calumniator of Erasmus at the papal court, where he had resided in the quality of ambassador, an office for which he seems to have been better suited than for directing even the petty state and government of Carpi. To the acquaintance of Linacre with another Italian scholar of the fifteenth century, Antonio Francisco Varchi, by whom he was complimented with the dedication of the Onomasticon of Julius Pollux, at the persuasion of their mutual friend Pietro Machiavelli, we shall recur hereafter.

The first stage of Linacre on his departure from Venice, was Padua, the reputation of whose schools was second to none in Italy, and of whose instructions Medicine then, and for more than a century afterwards, occupied a considerable share. At this university he took the degree of Doctor in Medicine, with more than usual applause, and not only maintained the questions, which were proposed with especial commendation, but disproved with equal acuteness the objections which the older scholastics urged against them. The talents which he displayed in this trial are said to have procured for him a professor’s chair, an appointment scarcely consistent with the brevity of his stay, and apparently presumed from the celebrity with which he defended his theses.

Padua was the last city in which Linacre permanently resided. His future journey was retarded only by the temporary delays, which safety or convenience suggested. The whole term of his residence in Italy amounted to two years, the first and better half of which had been spent at Florence under Politian; and a considerable portion of the latter half in the society, if not under the instruction of Barbaras, at Rome. Beyond the general cultivation of the ancient languages no plan of his studies has been recorded. He appears amongst severer pursuits to have occupied himself in the common amusement of the age, the transcription of early Greek MSS., and Montfaucon has enumerated him amongst the calligraphi, the humble, but useful drudges of literature, from detecting his name in a copy of a Greek MS., the date of which he refers to the fifteenth century. It is singular that no memorials have been preserved of his knowledge of the language of modern Italy. Latin was exclusively the medium of communication between the learned, but the loftiest productions of Italian genius were also extant, and were more than sufficient to repay the scholar for the labour, which it was necessary for him to expend, before he entered upon their perusal.

The route of Linacre from Padua may be accurately and precisely traced. Pursuing his course through Vicenza, Verona, Brescia, Bergamo and Milan, he crossed the Rhone and rested a short time in the Pays de Cevennes, a mountainous and romantic district of France, extending from the source of the Loire to the north of Languedoc, and occupying the tract of country between the ancient Aquitania and Gallia Narbonensis. Here he indulged in the ceremony of erecting an altar on the summit of the highest mountain of Cevennes, and of dedicating it to the country, which he had just left, as the parent of his studies and of his literary application. He travelled thence to Paris and returned to England by the way of Calais. His departure from Italy was accompanied by those proofs of friendship, which the learned in that age were accustomed to exchange. The esteem in which he was held, and the regret which his loss inspired, are perpetuated in two Latin poems, the productions of his associates in study, and of his partners in fame,

CHAPTER IV.

Claims of Linacre, Grocyn and Lilye to the title of Restorers of Greek Learning in England—Lilye s Pursuits at Venice—Linacre returns to Oxford—Incorporated M. D.—Death of Selling—Arrival of Erasmus in England—His Studies at Oxford —Progress of Arthur, Prince of Wales—Introduction of Li* nacre at Court—Presumed appointment of Physician to Henry VII,—Nature of that Office in fifteenth and sixteenth Centuries —Giambattista de Boeria—Translations of Proclus on the Sphere—Bernard Andri—Death of Prince Arthur and Henry VII,—Accession of Henry VIH.—Shaglyng Lecture—Letter Apologetic to Linacre from the University of Oxford—Appointed Physician to the King—Court of Henry VIII,—Studies Divinity — Doubts on the Truth of Christianity — Sir John Cheke—Ordained Priest—Preferments—William Warham,

We are now to pursue Linacre through the various duties of an active life, and to detail the occupations in which he was engaged during several of the most valuable years of his existence. Before proceeding in this detail, it will not be improper to institute a short inquiry into his right to the title of restorer of Greek literature in this country, which the world has awarded him by one of those particular decrees, which it sometimes imposes, without a consideration of the evidence upon which its decision is founded.

It has been shown that the few individual examples, which are recorded, of the cultivation of the Greek language in Great Britain during several centuries, are scarcely sufficient to establish its existence in that country, and that its introduction and increased use are to be referred to a period posterior to the Mohammedan conquests in the East, and the overthrow of the Greek empire.

The scholars, to whom the glory of these achievements has been attributed, are Linacre, Grocyn, and William Lilye; their claims are nicely balanced. Although the year in which Linacre travelled into Italy may not have been assigned with certainty, it has at least been done without a deviation sufficient to invalidate his title to the distinction claimed for him. Of the date of Grocyn’s birth we are not accurately informed. It is, however, certain that he was older than Linacre, although he did not leave England till about the year 1488, or three years after the departure of his colleague. He studied Greek at Florence under Chalcondyles and Politian, and was absent till the year 1490 or the following year, when he returned to Oxford, and resided at Exeter college, where he publicly read lectures in the language which he had newly acquired. Lilye, the third and youngest of this triumvirate, was not born till 1466; he quitted Oxford at the early age of twenty-two on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. During his journies in the East he had availed himself of the instructions of the Greek refugees at Rhodes, Where he rested on the completion of his pilgrimage, and acquired the rudiments of the Greek language, in the knowledge of which he perfected himself at Rome under Giovanni Sulpicio and Pomponio Sabino. His stay in Italy was probably more protracted than that of Linacre and Grocyn, for he did not return to England till some years after the latter had professed Greek at Oxford; nor was it till 1510 that he became publicly known by receiving the appointment of first master of St. Paul’s school from the hands of John Colet, its founder; in which capacity he published his Grammar and other works, on which his reputation as a scholar principally rests. It would, perhaps, be a fruitless labour to attempt a reconcilement of the difficulties in which these dates are involved. If he who first publishes to the world the fruits of his studies, merits the title of a restorer of letters above others who treasure them only for their individual solace and amusement, the award to Linacre will not be questioned. His translation of the Sphere of Proclus was the first correct version of a Greek author executed in this country after the revival of letters, and in this the justice of his claim is vested. This translation seems to have been made partly in Italy and completed or revised during his residence at Oxford, in the interval between his return from that country and his invitation to court in 1501. It was printed by his friend, Aldo Manuzio, at Venice, in 1499. Grocyn’s modesty deprived the world of the literary advantages which his application and learning might readily have supplied, and Lilye’s fame was derived from his occupation as a teacher and his skill in grammar, to the illustration of which his time and labour were chiefly devoted.

The return of Linacre to England and his superior acquirements in humanity occasioned no intermission or relaxation of his pursuits, for he immediately revisited Oxford to renew his studies there, and enjoy the privileges which the tenure of his fellowship still supplied. The English universities were accustomed at this period to recognize the honours which had been granted to their members by foreign academies, and the degree of doctor in medicine, which he is said to have received at Padua, was confirmed to him at home by an act of incorporation immediately after his arrival. The statutes of the university had long enjoined the performance of certain exercises as qualifications for this honour, and the Inceptor was required to read two lectures on the theory and practice of his art, in the schools appointed to his faculty. These exercises appear to have been confounded with other lectures, which he afterwards read voluntarily in conjunction with the Professors of Divinity and Law, the date of which is assigned by Wood, with more probability, to the year 1510. It is believed that this incorporation by his own university was followed by a similar act at Cambridge, and he has been numbered with Redman, as one of its most distinguished ornaments, a statement which receives some weight from his subsequent foundation at that university of a lecture, for which he made a provision equal to that for his corresponding institutions at Oxford.

The gratifications, which Linacre anticipated by a return to his former study and retirement, were for a short time interrupted by the death of his friend and preceptor, William de Selling, who did not long survive the mission with which he had been charged to the court of Rome. The literary claims of this individual, and the obligations which Linacre owed to his instructions, have been already noticed. So high did his character stand in the estimation of his brethren, that he had been made prior of his convent under the primacy of Thomas Bourchier in 1472; nor does he deserve less of posterity for the zeal which he displayed in the cause of learning, and for the pains which he employed in enriching his library with copies of the choicest authors of antiquity. He died in the year 1494, on the anniversary of the death of Thomas i Becket, and, in compliance with the superstition of the age, was interred in the martyrdom of his cathedral, within a few feet of the spot which received the blood of that saint—the last and best proof of the respect in which the members of the convent held the memory of their superior. He died full of years and honours, and left behind him many monuments of his learning, especially an unfinished memorial of his embassy, which shared the fate of the more valuable MSS. which he had collected with such care and expense during his first visit to Italy.

The loss, which Linacre sustained by this misfortune, was in some measure repaired by a new connection, which not long afterwards accidentally opened to him, from which arose an intercourse which lasted during life, and from which literature derived important benefits.

The stranger, who contributed to bring to pass these events, was Erasmus, who had left Holland to seek in other countries those advantages which were denied him by the barbarous and unpolished state of his own. He had previously resided in France, and his journey to England was sudden and unexpected. After spending some time at Paris as instructor of some English, and particularly of William, Lord Mountjoy, he proceeded to visit his noble pupil at Hames Castle, in the Comté de Guines, at that time in possession of the English by virtue of a cession to Edward III, and of which that nobleman had been appointed governor. At the instigation of Lord Mountjoy, Erasmus was persuaded to alter his purpose, and instead of prosecuting his journey to Italy, as he had at first meditated, resolved to visit England. He sailed from Calais at the end of the year 1497, and after a short stay in London, proceeded to Oxford to execute the plans which he had formed for his future improvement His abode was in a small society of Augustine monks, dedicated to St. Mary, the entrance to which survived the destruction of the house in the sixteenth century. It was situated nearly between New Inn Hall and the com market in that city, and occupied the site of the garden and house since appropriated to the Regius Professor of Medicine. As one motive of Erasmus in visiting Oxford was avowedly the study of the Greek tongue, for the acquirement of which no opportunities had been afforded him previously to his arrival in England, he eagerly availed himself of the instructions of the only three persons from whom a knowledge of the language could be obtained; and with them he soon became associated in the two-fold character of friend and pupil. These individuals were Linacre, Grocyn and Latimer, upon the first of whom, however, the office of preceptor seems to have devolved, although Erasmus was also assisted in his studies by Grocyn and Latimer, who were at that time engaged in teaching the institutes of Greek in the university. The advantages which Erasmus enjoyed in this society, in conjunction with that of Colet and More, and the estimate he had formed of the value of them, may be gathered from a letter, written shortly after his arrival, to an English student, Robert Fisher, who had been his pupil in France, but who quitted that country for Italy, about the time that Erasmus sailed for England. To his inquiry respecting the opinion which the latter had formed of England, he replied, that nothing had yet afforded him equal delight. He found a climate as conducive to pleasure as to health, and such was the profound and exact erudition which prevailed in Greek and Latin learning, that he had no reason to regret the loss of Italy. “In Colet,” says he, “I hear Plato himself. Who does not admire the perfect compass of science in Grocyn? Is aught more acute, more exalted or more refined than the judgment of Linacre? Has nature framed any thing either milder, sweeter or happier than the disposition of More? It is wonderful how universally copious is here the harvest of ancient learning, wherefore you should hasten your return.”

How long Erasmus continued to persevere in the pursuits of humanity is a point yet in dispute. Wood, whose sources of information were generally authentic, believes his residence to have been prolonged to a part of the year 1499. It is difficult to reconcile this statement with that of Jortin, by whom the residence of Erasmus, during this period of two years, is fixed both at Paris and Orleans, from which cities his letters were sometimes dated. His chief literary labour, whilst he resided with the Augustines at Oxford, was a treatise De taedio et pavore Christi, and several of his letters were also written from the house of this fraternity. The first fruits of his studies in the language to which he devoted a great portion of his time, were not shown till the year 1503, when he composed a Latin version of the Declamations of Libanius, dedicated to Nicholas Ruter, Bishop of Arras, and Chancellor of the university of Louvain.

Employments of this kind served to occupy the life of Linacre till the beginning of the sixteenth century, when new views were opened to him by an introduction to the duties of public life, and to the ceremonies of a court. In the year 1501; whilst he was yet resident in the university, Arthur, Prince of Wales, arrived at Oxford, which he honoured by a temporary residence during a progress through a part of the kingdom, of which he had been nominally appointed the guardian during the absence of his father in France, or more probably during a journey to meet his council at the castle of Ludlow, the seat of the court of the Marched of Wales. He was lodged at Magdalen College; under the care of the President, Richard Mayhew, who had been nominated to that office by the founder, and enjoyed the favour of Henry VII from whom he received the appointment of almoner. This visit seems to have been connected with the marriage of the prince, for in the same year the president was chosen to convey the Infanta Catharine of Arragon to England, as the bride of his royal guest, for which service he had a seat in the council, and was further rewarded with the see of Hereford in 1504. To what period this visit was extended does not appear.

In what way the fortunes of Linacre became dependent upon this visit, or by whose recommendation he was introduced to the royal notice and favour, is nowhere recorded, but it is certain that he was summoned about this time from Oxford to the court, and that some powerful influence had been exerted in his behalf, as a man sufficient for the duties which would there be required at his hands. The contract of the prince, yet in his fifteenth year, with the infanta, was to be followed by the commission of his health and further education to the care of a qualified director, whose learning might instruct, whilst his gravity would fit him to be the confidant and companion to the prince in the intervals of study.

These offices Linacre was invited to fill about the year 1501, and to them is said to have been added the still more important charge of the king’s health in the capacity of domestic physician. As this trust not only constituted the highest honour, to which the members of the faculty of medicine could aspire, but involved in it the most important obligations, I shall offer a few remarks upon this presumed appointment, and upon the nature of the duty itself, as it existed in the middle of the fifteenth and early part of the sixteenth centuries.

The unsettled state of physic as a science, before the revival of learning in the fifteenth century, rendered the practice of it rather a necessary accomplishment to the priesthood, with which it was generally united, than a distinct art cultivated on fixed and certain principles. To the ecclesiastics of the middle ages degrees in medicine conferred equal privileges with those in their proper faculty: but they gave to the possessor no claim to public confidence or to a remuneration for the services, which he might render by virtue of them; and the practice of the art was chiefly confined to men, who had seldom enjoyed the benefit of a scholastic education, or who boasted of acquirements in language, beyond a competent knowledge of the idiom and use of their vernacular tongue.

The earliest mandate or warrant for the attendance of a physician at court, which the writer has been able to discover, is dated 83 Henry VI, a reign fertile in the patronage which was afforded to practitioners in medicine; but in that reign no appointment existed, which can justly be called physician to the royal person. By this warrant the king, with the consent of his privy council, deputed to three physicians, and two surgeons, the regulation of his diet and the administration of such medicines and remedies, as might be sufficient for his cure, without any allusion to the previous existence, or permanency of the office which they were authorized for a time to fill, or to a remuneration for their services. What was the nature of the malady, or what the reward of their efforts for its cure, does not appear. The king seems either to have been dissatisfied with the treatment which was adopted, or to have desired that spiritual consolation, in conjunction with medical advice, which could only be afforded by an ecclesiastic. In the following year, when he was seized either with a new disease, or an accession of his former complaint, he issued an order under his privy seal at Westminster, requiring the attendance of Gilbert Kemer, Dean of Salisbury, an expert, notable, and proved man in the craft of medicines, and in whom, amongst all others, the royal affection and desire is stated right specially to have been set. Whether this ecclesiastic was more successful in his practice than his predecessors is very doubtful, although he enjoyed the confidence of his royal patient, not less as a physician than in his more proper character of a divine.

The variations in the orthography of names in the fifteenth century render it difficult to identify the individuals mentioned in the writs of this period; but John Faceby, apparently the same with John Facebey, one of the physicians, to whom the warrant of the 33 Henry VI was directed, was rewarded four years afterwards with the reversion of an annual grant of fifty marks, charged upon the prior and convent of St. Augustine in Canterbury; and William Hateley, probably an alias or misnomer for Hatcliffe, had in the following year a grant, under a writ of the privy seal, of the rents and profits of the foss dyke in Lincolnshire, of which county he was a native, in return for the services, which he had professionally rendered, and wished still to render, to the king and queen.

The nature of these remunerations, coupled with the length of time that elapsed between the attendance and the several grants, is at variance with a fixed salary and a permanent or individual appointment. The many names, which are in this reign found in occasional attendance upon the king, and the consequent assumption of the title of physician to the royal person also militate against their existence. No writs are extant, which conferred these advantages exclusively, and remunerations similar to those made by Henry VI were common during the reigns of Henry VII and VIII. In the books of accounts of these kings, no mention is made of any regular allowance to the physicians of the court. The person, whose services were required, was summoned by an order issued either by the king himself under his sign manual and privy seal, or under those of his minister, and discharged at the termination of the disease, with such a remuneration as the length of his attendance, his skill, or the munificence of his sovereign might award. In more than one document of this kind a distinction sufficiently broad is drawn between the rank and office of the physician, and those of the apothecary,—the services of the former are usually stated to have been paid in reward, a term expressive of an honorarium, or gift, and not like those of the latter, in the form of a legal demand.

With whatever truth such an appointment has been assigned to the court of Henry VII, it was already occupied by another individual, to whom the title, has been given with more credit, and of whom Linacre must have been the associate, if not in the theory, at least in the practice of his profession. The individual alluded to was a native of Genoa, named Giovanni Battista (or Giambattista) de Boeria, who, with more pretensions ta the title of astrologer than physician, is designated in the correspondence of the day, the chief or ordinary physician to the king, which office he filled during the life of Henry VII, and the early part of the following reign. He appears to have been possessed of wealth, which he probably obtained as much from the practice of astrology as of medicine; for his sons were confided to the care of Erasmus, on his second visit to England, and they travelled with him to Bologna in 1507. Although of a morose temper, Erasmus succeeded in the charge which he had undertaken to the satisfaction of their father, and afterwards found in him a benefactor, by whom his wants were frequently relieved. To the same patron Erasmus dedicated his version of the Commentary of Lucian on Astrology, and whilst he honestly confessed that he derived more amusement from its antiquity, than from its arguments, he left its merits to be discovered by him, who was so great an adept in the art of which it treated.

The fitness and ability of Linacre to fulfil the duties of his new appointment had been displayed in his translation of the Sphere of Proclus, the, first edition of which he dedicated to his royal pupil. The dedication of the work, which may have laid the foundation for the advancement of the author, had its origin in feelings of loyalty and obedience, and in the wish of Linacre to publish some memorial of his midnight labours, on which a portion of the prince’s application might be advantageously bestowed. The prince had reached the age of thirteen years. He had applied himself with success to a perusal of the ancient poets, and this translation was designed to assist him in the full comprehension of their writings, as well as to inform him of the site of empires, an acquaintance with which might prove to him a source of pleasure after the anxieties and fatigues of state. Although Linacre was nominally tutor to the prince, it is evident, from this preface, that he had no control over his person or education. After stating that he had rendered Proclus into Latin for the sake of his royal highness, not because a treatise was wanting on the subject, (since one had already appeared,) but because a knowledge of the sphere came with greater advantage from Proclus, he reminds him in language sufficiently intelligible, that should he require from that tongue, in which are treasured the memorials of all humanity, aught which may conduce to the public studies of his people, or to his own, which were more than public, England was not wanting in men, by whom his wishes might be abundantly realized.

Anticipated by Giambattista de Boeria in the office of physician to the court, Linacre had also to encounter the prejudices and opposition of a rival in that of tutor and translator from the Greek. The early education of the prince had been committed to Bernard Andr6, an Augustine friar, a native of Thoulouse, to whom had been given the ungrammatical name of Tolosates (of Thoulouse). He had filled the offices of laureate and historiographer to the king, and, like the older scholars, who had received a bias from the systems and pursuits of other reigns, had been much addicted to the practice of judicial astrology, in which he was better versed than in the poetry and history of the ancients. With less laudable motives than those of Linacre, he had employed a translation of Proclus to further the progress of his pupil in the art which he professed; and like all, who grow old in an attachment to the obsolete and forgotten forms of their youth, viewed with jealousy the introduction of a new system, and the communication of a more profitable knowledge, to the comprehension of which he was rendered as unequal by his habits and years, as he was indisposed by his prejudices and limited attainments.

The translation, which was introduced by this foreigner, was feeble and imperfect. Faulty, however, as was its execution, and scanty as must have been the learning of its anonymous translator, it had nearly proved the cause of Linacre’s disgrace, and of arresting the preferment, which his new office entitled him to expect. The history of these rival translations is very obscure, and has been but briefly, if not inaccurately, told. Erasmus, who narrates, the story, has stated that Linacre’s translation was dedicated in the first instance to the king, who vented his dislike and contempt upon the author, on information that a version of the same treatise already existed, from which this was no more than a transcript;—a calumny propagated by Andr6, to whose artifices the royal resentment is to be attributed. The insufficiency of the evidence, on which this statement rests, excites a doubt of its accuracy, and a feeling of private injury on the part of the relator, will not add to its credibility. It is certain that some earlier translation existed to which Linacre himself alludes; but it is difficult to suppose that he would first have hazarded a dedication of his own work to the king, and shortly after have addressed it to the prince, expressly stating that the advancement of his studies was the motive for its publication, when the former would be fresh in the recollection of all, and detection and disgrace the inevitable consequences of the second dedication. The rival version has been consigned by the cotemporaries of its author, to the oblivion which it probably merited.

The brevity of the original, together with the simplicity of its style, rendered the treatise of Proclus admirably adapted to the capacity of the pupil, and to the purposes which a perusal of it was designed to answer, nor were these advantages at all lessened by the attachment of Proclus to the philosophy of Plato, or by his skill in rhetoric and grammar, on which he well and copiously wrote. Although one of the earliest and most strenuous adversaries of Christianity, his work on the Sphere is equally free from any prejudices or arguments against Christianity and from the fables of the Greek mythology so intimately connected with his subject. He has confined himself solely to an exposition of the principles, by which the motion of the heavenly bodies is regulated, and of which he has treated in a clear, copious, and masterly manner.

From the care with which Linacre wrote, and his repeated corrections, he has rendered his translation uniformly correct. If he has sometimes amplified the sense of his author, it was rather suggested to him by the design of making his translation an elementary book, and by an anxiety to adapt it to the age and comprehension of his pupil, than from any vanity of proclaiming the extent of his own knowledge at the expense of the progress and patience of the reader.

The excellent disposition, and the attainments of the prince, had excited expectations in the court and in the nation, which were unhappily destined never to be realized. The prince’s constitution was naturally feeble, and probably a too early marriage assisted in undermining it. He died in the sixteenth year of his age, and by his death Linacre saw his hopes and appointment terminated, within two years after he had received it.

The death of the prince, however fatal to the prospects in which Linacre might have indulged, had his pupil lived to succeed to the throne, afforded him greater leisure for the renewal of his studies, and allowed him to enter upon the practice of his profession uninterrupted by the obligations which his office at court had laid upon him. That he had entered upon the public exercise of it, seems probable from a letter of Erasmus, who having availed himself of his skill, whilst in England, wrote to him from Paris in the year 1506, describing his complaints, lamenting the want of his usual advice, and earnestly requesting him to remit a former prescription, from which the writer had derived great benefit, but which the pharmacopolist had neglected to return.

The interval between the death of the prince and the accession of Henry VIII, Linacre so ardently devoted to the practice of his profession, and the studies connected with it, that his friends complained to him of a too rigid economy in the distribution of his time, and urged him to occasional relaxation by a mutual intercourse and epistolary communication. Even Erasmus found it necessary to reproach him for a want of punctuality in his correspondence, and to intreat him to write, however brief the letters, with which he was to be favoured.

The death of Henry VII in April, 1509, opened new prospects of honour and promotion to all who had shared the patronage of his reign. The spirit and munificence, which had been displayed by the new king before his accession to the throne, encouraged these hopes, and the wealth, with which the royal coffers had been enriched by the care and economy of his father, promised the most ample means for their gratification and fulfilment. The joy, which the new accession diffused throughout the court, may be collected from a letter of the Lord Mountjoy, which was written from Greenwich, where the court then sat, to his friend Erasmus, on the 2d of June following, when the manners and tempers of the courtiers had begun to assimilate with those of the new king, and the gravity and parsimony of the former reign to be forgotten in prospects of the most joyous and flattering description. He begins by expressing his conviction that all anxiety would be banished from the mind of his friend on receiving the intelligence that Henry VIII had succeeded to the throne of his ancestors; for what might he not promise himself from a prince, whose excellent’ and almost divine disposition he had intimately known, of whom he was not only the acquaintance but even the friend, and from whom he had enjoyed the honour of a private correspondence. “Could you know,” says he, “how heroic is his behaviour, and how discreet his conduct—how great his love of justice and virtue, and what a regard he professes for the learned—you would instantly fly hither to behold this new and healthful planet. Could you see, my Erasmus, the delight which animates, or the joy which is felt by all for so great a prince, you would shed tears of joy. The heavens laugh, the earth leaps with gladness, and all things flow with milk, honey and nectar. Avarice is banished; wealth is scattered with an open hand.” Erasmus seems to have left England under an impression, that his learning and services would . be disregarded or forgotten during his absence, and that he might never revisit a country, where he had experienced the most liberal and hospitable reception. One object of his patron in writing this letter, seems to have been that of encouraging a contrary frame of mind; and if ought can excuse the grossness of the flattery, which it contains, it is the wish of the writer to relieve his correspondent from any such apprehension. The same gloomy apprehensions of neglect on the part of his friends, and of Linacre in particular, were anxiously dissipated on another occasion by Sir Thomas More, who assured him of the good opinion of their common friend, who had neglected no opportunity to render the favour, which he enjoyed at Court, subservient to his advancement, and on one occasion especially had taken advantage during supper of recommending him to the king in the most prodigal and affectionate terms, which they who related the conversation, doubted not would speedily be followed by some instance of the royal bounty, in which expectation he also begged devoutly to accord.

Although the obligations, or immediate connection of Linacre at court, had probably ceased from the death of Prince Arthur, the accession of the new king seems to have occasioned a temporary alteration in his views, for he returned about this time to his residence at Oxford, where he read before the university a Shagglyng Lecture, an institution, of which the origin is involved in equal obscurity with the name. These lectures were contingent and unendowed. The stipend to the reader was assigned at one time by the university, at another by some individual college; or it was supplied, by royal munificence, or by noble or episcopal liberality .f They were read alternately by inceptors or graduates in the three faculties of Divinity,- Law and Medicine; and it is probable that the first, public exercise of the abilities of those, who, were afterwards most celebrated in these professions,, was displayed on the delivery of these lectures. The first attempt of Sir Thomas More in illustration of the treatise of St. Augustine De civitate Dei has been already noticed. Linacre, matured in age and experience, about the year 1510 discharged a similar duty, and communicated the principles of his art in a Commentary upon an Aphorism of Hippocrates or upon an Hypothesis of Galen, at that time the established mode of conveying medical instruction, and to which few physicians were competent from the limited diffusion of the language in which these authors wrote.

The professional rank, which Linacre now enjoyed, and the opportunities, which it presented for the advancement of learning and the patronage of its cultivators, were not overlooked by those whose interests were in some measure identified with its existence. It should seem that he had already meditated the disposal of the fruits of his profession in some especial and public benefaction, but without having determined upon the precise mode in which his bounty was to be distributed. The university of Oxford, or at least that part of it which espoused the cause of humanity, neglected no means of recommending itself to the notice of so accomplished and important an ally. What benefits he had at this time rendered or signified his intention of rendering to this body are nowhere specified, but the university not only condescended to apologize for its remissness in thanking him for the past, but also to solicit the extension of his affection towards them for the future. The following is a translation of the document in which these excuses and desires are contained, the original of which, it will be confessed, is more creditable to the gratitude of its authors than to the abilities of the scribe, who was employed to express it.

“ To Thomas Linacre, the most Skilful Physician of the King.

We are not a little troubled, excellent sir, (to mention nothing besides,) and most learned of physicians, since till now we have never greeted your pre-eminence by letter, (let us confess the truth,) how we may readily devise the means by which we may handsomely remove from ourselves the stain of ingratitude, which we have incurred, were we otherwise than assured, that you are rather displeased at the greater good will, nay at the more ardent affection, which your courtesy has entertained towards our university, than at any negligence, not to say sluggishness of our own. How exalted the mind, how liberal the devotion of him, who, whilst he is the most eminent, is indisputably the most eloquent of his contemporaries, towards the university of Oxford, is a secret to none. How well you think of us, and how generously you have resolved to provide for our interests, we have fully learned from the report of our colleagues, who have discoursed with you. We wonder not that the lovers of sound knowledge look up to, and honour you; for so nobly have you deserved of the learned, and of letters, that we may justly proclaim you the new parent of the Latian tongue. At least we owe you much for the late translation of the Sphere of Proclus, which Lupset illustrates here with applause to a crowded auditory; for whom, notwithstanding his reputation, we have judged it a duty to return thanks to you, to whose foresight that event is wholly to be attributed. So copiously does he bedew us with the figures of rhetoric, and so eloquently does he labour to direct our tastes, that, the dress of barbarism being retrenched, we trust that by his aid the very form of eloquence may shortly be revived amongst us. But that we have yet made no returns for your extraordinary bounty towards us, (to repay, alas! accords not with our poverty,) which we can only do with our whole hearts, (for in this sense, even whilst proclaiming it, we requite them,) we give you truly our fullest thanks, resting our chief hope in you, whose reputation stands so high with the king’s majesty, that we may with good reason commemorate you amongst the most active leaders and foremost patrons of our academical host.

“In kindness receive our wishes thus briefly expressed, and should we be over able to effect, what, we might expect, would be a source of gratification to you, assure yourself at all times of the entire obedience of the Oxonians.”

The hopes, which had been formed of the liberality of the king,. and of his zeal for the encouragement of learning, were well founded,—he extended his patronage to the most eminent scholars of the age. In bestowing the appointments, which were, necessary to the royal dignity, in the formation of a new court, the claims of individuals to a continuance in the offices, which they had filled during the former reign, were not forgotten ; and Linacre was complimented with that of Physician to the King, either by virtue of this claim, or from his known abilities and the good opinion, which a faithful discharge of his duties as guardian and preceptor of the deceased heir to the throne had procured for him.

In whatever sense this appointment is to be construed, it is certain that he enjoyed the favour and confidence of the king, occasionally residing at court, as the guardian of his health, and in a literary intimacy with the most eminent characters, by whom it was adorned. The residence of Henry was, in the city of London, at Bridewell, whose palace was the frequent scene of courtly splendour, and its vicinity the abode of the noble and the gay. Linacre had also fixed his residence in the neighbourhood of this precinct, in a situation, which was rendered doubly desirable by its vicinity to the palace, and to the cathedral of St. Paul, of whose dean, John Colet, he had been the companion in early life at Oxford, and of whom he was now the intimate associate and friend. By More, on whom the highest offices of the state were about to devolve, he was still, retained as a preceptor; this great man expresses himself on one occasion to Colet as devoting his time to the society of Grocyn, Linacre and Lilye, the first the master of his life, the second the director of his studies, and the third the dear companion of his affairs.

Linacre had now reached the highest point of professional fame, and to his care was committed the health of the foremost in the church and state. Amongst these were Sir Reynolds Bray, Knight of the Garter and Lord High Treasurer, to whose will he was a subscribing witness in 1503, Wolsey, Cardinal of St. Cecilia, with William Warham, the Primate, and Richard Fox, Privy Seal and Bishop of Winchester, to both of whom he has gratefully acknowledged his obligations. The patronage of the public, if it afforded less honour, yielded greater profit, and he lived approved by the world, and high in the estimation of the honourable and good.

In justice to the English monarch, it must be allowed that every encouragement was given to literature, and whilst rewards were liberally bestowed upon its cultivators, his zeal was not less visible in a happy choice of individuals, to fill the offices or execute the more important duties of the state. Erasmus, who had seen enough of courts, to enable him to estimate their value, and who held them in abomination, as presenting nothing but splendid misery and an affected state of happiness, could here have forgotten his disgust, and, could he have recalled the years of his youth, have been satisfied to pass his life within it. He has drawn a flattering picture of its chief actors, and the resemblance will not be thought less striking, when the circumstances, under which he composed it, are considered: he was then at Basle, and drew his portraits uninfluenced, either by the desire of praise, or by the hope of reward from those whom he has commemorated. “The king,” says he, “the most judicious of his age, delights in the liberal arts: the queen, a marvel to her sex, and his equal in letters, is no less estimable for her piety, than for her learning: with these all are in authority, who excel in polite literature, in discretion, and in integrity. To Linacre, a man of whom commendation would be vain, since his excellence is proclaimed by his writings, is assigned the office of Physician. Tunstall is Keeper of the Privy Seal, nor will it be credited what a world of excellence is comprised in the mention of his name. More, the chief delight, not only of the Muses, but of Mirth and the Graces, and of whose genius an idea may be formed from his writings, is of the Council. Pacey, all but allied to him, is Secretary of State. Mountjoy presides over the household of the queen. Colet is the preacher; and Stokesley, who yields to none in scholastic theology, and the master of three languages, the priest. Whilst such characters adorn the court, it is less a palace than an academy of learning, to which Athens, the porticoes, or the schools of antiquity might yield the preference.” In this picture are included some of the more prominent characters of the English court; and although the office, which Linacre held, precluded any share in the government or its councils, he boasted not less of the patronage and friendship of the great, than of an intimacy with the most learned of his own and of other nations. A knowledge of the terms, on which this intercourse was conducted, is wanting, through the reserve or indolence in which he indulged in respect to all correspondence with his contemporaries, and its existence is confirmed only by the freer or less cautious communications of his friends. The private life and transactions of those also with whom this intercourse was shared have been for the most part lost or forgotten in the relation of the public events, of which many of them were the agents; nor are the notices which are left of their pursuits in the calmer and more inviting path of letters more abundant, than those of their manners and amusements in the hours of privacy and domestic retirement.

We have now to regard Linacre in a new character, and to exhibit him at an age past the meridian of life, as devoting himself to the study of theology, and the duties of the priesthood. These occupations were admitted by the church, as compatible with the practice of medicine, and the union had prevailed for several centuries, giving to the ecclesiastics of the middle ages the same power over the bodies, as they had usurped by virtue of their office over the minds and consciences of mankind. In examining the motives of this choice, it should seem that he was guided less by the expectation of dignity and preferment, than by the desire of retirement, and of rendering himself acquainted with those writings, which might afford him consolation in old age, and relief from the infirmities, which a life of assiduous study and application had tended to produce. It is probable that he had for some years felt the approaches of that disease, which at length proved fatal to him, and that he was confirmed by these feelings in the determination of devoting the rest of his life to the service of the church, disabled as he now found himself from pursuing the practice of the art, which had been the object of his early choice. Several evidences exist in favour of this supposition, and a letter of condolence, written by Erasmus, from Bruges, hints at a state of health, which was gradually decaying, and he exhorts his friend to anticipate the opinion of posterity by the publication of some work during his life time; lest a reserve, which had its origin in caution and modesty, might be attributed to the worse motives of selfishness and ill nature.

A singular story has been related of a doubt on the part of Linacre respecting the truths of Christianity, which he is said to have conceived at the commencement Of his theological studies; the history and foundation of which report merit a slight examination. The authenticity Of it rests with Sir John Cheke, Regius Professor of Greek in the University of Cambridge, a celebrated philologist, but indiscreet as a politician, during the distracted reigns in which it was his misfortune to live. The publication of it arose out of the laudable attempt of this scholar in his character of Greek reader to rescue the pronunciation of that language, and particularly of its vowels and dipthongs, from the barbarous uniformity which then prevailed, and to give to its syllables that distinction and variation of sound, which, he believed, was employed by the ancients, and of which the moderns have recognised the propriety. This design was rendered abortive by the vigilance of Stephen Gardener, Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of the University, who opposed the innovation by an injunction, commanding its immediate suppression. Each party advocated his opinion with equal warmth and ingenuity, and whilst the chancellor rested his argument upon authority, the opinions of the most eminent of the revivers of Greek learning in this country were adduced by his opponent in favour of the reformation for which he contended. The substance of these arguments was afterwards collected into a treatise on the pronunciation of the Greek tongue, in which the story in question is introduced in a manner somewhat irrelevant to the subject, and apparently with the only motive of opposing the sincerity of Linacre to the bigotry of the bishop, equally ardent in his attachment to the errors of philosophy as to those of the religion in which he was educated.

Occupied in professional avocations and devoted in the intervals to the study of the writings of antiquity, the better half of Linacre’s life is said to have been passed, in common with the laity, in a neglect or total ignorance of the sacred writings. About the fiftieth year of his age incipient infirmities of body induced him to dedicate a portion of his time to the study of divinity, with which view he took up the New Testament for the first time. He had reached that portion of St. Matthew’s Gospel where the Saviour is described as teaching from the mount and communicating to the assembled multitude that perfect system of religious and moral duty, which, inculcating abstinence and mortifications in opposition to the passions and propensities of human nature, carried conviction to its auditors, and might alone stand a proof of the divinity of the teacher and of the truth of his mission. The inference, however, has been that no such conviction was produced in the present instance, for Linacre had no sooner perused the command, swear not at all, than he threw away the book with violence, proclaiming with an oath that either this was not the Gospel, or that we were not Christians. This story was current many years after Linacre’s death, without any inquiry on the part of its relators into the authenticity of it. Succeeding writers have vindicated the stain, which an act and language so violent imposed upon the character of their author. Selden, in discussing the principle on which the custom of administering oaths in the early ages rested, in conformity to the words of the evangelist, considers the expressions of Linacre as induced by a horror of the then frequent and rash practice of swearing, so forcibly denounced by the Saviour himself. If the statement have any foundation in truth, every unbiassed mind will admit the interpretation of Selden. But the whole statement carries with it an air of invention, if not on the part of Cheke himself, at least on that of the individual from whom he derived it; and it is refuted by Linacre’s known habits of moderation, and the many ecclesiastical friendships, which, with a single exception were preserved without interruption till his death. It was a most frequent mode of silencing opposition to the received and established tenets of the church, when arguments were wanting, to brand the impugner with the opprobrious titles of heretic and infidel, the common resource of the enemies to innovation in every age and country.

The precise time of Linacre’s ordination, or from whose hands he received it, has not been discovered; certain passages in his letters dedicatory seem to point at Warham or Wolsey, as the bishop by whom he was ordained. The register of the former, about the period when it was most likely to have occurred, is altogether silent on the subject, and whether his ordination was effected by letters dimissory, or whether his expressions of gratitude to Leo X are not to be construed as a return for a dispensation from the usual gradations of sub-deacon and deacon, from which he appears to have been exempted, must be left to conjecture. The ceremony probably took place in or about the year 1509; for in October in that year he was collated by the primate, Warham, to the rectory of Mersham, in Kent, from which he derived no emolument, as he resigned it in little more than a month from his collation. By whatever causes this resignation was induced, it was followed in December of the same year by an installation into the Prebend of Easton in Gardano, in the cathedral of Wells, and in the year 1510 by an admission to the church of Hawkhurst, in Kent, on the presentation of the abbot and convent of Battel, which he held till the year 1524. An interval of seven years appears to have elapsed before he was further advanced; he was nominated in 1517 to a canonry and prebend in the collegiate chapel of St. Stephen, Westminster,§ vacant by the death of Andrea Ammonio, Apostolic Prothonotary and Papal Collector in England. In the following year he became Prebendary of South Newbold in the church of York, which preferment he held for the short period of six months, being succeeded on 23d April, 1519, by Richard Sampson, afterwards Bishop of Chichester. He probably resigned this stall on receiving the more dignified and lucrative appointment of precentor of the same cathedral, to which he had been admitted on the 9th of April preceding, and for which there is sufficient reason to believe he was indebted to Wolsey, to whom about this time he dedicated his translation of Galen on the Use of the Pulse. This dignity was also resigned in November of the year of his admission In addition to the appointments mentioned, he had the rectory of Holworthy in Devonshire, which was given to him by the king in the year 1518; and in 1520 he obtained the rectory of Wigan in Lancashire, which he appears to have held till his death. Why these preferments were accepted, or why so speedily resigned, it is difficult to divine; since the expenses of institution must have exceeded the profits which were derived from them during the period of possession.

The prelate, to whom Linacre certainly owed a part of the preferments which he enjoyed, if not his introduction to the church, was the first in years and station of the many distinguished characters with which the English court abounded. He was through life his firm friend and patron, and of such a man it would be injustice to omit a memorial, contemplating his character apart from the more important duties , in which he was. publicly and officially engaged.

William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, had been initiated into the mysteries and practices. of the state from his earliest years, and had reaped’ the reward of his skill and fidelity by successive and lucrative appointments, till he had attained the high dignity which it was now his fortune to enjoy. Attached to the measures of the sovereign, by whom he had been patronized and favoured, he still preserved the policy of his youth, and, regardless of the changes which were now in progress, hesitated not to cultivate an intolerant and, persecuting spirit, as the best means of staying the heresies and dissentions which were every-, where growing up. around him. Possessed himself of a moderate share of learning, he attached nevertheless an importance to its possession, and living occasionally in retirement was distinguished as the patron and protector of it in others. Two of the principal objects of his friendship and generosity were Linacre and Erasmus. To the latter, who was as perpetually importunate as he was impoverished, he was a great and constant benefactor, and his liberality was repaid by the only means which the scholar had to bestow—epistolatory dedications and commendatory verses. His goodness and bounty were ever acknowledged by Erasmus with gratitude, who, following him into private life, and divesting him of the ceremony which belonged to his station, has sketched the old age of a primate of the fifteenth century in the following brief but unaffected terms.

After mentioning his appointments as ambassador, primate, and chancellor, he says: “Such were his vigilance and attention in all matters relating to religion and to the offices of the church, that no concern, which was foreign to them, seemed ever to distract him. He had sufficient time for a scrupulous performance of the accustomed exercise of prayer, for the almost daily celebration of the mass, for twice or thrice hearing divine service, for determining suits, for receiving embassies for consultation with the king when subjects of moment required his presence, for the visitation of churches when regulation was needed, for the welcome of frequently two hundred guests, and lastly for a literary leisure. No portion of his time was devoted to the chase, to dice, to idle stories, to luxury, or to pleasure. For these recreations he substituted some pleasant reading or converse with the learned. Although he sometimes entertained bishops and nobles, the dinner never exceeded an hour. In the pomp demanded by his station he never delighted. He seldom tasted wine, and at seventy years of age partook only of weak beer, and of that sparingly. Though he ate little meat himself he gave life to every entertainment by the mildness of his aspect, and the hilarity of his discourse. His abstinence was uniform: he altogether refrained from suppers; if any intimate friends were his guests, he sat down indeed to table, but scarcely partook of the viands with which it was furnished. When alone, his time was spent in prayer, or in reading. As he was wonderfully happy in an abundant vein of wit, but without severity or impertinence, so he equally delighted in the unreserved raillery of his friends. He avoided abuse and slander as one would loath a viper. In this way did this excellent man abundantly prolong those days, whose brevity is the cause of complaint to the many, who too often lament the want of that time for business of importance, the better part of which is consumed in unmeaning and frivolous pursuits.

It is probable that the introduction of Erasmus to his benefactor was effected by Linacre and Grocyn, on his return to England from Louvain, where he had translated the Hecuba and Iphigenia of Euripides, as Greek exercises, which he dedicated to the primate,—a compliment which occasioned the intimacy between them. This acquaintance was advantageous to Erasmus, not less in a literary than in a pecuniary view, for in a letter written from Cambridge to Colet, dean of St. Paul’s, in which he feelingly complains of his poverty, he speaks of the bounty of Warham, as having been so large that it would be dishonourable to accept more, though it were offered to him. By one friend, whose name he has suppressed, his shameless application for assistance was, as he tells us, as shamelessly repulsed. Even Linacre, who had rendered him pecuniary services on former occasions, seems cautiously to have avoided a repetition of them; for although the health of Erasmus was infirm, and he knew that he had quitted London with only six angels, he dismissed him with advice to abridge his expenses, and to bear his poverty with fortitude, but above all to abstain from application to the primate, or to Lord Mountjoy. The generosity of Warham had been shared in a less degrading manner by Linacre; and if the patronage, which his office and station enabled him to bestow, had not tended more to the advancement of the latter in early life, it is certain that it was extended to him shortly after this period, amongst the preferments lately enumerated. Had the life of Linacre been longer protracted, he would doubtless have reaped further and greater advantages from this connection, for his patron survived him, and died after having been in possession of the primacy for the long period of twenty-eight years. With a munificence towards learning and its cultivators becoming his high station, but with an aversion to improvement ill adapted to the temper of the times to which he survived, he happily died before the commencement of the great civil and ecclesiastical changes, which were shortly to be effected, and of which his intolerance would probably have rendered him a victim.

CHAPTER V.

Further Progress of the Greek Language—Obstacles to its Advancement—Projected, translation of Aristotle—Foundation of the Galenic System—Linacre's Translation of Galen—De Sanitate Tuendd—De Methodo Medendi—De Temperamentis, el de Inoequali Temperie—De Naturalibus Facultatibus—De Pulsuum Vsu, ^c.—De Symptomatibus, De Symptomatum Differentiis, et de Causis—Tutor to the Princess Mary—Juan Luis Fives— Philological Writings—Rudiments of Grammar—De Emendatd Structural Latini Sermonis—Epistle Dedicatory of Antonio Franctno Varchiese—Guillaume Rude—Extracts from his Correspondence—William Grocyn—William Latimer.

The efforts of Linacre, in the improvement of the art which he professed, remain to be enumerated; and some grounds adduced for the reputation which he enjoyed, as the first physician and scholar of his age. These efforts were amongst the earliest tb elevate medicine above the mechanical arts, and to fix it on sure and infallible principles apart from the follies of judicial astrology, or the imaginary powers and delusions of alchemy. As these objects were effected by rendering the old Grecian authors into the more known and cultivated language of Rome, and by adopting the theories and practice contained in their writings, it will first be desirable to . examine the progress which Greek literature made in this country, m the interval between Linacre’s return from Italy; and the publication of his first translation of Galen, which comprizes a period of about thirty years.

The obstacles, which were opposed to the cultivation of the new language, were sufficiently discouraging to those who laboured in its cause, nor was it till the beginning of the sixteenth century that any considerable progress was effected; and that rather from the exertions of its patrons and the authority of the court, by which they were seconded, than from any conviction of its proper or exclusive merits. Invectives of every kind were hurled against it. Its chief adversaries, the monks, not satisfied with indulging a private enmity, by proclaiming it to be the source of all heresy, made the pulpit subservient to their hostility, and involved the reputation of the Fathers of the Church in the Charges which they brought against it. The schoolmen, who saw in its success the wane of their own power, harboured similar feelings, and whilst the sophistry of their art was no less maliciously employed to arrest its progress, the only recompense which Hebraists and Grecians received for their toils was the opprobrious term of infidel, which was as odiously attached to one party, as that of heretic was as falsely charged on the other. One preacher at Oxford, having heaped the most virulent reproaches upon the language, was silenced only by a royal command. The oft told story of the court preacher, who, in the spirit of folly rather than of Christian wisdom, indulged before the king in a ho less determined hatred, but total ignorance of the language which he condemned, may stand as a sample of the qualifications of most of its impugners, and of the abilities of the priesthood, who perverted their calling to effect the suppression of that which exposed their own ignorance in proportion as it gave light and knowledge to the rest of mankind. Whilst the University of Oxford was principally employed in waging opposition to the introduction of Greek, that of Cambridge had shown a more favourable disposition towards the new language; and if its members did not encourage its cultivation by their own example, they tacitly acquiesced in its introduction by contributing to support a school for those whose zeal and judgment exceeded their own. This feeling was probably attributable to the exertions of John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester and Chancellor of the University, whose zeal for literature, like that of Girolamo Alessandro, Archbishop of Brindisi, led him, notwithstanding his advanced age, to aspire to the study of Greek. He solicited instruction from William Latimer, who with difficulty succeeded in persuading him from the attempt, by representing to him how much he Would have to encounter. The favourable disposition which appeared at Cambridge towards the translation of the New Testament by Erasmus, and the respectability, of those who espoused his cause, induced him to undertake, during his abode at Queen’s College of which his friend Bishop Fisher was president, a translation of the Exposition of St. Basil on Isaiah, from which he was induced to desist only from a conviction during his progress that the work was a forgery. It was unfortunate for the progress of the language, that the best and purest works of Greece were either Unknown or neglected by its earlier cultivators and translators in this country. Grocyn, with no better success than Erasmus, had lectured in the cathedral of St. Paul’s on the Hierarchia Ecclesiastics of Dionysius the Areopagite, and the labours of Grostest in the thirteenth century were confined, as has been already mentioned, to works of no better character or authority.

In these and similar individual attempts may he comprized the whole progress of the Greek language during the space of thirty years, when the munificence of Wolsey supplied further means for its support and propagation. This prelate, between the years 1618 and 1522, instituted certain Greek lectures at his own cost and charge, preliminary to the great foundation which he contemplated at Oxford, to which they were intended to be transferred. To render his plan the more effectually useful, he invited to England a native Greek, named Matthew Calphurnius, who in the office of lecturer taught the orthoepy of his language, which Sir Jahn Cheke attempted afterwards, with less success, to introduce at Cambridge. The successor of this Greek was John Clement, a physician and intimate friend of Sir Thomas More, who, although he read with a success and reputation unequalled in the schools on any former occasion, soon exchanged this appointment for the practice of his profession. Lupset, his successor, who, had his life been spared^ would have realized the expectations which the extraordinary attainments of his youth had excited, illustrated the Sphere of Proclus with the version of Linacre, whilst holding these lectures, a task which he performed with equal satisfaction to' the University, and reputation to the translator.

Nor must I here omit to mention a project, which was formed about this period, less splendid indeed, but fraught with greater difficulties than the former, the execution of which would have proved no less honourable to the parties by whom it was conceived than advantageous to the cause and advancement of letters. This plan, which was proposed by Hermolao Barbaro, embraced a translation of the entire works of Aristotle into Latin; and the individuals on whom so gigantic a' task devolved, were Grocyn, Linacre, and Latimer. It is impossible to contemplate this undertaking commenced when its projectors had passed the midday of life, without admiration at the zeal by which it was suggested. The design, however, executed in part, was never completed, and its failure was probably owing to the separation of the parties, joined to a difficulty of intercourse, and of a comparison of the allotted portions with each other, so necessary to the uniformity and correctness of the whole. Linacre was resident in London, and had the best opportunities of carrying his §hare into execution. Grocyn, with less favourable means, resided at Maidstone, where he had been preferred to the wardenship of the collegiate church of All Saints, and Latimer, still more remote, resided on his cure at Saintbury in Gloucestershire. To what extent the design was executed does not appear, and it is doubtful whether the portions assigned to Grocyn and Latimer were even commenced It is certain that Linacre completed his share, either entirely or in part, for Erasmus, in a letter written from Louvain to Ambrogio Leo, a distinguished physician of Nola, after mentioning his translations of Galen, hints at the publication of the Meteorological works of Aristotle, accompanied with critical emendations and a Latin version. It is certain that he had devoted his time in part to translation from the year 1500, at which time, or somewhat previously, he was occupied with the Commentaries of Simplicius and Alexander on the Physics and Meteora of Aristotle, which Aldo Manuzio, in his correspondence with Alberto Pio, Duke of Carpi, regrets that he was disabled from forwarding to this their mutual friend in conjunction with the translation of the Sphere of Proclus, Which he had printed at Venice in the preceding year. Sir Thomas More, in a letter apologetic to Dorpius, for the Moria of Erasmus, alludes also to the Meteorologies, expressing his hopes of a speedy publication of a translation of them, since Linacre had then completed two books, and that he had only been seduced from the execution of the remainder together with the Commentaries of Alexander Aphrodisaeus by the superior attractions of Galen, whose writings were more immediately connected with the study and practice of the art of medicine. These works Were, however, never published, and like other treatises, which the extreme nicety of the translator induced him to withhold from the press for the purpose of further correction, are lost to the world for ever.

Although this undertaking failed of success both in Italy and England, the physicians of other nations were not backward in encouraging similar attempts, and in assimilating the practice which then prevailed amongst them with the theories and opinions recorded in the writings of the ancients. It is honourable to the practitioners of the sixteenth century, that, whilst Greek was mainly indebted to them for the progress which it made in Europe, they lost no opportunity of promoting its cultivation, and the study of this language not only became general amongst them', but the knowledge, which was derived from it; served to expose the vanity and to supersede the fictions of astrology, which bad hitherto formed an essential part of their education and practice. The author, on whom their pains were principally expended, was Galen of Pergamus; and a city was scarcely found that did not furnish one or more scholars, native Greeks or Europeans, who engaged in the labour of illustrating his works. Translations and commentaries were multiplied throughout Europe, and a foundation laid for that exclusive attachment to the Galenic system, which reigned triumphant in the schools during the sixteenth and more than half of the following century.

When Linacre returned from Italy and embarked in the practice of medicine, he conceived that nothing would contribute more to its success than rendering his profession familiar with Galen by a Latin version of his works, which were then scarcely known in the language in which they were composed. To this task his leisure was devoted, although it was not till the year 1517, and only by the remonstrances and at the instigation of the learned of the different countries of Europe, and particularly Erasmus and Budé, that the first portion of his translation of that author was committed to the press. This portion comprised his six books on the Preservation of Health, the first edition of which was printed at Paris, by Guillaume Rubé, in 1517. It was dedicated to his patron, Henry VIII. The feelings, which moved him to this act, arose, as he declares to the king, from finding himself wanting in the means of vying with those, who, allured by the renown and glory of his name, daily contended in the number and variety of their gifts. For this reason he knew nothing more becoming his duty or his calling, than the dedication of some memorial of his studies, that he might satisfactorily account for the leisure which, by the royal indulgence, he sometimes stole from his appointed attendance, and at the same time show that he not only devoted the hours of office, but even of recreation from its duties, in accomplishing, to the best of his ability, what he thought would be acceptable to him.

The erudition of Linacre in this translation was equally conspicuous with his modesty. The estimation in which he held the original, as gathered from his dedication, strikingly illustrates the revolution of opinion amongst the moderns respecting the merits of Galen, compared with that passive obedience to his doctrines, which impeded the progress of medicine as a science, and fettered the practice of it in the sixteenth century. Linacre selected for the press, the treatise On the Preservation of Health, from the works which he had translated, as well on account of its own merits as of the worth of the author. He considered him so great in all that related to the healing art, as not only to have conferred a deserved renown on his country, and to have enlightened the age in which he lived; but by the fame of his own name to have thrown a shadow over the greatest men, not excepting even the father of medicine, who before his time had either effected the discovery or contributed to the advancement of the art. He considered that to Galen we are indebted for the preservation of the works of Hippocrates; and that, but for his clear and copious expositions of them, they would have been altogether as little understood, as they would entirely have been neglected amongst us. The writings of the sixteenth century, with the exception of what was borrowed from the Greeks, are estimated by the translator, in comparison with those of the age in which the object of his adoration flourished, as not less injurious than incorrect, and the maxims contained in them as so obscure and ambiguous, as to require an Oedipus or the aid of Apollo to interpret them. “Hence,” he says, “the modems out of envy seek to alleviate their discontent by rebuking trivial niceties, and by carping at a few fragments of Galen’s innumerable writings, although, the better to conceal their malice, they who dare carp are first compelled to praise, bestowing upon him, by an unanimous testimony, that title which was most arrogantly usurped by another—Iatronices.”

Thus far of the author,—the excellence of his work will, he thinks, be evident on a consideration of its subject; whether we regard its first principle, which is nature, who, with all but a living voice, has inculcated in it the chief maxims of legendary art in the employment of the means which she has bestowed upon mankind; whether we compare the contrivances by which medicine is adorned, with those by which all philosophy and the most exquisite arts are invented and rendered perfect,—for all who have brooded over the latter, generally as hurtful to the body as they are salutary to the mind, have been forced to seek assistance from the former. Whether we consider the magnitude of what the author promises and executes—for he ensures to all, who listen, that health, without which life is embittered, and in which the oracle has pronounced its chief good to consist;—or lastly, whether we reflect upon its superiority over other branches of medicine discovered for the preservation of man’s body, or especially over that which provides against ills which menace, or expels them when present,—for it may justly be said to outstrip the latter in proportion as its reputation far exceeds the former, and is therefore the more earnestly to be desired; and since health is to be coveted at every age and period, then is the aid of the former of advantage when disease threatens or overtakes us, like a peace obtained by the soldier’s valour, the exercise of which is obnoxious to quiet, and only to be sought and employed in war.

“Such,” says he, “in conclusion, are the author and his work; and should they appear in translation of less value than my report would justify, to my own infirmity must the defect be attributed; for neither can the moderate man hope, nor the inconsiderate man be able, to render them according to their deserts. With greater justice, therefore, I dedicate these collections to you, more readily hoping for the reader’s pardon, if frankly submitting myself in matters whose attainment or conquest exceed human reach, I have prevailed aught in those which it was not permitted me to decline; debarred from striving with the author in eloquence, it was only left to me to arrive at accuracy by the means which were in my power. My success in the attempt I leave to the judgment of the world, under the shelter of your name renowned of kings and glory of the age.”

To this character of the author and of his work Linacre has evidently joined allusions of a different nature, and has availed himself of the opportunity, which it afforded, for communicating information to the royal ear. Of this kind is the state of his own health, intimated by the maxim that knowledge is but dearly purchased by those exercises of the mind which are practised to the exclusion of others equally essential to the health of the body. The adulatory style of this dedication may appear at variance with the reputed sincerity of the writer; but it should be recollected that it agreed with the manners of the Court, and was the only language which the sovereign heard from those who were privileged to address him. The translation was received by the learned with the applause which its accuracy merited, nor was the translator parsimonious in the distribution of copies to those friends who were able to appreciate his labours. A copy on vellum was presented to Wolsey. It is still preserved in the British Museum, and is a magnificent specimen of the art of embellishment in the sixteenth century. To it is prefixed the original epistle which accompanied it, and which is sufficiently flattering to the cardinal's vanity, whose health he conceived himself bound to preserve, as second in importance only to that of the king. A presentation copy to Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester, was also accompanied with an epistle, in which, in a tone of less flattery, he pays a Just compliment to that prelate in allusion to his college, the foundation of which was then in progress at Oxford. He concludes with recommending the perusal of his translation to the learned who lived in fellowship with him, who would discover precepts in it, the communication and observance of which might tend to the perfect health of their patron, and to a length of years sufficient for the accomplishment of the work which his magnificence and piety had lately commenced.

The success, which attended the publication of this first attempt, induced Linacre to translate a further portion of Galen’s works, and accordingly, in the year 1519, he published the fourteen books of that author on the Method of Healing, for which he again solicited the royal patronage. “With the exception of a few misversions of this work” (he says) “as void of elegance as they were abundant in error, and some scanty extracts made by the Arabian writers, rather calculated to increase the reluctance of the reader than to remove his doubts or entice him to a perusal of the portions of which he was deprived, no translation proportioned to the excellence of the work had been attempted for 1000 years. Anxious, therefore, to attempt something by which all inconveniences might be obviated to the student, and all opportunity at the same time removed for charging me with a neglect of duty towards your majesty, from a want of the third part of those writings which have already been published under the sanction of your royal name; and as of the many who owe, and will continue to owe, their health to you, some may impute its restoration to the true cause; though reluctant, from the magnitude of the work, to undertake it, I was unwilling to shift from my shoulders a task which zeal and labour might ultimately accomplish. From the approbation with which my first attempts were received by the learned, I the more readily hope that my impartial readers, whilst much has been well written, will not be offended at a few blemishes, which may have occurred from the irksomeness of so extended a work and the difficulty of treading in the steps of others; particularly as the work has been executed amidst other occupations, and at times unfavourable for mental exertion, it was not possible uniformly to provide against them. These blemishes I nevertheless resolve, during the period of life allotted to me, to correct, not only in the present but in every future undertaking, that the reputation of my patron might not share in the disgrace of any thing propounded in them.”

The magnitude of this task and the difficulties, opposed to its successful execution, were sufficient to have exhausted the patience of the most learned in the language in which the work was written. Not less formidable in its length than incomprehensible in many of the theories contained in it, the sentence, pronounced by the Mufti on the verses of the Turkish poet Missi, whose meaning he declared to be intelligible to none save to God and to him by whom they were composed, may with equal truth be applied to the doctrines which this book inculcates. The learned were everywhere loud in their commendations of the merits of the translation, and the author was complimented with an epigram by Janus Lascaris (of Ryndacus), a man more ennobled by the services which he rendered to learning at its revival in the West, than by his imperial descent and alliance in blood to the successors of the Caesars. Linacre. had been associated with this Greek at the court of Lorenzo de’ Medici, and the praise, which is assigned to him of restoring Galen to Italy in the purity and elegance of the language of Latium, will be enhanced in its value by the competency of the judge who thus passed sentence on the attempt:—

“ Of him whose art could every ill controul,

Whose saving hand could stay the fleeting soul,

What time Apollo saw the worth disdain’d,

Himself an outcast where he once had reign’d,

Thus to his priest revealed his will divine,

Hence, though debased, Ausonia’s fame be thine,

Be hers the fate a brighter age to view,

And read the Galen ’ere her fathers knew:

Linacre heard, nor let his efforts cease

Till Latium’s version match’d the text of Greece.”

Linacre again courted Wolsey in a presentation copy of this work, equally splendid in its decorations with his first production. The letter, which accompanied this copy, was marked by a strain of commendation exceeded only by that in the dedication to the king. “For my present or past labours” (he says) “ I desire no greater reward than the accomplishment of what must be an object of importance to all who have the king’s welfare at heart,—the advantage of contributing to the health of the individual, whose endless vigilance and punctual discharge of the various duties of the state leave the sovereign under no anxiety respecting the preservation of his own: whose foreign and domestic policy is conducted with such admirable wisdom, that we are at peace and amity with foreign princes, and enjoy tranquillity at home,—the result of that equal administration of justice by which the interests of rich and poor are mutually secured to their possessors. Nor is your solicitude bestowed in a less degree on the private affairs of the king, which never before shone with equal lustre and magnificence. Other reasons too, and those of no ordinary kind, render every honest man solicitous for your safety—the great examples of your diligence and good management, proclaimed in the discharge of the business of the crown, the visitation and supervision of the church and the clergy delegated to you by their supreme head, with the offices of permanent legate of the holy see in this realm, and a latere in his own. Nor has science been forgotten in the consideration of affairs of such importance. Public lectures have been founded at your expense, benefits have been conferred on the learned, and the restoration of the discipline of the schools to its pristine, or at least to a better, condition has been commenced under your auspices; whilst medicine, the most profitable of the sciences, whose reputation and power had been almost annulled by the presumption and importunity of the unskilful and ignorant has been duly estimated, and a certain hope excited not only of its less abuse in future, but of its re-establishment in its ancient state and dignity. Of so much happiness are you the author, that the writer has an especial reason above others of his countrymen to entertain a care respecting you; since he not only owes to you his appointment to offices of honour, but a recommendation to the most courteous and heroic of princes, proclaiming thereby more in deed than in word how great was your authority with him who conferred them. Watching, therefore, night and day for the opportunity of showing my gratitude for the bounty extended towards me, I offer you the present work, till other means present themselves, in the hope that your health may reap advantage from it, and that your physicians, of whom I profess myself to be one, may have a work at hand containing in it a system of the healing art. In return for this memorial I solicit only the smiles to which I have been accustomed, a sufficient recompense for the labour which I have expended in its composition.”

Although Linacre in the dedication of the Method of Healing had expressed himself sensible of the honour, which was accorded to him, of publishing it tinder the royal sanction, such a disposition of it was contrary to his declared intention; for he had designed the dedication for his earliest friend and patron, Archbishop Warham, whose kindness first paved the way for the literary leisure of which this work was the fruit. To this prelate he apologizes for the breach of his promise in a letter, which accompanied a presentation copy of the work, and states, that the royal mandate alone had been able to divert him from the performance of it. The king having been confidently informed that he was about to publish the concluding portion of a System of Medicine, thought fit to appropriate it to himself, and commanded the translator’s colleague, Dr. John Chambre, to signify his pleasure that the dedication of it should not be separated from those of his former translations. Linacre, whilst he construed the royal Wish into a law, entreated the archbishop’s permission to redeem his pledge by the dedication of some one of the other treatises of Galen which he had prepared for the press, by which he would still be enabled to enjoy the pleasure he had anticipated, and to banish the anxiety under which he had laboured by a violation of his promise so apparently flagrant. Eager, however, as he was respecting this plea, he had not the vanity to believe that any trifles of his merited his patron’s notice; but he was chiefly anxious to give a proof that the leisure derived from his friendship was neither wholly mispent nor vainly employed. Since, however, he intended to devote that leisure partly to the accomplishment of certain objects for the advancement of science, and partly to the composition of works, he trusted that if his hearers or readers should derive any advantage from his labours, they would consider themselves as indebted to him, whom he freely acknowledged as the author of them; not only as regarded what he had already published, or what he should hereafter write, but also whatever, so long as he enjoyed life, he might expressly dedicate to him.

So sensible was Linacre of the difficulty of this undertaking, and so anxious was he respecting the accuracy of the work, that he transmitted a copy of it to Budd at Paris, with a request that he would afford him his assistance in amending the interpretation if faulty, or in correcting any errors, which might occur to him on a perusal of it. The numerous avocations which the office of Secretary to the king imposed upon this great scholar, left him little leisure for such an undertaking. He complied, however, with Linacre’s request at a subsequent period, and remodelled the work partly by the correction of certain passages, and partly by a new translation of others. Notwithstanding his alterations and corrections, he entertained a high opinion of the interpretation and style of his friend, and hesitated not to proclaim the elegance and exactness with which the original had been rendered into Latin, and to assert that the same celebrity would accrue to England from the publication of a work so rendered, as there did to Pergamus from the composition of the original. Nor did he less applaud the severity of its style, as more consonant with that of the ancients than the levity and licence, which commonly marked the productions of the moderns.

Although these two works constituted the chief portion of Linacre’s labours in translation, they were shortly followed by other treatises, of which the first was Galen’s three books, De Temperamen-tis et De Inaquali Temperie. This production was printed at Cambridge in the year 1521, and was one of the earliest specimens of typography which proceeded from the press of the celebrated John Siberch (Siburgus), a native of Germany, who with Nicholas had settled in that place, where they lived in intimacy with the university and the learned by whom it was frequented. An earlier edition is said by Orlandi of Bologna, to have been printed at Venice in 1498, which that writer; has either confounded with some other work, or with a translation, which it is possible might have been executed and privately circulated about that time; for the supposed editio princeps of 1521 is dedicated by Linacre to Leo X, and the elevation of that illustrious person to the pontificate did not occur till fifteen years after the date assigned by Orlandi to the edition which he has cited.

The intimacy, which had existed in Italy between; Linacre and Lorenzo, Duke of Tuscany, and the privilege, which the former enjoyed, of associating, with the children of the house of Medici during, his residence at Florence, has been already noticed. It was from the remembrance of this association, and from the friendship which it had inspired, that: he was induced to inscribe the three books just mentioned to Giovanni de’ Medici, who had assumed the title of Leo X on his election to the papacy in the year 1513. The dedication is dated from London in the year 1521. The author presented his work, not as worthy of, or even pertinent to the employments of one on whom the government of the whole Christian republic rested, but in the hope that it might prove acceptable to the learned, to whom, whatever was an object of utility would, he was sure, be also a source of pleasure to the Pontiff. He found an additional motive for this dedication, in the extraordinary instance of liberality, which he had recently experienced in common with others, who had been the companions of the Pontiff in his youth, and an anxiety to repay this debt suggested the present work of Galen, which, though short, is equally necessary to the philosopher and to the physician. Other and more important treatises, of which he was possessed, he designed with permission to publish under the same patronage, as soon as his health and the employments of his office permitted, should he be apprized that the present, attempt received its reward in the approbation of his holiness. The capacity of accomplishing aught worthy of so high a notice exceeded his humble hope, and he rather sought to win some reputation and authority by prefacing the work by a name deservedly dear to the learned, than to rest on any merits of his own, so trivial and disproportioned to the beneficence of him to whom it is inscribed.

The adverse health, with which it was Linacre’s fate to be afflicted, began about this time to abridge his opportunities of study; and an interval of two years elapsed before he proceeded with the author, in whose illustration he had hitherto so diligently laboured. His next attempt, which comprized the three books De Naturalibus Functionibus, was not published till the year 1523. In the publication of this version he redeemed the promise which he had formerly made, of dedicating a treatise to the Primate Warham, in return for the leisure, which he had been enabled to enjoy through the Primate’s munificence in collating him to a benefice. He had contemplated an earlier performance of his promise, but had been prevented from carrying it into execution by the express wish of the king. Linacre had determined to dedicate to the Primate another and small, but not unsuitable, token of his gratitude,—the treatise of Galen De Elementis, which, from its precedence in the arrangement of the works of that author, might have been perused at the beginning of his collections; but the various employments, in which he was occupied, delayed the execution of this plan, and an attack of the disease under which he laboured subsequently precluded the hope of accomplishing the task, which he had proposed to himself. At this juncture the three books De Naturalibus Functionibus were unfinished; and it only remained for him, in the intervals of pain, to correct them, by which he might be enabled to testify his recollection of his patron’s liberality, and to publish under his name the last fruits of the leisure which resulted from it. Still he hoped that they would be sufficient to apprize the world of the obligation owed, and, since the philosopher, no less than the physician, would be benefited by a perusal of them, that the knowledge of the obligation would not only be extended in proportion to the numbers who perused them, but that any advantage, which might accrue from their perusal, would have been denied them, but for the individual through whose means they were produced to the world.

The forebodings, in which Linacre indulged, that this dedication would prove his last, were not verified; but he lived only to publish the tract of Galen De Pulsuum Usu, which he printed, if pot in the Same year with the preceding translation, at least early in the following year. He inscribed it in a short but elegant dedication to the Cardinal Wolsey, as a new year’s gift, with wishes for his prosperity and happiness, and with the hope that the work, whose brevity was little proportioned to the importance and ingenuity of its argument, might prove acceptable to him, whose mind was bent on the promotion of learning, and who supplied the place of parent to those who professed it. This treatise was reprinted with others of Galen, by Simon de Colines in 1532, with the revisions of Herman Cruser, of Campen, who, in a dedication to Henry VIII, professed to have followed the design of his predecessor, and to have chosen the same patronage and protection for his less polished, but no less' toilsome and difficult labours, as Linacre had previously done for his more perfect own. To other editions of this treatise were also annexed some extracts from Paulus Egineta on Crisis and on Critical Days with their Signs, probably fragments of a larger work, of which Linacre did not survive the completion.

The revision and publication of these translations occupied the last seven years of Linacre’s existence ; for the treatise De Sanitate Tuendá, the first in order, was printed in the year 1517, and that De Usu Pulsuum in the year 1524, in which he died. It is evident, however, from his epistles dedicatory to Pope Leo X and to Warham, that these formed a small portion only of the works of Galen, the translation of which he had contemplated or in part executed, and intended, had his life been prolonged, to have given to the world under the especial patronage of these individuals. These works have not survived their author. They were probably found either too imperfect for publication, or fell into the hands of individuals, who deprived the learned of their advantages through an ignorance of their uses. Linacre, however, lived to finish the treatise of Galen De Symptomatum Differentiis, and his three books De Symptomatum Causis, which were printed by Pynson immediately after his death. A preface only to the reader was prefixed to this volume, in which the writer, after a few observations on the excellence of the original, pays a just tribute to the merits and character of the translator, and laments the loss which medicine had sustained by his death.

To this abstract of Linacre’s exertions in the cause of medicine, and of the motives which directed him to their execution, is to be added a brief consideration of his services in the cause of philology. The little encouragement, which learning had received previously to the period when his translations of Galen were commenced, and the opposition made by the schools to all other pursuits than those which were the objects of their own undivided attention, had caused all previous attempts for the attainment of accuracy or perfection in language to be viewed with indifference and contempt in comparison with the mysteries of scholastic science; a participation in which was denied by common consent to all who held exclusive converse with the writings of antiquity. Except the treatises of Holt, Stanbridge Mid Whittington, writers whose abilities seem to have been limited to a knowledge of the rules of grammar, rather than of its principles, no works on philology existed, nor did the treatises of these authors aspire to a higher praise than that of communicating the accidence or elements of the art, for the illustration of which they were professedly composed.

The services rendered to philology by Linacre were in some measure dependant upon an appointment at court, which he could have received only a short period before his disease. This was the office of tutor or superintendant of the studies of the. Princess Mary in the Latin tongue, in which he was assisted by Juan Luis Vives of Valentia, a servant of the queen, and nominated one of the first fellows of Corpus Christi College in Oxford by its founder in the year 1517. The age of the royal pupil, which could scarcely have exceeded five years, rendered the duties of the office laborious and mechanical. The difficulties were further increased by the defects in the manuals of instruction then in existence; and to a design of abridging his own labours by supplying those defects is to be traced the publication of Linacre’s first grammatical attempt, which bore the humble title of Rudiments of Grammar. This work, although composed in English, was accompanied with a Latin dedication to the princess, in which he describes himself as the deputed guardian of her health, a trust which the infirmities of his constitution did not at all times enable him to discharge. He was therefore urged by the anxiety of rendering himself serviceable to her, to devise other means by which he might in some measure be enabled to fulfil the objects of his appointment, and discerning in her not only a marvellous disposition to every virtue, which could adorn. her sex, but a noble and instinctive genius to learning, he thought fit to encourage it to the best of his ability, either as a recompense for the omission of his duty or for the sake of the' literary world, of which her own proficiency would beyond doubt render her the ornament and aid. The gift was trifling, as its name imported. He hoped, however, from its convenient form, that it would prove instrumental to her attainment of greater acquirements, and although it might not equal his expectations, that it would be at least a partial assistance to her.

Although the events of the reign of this princess unhappily confuted Linacre’s predictions, the praise is due to him of having compiled a work calculated to answer the purposes of its publication, and adapted to the earliest capacities by the simplicity of its arrangement, and the clearness of its rules. It does not, however, appear to have satisfied the expectations of the queen mother, as an instrument of education; for his colleague received the royal command to compile other instructions to facilitate the progress of the princess, which he did in two epistles under the title De Ratione Studii Puerilis. In the dedication of the first to the queen, which he dated from Oxford in October, 1523, he alludes to Linacre’s qualifications as a teacher, describing his own work as merely elucidating the obscurities or supplying the omissions of other grammarians. The Rudiments, however, met with the approbation of no less a scholar than George Buchanan, who rendered them into Latin for the use of his pupil, Gilbert Kennedy, Earl of Cassilis. This translation was twice printed at Paris after Linacre’s death, by Robert Etienne, accompanied with the original dedication to the Princess Mary, and a second by the translator to his pupil. William Lily, a scholar of no mean reputation, recommended them also in the following epigram, of which the motive is entitled to greater praise than the execution.

The Rudiments, which professed to communicate the elements only of the art of grammar, were but preliminary to the publication of a larger and more difficult work, to the composition of which many years of Linacre’s life had been devoted, and on which his reputation as a philologist is chiefly founded. This work was comprized in six books, and entitled De Emendata Structurs Latini Sermonis. Many circumstances had combined to delay its completion, amongst which were Linacre’s engagements at court, and the interruptions to which his studies were subjected towards the close of his life from repeated attacks of a painful and lingering disease. Lily, with later authors, has confounded it with his Rudiments of Grammar, and has attributed its composition to the desire of the author to facilitate the progress of his royal pupil,—an object which, from its abstruseness, it was less calculated to fulfil than his former work, the brevity and conciseness of whose rules caused it to be considered by the queen as inadequate for the purposes which it was designed to accomplish. It has been suggested, with more probability, that the work was undertaken at the instance of Dr. John Colet, Dean of St. Paul’s, about the year 1510, as a manual for his newly-founded school; but that, finding it little adapted from its size and intricacy to the comprehension of beginners, he substituted some rudiments of his own composition, under the title Paul’s Accidence, which he dedicated to William Lily, whom he had appointed the first master. To this tract Colet afterwards added another, On the Construction of the Eight Parts of Speech, which received the emendations of Lily, to whom the composition of the Syntax is ascribed, as well as those of Erasmus, who published an edition of them in the year 1515. Cardinal Wolsey afterwards reprinted these Rudiments for the use of his school at Ipswich, and prefixed to them an epistle of his own composition, dated from Westminster, 1st September, 1528.

These two treatises operated to the exclusion of Linacre’s work from St. Paul’s school, and the mortification, which he experienced at finding it rejected by the founder, at whose request it had been undertaken with no small sacrifice of time and labour, excited so much displeasure, that the friendship which had been formed between them in early life at Oxford, and had continued uninterrupted till the occurrence of this event, was dissolved. Erasmus, their common friend, attempted to conciliate the parties, advising Colet not rashly to give credence to all that he heard of Linacre’s displeasure, assured as he was of the respect in which the latter held him, and how little he resented the rejection of his Grammar. The breach, however, was never healed. Although Colet survived this event nine years, they appear never to have held converse in the interval, nor was Linacre included in the list of friends whom Colet named in his will.

Linacre’s great work, on Philology was printed by Pynson in 1524, the year in which the author died. It is probable that the time, which intervened between its compilation and publication, afforded an opportunity for its correction and enlargement, of which Linacre would avail himself in compliance with that rigid regard to accuracy in composition which he imposed upon himself through life. It was received by the scholars of Europe as a work nearly perfect in its kind, and one in which an erudite judge Could not hut admire the consummate skill and the multifarious readings of the best authors which were displayed throughout it. Editions of it were successively multiplied throughout Europe, and Melancthon and Camerarius strove to render it still more perfect by corrected editions of their own; the former at Paris in the year 1533, and the latter at Leipsic in the year 1591. Although this excellent treatise has long been superseded by the compositions of later grammarians, no greater service could be rendered to literature in the then comparatively neglected state of the Latin language than a republication of this treatise, which sustained so high a reputation among the scholars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

The muse of Leland was twice employed in celebrating the merits of this work, and with these tributes of friendship is closed the enumeration of the avowed writings and literary labours of Linacre.

However closely the time of Linacre may have been occupied in these productions, he still found leisure for indulgence in a literary correspondence, not only with the associates of his earlier years but with other scholars to whose acquaintance his publications of Galen had more recently recommended him. The instances, which have been preserved of this intercourse, are the best testimonies of the applause with which his literary labours had been received abroad, and of the opinion entertained of his merits in those countries where the harvest of learning had been riper, and its fruits more abundantly gathered, than in his own.

The first of these is an epistle dedicatory of the Onomasticon of Julius Pollux, which had been edited at Florence, by Antonio Francino Varchiese, in the year 1520. His acquaintance with this individual was formed during his stay in Italy, and, as the dedication would imply, during his residence at the court of Tuscany. The author compares the revolutions of literature with those of empires, and enumerates the individuals by whom Italy and England had been, or were then, adorned, concluding with a request equally gratifying to the feelings of the friend, and flattering to the vanity of the author.

“TO Thomas Linacre, Physician of the King of England, Antonio Francino Varchiese wishes health.

“ Since nature, most accomplished Thomas, has determined by some certain law, that all earthly things should daily be exposed to change, some for the better, others for the worse; and that empires and the governments of states should one while be transferred to this prince, at another to that; moreover that the morals of men, the array of the household, and the apparel of the body are other now than in time past; is it strange that the cultivation of the useful arts should be subjected to equal inconveniences and disquiets? Ourselves have known sound learning to abound in Florence, of which Marsilio Ficino, the only follower in his own age of the system and philosophy of Plato, and Politian, beyond comparison the most inventive and eloquent of his countrymen in his own generation, in concurrence with Emanuel Chrysoloras, John Argiropylus, John Andronicus the Byzantian, and Demetrius the Athenian, men of profound attainments, and invited to read publicly and with a Suitable stipend at Florence, are and will be the witnesses to us and to all posterity. Nor did it flourish less at Naples and at Venice during the lives of Gioviano Pontano and Ermolao Barbaro, natives of these cities. To the prudent regulation of princes must this success in my judgment be attributed; for the prosperity or decay of useful learning is dependent on human vicissitudes, courting tranquillity, shunning tumult, needing urbanity, and delighting in retirement. It was lately cultivated by Lorenzo the Great, since whose decease the Muses of Tuscany, nay I dare aver of Italy, to our misfortune mute, have by the fragrance, as it were, of the house of Medici, ever the foster-mother of the useful arts, at length begun to revive not only in Florence, but in every part of Europe. To say nothing of others, has not Marcello Virgilio, the Florentine secretary, a man eminently distinguished for his knowledge in each language, of extraordinary dexterity, of keen judgment, and of a disposition admirably adapted to secure the favour of mankind, lately published an exquisite version of Dioscorides? Nay, has not the sovereign pontiff lately invited to Florence from Greece youths of tried abilities to repair the decayed and almost forgotten wreck of the literature and philosophy of their country, and learned men by whom our very children may be informed, and supplied moreover to each the means of execution, that all may hope that Grecian learning will ere long prevail at Florence to a greater extent and of a superior kind than has hitherto been witnessed. To revert, however, to what I originally proposed, in what terms can I speak of the invincible Henry, king of England, by nature brave, just, sober, grave, magnanimous, bountiful, beneficent and liberal? In what terms of the most illustrious and reverend father, the cardinal of York and legate of the Holy See, to whom the reins of the English government have deservedly been committed on account of his prudence, perseverance, justice, elevation of mind, and singular loyalty? Do not these encourage sound learning, when to their esteem we owe the works of Galen, which, under their auspices, you have so happily translated? Not to mention Thomas More, whose most ingenious republic of Utopia, with certain versions of Lucian, I both read and admire. I say nothing of Grocyn, Pacey, Tunstall, and numerous others of eminent reputation in letters, with whom the king’s affection for real philosophy has so abundantly enriched the kingdom, for I perceive that I have already exceeded the purport of my letter. And since we see again the golden age of literature, and I too wish to benefit all who climb the highest pinnacle of philosophy, amongst other lucubrations of many Greek and Latin authors, I have caused the Onomasticon of Pollux to be printed, which, by the persuasion of Giovanni Pietro Machiavelli, your most devoted and mine own most intimate friend, such as it is, most courteous, Sir, I dedicate to you, on account of your transcendant skill in each language and in useful learning, exhorting you, should leisure ever serve, that you would also translate this author with your usual ability, and vouchsafe to send me for the press whatever portions of Galen or Hippocrates may have received your last corrections, and I will cause that aught of Galen, that is preserved here, shall be copied for your use. In the mean while propitiously accept my present, and reckon upon my devotion to you as upon that of the most assured of your friends. Farewell.”

The second and more illustrious correspondent, who contributed to this intercourse, was Guillaume Budé, master of the Court of Requests, and librarian to Francis I of France. This individual was one of the most profound scholars of that country, and his erudition was the more remarkable as he mainly owed it to his own exertions, his youth having been devoted to idleness and dissipation, and unaided by the opportunities which early foreign travel had conferred upon many of his contemporaries. His acquaintance with Linacre was formed at Paris on his visit to that city during the reign of Henry VII in company with the Princess Mary of England, on the celebration of her marriage with Lotus XII of France. It was preceded by a presentation copy of a Treatise on the Roman As, which Budé had recently printed. When Linacre published his first translation of Galen, De Sanitate Tuenda, he was not backward in returning the favour; and not only transmitted a copy to Budé, whose persuasions had operated to its publication, but proclaimed his merits as a critic and a scholar, by inviting his criticisms and emendations. The date of the correspondence, probably a fragment of one more extensive and continued, maybe assigned to the year 1518 or to the following year; for the first translation of Linacre was printed at Paris by Guillaume Rubé in 1517, at which time it is manifest from a passage in the first letter, that Bud4 had not visited Italy, whither he was afterwards sent by Francis I on an embassy to Leo X. The following letters partake less of literary communication than of compliments mutually and profusely bestowed. The style of Bude, however correct, is not always pure, and he has increased its incongruity by the occasional use of Greek, a vanity by which Linacre also has allowed himself to be seduced.

Guillaume BudÉ to Thomas Linacre, greeting.

“ Your letter, abounding in benevolence and friendship, was delivered to me on the 6th of July, by the bearer of your rings, a youth discreetly learned, and to appearance candidly disposed; to which, I imagine, I should have immediately replied, had I not received it when equipped for travelling, and preparing at the moment for departure. In truth, so much was I exhilarated on a perusal of it, that I despaired of equalling it, albeit in the aspiring and laborious effort of replying to it. With respect to a requital, I must for the present acknowledge myself, to use an expression of Virgil, behind you in the exercise of liberality. On my return home, nothing was more an object of my serious consideration than the answer to your letter, a duty which at length became irksome to me, since I felt the obligation which I had incurred by its receipt, a point in which I never permit myself to be patiently conquered, at least as far as regards the interchange of obligations. I am apprized by your letter of your anxiety to repay my good will and complacence as well on account of the present of my treatise on the As, when you accompanied the Queen Mary to Paris, as of the labour which I had bestowed in the revisal of your elaborate performance. In this matter, although I risk the forfeit of the obligation by confession, conscience, with which I have never been so equally matched but that the truth has been wrung from me when frankness and honesty demanded it at my hands, compels me nevertheless to an acknowledgment. You are in error, my Linacre, indeed you are in error, in supposing the gift to have been gratuitous, or that the receipt of my book depended on any mutual expression of esteem at our first conversation, although I have admitted that the first interview, and the courtesy of familiarly discoursing on such topics as might conciliate the friendship of any good man without servility, are justly to be referred to yourself. On these terms I secretly and insensibly exchanged the fruits of my studies for your patronage, by this little gift I seemed to claim the suffrage of your reputation as my own, or rather the book placed itself in your keeping, although preserving the language of its author. For could I imagine otherwise but that its importation, under such auspices, into Britain, a country renowned for good learning, would contribute to the celebrity of a work, on which my pains have been so' industriously bestowed. If, therefore, you have imputed its receipt rather to my liberality than to your own reputation, register the gift by my leave as attributable to a different source, not that I labour under the apprehension of appearing the replacer of favours, but because I wish, that, being counselled by your duty, you may remember the condition on which you received it. With respect to your translation, De Sanitate Tuenda, both labour and time have been denied me for a perusal of it, and to consider how to compliment you. On this point, however, I shall discharge my duty to you rather than to myself and to literature, and shall gratuitously devote that time to your service, of which I shall never regret the loss, in proportion to the proficiency which I shall acquire in the attempt. If, however, I shall in the mean while detect aught in the work upon which you have neglected to animadvert, (which knowing you for a cautious and exquisitely accurate translator, I can scarcely persuade myself will be the case,) a little spirit of rivalry (again the sincerity of my disposition obliges me to confess the truth), rather than an obsequious desire of perusal, will have pointed it out to me, lest you should in every respect satisfy one to whom in his own writings so many things appear absurd and unseasonably asserted. Insomuch that when I rehearsed at my leisure the remarks which I made on your work, they seemed to savour so much of detraction and even of malice, that it would sometimes shame me to have published them, although what I had registered in private could scarcely come under that denomination. To make additions to any writings of yours, and to usurp the right of criticism would be the height of arrogance in me, as giving sentence without provocation. Whatever parts at length I judged proper to change or illustrate I separated from the rest for myself and for your proxy; and, lest I should incur the charge of not having vigorously laboured in your service, it behoved me that some things should be inconsiderately and mistakingly registered, since egregious error where met the eye, by which I might convince you of the pains which I had bestowed upon it. O! happy friend, whom it long since befell to hear, nay even to see the elegance of Italy, in reflecting upon which I call to remembrance my own unhappy lot. Hence, whilst your style of composition is imbued with its fragrance, any native uncorrected composition of German and exotic learning in mine own style, which tastes not of the rod, is the cause of offence to me; much less can I hope to satisfy your humour and that of men of the first genius.

The youth, whether your attendant, your scholar, or both, presented me the rings, eighteen of silver, and one of gold, several of which I distributed amongst the wives of my friends and relations; having delivered them with an air of ostentation, and having declared, with an oath, that they were no less the appeasers of evil than of calumny and detraction also. In receiving these, the sureties of your friendship, I received also a proof of your ready disposition towards me, pledging in return my own friendship for the gift, as an earnest of an honourable and lasting alliance. Gratified by these contracts, I would institute others equally agreeable, that our friendship might thereby be rendered universal. Why not? I, for my part, heretofore coveted such friendships. But how is the covenant to be fulfilled on your side sincerely and in good faith, since I shall treasure your letter instead of a bond, which is to enumerate its execution. Should you, however, be indisposed to the just and proper exercise of the duties of friendship, you will find Budé, if not a forensic or altogether skilful friend, at least one who will prove litigious and quarrelsome. See, therefore, that in calling yourself friend you neglect not to discharge the duties of friendship. For it availeth nothing, I think, that such friends should merely be favourably disposed one towards the other, unless by a frequent exchange of correspondence they also devote to friendship the duties which custom has imposed as law. Alas! my folly! for in writing thus, I forget that I also provoke the hoof of my horse. In rousing, however, to this contest one most learned and exquisitely acute, who has reached the pinnacle of skill in both tongues, I rouse also myself, who am but half learned, or rather imperfectly taught, and forthwith easily driven from the field. But whatever mine own sufferings, I am gratified by the correspondence of the wise, and exult whilst answering it, although I know myself to be their inferior. Farewell, most eloquent Sir, persevere in bestowing your labour on the best and choicest writings, and remember, that as you have been already assisted by my friendship in the elaborate works which you have previously undertaken, so shall you also in those which you hereafter present to the world.

In truth, I think, I fared well in so auspiciously employing a few days, or rather hours, in the perusal of a book which is forthwith about to be published to your great glory, which I should, however, have read with greater pleasure and attention, had an impediment not been thrown in my way amongst numerous other concerns, interrupting alike the purpose and progress of my reading. My domestic cares will supply the business of another year; so that I shall be able to devote only the days, or rather the hours, which are substracted from them, to literature, with a mind in some measure blunted by attention to subjects equally coarse and repugnant to humanity, an evil the more serious and offensive to me in proportion to the indignation with which I have to sustain it—I, in truth, who, on reviewing my life, have always disregarded the administration of my household, and accustomed myself only as a husband to discharge the duties of its master. Once more farewell.”

Paris, 10 July.

Thomas Linacre, Physician, to the most learned AND NOBLE GUILLAUME BudÉ, SENDS GREETING:

“When I reflect, most learned Budé, upon your many acts of kindness to me, who so little deserve them, I am uncertain whether I ought rather to congratulate myself on my good fortune, or on the other hand to lament it, and you excite in me a doubt, whether I have rated your acts according to their value. For, when I estimate either the benignity with which you spontaneously presented to me your most curious and learned work, or the candour and generosity of mind wherewith you support and espouse my reputation, (as you are exclusively wont to do,) I think I ought to congratulate myself not a little on the good fortune by which I have won to myself so firm a friend, For do you otherwise than support and espouse my good name, you, who allow nothing contemptible or slovenly, which may operate to its prejudice to remain in my trivial lucubrations, or spare either time or labour in my service? In which case, however, you seem in some measure to give sentence against yourself, who are resolved to excel in what is terse and polished rather than what is less clear. Nor do you fail in excelling others in the same degree as Homer’s Latona—

Her sister nymphs by head and front o’erpeers;

so that fearless of your elevation, it is less a wonder that you take no thought of a rival. But should you examine the other side of the question, I perceive no qualities of mine which correspond to your deserts. With justice I complain of my fortune, which denies me what would otherwise be the highest gratification, or my first wish would have been to equal you. But such is the admirable felicity of your nature, that you anticipate me also in this particular, and relieve me of not a little anxiety: since on one hand you are gratified in proportion to the elevation of your mind, and doubtless to you private feeling of an act so noble; and on the other, provide for my good, who am as conscious of my active inclination as I am destitute of means to repay the obligation. And now I return you my best thanks, by the only manner in which I have the power to be grateful, and so far assiduously strive as to lose no opportunity of place or time, but, by commemorating, by writing, by commending, leaving no stone unturned and doing my utmost, perpetually testify your singular merits towards me.

“I remitted you some rings, which I understand have been delivered, a gift insignificant in regard to its worth, but useful in regard to its efficacy, as a pledge of our friendship; for by a ring is established the faith of those who marry, of rulers and of sponsors. These in question, having been bestowed by our king, are considered a charm against every kind of cramp, and applicable either as a bond or a memorial of friendship. Whatever therefore may be their virtues, receive them as graciously as they have been graciously bestowed. Farewell, most learned of your countrymen.”

London, 28 June.”

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Guillaume Bude to Thomas Linacre sends GREETING :

" I thank you heartily for the agreeable present with which you have lately favoured me, and still more heartily for your letter. For no memorial of absent friends can be equally lasting with the admonition conveyed in their correspondence. Although gifts be in themselves most dear, and remind us of the donor, and although they neither break in upon the portion of time which remains, to us, nor restrain the communication of friends at a distance from each other, still they afford no opportunity for friendly and personal conference. I reflect, and know how little leisure you have at other times for correspondence, even when not occupied in the publication of so arduous a work. I therefore readily accept your excuse for so long a delay in writing to me in return, praying for pardon at the same time to myself for an equal negligence in my correspondence. I too am entangled with so many and such a variety of cares, as to render the limited remainder of my life as completely irksome, as it will be at variance with the course of it, which is passed. I have perused such parts of Galen as were recommended by your Lupset, a youth of great candour, and exhibiting a pattern of English probity and affability, combined with a generous descent and no moderate share of erudition. Should you, however, wish me to labour in your service, freely employ your friend as an antagonist in any way you may judge best. I let not out my labour for hire, like a niggard, or sell it at a high rate to those whom I think deserve it, and to whom I may voluntarily vaunt my industry. Our ambassadors will execute their mission at the English court, when you will receive this letter. May they know you to be my friend, since to those learned persons I have reported the learning of Linacre. In the train of the Archbishop of Paris is Nicholas Berault, a man skilled in both tongues, and my most intimate friend, who is about to wait upon you. I should, have written more at length had not business interfered on the eve of my departure for the country. Farewell.”

“ Paris, 9 September.”

Before the last and most distinguished acts of Linacre’s life are recorded, it will not be irrelevant to the present work to add to these memorials of respect and esteem the termination of those friendships, which were amongst the foremost of his early life, and the last amongst those of his riper age.

William Grocyn we left at Oxford, the respondent in the disputations, which were celebrated in honour of Richard III.; and William Latimer in possession of his college fellowship, to which his modesty and learning had justly preferred him.

The residence and occupations of Grocyn at Oxford were interrupted by the desire generally prevalent at the end of the 15th century, of visiting the country from which polite learning had been recently imported into England, in many of whose schools the old forms of scholastic theology were still encouraged and maintained. His progress in the ancient languages had been considerable, and his skill in the subtleties qualified him for successful disputation in the academies which he was about to visit. He accordingly quitted England for Italy about the year 1488. He settled for two years at Florence, where he sought to acquire a more perfect knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages, under the directions of Chalcondyles and Politian; and after travelling over a considerable part of Italy returned to England in or before the year 1492. On his return he again resided in Exeter College at Oxford. He there took the degree of bachelor in divinity, and, by daily reading lectures on the institutes of Greek, communicated to the University the knowledge which an application of four years had enabled him to acquire. Whatever progress, the Greek language had previously made in the University, or whatever it was destined to make in consequence of the exertions of Grocyn or other individuals, it is certain that the power of its vowels and diphthongs was then but little understood, and that the pronunciation in common use was barbarous and ill-calculated to display that force and majesty, which a full and proper pronunciation of it is so well adapted to express. The prevailing mode of reading was to give an uniformity of sound to ι, η, ει, οι, and υι, the whole of which custom had confounded with iota. µ followed τ was pronounced as b; and β to v. To the reformation of a pronunciation so faulty, the efforts of Grocyn were also directed, and he endeavoured to assimilate it to that employed by the native Greeks in Italy, with whom he had associated. His attempt, however, either failed of success, or his auditors forgot his instructions at the termination of his labours, since the subject was resumed by Smith at Cambridge about the year 1533, with a similar want of success. The continuation of the task was reserved for Cheke, the colleague of Smith, who, after much controversy and opposition, accomplished that reform in the sixteenth century which was denied to Grocyn at Oxford more than a century earlier.

From these pursuits Grocyn was called to London with means of subsistence ill proportioned to the increased expenses, with which he was encumbered by the change. Scanty as they were, they were diminished by his generosity, and by the hospitality, which he extended towards the literary friends, whose fortunes were in no wise superior to his own. His learning had recommended him to John Colet, the Dean of St. Paul’s, by whom he was invited to deliver lectures in conjunction with other divines from the pulpit of that church. It has been doubted whether Grocyn in the capacity of preacher was the expositor of a part of the sacred writings, or only of the ecclesiastical hierarchy of Dionysius the Areopagite, a work which, after enjoying for centuries a reputation beyond its merits, soon afterwards fell into deserved neglect as one of the forgeries, of which the early ages of Christianity were so fruitful. Of this imposture Grocyn in the course of his reading was convinced, and it is to his credit that his condemnation of it was equally loud with the arguments which he had before employed in defence of its authenticity. To the patronage of Colet, Grocyn had the fortune to add the good opinion of Archbishop Warham, on whose recommendation he was elected master or warden of the collegiate church of All Saints at Maidstone on April 17, 1506. This dignity, with his rectory of Newnton Longville and the prebend of South Searle in the church of Lincoln, which he had obtained before bis journey to Italy, were the only preferments which he enjoyed, an inadequate reward for one whose learning qualified him for the highest stations in the church.

On the first of these preferments, to which he retired, Grocyn spent the remainder of his life. The revenues, which he received from the office of warden, were not great, and he had still to contend with the embarrassments in which the narrow means and generosity of his former life had involved him. In his necessities he had borrowed money from his friends, and among others from John Yonge, LL.D. Master of the Rolls and Dean of York, to whom he had given his plate as a security for the debt. This was generously remitted by Dr. Yonge, who provided by a clause in his will that the same plate should be delivered to the borrower without any manner of redemption! Grocyn died at Maidstone of the palsy, at the advanced age of eighty or more years, and probably in the year 1522, since his will, which bears date the 2d June, 1519, was proved on the 20th of July in the same year. He was buried, in obedience to the directions of his will, at the east end of the high choir of his collegiate church. He disposed of the little which he had to bequeath in rewarding the fidelity of his servant, and in remembrances to his friends. To his servant he willed a messuage of which he was possessed in Stone Street, Maidstone. To his godsons, William Lilly and William Capper, he bequeathed the several sums of five shillings and twenty shillings. To Alicia Linacre, the niece of the subject of the present work, he gave his scarlet gown with the hood lined with sarcenet, and nominated her uncle his executor and residuary legatee. Doubtful, however, whether the infirmities of Linacre would enable him personally to discharge the duty imposed upon him by his will, he lastly appointed William Page, a priest, the overseer of his will, with a bequest to him of his gown of violet engrayned and furred with black coney, upon condition that he took that office upon him.

Although the attainments of Grocyn qualified him for undertaking the greatest tasks, the only compositions which have survived him are the two epigrams quoted in the early part of this life, and a letter to Aldus Manutius. Pitsf has cited different compositions which Grocyn wrote at the instance of his friends, none of which were edited by himself. Among these are letters, epigrams, the elements of some art, a grammar, notes upon Terence, and a tract impugning the doctrines of Wicliff on the host. His style was pure and elegant, his language concise, and his judgment correct. He was a follower of the Peripatetic school. Of the system of Plato he was never an admirer, deeming that author a mere pretender in philosophy, and contemning his doctrines as little better than fantasies, and idle fictions. He acquired great reputation as a theologist, and was nice even to severity in all the branches of learning which he cultivated, deeming it better to abstain entirely from composition, than to write badly or imperfectly.

It was the fate of William Latimer to be placed in no higher station than that of parish priest, in the humble but useful exercise of whose duties the better portion of his life was spent. As he was scarcely inferior to Linacre and Grocyn in attainments, so he followed their example by travelling to Italy, where he studied with success. On his return he was recommended by his learning and skill in philosophy to Reginald, afterwards Cardinal Pole, to whom he was appointed instructor, and by whose interest he obtained a prebend in

the church of Salisbury. Besides his prebend he held the rectory of Saintbury and the vicarage of Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire; at the former of which he died, advanced in years, in 1545. He was deeply read in sacred and profane literature, although he gloried more in the reputation of being a perfect theologian, than of having attained the eloquence of Cicero. When Erasmus prepared for the press a second edition of his New Testament, he earnestly sought the assistance of Latimer in rendering it more perfect; and in another of his letters the same individual tells him how gladly he recognized in his correspondence the delightful candour of his disposition, and the more than virgin modesty which belonged to his character. Pits asserts that he wrote much, although he was not acquainted even with the titles of his writings, and none of these are extant except a letter to Erasmus, in which he apologizes for his silence and breach of promise in not having remitted to him the corrections of his New Testament, and in which, after a laudatory criticism of the same work, he declines the office of instructor in the Greek language to John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester and Chancellor of Cambridge, from a conviction of the difficulties, which that prelate would have .to encounter, and which in his own case, he was not ashamed to say, were not entirely vanquished, even after a close application of several years. His means for the provision of learning were not adequate to his wishes, but he consulted its interests in the disposition of his books. He directed by his will that his Greek and Latin books should be packed in separate chests, and reserved by his executors for distribution amongst their children, should they show themselves apt at learning. In case of these expectations failing, he bequeathed them to the libraries of All Souls and Corpus Christi Colleges in Oxford.

CHAPTER VI.

Change in the Taste and Literature of England—First establishment of Lectures—Linacres Lectures—Their Endowment— Misapplication and abuse of the Revenues—Establishment of the College of Physicians—State of Medicine—Increase of his Illness—Death—Burial—His Dispositions by Will.

Having enumerated the obligations, which Linacre conferred on his profession by his writings, we have now to enter upon the narrative of the nobler views by which he was guided in the extension of those obligations to posterity. He had reached his sixty-fourth year, with a mind less impaired by age, than with a body broken by disease, and he was anxious that his designs should be accomplished before he was deprived of the power of superintending their execution. He considered that the fortune, which he had acquired by inheritance and improved by industry, could not be more profitably bestowed than in furthering the progress of letters and of his art. The liberal manner, in which he provided for both, proclaims the great importance which he attached to his intentions. Whether his fortune might not have been employed in a way more beneficial to learning and posterity, and whether the end has been found proportioned to the means, it is not necessary here to consider. Had Linacre anticipated that bound in science, which commenced in less than a century after his death by the induction of Bacon, and that triumph over theory and speculation, which was effected by the accumulated facts and patient investigation of Harvey, he would probably have destined his generosity to higher uses, than in providing for oral instruction, and the illustration of the untenable doctrines which are found in the writings of the ancients.

The interval between Linacre’s appointment at the court of Henry VII., and his retirement from active life in the succeeding reign, had been productive of a considerable change in the taste and literature of England. The theology and discussions of the schools had been shaken by the introduction of the Greek and Roman writers, and by the necessity of acquiring a perfect knowledge of grammar as a preliminary to their perusal. In proportion as reading was cultivated, disputation grew out of use, and although the inhabitants of collegiate and religious houses were still addicted to the unprofitable wisdom of their forefathers, it was evident that a revolution was about to be accomplished as well in the kind of learning as in the mode by which it was to be acquired. Amongst other plans of instruction, that of conveying information from the one to the many by original, disquisition, or by comments upon the writings of the ancients, was generally enforced, as tending to abridge the labour of the teacher, and to promote the progress of the pupil by exciting his attention. No funds had at this period been appropriated to perpetuate these forms of instruction, although they, had been partially and occasionally encouraged. Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester, when he founded his college at Oxford in the year 1517, seems to have been the first who made provision for them by endowing lectures in the Greek and Latin languages. They were instituted expressly for the extirpation of barbarity from his college, and the more readily to effect his purpose he directed the lecturer to explain the purest authors in their own languages. These lectures were to be delivered within the walls of the college, but it was their founder’s direction, that the university might also participate in the benefit of them. The provisions of Fox were followed by similar constitutions of Cardinal Wolsey in the year 1519; whilst Linacre, with a conviction of their utility, and of the superior opportunities, which they presented for promoting learning, applied them to the advance of the art of medicine, for whose progress and success he had uniformly shown himself solicitous.

To these models his thoughts appear to have been for some time directed, although the foundation of his lectures was not effected till the year 1524, when the precarious state of his health rendered it no longer prudent for him to defer the fulfilment of his intentions. It is probable that he had corresponded with the university of Oxford upon this subject, and had consulted with its members on the plan which he proposed to adopt; for a letter is exant from this body, apparently written in reply to such a communication on his part, in which they compliment their intended benefactor in a strain, if not of flattery, at least in one of the highest panegyric of himself and of his art, and sufficiently declaratory of their gratitude for the favours about to be extended towards them.

TO the Renowned Doctor Linacre, Physician of our most Invincible Sovereign, the whole ASSEMBLY OF OXFORD WISHES PROSPERITY.

It is marvellous, most ingenious of all bur promoters, how much gratification we have some while since experienced in the knowledge that your well known bounty is so exercised both at home and abroad, that you cease not to meditate by what means you may deserve well of your brethren at Oxford. In truth, in whatever way you may assist others, you have always shown yourself an extraordinary patron and an especial mover in all that relates to our concerns. That peculiar affection towards our commonwealth, by which you have especially rendered yourself eminent, is again with certainty proclaimed to us in the proposition to devote the splendid lectures, which you have appointed to be read here at your expense to the best kind of instruction to aged counsellors and to able professors. For how can you deserve better of our commonwealth, or by what memorial can you more honourably dedicate your name to the last remembrance of mankind, than in favouring and promoting the liberal arts, which, without the support and industry of the learned, would doubtless be exposed to destruction, or daily held in less esteem, a point on which your sober gravity and erudite judgment, by exciting the diligence of competent readers, will not confer less advantage, than will your bounteous generosity abundantly supply the means. Nay, of these the wise suggestions of your own judgment famish the best proof, since you have chosen the science most subservient of all others to the necessities of humanity. For who even of the most potent has suitably requited the physician? The life we take from God, we retake from him: to his care we owe the preservation of the gift of existence, which we have received from the great Creator of all things, and the restoration of it when in a state of decay. Hence we have not with Homer accounted the physician as a price for the many, but have enrolled him among mortals as a terrestrial deity. But why have we magnified the pre-eminence of the healing art to you, to whom all that relates to the excellence of this faculty is so entirely known. We see, therefore, the debt we owe to your greatness, who wish for our sakes that a knowledge of a transcendant science should not be withholden from us. But when, as in duty bound, we meditate a requital, and reflect how little is that which our poverty can repay, and how vast that which your humanity can remit, we are sensible that ours is the heavy partiality of fortune, which allows us not to requite the munificence of our patrons in proportion to our wishes. The transcendancy, however, of your gift, surpasses what Croesus, though he were to exhaust his whole wealth, could effect, or, though ours were the golden fountains of the poets, or the golden sands of Tagus and Pactolus. In the mean while let us not forget to return thanks, since thanks, says Seneca, are a requital, in as much as Aeschines rendered himself more endeared to Socrates by the gratitude and modesty of his speech, than did the riches of Alcibiades with the most liberal disposition. Lastly, we earnestly, and again and again implore you not to abandon the resolution you have undertaken, and that your intentions may never be so many and varied as to divert or overcloud this project. Let us certainly hope that the restoration of these, as well as of all other studies, to their pristine dignity may be effected during your life, and if aught in our power can promote this most excellent design, believe us prepared to second your wishes. Farewell, and may you long enjoy life, the chief patron of learning”

The letters-patent, by which the hopes and wishes of the university were to be gratified, received the sign manual on the 12th of October, 1524, eight days only before Linacre’s decease. By this document a license was granted to himself, his executors and assigns, to found three separate lectures to the glory of God, or the true art of medicine, for the relief of the fallen, and the increase of the whole realm. Two of them were to be appropriated to Oxford, and one to Cambridge, and they were to be distinguished by the name of Linacre's Lectures. Permission was further given to the warden and freemen of the Mercers’ Company in London to hold of Linacre, his executors and assigns, lands and tenements to the annual amount of £30 sterling, clear of outgoings and reprisals, for the support and maintenance of the lectures, according to the provision and disposition of the founder. The better to carry this license into effect, Linacre assigned to four trustees the manors of Frognal and Tracies, in the parish of Newington juxta Sittingborne, in the county of Kent. He had been the possessor of these estates from the early part of the reign of Henry VIII.

The first he obtained by purchase from Sir John Norton, Knight, and the second from Lewis Clifford, Esq., Sheriff of Kent in the thirteenth year of Henry VII. The trustees, under the assignment, were Sir Thomas More, Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of London, John Stokesley, Prebend of the Collegiate Chapel of St. Stephen, Westminster, and John Shelley, Counsellor at Law. Although these individuals were well known to Linacre and to each other, the choice was singularly unfortunate. More, in addition to other offices, had afterwards to sustain the weight of the Court of Chancery, and to uphold the ceremonies of a court; Tunstall was involved in the business of the sees, over which he successively presided: Stokesley, his successor in the see of London, boasted of devoting his time to the detection of heresy, and the reformation of it by fire and the rack; whilst Shelley, probably the most competent of the four to discharge the duties of his appointment, had neither the influence nor power to execute the -provisions of the license, without the approbation and concurrence of his colleagues, by whom his professional services were to be requited. Under these circumstances, it will excite no wonder that Linacre’s intentions were not fully carried into effect.

The religious distractions, in which the country now began to be involved, evils in which the majority of the trustees largely participated, and the loss of the proceeds of the property assigned for their use, united to defeat the views of the founder, and to render his bounty for many years inadequate to the purposes for which it was bestowed. No steps were taken to further the original design till a Protestant government brought peace and security to the nation; nor was it till the third year of the reign of King Edward VI. that Tunstall, the surviving trustee, assigned two of the lectures to Merton College, Oxford, and one to St. John’s College, Cambridge. Wood not only supposes, on the authority of the letter from the university just quoted, that these lectures were for some time read at Oxford during the life of the founder, by whom a salary was constantly paid to the reader, but that several eminent scholars continued to read them in the schools before they were settled in Merton College,—suppositions which are both improbable and scarcely warranted by the Words of the authority cited in their support, which speaks only of lectures of which Linacre at that time meditated the institution.

Amongst the many instances of misapplication and abuse on the part of feoffees of funds, the appropriation of which has been specifically prescribed, a more glaring one has seldom occurred than the following, which recent inquiries have been the means of exposing to the world. Tunstall, who, throughout a long life never hesitated to prefer the possession of a good conscience to that of wealth and station, seems on this occasion either to have sacrificed the consistence of his character to private friendship, or to have been diverted from his duty by arguments, against which his old age and imbecility of mind rendered him a very unequal opponent. It is evident from the tenor of the letters-patent that the inheritance of the ample estates, which Linacre had assigned to his trustees, was intended to be vested in the university of Oxford, for the performance of the obligations which the letters specified. Wood admits that the trustees meditated such a disposal of them, but that owing to the great decay of the university in the reign of Edward VI the survivor was induced to settle them in Merton College, and that he was influenced to this disposition of the funds by Dr. Rainolds, its warden, and by the preference which that college had long enjoyed over others in the university, as a foundation whence inceptors in physic generally proceeded. By an agreement between these parties, dated 10th December in the above year, a superior and inferior reader were appointed, the one with an annual salary of £12, the second with a salary of £6. The appointment to these lectures had been originally vested in the trustees, but it was how agreed that it should be transferred to the college. The readers were to be elected triennially; and if there should be no member of the college sufficiently qualified to undertake the duty, then fit persons might be chosen from any other college or hall. Their office was to explain or comment publicly upon certain parts of Hippocrates and Galen. Tunstall survived till the year 1559, and Robert Barons, or Barnes, afterwards Doctor in Medicine and Warden of the College, was nominated with his consent the first superior reader in the year 1558. The office of inferior reader was also at the same time bestowed upon George James, a fellow of the college, who retained the appointment only twelve months. The names of their successors are of too little importance to merit enumeration.

The same influence, which prevented the intention of the founder from being carried into effect at Oxford, prevailed equally at Cambridge. The remaining lecture was there settled in St John’s College, in whose statutes the reader is expressly mentioned, and the duties of his office defined at large. It is provided that the lecture should be publicly delivered in the schools, unless a sufficient reason to the contrary should be assigned by the Master and a majority of the eight Seniors. The lecturer was to explain the treatises of Galen De Sanitate Tuenda and De Methodo Medendi, as translated by Linacre, or those of the same author De Elementis et Simplicibus. He was to continue in office three years and a half; but his salary was to cease at .the end of the third year; the funds of the remaining half year to be appropriated to indemnify the college. He was to be at the least a Master of Arts, who had studied Aristotle and Galen, and during the continuance of his office was interdicted from the practice of medicine. The members of the college were to have a preference before other candidates, but in the event of a deficiency of proper persons the Master and Seniors had .a power of election from some other college. An electiou was to take place immediately upon a vacancy, or at least twenty .weeks previously to the commencement of the .lectures, that time might be afforded the reader .to prepare himself for his duty. At the expiration of .his term a reader might be re-elected.

The last and the most magnificent of Linacre’s privilege were added the powers of annually electing a president—of perpetual succession—and of Linacre neither forgot their defects northeim- possibility of adapting rules and regulations, which accorded with the state of society in the middle ages, to the improved state of learning in his own; and his plan was avowedly modelled on' some similar community, of which many cities of Italy afforded an example. In the execution of it he stood alone, for the munificence of the crown was limited to the grant of letters-patent, whilst the expenses and provision for his college were to be defrayed out of his own means, or of those of the individuals, who were associated with him in its foundation.

In the year 1518, letters patent were granted to John Chamber, Thomas Linaere, and Femandus de Victoria, the acknowledged physicians to the king, together with Nicholas Halsewell, John Francis, Robert Yaxley, and all men of the same faculty in London, to be incorporated as one body and perpetual community or college. To this fine and imprisonment, or by other reasonable ways, and, lastly, an exemption from summons on all assizes, inquests and juries in the city and; its suburbs.

The haste or negligence with which the letters patent were prepared, left their meaning in many respects ambiguous and liable to misconstruction, whilst the plan which they sanctioned, having probably been laid down in theory only, was found inadequate to the ends for which the foundation was designed. To obviate these inconvenience the letters patent were confirmed by the statute, 14 Hen. VIII. which passed but little more than twelve months before Linacre’s death. By that statute it was further granted that the persons named in the letters patent, with two others of the said commonalty to be chosen by themselves, should be called elects, who should yearly appoint from amongst themselves a president. In case of a vacancy of an elect occurring by death or otherwise, it was to be filled up by the survivors within thirty or forty days after, by the admission of one of the most cunning and expert men in London, to supply the number of eight, after an examination and approval by the supervisors mentioned in the letters patent It was also enacted that no person, except graduates of Oxford or Cambridge without dispensation, shall be permitted to practise physic throughout England, unless he has previously obtained letters testimonial, under seal, of his having been examined at London and approved of by the president and three of the elects.

The alterations and improvements, for which the statute provided, may not only be considered as additions suggested to the founder in the interval between the date of the letters patent and its enactment, but as containing his final views respecting the expediency and propriety of the foundation, which he had matured by an experience of four years. Other laws were in existence to restrain the evils which arose from the mal-practice of ignorant or incompetent persons, and it had been enacted previously to the grant of the letters of incorporation, that no person without the city of London and a precinct of seven miles should exercise as a physician or surgeon unless examined and approved by the bishop of the diocese, in which he resided or by his vicar-general, but without prejudice to the Universities. By an act, also passed no person within London, or a distance of seven miles of the same, was authorized to practise in either of the above capacities unless examined, approved and admitted by the Bishop of London or Dean of St. Paul’s for the time being, calling to them four doctors of physic, and for surgery other expert persons in that faculty, under a monthly penalty of £5. The persons in whose favour this act was passed, were Richard Fitzjames, Bishop of London, and Dean Colet. As Linacre was for many years in strict intimacy with Colet, this first attempt to give dignity to the practice of medicine within London and certain limits, by previously ascertaining the competency of the practitioner, was probably suggested by the former as a partial remedy for the abuses which then prevailed in the exercise of the art, and may be considered as the precursor of those enlarged measures by which its dignity was afterwards more effectually secured. These privileges, like all others within the ecclesiastical grasp, were tardily resigned by the successors of the grantees, and were, in fact, retained until the progress of letters had rendered them no longer tenable. Linacre, however, did not live to see their abolition; for, in defiance of the royal letters and the purposes for which his college was instituted, the bishops exercised an imperium in imperio by granting licenses for more than 150 years, although they tacitly proclaimed their incompetence to the exercise of this duty by calling to their aid four physicians, to ascertain the qualifications of the candidates to whom their licenses were to be granted.

The intention of the letters patent of 10 Hen. VIII., although it is not apparent through whose interest they were obtained, was evidently to supersede the incompetent tribunals just mentioned. The king contributed little to the undertaking, and it was doubted whether the act, (14 Hen. VIII.) confirming the letters patent, ever received the royal assent beyond that general assent which was given by commission at the prorogation of parliament to all bills which had passed in the preceding session. The opinion that the founder’s interest was indirect, and that the merit of obtaining the letters patent was due to the Cardinal Wolsey, probably originated in the enormous power of that minister, through whom the petitions of the subject could alone reach the king, and upon the reliance which Linacre may have placed upon his promises of support, which, by the unanimous testimony of historians, greatly outweighed his performance of them. It has been alleged, with much improbability, that Wolsey received a bribe to include the letters patent, to which the royal assent was wanting, amongst others to which it had been given,—a report too absurd to merit refutation, or else confounded with a similar artifice practised on other deeds, in which the cardinal had a greater stake than he could possibly have in the present. The neglect and inaccuracy of the letters are rather referred to the anxiety which Linacre might feel to have the king’s assent to an institution which he desired to see perfected before his death, than to any collusion of Wolsey; a discovery of which must have involved that institution in the general wreck which was about to befall so many of the chartered foundations in the kingdom.

The inaccuracies in the wording of the letters in some measure confirms this opinion. Thus the six persons, who are there individually named, and all other men of the same faculty of and within the city of London, are incorporated as a perpetual community or college, at the same time that the superintendance and government of the president thereof are not only extended to his college, but also to all men of the same faculty, and the concerns thereof, without any limitation to London or to seven miles. Yet in the preamble to the letters it is the declared intention of the crown to establish a perpetual college of learned men practising physic in London and its suburbs and within seven miles; the president and college are to make ordinances for the government of it, and of all men exercising the same faculty within the city and limits aforesaid, and the prohibition to practise without a license extends only to that district. Again, the name or title of the college is at variance with itself. The letters patent designate it as Prasidens et Collegium sive Communitas, although it is to be sued per nomina Preesidentis Collegii seu Communit at is. It is singular that in the several charters granted to the corporation the title has been uniformly altered. It was not until the charter of Charles II. that the college came under the immediate sanction of royalty by the permission granted to. its members to style themselves the King’s College of Physicians in the city of London, a privilege of little value or importance, since it is doubtful whether this charter was ever accepted by the college, and it is certain that the privileges, which it conferred, were never confirmed by parliament. In the succeeding reign, when the arbitrary measures of the sovereign enforced the resignation of their charters from the great corporations of the kingdom, no exception was made in favour of the College of Physicians, although it was purely literary in the design and purposes of its institution, and divested collectively of all political or religious bias. On the 19th of October, 1685, the president acquainted the fellows that orders had been given for a quo warranto against them, when the college, by an unanimous vote, determined to affix their common seal to an instrument of surrender of their privileges, by which they were virtually, but not legally, dissolved, as the deed was never enrolled. In this state of suspense the college remained for two years, when a new charter was granted them, the acceptance of which was followed by the expulsion of four fellows and twenty-two honorary fellows without any assigned cause. The Revolution terminated these proceedings, and the privileges of the new charter were never enforced beyond the exclusion of those fellows who were obnoxious to the court, and the admission of others more obedient to its views. By it the grants of former charters to the college were confirmed, and a power given to the king in council to remove the president, elects, fellows, censors, and other officers or members, at pleasure. It also continued to the college the power of licensing medical books, for which the act of Charles II. had made a limited provision. This charter was further extended by a statute passed in the fourth year of the reign of William and Mary, which expired in 1694.

The distinction of the college into fellows, candidates and licentiates is, there is reason to believe, coeval with its existence, and not only corresponds with the intent of the charter, but is confirmed by the practice of the college. In the vetera statuta, the permissi, or licentiates, are spoken of, as a distinct body and an established rank. In the year 1584 it was enacted, that no person should be admitted a candidate who had not been a licentiate for the space of twelve months. No specific acquirements or qualifications had, however, yet been prescribed and it was not until the year 1555 that this question was agitated, when the college either interfered in the plan of education adopted by the English Universities, or questioned the competency of the individuals to whom they had granted degrees. At this period a correspondence took place between the college and the universities, arising out of an application by two candidates, who, on examination, had been found deficient in the necessary qualifications, for admission into the former, by right of the degrees which had been conferred by the university of Oxford. The deficiencies of these candidates drew forth a remonstrance from the college, which was seconded by the Cardinal Pole, who was then engaged in the reformation of religion and in the correction of the abuses in that University. In obedience to these remonstrances, the University of Oxford passed a statute, which was approved of by the college, and by which was laid down a course of study to which the candidate for medical degrees was required to conform. A degree in medicine or permission to practise was only to be obtained by previously graduating in arts; and the authors, proposed for study had a reference to the faculty in which the student intended to proceed. The mind was to be directed to judgment by the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, and to action by the precepts of Hippocrates and Galen: the discipline of the schools was also to be enforced, and the candidate exercised in disputation for four years, —a probation which was rewarded with the required honours, if he were then found competent. This was the first systematic plan of education prescribed in this country for the faculty of medicine. It made literature and philosophy the basis of the practice of the art; and to the adoption of so wise a plan may be attributed that dignity and respectability which belongs here to the art and its possessors, and which have never yet been equalled in any country in Europe.

The term of Linacre’s residence in London, from his invitation to court to his death included a period of about twenty-three years. The house in which he resided during this period was situated in Knight-Rider Street, in the parish of St. Benedict, Paul’s Wharf. It was distinguished by the name of the Stone House, probably from the material with which it was built, and which was then rare and costly, and but seldom employed in private residences during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Of this house he made an assignment to the college, retaining a part for the use of himself and family during his life. The site of this mansion still forms a part of the possessions of the college, although the building itself shared in the common calamity of the year 1666. Its owner destined the front portion for the uses of a library, of which he had liberally provided, and here the comitia of the college were also held, of which he sat as president till his death.

Thus was completed that magnificent design to which the practice of medicine owes so much of the respectability which it enjoys in the public estimation and favour. The rank, which this institution has maintained amongst the literary establishments of the country, and the extensive privileges with which it has been endowed, equally affecting public weal and private right, merit a a history apart from the biography of its founder. To enter, however, on that subject, or to detail the transactions of its members to the present time would exceed the limits of this undertaking. Leaving, therefore, that task to others more competent to its performance, I close these memoirs with the death and character of him to whom the institution is indebted for its existence.

The life of Linacre was now drawing to a close. He had been for some time sensible, from the nature of the malady with which he was afflicted, of the uncertain tenure on which he held his life; and the accomplishment of his projects was effected amidst the paroxysms of an infirmity, perhaps the most painful amongst the many which human nature is destined to sustain. So anxious was he to see his designs carried into execution, that they fell in some respects short of that perfection to which his enlightened mind would otherwise ultimately have carried them. That entire attachment to learning, which he had displayed from his early years, and the sedentary and retired habits, which that attachment induced, may be assigned as sufficient causes for the disease of which he was ultimately the victim. This disease was the stone, and his death was occasioned by an ulceration of the bladder, the effect of the extraneous body which it contained. The sacrifices, which Linacre was compelled to make in consequence of his disease, were many and great, and commenced at that period of life when the faculties and attainments of man are in full maturity and best adapted to the discharge of the active duties of life. It frequently obliged him to forego the emoluments of his profession; by it also his office of preceptor to the Princess Mary was made void, and his appointment of physician to the king was rendered nugatory, or its duties but occasionally and partially fulfilled. The cause of the evils which he endured was, perhaps, aggravated by the very leisure in which he was compelled to indulge for the sake of procuring an alleviation from their effects, and to these his constitution yielded, after long suffering, on the 20th of October, 1524, and in the sixty-fourth year of his age. He was buried in the cathedral of St. Paul, before the rood of the north door, between the long form and the wall opposite to the rood, a spot chosen by himself, and expressly specified in his will. His grave was marked by no memorial for more than thirty years, nor was the neglect of his executors supplied till the year 1557, when Dr. John Caius, then president of the college, gratefully erected a monument to him at his private cost, and, in an epitaph which he wrote, briefly recorded his learning and professional skill, enumerating at the same time his writings, and the institutions of which he was the parent.t This monument was erected near the north door of the church, over or near Linacre’s grave, and remained till the year 1666, when the great fire of London involved the church, monument, and remains of him whom it commemorated in one common ruin and desolation.

Of the necessity of putting his house in order Linacre had been for a long time warned, and his last will bears date the 19th of June 1524, four months only before bis death. It carries evidence in its orthography of that haste which usually distinguishes the attestations of the dying, and was probably executed under a paroxysm of his disease which threatened immediate dissolution. After providing for his burial, he discharges the obligations of his soul and conscience by bequests of money to the high altars of St. Bennet and St. Stephen, Walbrook, for the tithes of which payment had been forgotten during his life. His liberal endowments for the institutions, which he established in his lifetime, narrowed the means of testifying his affection or esteem to his relatives or friends by any testamentary disposition of property. He charges the lands to be purchased for the support of his lecture at Cambridge with separate annuities of five and six pounds to his two sisters, and wills them to be deducted yearly from the rents of his lands in Kent or London, at the discretion of his executors. To his brother Thomas be bequeaths the sura of forty shillings, with smaller legacies to his more distant relatives. The difference, which 300 years have created in the modes and habits of society, and the subserviency of science and the arts to the necessities, as well as to the luxuries of life, throw an air of ridicule over many bequests of our ancestors, which can only be removed by a consideration, that what were formerly articles of luxury, and limited to the use of the wealthy, have now ceased to be regarded as such, and by a gradual approach to common use have become articles of necessity, alike to the poor and the rich. Thus he bequeaths to his nieces Alice and Margaret each a bed, Margaret to have the better; and to William Dancaster are willed a feather-bed and two Irish blankets. His medical books had been assigned to his college on its foundation, and the library which he had reserved for his private use is alone specified in his will. It consisted of the works of Thucydides, Theodore, and Apollonicus, of Theocritus and Pindar, with comments; of the Declamations of Libanius, and a comment upon Homer. After liberally rewarding his servants, he directs his goods to be sold, and the money to be applied to the performance of his will. His executors were Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of London, Sir Thomas More, and John Stokesley, Prebendary of St. Stephen, Westminster, the same individuals who were charged with the execution of the endowments of his medical lectures. The labours of attending the execution of the will were to be committed to some proctor chosen in that behalf. The probate bears date the 18th of July, 1525, when administration was also granted to the executors in the person of Andrew Smith, a notary public.

THE DIVINE HISTORY OF JESUS CHRIST

BIOGRAPHYCAL UNIVERSAL LIBRARY

THE CREATION IF THE UNIVERSE ACCORDING GENESIS

THE

LIFE OF THOMAS LINACRE,

1460–1524

PHYSICIAN TO KING HENRY VIII.THE TUTOR AND FRIEND OF SIR THOMAS MORE, AND THE FOUNDER OF THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS IN LONDON.

WITH MEMOIRS OF HIS COTEMPORARIES, AND OF THE RISE AND
PROGRESS OF LEARNING, MORE PARTICULARLY OF
THE SCHOOLS FROM THE NINTH TO THE
SIXTEENTH CENTURY INCLUSIVE.

BY

JOHN NOBLE JOHNSON

CONCLUSION.