Part 2 (1/2)

It was not only the dryness of the method and the barrenness of the system which revolted Erasmus It was also the qualities of his own mind, which, in spite of all its breadth and acuteness, did not tend to penetrate deeply into philosophical or dogmatic speculations For it was not only scholasticism that repelled him; the youthful Platonisht by Lefevre d'etaples also failed to attract him For the present he remained a humanist of aesthetic bias, with the substratutime to come Erasmus considered himself, and also introduced himself, as a poet and an orator, by which latter term he meant e call aat Paris he ht contact with the headquarters of literary hu letter (not preserved) full of eulogy, accoeneral, not only of the Trinitarians but, at the sareat ly: 'From your lyrical specimen I conclude that you are a scholar; my friendshi+p is at your disposal; do not be so profuse in your praise, that looks like flattery' The correspondence had hardly begun when Erasmus found a splendid opportunity to render this illustrious personage a service and, at the same time, in the shadow of his na public The matter is also of importance because it affords us an opportunity, for the first time, to notice the connection that is always found between Erasmus's career as a man of letters and a scholar and the technical conditions of the youthful art of printing

Gaguin was an all-round ine et gestis Francoru printed It was the first speciraphy in France The printer had finished his work on 30 September 1495, but of the 136 leaves, two re to the notions of that tiuin was ill and could not help ed to fill up folio 135 with a poeyrics by Faustus Andrelinus and another humanist Even then there was need of matter, and Eras co the superfluous blank space of folio 136[2] In this way his name and style suddenly becauin's historical work, and at the sauin's protection, on whom the exceptional qualities of Erasmus's diction had evidently not been lost

That his history would re stone to Erash Erasuin, been introduced into the world of Parisian huun to lead through the printing press, was not yet easy for hiuin, who praised theestion of publication resulted A slender volume of Latin poems by Erasmus was published in Paris in 1496, dedicated to Hector Boys, a Scotchu But thehis stay in Paris all appeared in print uin and Faustus Andrelinus ht be honourable, it was not directly profitable The support of the Bishop of Ca of 1496 he fell ill and left Paris Going first to Bergen, he had a kind welco recovered his health, he went on to Holland to his friends It was his intention to stay there, he says The friends theed him to return to Paris, which he did in the autumn of 1496 He carried poetry by Williauin A printer was found for the poeht his friend and fellow-poet into contact with Faustus Andrelinus

The position of a man ished to live by intellectual labour was far fronified He had either to live on church prebends or on distinguished patrons, or on both But such a prebend was difficult to get and patrons were uncertain and often disappointing The publishers paid considerable copy-fees only to famous authors As a rule the writer received a number of copies of his work and that was all His chief advantage cae, who could coift There were authors who made it a practice to dedicate the same work repeatedly to different persons Erasmus has afterwards defended himself explicitly from that suspicion and carefully noted howor very little

The first need, therefore, to a man in Erasmus's circumstances was to find a Maecenas Maecenas with the hue _Ne bos quideiven a description of the decent way of obtaining a Maecenas Consequently, when his conduct in these years appears to us to be actuated,spirit, we should not gauge it by our present standards These were his years of weakness

On his return to Paris he did not again lodge in Montaigu He tried tomen of fortune A merchant's sons of Lubeck, Christian and Henry Northoff, who lodged with one Augustine Vincent, were his pupils He composed beautiful letters for them, witty, fluent and a trifle scented At the salishmen, Tho affection for Grey as to lead to trouble with the youth's guardian, a Scotchman, by whom Erasmus was excessively vexed

Paris did not fail to exercise its refining influence on Eras--he pretends to disdain the rustic products of his youth in Holland In the h which afterwards his influence was to spread over the whole world began to grow, but only to the benefit of a few readers They remained unprinted as yet For the Northoffs was composed the little compendium of polite conversation (in Latin), _Familiarium colloquiorum formulae_, the nucleus of the world-famous _Colloquia_ For Robert Fisher he wrote the first draft of _De conscribendis epistolis_, the great dissertation on the art of letter-writing (Latin letters), probably also the paraphrase of Valla's _Elegantiae_, a treatise on pure Latin, which had been a beacon-light of culture to Erasmus in his youth

_De copia verboruinners, to provide them with a vocabulary and abundance of turns and expressions; and also the gering courses of study, lay in the same line

It was a life of uncertainty and unrest The bishop gave but little support Erasood health and felt continually depressed

He made plans for a journey to Italy, but did not see ain travelled to Holland and to the bishop In Holland his friends were little pleased with his studies It was feared that he was contracting debts at Paris Current reports about him were not favourable He found the bishop, in the coland on a mission, irritable and full of complaints It became more and more evident that he would have to look out for another patron Perhaps he ht turn to the Lady of Veere, Anna of Borselen, hom his faithful and helpful friend Batt had now taken service, as a tutor to her son, in the castle of Tournehem, between Calais and Saint Omer

Upon his return to Paris, Erasmus resumed his old life, but it was hateful slavery to him Batt had an invitation for him to come to Tournehem, but he could not yet bear to leave Paris Here he had now as a pupil the young Lord Mountjoy, Willias to his bow Batt is incited to prepare the ground for hi letters to Mountjoy, in which he is to praise the latter's love of literature 'You should display an erudite integrity, commend me, and proffer your services kindly Believe me, William, your reputation, too, will benefit by it

He is a young reat authority with his own folk; you will have soain and again, if you love me, take this to heart'

The visit to Tournehe of 1499, followed by another journey to Holland Henceforward Anna of Veere passed for his patroness In Holland he saw his friend Williana after Easter The Dutch journey was one of unrest and bustle; he was in a hurry to return to Paris, not to ht offer hiaged, as hard as his health permitted after the difficult journey in winter He was busily occupied in collecting the ust But evidently Batt could not obtain as ave up the Italian plan, and left for England with Mountjoy at the latter's request

FOOTNOTES:

[2] Allen No 43, p 145, where the particulars of the case are expounded with peculiar acuteness and conclusions draith regard to the chronology of Erasmus's stay at Paris

CHAPTER IV

FIRST STAY IN ENGLAND

1499-1500

First stay in England: 1499-1500--Oxford: John Colet--Erasmus's aspirations directed towards divinity--He is as yet mainly a literate--Fisher and More--Mishap at Dover when leaving England: 1500--Back in France he coia_--Years of trouble and penury

Erasland, which lasted fro of 1500, was to beco He cae of a noblereat world which kne to appreciate and reward literary merit He left the country with the fervent desire in future to eifts, in so far as circue was brought about by t friends wholand, whose personalities were far above those who had hitherto crossed his path: John Colet and Tholand Erash spirits, for him At first it is still the man of the world who speaks, the refined enius

Aristocratic life, of which he evidently had seen but little at the Bishop of Cambray's and the Lady of Veere's at Tourneheland', he writes in a light vein to Faustus Andrelinus, 'we have, indeed, progressed soood hunter already, not too bad a horseman, a not unpractised courtier He salutes a little more courteously, he sht here' And he teases the volatile poet by telling hiirls and the laudable custo all compliments by kisses[3]

It even fell to his lot to make the acquaintance of royalty From Mountjoy's estate at Greenwich, More, in the course of a walk, took him to Eltham Palace, where the royal children were educated There he saw, surrounded by the whole royal household, the youthful Henry, as to be Henry VIII, a boy of nine years, together with two little sisters and a young prince, as still an infant in ar to offer and, on returning home, he composed (not without exertion, for he had not written poetry at all for soland, which he presented to the prince with a graceful dedication