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HISTORY OF PRINTING.
the New Tettament in English was enumerated first Having escaped to England, he was declaied an obstinate heretic, and sentenced to be burnt, as soon as he could be apprehended, all persons were prohibited to entertain him: under the pain of excommunication ; and all goods and estates confiscated ; and his effigy to be burnt at the market cross. This was in 1 540.
Some attempts were likewise made to intro- duce among the clergy and the higher ranks of ' the laity, the study or the original languages. In 1534, John Erskine, of Dun, brought a learned man from France, and employed him to teach Greek, in Montrose; and upon his re- moral, liberally encouraged others to come firom France and succeed to nis place. From this private seminary, many Greek scholars proceeded, and the knowledge of the language was gradu- ally difTused over the kingdom. At this school, George Wishart probably obtained his acquaint- ance with that language; and was employed as one of the teachers. But William Chisholm, bishop of Brechin, hearing that Wishart taught the Greek New Tettament, summoned him to appear before him, on a chairge of heresy, upon which he fled the kingdom, in 1538, and re- mained abroad till 1544 ; when he returned to Scotland, but very soon fell a prey to the snares of Cardinal Beaton, and suffered death as a maytyr, at St. Andrews.
1627. Henry VIII., as he possessed himself some talent for letters, was an encourager of them in others; and the countenance thus given to learning by Henry and his ministers, contri- buted to render the acquisition of knowledge fashionable in England. Erasmus speaks with great satisfaction of the general regard paid by the nobility and gentry to men of learning. It is needless to be particular in mentioning the writers of this reign or of the preceding. There is scarcely one who has the least pretension to be ranked lunong our classics. Sir Thomas More,* though he wrote in Latin, seems to come nearest to the character of a classical au- thor. — ^As a poet, the gallant and accomplished Surryt must not be overlooked ; nor, as promot- ing the cause of the reformation, or the study of the Greek and Latin languages, the names and eminent services of Colet, Lily, Grocyn, and Latimer, deserve to be recorded at some length.
John Colet, the great and excellent dean of St. Paul's, and whose history is intimately con- nected with that of literature, both sacred and profane, was born in London, in the year 1466. He was the eldest son of Sir Henry Colet, knt., who was twice Lord Mayor of London. In 1483 he was sent to Oxford, where he spent seven years in the study of logic and philosophy, and then took his degree in arts. Having re-
• Sir Thomu More waa beheaded OD Tower-bUl, JnlT S, 1A36, for deajinK the supremacy of the Ung.
t The earl of Surry was a yoonr man m the most pro. mislog hopes ; bat his qnaliflcanons were no security against the violence of Henry's temper. He was arrested on a Itrivdlons charge of infidelity to the king ; and not- withstanding his eloquent and spirited defence, was eze- cnted on Tower-hill, January iff, IM7. I
solved to enter the chtirch, he was presented, when but nineteen years of age, and only in the order of an acolythe, with the rectory of Den- ington, in Suffolk ; and in 1493 he was instituted to the rectory of Thyrning, in Huntingdonshire, on the presentation of his father, which he re- signed before the end of the year 1493. In order to acquire knowledge, and to improve and extend his acquaintance with the languages and sciences which he had already studied, he visited France and Italy. He appears to have returned from his travns in 1497, and withdrew to Oxford, in order to prosecute his studies with greater sue cess. In this situation he was neither inactive nor useless. When Erasmus visited England, Colet soon formed an intimate firiendship with him ; which he endeavoured to improve to a more ac- curate and critical knowledge of the scriptures. This friendship was maintained to the close of life, and the correspondence of these two great men served to animate them in the pursuit of biblical learning, in which they met with frequent and violent opposition, especially from the«cholastic doctors, who were so enraged at any attempts to promote the study of the Greek tongue, that they could not forbear uttering invectives against it from the pulpit ; and strove to suppress it by the cry of heray. Hence the proverb, " Take care of Greek, tieit you become on heretic : avoid Hebrew, un^f you become like Jew*." In 1502, Colet was made prebendary of Dumsford, in the church of Salisbury, and after some other changes in the chureh, he was at length, in May 1505, without the least solicitation of his own, raised to the dignity of dean of St Paul's, on. which occasion he resigned the vicaiage of Stepney. Dr. Colet soon began to distinguish himself in the important station to which he was now advanced. He called to his asastance other divines of learning and talent The contempt which tlie dean expressed for the reli^ous houses or monasteries, and the display which he made of their abuses, together with the divinity lec- tures, and the method of expounding the scrip- tures, raised among the people an anxious in- quiry ailer the sacrra writings, and doubtless con- tributed to prepare their mmds for the reforma- tion. The ecclesiastics were stung to revenge, and a prosecution was commenced against him for heresy, in which Dr. Fitzjames, bishop of London, was the principal agent But to the honour of Archbishop Wareham, who knew and valued the integrity and worth of Colet, became his advocate and patron, and dismissed him without giving him the trouble of a formal answer. Disappointed in their accusation of heresy, they attempted to fix upou him a sus- picion of sedition or treason. In this theywere equally foiled; for the young king (Henry VIII) sent for him, and in private advised him to go on, reproving and reforming a corrupt and dissolute age. Another attack was made upon the dean, of a similar nature, but which was equally unsuccessful ; the king dismissing him with marks of affection, and promise of favour. Having succeeded to a very considerable estate
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