Page:English Historical Review Volume 35.djvu/15

1920 ERASMUS 7 himself as he really was.^ The constant gifts of money from great people, always sought for but not always gained ; the caution of such as Archbishop Warham (afterwards a generous friend), who suspected that a book o£fered to him for dedication had been previously given elsewhere — ^these are the unpleasant features of the medieval method of endowing research and sup- porting literature. All we can say, I think, is that Erasmus came through the process with less loss of dignity than many others, and kept his independence better than most. If towards the end of his life we read less of this alms-seeking and alms- giving, it is due not only to his having gained a surer footing, but also to the growth of the printing-press. Aldus at Venice and then Froben at Basle took the place of patrons : the printing- press, it is true, did much to destroy the copyist-scholar of the Common Lot, but the printer's home at Basle with its large collection of manuscripts and with its congenial group of scholars assured to Erasmus some independence and freedom from the wearier cares of life. In a wider and a sounder view of the possibilities of literature and a new way of gaining means to live, we see the chief trace of his Italian career. He came into touch with the printers, who were then publishers and also supporters of writers, and what he had learnt from Aldus at Venice he after- wards could apply to Froben at Basle. In 1499-1500 Erasmus paid his first visit to England on the invitation of Thomas Grocyn. Here he found a ' thick crop of ancient learning ' ; ^ and in another direction he soon became a tolerable huntsman and no bad rider, even if we find him on a later visit leaving the care of his horse to others and especially to his friend William Gunnell at Landbeach, where Parker was afterwards rector : it may be noticed that he had also sometimes cause to regret his dealings with those who knew more of horses than he did himself. How the English ladies kissed him on intro- duction and he shamelessly told is a well-known story. There were other sufferings too : our houses were not warm enough, and the discomforts of a country house at Landbeach, whither he long afterwards withdrew from Cambridge through fear of plague, soon drove him thence back to town. From our customs officers he also suffered : after his first visit he was allowed to return with only a limited amount of gold, the rest being con- fiscated in the interests of ' the King's treasure '. He was therefore obliged to publish quickly a small work which he had in hand, and ' See the whole letter in Nichols, i. 298 f . ; Allen, i. 325. He wants help to get hia doctor's degree in Italy, but especially for ' the restoration of the works of St. Jerome and the revival of true theology '. ^ See Epp. 456, 457, and 540 in Allen, vol. ii. Bishop Fisher admired Reuchlin. See also Nichols, iii, passim.