CHAP. III. 1469.

Et. 29

and almost all the nobility of the country were present. From such a performance, flattery cannot perhaps be banished altogether; but Erasmus had generally the address to convert the encomiastic strains, which the subject forced upon him, into salutary councils.

To Paris, in which he had acquired so much of his learning, Erasmus was always partial. In his panygeric of Prince Philip, he mentions it in terms of the highest eulogy. Noticing the polite reception, which Lewis the Twelfth of France had given to Philip,-" Paris," he says, "which "witnessed this magnificent spectacle, possesses "three advantages, one even of which it is "difficult to find in most towns,-a flourishing

clergy, an almost unrivalled school, a senate 66 as venerable as the Areiopagus; as celebrated

as the Amphyctyonic; and as illustrious as the "ancient senate of Rome. By this happy as"semblage, the greatest blessings are united in "this city enlightened religion, profound

66

learning, and perfect administration of jus"tice. The clergy is learned; the learned are "pious, and both learning and piety unite in the senators: we cannot therefore, be surprised "that so many French or even that so many strangers resort to Paris; she has the appearance of a kingdom; or rather of the queen of a kingdom, more than that of a mere town."

His partiality

to the French

nation.

The panegyric gave great satisfaction. Erasmus 4. received congratulations upon it from every part of Europe. Prince Philip presented him with fifty pieces of gold; and offered him an honourable office in his palace; but the love of independence, which ruled Erasmus through his life, made him decline the offer. The prince died in the following year. Henry the Eighth of England, then Prince of Wales, addressed an elegant letter of condolence to Erasmus upon this event; he assured Erasmus in it, that, since the death of his own royal mother, nothing had given him so much affliction, as the death of Philip. He heaps praises on Erasmus: he tells him his name is known all over the world, and professes his own inability to celebrate him in language equal to his deserts.

Immediately after the publication of his panegyric on Prince Philip, Erasmus composed his Complaint of Peace." She herself harangues the public she enumerates the great blessings, which, so long as she is honoured and respected by mankind, she never fails to confer upon them, but complains that they have ceased to regard her; that the triflers of the schools are allowed to banish her from those seats of learning; and that even religious communities reject her. This treatise was highly popular and added greatly to the celebrity of Erasmus. He made

CHAP. III. 1469.

Æt. 29.

some journies to Holland: it's air agreed with
him, and the inhabitants, having their attentions
wholly engrossed by their commercial pursuits,
left him to his own concerns. Thus far, he was
pleased; but he complains of their long and
substantial repasts; their devotion to gain; their
want of politeness, their contempt of learning,
and their insensibility to literature.
"Things

66

are greatly changed since this time," says Le Clerc, with honest national pride, and it should be added, with great justice," Holland, "from the beginning of the sixteenth century has been the asylum of literature:- It may

now be said with truth, that no country has "supplied Europe with so many helps for the "acquisition of knowledge."

CHAPTER IV.

THE THREE FIRST VISITS OF ERASMUS TO

ENGLAND.

1497-1507.

Et. 30-40.

WE have mentioned the commencement of the intercourse between Lord Mountjoy and Erasmus. His Lordship was in great favour with Henry VII: that monarch appointed him page of honour to his son Prince Henry: with that royal youth, his lordship studied geography and history: both the prince and his page were often examined on their proficiency in those studies before the monarch. Lord Mountjoy was uncommonly diligent in his studies: Erasmus, in a letter written to his son, incites him to diligence by mentioning that his father frequently gave the night to literature; and so much injured his health by too great application to it, that his preceptors had often found it necessary to moderate his ardour. Lord Mountjoy was successively Governor of the Castle of Hamme near Calais, and of the city of Tournay: King Henry VII. invested him with the order of the garter.

CHAP. IV.

IV. 1.

The First Visit of Erasmus to England.

1497. Æt. 30.

IN 1497, Erasmus spent some time with his lordship at Hamme, and afterwards, by his lordship's request, accompanied him to England: his stay in it was short; Lord Mountjoy offered him the use of his house, but his surly steward, whom Erasmus calls Cerberus, frequently prevented his availing himself of the offer. From London, Erasmus went to Oxford, and studied in St. Mary's College, "a place," says Wood, "for canons regular of the order of St. Auştin.” "He was received in it," says Doctor Knight, "and accommodated with diet and lodging in "the most courteous manner." Erasmus addressed an elegant ode to the patroness of the house: it was generally read and admired. Sextinus, a native of Friesland, then a student at Oxford, wrote to Erasmus that "his verses "convinced him of what he had not before

suspected; that the German wits were not "inferior to the Italian."

If we compare the state of learning in England with it's progress on the Continent, we shall *Life of Colet, p. 28.