37
را
2.5
B
458391


【料
​ARTES
18174
SCIENTIA
LIBRARY
VERITAS
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
TUEBOR
QUÆRIS-PENINSULAM AHÇENAM
CIRCUMSPICE
R
489
.L73
J7
TD
I
NICH

h
Ꮮ
I
1
3
THE LIFE
OF
THOMAS LINACRE,
Doctor in Medicine,
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, M.D.
LATE FELLOW OF THE
ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS, LONDON.
EDITED BY
ROBERT GRAVES,
OF THE INNER TEMPLE, BARRISTER AT LAW.
LONDON:
EDWARD LUMLEY, CHANCERY LANE.
1835.
LONDON:
C. ROWORTH AND SONS, BELL YARD,
TEMPLE BAR.
N 3-7-47RE
Lebz
Mathere's
6-7-4-4
50121
ΤΟ
THE PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS
OF THE
ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS
OF
LONDON.
To revive the almost forgotten Services of
their Founder in the cause of Ancient Literature,
and to inculcate the necessity of its more ex-
tensive Cultivation, to prevent the fall of their
Art from the honourable station to which it was
raised by his example, their Colleague dedicates
these Memoirs.
1
PREFACE.
THE individual, the particulars of whose life
are detailed in the following pages, was
amongst the earliest of his countrymen to
whom learning owed its revival and propa-
gation in the fifteenth century. To his
labours England more especially stands
indebted for her knowledge of the finest
language of antiquity; and medicine, its
elevation to that rank amongst the liberal
arts, from which it had long been estranged
by the ignorance or cupidity of its professors.
Materials for the execution of a task like
the present can seldom be obtained without
much unprofitable labour; but in the col-
lection of materials for this undertaking, the
result has more rarely corresponded with the
difficulties which attended the search. The
information, which private stores promised,
has not been neglected. The archives of the
vi
PREFACE.
institution, of which Linacre was the founder,
have been submitted to my inspection, and
from them has been given a copy of the
exemplification of the charter, which, though
often printed, has never been fully or cor-
rectly transcribed. The annals furnished
little of the early history of the college, of
which I could avail myself; for it was not
until the year 1555, under the presidency of
Dr. John Caius, that any records were in-
stituted of the acts or proceedings in which
the Fellows were privately or publicly en-
gaged. The Bodleian library furnished a
few documents, of which I have made use,
and in my search for which I was assisted
by the Reverend Dr. Bandinell, librarian of
that collection.
The civility also of the Reverend George
D'Oyly, D.D. procured me access to the re-
gisters of the Archbishop of Canterbury,
preserved in the library at Lambeth, from
which, however, I have been enabled to con-
firm no more than two trivial notices, which
had been previously cited by other authors.
The sources from which the materials in
the following pages have been gathered, will
be evident on a reference to the notes.
PREFACE.
vii
Should the quotations appear prolix, or the
notes superfluous, the reader may justly as-
cribe their insertion less to an affectation of
research, than to a desire of avoiding the his-
torical and biographical errors, which an idle
habit of quoting at second hand, and the
practice of giving statements, without any
reference to the works from which the
writer's information was derived, generally
induces; and nowhere has an author been
cited, without a comparison of the text with
the authority on which the citation is founded.
Whether the subject of the present bio-
graphy was sufficiently distinguished in the
republic of letters or of medicine; or whether
the events of his life were sufficiently varied
or important to merit a history beyond the
scattered notices which are to be found in
the writings of different authors, may per-
haps excite a doubt. Belonging, however,
to the institution, which owns this individual
as its founder, and participating in that re-
spectability, to which it has mainly contri-
buted, (the best guarantee to society of the
importance of the art, and competency of its
professors to exercise it,) I have undertaken
viii
PREFACE.
this task, and attempted to discharge the
obligations, which founders and benefactors
have a right to expect from those who share
in the advantages which are derived from
their liberality.
J. N. JOHNSON.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
BIRTH-Family-Early Education-William Tilly,
alias William de Selling-Established Mode of
Instruction in the Fifteenth Century-Sent to Ox-
ford-State of Learning-Grocyn-Latimer-More
Page.
1
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 Indivi-
dual Institutions-Monasteries-Croyland Abbey
-Ingulph-Learning of the Age confined to Theo-
logy, Philosophy, and Grammar-General Decay
of Letters and Schools-Introduction of Argumen-
tative Theology--Success of University of Paris-
Aristotle-Re-establishment of Schools in England
by Henry III.-Alexander of Hales-Learning of
the Schools-Thomas Aquinas-John Duns-
Course of Study at the Universities-Effect of the
Introduction of the Pandects-Morley-Grostest —
Council of Vienne-Constitutions of Clement-
Contests of Graduates in Theology, Law, and Me-
X
CONTENTS.
dicine for priority-General State of Literature—
State of Public Libraries and those of Religious
Houses-Dawn of more profitable Learning—
Foundations of Wainfleet
Page.
24
CHAPTER III.
Visits Italy-Introduction to Politian at Bologna—
State of Greek and Latin Languages in Italy—
Johannes Argyropylus-Politian-Demetrius Chal-
condyles-Linacre received into the family of Lo-
renzo de'
de' Medici at Florence Studies under
Politian and Chalcondyles-Goes to Rome -
Acquaintance with Hermolaus Barbarus-Hermo-
laus Barbarus-Literary Entertainments-Proceeds
to Venice-Aldus Manutius-Albertus Pius Duke
of Carpi-Proceeds to Padua-Vicenza-Milan-
Paris-Calais-Returns to England
99
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 Linacre at Court-Presumed Appointment of
Physician to Henry VII.-Naturc of that Office in
the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries-Giambattista
de Boeria-Translations of Proclus on the Sphere
-Bernard André-Death of Prince Arthur and
CONTENTS.
xi
Henry VII.-Accession of Henry VIII.-Shagg-
lyng 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
•
Page.
149
CHAPTER V.
Further Progress of the Greek Language-Obstacles
to its advancement-Projected Translation of Aris-
totle-Foundation of the Galenic System-Linacre's
Translation of Galen-De Sanitate tuendâ-De
Methodo Medendi-De Temperamentis, et De
Inæquali Temperie-De Naturalibus Facultatibus
—De Pulsuum Usu, &c.- De Symptomatibus, De
Symptomatum Differentiis, et De Causis--Tutor to
the Princess Mary-Juan Luis Vives-Philological
Writings-Rudiments of Granımar--De Emendatâ
Structurâ Latini Sermonis-Epistle Dedicatory of
Antonio Francino Varchiese-Guillaume Budé-
Extract from his Correspondence-William Grocyn
-William Latimer .
. 199
CHAPTER VI.
Change in the Taste and Literature of England-First
Establishment of Lectures-Linacre's Lectures-
Their Endowment-Misapplication and Abuse of
the Revenues--Establishment of the College of
Physicians - State of Medicine--Increase of his Ill-
ness--Death-Burial-His Dispositions by Will . 266
xii
CONTENTS.
APPENDIX.
1. Epistola Linacri Budæo
2. Arcturo Cornubiæ Valliæque Principi Epistola
nuncupatoria
3. Henrico VIII. Epistola nuncupatoria De Sanitate
tuendâ
Page.
. 309
310
•
312
4. Thomæ Wolsey Epistle presentatory with Galen
De Sanitate tuendâ
315
5. Richardo Fox Episcopo Winton. Epistle presenta-
tory with Galen De Sanitate tuendâ.
316
6. Henrico VIII. Epistola nuncupatoria cum Me-
thodo Medendi
317
7. Thoma Wolsey Epistle presentatory with the Me-
thodus Medendi
320
8. Guilelmo Warham Epistola apologetica
322
9. Leoni X. Epistola nuncupatoria De Temperamen-
tis et De Inæquali Temperie
324
10. Thomæ Wolsey Epistola nuncupatoria De Pul-
suum Usu
325
11. Guilelmo Warham Epistola nuncupatoria De Na-
turalibus Facultatibus
327
•
12. Studioso Lectori Typographus De Symptomatum
Differentiis, &c.
328
CONTENTS.
xiii
13. Mariæ Hen. VIII. filiæ Epistola nuncupatoria
De Rudimentis Grammaticis
•
Page.
329
14. Diploma pro tribus Lecturis in Arte Medicinali. 330
15. Copy of the Exemplification of the original Char-
ter of the College of Physicians
16. Copy of the Will of Thomas Linacre.
17. Epitaphium auctore Johanne Caio, M.D. .
. 333
343
346
18. Linacri Panegyricon auctore Georgio Baker, M.D. 346
19. Copy of the Grant of Arms to the College of
Physicians
Index
•
349
353
ERRATA.
Page 4, line 1, for Brompton read Brampton.
33, in the note, for Assenii and Assenius read Asserii and Asserius.
71, line 3, for Meslac read Merlac.
75, lines 28, 29, 30, dele to.
90, line 18, for conventical read conventual.
92, line 11, for Guarano read Guarino bis.
164, line 30, dele comma after scarificatione. ·
31, insert comma after sine.
261, line 18, for same read former.
"
THE LIFE
OF
THOMAS LINACRE.
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-La-
timer-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 re-
corded 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
* See Epistola Michael Mattaire Johanni Friend, M.D.—
Friend's History of Physic, Lond. 1733, Append. 8.
2
THE LIFE OF
†
Derby ;* and Fuller, the quaint, but more learned
chronicler of the succeeding century, rested satis-
fied with repeating this information on the au-
thority 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 Cam-
bridge, 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 pos-
sessions, 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
* Chronicles of England, sub finem regni Hen. VIII.
†The History of the Worthies of England endeavoured.
London, 1662, p. 370.
J
Ancient Fvnerall Monvments, Lond. 1631, p. 370.
§ Hist. Cantabrigiensis Academiæ, authore Johan. Caio, 4to.
Lond. 1574, lib. ii. 126.
THOMAS LINACRE.
3
extinct, after a long and uninterrupted line of nine-
teen generations. During this time John Linacre
enjoyed the rank of esquire, either by descent or
creation, in an age when that honour was esti-
mated in proportion to the difficulty of attaining
it; and the commission issued, 12 Hen. VI. for
inquiring into the names and number of the nobi-
lity and gentry of the different shires, returned
two of this lineage, as holding the latter rank.*
The families, with which their name has been suc-
cessively connected, proclaim their importance;
and their fortunes were increased by successive
marriages with the heiresses of Bralesworth, Glass-
well, 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 pro-
prietorship 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 Win-
chester, of which he died seised in the fourteenth
century. I
Robert Linacre also, in the sixteenth century,
*Fuller's Worthies, p. 370.
Visitation of Derbyshire, by Richard St. George Norroy,
with that made in 1569, enlarged.-Harleian MSS. 1093, 1094.
These arms were Sable, a chevron between three escalop shells:
Argent; on a chief Or, three greyhounds' heads erased, of the
field.
Escheatæ sive Inquisitiones post mortem, temp. Edward III.
B 2
4.
THE LIFE OF
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 pedi-
gree 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 consi-
dered 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 intro-
duction of Christianity into this island, if not to
have been instituted by St. Augustine himself.†
* Magna Britannia, by Dan. Lysons, A.M. 4to. 1817, vol. v.
pp. cxxxv, 85.
The foundation and identity of this school is lost in its
antiquity. Theodore, the seventh archbishop from Augustine,
had a license from Pope Vitellianus to erect a school, or college,
at Canterbury, in which he placed masters of such sciences as
were at that time cultivated. William of Malmsbury, on the
authority of St. Jerome, asserts, that the results of this and
THOMAS LINACRE.
5
The master, to whom the care of this establish-
ment 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 Tilly-more 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;† an 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
similar foundations were such, as to change Britain from a nation
of tyrants, to a seminary of philosophy, but of what kind, or of
what tendency, the historian has not informed us. Ethelbert,
King of Kent, was converted about A.D. 596, and the foundation
of the church, of which Augustine was first archbishop, imme-
diately followed. Theodore, whose endeavours were so suc-
cessful in rescuing England from barbarism, did not succeed till
668, leaving an interval of seventy-two years between the foun-
dation of the church and his succession. These differences
seem to point at a distinct foundation from that of Augustine,
or a renovation of the old establishment within the precincts of
the cathedral, with which it of course shared in the then common
calamities of invasion and war.-Somner's Antiquities of Canter
bury by Batteley, 1703, p. 105–117.
* Leland De Scriptoribus Britannicis, Oxford, 1709, vol. ii.
cap. Dxc. p. 482.
Hist. et Antiquitates Univers. Oxon. 1674. lib. ii. p. 177.
6
THE LIFE OF
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 uni-
versities 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.*
*That this picture of a monk and scholar of the fifteenth
century is not overcharged, may be inferred even from the
scanty notices, which have been preserved of the life of William
de Selling. "Ecce subitò illi præ oculis noctes, atque dies ob-
servabatur Italia, post Græciam, bonorum ingeniorum et parens,
et altrix," says Leland, speaking of his meditated journey into
Italy. Another proof of his zeal for the promotion of learning
exists in the following letter, in which he solicits the possessor
of a MS. of Livy to permit and assist a friend, who had earnestly
solicited his influence, to see and examine a treasure, of which
he was the fortunate possessor :-
THOMAS LINACRE.
7
The method of instruction, which had been
established by custom, or maintained by necessity,
in the public schools of the kingdom, when Linacré
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 con-
tinued 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
"Venerabili Viro Umfrido Gentiff London, Amico
inprimis caro.
"Lator, persenem mei amantissimum, cujusdam venerabilis
viri familiaris est. Is multùm cupit videre decades Titi Livii,
quas apud te esse à me intellexit. Et cum singulari quodam
dilectionis fœdere conjuncti sumus, non potui illi roganti negare,
ut ad te scriberem. Itaque te pro tuâ erga me benevolentiâ, et
perpetuâ in omnes homines singulari humanitate peto et rogo, ut
illum Titi Livii decades videre permittas; et ut perficias, quàm
tum intelligat, has meas literas sibi si fortè voluit in emptione
dicti operis multùm profuisse. Vale felicitat Cantuariæ
quinto decimo Augusti.
TUUS, W. SELLY NG,
Monachus Ecclesiæ Xti. Cantuariensis:"
Cotton MSS. Julius, F. viii. p. 205.
8
THE LIFE OF
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 mate-
rially contributed. The usual period allowed for
the attainment of this instrument of science seldom
exceeded three months. The pupils found them-
selves bewildered in the mazes and mysteries of
logic, till they reached the very threshold of divi-
nity, by a path of which they could have but little
knowledge, and retain as little recollection-a
march strangely disproportioned to the infancy of in-
tellect whilst the unhappy travellers, like streams
flowing in contrary directions from the same source,
found themselves, the further they advanced from
the first elements of knowledge, more widely sepa-
* "Primum illud constat, Grammaticen esse disciplinarum
omnium fundamentum, ex cujus neglectû quanta bonorum au-
torum, ac disciplinarum, vel interitus, vel corruptela sit profecta,
notius est, quàm ut hìc ostendendum. Quùm autem Gramma-
ticam dico, non sentio inflexionem nominum, ac verborum, et
appositi cum supposito congruentiam; sed rationes emendatè,
proprièque loquendi, quæ res non contingit, nisi ex multijugâ ve-
terum lectione, qui sermonis elegantiâ præcelluerunt."-Erasmi
Ecclesiastes, sive de Ratione Concionandi. Basilia, apud Frobe-
nium, 1536, lib. i. p. 112.
THOMAS LINACRE.
9
rated and remote from those of higher and more
difficult attainment. Into this scheme the elo-
quence and poetry of antiquity never entered.
The works of the Roman writers were sealed books,
on which the eyes of the pupil were scarcely al-
lowed to dwell, whilst pretended difficulties and
perverted explanations inculcated only a barbarism
of expression, in unison with the barren and super-
ficial information, which was derived from an at-
tempt at their perusal.*
* What is here asserted, respecting the instruction afforded
by the schools throughout England before the Reformation, is
derived from Erasmus, a frequent witness to it, and who has
exposed it in different parts of his writings in terms of strong
and just reproach. "Ne recedamus ab instituto, hujus mali
præcipua pars mihi videtur oriri ex publicis scholis, quas ambi-
tioso vocabulo, ut dixi, nunc appellant Universitates, quasi nihil
absit bonæ disciplina; tum ex monasteriis, præsertim iis, in
quibus instituuntur ad doctrinam Evangelicam, quod genus sunt
Dominicorum, et Franciscanorum, et Augustinensium. In his
enim adolescentes, vix trimestri studio grammatica dato, pro-
tinùs rapiuntur ad sophisticen, dialecticen, suppositiones, am-
pliationes, restrictiones, expositiones, resolutiones, ad gryphos
et questionum labyrinthos: hinc recta in adyta Theologiæ Tales,
ubi ventum est, ad eos autores, qui utriusque linguæ facundiâ
præcelluerunt, Deum immortalem ut cæcutiunt, ut delirant, ut
sibi videntur in alio prorsus esse mundo."-Dialogus de rectá
Latini Græcique Sermonis Pronuntiatione, Lugd. Bat. 1643, p. 29.
He lived, however, to sec a better system prevail, and a set
of men competent to enforce the practice of it. "Ac nostro
quidem seculo jure gratulamur, quod è ludis literariis penitùs
sublatum est illud literatorum genus, qui dum inculcabunt modos
significandi, aliasque commentitias difficultates, idque verbis
illotis, atque sophisticis, nihil aliud docebant pueros, quàm bar-
barè loqui, quum grammatica sit ars emendatè loquendi. Vide-
10
THE LIFE OF
The qualifications of Selling, and the taste for a
sounder literature in which he indulged, saved
Linacre from those errors, and from the task of
devoting his earlier years to pursuits, so unprofit-
able, and so repugnant to the progress of intellect.
The master had devoted his time to better occu-
pations, 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 sedu-
lously cultivated the more neglected elements of
ancient learning. Circumstances render it pro-
bable 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, feel-
ings as correct and as elevated as his own.
With a store of learning calculated rather to
excite the contempt, than the admiration of his
cotemporaries, Linacre was removed to Oxford,
under the direction, or by the advice of his tutor,
batur hoc esse compendium, quùm reverà maximum esset dis-
pendium. Rapiebant pueros ante tempus ad Dialecticam, atque
ideò ad sophisticam. Atqui Dialectica cæca est absque Gram-
maticâ."-Ecclesiastes apud Frobenium, 1536, p. 112.
THOMAS LINACRE.
11
Selling. His admission to the university was de-
layed 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 so-
ciety. 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.*
CC
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,
* Hist. et. Antiq. Univers. Oxon. lib. ii. p. 338.
12
THE LIFE OF
with whom, however, secular students were some-
times allowed to mix. From this, or some other
society, he was elected a fellow of All Souls Col-
lege 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 candi-
date, 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, Li-
nacre 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 communi-
cation between the learned, were barbarous and
corrupted; and although a small portion of Greek
*Hist. et Antiq. Univers. Oxon. lib. ii. p. 173.
+ Stemmata Chicheleana, Oxford, 1765.
THOMAS LINACRE.
13
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 discus-
sion. Private application and individual instruc-
tion enabled him to augment the superficial know-
ledge of this language, which he had brought with
him to Oxford. Amongst the foreigners, particu-
larly those of Italy, with whom England abounded,
was an Italian, named Cornelio Vitelli, or Vitellio,
a man of noble birth, and a native of Corneto, a
maritime town in the patrimony of Saint Peter.
Domestic misfortunes, or the political distractions
of the country, had driven him an exile to Eng-
land, and he resided at Oxford, either for the sake
of study, or of obtaining a livelihood by communi-
cating 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
* Polydori Virgilii Urbinatis Anglica Historia. Basil, 1570,
p. 618, in finem libri 26.
14
THE LIFE OF
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
THOMAS LINACRE.
15
the means of exciting between the parties, was
preserved uninterrupted through life.
As they
divided with him the labour, so also were they as-
sociated 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 ad-
vanced 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 com-
positions of the school-boy may usually be de-
tected.* Such productions, however, may pro-
* One specimen of these qualities merits preservation. Some
modern Galatea had thrown a snow-ball at the author, not ne-
glecting, however, to be recognised in her pretended anxiety to
escape discovery. The poet, who was a better prosodist, than
a judge of the artifices, which the sex employ to reveal their
wishes, instead of pursuing her, composed the following epi-
gram:
"Me nive candenti petiit mea Julia: rebar
Igne carere nivem, nix tamen ignis erat.
Sola potes nostras extinguere, Julia, flammas,
Non nive, non glacie, sed potes igne pari."
16
THE LIFE OF
bably 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 cer-
tain that he never officiated at his cure, but con-
tinued to reside at Oxford; a breach of duty of
which the lax discipline of the age took no cogni-
zance. 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 exer-
"From Julia's hand a sparkling snow-ball came,
Snow to the eye, but to the feeling flame;
E'en nature's laws to thee, my Julia, bow,
Whose magic touch can kindle fire with snow,
Then let thy swain no longer hopeless pine,
But quench his heart by kindling love in thine."
Pits has given a second example, which is marked with a
monkish jingle, indicating more conceit than taste. "Ex aucupio
casu præteriens, venit in scholam quidam Galliæ legatus Poësis
non ignarus, sed nonnihil suspectæ castitatis. Is perdicem manu
tenens ei promisit, qui primus carmen à se duobus tantum verbis
inceptum absolveret et compleret. Petierunt pueri ut propo-
neret. Proposuit ille sic; Accipe perdicem.' Grocinus im-
promptu et appositè versum prosecutus, adjecit. Capio: cape
tu meretricem.'”—De Illust. Angliæ Script. 1619, Æt. XVIma,
No. 917.
<
THOMAS LINACRE.
17
the
cises, which were prescribed by the university, as
amongst the chief duties of its members. About
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 Trea-
surer, 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 philo-
sophy and divinity. The opponent of Grocyn was
John Taylor, professor of the latter faculty, with
whom he had to contend in the quality of respon-
dent. He sustained this character to the satisfac-
tion of the king and the college, and received the
royal approbation in the present of a buck and
five marks.* *
* Hist. et Antiq. Oxon. lib. i. p. 233, sub an. 1483.
C
18
THE LIFE OF
Of the parentage and early education of William
Latimer, the last of the triumvirate, no account
has been preserved by his biographers; like Li-
nacre, 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 cotemporaries, 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
* Wood's Athenæ Oxon. 1691, vol. i. col. 56.
THOMAS LINACRE.
19
interfere. The station, which Linacre now en-
joyed, was one of academical distinction; since
younger candidates for collegiate honours were
committed to his guidance and instruction, a pre-
sumptive proof of a well-earned character in those
branches of knowledge, for which he was after-
wards 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 pre-
ceptor 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 pe-
riod 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 institu-
*The authorities for this statement, as quoted by Wood,
(Ath. Oxon. 1691, vol. i. col. 32,) are Thomas More, great
grandson to Sir Thomas, in the life of Sir Thomas More,
printed about the year 1627, cap. i. p. 20, and J. H. in the
life (also) of the said Sir Thomas, printed at Lond. in 8vo. an.
1662, p. 4. Roper, however, the son-in-law of Sir Thomas,
(Life of Sir Thomas More, Chiswick, 1817, p. 4,) says that he
was sent by the cardinal to the hall of St. Mary the Virgin,
whence he was admitted of Lincoln's Inn; an assertion to which
Wood also leans.
c 2
20
THE LIFE OF
tion 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." * La-
timer, whose name has been just mentioned, was
his schoolfellow. Of the tutelage within his col-
lege 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 know-
ledge of Greek to the precepts of Linacre: Gro-
cyn also was now reading public lectures in the
same language, and his acquaintance with it was
improved by his attendance upon them.
To the
*The accidence of this author must not be confounded with
a prior and similar publication, the work of John Holt, an usher
of the school at Magdalen College, Oxford, entitled Lac Puero-
rum, and dedicated to Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury,
which is supposed by Wood (Athena Oxon. vol. i. col. 7) to
have been the first grammar published in England.
忄 ​"Devoratis autem primis Grammaticis rudimentis, puer ad
majora, adeòque maxima natus Oxoniam mittitur, academiam
percelebrem, tum ut philosophiam audiret, tum etiam ut Latinis
Græca adderet. Recens enim tunc ex Italiâ venerat Grocinus,
THOMAS LINACRE.
21
tutor of his college was probably limited the in-
struction, 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 con-
nection, 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. Eras-
mus, who afterwards shared the friendship of pre-
ceptor and pupil, has confirmed this literary in-
tercourse, 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 Bric, (Germa-
nus Brixius,) with the hope of conciliating him
towards More, with whom he was at variance.
66
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 de-
clamation the most ready."* The fruits of the
qui primus eâ ætate Græcas literas in Angliam invexerat, Oxo-
niæque publicè professus fuerat. A cujus sodali Thomâ Linacro
Oxoniæ didicit. De quo sic in epistolâ ad Dorpium scribit, &c."
Tres Thoma, Authore Thoma Stapletono S. T. D. Colon. Ag-
grippinæ, 1612, cap. i. See also Ath. Oxon. vol. i. col. 32.
*"De illo sentio, quod nemo non sentit, qui pernovit homi-
nem. Ingenium est prorsus incomparabile, memoria felicissima,
dicendi facultas promtissima. A puero felicitèr imbibit Latinas
literas, Græcas juvenis, idque sub doctissimis præceptoribus,
22
THE LIFE OF
instruction, which More 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 opi-
nion of the public, as to his qualifications for the
task which he had undertaken. By such an or-
deal 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 as-
sailed. The abilities of More were tried early in
this way, and, although a layman, he was the suc-
cessful commentator or expounder of St. Augus-
tine to a crowded audience, not only of men his
equals, but of the gravest and most eminent of
cum aliis, tum præcipuè Thomâ Linacro et Gulielmo Grocino."-
Erasmus G. Brixio, Antwerp. Cal. Julias, 1520.—Epistol. lib. xxxi.
Lond. 1642, vol. i. 1. 13, epist. 35.
THOMAS LINACRE.
23
the clergy.* It will hereafter appear, that Li-
nacre, with less presumption, read similar lectures
on medicine; but at a more advanced age, and
probably with better qualifications for the under-
taking.
* ((
Augustini libros De civitate Dei publicè professus est
adhuc penè adolescens auditorio frequenti, nec puduit, nec pœni-
tuit sacerdotes ac senes à juvene profano sacra discere.”—Eras-
mus Vlrico Huttono, Antwerpiæ, 1519.-Epist. lib. xxxi, vol. i.
lib. 10, epist. 30.
Roper (in his Life of Sir Thomas More, edit. 1817, p. 4) has
referred these expositions to the church of St. Lawrence in the
Old Jewry, after their author became a barrister at Lincoln's
Inn.
24
THE LIFE OF
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-esta-
blishment of Schools in England by Henry III.-Alexander of
Hales-Learning of the Schools-Thomas Aquinas-John Duns
-Course of Study at the Universities-Effect of the Introduction
of the Pandects-Morley-Grostest-Council of Vienne— Con-
stitutions of Clement-Contest of Graduates in Theology, Lan
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 Win-
chester.
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
THOMAS LINACRE.
25
and most important of its consequences, render
the literary state of Britain during the middle
ages an object, worthy at least of the contempla-
tion 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 over-
throw. 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, jus-
tified 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 his-
torians 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
26
THE LIFE OF
poverty in the evidences which their authors have
adduced in support of such unsatisfactory hypo-
theses. The history also, with which these pre-
tended 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 phi-
*"Erant olim, florente Britannici nominis gloriâ, ut ex historiâ
fidei mihi non admodùm approbatæ liquet, duæ scholæ cùm
eloquentiâ, tùm eruditione pollentes; quarum utraque sita in
ipsis ripis Isidis fluvii famosissimi. Uni nomen fuit patriâ lin-
guâ Græcelade, vocabulo à re nato, quod illic viri eximiè docti
Græcam profiterentur linguam. Alteri ex Latinæ linguæ præ-
ceptoribus Latinelade nomen impositum: quanquam non de-
sunt, qui pro Latinelade, Lechelade, nescio tamen an verè
scribant, adfirmantque medicorum fuisse scholam."-Leland, De
Script. Britan. tom. i. p. 146, in Vitam Alfredi Magni.
The History of the Abbey of Jervaux, in Richmond, mentions
the foundation of these schools as a received tradition at the
time of its composition, temp. Richard I.—Hist. Jornalensis ab
adventu S. Augustini in Angliam, Aº. 588, ad mortem Regis
Ric. I. Bibl. Cotton. Tiberius, C. xiii.
John Rous, however, a chaunting priest of Guy's Cliff, in
Warwickshire, who flourished about 1480, has given a different.
etymology of one of these places, at least as probable as that
given to it by Leland. "A quo quidem loco [Greklade] non
multùm distante situ, medici qui erant inter eos periti, locum eis
appropiârunt congruum et situ salubrem, qui usque hodiè ab
ipsis medicis Lechlade appellatur."--Chronicon Joh. Rossi War-
wicensis de Regibus Anglice in Bibl. Cotton. Vespasian, A. xii.
p. 19.
THOMAS LINACRE.
27
losophy, or of the studies which were here pur-
sued, and all knowledge of their founders is lost in
the pretended antiquity of their origin. The war-
fare of contending dynasties, which so often ren-
dered 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.*
* At this stage of the digression into the state of learning in
England in the fifteenth century, I cannot avoid urging a few
objections to the supposed existence of the Greek language in
Britain during the earliest ages of its history, intimately con-
nected, as it is, with the name of Linacre, and with his claims, if
not to the introduction of it into this country, at least to the title
of its chief reviver and earliest cultivator.
The evidences, on which this tradition rests, have not always
been accurately quoted; but the meaning of the authors from
which they have been derived has, moreover, been perverted in
support of the opinions of those who have contended for the
existence of a Grecian settlement in Britain, the inhabitants of
which are believed to have adopted the language of that people,
and to have received from them the elements of science and
learning, which thus flourished amongst them, before the Chris-
tian era, in the purity and perfection of the East.
28
THE LIFE OF
The advantages, which were expected by the
monarch to arise from these proofs of his wisdom
This supposed fact rests-I. Upon the authorities of ancient
and modern writers, in whose works allusions are made to Britain
and its ancient inhabitants. II. Upon the proofs afforded by
analogy and collateral evidence.
I. One of the earliest and most reputable authors of antiquity,
to whom the existence of the western islands of Europe was
known, was the historian Herodotus. He has distinctly men-
tioned them as the places whence the ancients were supplied
with amber and tin, and although he confesses his ignorance of
the navigation of the western ocean, —a subject on which he had
vainly sought information,—he knew them to abound in these
products, from the latter and more profitable of which, they
derived the name, Cassiterides, by which they were known to the
learned or to the merchants of Greece. Ουτε νησους διδα Κασσι-
τερίδας ἐούσας, ἐκ τῶν ὁ κασσίτερος ἡμῖν φοιτᾷ· τῦτο μὲν γὰρ, ὁ
Ηριδανός, αυτὸ κατηγορέει τὸ οὔνομα ὡς ἔστι Ἑλληνικὸν και ὄν τι
βάρβαρον, ύπο ποιήτεω δὲ τινος ποιηθέν. τῦτο δὲ, ἔδενὸς αυτόπτεω
γενομένε ου δυνάμαι ἀκᾶσαι, τέτο μελετῶν, ὅκως θάλασσά ἐστι τὰ
ἐπέκεινα τῆς Ευρώπης. ἐξ ἐσχάτης δ' ὧν ὅ τε κασσίτερος ἡμῖν
φοιτᾷ, και τὸ ἔλεκτρον.”—Herodoti Halicarn. Hist. lib. 3.
기
​Aristotle, a name of equal authority, has described two great
islands situated west of the pillars of Hercules, and lying beyond
the Celta, which he calls British, distinguishing them by the names
Albion and Iernæ, the first of which is said to have derived its
name from Albion, the son of Neptune, A.M. 2220.
“ ’EV TOŪTŲ
γε μὴν [ωκεανῳ], νησοι μέγισταὶ τε τυγχανόωσιν ἶσαι δυὸ, Βρετα-
νικά λεγομεναι, Αλβιον και Ιέρνη, των προϊστορημένων μείζοις,
vñép tuc keλtaç kɛíµɛvai.”—De Mundo, Opera curâ du Val, Paris,
υπέρ της κελτες κείμεναι.
1629, tom. i. p. 604.
The entertaining, but fabulous narration, by Athenæus, of the
vessel of Hiero, the Syracusan, which he copied from Moschion,
has been adduced as a proof that the interior of Britain was
known to the Greeks nearly 200 years before the descent of
Cæsar on its coasts. This enormous machine, compared to
which the mightiest specimens of the naval architecture of the
moderns are but as toys, was launched by the skill of Phileas
THOMAS LINACRE.
29
and munificence, were but partially fulfilled, and
were almost frustrated by the interruptions to
Tauromenites. The largest of its three masts was obtained
from the mountains of Britain; for Etna, which supplied the
other materials, did not furnish wood of sufficient growth for
the purpose, and without this its completion would never have
been effected.-Athenæi Deipnosophistai, Lug. Bat. 1657, lib. v.
p. 208.
The commendation of Britain by Dionysius, and the preference,
which was given to it over the islands of the known world, also
imply an intimate acquaintance with its climate and products.
« Τάων τοι μέγεθος περιώσιον· ἐδέ τις ἄλλη
Νήσοις ἐν πάσησι Βρετανίσιν ἰσοφαρίζει.”
Dionysii Periegesis, De Britannicis Insul. Vers. 568,
St. Jerome asserts, on the authority of older writers, that the
different islands and coasts of the known world were occupied
by Grecian voyagers, who were in possession of the whole mari-
time portion of the globe, from the mountains of Taurus and
Amanos in the East to the most distant shores of Britain.
"Legamus Varronis de antiquitatibus libros, et Sinnii Capitonis,
et Græcum Phlegonta, cæterosque eruditissimos viros, et vide-
bimus penè omnes insulas, et totius orbis littora, terrasque mari
vicinas, Græcis accolis occupatas: qui, ut supra diximus, ab
Amano et Tauro montibus, omnia maritima loca usque ad
oceanum possidêre Britannicum.”—Divi Hieronymi Quæstiones
sive Traditiones Hebraicæ in Genesim. Opera, apud Froben. 1516,
tom. iv. fol. 93.
Pliny has given a sanction to this opinion by describing
Britain as distinguished by memorials both of Grecian and
Roman origin. “Britannia insula, clara Græcis nostrisque mo-
numentis.”—Hist. Naturalis, lib. iv. § xxx. Pomponius Mela
represents Thule as name celebrated in Grecian poetry.
"Thule, Belgarum littori opposita est, Græcis et nostris cele-
brata carminibus."-De Situ Orbis, lib. iii. c. 6.
a
Seventy years after Christ, Julius Agricola, the Proprætor of
Britain under Titus, is said to have instructed some youths of
noble birth in the liberal arts, and to have preferred the studies
30
THE LIFE OF
which they were exposed from the barbarism of
the age, and the disputes of those who presided
"Jam vero
of the Britons to those which prevailed in Gaul.
principum filios liberalibus artibus erudire, et ingenia Britan-
norum studiis Gallorum anteferre, utqui modo linguam Roma-
nam abnuebant, eloquentiam concupiscerent."-Tacitus de Julii
Agricolæ Vitá.
The first invasion of Britain by Julius Cæsar took place fifty-
three years B. C. when Druidism was the religion of the natives,
and when the priests, by whom it was taught, exercised an un-
limited power over the minds and inclinations of their followers.
The description, which Cæsar has given of the learning of this
people, implies a knowledge and cultivation of the mind which
must have been derived from a communication with some more
polished nation, but applied or perverted according to the faith
or manners of the inhabitants, Their mode of study, the length
of time prescribed for instruction, their poetry, their contempt.
of death, induced by a belief in the migration of the soul after
death and its existence in other bodies, their skill in astronomy,
and their notions of a Deity, are not only at variance with that
savage state which has always been found to accompany the in-
habitants of islands, who have never enjoyed an intercourse with
those of more civilised nations, but also with the known diffi-
culties and the painful exertions which are opposed to the col-
lection of facts and a legitimate deduction from them. "Druides à
bello abesse consueverunt, neque tributa unà cum reliquis pen-
dunt, militiæ vacationem, omniumque rerum habent immuni-
tatem; tantis excitati præmiis, et suâ sponte multi in disciplinam
conveniunt, et à propinquis, parentibusque mittuntur. Magnum
ibi numerum versuum ediscere dicuntur. Itaque nonnulli annos
vicenos in disciplinâ permanent, neque fas esse existimant ea
litteris mandare, quùm in reliquis ferè rebus publicis, privatisque
rationibus, Græcis litteris utantur. Id mihi duabus de causis
instituisse videntur; quod neque in vulgus disciplinam afferri
velint; neque eos qui discunt, litteris confisos, minùs memoriæ
studere. Quod ferè plerisque accidit, ut præsidio litterarum,
diligentiam in perdiscendo, ac memoriam remittant. In primis
hoc volunt persuadere, non interire animas, sed ab aliis post
mortem transire ad alios; atque hoc maximè ad virtutem excitari
THOMAS LINACRE.
31
over them. The old scholastics zealously opposed
the forms and discipline which their new associates
putant, metu mortis neglecto. Multa prætereà de sideribus,
atque eorum motu, de mundi ac terrarum magnitudine, de rerum
naturâ, de deorum immortalium vi ac potestate disputant, et
juventuti tradunt."-C. J. Cæsaris, De Bello Gallico, lib. vi.
II. Proofs furnished by analogy or collateral evidence.
1. The allusion of Solinus to a votive altar found in Scotland,
and inscribed with Greek characters, manifesting the landing of
Ulysses in that part of Britain. "In quo recessu (speaking of
a part of Scotland) Ulyxen Calidoniæ adpulsum manifestat ara
Græcis literis scripta votum."-Julii Solini Polyhistoria, cap. xxii.
2. The fancied mixture of Greek with British words, or the
additions of Greek terminations to British roots, on which has
been founded the etymology of the word Britannia. The Grecian
navigators found a people accustomed to smear or to paint their
bodies, and to the word Brith or Brithon, by which this act was
signified, they added the paragogic term, ravia, thus forming
the compound, Britannia, or country of the painted.-Gul. Cam-
deni Britannia, 1607.-In cap. De Nom. Brit.
3. From the writings of Greeks, who had settled in Britain
before Christ, when the idiom and eloquence of the Latin lan-
guage had also been attained by many of the natives. The
earliest writer recorded among them was Gerion, the companion
of Brute, the Trojan. He flourished about eighty years after
the siege of Troy, or more than 1100 B. C., and was the author
of two works, on Sacrifices, and, on Astronomy. Aquila Sep-
tonius, A.M. 3070, was celebrated for his skill in astronomy;
Perdix, a soothsayer, exercised the sciences most connected with
his art-mathematics and astronomy; while the Latin of Pleni-
dius, 264 years B.C., accorded in style and idiom with the lan-
guage which he imitated.-Pilsii, De Illustr. Angl. Script. Et. 1,
No. 2, 3, 5, 9.
Such are the principal authorities which have been collected
by the advocates in favour of a Grecian settlement in Britain,
and for the existence of the Greek language, as the medium of
communication by which the mutual wants of the voyagers and
natives were to be supplied. In examining the quotations which
32
THE LIFE OF
attempted to introduce amongst them, whilst the
quarrels of the teachers were readily embraced by
have been cited, it will be evident that the authors, who adhere
to such an hypothesis, have carried the date of its existence to
a period of history so remote, that it is stamped with falsehood
by the very antiquity upon which they have vainly endeavoured
to establish it. It had been a favourite notion of antiquity,
which was continued to the time of the fathers of the church,
that philosophy had its origin in barbarism, and that the Greeks.
were rather the slaves than the inventors or possessors of
science; and it is in strict obedience to such an opinion, that St.
Jerome has asserted the existence of Grecian settlements in the
different islands and on the coasts of the known world; an
assertion which he has failed to prove, and for which he has
produced no sufficient authority. The allusion of Herodotus to
the British islands and their products only tends to establish, that
a trade existed between the merchants of Greece and the inha-
bitants of the south-west of Britain, without proof of a further
intercourse or settlement amongst them; and the traders were
satisfied in the attainment of the objects of a long and perilous
voyage, without prolonging or increasing its difficulties by
inquiries respecting the murky atmosphere of Britain, or the
savages which breathed it. The description of Aristotle only
confirms his knowledge of the existence of the British islands,
and if the narration of Athenæus proves any thing favourable to
the argument, it is too much distorted by fable to be received as
a historical fact, even by the most credulous. The authors of a
later period, who perhaps copied from the Greeks, make no
mention of a Grecian colony. Pliny speaks only of Grecian and
Roman remains, the memorials of commercial intercourse; and
Pomponius Mela, of the island of Thule, as a frequent subject of
Grecian poetry. Tacitus and Cæsar nowhere mention Greek
as prevailing in Britain, and the description of the Druids and
their ceremonies by the latter of these authors, has been artfully
perverted to signify a religion corrupted from the mythology and
the philosophy of Greece, rather than to apply to rites and
superstitions which were manifestly of British origin.
The proofs, which are furnished by analogy, or collateral evi-
THOMAS LINACRE.
33
their followers, to the exclusion of that salutary
instruction which was the chief object of their
dence, are not more favourable to this argument than those de-
duced from the writers of antiquity. Solinus has barely men-
tioned the votive altar of Ulysses. This author was, by con-
fession, a compiler only, and he alludes to the fact, which is of
very doubtful authority, without any description, or even a
statement, in what part of Scotland the discovery was made. As
to the etymology of Britain, the folly of attempting to seek the
derivation of barbarous words in the copious and varied language
of Greece, has been often and justly ridiculed. It is true that
the word Druid (dovs) may be of Grecian origin, and it is pro-
bable that the early Britons used Greek characters from a
poverty or want of similar symbols among themselves, whose
language was oral; but here the testimony of Cæsar ends.
The opinion of Camden, on every subject connected with anti-
quity, is entitled to respect, but that of the derivation of Britain
is supported only by conjectural ingenuity. Ancient authors.
have applied the epithet Bouravvikaι to the western islands of
Europe generally, but they nowhere mention them individually
by the appellations Boɛravia and Пperavis; and Aristotle has
distinctly specified them by the names of Albion and Iernæ.
An author of the fifteenth century, himself a Briton, and de-
scended from a people distinguished by a jealousy and pride on
all subjects connected with the antiquity and genealogy of their
nation, has at least suggested a more probable derivation, in pain
post prydain, which he found in the books of the old British
genealogies, than is to be discovered in the Grecian derivation
of Camden; avouching, as he does with much honesty, that the
names of Britain are not to be sought in Greek or Latin, but in
the ancient British tongue. Ego nullius juratus in verba ma-
gistri, sed rationem fidissimam sapientum ducem secutus, affirmo
etymologias et rationes antiquorum Britanniæ et ejus partium
nomina, non ex Græcâ aut Latinâ, sed ex antiquissimâ Britan-
norum linguâ petendas esse.”—Commentarioli Britanniæ Descrip-
tionis Fragmentum, Auctore Humfredo Lhuyd, Denbyghiense, Cam-
bro Britanno. Cologne, 1572, fol. 4.
((
Of the four authors who have been cited as a proof that
D
34
THE LIFE OF
appointment. Three years of useless argument
and opposition were consumed in prescribing the
mode of teaching, till the virulence of the con-
tending parties was curbed only by the royal pre-
sence. The king determined these disputes in
person, and exhorted their authors to peace and
learning and arts flourished in Britain as early as the siege of
Troy, no works have reached posterity by which their merits
might be weighed, and the existence of Brute, the Trojan, and
his literary followers, is found only in the chronicles of monks,
and in the early records of their ecclesiastical institutions. The
pretended skill of Bladud, king of Britain, in magic and mathe-
matics, his studies at Athens, and his university at Stamford,
the prototype of all similar and succeeding institutions, rest on
no other foundation than the metrical history of John Harding
and the historical fables of his informer, Merlinus Caledonius.
Whatever advances in learning were made by the Britons during
the dominion of the Romans, and the writings of their conqueror
bear testimony to the generosity of their tempers and their ca-
pacity for receiving instruction, it must be evident that, like all
savage nations almost separated from communication with the
civilized world, they were unacquainted with any ancient lan-
guage beyond the few expressions, which were diffused among
them by the Phoenician and Grecian merchants, who, before the
descent of the Romans, traded to the south-west coast of Britain.
That many Greek words were thus insensibly mixed with British
roots is more than possible, and the ancient language of Corn-
wall seems to have been a dialect of the British, intermixed with
the language of Phoenicia and Greece. But to believe that the
inhabitants of a remote island, living in woods and caves, and
elevated but one degree above the animals which they chased,
should have attained a perfection in letters, and have founded
institutions for learning equal to the most polished nations of
antiquity, is only the proof of a desire to rear an historical fic-
tion on the basis of antiquity, without a regard to the truth, or
the probability of the facts which are adduced in its favour.
THOMAS LINACRE.
35
concord, without which their efforts would be vain.*
The doctrines of the rival scholastics were thus
consolidated, but the heresies of Arius and Pela-
gius 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 pro-
fessors were again scattered from the desolation
with which all places, dedicated to instruction or
devotion, were visited; and the facilities for re-
ceiving knowledge, which had been afforded to
the population of the kingdom, were either gene-
rally abridged or altogether destroyed.
To these calamities succeeded the work of re-
storation, with the institution of more extensive
establishments, and the introduction of better
* Annales Rerum Gestarum Ælfredi Magni, Auctore Assenii
Menevensi. Oxon. 8vo. 1722, p. 52. The paragraph, in which
these disputes are stated, is not free from a suspicion of inter-
polation. It is not found in the MS. copy of Assenius in the
Cotton Library, but appeared for the first time in the edition
printed by Camden from a MS. in the Saville Library. See
Apologia Assenii Camdeniani affixed to the Oxford edition,
where this question is discussed at large.
D 2
36
THE LIFE OF
systems. The learning of the age was limited to
an acquaintance with the arts of theology, phi-
losophy and grammar, and the views of Alfred
were directed to their encouragement and cultiva-
tion.* 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 privi-
lege 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 entail-
ing 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 un-
diminished for nearly 200 years, till a new and fo-
reign 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 mea-
sures of the sovereign was punished by fine and
confiscation. With the loss of its revenues the
importance of its teachers ceased, its schools no
* Chronicon Joh. Ross de Regibus Angliæ, p. 86.
THOMAS LINACRE.
37
longer possessed attraction, and the laws and pri-
vileges 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 ad-
vantage of these events, and to promote the in-
terests 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 instruc-
tion modelled upon that, which prevailed in the
schools where he had studied. Lectures were de-
livered 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
38
THE LIFE OF
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 com-
bined with these circumstances to abridge the re-
venues 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, how-
ever, its new abbot, Joffrid, resolved to extract
good; and 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 Cam-
bridgeshire, a part of the possessions of the con-
vent, 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
THOMAS LINACRE.
39
proposed to fulfil. They were copied from those
which prevailed at Orleans, one of the most cele-
brated of the schools of Europe; and the manner,
in which they were carried into effect, partook of
the regularity which can belong only to expe-
rienced 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 Averroës. Brother
William was occupied in the afternoon by an ex-
position 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.*
* Petri Blesensis Continuatio ad Ingulphi Croylandensis
Hist. in Rerum Anglicarum Scriptorum Veterum, tom. i. p. 114,
Oxford, folio, 1684. Ingulph, the first Abbot of Croyland
under the Norman government, wrote a history of his monastery
in Latin, the simplicity of which is amongst its greatest merits.
The subjects, to which this work relates, being local, detract
from its general interest, but the unaffected style of its author,
and the manner in which he relates the events and calamities
in which his house had been frequently involved, render it supe-
rior as a literary composition to the marvellous relations which
are found in the more bulky volumes of succeeding historians.
He died about 1109, and was succeeded by Joffrid, Prior of
St. Ebrulph, in Normandy, who received the abbotship from
Henry I., at the instance of his seneschal Alan de Croan. The
history of Ingulph was continued by Peter of Blois (Blesensis),
Archdeacon of Bath and Vice-Chancellor of London, to about
the year 1200. From this continuation the preceding quotation
has been made.
40
THE LIFE OF
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 at-
tempts 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 at-
tained only by a few, to whom rank and office ren-
dered 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 subtle-
ties 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 mean time other causes, in addition to
those which resulted from the Norman conquest,
had operated to the depression of letters, and the
THOMAS LINACRE.
41
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 philoso-
phy, the highest attainments of the age, had ac-
quired perfection, was abandoned for a brief but
laxer 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 divi-
sions, which served as boundaries to science, and
marked the difference by which the qualifications
of the student were more readily determined.*
* As the avowed object of all study was the attainment of
eloquence, as an instrument of wisdom, the means devised to
effect it were twofold; the trivium, or triple path to eloquence,
and the quadrivium, or fourfold path, which led from eloquence
to wisdom. Of these the trivium was divided into grammar,
rhetoric and logic; the quadrivium into arithmetic, music, geo-
metry and astronomy. "Grammatica, dialectica et rethorica,
dicuntur trivium, quâdam similitudine quasi triplex via ad elo-
quentiam. Arismetica, musica, geometria, et astronomia, quâ-
dam similitudine dicuntur quadrivium, quasi quadruplex via ad
sapientiam."-Lyndewoode super Constituciones Provinciales, in
Glossá Constitutionum Thomæ Arundell De Magistris. How-
ever imperfect a wisdom, compounded of the four latter sciences,
may be considered, when compared with the regular advances
which have been made by modern industry towards the attain-
ment of the same object; the regularity and the steps by which
42
THE LIFE OF
Correctness and elegance of language, which re-
sulted 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 instru-
ment 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 argu-
ment 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 commu-
nicate as imperfectly to others. These means
were a sufficient passport to the more lucrative
exercises of law or physics—a rank, says a cotem-
porary 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 litera-
it was approached, had at least the merit of preventing that in-
discriminate application to many topics, which led to a super-
ficial view of all, but to perfection in none.
* Sylvestri Giraldi Cambrensis Distinctionum Lib. i. cap. i.
THOMAS LINACRE.
43
error.
ture 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
Men used their reasoning powers as in-
struments for the acquirement of knowledge, but
that knowledge was in no way regarded as an in-
strument, 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 specu-
lations were least directed. Their discussions be-
came an empty amusement, from which Chris-
tianity derived no benefit, and its founder no
glory, compared with which ignorance was hurt-
less, 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 re-
ligion and of literature, was Pierre, the Lombard,
(Petrus Lombardus). The university of Paris had
44
THE LIFE OF
for many years enjoyed a distinction, which influ-
enced the similar, but less celebrated institutions
of Europe; and the system of study which pre-
vailed 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 mo-
narch favoured this defection of the English, by
assigning a Cistertian convent for their residence,
which became a college, to which their country-
men 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 ac-
cused of sacrificing the solidity of their own dis-
cipline to the sophisms and triflings of France; but
of returning with the pollutions of a foreign capi-
tal, 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 theo-
logy was brought into action, and the application
of them to less fashionable and momentous sub-
jects, may be considered the parents of that dis-
cipline, which constituted the wisdom of the middle
ages amongst the inhabitants of Europe, to which,
THOMAS LINACRE.
45
by common consent, was afterwards given the ap-
pellation of The Learning of the Schools. The prin-
ciples 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 formi-
dable a weapon with effect, and the art of reason-
ing, 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 en-
terprises 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 INSTru-
MENT, as a talisman, which, by separating what
was essential in argument from what was adventi-
tious was to enable them to overcome fallacy, by
confining their opponents within the narrow con-
fines 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.
Զ.
46
THE LIFE OF
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 other-
wise have perished in the wreck of the empire, in
which they had originally flourished. The sup-
posed 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 suc-
cessfully, applied to a similar purpose by Boethius,
in the sixth century, who had attempted to transfer
the Dialectics of Aristotle into a language un-
favourable to the exposition of Greek philosophy."
The Arabic translation, with the works of the Ara-
bian commentators, were introduced into Spain by
the Moorish conquerors of that country, where the
Latin language became a second time the medium
* See a work intituled Jul. Martianus Rota Georgio Cornelio
Pontifici Tarvisino designato, in Anitii Manlii Severini Boethi
inter Latinos Aristotelis interpretes et Ætate primi, et Doctrinâ
præcipui, Dialecticâ. Printed at Venice, fol. 1560.
THOMAS LINACRE.
47
by which the philosophy of Aristotle was circu-
lated 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
* One of the most known, if not the most celebrated of
the Arabian commentators, to whose labours Europe was in-
debted for its knowledge of Aristotle, was Averroës. He
flourished in the twelfth century, and was celebrated as a phi-
losopher and physician. He was devoted to Aristotle, whose
philosophy he taught in the schools of Cordova, and nearly his
whole life was spent in its illustration. So voluminous were his
writings, that he was surnamed the Commentator, and his expla-
nations became a text-book, which was generally received
throughout Europe in the scholastic expositions of the original.
He enjoyed for many centuries among his followers a reputation
little inferior to that of his master Aristotle, and his books
were copied and illustrated by numerous Jewish commentators,
who in return for his unconcealed contempt of the fables of the
Talmud, which he opposed in common with the impostures of the
Koran, perverted his meaning, and increased the intricacy and
affected obscurity, in which his enemies asserted that his writings
were purposely involved. He died a victim to the independ-
ence and freedom of his opinions, which far outstripped the
government in which he lived, about 1206. The works of
Averroës were published at Venice in 1562 by Jo. Baptist
Bagolinus of Verona, who fell a sacrifice to his desire of giving
an edition of this author, corrected from the almost inexplicable
and contradictory texts of his many editors, among whom our own
countryman, John Baconthrop, surnamed the Resolute Doctor,
and considered by the Parisians as the head of the Averroists,
is not the least. See Antonius Possevinus Mantuanus De Verl
Philosophia, in Bibl. Selectá. Cologne, 1607, tom. ii. lib. xii. c. 16.
48
THE LIFE OF
causes of this desertion, produced a like effect in
the monasteries, and the inmates not only de-
parted from the rules of their orders, but per-
mitted 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 cus-
toms and ancient privileges. The prospect,
afforded by these remonstrances of re-establish-
ing 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 protec-
tion. He commiserated the troubles and difficul-
ties which they had sustained from the unjust
laws of the Parisians, and expressed a desire to
restore them to their proper station, by an affec-
tionate alleviation of their sufferings. In case of
their translation to England, he agreed to assign
them any of his cities, burghs, or towns, which
THOMAS LINACRE.
49
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 ac-
companied them, were too important to be ne-
glected, 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 Pari-
sians continued to frequent the English schools is
uncertain, but an intercourse was established be-
tween 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 incom-
plete, 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 (Halen-
*
Twyni Antiquitatis Acad. Oxon. Apologia, 1620, lib. 3, § 3.
+ Middendorpii, Acad. Celebrium Universi Terrarum Orbis,
Lib. 6, p. 365.
+
Hist. et Antiq. Universitatis Oxon. lib. i. sub anno 1231.
E
50
THE LIFE OF
sis or Alensis) from a monastery in Gloucestershire,
where he was educated. He was by birth an Eng-
lishman. 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 re-
putation to himself, and to the admiration of his
hearers. Having resolved to dedicate himself to
the austerities of a religious life, he entered a con-
""
* "Nec à laboribus ludi litterarii, exercitiis scholasticis cessa-
vit, donec supremam in theologiâ lauream esset consecutus.
Pitsius de Illust. Angl. Script. Ætas 13tia, No. 341. This
author, who lived at a period when the schools retained only
the forms, without the substance, of their early discipline, al-
ludes to a custom which prevailed in the universities of Europe
till the sixteenth century, of laureating the applicant for a degree,
-an honour conferred only upon those who spent a longer period
than usual in the study, or distinguished themselves in the ex-
ercise of their respective faculties. Wood has described an ap-
plication of this kind, made in the person of Robert Whytingdon,
a secular chaplain and scholar of the art of rhetoric, who in the
year 1513 supplicated the venerable congregation of Oxford
Regents, that he might be laureated after fourteen years study
of his art, and twelve years labour in the communication of it
to others. His petition was granted, and after completing the
exercises required for this honour, among which was the com-
position of 100 verses, which were placarded throughout the
university, he was, says the historian, very solemnly crowned, or
his temples adorned with a wreath of laurel, that is, doctorated in the
arts of grammar and rhetoric.—Ath. Oxon. 1691, vol. i. p. 22.
THOMAS LINACRE.
51
vent of Friars Minorites, to whose order he re-
commended 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 philo-
sophy. 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 school-
men, whose names were inscribed on the tomb of
John Duns Scotus at Cologne; but his name was
rendered 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 ap-
pointed by Pope Innocent IV. to compose a sys-
tem of theology, which he executed with such
*This tradition has been rejected by different authors, as
irreconcileable with the time at which Alexander of Hales taught
at Paris, and with that of the birth of his supposed pupil Aqui-
nas: admitting the dates of these events to be correctly assigned,
they, who advocate the claim of their countryman to this dis-
tinction, may consult Morelles, in his life prefixed to the Ant-
werp edition of the works of St. Thomas, printed in 1812; and
Quetif and Echard, in their Scriptores Ordinis Prædicatorum Rc-
censiti, Paris, 1719, tom. i. p. 276, where the question is dis-
cussed at large.
† Alexandri de Ales, Angli, Doct. Irrefragabilis Ordinis
Minorum, Summa Theologia, vol. iv. folio, Venice, 1575.
E 2
52
THE LIFE OF
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 autho-
rity 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 com-
prised 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 Irre-
fragable, 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 theo-
logy, 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 insen-
THOMAS LINACRE.
53
sibly contributed. To these causes was added
an imperfect knowledge of the system on which
that wisdom was reared; for although the peripa-
tetic 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
Averroës, 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 de-
signed to illustrate. These difficulties were in-
creased not only by the neglect of pure Latinity,
but by a total ignorance of the rules and appli-
cation 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
*The deriders of logic, who reject it as inefficacious, and in-
applicable as an instrument for the discovery of truth, have not
done justice to Aristotle, when they represent him as the advo-
54
THE LIFE OF
was frequently relinquished, as doubtful and as in-
explicable as it had commenced; and the dispu-
tants 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
ερισική,
τε
cate, if not the inventor, of the εpioun rεxvn, or art of wrang-
ling, as well as of the syllogistic portion of logic, or rather of
the principles on which syllogism is founded.-See Pet. Gassen-
dus, De Logicæ Origine et Varietate Op. Omn. Lugd. 1658, tom. i.
c. 1 and 8. The epioun, which was merely practised in the aca-
demies of Greece, as an exercise of words or terms, preliminary
to the exercise of the faculties of the mind, was unfortu-
nately adopted in the middle ages, as a principal instead of a
subordinate part of logic, and Aristotle shared in the disgrace,
which arose from the multiplied disquisitions of the schools of
which the epiσun was the grand agent. The Cabbala or Ars Magna
of Raymund Lully, which can only be mentioned as an object.
of scorn and derision, was scarcely more contemptible; for the
insane project of acquiring universal science by circles and tri-
angles; and revolving letters symbolic of his nine absolute præ-
dicates, is not more absurd than the attempt to attain truth by
the arbitrary signs of things signified, without the exertions of
intellect, to which the signs are by common consent merely sub-
servient; and it is to the honour and advancement of real learn-
ing that both arts have fallen into the oblivion which they so
justly merited.
THOMAS LINACRE.
55
were characterized, soon suggested new exposi-
tions and applications of his doctrines, at variance
with that homage, with which they had been ori-
ginally embraced, as a complete and authorized
code of divinity. Divisions soon arose amongst
his followers; new points of doctrine were pro-
posed, 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 reforma-
tion, he rigidly secluded himself from all secular
occupations, and proceeded to embody the ideas,
which sedulous and repeated perusals of the Scrip-
tures 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 endea-
voured 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
pre-
decessors of the church, and taught himself hu-
mility, as the first of Christian virtues, and a shield
against vanity, to whose temptations public ap-
plause might render him obnoxious. He promul-
gated his doctrines successively at Paris, Bologna,
56
THE LIFE OF
Rome and Naples, where the superstition or ad-
miration of his followers attributed miracles to
their exposition. His object was to digest and
elucidate the whole scheme of Christianity; his
Summa Theologiæ survived its early reputation, and
its merits were acknowledged when the absurd
works of his cotemporaries had ceased to excite re-
gard. 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 sacri-
ficing 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 discern-
ment, caused it to be hailed as a perfect compila-
tion, 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 uncea-
singly opposed the dictum of Averroës, 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 do-
minion, and of his power to determine matters of
faith. His style was copious and methodical, and
1
THOMAS LINACRE.
57
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 cor-
rector 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 pro-
posed 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 refuting 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 hu-
mility and charity, than belonged to many of his
inferiors, and second only to those of St. Augus-
tine, with whom he was by common consent com-
pared.
From this view of the doctrines instituted by
58
THE LIFE OF
Γκο
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, how-
ever, 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 (CxOTEIVOS) from
the obscurity of his diction,* others have, with
more probability, assigned it to him from the coun-
try 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 travel-
ling to Paris, where his doctrines were successfully
circulated and embraced, not only by the Francis-
cans, 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
* Sixti Senensis Bibl. Sancta, lib. iv.
THOMAS LINACRE.
59
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 Mes-
siah, 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 evi-
dence 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 Sententiæ 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
60
THE LIFE OF
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 spe-
culations, he was equally distinguished for his
skill in mathematics, and his knowledge of civil
law. His great doctrine of the immaculate con-
ception was published at Paris in opposition to
Albert the Great (Albertus Magnus), immediately
after his creation of Regent in 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 mean-
ing or essence of things, or in the language of his
sect, in quidditatibus et rationibus formalibus in-
dagandis. Ignorant however of nature, or at va-
riance with her operations, the language of this
philosopher was obscure and difficult of compre-
hension, and he counterfeited idle terms to fathom
subjects, which were alike invisible and incompre-
hensible. His advocates apologized for the ob-
* Hence the words formalitates, ecceitates, realitates, rela-
tiones, Platonis ideæ, &c., with which his writings abound.
THOMAS LINACRE.
61
scurity of his diction by attributing it to the ob-
scurity of the subjects of which he treated, and by
vaunting the advantages which it offered in fur-
thering 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 dis-
tinction, 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 rela-
tions which existed between them, and to the dif-
ferent 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 re-
sisted 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
62
THE LIFE OF
.
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 Chris-
tianity and his Apostles. Although these doc-
trines 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 pre-
tence 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,
* Magistri Guilhelmi de Ockam super Potestatem summi
Pontificis octo Questionum Decisiones. Lugd. 1445.
THOMAS LINACRE.
63
The
and I will maintain your rights with my pen.
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 excommunica-
tion, 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 meta-
physical 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 cen-
tury. The Sententia of Peter the Lombard, the
models of all subsequent theological discussions,
were not introduced into England till the return
* Trittenhem, De Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis. Paris, 1512,
fol. cxxiiii.
Bibl. Cotton. Vespasian, C. xii. p. 47 b.
64
THE LIFE OF
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 exer-
cised, and the ready application of them to prac-
tice, 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 ap-
plication. 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 com-
menced-the subject was barely stated, and the
* The following dates are copied from Sanderson, who has
given a catalogue of the names and titles of the principal scho-
lastics from the time of Alexander of Hales, the father of those
in England, to that of Anthony Siretus, who flourished about
the year 1541, and is usually enumerated as the last.
1. Alexander of Hales,
2. St. Thomas Aquinas,
3. John Duns Scotus,
4. William Occham,
Doctor
Irrefragabilis.. Died 1245.
Angelicus .... Died 1274.
Subtilis
•
.Died 1308.
Invincibilis ..Died 1347.
Logica Artis Compend. App. Posterior, cap. 4.
THOMAS LINACRE.
65
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.*
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
This
* Although the scholastic discipline rapidly lost ground after
the revival of letters, and the establishment of the reformation,
the English schools still retained the forms of their ancient seve-
rity with little of its essence. The system of education in the
universities of Europe underwent, it is true, a comparative revo-
lution in the sixteenth century, but many of their older customs,
which were not found to interfere with the new system, were
preserved, as in the mode of conferring degrees, in the exercises
previously required, and in the length of time intervening be-
tween the degrees in the respective faculties. The value of
these customs of idle speculation and theory, compared with the
more accurate but painful induction from facts and experiments,
in the establishment of philosophical truths, may be estimated
by the questions in philosophy which the candidate, till within
these few years, was bound to sustain for the degree of Soph
(Sophista generalis), conferred at the end of his third year's re-
sidence, as a preliminary step to the first degree in arts. These
disputations gradually sank into mere formal exercises, and from
the repeal of the statute, which inculcated this and similar forms
in the schools at Oxford, may be dated the total overthrow of
the scholastic learning of our fathers in that university, of
which the Soph's exercises, still practised in the schools of
Cambridge, seem to be reserved as a solitary example.
F
66
THE LIFE 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 further
probation of three years, the necessary qualifi-
cation 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 pre-
sided 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 eleva-
tion to the rank of master. This degree was
celebrated with the pomp of a public act, the per-
formance 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 be-
stowed during its celebration, were men eminent
for their talents and their piety, which were after-
wards called into action by their elevation to the
honours and offices of the state. Whilst some
were selected to discharge the highest duties of
THOMAS LINACRE.
67
the magistracy at home, others advocated the
claims, or sustained the dignity of the sovereign in
the station of ambassadors (oratores) to the dif-
ferent courts and councils of Christendom.
To the attainment of the forms, by which these
honours were to be compassed, the highest exer-
tions 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 proposi-
tions 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 dis-
pute, 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 discomfi-
ture of the church, and in defiance of the resistance
which she opposed to their progress. The un-
conquered 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 every where impeded.*
* Erasmi Ecclesiastes, apud Froben. 1536, lib. ii. p. 395.
F 2
68
THE LIFE OF
To these exercises all learning was rendered
subservient, and a despotism exercised which re-
duced 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 illus-
*This code was imported into the West from Bologna, in
which university it had been read by order of Lotharius Cæsar,
about the middle of the twelfth century, and was successfully
explained in this country by Roger Vacarius, a Lombard, from
whose time its rise and progress here may be dated. The object
of the mission of this foreigner into England was to arbitrate a
dispute between Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, and
Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester, respecting the office of
legate, which had been claimed by the former as a gift from
Pope Innocent II. to himself and successors. During his re-
sidence here, as umpire of this dispute, he was elected to the
abbotship of St. Mary of Bec in Normandy, and the reputation
with which he presided over his monastery, joined to the inter-
course which prevailed between the two kingdoms, rendered it
a school from which many of the ecclesiastical foundations of
England were supplied with their best and most efficient mem-
bers. He digested the Pandect of Justinian into nine books, in
which he comprised the different topics which usually came
under the cognizance of the schools, and his prælections were
the most numerously attended of any of the age. He was sub-
sequently elected to the see of Canterbury, which he refused.
He died in the thirtieth year of his abbotship, in the year
1180. His identity, and the share which he had in the intro-
duction of the civil law into England, are largely discussed by
Selden. Dissertatio ad Fletam, cap. vii. s. 3-7.
THOMAS LINACRE.
69
tration, were new to the learned of England, and
their novelty, combined with the advantages which
they presented, not less in a literary than a pecu-
niary 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 com-
plaint, 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 soli-
cited a royal edict for imposing silence on its in-
terpreters, 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 with-
drawn, 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
* Joannis Salesberiensis Polycration, lib. viii. cap. 22.
70
THE LIFE OF
marked, and of shorter duration than that of the
theology which it threatened for a time to sup-
plant, 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 enu-
merated whose taste had not been corrupted by
the follies which prevailed, or who had the resolu-
tion 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
THOMAS LINACRE.
71
resistance to the established discipline of the
schools was displayed at the end of the twelfth
century, when Daniel Meslac or Morley (Mori-
legus) forsook theology for mathematics, and tra-
velled into Arabia and Spain,—the countries where
real science was then to be found. To a con-
tempt of speculations purely theological, he openly
accused their professors of ignorance, and ridi-
culed the mode in which instruction was commu-
nicated. "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 tradi-
tions of Ulpian, in which they reverentially in-
scribed 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
* "Cùm dudum ab Angliâ me causâ studii cepissem, et Pa-
risiis aliquamdiu moram fecissem, videbam quosdam bestiales in
scholis gravi authoritate sedes occupare, habentes coram se
scamna duo vel tria, et descriptos codices importabiles aureis
literis Ulpiani traditiones repræsentantes, necnon et tenentes
stylos plumbeos in manibus, quibus asteriscos et obelos in libris
suis quâdam reverentiâ depingebant, qui dum propter inscitiam
suam locum statuæ tenerent, tamen volebant solâ taciturnitate
videri sapientes, sed tales cùm aliquid dicere conebantur infan-
tissimos reperiebam." On the return of Morley to England he
compiled many elaborate treatises, which he dedicated to John
de Oxford, Bishop of Norwich, and amongst the rest Liber de
72
THE LIFE OF
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 bar-
barism which passed current for a sounder eru-
dition.
Whilst few had the resolution or opportunities
to pass the barriers by which the avenues to
learning were guarded, there lived, in the thir-
teenth 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 cen-
turies from his existence. This individual was
Robert Grouthead or Grostest, (Capito vel Gros-
têt,) Bishop of Lincoln, whose merits as a scholar
have generally been sacrificed to the more promi-
nent 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 suc-
Naturis inferiorum et superiorum, in the preface to which he relates
that, being about to quit Toledo on his return to England, he
heard with grief of the suppression of the liberal arts in the
latter country, and that the studious had banished Plato and
Aristotle for Titius and Seius. "Et tamen," says he,
(( ne ego
solus inter Romanos Græcus remanerem, ubi ejusmodi studium
florere dideceram, iter arripui.”—An obelus was the mark by
which the Alexandrian copyists noted a redundant word.
THOMAS LINACRE.
73
cessfully 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 communi-
cated 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 im-
proved 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
66
*This is confirmed by the testimony of Leland, who, in re-
ference to his pursuits at Paris, says, nam præterquam quod
ibidem in Græcâ linguâ, quod anteà gustaverat, multùm pro-
fecerit; et linguam Gallicam dubio procùl exactissimè didicerit,
ut liquido apparet ex ejus libro, cui titulus Le Chasteau
d'Amours; theologos ferè omnes exactissimè evolvebat:" which
evidently implies that he acquired the rudiments of the language
at home, and that he afterwards availed himself of the opportu-
nities afforded him at Paris for a further cultivation of it.-
Comment. De Script. Brit. cap. cclxix.
p. 283.
74
THE LIFE 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 re-
specting its members, its government and in-
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 in-
duction 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 sen-
crease.
* A bull of Innocent IV. before his rupture with that pontiff
authorized him, either by himself or deputy, to insist on this mode
of teaching as the established code, but it seems doubtful whether
the powers of the instrument did not relate rather to the reform
of a laxity of discipline, which prevailed in the omission of exa-
minations previously to a graduation in arts, than to any specific
mode of acquiring the knowledge requisite to an admission to
the honours of that faculty, although Twyne states, (Apologia,
1620, p. 346,) that he addressed an epistle in the year 1238 to
the regent masters in theology, in which he exhorted them to
cultivate divinity, and to conform to the plans of study prescribed
by the university of Paris, recommending, at the same time, that
their ordinary morning lectures should be read either from the
Old or New Testament.
THOMAS LINACRE.
75
tence 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 opi-
nion that he was endowed with gifts derived from
more than earthly power.* His reputation sur-
* The purity of the motives by which this great prelate was
actuated in his transactions with the court of Rome, has not only
been questioned, but his opposition to its authority attributed
rather to private jealousy and temporal policy than to a sincere
conviction of the fallacy of its doctrines.-Life of Robert Gros-
seteste, by Samuel Pegge, LL.D. Lond. 1793. In opposition to
such an inference it is to be observed, that the more successful
exertions of Luther, three centuries later, commenced with a
similar resistance, and if similar consequences were not the
results of the endeavours of Grostest, it was because mankind
were not sufficiently instructed in the Scriptures, the perusal of
which he inculcated both by example and precept,—nor public
opinion sufficiently advanced to effect the revolution which het
had anticipated. Less vulgar and daring than his successor in
the work of reformation, it is true he preserved the peripatetic
system as the grand agent of theological debate, although he
held the Scriptures to be the only rule of faith; whilst Luther,
whose heresy and hatred of it was proportioned to his early
affection and zeal, with more sagacity avowed his despair of
success in the cause in which he had embarked, until the whole
system was uprooted, and the theology, the canons, and the de-
cretals, of which it was the basis, abrogated and trodden under
foot. He, however, who dared in the thirteenth century to
rebuke the sovereign pontiff by letter, to brand him with the
name of Antichrist and fearlessly to oppose himself to the terrors
of excommunication by appealing from the sentence of Christ's
vicegerent upon earth to the precepts of the Gospel, and to the
tribunal of its founder, need not fear a comparison with his
fellow-labourer, who afterwards achieved a revolution for which
the progress of knowledge had rendered society ripe.-Matthæi
Paris, Hist. Major. Lond. 1571, pp. 1099, 1160, 1169. The
accusation of magic, with which the memory of Grostest has
76
THE LIFE OF
vived his death, and his tomb was the resort of the
many who believed in the efficacy of human inter-
cession,-the pious reward of that sanctity and
learning for which through a long life he was emi-
nently distinguished. In estimating the value of
his labours in the cause of literature, the difficul-
ties which he had to encounter must not be for-
gotten. As a translator of Greek authors con-
siderable 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 gene-
been charged, is almost too contemptible to deserve a refutation;
it is found in the Confessio Amantis of Gower, (book iv. 4,) and is
limited to the solitary example of the brazen head, to whose fabri-
cation Bacon has a better title. The story will not receive much
credit from such a testimony, and the poet probably read it in the
metrical biography of Richard of Bardney, citing it rather as a
warning to his pupil of the consequences which might attend a
delay in the suit of love, than with any conviction of the actual
existence of such a piece of machinery. A sufficient vindication
of any dealing of Grostest with supernatural agents is given by
Naudé, who has rescued his memory, with that of Albert the
Great, from the charge of a superstitious devotion to the prac-
tices of magic and judicial astrology.-Apologie, c. 18. The
date of Grostest's death is assigned to the year 1253.
* Oportet quod interpres optimè sciat scientiam, quam vult
transferre, et duas linguas, à quibus et in quas transferat. Solus
Boethius primus interpres novit plenariè potestatem linguarum,
et solus dominus Robertus, dictus Grossum-caput, novit scien-
tias. Alii quidem mendici translatores defecerunt multum tàm
in scientias, quàm in linguas ; quod ostendit ipsorum translatio.”
-Fratris Rogeri Bacon, Opus Majus. Lond. fol. 1733, pars
P. 44.
iii.
THOMAS LINACRE.
77
rally 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 attain-
ments, 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 re-
gretted, 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 in-
teresting 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 cotemporary 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,
78
THE LIFE OF
To the writings of this prelate, and to the in-
fluence of his example, may in some measure be
attributed the rescue of sound learning from ex-
tinction 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 promul-
gation of his doctrines. Many years of vain op-
had not only conquered the difficulties of the trivium and qua-
drivium, 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 Græcorum,
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.-Matthæi Paris Historia Major.
Lond. 1571, pp. 801 and 1112.
The principal of the translations of Grostest were—
1. The pretended Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs; the
first edition of which was printed at Paris in 1549.
2. The work of Dionysius, the Areopagite, of equally doubtful
authority, which he illustrated by a Latin version and
commentary.
Of his unedited works two only are known-his Annotations
on Damascenus De Orthodoxd Fide, and a Latin version of Suidas.
It has been doubted whether this version included the whole
Lexicon, or only such parts of it as were connected with divinity
and ecclesiastical history. No copy of it is known to exist.
His Sermons, his Dicta, and his Letters, which are very nu-
merous, do not come within the scope of this work. His Chas-
teau d'Amour is less a work of imagination than of allegory, of
which the Incarnation forms the subject.
THOMAS LINACRE.
79
position and fruitless controversy were wasted by
the learned on the subjects of which these doc-
trines 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 litera-
ture 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
80
THE LIFE OF
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 appro-
bation 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 distrac-
tions 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
* John. Marii, Belgæ, de Schismatu et Conciliorum Ecclesiæ
differentia, partis ii. cap. xx. See also Wood. Ath. Oxon. sub
ann. 1276.
†These are to be found in different parts of this author's
writings, and particularly in the Opus Majus, which was edited
by Jebb in 1733. The causes, which operated to produce these
exhortations, are embarrassed by various and discrepant rela-
tions; although it is generally believed that they were dictated
by the laudable desire of exciting, in the mind of the head of the
church, the necessity of cultivating real knowledge, instead of
THOMAS LINACRE.
81
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 faith-
ful translation of the Scriptures. Conscious, how-
ever, of the emptiness and inefficacy 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 in-
structions the infidel might be gathered to the
that appearance of it only by which the world had so long been
deluded. The life of this great philosopher, who stood in his
generation as a giant amidst a race of pigmies, but whose mis-
fortune it has been less to instruct the few than to furnish, under
the familiar appellation of Friar Bacon, a subject for the idle
wonder of the multitude, might well have deserved a place in
this digression, had not all that is known of himself and his
writings been already recorded, and ample justice done to both.
See Jebb in Præfatione ad Opus Majus, 1733; Biographia Brit.
1747, vol. i. Art. Bacon; Joh. Friend, Hist. Medicinæ sub anno
1248, Op. Omnia. Londini, 1373. p. 537.
G
82
THE LIFE OF
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 ap-
pointment 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 commu-
nicate the principles of each, and thus lay a foun-
dation 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 ad-
dressed 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
*Constitutiones Clementina Papæ V". unà cum Apparatu
Domini Joannis Andree. Venice, 1479.
THOMAS LINACRE.
83
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 in-
terval between their enactment and publication.*
This suspicion is further strengthened by the omis-
sion of Greek, in several copies, as one of the lan-
guages respecting the propagation of which the
pontiff was solicitous. The two chief commenta-
tors 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 ex-
istence 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 re-
conciled only by a consideration, that the oppo-
nents to the introduction of Greek into the de-
cretal, 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 occa-
* Chronicon Thomæ Wykes, aliter Chronicon Salisburiensis
Monasterii, sub anno 1302, inter Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores
Veteres, vol. ii.
† Andree in Apparatu Constitutionum, ut supra; et Johannes
De Imola in Clementinorum Voluminibus Opulentissima Com-
mentaria, 1539, folio 126.
G 2
84
THE LIFE OF
sionally only considered in alliance with that of
Rome, always differed from it in the article re-
specting 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 wan-
dered still further from its communion. To this
difference in the tenets of the Greek church at dif-
ferent periods, and to its schism, is probably to be
attributed the disagreement which exists between
the copies of the decree relating to the establish-
ment of schools for the increase of humanity, and
for the cultivation of Greek amongst other lan-
guages 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 suc-
cessors 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
* The Greeks asserted that it proceeded "à solo Patre per
Filium," the Latins "à patre et à filio."
THOMAS LINACRE.
85
to a certain extent in the West, before the consti-
tutions 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 com-
petent knowledge of the language of that country.
Hebrew had been kept alive by the translations of
the sacred writings, first into the Saxon, and after-
wards into the English language, whilst the tolera-
tion, 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. Whe-
ther, however, the acquisition of Arabic and He-
brew 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
86
THE LIFE OF
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 uni-
versal 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 unfortu-
nate 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 know-
ledge 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 gra-
duates 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 be-
longed to those who were professedly beneath
them. But the graduates in civil law and medi-
cine, whose rank was less marked, and whose
station had never been determined, embarked with
vehemence in a contest, which was to decide the
THOMAS LINACRE.
87
•
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 feel-
ings 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 depra-
vation 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 un-
biassed discussion of religion, or of philosophy.
The penury, which weighed upon the nation, drove
many to seek a support by engaging in these dis-
tractions, in preference to the more slow and un-
certain livelihood to be derived from the practice
of divinity or civil law. The increase of the papal
provisions, which held captive the minds and pro-
perty of men, was more favourable to the me-
chanical 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 con-
nivance at pluralities in proportion to the rank
88
THE LIFE OF
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 in-
digence 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 dis-
grace, the university of Paris, more successful in
its fortunes, renounced an alliance with that of
Oxford, with which it had been so long and inti-
mately 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 dia-
logues 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.
* Lib. Statutorum Regni Angliæ, edit. 1587, p. 186.
* Vide in Eclogâ Thomæ James, edit. 1600, p. 11, s. 38.
THOMAS LINACRE.
89
Examples of theses and discussions have been re-
corded, which justify this opinion, and however
successful such a mode might prove in the attain-
ment 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 dis-
regarded,* and had they not been cited by au-
* Some examples of this kind, with others in logic and na-
tural philosophy, are preserved in Annales de Gestis Britonum,
&c. ad annum 1347, per Thomam Wycke, Canonicum de Osnega,
sub anno 1284.-Bibl. Cotton. Tiberius A. ix. 6. Ego currit.
Currit, legit, for curro, lego-sum ego, and ego sum-Socrates
legere, Socratis legere, and Socratem legere-verbum manens
verbum-potest privari omni accidente-nullum nomen est ter-
tiæ personæ, &c." If Leland is correct, these barbarisms were
not less abundant throughout Europe than they were in Eng-
land. “Latè id temporis ingens barbaries totam Europam occu-
pavit, et sensim declinante imperio Romano decrevit etiam lin-
guæ Latinæ, corrumpentibus eam barbaris, puritas." Well might
Giovanni Pico of Mirandula express his shame and regret at
having devoted six years to studies and authors like these, and
wish that he had lived in idleness rather than to have bestowed
so much labour in the irksome task of doing nothing. "Expertus
sum ego cùm semper aliis, tùm hâc proximâ tuâ ad me epistolâ,
in quâ dum barbaros hos philosophos insectaris, quos dicis.
haberi vulgò sordidos, rudes, incultos, quos nec vixisse viventes,
nedum extincti vivant: et si nunc vivant, vivere in pœnam et
contumeliam: ità porrò sum commotus, ità me puduit piguit-
que studiorum meorum, (jam enim sexennium apud illos versor,)
ut non minùs me fecisse velim, quàm in tam nihili faciendâ re
tam laboriosè contendisse. Perdiderim ego inquam apud Tho-
mam Johannem Scotum, apud Albertum, apud Averroëm me-
liores annos, tantas vigilias quibus potuerim in bonis litteris
fortassè nonnihil esse. Florent. iii. Nonas Junias 1585. Jo.
Pici Mirandula Hermolao Barbaro suo."-Epist. à Christophero
Cellario Smalcaldiensi, Cizæ 1682, Epist. IVtâ.
90
THE LIFE OF
thors who lived at a period, which renders it im-
possible 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 dis-
covery of the most important part of human know-
ledge-truth. It is but justice, however, to add
that many exceptions occurred, for the monkish
historians at all times used a correct and some-
times 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
THOMAS LINACRE.
91
by few, and the academies of Italy were selected,
as affording the best opportunities for its acqui-
sition. 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 Tiburtianæ, and in the cor-
respondence and friendship of the learned of Italy,
to whom the office of papal prothonotary had es-
pecially 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 de-
dicated 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
* Thos. Caii Vindicia Antiquit. Acad. Oxon. contrà Jo.
Caium Cantab. curâ Tho. Hearne, Oxon. 1730, vol. ii. p. 334.
See on this controversy Dissertazioni Vossiane di Apostolo
Zeno, 1752, tom. i. p. 41.
92
THE LIFE OF
Pontiff and the members of the college, wrote
orations to Pius II., and made translations from
the Latin into his native language. His accom-
plishments did not prevent him from falling a vic-
tim 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. Ludo-
vico 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 Guarano, the son of Guarano of
Verona.
The means of instruction afforded by the vo-
lumes, which the religious houses of the kingdom
had accumulated, from the time of their founda-
tions 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 establish-
ments 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 occa-
sional consultation or amusement, as was the uni-
versal 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 re-
putation of whose members for humility in the
THOMAS LINACRE.
93
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 bre-
thren and scholars, who resided in it, for the be-
nefit 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 con-
tributed 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 cele-
brity which the Franciscans had previously ac-
quired. 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 ca-
* Nicolai Trivetti Annales, Oxon. 1719, sub anno 1253,
p. 205.
94
THE LIFE OF
talogue, 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. As-
tronomy and mathematics were largely discussed
in the MSS. of Grostest and Bacon, and in the
collection of the former were many volumes re-
lating exclusively to the language of Greece. Se-
culars and individuals complained that the gratifi-
cation of purchase was denied to them by this
monopoly of the order, especially in the depart-
ments 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 he-
sitation to any one who offered a sufficient price
for them. A curious specimen of this traffic has
been recorded, in which the convent, by an instru-
THOMAS LINACRE.
95
*
ment under their common seal, conveyed to Tho-
mas 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 mag-
nificent 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 re-
frained 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 libra-
ries 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, how-
* In quâdam notâ præfixâ Cod. Augustini de Civitate Dei,
in Bibl. Bodl. A. V. i. AXIV.5th.
96
THE LIFE OF
ever, 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 charge-
able 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
behindhand 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 Cam-
* See Lelandi Comment. De Script. Brit. vol. ii. cap. cclxix.
p. 286; vol. iv. p. 227; Jo. Twynus in Comment. de Rebus
Albionicis, Lond. 1590, lib. ii. p. 130.-When Poggio examined
the library in the convent of St Gallo, a century earlier, he
found all the books fastened to the shelves with chains.
Poggianorum, tom. ii. suppl. i.
THOMAS LINACRE.
97
bridge 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 so-
phistries of Alexander of Hales, in some old pre-
cepts of Aristotle, and in the questions of John
Duns. Humanity and the mathematics were not
cultivated till some time 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 Eng-
land till this period had been entirely unac-
quainted.* 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 pro-
gress of these occupations are narrated, appear
out of place, let it be remembered that the merits
* Erasmus Henrico Bovillo, Roffee, i. Cal. Sept. 1516, Epist.
Basil. 1521, p. 89.
H
98
THE LIFE OF
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 enter-
prise 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.
THOMAS LINACRE.
99
CHAPTER III.
Visits Italy—Introduction to Politian at Bologna-State of Greck
and Latin Languages in Italy-Johannes Argyropylus-Poli-
tian-Demetrius Chalcondyles-Linacre received into the Family
of Lorenzo de Medici at Florence-Studies under Politian and
Chalcondyles—Goes to Rome―Acquaintance with Hermolaus
Barbarus-Hermolaus Barbarus — 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 institu-
tion, 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
H 2
100
THE LIFE OF
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 under-
taking had suggested to him, and every expecta-
tion 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 accomplish-
ment 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 con-
ferences 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
THOMAS LINACRE.
101
event had promised the country, insensibly gave
to its government an ecclesiastical, rather than a
civil form. The individuals, to whom the execu-
tion 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 argu-
ments were to be clothed. The Englishman, who
answered to this character, was William Selling,
Prior of Christchurch in Canterbury, and the pre-
ceptor and presumed relative of Linacre, of whose
literary qualifications for such an office, an ex-
ample 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 pre-
* Page 5.
102
THE LIFE OF
sided, 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 Sel-
ling 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 in-
troduction promised; whilst he himself proceeded
on his journey to execute the duties of his em-
bassy.*
* Lelandi Comment, de Script. Brit. vol. ii. cap. 590, p. 482.
The changes, which more than three centuries have effected in
the moral and political relations of the states of Italy, render it
doubtful whether the route, which was adopted by travellers in
the fifteenth century, precisely accords with that which their
successors in the nineteenth pursue. Cities, then famous for
their learning or their wealth, in a transfer of allegiance to new
rulers, often transferred the glories which rendered them objects
of curiosity or attraction; whilst universities, whose fame was
spread throughout Europe, have now either ceased to furnish
instruction, or to preserve a vestige of their ancient renown.
The accuracy of Leland's statement may be questioned respecting
Linacre's abode at Bologna, during his journey to Rome, as im-
plying an unnecessary deviation from the usual route, without
any other assignable motive than the introduction to Politian,
THOMAS LINACRE.
103
Although the year, in which Linacre left Eng-
land, 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 re-
tained that dignity till his death in 1495. Politian
was born in 1454, and resided at Florence pre-
viously 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 par-
ties 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 com-
menced 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
pro-
ceedings of Linacre at Oxford, which have been
already related, also unite to strengthen this
conjecture.
The university of Bologna held at this period a
which might with equal reason have been effected at Florence,
especially as he must have retraced his steps to these two cities
on leaving Rome for Venice and Padua, which he is known to
have visited on his return.
104
THE LIFE OF
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 country-
men 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 ap-
plause 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 supe-
riority 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
*"Bononia, quasi bona super omnia." Filelfo, after re-
cording the magnificence with which he was received at Bo-
logna, thus describes its advantages, in a letter to Antonius
Capanorensis:" Nam quod scire cupis quàm me delectat
Bononiensis mansio, delectat sanè plurimum. Nam et urbs.
amœna est, et populus perhumanus et rerum omnium quæ vel
ad victum, vel ad vitæ cultum attinent magna abundantia, et
laudatissimarum omnium artium studium vehemens."-Fran.
Philelfi Epistola. Daventriæ per Jacobum de Breda, 1500, fol. 111,
THOMAS LINACRE.
105
literature, and furnish materials for a history con-
sistent 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 inhabit-
ants 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 de-
voted to the offices of the church. These cere-
monies were, however, limited to the individual
districts which comprised the narrow territory of
Magna Græcia; 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.
*Hodius de Græcis Illustribus Linguæ Græcæ Instaura-
toribus, 1742, lib. ii. cap. 1, p. 2.
106
THE LIFE OF
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 prede-
cessor 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 unsatis-
factory; to him succeeded Leontius Pilatus, a
* Whatever is known of this Greek is derived from Boccaccio,
who, in admitting his inferiority in the Latin language, has done
ample justice to his character as a Grecian. He appears to have
been closely allied in his literary pursuits with Paulus Perusinus,
the great collector of his age, and the librarian of Robert, king
of Sicily, who was enabled by his means to perfect his informa-
tion respecting the mythology of Greece, which formed one of
the many subjects to which his collections were devoted.-Io.
Boccalii περι γενεαλογίας Deorum, lib. xv. cap. vi.
THOMAS LINACRE.
107
native of Thessalonica, who may be regarded as
the first who professed the language in Italy, and
who first illustrated it by commentaries and præ-
lections.
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 Cæsars had been driven to
seek that security on the banks of the Tiber and
the Arno, which the successes of the second Ma-
homet had denied them upon their native shores.
The vessels of the victors, which sailed from the
capital, were laden with the spoils of the van-
quished, 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 cha-
racter 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
* Cousin, Histoire de Constantinople, 1674, tom. viii, ch. xlii.
108
THE LIFE OF
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 tra-
velled from thence to Florence, where he renewed
his acquaintance with Politian, of whom he shortly
afterwards became the pupil. Florence was cele-
brated 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 be-
tween its merchants and those of England; and
the treaties which secured their interests and pri-
vileges, promised equal safety to all their country-
men who were engaged in different occupations.
The family of Medici, less illustrious by origin
than by the uses to which its power and posses-
sions 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.
THOMAS LINACRE.
109
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 ex-
tent, 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 com-
parison of their writings, and of the occupations,
to which their time and talents were mutually
devoted.
The name of Politian has been so long fami-
liarized to the public by the many and various
relations of his biographers in the sixteenth cen-
tury, 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 Pul-
ciano,) from which, as from a place of hereditary
possession, a foolish vanity induced him to assume
the sirname, by which he was in after-life distin-
guished, in exchange for that of Basso, or as
others say of Cino,* which his family had previ-
ously used. He had little pretension to this feudal
distinction. The poverty of his parents precluded
any higher expectations, than what a menial occu-
pation, about the persons of the children of the
reigning Duke of Florence, might entitle him to
*See Baillet, Jugemens des Savans, par M. Menage, 1688,
tome i. cap. xiv.
110
THE LIFE OF
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 Mar-
silius Ficinus (Marsilio Ficino), he was deeply im-
bued with the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle.‡
The humble services of his earliest years were
rewarded by the patronage of the house of Me-
dici. His genius for poetry, perhaps the most pre-
cocious on record, was displayed in the composi-
tion 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 Lo-
* Anecdotes de Florence, par le Sieur de Varillas, 1685,
p. 193.
+ Vossius de Historicis Latinis, Francofeorti, 1677, lib. iii.
p. 628. Jo. Andronicus Callistus was a native of Thessalonica,
a peripatetic by profession, and well versed in every part of the
philosophy and writings of Aristotle. He fled from Greece
after the capture of Constantinople, and resided at Rome with
Nicenus. Hence he was driven by poverty to Florence, where
he numbered Politian amongst the other scholars of eminence.
He afterwards travelled into France, where he died at a very
advanced age.-Hodius de Græcis Illust. Linguæ Græcæ Instau-
ratoribus, lib. ii. c. iii. p. 227.
+
+ Politiani Miscell. Centuria prima Florentiæ, 1489, cap. c.
In Coronide.
THOMAS LINACRE.
111
renzo, 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 com-
posed a full and moving relation.
Joannes Argyropylus, a native of Constanti-
nople, who had solicited, with other Greeks, the
protection of the Florentine government, had been
* These chivalrous exercises appear to have been as much in
vogue at the Florentine court during the latter half of the
fifteenth century, as they were in England at the same and till
a later period. Amongst the letters of Politian, is one ad-
dressed to Giovanni Pico, of Mirandola, in which he alludes to
a second contest of this kind, when two of his pupils were the
chief actors. Their success, as the writer laughingly adds, con-
ferred upon him the reputation of making warriors as well as
poets and orators. "Celebravit hodiè nostra juventus equitum
certamen hastis concurrentium, quo mihi spectaculo carere penè
non licebat, certè non libuit. Etenim plerique certatorum de
scholâ nostrâ prodierant, tu tamen à me solos fieri poetas, aut
oratores putas: at ego non minùs facio bellatores. Et vicerunt
omnino quos optabam, Petrus Medices, ac Laurentius Torna-
bonus, noster uterque non discipulus modò, sed et alumnus.".
Epist. Basil. 1522, lib. xii. p. 451.
† Politiani Opera, Basil, 1553, p. 636.
112
THE LIFE OF
employed in the common occupation of his coun-
trymen-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 edu-
cating 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 Me-
dici, 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 fur-
ther 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
Palæologus to the states of Christendom, but who,
weary of civil negociations 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 Palæologus, who had reached
the court of Joannes Galeatius (Giovanni Gale-
azzo), at Milan, on his progress to the West. This
appointment, to which a regular stipend was at-
tached, was sustained by Politian with a reputa-
THOMAS LINACRE.
113
tion, 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 pro-
gress 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 de-
rived the literary enmity of Politian against Joannes
Argyropylus, whose lectures were composed in a
scornful and haughty tone, in unison with the
* Paulus Jovius, with less probability, adopts an opposite
conclusion, by saying that the motives of Lorenzo de Medici,
in dividing the two appointments, was to terminate the dispute
and animate his children to the love of knowledge by the con-
tention of their masters. "Divisit idcircò munera Laurentius,
ut æmulationis lites dirimeret, et filii præceptorum contentione
ad discendum accenderentur."-Elogia Doctorum Virorum, Basil,
1571, Elog. xxix. See also Bullart, who assigns the fear of
Lorenzo, for the interests of literature, and an anxiety to satisfy
each by removing all occasion of dispute, as the reason for their
separation.—Acad. des Sciences et des Arts, 1682, tom. i. livre
iv. p. 281.
1
114
THE LIFE OF
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 Floren-
tines, who boasted of that author as the first and
finest model of antiquity.
The succession of Joannes Baptista Cibo (Gi-
ambattista 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 his-
tory 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
In executing this task he expressly mentions the duties,
which he thought had devolved upon him, with the hope that
he had not violated the rules, which were necessary to legitimate
translation. "Quæ sanè nostræ fuerunt partes tentavimus pro-
fectò, utinamque etiam effecerimus, uti omnia ex fide responde-
rent ne inepta peregrinitas, ne Græculæ usquam figuræ, nisi si
quæ jam pro receptis habentur, Latinam quasi polluerent casti-
tatem, ut eadem propemodum esset linguæ utriusque perspicui-
tas, eædemque munditiæ, idem utrobique sensus, atque indoles,
nulla vocum morositas, nulla anxietas."-Epist. lib. viii. Ep. i.
THOMAS LINACRE.
115
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 pre-
vented by the death of the projector and trans-
lator. The last works of Politian were a collec-
tion of his Latin poems, and the well-known Cen-
tury of Miscellanies, which he composed at the
instance of Lorenzo de' Medici, to whom it was
dedicated. He did not long survive these publi-
cations, 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 Bar-
barus and Joannes Picus of Mirandola.†
Politian, in the variety and extent of his attain-
ments, was inferior to none of his cotemporaries;
and his skill in every department of composition
*The enemies of Politian propagated a report that this trans-
lation was made by Gregorius Triphernas, the translator of
Strabo, from whom they said Politian purloined it. The cor-
respondence of Politian, however, with the Pope, respecting the
translation, may be considered a sufficient refutation of the
charge of literary larceny, since it is scarcely to be supposed
that the Pontiff would have bestowed the reward had he not
been satisfied of the justice of the claim.-See Epistola, lib.
viii. pp. 278, 280. The reply of Innocent, on the dedication
and presentation of the translation, is dated Rome, 16 Aug.
1487, and in the third year of his Pontificate.
Petri Criniti Comment. De Honestâ Disciplinâ, lib. xv.
cap. ix.
I 2
116
THE LIFE OF
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 de' 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 imi-
tation. The morals of Politian have been ar-
raigned 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
*«Erat distortis sæpe moribus, uti facie nequaquam ingenuâ,
et liberali, ab enormi præsertim naso, subluscoque oculo perab-
surda, ingenio autem astuto, aculeato, occultèque livido, quum
aliena semper irrideret, nec sua, vel non iniquo judicio expungi
pateretur. Ferunt enim ingenui adolescentis insano amore per-
citum, facilè in lethalem morbum incidisse. Correptâ enim
citharâ, quum eo incendio, et rapidâ febre torreretur, supremi
furoris carmina decantavit: ita, ut mox delirantem, vox ipsa, et
digitorum nervi et vitalis denique spiritus inverecundâ urgente
morte desererent: quum maturando judicio integræ, statæque
ætatis anni non sine gravi Musarum injuriâ, doloreque seculi,
festinante fato eriperentur."-Pauli Jovii Elog. Doct. Virorum,
Elog. xxxviii.
THOMAS LINACRE.
117
laboured in the task of extortion and exaggeration,
his advocates have striven with equal zeal to re-
move the odium of an accusation, which is corro-
borated by the charge of mingling in his epigrams
the most polished sweetness with a depravity of
expression almost unworthy of a Christian. Al-
though a priest and canon of Florence, to this im-
peachment were added the sins of Atheism and a
contempt of the sacred writings. Later observations
have detected, that malice or ignorance has trans-
ferred to the Bible that censure, which was in-
tended 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 Ra-
The substance of this story has been repeated from author to
author, without any examination of its credibility, and Pierius
Valerianus is the only writer of the sixteenth century who seems
to have taken the trouble of suggesting a more charitable, and
at least as probable, a cause for the event, as is given by the
Bishop of Nuceria. "Angelus Politianus, nullius ignarus eru-
ditionis, et disciplinæ, cùm in adversa medicorum procerum
tempora incidisset, inclinantibus jam Petri, quam ipse literis in-
stituerat, rebus, in eam incidit ægritudinem, ut in multis, et
variis molestiis, cogitationibusque consolationem nullam admit-
tere voluerit, atque ità demùm dolore, mostitiâque confectus
expirârit. Quodque illi longè fuit infelicius confectâ in eum
turpitudinis fabulâ maledicentissimis obtrectationibus proscissus,
calumniatusque est, utque ea gens promptissima est ad insimu-
landum in invidiam Petri ipsius ignominiosam aliam mortis vo-
luntariæ causam universo terrarum orbi magnâ cum cjus infamiâ
propalârunt.”—De Litteratorum Infelicitate, Venetiis, 1620, lib ii.
pp. 70, 71.
118
THE LIFE OF
gusinus, in return for the dedication of a volume
of poems, with which that author had just com-
plimented 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 Tus-
cans, 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 dispo-
sition, 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. be-
fore the year 1455, to execute a translation of
certain authors of his country into Latin, in con-
* Joan. Ludov. Vivis Valentini De Disciplinis, 1612, lib. iii.
p. 307; Joan. Manlius in Locorum Communium Collectaneis
titulo de Satisfactione, p. m. 99; Politiani Epist. lib. iii.; Bayle,
Dictionnaire Historique et Critique, art. Politien, note G.
THOMAS LINACRE.
119
nection with George of Trebisond, Laurentius
Valla, Petrus Candidus, December, and Georgius
Castellanus. The Greek school of Chrysoloras,
at Florence, to which Politian had been tempora-
rily appointed on the secession of Joannes Argy-
ropylus, having at this time decreased by the de-
fection of native teachers, the direction of it was
committed to Chalcondyles by Lorenzo de' Me-
dici, 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
ámbitious rival, and travelled to Milan, at the in-
stance of Ludovico Sforza, where he published his
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 pro-
tecting her from the suspicion of infidelity to her
husband, which, however, the unequal age of the
latter, and the literary seclusion in which he in-
* Leltner asserts, but, as it is said, incorrectly, that Chalcon-
dyles previously resided at Venice, as corrector of the Aldine
Greek press. Correctorum in Typographiis Eruditorum Centuria
Norimberg. 1716, p. 155. No writer has accounted for the time
between his arrival in Italy before 1453, and his appointment
at Florence about 1479, a space which this appointment may
have served to fill, instead of the shorter interval between his
quarrel with Politian and his invitation to Milan by Ludovico
Sforza.
120
THE LIFE OF
dulged, tended in some measure to fortify. Of a
large family two sons and a daughter only survived
their parents. Theophilus, the elder, received in-
structions 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 resi-
dence in the capital, at the age of 24 years, leav-
ing Joannes Lascares the only survivor of that
illustrious school, which for more than half a cen-
tury had contributed so much to the glory and
advantage of Italy.* A knowledge of the prema-
ture 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
*Joan. Pierius Valerianus, De Litteratorum Infelicitate, Ve-
netiis, 1620, lib. ii. p. 59.
1
THOMAS LINACRE.
121
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 pre-
sided. Amongst his patrons was Nicholo Perotti,
Archbishop of Sipunto, by whom he was recom-
mended to Giacopo Picolomini, of Pavia, the car-
dinal legate at Perusia, as a fit person for ecclesi-
astical 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 opportu-
nity of bestowing upon him an appointment, ade-
quate to the recommendation, with which he had
been favoured, and to the views and merits of its
bearer.* Notwithstanding his celebrity as a phi-
lologist, 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 Egwrn μα τ α
Ερωτηματα
and Institutes of Chrysoloras and Gaza. He was
*Hodius de Græcis Illustribus Linguæ Græcæ Instauratori-
bus, lib. ii. cap. ii. p. 212.
122
THE LIFE OF
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 ar-
duous to occupy the long life to which he arrived.
His scholars were numerous and eminent, and the
gratitude, which they evinced towards their pre-
ceptor, 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 cotem-
poraries; and he was approached by all as the
Socrates of the age, in which it was his fortune to
live.†
*The edition of Homer, which he collated with MSS., and
revised according to the commentaries of Eustathius, was exe-
cuted at Florence, and was printed with types and on materials
of unrivalled beauty by Demetrius Cretensis in 1488.-Mattaire,
Annal. Typograph. i. p. 183. Isocrates was revised and printed
at Milan in 1493. The Lexicon of Suidas, to which he prefixed
an advertisement in Greek, and to which Maria Cataneus and
Antonius Motta, his scholars, contributed commendatory verses,
was also printed at Milan in 1499.
† Sce Stephani Nigri Cremonensis Dialogus, printed at Milan
1517, fol. 426.
THOMAS LINACRE.
123
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 coun-
tenance and protection his studies were prose-
cuted. 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 demean-
our, 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 amuse-
ment. 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,*
66
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
* Fabricius in Vitâ Laurentii.
124
THE LIFE OF
younger associates in these pursuits Linacre lived
sufficiently long to learn the destinies. The elder
succeeded to the title and government of his an-
cestors, 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 sove-
reignty 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 con-
duct 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 asso-
ciations 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 pre-
viously and spontaneously conferred upon him.*
* Galenus De Temperamentis, et De Inæquali Temperie,
4to. Cambridge, 1521.
THOMAS LINACRE.
125
Beyond this general information of Linacre's
pursuits at Florence, little has been recorded re-
specting 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 commence-
ment 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 prælections 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 per-
fect scholar. The same encouragement was there
given to science and the arts, as in other cities and
universities of Italy, and the pontificate of Inno-
cent 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, ex-
cited in the mind of the stranger by a contempla-
tion of the external objects by which he was sur-
126
THE LIFE OF
rounded. 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 Flo-
rence, 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 ambas-
sador 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 an-
cient MSS. contained in the libraries of the ca-
pital, 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 con-
viction that the stranger had no claim, like him-
self, to the epithet Barbarus, from his choice of
the book to which his attention was directed.
THOMAS LINACRE.
127
Linacre recognized the speaker, notwithstanding
the equivocation under which his name was com-
municated;* 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 ac-
quaintance 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 con-
tracted. The first service of Hermolaus Barbarus
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 cor-
ruptions in which the remainder had been in-
volved, by the ignorance and negligence of copyists,
served either to render them illegible or to em-
* Pauli Jovii Elogia, Elog. Ixiii. p. 145; Anecdotes de Flo-
rence, par le Sieur de Varillas, 1685, lib. iv. p. 188. The dia-
logue, which has been founded upon this incident, carries with it
an air of invention on the part of the bishop of Nuceria, by
whom it is related. The surname of Barbarus was an alluring
subject, and the elogist has added one more to the number of
writers in the sixteenth century, who were unable to resist the
opportunity of playing upon a word which, abstractedly, implied
very different qualities from those by which its possessor was
distinguished.
128
THE LIFE OF
barrass 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 ser-
vices which he rendered to Greek literature did
not in a less degree merit the gratitude of the
scholar. New light was thrown upon the obscu-
rities 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,*
* Scaliger, in a discussion respecting the balm of the ancients,
represents his adversary Cardanus, in his comparison of balm
with jessamine, as sheltering himself under the authority of Bar-
barus, who, in his translation of Dioscorides, has erroneously
classed the jessamine with the violet, deceived by the Greek
word "ov. "At non huc te impulit autoritas Hermolai. Qui, ut
erat animo liberali, eruditione plenâ, nihil non cognitionis nostri
seculi ad antiquitatem referre conatus est. Iccirco jesemimum
quoque inter violas connumeravit: quasi Græcæ vocis vestigio
traductus ad hoc judicium. Hoc enim est, lov. Cæterùm viro
illi incomparabilis doctrinæ, divinæ probitatis, quantum gratiæ
habendum est, ob diligentiam, atque sedulitatem: tantum reti-
THOMAS LINACRE.
129
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 ren-
dered 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 Bar-
barus, 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 Barbarus 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
nebimus nos libertatis ad judicandum, ob veritatem. Nihil
habet cum violâ commune jesamimum."-Julii Cæsaris Scaligeri
De Subtilitate ad Hieronymum Cardanum, Lutetiæ, 1557, Exer-
citatio clvii.
K
130
THE LIFE OF
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 con-
tumacy, of incurring the sentence of degradation
and of the confiscation of his property. The in-
fluence 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.*
* In the correspondence of Politian there is a very flattering
letter of congratulation on the elevation of Barbarus to the patri-
archate. The writer evidently anticipated, or at least wished to
flatter his friend with the anticipation of the highest promotion, to
which the intrigues of the Venetian senate and the Romish conclave
would doubtless have carried him, had he lived long enough, and
possessed sufficient wisdom to have practised the old expedient.
of making the division of the parties subservient to his individual
interest; for that, however, his amiable and retired disposition.
appear to have but ill calculated him. An authentic relation of
this event is given by Petrus Bembus, Historia Veneta, Vene-
THOMAS LINACRE.
131
Proscribed by his government, and in defiance
of the penalties with which he was threatened,
Barbarus continued to reside at Rome when Li-
nacre 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 man-
kind have been largely rendered debtors. These
entertainments had become frequent in the prin-
cipal 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 cloquence, 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
tüs, 1551, lib. i. fol. 12 b.) See also Varillas, (Anecdotes de
Florence, lib. iv. p. 190,) who has hazarded a reasonable con-
jecture respecting the motives of the senate in this transaction.
The statement, which is afterwards given by the same writer of
the disinterested conduct of Barbarus, is at variance with the
relation of Bembus, and one amongst the many unauthorized
relations in which this secret historian has so largely indulged.
K 2
132
THE LIFE OF
generally found at variance. They have been uni-
formly 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? Barbarus as-
sumed 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 Barbarus
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,
*
A description of one of these entertainments, at which this
question was agitated, is given by Allessandro de Alessandri,
who was a party in the discussion.-Dies Geniales, lib. iii. cap. 1;
see also Poggianorum, tom. i. p. xx.
THOMAS LINACRE.
133
and with an indifference to worldly honours he ac-
knowledged 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 ac-
count 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 con-
jugal 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 hist
choice of it influenced, by the arguments and ex-
ample of his friend.†
* Epist. Clarorum Virorum Selectæ. Venetiis, 1568, fol. 118 a.
†These arguments were comprised in a poem entitled De Re
Uxoriâ, in which he limits himself to the question, Ought a wise
man to marry? Poggio Bracciolini had led the way in this dis-
cussion by his treatise, An Sene sit Uxor ducenda?-in which,
unlike Barbaro, he makes Carlo Aretino, one of the interlocutors
in the dialogue, decide affirmatively, and unite himself, at the
age of fifty-four, to a Florentine lady of eighteen, whose youth
and beauty were her principal dowry. This treatise was fol-
lowed by, or was cotemporary with a work of Franciscus Bar-
barus, the grandsire of Hermolaus, also entitled De Re Uxorià,
in which he prescribes rules for conduct in a married as well as
in a single state.
134
THE LIFE OF
The division of the day by Barbarus was uni-
form: 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 consi-
dered 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 de-
voted to business, to amusement, or to contempla-
tion. Sometimes a friend read to him, or his
115 a.
Epistolæ Clarorum Virorum Selectæ. Venetiis, 1568, fol.
THOMAS LINACRE.
135
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 em-
ployed his thoughts. Their discourses were un-
premeditated, no ostentatious contention was per-
mitted 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 con-
sisted 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.
66
However favourable to the literary pursuits of
136
THE LIFE 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 dif-
ferent 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 celi-
bacy must have been early formed; for at eighteen
he wrote a treatise upon it; and he neither after-
wards altered the opinions which he had formed
respecting it, nor retracted the arguments which
he had urged in its favour. At nineteen he trans-
lated Themistius, of which the publication was
delayed till his twenty-sixth year; at twenty-five
the Rhetoric of Aristotle; at twenty-eight, Dios-
corides; and at thirty, the entire Organon of
Aristotle.* His exertions in the inferior depart-
ment 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 Decadyust and Anto-
Amidst the employments of translation he also found
leisure for the transcription of Greek MSS. In the Laurentian
Library, at Florence, is a copy of the Deipnosophiste of Athe-
næus, written by him on silk, and dated 1482.—Montfaucon
Palæographia Græca, lib. i. pp. 84, 100.
Justinus Decadyus, believed to be the same with Justinus
Corycæus, is commemorated with Linacre and others by Aldus.
Manutius, in a preface to the Physics of Aristotle, edited by him
THOMAS LINACRE.
137
nius 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 accom-
plishing 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
at Venice, 1497.-See Hodius De Græcis illustribus Linguæ
Græcæ Instauratoribus, lib. ii. cap. x.
"Video magnitudinem operis instituti: perterreor et hor-
resco. Sed pergo tamen, Deo fretus, alacer, perinde quam si
proximè finem, et metam essem. Quid, quod post Aristotelem
Mathematicos libros interpretari cogito? Vide quam vana,
quam immemor suæ immortalitatis sit."-Venetiis, Kal. Jun.
1485. Epist. Clarorum Virorum Select. Venetiis, 1568, fol. 116.
138
THE LIFE OF
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 appa-
rent 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 Barbarus 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 ar-
ranged, and exempted from all that was vulgar or
trifling, whether in his phrases or sentences.
These qualifications have been censured by ano-
ther author as terminating in a somewhat severe
* He does not appear to have had much respect for the chief
Arabian commentator on Aristotle, Averroës, to whom his pre-
decessors bowed the knee for more than three centuries. He
has accused him of plagiarism and of purloining from the Greeks,
and more particularly from Alexander, Themistius, and Simpli-
cius. In a letter to Antiochus Cæsenates, he thus delivers his
opinion respecting the mode of studying Aristotle, which all,
who wish to profit by his writings, might follow with advantage.
"Aristotelem totum totus excipe. Melius hoc studium, et longè
solidiùs, ac diutiùs mansurum, quàm captiones et argutiæ, quæ
(ut nôsti) nec ignoratæ officiunt, nec cognitæ proficiunt."-
Epist. Clarorum Virorum Select. fol. 116.
Idem, Epist. 4ta.
Joannes Ludovicus Vives de Disciplinis, Lugd. Bat. 1636,
lib. iii. p. 539.
THOMAS LINACRE.
139
style, made up of the most obsolete and modern
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 protec-
tion, and to expel uncleanness from the earth, has
done Barbarus 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 Barbarus was in
unison with his acquirements; he was void of all
envy and ambition; and bore his sentence of banish-
ment 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
* Angelus Politianus Hieronymo Donato suo, Epist. Basil,
1522, lib. ii. p. 62.
†
Idem, lib. iii. p. 113
140
THE LIFE OF
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 modern
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 effi-
cacy 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.
* Petrus Crinitus de Honestâ Disciplinâ, lib. i. cap. 7. Vin-
centius Paravicinus, a retailer of anecdotes relating to great.
men, represents him as abandoned by his friends during his last
illness, and his body conveyed to some unknown spot, deprived
of funeral honours and of a Christian burial.-Singularia de
Viris Eruditione claris, Basil, 1713, Cent. ii. xxiv. This story is
probably borrowed from Jo. Pierius Valerianus de Litteratorum
Infelicitate, Venet. 1620, lib. p. 9. Jovius (Elog. xxxvi),
with better means of information, and with more probability,
describes him as buried at Rome, with the usual forms, near
the Porta Flumentana, the modern Porta del Popolo, which ac-
cords with the Athenæum Romanum Oldoeni, where his sepul-
ture is assigned to the church of S. Maria del Popolo.
THOMAS LINACRE.
141
have been so minutely detailed, the reader can
scarcely fail in detecting a great and striking simi-
larity. 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 con-
trast 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
Barbarus, and he appears to have received from
this friend a bias in his course of study, and par-
ticularly 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 distin-
guished 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 me-
ditated the publication of the Sphere of Proclus,
the translation of which he had now probably in
142
THE LIFE OF
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 ex-
pression 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 Eng-
land, 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 him-
self. He compliments Manutius upon the gratitude
which the world owed him on account of his typo-
graphical 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 par-
* Aldus Manutius Ro. Alberto Pio Carporum Principi.-
Ilist of Physic, by J. Friend, M.D. Lond. 1733, Append. 8.
Gulielmus Grocinus Britannus Aldo Manutio.-Ib.
THOMAS LINACRE.
143
He
ticular 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.
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 am-
bassador, an office for which he seems to have
been better suited than for directing even the petty
state and government of Carpi. To the acquaint-
ance 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 persua-
sion 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 instruc-
tions Medicine then, and for more than a century
afterwards, occupied a considerable share. At
*Aldus Manutius Alberto Pio Carporum Principi.-Hist. of
Physic, by J. Friend, M.D. Lond. 1733, Append. 8.
144
THE LIFE OF
this university he took the degree of Doctor in
Medicine, with more than usual applause, and not
only maintained the questions, which were pro-
posed 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 appoint-
ment scarcely consistent with the brevity of his
* Richard Pacey, who was resident in Italy as ambassador
from Henry VIII, to the states of Venice, some years after Li-
nacre's departure from Padua, has done justice to his country-
man in recording the tradition of his skill in disputation,
in a colloquy between Grammar and Rhetoric, on the mutual
excellences of Theodorus Gaza and Linacre. "Meritò Theo-
dorum meum, virum doctissimum probas, quem omnes docti
certatim laudant, sicut et meum Thomam Linacrum. Nam et
is grammaticam Latinè scribere non est dedignatus, et quidèm
diligentissimè et eruditissimè." "Quid ais?" inquit Rhetorica,
"Linacrum quem tuum appellas, non benè nôsti. Est enim is
summus medicus, et par orator, ut tùm experientiâ, tùm libris
felicissimè editis, manifestum fuit omnibus, et te non nisi aliud
agens, et év πapɛpyy, id est, horis supervacaneis aggressus est,
Ac quidem examantissimis ejus persæpè sunt mirati, quod
quùm natus sit ad altissima quæque, non recusaverit ad ista in-
fima descendere, ut contenderet cum Tryphone, vel nescio quo
alio grammatico, de quibusdam minutiis casûs vocativi. Con-
tendit tum ille felicitèr, quia vicit, sed mallem victoriam fuisse
illustriorem, et similem illæ quam Patavii olim reportavit. Nam
quum in gymnasio Patavino, professionis artis medicæ ei (ut
nunc moris est) darentur insignia, publicè non sine summâ laude
disputavit, et seniorum medicorum adversaria argumenta acu-
tissimè refellit."-De Fructu qui ex Doctrina percipitur, Basil,
Froben. 1517, p. 76.
THOMAS LINACRE.
145
stay, and apparently presumed from the celebrity
with which he defended his theses.*
Padua was the last city in which Linacre per-
manently resided. His future journey was retard-
ed 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 por-
tion of the latter half in the society, if not under
the instruction of Barbarus, at Rome. Beyond
the general cultivation of the ancient languages
no plan of his studies has been recorded. He ap-
pears 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 de-
tecting his name in a copy of a Greek MS., the
date of which he refers to the fifteenth century.†
* "In gymnasio Patavino, professor medicinæ renunciatus."--
Bibl. Britannico-Hibernica, Auctore Tho. Tanner, Episc. Asaphensi,
Lond. 1748, p. 482.
† Paleographia Græca, lib. i. cap. 8, p. 108, where the book
is described as Codex nunc regius, No. 2142. Upon referring
to the catalogue of the Greek MSS. in the Royal Library at
Paris, (1740, tom. ii. p. 450,) this number is entitled Codex
Bombycinus Fonteblandensis, and is a transcript from a more
ancient MS. of the principal writings of Hippocrates, with some
marginal scholia, a lexicon of words, and the Life of Hippo-
crates by Soranus. The whole, however, does not appear to have
L
146
THE LIFE OF
It is singular that no memorials have been pre-
served of his knowledge of the language of modern
Italy. Latin was exclusively the medium of com-
munication 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 ac-
curately 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 Ceven-
nes, 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
been the writing of Linacre, for a part of the volume is de-
scribed by the compiler of the catalogue as the writing of the
thirteenth, and the latter part only as that of the fifteenth cen-
tury.
THOMAS LINACRE.
147
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.
JANUS VITALES
IN THOME LINACRI ANGLI ITALIA DISCESSUM.
Dum Linacrus adit Morinos, patriosque Britannos,
Artibus egregiis dives ab Italiâ,
Ingentem molem saxorum in rupibus altis,
Congerit ad fauces ante Gebenna tuas,
Floribus hinc, viridique struem dum fronde coronat,
Et sacer Assyrias pascitur ignis opes ;
"Hoc tibi," ait, "mater studiorum, ô sancta mcorum
66
Templum Linacrus dedicat, Italia;
“Tu modò cui docta assurgunt cum Pallade Athenæ
"Hoc de me pretium sedulitatis habe."
JOANNIS LATOMI
ARNIDIS QUERELA IN THOMAM LINACRUM ANGLI ITALIA
DISCESSURUM.
Dum longum Italiæ vale juberet,
Thusque in gramineâ cremaret arâ,
Quà tuas aperis Gebenna fauces.
Linacrus patrios petens penateis :
Sic amore viri locuta fertur
Arnis, impatiens Etrusca nympha :
“Ah! sic Arnida? sic tuam puellam?
"Sic linguis veteres tuos amores?
"Et præ me petis Anglicas puellas ?
A.
L 2
148
THE LIFE OF
Quid rerum hîc quod ames valet deesse,
"Illic quod cupias potest adesse ?
"Gaudes Barbarie? Hermolaon eccum : at
"Quem pro deliciis habent Camænæ
"Sin autem caperis nitore linguæ;
"Hoc nil tersius est Politiano.
"Sed gaudes refluum vehi per æquor?
"Ah! iis jam in lachrymis potes natare:
"Et quæ te ut revehant, redito tantùm.
“An rupeis patrias amas videre?
"Te, Linacre, aperi: nec ibis ultra.
"Quid? quod Italiam miser relinquis,
"Quum sis Italicâ eruditione,
"Romano ingenio, lepore Thusco?
"Totus noster homo es: sed Angla mens est,
"Ille abiit, et hæc soluta in undas."
THOMAS LINACRE.
149
CHAPTER IV.
Claims of Linacre, Grocyn and Lilye to the title of Restorers of
Greek Learning in England-Lilye's Pursuits at Venice-Li-
nacre returns to Oxford-Incorporated M. D.-Death of Sel-
ling-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 Andrè-Death of Prince Arthur and Henry
VII.—Accession of Henry VIII.-Shaglyng Lecture—Letter
Apologetic to Linacre from the University of Oxford-Ap-
pointed 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 va→
rious duties of an active life, and to detail the oc-
cupations 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 ex-
150
THE LIFE OF
amples, 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 dis-
tinction claimed for him. Of the date of Grocyn's
birth we are not accurately informed. It is, how-
ever, certain that he was older than Linacre, al-
though he did not leave England till about the year
1488, or three years after the departure of his col-
league. He studied Greek at Florence under
Chalcondyles and Politian,* and was absent till
the year 1490 or the following year, when he
* Latimer has alluded to these studies in a letter to Eras-
mus: "Nam et Grocinum memini virum (ut scis) multifariâ
doctrinâ, magno quoque et exercitato ingenio, his ipsis literis
duos continuos annos, etiam post prima illa rudimenta, solidam
operam dedisse; idque sub summis doctoribus, Demetrio Chal-
condilo, et Angelo Politiano: Linacrum item acri ingenio virum,
totidem aut etiam plures annos, sub iisdem præceptoribus im-
pendisse."-Farrago Nova Epist. Erasmi. Basil. Froben. 1519,
p. 321.
THOMAS LINACRE.
151
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 pil-
grimage, 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 pro-
bably 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 pub-
licly known by receiving the appointment of first
*Stapleton thus asserts Grocyn's claim to the title in dis-
pute:-" Recens tunc (1492?) ex Italià venerat Grocinus, qui
primus eâ ætate Græcas literas in Angliam invexerat, Oxoniique
publicè professus fuerat, à cujus sodali Tho. Linacro (Morus)
Græcas literas Oxonii didicit."-Tres Thomce, in Thomæ Mori
Vita, cap. 1.
Polydore Virgil, of Urbino, has advanced a similar claim on
the part of Lilye, as Stapleton on that of Grocyn. See Polydori
Virgilii Urbinatis Anglica Historia, Basil. 1570, lib. xxvi. p. 618.
It is true that Cornelius Vitellius, a Tuscan, had previously re-
sided at Oxford, but his efforts, as a teacher, were without
public patronage, and probably did not extend beyond the Insti-
tutes of Grammar even to the few to whom his instructions
were communicated.--See page 13.
152
THE LIFE OF
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 amuse-
ment, 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 trans-
lation 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 sup-
plied, and Lilye's fame was derived from his occu-
* This is the date of the first edition, which is comprised in
eight pages, and forms the last treatise in a volume of ancient
writers on Astronomy, edited by Aldo, and dedicated to Guido,
Duke of Urbino. It is intituled, "Procli Diadochi Sphæra
Astronomiam discerc Incipicntibus Vtilissima. Thoma Linacro Bri-
tanno Interprcte, ad Arcturum, Cornubice, Valliæque Illustrissimum
Principem."
THOMAS LINACRE.
153
pation 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 uni-
versities were accustomed at this period to recog-
nize the honours which had been granted to their
* The reserved disposition of Linacre, and the few specimens
of his correspondence, which have been preserved, render it im-
possible to obtain any minute particulars of his studies or literary
occupations. Lilye has been more communicative, and has given
in a letter, preserved in the Cotton Library, (Nero, B. vi. fol. 160,)
a history of his studies at Venice, which were pursued under
privations and difficulties which rendered the attainment of
Greek learning a labour of which later scholars can form but a
very inadequate estimate. His translations from Greek into
Latin, which Pits (De Illust. Angliæ Scriptoribus, Æt. xvi. No.
924,) adduces as a proof of his great acquaintance with the lan-
guage, have been lost, with the exception of his Progymnasmala
à Græcis, and versions of some Greek epigrams, which he sub-
mitted to the revision of Sir Thomas More. His Antibossica, a
satirical work upon his laureated rival in grammar, Robert
Whyttyngton, under the name Bossus, has nothing Greek except
its name, and his Grammar, which was partly borrowed from
Mosellanus and Listrius, was augmented and amended by some
of the most celebrated scholars of the age, amongst whom were
Colet, Erasmus, and his editor Robertson. See Biograph. Britan.
vol. v. art. Lilye. His character as a scholar may be summed
up in the short panegyric of Erasmus, who styles him, "Utri-
usque literaturæ haud vulgaritèr peritus, et rectè instituendæ pubis
artifex."
154
THE LIFE OF
members by foreign academies, and the degree of
doctor in medicine, which he is said to have re-
ceived 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 incor-
poration by his own university was followed by a
similar act at Cambridge, and he has been num-
bered with Redman, as one of its most distin-
guished ornaments, a statement which receives
* Athena Oxon. 1691, vol. i. col. 18.
+
Hist. et Antiq. Univers. Oxon. lib. ii. p. 46.
‡ John Caius, the historian of Cambridge, whose object was
to prove the greater celebrity of that university over its rival,
Oxford, thus couples Linacre with Redman, representing them
as migrating from Oxford to avail themselves of the superior
reputation and learning of Cambridge. "Immo Redmannus ex
ædibus Corporis Christi, Linacer è collegio Omnium Animarum
ad Cantabrigienses transierunt. Linacro D. Caius Cantabri-
giensis, Londini in Paulino templo marmoreum locellum suis
impensis posuit. Redmannus sub Jo. Claymondo, ædibus Cor-
poris Christi præsidente, adolescentiam transegit." Thomas
Caius, who published a rejoinder to this history, denies the
THOMAS LINACRE.
155
some weight from his subsequent foundation at that
university of a lecture, for which he made a pro-
assertion with great acrimony, recommending its author to cor-
rect that spirit of detraction in which his book so much abounds.
-Tho. Caii Vindiciae Academiæ Oxon. contra Jo. Caium Cantab.
Oxon. 1730, vol. i. p. 108, Redman was originally of St. John's
College, and travelled to Paris, whence he returned a proficient
in Greek, and a ready imitator of the style of Cicero. He was
afterwards Master of Trinity College and Professor of Divinity,
in which faculty he was deeply read. He survived till the year
1551, and died in the communion of the reformed church, having
adhered during life to the outward rites and ceremonies of that
of Rome. John Claymond, under whom Redman is said to
have studied, was amongst the few accomplished scholars of the
beginning of the sixteenth century, and recommended himself
by his pursuits to the notice of Richard Fox, Bishop of Win-
chester, from whom he received the presidency of Corpus Christi
College in Oxford, on its foundation in 1516. His Commentary on
Pliny, which has been sometimes quoted but never published, is
preserved in the library of his College, to which he also gave
other volumes. His gift of Linacre's translation of Galen's
Methodus Medendi, which was printed at Paris in 1519, is com-
memorated by the following memorial in his own hand-writing
on the first leaf:-" Orate pro animâ Johannis Claymundi, pmi
psidis Corporis Xi Collegii, qui huc libru eidem dedit." The
motives of the migration of Linacre to Cambridge, for which
John Caius so strenuously contends, may be attributed to other
causes than the celebrity and greater learning of the schools of
that university. Particular districts of the kingdom, during the
reign of Henry VII., were frequently visited with contagion and
pestilence, of which the sweating sickness was not the least
destructive, from an ignorance of its nature and treatment, and a
general conviction amongst the multitude of its fatality. Oxford
was more than once subject to this visitation, and it is known
that many of its members migrated to avoid the consequences of
it. In 1496 the Cambridge senate, by a decree, gave leave that
certain persons, members of Oxford, should be incorporated
amongst them, whenever they should come thither, whether in
1
156
THE LIFE OF
vision equal to that for his corresponding institu-
tions 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 al-
ready 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 à Becket, and, in compliance with the
superstition of the age, was interred in the mar-
tyrdom 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
term or vacation.-(Regist. Beta, f. 99.) These coincidences
render it probable that Linacre was a temporary resident at
Cambridge, during the prevalence of some pestilential disease,
and that, the motives for his migration being removed, he re-
turned without any degree to his own university.
THOMAS LINACRE.
157
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 ex-
pence during his first visit to Italy.*
The loss, which Linacre sustained by this mis-
fortune, 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 un-
polished state of his own. He had previously
* This calamity, for such to the learned it really proved,
arose from a partial conflagration of the buildings of the monas-
tery a few years after the death of Selling. A student in law,
with a crowd of attendants, had solicited from the prior accom-
modation for the night. The travellers received a welcome, and
did justice to the hospitality of their host; but having indulged
too freely in the good cheer of the house, they set fire to their
apartments. The flames communicated to an upper room where
the books were deposited, the greater part of which was lost or
destroyed in the confusion which attended the conflagration.
Some fragments only of the Commentaries of Cyril on the Pro-
phets were saved. Basil on Isaiah, and Synesius, with some
other Greek MSS. were preserved entire, but the most grievous
consequence of this accident was the loss of Cicero's treatise De
Republica, as no copy of it has since been discovered.—Leland,
de Script. Brit. vol. ii. p. 482.
158
THE LIFE OF
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 pro-
ceeded 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 ap-
pointed 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 sur-
vived the destruction of the house in the sixteenth
century. It was situated nearly between New Inn
Hall and the corn market in that city, and occu-
pied the site of the garden and house since appro-
priated to the Regius Professor of Medicine.
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
As
THOMAS LINACRE.
159
soon became associated in the two-fold character
of friend and pupil. These individuals were Li-
nacre, 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 re-
plied, 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 com-
pass 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
160
THE LIFE OF
is here the harvest of ancient learning, wherefore
you should hasten your return."*
4.
How long Erasmus continued to persevere in
the pursuits of humanity is a point yet in dispute.
Wood, whose sources of information were gene-
rally authentic, believes his residence to have been
prolonged to a part of the year 1499. It is diffi-
cult to reconcile this statement with that of Jor-
tin, 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 some-
times dated. His chief literary labour, whilst he
resided with the Augustines at Oxford, was a
treatise De tædio 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
* Epist. Erasmi, Basil, 1521, p. 254. This letter, which is
dated, by the foreign editor of his letters, probably Frobenius,
from London, seems however to have been written from Oxford,
shortly after his arrival there, although the year is not stated.
The individual, to whom it is addressed, must not be confounded
with another correspondent and patron of Erasmus, John Fisher,
Bishop of Rochester and Chancellor of the University of Cam-
bridge. Little is known of the present correspondent, except
that he is believed to be the same person who was presented to
the church of Chedsey, in the diocese of Bath and Wells, in
1508, and afterwards to a canonry in the collegiate church at
Windsor.
† Athenæ Oxon. 1691, vol. i. col. 38.
Life of Erasmus, by John Jortin, D.D. 1758, vol. i. p.
7-17.
THOMAS LINACRE.
161
of his time, were not shown till the year 1503,
when he composed a Latin version of the Decla-
mations 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 ho-
noured 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 Marches
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
* These declamations were printed by Froben, at Basle, in
1522, and published under the title of Libani Græci Declama-
tiunculæ aliquot, eademque Latina. The original MS. of these
versions is said to be in the library of Trinity College, Cam-
bridge, the gift of Hugh Peters, the regicide. The catalogue of
MSS. in this library mentions a volume containing three decla-
mations in the handwriting of Erasmus; one only of which,
however, is described as translated from Libanius, the others
are from some unknown author.-Catalogi MSS. Anglia et
Hiberniæ, Oxon. 1697, p. 101, No. 28.
M
162
THE LIFE OF
founder, and enjoyed the favour of Henry VII.,
from whom he received the appointment of al-
moner. 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 In-
fanta 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 recommen-
dation 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 edu-
cation 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
THOMAS LINACRE.
163
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 six-
teenth 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 ac-
complishment to the priesthood, with which it
was generally united, than a distinct art culti-
vated on fixed and certain principles. To the ec-
clesiastics 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 attend-
ance of a physician at court, which the writer has
been able to discover, is dated 33 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
M 2
164
THE LIFE OF
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 suffi-
cient for his cure, without any allusion to the pre-
vious existence, or permanency of the office which
they were authorized for a time to fill, or to a re-
muneration 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 me-
dical 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 at-
tendance of Gilbert Kemer, Dean of Salisbury, an
* Cotton MSS. Vespatian G. xiv. p. 415. The physicians
were, John Arundell, John Facely, and William Hatcliffe: the
surgeons, Robert Warren, and John Marshall. The medicines
and means of cure, which they were to employ, are specifically
enumerated in the warrant, and present a formidable regimen,
to which the royal patient was by permission or sanction of his
council to be subjected. They were, potiones, syrupi, confec-
tiones, laxativæ medicinæ, clisteria, suppositoria, caputpurgea,
gargarismata, balnea, epithemata, embrocationes, capitis rasura,
unctiones, emplastra, cerota, ventosæ cum scarificatione, vel
sine hæmorrhoidarum provocationes, &c.
THOMAS LINACRE.
165
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 predeces-
sors is very doubtful, although he enjoyed the
confidence of his royal patient, not less as a phy-
sician 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 war-
rant of the 33 Henry VI. was directed, was re-
warded four years afterwards with the reversion
of an annual grant of fifty marks, charged upon
the prior and convent of St. Augustine in Canter-
bury; 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
* Fœdera, &c. inter Reges Angliæ, accurante Thomâ
Rymer, 1710, tom. xi. p. 366.
Idem, p. 416.
Idem, p. 360.
166
THE LIFE OF
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 ser-
vices 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 mi-
nister, and discharged at the termination of the dis-
ease, with such a remuneration as the length of his
attendance, his skill, or the munificence of his
sovereign might award. In more than one docu-
ment 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 re-
ward, a term expressive of an honorarium, or gift,
and not like those of the latter, in the form of a
legal demand.*
* In the Cotton library is a volume of extracts from an ori-
ginal book of accounts of Henry VIII., with the sign manual
at the end of every month, supposed to be the accounts of Sir
THOMAS LINACRE.
167
With whatever truth such an appointment has
been assigned to the court of Henry VII., it was
Orlando Bridgman, Lord Keeper, in the twentieth year of that
reign. The following items from this MS., relating to the
medical disbursements, confirm what has been said on this sub-
ject, and furnish some curious particulars of the state of medicine
in this reign. His majesty himself seems to have been actively
employed in the good work of healing; and it must be con-
fessed that whatever honour accrued to the king's physicians,
the principal share of the profit appears to have fallen to the
lot of the apothecary, whose office, as the name implies, was
then to provide medicines, without taking any share in the pre-
scription of them.
21 Hen. 8,.. May 16,.. to Cuthbert, the king's apothecary in
full, xxx. l. xii. s. vi. d.
Oct. 1,.. to Dr. Baugh, for two sick men at
Waltham, xv. shil.
13,.. to the serjeant apothecary his bill,
xxviii. li. iii. s. x. d.
23 Hen. 8, .. April 9,.. to Cuthberd, the king's apothecary,
on his bill, xxx. li. iii. s. x. d.
July 28,.. pd to a poor child, the which the king's
grace heled at Windsor, vii. s. vi. d.
Sept. 11,..to two pooer folks that were heled of
their sikeness, xv. sh.
18,..to two pooer folke that the king's
grace heled, xv. sh.
Oct. 23,.. to a pooer woman that the king's grace
heled at Havering, vii. sh. vi. d.
Hen. 8,.. Feb. 1, .. in reward to Dr. Yakesby and another
physitian, iiii. li.
2, .. to my Lord Wiltshire, for a physitian
called Dr. Nicholas, xx. angells,
vii. li. x. sh.
March 30, pd to my lady princess phisitian in
reward, xxvi. li. xiii. sh.
168
THE LIFE OF
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 Giambat-
tista) de Boeria, who, with more pretensions to
the title of astrologer than physician, is designated
in the correspondence of the day, the chief or or-
dinary physician to the king, which office he filled
-Hen. 8, .. April 3, to Cutberde, ye king's apothecary, on his
bill, for stuff by him delivered for ye
king's grace, from last Sept. to last
Marche, xxxviii. li. vi. s. viii. d.
June 27, to a pooer woman that ye king heled of
her sickness, vii. sh. vi. d.
July 21, to a pour child that the king heled of his
sickness, vii. sh. vi. d.
Sept. 9, to the k" apothecary for such stuff as he
delivered to the kg use, xxv. li.
iiij. sh. vi. d.
Oct. 5, to Dr. Butts, phisitian, for ye use of Dr.
Thurleby, B" of Ely, by king's
command, x. li.
The king had studied the art of pharmacy with success, and
in a MS. collection of recipes, principally for plasters and un-
guents, compiled by his physicians for the royal use (Sloane,
MSS. in Mus. Brit. No. 1047,) are several of his own invention.
The intentions, which these remedies were to fulfil, are in unison
with the hypotheses and pathology of the day, and the pharma-
ceutical efforts of the monarch were evidently directed towards
an alleviation of the evils and infirmities of which an uncon-
trouled and continued indulgence of his passions had tended in
the latter part of his life to render him the victim.
THOMAS LINACRE.
169
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 me-
dicine; 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 be-
nefactor, by whom his wants were frequently re-
lieved. To the same patron Erasmus dedicated
his version of the Commentary of Lucian on As-
trology, and whilst he honestly confessed that he
derived more amusement from its antiquity, than
from its arguments, he left its merits to be disco-
vered 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 ad-
vantageously bestowed. The prince had reached
the age of thirteen years. He had applied himself
170
THE LIFE OF
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 plea-
sure after the anxieties and fatigues of state. Al-
though Linacre was nominally tutor to the prince, it
is evident, from this preface, that he had no controul
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 ap-
peared,) but because a knowledge of the sphere
came with greater advantage from Proclus, he re-
minds 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 pub-
lic, 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 André, 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
THOMAS LINACRE.
171
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 mo-
tives 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 indis-
posed by his prejudices and limited attainments.
The translation, which was introduced by this
foreigner, was feeble and imperfect. Faulty, how-
ever, as was its execution, and scanty as must
have been the learning of its anonymous transla-
tor, 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. Eras-
mus, who narrates the story, has stated that Li-
nacre's translation was dedicated in the first in-
stance 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 ca-
172
THE LIFE OF
lumny propagated by André, to whose artifices
the royal resentment is to be attributed. The in-
sufficiency of the evidence, on which this state-
ment rests, excites a doubt of its accuracy, and a
feeling of private injury on the part of the rela-
tor,* will not add to its credibility. It is certain
* When Erasmus visited England in 1509, he boarded in
Austin Friars with this André of Thoulouse, who quarrelled
with him respecting the charge for his board, which the former
was unable to pay. He was only extricated from his difficulties
by his pupil and patron, Lord Mountjoy, who satisfied his host
by the payment of twenty nobles.
Erasmus never forgot this, and coupled with the enmity.
which André is known to have borne towards Linacre, whose
cause and learning Erasmus espoused, it did not tend to render
him very solicitous respecting the accuracy of what he related
concerning his opponent. "Thomæ Linacro pessimè cessit
quod Proclum à se denuò versum regi, hujus patri dicaret. An-
dreas quidem Tholosates, præceptor Arturi principis, et in reg-
num paternum successuri, nisi mors antevertisset, cæcus adula-
tor, nec adulator tantùm, sed et delator pessimus, regem admonuit
hoc libelli jam olim fuisse versum, à nescio quo, et erat, sed
miserè. Hanc ob causam rex et munus aspernatus est, et in
Linacrum velut in impostorem inexpiabile concessit odium."
And in another place he calls him "Bernardus ille Andreas
Gallus, quondam Arturi principis optimi non optimus præceptor."
Indeed the laureate appears to have lived to a great age, and to
have almost survived his faculties; he had lost his eyesight,
and it is believed that to him Erasmus addressed his epigram,
"On a Blind Corrector of Greek Tragedies," in revenge for his
criticism on the Hecuba and Iphigenia of Euripides, which he
had translated and dedicated to the primate Warham.
"In Cæcum Tragadiarum Castigatorem.
"Cur adeò, lector, crebris offendere mendis?
Qui castigavit, lumine captus erat."
To ken mistakes thy sharper eyes are prone :
No wonder, reader-He that wrote had none.
THOMAS LINACRE.
173
that some earlier translation existed, to which Li-
nacre 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 dis-
grace 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 advan-
tages at all lessened by the attachment of Proclus
to the philosophy of Plato, or by his skill in rhe-
toric and grammar, on which he well and co-
piously wrote. Although one of the earliest and
most strenuous adversaries of Christianity, his
work on the Sphere is equally free from any pre-
judices or arguments against Christianity, and
from the fables of the Greek mythology so inti-
Wharton (Hist. of English Poetry, vol. ii. sect. vii.) mentions.
two Latin poems of Bernard André, attributing to him a greater
portion of learning and of poetical power than Erasmus seems
willing to admit.
174
THE LIFE OF
mately connected with his subject. He has con-
fined himself solely to an exposition of the prin-
ciples, 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 trans-
lation 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 con-
stitution 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, af-
forded him greater leisure for the renewal of his
studies, and allowed him to enter upon the prac-
THOMAS LINACRE.
175
tice of his profession uninterrupted by the obliga-
tions 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 Eng-
land, 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 pharma-
copolist had neglected to return.*
The interval between the death of the prince
and the accession of Henry VIII., Linacre so ar-
dently 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 occa-
sional relaxation by a mutual intercourse and
epistolary communication. Even Erasmus found
it necessary to reproach him for a want of punc-
tuality 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
* Erasmi Epist. Basil apud Froben. 1521, pp. 413, 414,
432, 534.
176
THE LIFE OF
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 fulfil-
ment. 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 ex-
pressing 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 be-
haviour, 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
*Erasmi Epist. apud Froben. 1521, p. 219.
THOMAS LINACRE.
177
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. Ava-
rice 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 ab-
sence, 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 en-
couraging 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 opi-
nion of their common friend, who had neglected
no opportunity to render the favour, which he en-
joyed 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
N
178
THE LIFE OF
speedily be followed by some instance of the royal
bounty, in which expectation he also begged de-
voutly to accord.*
Although the obligations, or immediate connec-
tion 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 insti-
tution, of which the origin is involved in equal ob-
scurity with the name. These lectures were contin-
gent and unendowed. The stipend to the reader
was assigned at one time by the university, at ano-
ther by some individual college; or it was supplied
by royal munificence, or by noble or episcopal
liberality. They were read alternately by incep-
tors 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 illustra-
tion of the treatise of St. Augustine De civitate
Dei has been already noticed. Linacre, matured
in age and experience, about the year 1510
* Erasmi Epist. Lug. Bat. 1706, Part I, Epist. ccxxvii.
Hist. et Antiq. Univers. Oxon. 1674, lib. ii. p. 46.
Ante, p. 22.
THOMAS LINACRE.
179
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 con-
veying medical instruction, and to which few phy-
sicians were competent from the limited diffusion
of the language in which these authors wrote.
The professional rank, which Linacre now en-
joyed, 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 apologise 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,
N 2
180
THE LIFE OF
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 PHY-
SICIAN 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 de-
votion of him, who, whilst he is the most eminent,
is indisputably the most eloquent of his cotempo-
raries, towards the university of Oxford, is a secret
* Academia Oxoniensis Thomæ Linacro. Ex Registro F F.
sive libro Epistolarum Regum et Magnatum ad Academiam
Oxon. unà cum Responsis,-ab A. D. 1508 ad annum 1797.-
Inter MSS. Tho. Bodleii in Bibl. Oxon. No. 282, fol. 44,
epist. 86.
THOMAS LINACRE.
181
to none. How well you think of us, and how ge-
nerously you have resolved to provide for our in-
terests, we have fully learned from the report of
our colleagues, who have discoursed with you.
We wonder not that the lovers of sound know-
ledge 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 clo-
quently 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 re-
quite 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.
182
THE LIFE OF
"In kindness receive our wishes thus briefly ex-
pressed, and should we be ever 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 libe-
rality of the king, and of his zeal for the encou-
ragement of learning, were well founded,-he ex-
tended his patronage to the most eminent scholars
of the age. In bestowing the appointments, which
were necessary to the royal dignity, in the forma-
tion 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
* A cotemporary biographer has recorded this appointment
in terms, which render it doubtful, whether he intended them
as figurative of the office, or as actually denoting the dress,
which was prescribed to its possessor. "In medicinâ demùm
ita se exercuit, ut commendatâ sibi Henrici regis sanitatis tutelâ,
et talari togâ purpureâ amictus, villosi serici nigri stolâ latâ in
humeros projectâ, inter aulæ regiæ proceres conspicuus incede-
ret." Gulielmi Lilii Britanni Elogia, in finem Pauli Jovii De-
scriptionis Britanniæ, &c. Basil, 1561.
THOMAS LINACRE.
183
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 com-
panion 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
* Tres Thomæ, authore Thomâ Stapletono, 12mo. Colon.
Agrippinæ 1612, cap. 2, in Vitâ Thomæ Mori.
184
THE LIFE 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 ho-
nourable and good.
In justice to the English monarch, it must be
allowed that every encouragement was given to
literature, and whilst rewards were liberally be-
stowed 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 no-
thing 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
THOMAS LINACRE.
185
king,” says he, “ the most judicious of his age, de-
lights in the liberal arts: the queen, a marvel to
her sex, and his equal in letters, is no less estima-
ble 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 as-
signed 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 lan-
guages, 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
* Erasmi Epist. apud Froben. 1521, p. 105.
186
THE LIFE OF
of the great, than of an intimacy with the most
learned of his own and of other nations. A know-
ledge of the terms, on which this intercourse was
conducted, is wanting, through the reserve or in-
dolence in which he indulged in respect to all
correspondence with his cotemporaries, and its
existence is confirmed only by the freer or less
cautious communications of his friends. The pri-
vate 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 cha-
racter, and to exhibit him at an age past the me-
ridian of life, as devoting himself to the study of
theology, and the duties of the priesthood. These
occupations were admitted by the church, as com-
patible 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 con-
sciences of mankind. In examining the motives
of this choice, it should seem that he was guided
less by the expectation of dignity and preferment,
THOMAS LINACRE.
187
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 pro-
bable that he had for some years felt the ap-
proaches 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 Chris-
tianity, which he is said to have conceived at the
commencement of his theological studies; the his-
tory and foundation of which report merit a slight
examination. The authenticity of it rests with
Sir John Cheke, Regius Professor of Greek in the
*Erasmi Epist. Basil apud Froben. 1521, p. 534.
188
THE LIFE OF
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 re-
cognised the propriety.* This design was ren-
dered abortive by the vigilance of Stephen Gar-
dener, Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of
the University, who opposed the innovation by
an injunction, commanding its immediate sup-
pression. Each party advocated his opinion with
equal warmth and ingenuity, and whilst the chan-
cellor 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 ar-
guments 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
* Life of Sir John Cheke, by John Strype, M. A.—chap. i.
sect. iii.
THOMAS LINACRE.
189
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 an-
tiquity, 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 infir-
mities 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 assem-
bled multitude that perfect system of religious and
moral duty, which, inculcating abstinence and mor-
tifications in oppostion to the passions and propen-
sities of human nature, carried conviction to its
auditors, and might alone stand a proof of the di-
vinity 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
190
THE LIFE OF
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 administer-
* "Cùm provectâ admodum inclinatâque ætate esset, homo
studiis morbisque fractus, et morti vicinus, cùm sacerdos esset,
jam tum Novum Testamentum primò in manus cepisse, et ex eo
aliquot Matthæi capita perlegisse, et quum quintum, sextum,
septimumque percurrisset, abjecto iterum quantum potuit totis
viribus libro, jurasse aut hoc non fuisse Evangelium, aut nos non
esse Christianos."-Cheke, De Pronunciatione Græcæ potissimùm
Linguæ Disputationes, &c. Basil, 1555, p. 282.
πUVTWV,
In Christianismo vetustiori dubitandum non est, quin dis-
ciplina maximè fundata esset verbis D. N. Jesu Christi, quibus
legem Judæorum veterem de perjurio commentis non paucis à
magistris anteà inquinatam ex Judaismo genuino ac vero expli-
cavit. Totidem fermè verbis idem iterat S. Jacobus ubi monet,
πро πаντшν, ante omnia juramentis abstinere. Certè id, quod
in Matthæo sic de juramentis ab Christo interdictis legitur,
haud exiguam existimo causam, cur doctissimus ille Thomas
Linacer nostras, circa cxxx ab hinc annos medicus celeberrimus,
cum studiisque morbisque fractus, et jam morti vicinus Novum
Testamentum tunc primò (licet etiam sacerdos esset) in manus
cepisset, et Matthæi capita quintum, ubì hoc de juramentis,
sextum et septimum percurrisset, abjecto iterum, (sic Johannes
Chekus in literis ad Stephanum episcopum Wintoniensem) quan-
tum potuit totis viribus libro, jurasse, aut hoc non fuisse Evangelium,
aut nos non esse Christianos.' Usus procul dubio frequentissimus
temerè adversum ipsa Christi verba jurandi apud Christianos
etiam illius temporis, ut nostri, ita viguit ut, cùm interdictum
hoc legerit Linacer, abstinere sententiâ et eloquio ejusmodi ne-
quieret.”—Selden De Synedriis Veterum Æbræorum, lib. ii. c. xi. 6.
6
THOMAS LINACRE.
191
ing oaths in the early ages rested, in conformity to
the words of the evangelist, considers the expres-
sions 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 state-
ment have any foundation in truth, every unbiassed
mind will admit the interpretation of Selden. But
the whole statement carries with it an air of inven-
tion, 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 friend-
ships, which, with a single exception were pre-
served 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 im-
pugner 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 dedi-
catory seem to point at Warham or Wolsey, as
the bishop by whom he was ordained. The re-
gister 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 ex-
192
THE LIFE OF
*
pressions 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 Oc-
tober 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 re-
signed it in little more than a month from his col-
lation. 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 Hawk-
hurst, 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, Apos-
tolic Prothonotary and Papal Collector in Eng-
fo
* See the dedication to Linacre's translation of Galen's Trea-
tise De Temperamentis, et De Inæquali Temperie, 4to. Cam-
bridge, per Joannem Siberch, 1521.
Registrum Guil. Warham, fol. 335 b.
+ Id. fol. 341 b.
Rot. 9 Hen. VIII. Pars 2. m. 14.
THOMAS LINACRE.
193
land.* In the following year he became Prebendary
of South Newbold in the church of York, which pre-
ferment 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 ad-
mitted 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 No-
vember 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.§
咋
​*This Italian was a native of Lucca, but had letters of na-
turalization in 1514. He likewise filled the office of Latin
Secretary to Henry VIII., and lived in strict intimacy with the
most eminent characters of the English court. Excelling in
poetry, and equally celebrated for the powers of his memory
and the excellence of his judgment, he was cut off from the
highest preferments by the sweating sickness in 1517, before he
had reached his fortieth year. Erasmus has recorded his death
and merits. Erasmi Epist. Lugd. Bat. 1706, Pars i. p. 789.
† Survey of Cathedrals, by Browne Willis, Esq., 1742, vol. i.
p. 163.
afa
Willis's Survey of Cathedrals, vol. i. p. 75.
§ Bibl. Britannico-Hibernica, Autore Tho. Tannero, Episcopo
Asaphensi, 1748, p. 482.
194
THE LIFE OF
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 cha-
racters 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 pub-
licly 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, re-
gardless of the changes which were now in pro-
gress, 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 ne-
THOMAS LINACRE.
195
vertheless 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 gene-
rosity were Linacre and Erasmus. To the latter,
who was as perpetually importunate as he was
impoverished, he was a great and constant bene-
factor, and his liberality was repaid by the only
means which the scholar had to bestow-epistola-
tory 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 ambassa-
dor, 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 exer-
cise of prayer, for the almost daily celebration of
the mass, for twice or thrice hearing divine ser-
vice, 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
o 2
196
THE LIFE OF
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 some-
times 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 excel-
lent 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.*
* Ecclesiastes, sive De Ratione Concionandi, lib. i.
THOMAS LINACRE.
197
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 dedi-
cated to the primate, a compliment which occa-
sioned the intimacy between them. This acquaint-
ance 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 dishonour-
able to accept more, though it were offered to
him. By one friend, whose name he has sup-
pressed, 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
* Sed obsecro, quid me potest inverecundius, aut quid abjec-
tius, qui jam diu publicè mendicem in Angliâ? Ab archiepis-
copo tantum accepi, ut plusquam improbissimum sit, ab eo
quicquam, etiam si offerat, accipere. Ab N. satis audactèr petii,
198
THE LIFE OF
been shared in a less degrading manner by Lina-
cre; 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 connec-
tion, for his patron survived him, and died after hav-
ing 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 commence-
ment 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.
et ille impudentèr rogantem, impudentiùs repulit. Jam etiam
Linacro nostro videor parùm verecundus, qui cùm sciret me
Londino discedere, vix sex instructus angelatis, et valetudinem
optimè norit, ad hæc instantem hyemem, tamen sedulò monet
uti parcam Archiepiscopo, uti parcam D. Montioio: sed ipse
potiùs contraham, et assuescam fortitèr ferre pauperitatem: O
amicum consilium. Atqui hoc nomine vel maximè odi fortu-
nam meam, per quam non liceat esse verecundum. Cùm vires
ferrent, libebat dissimulare inopiam: nunc non licet, nisi libeat
et vitam negligere: quanquam non usque adeò perfricui faciem,
ut omnia petam ab omnibus.-Epistola Basil, 1521, p. 420.
THOMAS LINACRE.
199
CHAPTER V.
Further Progress of the Greek Language-Obstacles to its Ad-
vancement —Projected translation of Aristotle-Foundation of
the Galenic System-Linacre's Translation of Galen-De Sani-
tate Tuendâ—De Methodo Medendi -De Temperamentis, et de
Inæquali Temperie-De Naturalibus Facultatibus-De Pulsuum
Usu, &c.-De Symptomatibus, De Symptomatum Differentiis, et
de Causis-Tutor to the Princess Mary-Juan Luis Vives—
Philological Writings-Rudiments of Grammar-De Emendatá
Structura Latini Sermonis - Epistle Dedicatory of Antonio
Francino Varchiese-Guillaume Budé-Extracts from his Cor-
respondence-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 scho-
lar of his age. These efforts were amongst the
earliest to 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 culti-
vated 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, in
the interval between Linacre's return from Italy,
200
THE LIFE OF
and the publication of his first translation of
Galen, which comprizes a period of about thirty
years.
The obstacles, which were opposed to the culti-
vation of the new language, were sufficiently dis-
couraging 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 en-
mity, by proclaiming it to be the source of all
heresy, made the pulpit subservient to their hosti-
lity, 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 Gre-
cians 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 lan-
guage, was silenced only by a royal command.
The oft told story of the court preacher, who,
THOMAS LINACRE.
201
in the spirit of folly rather than of Christian wis-
dom, indulged before the king in a no less deter-
mined 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 cultiva-
tion by their own example, they tacitly acquiesced
in its introduction by contributing to support a
school for those whose zeal and judgment ex-
ceeded their own.† This feeling was probably
attributable to the exertions of John Fisher,
Bishop of Rochester and Chancellor of the Uni-
versity, whose zeal for literature, like that of
Girolamo Alessandro, Archbishop of Brindisi, led
him, notwithstanding his advanced age, to aspire
* Erasmus, who never concealed the hatred which he bore
towards the monks, or ceased to labour in exposing the impe-
diments which they threw in the way of sounder divinity and
better learning, makes frequent allusions in his letters of the
obstacles which the new language had to encounter from them.
-See Erasmi Epist. Lond. 1642. lib. xvii. epist. 2.
† Epistola Thomæ Mori ad Academiam Oxon: Roper's Life
of Sir Thomas More, by T. Hearne, Oxford, 1716, p. 60.
202
THE LIFE OF
to the study of Greek. He solicited instruction
from William Latimer, who with difficulty suc-
ceeded in persuading him from the attempt, by
representing to him how much he would have to
encounter.* The favourable disposition which ap-
peared at Cambridge towards the translation of
the New Testament by Erasmus, and the respecta-
bility, 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 Ecclesiastica of Dionysius
the Areopagite, and the labours of Grostest in
the thirteenth century were confined, as has been
* Latimer, in answer to Erasmus on this subject, after citing
the difficulties experienced by Grocyn, Linacre, and himself,
adds, “Quapropter si vis ut procedat episcopus, et ad aliquem
in his literis frugem perveniat, fac peritum aliquem harum
rerum ex Italiâ accersiat, qui et manere tantisper cum eo velit,
donec se tam firmum ac validum senserit, ut non repere solùm,
sed et erigere sese, ac stare, atque etiam ingredi possit.”—Far-
rago Nova Epist. Erasmi. Basil. Froben. 1519. p. 321.
THOMAS LINACRE.
203
already mentioned, to works of no better character
or authority.
In these and similar individual attempts may be
comprized the whole progress of the Greek lan-
guage during the space of thirty years, when the
munificence of Wolsey supplied further means for
its support and propagation. This prelate, be-
tween the years 1518 and 1522, instituted certain
Greek lectures at his own cost and charge, pre-
liminary to the great foundation which he con-
templated 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 lan-
guage, which Sir John Cheke attempted after-
wards, with less success, to introduce at Cam-
bridge. 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 ap-
pointment for the practice of his profession.
Lup-
* Joan. Caius De Pronunciatione Græcæ et Latina Linguæ,
à S. Jebb, M.D. Lond. 1729. p. 228.
+ "Clemens meus Oxonii profitetur auditorio tanto, quanto
non antè quisquam. Mirum est quàm placeat et deametur uni-
versis. Quibus bonæ literæ propemodum sunt invisæ, tamen
illum charum habent, audiunt et paulatim mitescunt. Linacer,
qui neminem, ut scis, temerè probat, tamen illius epistolas sic
effert atque admiratur, ut ego quòque qui unicè homini faveo,
204
THE LIFE OF
set, his successor, who, had his life been spared,
would have realized the expectations which the
extraordinary attainments of his youth had ex-
cited, 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 Lati-
mer. It is impossible to contemplate this under-
taking 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
propemodum tamen tam cumulatis laudibus ab illo viro con-
gestis invideam."-Tres Thoma, Authore Thomà Stapletono,
12mo. Colon. Agrippinæ, 1612, cap. i. in vitâ Thomæ Mori.
* Stapleton, Tres Thomæ, in vitâ Thomæ Mori, cap. x. See
also the Letter Apologetic from the University of Oxford to
Linacre, ante, p. 180.
THOMAS LINACRE.
205
parties, joined to a difficulty of intercourse, and of
a comparison of the allotted portions with each
other, so necessary to the uniformity and correct-
ness of the whole. Linacre was resident in Lon-
don, and had the best opportunities of carrying his
share into execution. Grocyn, with less favour-
able means, resided at Maidstone, where he had
been preferred to the wardenship of the collegiate
church of All Saints, and Latimer, still more re-
mote, resided on his cure at Saintbury in Glou-
cestershire. To what extent the design was
executed does not appear, and it is doubtful
whether the portions assigned to Grocyn and La-
timer were even commenced.* It is certain that
Linacre completed his share, either entirely or in
part, for Erasmus, in a letter written from Lou-
vain 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 Commenta-
ries of Simplicius and Alexander on the Physics
and Meteora of Aristotle, which Aldo Manuzio, in
*
Elogia Virorum aliquot in Britanniâ clarorum per Geo. Li-
lium exarata, in finem Pauli Jovii Descriptionis Britanniæ,
&c. Basil. 1561.
Erasmi Epist. Basil apud Froben. 1521. p. 432.
206
THE LIFE OF
his correspondence with Alberto Pio, Duke of
Carpi, regrets that he was disabled from forward-
ing 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
Meteorologica, 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 re-
mainder together with the Commentaries of Alex-
ander Aphrodisæus 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
Epistola Aldi Manutii Ro. Alberto Pio Carporum Prin-
cipi. See Friend's History of Physic, Lond. 1733. Append. 8.
+ "Sed hoc opus tamen spero propediem fore, ut à Thomâ
Linacre nostrate, illustrissimi regis nostri medico, Latinis done-
tur auribus, utpote cujus jam nunc duos libros absolvit; per-
fecissetque nimirum opus, atque edidisset universum, nisi Ga-
lenus eum exorasset, ut quum dux atque imperator Medicæ rei
scit, vel seposito interim Aristotele, Latinus ejus operâ prior
ipse redderetur. Prodibit ergo Aristoteles aliquantò seriùs, sed
prodibit tamen nihilo incultior: prætereà nec incomitatus; nam
Alexandri Aphrodisæi commentarios, in idem opus unà vertit,
initurus apud Latinos omnes immortalem gratiam: in quorum
non vulgarem utilitatem, philosophi præstantissimi operi tam
egregio præstantissimum interpretem sic adjunxerit, ut ejus la-
bore demùm à Latinis possit intelligi: quod hactenùs à nemine
[ut ego certè suspicor] qui Græcè nescierit, intellectum est."
Auctarium Epistolarum ex Thomá Moro. Lond. 1642. vol. i. epist. 2.
col. 40.
THOMAS LINACRE.
207
published, and like other treatises, which the ex-
treme 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 na-
tions 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 an-
cients. 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 had 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
* Erasmus, in a letter to Henricus Afinius of Lyra, com-
mends his union of Greek with astrology and medicine, as
especially conducing to the attainment of every kind of know-
ledge, and congratulates him at the same time on the period of
life at which his studies were commenced. He cites Linacre and
Ruellius as examples of having had the good fortune to learn it
early in life, whilst others laboured under the disadvantage of
cultivating it only when advanced in years.-Erasmi Epist. Lug.
Bat. 1706, pars I. epist. ccxcv.
208
THE LIFE OF
scarcely found that did not furnish one or more
scholars, native Greeks or Europeans, who engaged
in the labour of illustrating his works. Transla-
tions 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 em-
barked 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 remonstances and at the in-
stigation 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 dedi-
cated 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
THOMAS LINACRE.
209
reason he knew nothing more becoming his duty
or his calling, than the dedication of some memo-
rial of his studies, that he might satisfactorily ac-
count for the leisure which, by the royal indul-
gence, 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 esti-
mation in which he held the original, as gathered
from his dedication, strikingly illustrates the revo-
lution 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 Preser-
vation 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
.
P
210
THE LIFE OF
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 six-
teenth 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 Edipus or the aid of Apollo to
interpret them. " Hence," he says, "the moderns
out of envy seek to alleviate their discontent by
rebuking trivial niceties, and by carping at a few
fragments of Galen's innumerable writings, al-
though, the better to conceal their malice, they
who dare carp are first compelled to praise, be-
stowing upon him, by an unanimous testimony,
that title which was most arrogantly usurped by
another-Iatronices."*
*For whom this rebuke is intended, unless for the arch
empiric Paracelsus, whose theory and practice were in direct.
opposition to the system of Galen, I am unable to divine. The
appellation agrees with the many by which in his vanity he
designated himself; and the man, who condemned the ancients to
the fire of the world to come with as little hesitation as he com-
mitted their works to that which he kindled with his own hands
in this world, would not scruple to assume a title which implied
THOMAS LINACRE.
211
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, gene-
rally 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 pre-
servation of man's body, or especially over that
which provides against ills which menace, or ex-
pels 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
professional conquest or dominion, or to hold him in contempt
who was the first advocate and expounder of doctrines against
which he waged, during life, an unceasing and most abusive
opposition.
P 2
212
THE LIFE OF
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 au-
thor 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 at-
tainment or conquest exceed human reach, I have
prevailed aught in those which it was not per-
mitted 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 dif-
ferent nature, and has availed himself of the oppor-
*See Galeni de Sanitate tuendâ Libri sex, Thomâ Linacro
Anglo interprete. Parisiis per Guilielmum Rubeum Typogra-
phum, MDXVII.
THOMAS LINACRE.
213
tunity, which it afforded, for communicating infor-
mation 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 exer-
cises of the mind which are practised to the exclu-
sion 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 Mu-
seum, 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 car-
dinal'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 ac-
companied with an epistle,* in which, in a tone of
* This copy is preserved in the College Library. It has the
original epistle prefixed to it. This copy, and also the presen-
tation copy to Wolsey, are of the edition of 1517.
214
THE LIFE 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 con-
cludes 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 abun-
dant 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 propor-
tioned to the excellence of the work had been
attempted for 1000 years. Anxious, therefore, to
attempt something by which all inconveniences
* Galeni Methodus Medendi, vel de Morbis Curandis, Thomâ
Linacro Anglo Interprete, apud Desiderium Maheu, Paris, fol.
1519.
THOMAS LINACRE.
215
might be obviated to the student, and all oppor-
tunity 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 exe-
* It is difficult to reconcile this assertion of the publication of
two former treatises of Galen with the known productions of
Linacre and their dates, or to determine what translation is
signified under one of these parts. The dedication of the six
books, De Sanitate Tuenda, has been already recorded, and the
second part, or that which seems naturally to follow these, is the
Methodus Medendi, of which the present is the dedication, but
which is evidently intended by Linacre as the third part. It
appears from the letter to Archbishop Warham, (page 220,) that
Linacre had intended to compliment that prelate with the dedi-
cation of this work, had not the king claimed it as completing at
system of medicine, of which it is described as the third and last
part, and of the two former of which he had been the patron.
216
THE LIFE OF
cuted amidst other occupations, and at times un-
favourable for mental exertion, it was not possible
uniformly to provide against them. These ble-
mishes I nevertheless resolve, during the period of
life allotted to me, to correct, not only in the pre-
sent 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 incompre-
hensible 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 every
where loud in their commendations of the merits
of the translation, and the author was compli-
mented 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 Cæsars. 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
THOMAS LINACRE.
217
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:—
(6
Omnigenos Pæan suetum te pellere morbos
In Latio, et diti subtrahere arte animas,
Desidem ubi et bardum vidit facunde Galene,
Post habitumque aliis quos memorare piget;
Dixit, prospiciens populis, age, mysta Linacre,
Redde virum ingratis quemlibet Ausoniis,
Tam sibi quàm proavis, qui dogmata prisca relinquunt,
Tricisque involvunt ingenia et tenebris.
Hæc deus. At Thaumas afflatus numine, talem
Te vertit, qualem Græcia culta tulit.”*
"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 decora-
tions with his first production. The letter, which
accompanied this copy, was marked by a strain of
commendation exceeded only by that in the dedi-
* Jani Lascaris Ryndaceni Epigrammata in finem Libri de.
Romanorum Militiâ. Basil. 1537.
"
218
THE LIFE OF
cation 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 re-
specting 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
*This letter is prefixed in MS. to the illuminated presenta-
tion copy on vellum, which is now in the British Museum; it
was printed at Paris by Desiderius Maheu in 1519.
+ Linacre here hints at Wolsey's attempts to abridge the
power and lower the insolence of the nobility, by protecting the
poor against the tyranny and oppression which were too often
exercised towards them. The cardinal, however, soon grew
weary of listening to the numberless and feigned complaints.
which were the consequences of these attempts, and obtained the
king's commission to institute four courts of equity, where the
complaints of the poor by bill were to be heard and determined.
"These courts," says the Chronicler, were greatly haunted
for a time, but at last the people perceived that much delay was
used in them and few matters ended, and when they were ended
bound no man by the law, then every man was weary of them,
and resorted to the common law."-Holinshed's Chronicles, 8 Hen.
VIII. 1518.
66
THOMAS LINACRE.
219
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, pro-
claimed 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 considera-
tion 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 presump-
tion and importunity of the unskilful and ignorant,
has been duly estimated, and a certain hope ex-
cited 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
* "Ex Latere missus, Dicitur cum quispiam è consortibus aut
Comitatu Principis (puta Comites aut Magnatum alius) delegatur.
Sic Cardinales dicuntur legati à latere Papæ."-Spelmanni Glos-
sarium Archaiologicum, 1587, p. 351.
220
THE LIFE OF
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 oppor-
tunity 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 con-
taining 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 com-
position."
Although Linacre in the dedication of the Me-
thod of Healing had expressed himself sensible of
the honour, which was accorded to him, of publish-
ing it under 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 apo-
logizes for the breach of his promise in a letter,
which accompanied a presentation copy of the
THOMAS LINACRE.
221
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 sig-
nify his pleasure that the dedication of it should
not be separated from those of his former trans-
lations. Linacre, whilst he construed the royal
wish into a law, entreated the archbishop's per-
mission 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 an-
ticipated, 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 be-
lieve 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
*The History of the Worthies of England Endeavoured, by
Thomas Fuller, D. D. Lond. 1662. p. 135. Derbyshire.
† See note, p. 227.
222
THE LIFE OF
composition of works, he trusted that if his hearers
or readers should derive any advantage from his
labours, they would consider themselves as in-
debted to him, whom he freely acknowledged as
the author of them; not only as regarded what
he had already published, or what he should here-
after write, but also whatever, so long as he en-
joyed 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 Budé at Paris, with a request that he would
afford him his assistance in amending the interpre-
tation if faulty, or in correcting any errors, which
might occur to him on a perusal of it. The nu-
merous avocations which the office of Secretary to
the king imposed upon this great scholar, left him
little leisure for such an undertaking. He com-
plied, however, with Linacre's request at a subse-
quent 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 ren-
dered into Latin, and to assert that the same ce-
lebrity would accrue to England from the publica-
tion of a work so rendered, as there did to Perga-
THOMAS LINACRE.
223
mus 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.*
* This translation also furnished matter for an epistle from
Budé to Lupset, which has generally been prefixed to the dif
ferent editions of the Methodus Medendi, and from which the
opinion of the writer as to the merits of the translation may be
collected, and the extent of his alterations of it ascertained.
"Quos mihi libros therapeuticos credideras, Lupsete doctissime,
eos ad te remitto, tumultuariâ quidèm lectione et subsultim, non
etiam perfunctoriè et oscitantèr evolutos. Volui enim eorum
lectione non modo tibi operam, sed etiam mihi navare; tametsi
cùm id primùm facere insisterem, altiùs omninò nihil animo
agitabam, quàm ut paucorum dierum officio satisfacerem petitioni
tuæ; simul ut eadem opera adventitiorum voluminum contrec-
tatione animum meum oblectarem negotiis confectum. Solet
enim (ut nôsti) nostræ sortis hominibus incessere cupido haud
illiberalis de uno quoque opere literario æstimationem factitandi,
ut quispiam studiosorum in medium protulit aliquid ingenii sui
specimen, ità scilicet naturâ ferente, ut sui quisque ingenii atque
industriæ modum contendere cum aliorum gaudeat, quo certiùs
perpendat quid præstare eâdem in re possit. Verùm cùm id
ipsum hominum more facerem, humanitùs quoque mihi obrepsit,
(ut ingenuè in sinu tuo loquar) certandi quoque libido cum
eorum librorum interprete Linacro; tametsi eum summâ esse
eruditione præditum, non nescius jamdiù forem. Itaque pauca
quædam ad Momi lucernam inspecta, et animadversione (propè
dixerim delatoria) observata, cum primore specie se mihi non
probâssent, cum Græco statim exemplari collata, partim mutare,
partim nova facere de integro conatus, ut nihil aut parùm pro-
movere me sensi, criminationem illam meam potiùs fuisse judi-
cavi æmulæ contentionis, ab ingenuâ ipsâ et studiosâ alacritate
manantis, quàm justam æquamque reprehensionem. Id utrum
in culpam inertiæ et imperitiæ vertere mihi debeam, an in operis
224
THE LIFE OF
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 Inæquali 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
laudem exactè absoluti, aliorum esse judicium malo, quando-
quidèm nondùm me eum censendi locum in doctorum concilio
adeptum esse arbitror, ut optimus quisque et existimatissimus
transire in sententiam meam debeat, antequàm rem ipsam ad
manum aspexerit. Hactenùs tamèn in medium ferre sententiam
non dubitarim, si omnia similia sunt iis quæ legi, Galenum nobis
eleganti et exquisito sermone Latinum esse factum, ut jam Bri-
tanniæ decus hoc futurum sit, quod olim Pergamum in Asiâ
illustravit. Quo in opere animadverti Linacrum multò plùs
tribuisse priscæ scribendi vertendique severitati, quàm nostri
temporis indulsisse licentiæ lascivienti." Mattaire supposes that
the emendations of Budé were incorporated with the text of
Linacre, and printed at Paris by Simon de Colines in 1530.
-Annales Typograph. tom. ii. part i. p. 733. I am unwilling
to impeach the accuracy of this scholar on any subject connected
with typography, and must therefore infer that to the rarity of
this edition, must be imputed the failure of my attempts to pro-
cure sight of a copy.
* Origine e Progressi Della Stampa, &c. Bononia, 1722,
p. 334, and Annal. Typograph. Operâ Mich. Mattaire, tom. v.
partis i. p. 421; Warton (Hist. English Poetry, vol. ii. sect. vi.)
THOMAS LINACRE.
225
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 pontifi-
cate 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 as-
sumed 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 au-
believes that the Cambridge edition of this translation in 1521
was the first printed work in England in which Greek characters
were introduced. There was a second edition of this translation
published during Linacre's life, without date, or the name of the
printer, a presentation copy of which on vellum to Henry VIII.
is preserved in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, the gift of
Thomas Clayton, M. D. Regius Professor of Physic, 1634.
* Galenus, De Temperamentis et De Inæquali Temperie, 4to.
Cambridge, per Joannem Siberch, 1521.
Q
226
THE LIFE OF
thor presented his work, not as worthy of, or
even pertinent to, the employments of one on
whom the government of the whole Christian re-
public 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 extra-
ordinary instance of liberality, which he had re-
cently 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 permis-
sion 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
THOMAS LINACRE.
227
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 Pri-
mate'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 junc-
ture 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
* Galeni De Naturalibus Facultatibus Libri Tres. Tho. Li-
nacro Anglo Interprete. Lond. in ædibus Pynsoni, 1523.
† p. 221.
Q 2
228
THE LIFE OF
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 which he owed,
and, since the philosopher, no less than the phy-
sician, 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
not in the same year with the preceding trans-
lation, 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 learn-
ing, and who supplied the place of parent to those
who professed it.* This treatise was reprinted,
* Galeni De Pulsuum Usu. Tho. Linacro Anglo Interprete.
Londini, in ædibus Pynsoni-without date.
THOMAS LINACRE.
229
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., pro-
fessed to have followed the design of his prede-
cessor, and to have chosen the same patronage
and protection for his less polished, but no less
toilsome and difficult labours, as Linacre had pre-
viously done for his more perfect own.* To other
editions of this treatise were also annexed some
extracts from Paulus Ægineta on Crisis and on
Critical Days with their Signs, probably fragments
of a larger work, of which Linacre did not survive
the completion.
* Galeni Opera de Pulsibus, Hermanno Cruserio Campensi
Interprete. Parisiis, apud Simonem Colinæum, 1532. These
works collectively are dedicated to Francis I. of France, but the
treatise De Usu Pulsuum is prefaced by a dedication to Henry
VIII., in which the author thus speaks of his labours.
"Non
mihi hoc tamen sumo, ut assecutum me Galenum virum diser-
tissimum, aut meâ te oratione posse putem capi. Equidèm hoc
si sperem, aut etiam eam cogitationem in animum admittam, sim
demens. Habes alios, quibus hanc palmam do libentèr: habes
præter cæteros principem Thomam Morum, non inquam eximiâ
elegantiâ aut munditiâ lucubrationes meas tuæ majestati com-
mendo, alumni tui institutum sequor Thomæ Linacri, ut quem
ille vir doctissimus patronum elegisset et defensorem exactissi-
morum suorum operum, eidem mea, non illa quidem elimatissima,
sed tamen plurimi laboris et operæ certè, offerrem: quo ejus
auspiciis in vulgus feliciter exirent. Libri hi Galeni sunt de
causis pulsuum, et de præsagione ex pulsibus. Adjeci librum de
usu pulsuum à Linacro versum, quem multis mendis, nescio
quorum culpâ, scatentem purgavi." See also Excerpta ex Epist.
Michael Mattaire.-Friend's History of Physic, Lond. 1733, Ap-
pend. 8.
230
THE LIFE OF
The revision and publication of these translations
occupied the last seven years of Linacre's exist-
ence; for the treatise De Sanitate Tuendú, 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 contem-
plated 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 Pyn-
son 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 excel-
lence 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.
* De Temperamentis, 4to. Cambridge, 1521; De Naturalibus
Functionibus, Pynson, 1523.
+ These treatises were printed by Pynson in quarto in 1524.
THOMAS LINACRE.
231
To this abstract of Linacre's exertions in the
cause of medicine, and of the motives which di-
rected him to their execution, is to be added a
brief consideration of his services in the cause of
philology. The little encouragement, which learn-
ing had received previously to the period when his
translations of Galen were commenced, and the op-
position made by the schools to all other pursuits
than those which were the objects of their own
undivided attention, had caused all previous at-
tempts for the attainment of accuracy or perfec-
tion 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 ex-
clusive converse with the writings of antiquity.
Except the treatises of Holt, Stanbridge and Whit-
tington, 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 as-
pire to a higher praise than that of communicating
the accidence or elements of the art, for the illus-
tration of which they were professedly composed.
The services rendered to philology by Linacre
were in some measure dependant upon an appoint-
ment 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
232
THE LIFE OF
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 at-
tempt, 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 service-
able to her, to devise other means by which he
might in some measure be enabled to fulfil the ob-
jects 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
* Rudimenta Grammatices Thomæ Linacri diligentèr casti-
gata denuò. Impress. Londini, in ædibus Pynsonianis, cum
privilegio à rege indulto.
THOMAS LINACRE.
233
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 instru-
ment 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
*The anxiety of the queen respecting her daughter's pro-
gress in her studies, of which she appears at one time to have
been the superintendant, may be gathered from an original letter
in the Cotton Library, (Vespatian, F. xiii. p. 72,) in which this
good mother says, "As for your writing in Lattine I am glad
that he shall chaunge frome me to Maister Federston, for that
shall doo you moche good to lerne by hym to write right, but yet
sometymes I wold be glad when he doo write to Maister Feder-
ston of yor owne enditing, when he hathe rede it that I may se
it. For it shalbe a grete comfort to me to see you kepe your
Latten and fayr writing and all."
234
THE LIFE OF
Studii Puerilis. In the dedication of the first to
the queen, which he dated from Oxford in Oc-
tober, 1523, he alludes to Linacre's qualifications
as a teacher, describing his own work as merely
elucidating the obscurities or supplying the omis-
sions of other grammarians. The Rudiments, how-
ever, 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 re-
putation, recommended them also in the following
epigram, of which the motive is entitled to greater
praise than the execution.*
* The first edition of these Rudiments, printed by Pynson,
also contains the following lines, which detail the order in which.
the several subjects of the book are treated.
RICHARDI HIRTII, IN RUDIMENTA GRAMMATICES THOME LINACRI,
EPIGRAMMA.
Qui leget hæc animo attento præcepta Linacri,
Ille vel exiguo tempore doctus erit.
Parvulus est sanè, sed non tamen iste libellus
Lectori referet commoda parva suo.
Nomina per casus, per tempora verba, modosque
Ritè et personas, quæque movere suas,
Deindè docet cunctas propriis discernere partes
Finibus, et propriis composuisse locis ;
Ac vetus authorum qui mos, quæ norma loquendi,
Incolumis donec Roma diserta stetit.
Ergò citò linguam si vis didicisse Latinam,
Hunc puer, hunc avidâ perlege mente librum.
THOMAS LINACRE.
235
AD SERENISSIMUM MARIAM CORNUBIE WALLIÆQUE
PRINCIPEM.
GUILIELMI LILII EPIGRAMMA.
Inclyta progenies, Angliæ spes unica gentis,
Virgo quæ nulla est indole fertilior;
Si vis te linguâ Maria exornare Latinâ,
Aut si Castalio texere serta choro ;
Hæc, ut Erythræo natas in littore gemmas,
Hæc, ut Pæstanas accipe læta rosas;
Hæc, licet exiguum, Linacer tamen utile munus,
Dedicat eloquii prima elementa tibi.
The Rudiments, which professed to communi-
cate 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 de-
voted, and on which his reputation as a philologist
is chiefly founded. This work was comprized in
six books, and entitled De Emendatâ Structurâ
Latini Sermonis. Many circumstances had com-
bined to delay its completion, amongst which were
Linacre's engagements at court, and the interrup-
tions 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
* Elogia per G. Lilio exarata, in finem Pauli Jovii Descript.
Brit. Scotia, Hibern. et Orchadum, Basil. 1561.
236
THE LIFE OF
the desire of the author to facilitate the progress
of his royal pupil,-an object which, from its ab-
struseness, 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 Acci-
dence, which he dedicated to William Lily, whom
he had appointed the first master. To this tract
Colet afterwards added another, On the Construc-
tion 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 Eras-
mus, 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 com-
position, dated from Westminster, 1st September,
1528.
These two treatises operated to the exclusion
of Linacre's work from St. Paul's school, and the
*Life of Colet by Sam. Knight, D.D. 1724, p. 135.
THOMAS LINACRE.
237
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 uninter-
rupted till the occurrence of this event, was dis-
solved. 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 re-
sented the rejection of his Grammar.* The breach,
however, was never healed. Although Colet sur-
vived this event nine years, they appear never to
have held converse in the interval, nor was Li-
nacre 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 inter-
vened 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
*Farago Nova Epist. Basil. Froben. 1519, p. 314.
238
THE LIFE OF
one in which an erudite judge could not but
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 per-
fect 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 re-
publication of this treatise, which sustained so
high a reputation among the scholars of the six-
teenth and seventeenth centuries.
The muse of Leland was twice employed in
*Thomæ Linacri Libri sex de emendatâ structurâ Latini
sermonis excudebat Christianus Wechelus, 8vo. Paris, 1533.
To this edition is prefixed a letter from Philip Melancthon to
William Rifestein, dated at Wittenburg, 1521.
"Allatus est,"
says he, "huc Linacri viri doctissimi Liber de Syntaxi Latini ser-
monis, quem judicavi magnoperè profecturum esse studiosis ad
emendatè et verè Latinè loquendum, et ad rectè judicandum de
phrasi et omnibus figuris Latini sermonis.-Quare ego cum
Typographis nostris, ut quamprimùm excuderent, et passim in
omnibus harum Regionum Scholis spargerent. Nunc verò
etiàm hos qui præsunt scholis duxi adhortandos esse, ut hunc
librum adolescentibus prælegant, sed ità, si prius vulgares rè-
gulas brevi compendio tradiderint.”—Mattaire Annales Typo-
graphia, tom. ii. partis i. p. 797.
THOMAS LINACRE.
239
celebrating the merits* of this work, and with
these tributes of friendship is closed the enumera-
tion of the avowed writings and literary labours of
Linacre.†
* Principum ac Illustrium aliquot et Eruditorum in Angliâ
Virorum Encomia, &c. A Johanne Lelando Antiquario con-
scripta. Lond. 1589, 4to. p. 43.
The following catalogue will bring the translations and
compositions of Linacre under one view, with the order and
dates of their publication:-
Proclus de Sphærâ, 1499.
Galen De Sanitate Tuendâ, 1517.
Methodus Medendi, 1519.
De Temperamentis et De Inæquali Temperie, 1521.
De Naturalibus Facultatibus, 1523.
De Pulsuum Usu, &c. 1523.
De Symptomatibus, lib. 4; De Symptomatum Differen-
tiis, lib. 1; et De Causis, lib. 3, 1528.
Rudimenta Grammatices, 1570.
De Emendatâ Structurâ Latini Sermonis, 1524.
Of two other works ignorantly or unjustly ascribed to Linacre,
a few words will suffice, the 1st. A Compendious Regiment, or
Dietary of Health, made in Montpelier, professedly the produc-
tion of Andrew Boorde; the 2d. a Prose Translation of Æmilius
Macer on the Virtues of Herbs.
The appropriation of the first of these works rests with
Anthony Wood, (Athen. Oxon. vol. i. col. 19.) although acknow-
ledged by Andrew Boorde, who served the court of Henry VIII.
in the two-fold capacity of buffoon and physician, and of whose
acquirements it may be cited as a worthy specimen. This work
was twice printed without date by Robert Wyer. A third edi-
tion, including the obscure terms of Greek, Arabic, Latin, Bar-
bary, and English, was printed at London, by Robert Este, in
1598. For the second of these works Linacre is indebted, with
as little justice, to Robert Wyer, who surreptitiously employed
his name to a translation of Macer, which he also printed at
Westminster without date, and from which Linacre will derive
240
THE LIFE OF
IN LIBRUM THOME LINACRI DE EMENDATÂ
STRUCTURA.
"Non Palamedæis opus impellescere chartis,
Nec Diomedæis invigilare libris.
Talia non peperit Linacer monumenta politus,
Longa dies rerum qualia nulla dedit.
Hoc facilè evincam sub quovis judice recto,
Dulcia præripuit præmia Grammaticis,
Quicquid ab antiquis selegit et ipse Latinis,
Seu Græcis, recitat fertilitate suâ.
Illeque cornicum tentabit figere ocellos,
Ædere qui tentat scripta polita magis."
((
ALIUD CARMEN DE EODEM LIBRO.
Virgineam docti juvenes celebrare catervam
Quid juvat? aut nitidas Bellerophontis aquas?
Quidve Helicona sacrum juvat, aut Permessidos amnes?
Laurigero Cyrrhæ quid loca festa Deo!
Huc potius lætis concurrite passibus omnes,
Fingite victuris ora tenella libris.
Somnia Parnassi valeant, Boeoticaque arva:
Nunc Linacer nobis omnibus unus erit."
as little reputation as from the appropriation of the Regiment or
Dietary of Boorde. It will be sufficient to notice that Pits
(De Illust. Angliæ Scriptoribus, Etas 16ma. No. 925,) describes
himself as possessed also of different letters, poems, and other
compositions, of the titles of which he was ignorant; by the first
he evidently alludes to the epistles dedicatory, prefixed to the
translations of Galen, and by the second to a few scattered
epigrams never collected or published, and concerning whose
existence it would now be fruitless to inquire.
THOMAS LINACRE.
241
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 recom-
mended him. The instances, which have been
preserved of this intercourse, are the best testi-
monies 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, con-
cluding with a request equally gratifying to the
feelings of the friend, and flattering to the vanity
of the author.
* Julii Pollucis Onomasticon, Florentiæ, 1520.
R
242
THE LIFE OF
"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; more-
over that the morals of men, the array of the house-
hold, 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 in-
conveniences 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 gene-
ration, in concurrence with Emanuel Chrysoloras,
John Argiropylus, John Andronicus the Byzantian,
and Demetrius the Athenian, men of profound at-
tainments, 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
THOMAS LINACRE.
243
attributed; for the prosperity or decay of useful
learning is dependent on human vicissitudes, court-
ing tranquillity, shunning tumult, needing urbanity,
and delighting in retirement. It was lately culti-
vated 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 Vir-
gilio, 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 sove-
reign pontiff lately invited to Florence from Greece
youths of tried abilities to repair the decayed and
almost forgotten wreck of the literature and phi-
losophy 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
R 2
244
THE LIFE OF
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 inge-
nious 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 abun-
dantly 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 lite-
rature, 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
THOMAS LINACRE.
245
for the press whatever portions of Galen or Hip-
pocrates may have received your last corrections,
and I will cause that aught of Galen, that is pre-
served 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 libra-
rian 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 cotempora-
ries. 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 Louis 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 Sa-
nitate Tuendâ, he was not backward in returning
the favour; and not only transmitted a copy to
Budé, whose persuasions had operated to its pub-
lication, but proclaimed his merits as a critic and
246
THE LIFE OF
a scholar, by inviting his criticisms and emenda-
tions. The date of the correspondence,* probably
a fragment of one more extensive and continued,
may be assigned to the year 1518 or to the fol-
lowing 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 Budé had not visited Italy, whi-
ther 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
Budé, 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 BUDE 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 re-
plied, had I not received it when equipped for
travelling, and preparing at the moment for de-
parture. In truth, so much was I exhilirated on
* Gulielmi Budæi Epistolæ. 4to. Basiliæ, 1521, pp. 21, 25,
and 27.
+ The original letter of Linacre is given in the Appendix, as
the only specimen extant of his familiar correspondence.
THOMAS LINACRE.
247
a perusal of it, that I despaired of equalling it,
albeit in the aspiring and laborious effort of re-
plying 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 con-
quered, 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 compla-
cence as well on account of the present of my trea-
tise on the As, when you accompanied the Queen
Mary to Paris, as of the labour which I had be-
stowed 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 sup-
posing the gift to have been gratuitous, or that the
receipt of my book depended on any mutual expres-
sion 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
248
THE LIFE OF
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 pa-
tronage, 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 cele-
brity 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 Tuendâ, 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 lite-
rature, 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 ac-
quire 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
THOMAS LINACRE.
249
you for a cautious and exquisitely accurate trans-
lator, 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. What-
ever 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 incon-
siderately and mistakingly registered, since more
egregious errors no 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,
250
THE LIFE OF
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 exe-
cution. Should you, however, be indisposed to
the just and proper exercise of the duties of friend-
ship, you will find Budé, if not a forensic or alto-
gether skilful friend, at least one who will prove
litigious and quarrelsome. See, therefore, that in
THOMAS LINACRE.
251
calling yourself friend, you neglect not to dis-
charge 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 forth-
with easily driven from the field. But whatever
mine own sufferings, I am gratified by the cor-
respondence 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 at-
tention, had an impediment not been thrown in
252
THE LIFE OF
my way amongst numerous other concerns, inter-
rupting alike the purpose and progress of my
reading. My domestic cares will supply the busi-
ness 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 GUILLIAUME 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
THOMAS LINACRE.
253
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 no-
thing contemptible or slovenly, which may operate
to its prejudice to remain in my trivial lucubra-
tions, or spare either time or labour in my service?
In which case, however, you seem in some mea-
sure 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 ηδυσον χαρ οισθα ουτις ερᾶται
TUXE, 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 parti-
cular, 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 your
254
THE LIFE of
your 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 assidu-
ously strive as to lose no opportunity of place or
time, but, by commemorating, by writing, by com-
mending, leaving no stone unturned and doing
my utmost, perpetually testify your singular me-
rits towards me.
"I remitted you some rings, which I under-
stand 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.”
GUILLAUME BUDE TO THOMAS LINACRE SENDS
GREETING:
"I THANK you heartily for the agreeable present
with which you have lately favoured me, and still
THOMAS LINACRE.
255
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 en-
tangled 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, com-
bined 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
256
THE LIFE OF
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 respon-
dent 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
THOMAS LINACRE.
257
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 of the Egon 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 hể
sought to acquire a more perfect knowledge of the
Greek and Latin languages, under the directions
of Chaldondyles 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 Ox-
ford. He there took the degree of bachelor in
divinity, and, by daily reading lectures on the in-
stitutes 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 prevail-
* Erasmi Epistolæ, Basil. apud Froben, 1519, p. 318.
S
258
THE LIFE OF
to v.
T,
ing mode of reading was to give an uniformity of
sound to i, n, u, ɛ, o, and u, the whole of which
custom had confounded with wra. μ followed T.
and was pronounced as d; Twas pronounced as b;
× was also considered as equivalent to ch; and ß
To the reformation of a pronunciation so
faulty, the efforts of Grocyn were also directed,
and he endeavoured to assimilate it to that em-
ployed by the native Greeks in Italy, with whom
he had associated.* His attempt, however, either
failed of success, or his auditors forgot his instruc-
tions 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 re-
form in the sixteenth century which was denied to
Grocyn at Oxford more than a century earlier.†
* Historia et Antiquitates Universitatis Oxoniæ, 1674, lib. ii.
p. 134.
† The collected arguments of Cheke in this warfare, and par-
ticularly his correspondence with Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of
Winchester and Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, who,
ex cathedra, condemned the attempt, as a dangerous innovation,
and further enjoined chastisement and expulsion to all who
promoted it, are comprized in a treatise printed at Basle in 1555,
entitled Johannis Cheki, Angli, De Pronuntiatione Græcæ potissi-
mùm linguæ disputationes cum Stephano Wintoniensi Episcopo, &c.
which was followed by a similar tract of Smith, De rectâ et
emendatâ Linguæ Græcæ Pronuntiatione, printed at Paris by
Robert Stephens, in 1568. Strype, also, has given an account
THOMAS LINACRE.
259
From these pursuits Grocyn was called to Lon-
don with means of subsistence ill proportioned to
the increased expenses, with which he was encum-
bered 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 hier-
archy 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 authenti-
city.* To the patronage of Colet, Grocyn had
of the origin and progress of this schism in different parts of his
Lives of Smith and Cheke, erroneously, however, considering
the former as the founder of this literary reformation.-Consult
also Erasmus and John Caius on the subject.
* Amongst the remonstrances of Erasmus against the answers
of the theological faculty at Paris, who had impugned his pro-
position, that the Hierarchia Ecclesiastica, falsely attributed to
$ 2
260
THE LIFE OF
the fortune to add the good opinion of Arch-
bishop 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 Scarle in the
church of Lincoln, which he had obtained before
his journey to Italy, were the only preferments
which he enjoyed, an inadequate reward for one
whose learning qualified him for the highest sta-
tions in the church.
On the first of these preferments, to which he
Dionysius, was a forgery posterior to the age in which that
writer flourished, this example of Grocyn is cited to prove that
the same heretical opinion, and the same suspicions respecting
its genuineness had been entertained by competent and orthodox
judges. "Unum certè proferam, cui nec imperitia, nec temeri-
tas ascribi potest. Is erat Guilhelmus Grocinus, Anglus, vir
dùm viveret severissimæ castissimæque vitæ, ecclesiasticarum
constitutionum observantissimus, penè usque ad superstitionem,
scholastica theologiæ ad unguem doctus, ac naturâ etiam acer-
rimi judicii, demùm in omni disciplinarum genere exactè versa-
tus. Is, ante annos triginta Londini in æde divo Paulo sacrâ,
magnâ celebritate cœpit profiteri Hierarchiam Ecclesiasticam:
atque in præfatione stomachatus est in eos, qui negarent esse
illum Areopagitam, notans, opinor, Laurentium Vallum. Verùm
ubi jam aliquot hebdomadas esset professus, atque, ut fit, pro-
prius ac familiarius introspexisset autoris ingenium, non dubi-
tavit apud eosdem auditores, Taλwvwdɛiv priorum sententiam
profitens sibi nequaquam videri Dionysii Areopagitæ. Recens
adhuc est Grocini memoria, facilè possum redargui si quid
mentior."-Declarationes Desiderii Erasmi ad Censuras Facul-
tatis Theologiæ Parisianæ. Basil. apud Froben. 1522. Declar.
xei. p. 265.
THOMAS LINACRE.
261
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 con-
tend with the embarrassments in which the nar-
row 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 re-
mitted 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 proba-
bly 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 obedi-
ence 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 re-
membrances to his friends. To his servant he
willed a messuage of which he was possessed in
Stone Street, Maidstone. To his godsons, Wil-
liam 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
262
THE LIFE OF
his executor and residuary legatee. Doubtful,
however, whether the infirmities of Linacre would
enable him personally to discharge the duty im-
posed 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 en-
grayned and furred with black coney, upon condi-
tion 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.* Pits has cited dif-
ferent 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 ele-
gant, his language concise, and his judgment cor-
rect. 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 philoso-
phy, and contemning his doctrines as little better
than fantasies, and idle fictions. He acquired
great reputation as a theologist, and was nice
* See History of Physic, by J. Friend, M.D., Lond. 1733.
Append. 8.
+ Pits, De Illustribus Angliæ Scriptoribus Et. xvima. No.
917, p. 693.
THOMAS LINACRE.
263
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 attain-
ments, 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 Cardi-
nal Pole, to whom he was appointed instructor,
and by whose interest he obtained a prebend in
* Bulephorus, in the dialogue of Erasmus intituled Cicero-
nianus, has drawn his character in these words:
"Nunc igitur
in Britanniam, quæ quàm multos habeat Tullianæ dictionis can-
didatos, tantùm eos nominabo, qui scriptis innotescere voluerunt.
Si Gulielmum Grocinum proferam, respondebis nihil illius ex-
tare præter unicam epistolam, elaboratam sanè et argutam, ac
benè Latinam. Maluit enim nihil scribere, quam nihil videre,
homo naturâ lusciosus. Ad epistolarum argutiam appositus,
laconismum amabat, et sermonis proprietatem diceres Atticam,
in hoc sanè genere, nec aliud affectavit. Ciceronis copiam ferre
non potuit, si quando legeret illius libros. Nec scripto solùm,
sed et dicendo laconizabat. De hoc igitur non contendam.
"Idem Jodoco Gavero. Basil. 1 Mar. 1524. Haud multò
post [mortem Coleti] periit Gulielmus Grocinus, præter Theo-
logiæ professionem, in omne genere disciplinarum exactè ver-
satus. Is tamen ut ad multam vixit ætatem, ità nihil scriptum
reliquit. Attactus paralysi plus minus annum ipse sibi super-
stes fuit."-Epistolæ, Lug. Bat. 1706. i. p. 789.
264
THE LIFE OF
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 reputa-
tion 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 La-
timer 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 cha-
racter. 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 remit-
ted 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 Roches-
ter 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
THOMAS LINACRE.
265
adequate to his wishes, but he consulted its inte-
rests 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.*
* See Erasmus in Ciceroniano. Paceus De Fructu qui ex
Doctrinâ percipitur. Basil. apud Froben. 4to. 1517. Erasmi
Epist. Basil. apud Froben. 1519. pp. 318, 321. Pits, De Illus-
tribus Angliæ Scriptoribus, 1619. No. 919, p. 695. See also
the Register of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, xxxviii.
Pynning.
266
THE LIFE OF
CHAPTER VI.
Change in the Taste and Literature of England-First establish-
ment of Lectures-Linacre's 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 accom-
plished before he was deprived of the power of
superintending their execution. He considered
that the fortune, which he had acquired by inheri-
tance 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 in-
tentions. Whether his fortune might not have
been employed in a way more beneficial to learn-
ing and posterity, and whether the end has been
found proportioned to the means, it is not neces-
THOMAS LINACRE.
267
sary 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 specula-
tion, which was effected by the accumulated facts
and patient investigation of Harvey, he would pro-
bably 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
pro-
ductive of a considerable change in the taste and
literature of England. The theology and discus-
sions of the schools had been shaken by the intro-
duction 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 ac-
complished 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 in-
formation from the one to the many by original
disquisition, or by comments upon the writings of
the ancients, was generally enforced, as tending to
268
THE LIFE OF
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 encou-
raged. 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 di-
rected 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 consti-
tutions 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 ad-
vance of the art of medicine, for whose progress
and success he had uniformly shown himself soli-
citous.
To these models his thoughts appear to have
been for some time directed, although the founda-
tion of his lectures was not effected till the year
1524, when the precarious state of his health ren-
dered it no longer prudent for him to defer the
THOMAS LINACRE.
269
fulfilment of his intentions. It is probable that he
had corresponded with the university of Oxford
upon this subject, and had consulted with its mem-
bers 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 our pro-
moters, 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 as-
sist others, you have always shown yourself an
extraordinary patron and an especial mover in all
that relates to our concerns. That peculiar affec-
tion 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
270
THE LIFE OF
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 doubt-
less 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 sug-
gestions of your own judgment furnish the best
proof, since you have chosen the science most
subservient of all others to the necessities of hu-
manity. 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 account-
ed 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 great-
THOMAS LINACRE.
271
ness, 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 medi-
tate 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 al-
lows us not to requite the munificence of our
patrons in proportion to our wishes. The tran-
scendancy, 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 schines.
rendered himself more endeared to Socrates by
the gratitude and modesty of his speech, than did
the riches of Alcibiades with the most liberal dis-
position. 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
272
THE LIFE OF
may you long enjoy life, the chief patron of learn-
ing.'
""
The letters-patent, by which the hopes and
wishes of the university were to be gratified, re-
ceived 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 in-
crease 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' Com-
pany in London to hold of Linacre, his executors
and assigns, lands and tenements to the annual
amount of £30 sterling, clear of outgoings and re-
prisals, 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.
* Ex Registro F F inter MSS. Tho. Bodleii in Bibl. Bodl.
Oxon. No. 282, fol. 60, epist. 116.
A copy of the letters-patent is given in the Appendix.
THOMAS LINACRE.
273
The first he obtained by purchase from Sir John
Norton, Knight, and the second from Lewis Clif-
ford, Esq., Sheriff of Kent in the thirteenth year
of Henry VII.* The trustees, under the assign-
ment, 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 unfortu-
nate. 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 de-
voting 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.
* History of the county of Kent by Edward Hasted, F. R. S.
and S. A. 1782, vol. ii. pp. 556, 558.
Wood, Hist. et Antiq. Univer. Oxon. 1679, lib. ii. p. 41.
T
274
THE LIFE OF
The religious distractions, in which the country
now began to be involved, evils in which the ma-
jority 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 be-
stowed. No steps were taken to further the ori-
ginal 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 con-
tinued 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 ap-
propriation of which has been specifically pre-
*Hist. et Antiq. Univers. Oxon. lib. ii. p. 41.
THOMAS LINACRE.
275
scribed, a more glaring one has seldom occurred
than the following, which recent inquiries have
been the means of exposing to the world. Tun-
stall, 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 uni-
versity of Oxford, for the performance of the ob-
ligations which the letters specified. Wood* ad-
mits 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
*Hist. et Antiq. Univers. Oxon. lib. ii. p. 41.
T 2
276
THE LIFE OF
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
now agreed that it should be transferred to the
college. The readers were to be elected trien-
nially; 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 Hippocra-
tes 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 re-
tained the appointment only twelve months. The
names of their successors are of too little import-
ance to merit enumeration.
The same influence, which prevented the in-
tention of the founder from being carried into ef-
fect 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
*Reg. Antiq. Coll. Merton, fol. 330 b. See also Lib. Sta-
tutorum ejusdem Coll. fol. 16; Wood's Hist. et Antiq. Univers.
Oxon. lib. ii. p. 41.
THOMAS LINACRE.
277
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 as-
signed by the Master and a majority of the eight
Seniors. The lecturer was to explain the treatises
of Galen De Sanitate Tuendâ 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 election 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
* Statuta Collegii Divi Johannis Evangelista Cantabrigiæ
Bibl. Harleian. 7050, cap. 17, fol. 28, b.
278
THE LIFE OF
labours was the design and execution of that
foundation, which exists as a monument of the
enlightened views and generosity of its projector.
The practice of medicine, when this scheme was
carried into effect, was scarcely elevated above
that of the mechanical arts; nor was the majority
of its practitioners amongst the laity better in-
structed, than the mechanics, by whom those arts
were exercised. With the diffusion of learning
through the republics and states of Italy, esta-
blishments solely for the advancement of science
had been formed with success; but no society,
devoted to the interests of learning, yet existed
in England, unfettered by an union with the hie-
rarchy, or exempted from the rigours and seclusion,
which were imposed upon its members, as the ne-
cessary obligations of a monastic and religious
life. The wealth, which the prelates of the middle
ages derived from the church, had reverted to it
in the creation of numerous collegiate establish-
ments, with endowments of the most ample and
liberal kind. The discipline, however, in these,
too closely assimilated with the houses of the
Benedictines, to be adduced as examples of an
institution, which was to provide a succession of
men devoted to one science, and possessed of the
learning without the indolence and vices, which
characterized a majority of the monastic orders of
the country. In reflecting on the advantages,
which had been derived from these institutions,
THOMAS LINACRE.
279
Linacre neither forgot their defects nor the im-
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 Linacre, and Fernandus
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
*
* The physicians first named in the letters patent as grantees
were probably selected as the best informed of the faculty of
medicine at that time residing in London. I could have wished
to have determined the respective portions of interest or of
means contributed by them, on their invitation to share in the
advantages of the new foundation, but, with the following ex-
ception, I have failed in obtaining any information or particulars
of their lives or actions.
Dr. John Chamber, a Northumbrian, appears to have been
designed for the priesthood in early life, from which, unlike
Linacre, who received ordination when of middle age, he derived
preferment before he attached himself to the study of medicine.
280
THE LIFE OF
privilege were added the powers of annually elect-
ing a president-of perpetual succession-and of
Of his family nothing is known, and Godwin (De Præsulibus
Anglia Comment.) has fallen into an error in confounding him
with one of the same name and profession, who surrendered the
abbacy to preside as bishop over the new-modelled foundation
of the monastery of Peterborough. In 1492 he was elected to
a fellowship of Merton College, in Oxford, about which time he
was also presented to the church of Tyckmarsh, in Hampshire.
In 1502 he travelled over Italy and studied at Padua, where he
graduated in medicine. On his return, in 1531, he was incor-
porated a doctor of the same faculty at Oxford. In 1508 he was
presented by the widow of the Lord Scrope, of Upsall, to the
church of Bowden, in Leicestershire, and became canon of
Windsor in 1510. In 1522 he obtained the prebend of Combe
and Harnham, in the church of Sarum; and, in 1524, was col-
lated to the archdeaconry of Bedford, by John Longland, Bishop
of Lincoln. Two years afterwards he was elected warden of
Merton College, to which he was a benefactor, where he is again
confounded by Wood with his namesake, the abbot, (Hist. ct
Antiq. Univers. Oxon. 1674, lib. ii. p. 86,) and, in 1536, sub-
scribed to the Articles of Faith, in a Convocation of the Clergy as
dean of the collegiate chapel of St. Stephen, Westminster. In
1544 he resigned the wardenship of Merton College, and in
1545 the treasurership of the church of Bath and Wells, of
which he had also been possessed. He held also the arch-
deaconry of Meath, from which he was exempted from residence
by letters patent from Henry VIII. on account of his attendance
on the king in quality of physician. He succeeded Linacre in
this station when the health of the latter precluded his residence
at court, and he was the messenger to him of the king's pleasure
that his translation of Galen's Method of Healing should be
dedicated to himself. He stood high in the estimation of his
sovereign, of which his pluralities are a proof. He appropriated
a part of his wealth to the church, from which he had obtained
it, by building cloisters to his collegiate chapel at an expense
of eleven thousand marks. This act of liberality was done at a
time when benefactions to the church were growing out of use,
THOMAS LINACRE.
281
the use of a common seal, with the liberty of
holding lands in fee, and of purchasing lands
whose annual value did not exceed £12. They
were permitted to hold assemblies, and to make
statutes and ordinances for the government and
correction of the college, and of all who exercised
the same faculty in London and within the distance
of seven miles thereof, with an interdiction from
practice to any individual unless previously licensed
by the president and college; four persons were
to be chosen yearly, to whom were consigned the
correction and government of physic and its pro-
fessors, together with the examination of all me-
dicines and the power of punishing offenders by
and when the current of individual wealth had begun to flow
into other channels. With his medical qualifications I am ac-
quainted only from a MS. Pharmacopeia of Plasters, Spasma-
draps and Unguents, in which are several recipes, which he
composed jointly with Drs. Butts, Cromer, and Ang, principally
for the king's use, (Sloane MSS. in Mus. Br. No. 1047.) The
mode in which these medicaments are directed to be prepared is
very complicated, and, like all the prescriptions of the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, contain, amongst a few efficacious
articles, many which are foreign, if not useless, to the purposes
for which they were designed. He died in 1549, and was buried
in the church of St. Margaret, Westminster, having lived to see
the destruction of the buildings which he had reared at such
great cost, and the appropriation of the revenues of his deanery
to the augmentation of the royal revenue. He left a son, John
Chamber, who was elected fellow of Merton College in 1569,
and presented to a canonry of Windsor in 1601. He died in
1604, with a bequest to his college of £1000, to purchase lands
in the diocese of York for the support of two scholars to be
elected from Eton school.
282
THE LIFE OF
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 pro-
bably been laid down in theory only, was found
inadequate to the ends for which the foundation
was designed. To obviate these inconveniences
* So literally was this power construed, that it is believed to
have occasioned some embarrassment to the censors in the prac-
tice of it. Some offenders had been committed under the autho-
rity of this clause, whom the gaoler refused to admit within the
walls of his prison, judging that the exercise of such a prero-
gative over the person of the subject, implied the commission of
crimes of corresponding magnitude and importance to the state,
and that they who had the power to commit, should also charge.
themselves with the custody of the offender, by acting in the
double capacity of magistrates and gaolers. To obviate any
further inconveniences of this kind, the statute, 1 Mary, sess. 2,
c. 9, was passed, by which all gaolers (the lieutenant of the
Tower alone excepted) within the city of London and a precinct
of seven miles are commanded to receive and safely keep all
such offenders as shall be committed to their custody by the pre-
sident of the college or such persons as by the said college shall
be thereunto authorised, upon pain, in case of disobedience,
of forfeiting double the amount of fine imposed upon offenders.
By the same statute it was also enacted, that all justices, mayors,
sheriffs, bailiffs, constables, and other officers in London, shall,
upon request made to them, assist the president of the college,
and persons by them authorized, in searching for faulty apothe-
cary wares, upon pain, for not giving such assistance, of running
into contempt of the queen, her heirs and successors.
THOMAS LINACRE.
283
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 other-
wise, 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 examina-
tion 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 pre-
viously 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 re-
specting the expediency and propriety of the foun-
dation, which he had matured by an experience of
* See Appendix.
284
THE LIFE OF
four years. Other laws were in existence to re-
strain 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 3 Hen. VIII.* no person within London,
or a distance of seven miles of the same, was au-
thorized to practise in either of the above capa-
cities 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
* This act is believed to be the earliest statute in this country
for regulating the practice of medicine. Sir William Browne
has given a copy of a petition, preserved amongst the Parliament
Rolls, 9 Hen. V. for prohibiting all persons from the practice of
medicine, except graduates from some university, with letters
testimonial of their sufficiency, under pain of imprisonment and
a fine of £40 to the king.—(Vindication of the Royal College of
Physicians, &c. London, 1753, p. 3.) No act, the consequence
of this petition, is to be found in the printed copies of the
statutes.
THOMAS LINACRE.
285
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 sug-
gested 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 privi-
leges, like all others within the ecclesiastical grasp,
were tardily resigned by the successors of the
grantees, and were, in fact, retained until the pro-
gress 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 insti-
tuted, the bishops exercised an imperium in imperio
by granting licenses for more than 150 years,
although they tacitly proclaimed their incompe-
tence to the exercise of this duty by calling to
their aid four physicians, to ascertain the qualifica-
tions 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
* Sloane MSS. in British Museum, No. 625, p. 1, and Life
of Colet, by Knight, Miscellanies, No. XVI. p. 459.
1
286
THE LIFE OF
supersede the incompetent tribunals just men-
tioned. The king contributed little to the under-
taking, 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 pro-
rogation 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 Car-
dinal Wolsey, probably originated in the enormous
power of that minister, through whom the petitions
* At a trial (Coll. v. Barker) holden at Guildhall before Mr.
Justice Nicholas, November 27, 1656, it was urged by Serjeant
Maynard that the king never gave his consent to the charter or
letters patent, as appeared by the rolls of that session of parlia-
ment. The reason, which he assigned, was, that the words le roy
le veult, the usual form of assent to a public act, were not sub-
scribed to the present. Mr. Finch, on the part of the college,
desired that the point might be put upon demurrer in law, after
the trial. The charter, after a long search, was discovered at
the Rolls, and it was found that none of that part of the act
which is in English in the book of statutes was there set down
in writing, but the law words of the charter only. Upon further
search at the Rolls the act of parliament itself was found, and
the solicitor for the prosecution had it exemplified under the
Great Seal in 1658, (see Appendix,) so that the charter is in one
roll and the act of parliament in another. With respect to the
objection that the words le roy le veult are not subscribed to the
act concerning physicians, it was answered that neither were the
same words subscribed to other acts preceding this, nor to any
that followed it, and that at the end of this roll it is said the
king having heard all the acts recited and read did confirm them,
and commanded that parliament to see them all observed.
THOMAS LINACRE.
287
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 una-
nimous 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 institu-
tion 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 col-
lege, but also to all men of the same faculty, and
the concerns thereof, without any limitation to
288
THE LIFE OF
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 desig-
nate it as Presidens et Collegium sive Communitas,
although it is to be sued per nomina Præsidentis
Collegii seu Communitatis.* 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
* See Appendix. At a plea holden at Kingston-upon-Thames
in 1655, the action being laid in nomine præsidentis collegü, seu
communitatis, &c. and the defendants pleading that it ought to
run in nomine præsidentis et collegii. The Lord Chief Baron
Steele saved it by putting a comma after the word " præsidentis,”
and betwixt it and collegii, making the name tantamount to præ-
sidentis et collegii. So also Mr. Serjeant Levinz, (Coll. v. Butler,
1695,) supposed the word et to be omitted by mistake, and con-
sidered the name of incorporation to be Presidens et Collegium,
sive Communitas, conceiving, however, that they might sue by the
other name as there were no negative words, an opinion to which
the courts have uniformly assented, by overruling all objections
as to the designation of the college in the various trials in which
they have been engaged as plaintiffs.
THOMAS LINACRE.
289
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 im-
portance, 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 sove-
reign 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
* The charter of Charles II., 26th March, 1663, enlarged the
provisions of the first letters patent, and directed that the college
should in future consist of forty fellows, of whom there should
be one president, ten elects, and four censors. The Lord Chan-
cellor or Lord Keeper, the Chief Justices of the Courts of King's
Bench and Common Pleas, and the Chief Baron of the Exchequer
were constituted visitors. The college was also to be called the
President, Fellows and Commonalty of the King's College of
Physicians in London. The visitorial jurisdiction, supposed to
have been established by this charter, was overruled in the peti-
tion or appeal of Dr. Isaac Schomberg to the above individuals.
on a demur of the college to his right of admission to a fellowship..
-Vindication of the Royal College of Physicians, by Sir Wm.
Browne. Lond. 1755.
U
290
THE LIFE OF
seal to an instrument of surrender of their privi-
leges, 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 honarary fellows
without any assigned cause.* The Revolution ter-
minated 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 obe-
dient to its views. By it the grants of former
charters to the college were confirmed, and a
* A singular proof of the designs of James II. in obtaining
the surrender of the old charters and in granting new ones, is
manifested in the present, and probably in other instances of the
same date. The charters of James I. and Charles II. expressly
provided that the rights and privileges, which they conferred,
should receive the confirmation of parliament, without which
they would be null and void. No such provision is included in
the charter of James II. The king meditated an absolute sove-
reignty, and such a confirmation would have been fatal to his
designs. The various powers and privileges given to the college
affected persons not members of it, and vast numbers of other
subjects were also interested in them. "By this measure" (said
the Chancellor Hardwicke)" the crown, by its prerogative, took
all the persons out of the jurisdiction of the king's court, de-
prived them of the benefit of trial and judgment according to
the law of the land, and subjected them to a private and domestic
jurisdiction. The king attempted to create a summary judicial
power or jurisdiction, to proceed in a method and by rules dif-
ferent from the common law, which could only be done by
parliament."
THOMAS LINACRE.
291
power given to the king in council to remove the
president, elects, fellows, censors, and other offi-
cers 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 ex-
tended 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, can-
didates 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 dis-
tinct body and an established rank. In the year
1584 it was enacted, that no person should be ad-
mitted a candidate who had not been a licentiate for
the space of twelve months. No specific acquire-
ments or qualifications had, however, yet been pre-
scribed and it was not until the year 1555 that this
question was agitated, when the college either in-
terfered 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
U 2
292
THE LIFE OF
former, by right of the degrees which had been
conferred by the university of Oxford.*
The
*The history of this transaction, which is found in the annals
of the college for the year 1555, affords a proof of the anxiety.
of its members to fulfil the intentions of the founder and to dis-
charge the obligations to which they had bound themselves at
their admission. The university of Oxford had admitted Simon
Ludford, originally a Franciscan friar and afterwards an apo-
thecary in London, and David Laughton, a coppersmith, two
ignorant, unlettered and incompetent persons, to the honours of
the baccalaureate in medicine. The college reproved the uni-
versity by letter, recommending that the vote which conferred
the degrees should be rescinded, and advising a more cautious
conduct in the future dispensation of them. With the former
the university did not think it fit to comply, and the college was
meditating further proceedings, when the inquisition of the
Cardinal Pole, in 1556, for the reformation of religion and faith,
and the correction of collegiate abuses, enabled them to pro-
secute their appeal with more effect. The college immediately
laid their complaints before the visitors, to whom they gave the
following specimen of Laughton's pretensions. "Cujus infantia
cum suggessit, ut quomodo corpus declinaretur, exigeremus,
respondit-hic, hæc et hoc corpus, accusativo corporem;" adding,
46
egregius certè ex universitate medicus, cui humana vita com-
mitteretur." The visitors interdicted the University from a
repetition of this licence, and provided that a certain course of
study should be followed by each candidate previously to his
incorporation. The coppersmith appears to have abandoned
the further honours of the profession in despair, but his col-
league, whose pretensions were not a degree higher, was not to
be so easily diverted from his purpose, and, when he found the
doors of congregation in one University closed against him,
betook himself to Cambridge, in the hope of prosecuting his
claim with better success. Here, however, a remonstrance
from the college awaited him, and he failed in his purpose, as he
justly deserved to do, with the following character as his herald
"Illud scimus, imperitiorem multò, multò indoctiorem esse
hominem, quàm ut medici nostri, aut vel infimo in medicinâ
THOMAS LINACRE.
293
deficiencies of these candidates drew forth a re-
monstrance 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 philo-
gradui respondere ullo modo possit. Hujus inscitiæ periculum
fecimus in collegio nostro 17 calend. Marcii, anno 1553, ses-
sione habitâ ejus rei gratiâ. Quo sanè tempore non aliud elu-
cebat præter cæcam audaciam: nam rei medicinæ studium, nec
philosophiæ, nec liberalium scientiarum vel gustus quidem aut
levis tinctura, nec vel puerilis mediocritas in respondendo
nobis hominem commendabant, si quid in nobis est judicium.
Eam ob rem communibus suffragiis et concordi omnium con-
sensu indicatum est, ne admitteretur." This correspondence
occupied several months, and occurred during the presidency of
Dr. John Caius, the successor, and in many respects the imitator
of Linacre, of whose zeal it deserves to be recorded as a proof
This physician died in 1560. Notwithstanding the previous
conduct and declarations of the college, it seems that Ludford
was afterwards admitted a fellow, as there is the following entry
on the college books:-"7mº Aprilis, 1563: In comitiis extraor-
dinariis ascriptus est in collegium Simon Ludforde, Bedfordien-
sis, Medicinæ Doctor Oxon."
294
THE LIFE OF
sophy 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 re-
quired honours, if he were then found competent.
This was the first systematic plan of education
prescribed in this country for the faculty of me-
dicine. It made literature and philosophy the
basis of the practice of the art; and to the adop-
tion 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. Bene-
dict, Paul's Wharf. It was distinguished by the
name of the Stone House, probably from the mate-
rial with which it was built, and which was then
rare and costly, and but seldom employed in
private residences during the fifteenth and six-
teenth centuries. Of this house he made an
assignment to the college,* retaining a part for the
* In every account of this transaction, which I have seen, it
is stated that Linacre bequeathed this house to the college.
No such bequest is mentioned in his will (See Appendix), and
had such a provision been made, the bequest would have been
void by the Statute of Mortmain.
THOMAS LINACRE.
295
use of himself and family during his life.
The
site of this mansion still forms a part of the pos-
sessions 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 in-
stitution 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 com-
petent 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 ef
fected amidst the paroxysms of an infirmity, per-
296
THE LIFE OF
haps 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 per-
fection to which his enlightened mind would other-
wise 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 extra-
neous body which it contained.* The sacrifices,
* Erasmi Epist. Rot. Francisco Medico. Edit. Leid. p. 1814.
The letters of Erasmus contain many allusions to the calcu-
lous disorders under which he also laboured. They were a
source of frequent complaint, not only from the pain which they
occasioned, but from the expense to which they subjected him.
for medical aid, which was seldom, like that of Linacre, gratui-
tously bestowed. In one letter he writes to Archbishop Warham,
"Incidit Erasmo tuo periculosa et omnium gravissima cum
calculo conflictatio. Deventum in manus medicorum et phar-
macopolarum, hoc est, carnificum et harpyiarum.” To which the
archbishop replies, "Quid sibi volunt saxa in corpusculo tuo?
Aut quid super hanc petram inædificandum est? non enim con-
struendo es magnificas domos vel ejusmodi quippiam ut opinor:
quocircâ quum non sint è re tuâ calculi, cures quamprimùm te
superfluo onere laborare, desque pecuniam ut auferantur ii lapi-
des, secus quàm ego quotidiè do pecuniam, ut lapides afferantur
ad mea ædificia. Id quòd ut faciliùs facias, nec tibi desis, dedi
filio cujusdam aurifabri Londinensis triginta angelatos, quos in
decem legiones mutatos velim: id auri pharmacum nonnihil
energiæ in se continet, eo utere ad salutem, quam tibi emere
THOMAS LINACRE.
297
which Linacre was compelled to make in conse-
quence of his disease, were many and great, and
commenced at that period of life when the facul-
ties 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
multò pluris cupiam.-Ex Londino, v. Feb. ann. 1512."—Epist.
Lugd. Bat. 1706, Pars. I. p. 117, Ep. cxxxiv. From the same
correspondence I am enabled to give a solitary specimen of
Linacre's practice, which was attended with success in resolving
a nephritic paroxysm. The principle of action of the remedy ist
obvious. "Calculus
"Calculus è potu cerevisiæ conceptus hæserat in sinu
quopiam sex hebdomadas; interim non urgebat quidem dolor,
sed ipsa natura solicita ac dejecta monebat subesse magnum
periculum. Remedium non priùs scies, quàm indicem aucto-
rem. Is erat Thomas Linacrus:-Accersitus pharmacopola :
decoctum in cubiculo meo pharmacum; admotum ipso præsente
medico. Bis admotum fuerat, et mox à somno sum enixus cal-
culum parem nucleo amygdalino. Hujus remedii vice, Germani
utuntur balneis. Verùm hoc quùm idem efficiat, multò para-
bilius est. Camamillos [chamamelon] ac petroselinum involvo
linteo, decoquo in vase puro, aquâ mundâ, fervore usque ad dimi-
dium: linteum ut est fervens, eximo ex ollâ et humore celeritèr
quantum potest expresso, admoveo lateri. Si fervor est into-
lerabilis, sacculum in quo sunt herbæ, obvolvo linteo sicco, sic
ut velut ansis hinc atque hinc teneri possit. Et si initio latus
non fert contactum ob fervorem, suspendo supra locum, ut vapor
efficiat corpus, donec fervor cœperit esse tolerabilis. Mox
compono me ad somnum, post quem si recrudescat dolor, refer-
vefactum linteum admoveo. Id à me nunquam bis factum est,
quin calculus descenderit ad loca vicina vesicæ, in quibus dolor
est mitior. Id tamen præsidium fefellit me primum in proximo
nixu.”—Erasmus ad Bilibaldum Perkheimerum-Mattaire Annal.
Typograph. tom. ii. p. 661.
298
THE LIFE OF
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 occasion-
ally 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 sup-
plied 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 learn-
ing and professional skill, enumerating at the same
time his writings, and the institutions of which he
was the parent. 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 comme-
morated in one common ruin and desolation.
*See Appendix.
+ Id.
THOMAS LINACRE.
299
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 his death.* It carries evi-
dence 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 dissolu-
tion. After providing for his burial, he discharges
the obligations of his soul and conscience by be-
quests 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 testimentary 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 Tho-
mas he bequeaths the sum 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
* See Appendix.
300
THE LIFE OF
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 re-
garded 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 Theo-
critus and Pindar, with comments; of the Decla-
mations 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. Ste-
phen, Westminster, the same individuals who were
* This individual appears also as a witness to the present
will. He was in priest's orders and was intimate with Erasmus,
Linacre, Colet, and Latimer. In the collected letters of Eras-
mus is one dated from Louvain, 1519, in which he condoles with
him on Colet's death, and solicits materials for his biography.
He was also remembered by Colet in his will, who bequeathed
to him £6: 13s. 4d. in money to support him in his virtue.
THOMAS LINACRE.
301
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 adminis-
tration was also granted to the executors in the
person of Andrew Smith, a notary public.
302
THE LIFE OF
CONCLUSION.
The character of Linacre has been drawn in
high but not undeserved terms, by those who were
best qualified to give an opinion of his merits. It
has been questioned whether he was a better
Latinist or Grecian, a better grammarian or phy-
sician, a better scholar or man for his moral quali-
fications. For his accurate skill in the Greek and
Latin tongues, in other sciences, and in his own
profession, he was esteemed the ornament of his
age. By his endeavours Galen speaks better
Latin in the translation than he did Greek in the
original; and Aristotle shines not more in his
Attic than in his Latin garb.
* See Fuller's Worthies of England, 2 vols. Lond. 1811,
Derbyshire. Erasmus is not less eloquent in praise of his friend
in the following passages which occur in his letters :-" Tandem
apud nos præstare cœpit Galenus à Linacro versus, qui mihi
supra modum placet. Posthàc et medicum fieri juvat. Mitto
dono libros Galeni, operâ Linacri, melius Romanè loquentes,
quàm anteà Græcè loquebantur.”—Erasmi Epistolæ apud Froben.
p. 363. "Est apud Britannos vir undequàque doctissimus Thomas
Linacrus,―multis annis elimatas lucubrationes suas vicissìm
edit in lucem. Prodiit Galenus Tερi Twν vyıɛɩvõv tantâ fide,
tantâ luce, tanto Romani sermonis nitore reditus, ut nihil unquàm
desideret lector Latinus; imò nihil non melius reperiat, quàm
apud Græcos habeatur. Successerunt libri Therapeutices, quos
THOMAS LINACRE.
303
Linacre selected for his models in composition
the works of Quintilian and Aristotle, rather than
those of Cicero, at least his orations and other
rhetorical works. His style is remarkable for its
elegance, propriety and conciseness. Erasmus has
found fault with him for being too elaborate;* and
(C
scis quales antehàc habuerimus."—Ibid. lib. 10, Ep. 27, p. 365.
Apud Britannos studio Thomæ Linacri sic nuper disertus cœpit
esse Galenus, ut in suâ linguâ parùm disertus videri possit.
Ejusdem operâ sic Latinè legitur Aristoteles, ut, licet Atticus,
vix in suo sermone parem habeat gratiam."—Ibid. lib. 15, Ep. 17,
p. 494.
"Sunt illi permulta in scriniis, magno usui futura
studiosis. His monumentis vir ille consuluit immortalitati sui
nominis, his ornat suam Angliam, his aulam regiam illustrat,
atque ipsum in primis principem, cui medicus est primarius.".
Ibid. p. 365. Pits (De Illustribus Angliæ Scriptoribus,) bears
similar testimony to the character of Linacre." Erat tam in-
signis politioris literæ cultor et amator, ut in elegantiâ Latini
sermonis, et styli puritate, vix illi similem quemquam sua viderit
ætas. Quo nomine penè apud omnes eruditos sui temporis ad-
mirationem concitavit, amorem conciliavit. Grammaticus opti-
mus, elegans poeta, Rhetor disertus, medicorum planè phoenix,
Græcæ linguæ peritissimus. Omnes quotquot unquàm fuerunt.
Galeni interpretes longè superavit, atque ità elegantèr ejus
operâ pleraque Latina fecit, ut collatione utriusque texûs factâ,
Galenus minùs eloquens in Græco, quàm Linacer in Latino
videatur sermone." See also Joan. Balæus de Scriptoribus Bri-
tannicis.-Beza in Act. 10, ver. 15.-Huetius de Claris Inter-
pretibus, 4to. Paris, 1661.-Baillet Jugemens des Savans, par
Mr. de la Monnoye, 4to. Amsterdam, tome ii. pp. 307, 388.—
Wood's Athenæ Oxonienses, with Additions by Bliss, London,
1813, vol. i. col. 20.
*Linacrum novi, virum undequàque doctissimum; sed sic
affectum erga Ciceronem, ut etiamsi potuisset utrumlibet, priùs
habuisset esse Quinctiliano similis quàm Ciceroni; non ità
304
THE LIFE OF
Sir John Cheke* has censured him for not being
Ciceronian enough in his style, and represents
him as, out of some morose humour, an enemy to
that author; at the same time, however, he could
not refrain from doing justice to his character for
medical knowledge, on which he passes a high
encomium.
That Linacre was of a great natural sagacity
and of a discerning judgment in his own profession,
we have the concurrent testimony of the most
multò in hunc æquior, quàm est Græcorum vulgus. Urbani-
tatem nusquam affectat, ab affectibus abstinet religiosiùs quàm
ullus Atticus, breviloquentiam et elegantiam amat, ad docendum
intentus. Aristotelem et Quinctilianum studuit exprimere."-
Erasmus in Dialogo Ciceroniano, p. 83.
"At tu, si mihi permittis ut liberè tecum agam, sine fine
premis tuas omnium erudissimas lucubrationes, ut periculum sit,
ne pro cauto modestoque crudelis habearis, qui studia hujus
sæculi tam lentâ torqueas expectatione tuorum laborum, ac tàm
diu fraudes desideratissimo fructu tuorum voluminum."-Eras-
mus Linacro sun, Epistolæ apud Froben, p. 451.
*Fecit in medicinâ tantum, quantum alius Latinus illius.
ætatis quisquam. Et quamdiu in medicinâ se continet, tamdiù
laudem singularem habet; sin foràs serpat, et oratores carpat,
videat ne ultra crepidam progrediatur. Nam quanquam in
transferendis Galeni libris, laus ejus est propè singularis: tamen
si de acumine et celeritate ingenii disputatur, aut de rebus popu-
laribus gravitèr et disertè tractandis, in eo si nunc viveret, aliis
laudem concederet, medicinam ipse assumeret. Et tamen cur
tam fastidiosus esset in audiendo Cicerone, nescio. Illud vide-
mus, omnes quos ille libros de Latini sermonis structurâ com-
posuit, exemplis Ciceronis abundare: ut non
non tàm fortassè
neglexerit, quàm animi quâdam morositate videri voluit neg-
lexisse.”—Joannes Chekus De Pronunciatione Græcâ.
THOMAS LINACRE.
305
knowing of his cotemporaries. In many cases,
which were considered desperate, his practice was
successful. In the case of his friend, Lilye, he
foretold his certain death, if he submitted to the
opinion of some rash persons who advised him,
and prevailed with him to have a malignant stru-
mous tumour in his hip cut off, and his prognostic
was justified by the event.
In private life he had an utter detestation of
every thing that was dishonourable; he was a
faithful friend, and was valued and beloved by all
ranks in life. He showed a remarkable kindness
to young students in his profession; and those,
whom he found distinguished for ingenuity, mo-
desty, learning, good manners, or a desire to excel,
he assisted with his advice, his interest and his
purse.*
"In short," (to use the words of Dr. Friend,)
"he was, in his own time, reckoned by the best
judges a man of a bright genius and a clear under-
standing, as well as of unusual knowledge in dif-
ferent parts of learning; and his works, which are
* A just encomium has been given of Linacre by an anony-
mous editor of his translation of Galen de Symptomatibus.
"Linacrus-vir ut utriusque linguæ doctissimus, ità recondi-
tarum artium cum primis eruditus: qui studiosos omnes [dum
vixerat] ad meliorem illam mentem non modò adhortabatur,
verùm etiam maximis muneribus et fovere et alere solebat, ut
non immeritò tanquam alter Maecenas doctis hominibus ha
beretur."
X
306
THE LIFE OF
now extant, will fully satisfy us that he deserved
this character. He was one, who, both living and
dead, by his writings and benefactions, has done
great honour not only to his profession but also to
his country."*
* History of Physic, by J. Friend, M.D. London, 1726.
vol. ii. pp. 407, 409.
APPENDIX.
* 2
APPENDIX.
I.
(Page 246.)
[Gulielmi Budæi Epistolæ. 4to. Basil. 1521. p. 25.]
Thomas Linacrus Medicus, Gulielmo Budæo, viro unde-
cunque doctissimo nobilissimoque,
S. P. D.
Cum tua in me, doctissime Budæe, præsertim immeren-
tem officia reputo, incertus agor gratulandum ne mihi
fortunæ meæ magis sit, an contrà de eâ querendum. Ita
me, magnitudine eorum si rectè æstimentur, reddis anci-
pitem. Cum enim vel benignitatem tuam æstimo, quâ me
primum elegantissimo doctissimoque opere tuo ultro do-
nâsti; vel candorem ac generositatem animi, quo laudes
meas (sicuti arbitror omnium soles,) sine invidiâ nutris et
foves; non parum mihi gratulari debere fortunæ meæ
videor, quæ te talem mihi amicum conciliavit. Nam nostras
certè laudes quid tu aliud quàm nutris ac foves? Qui
quod officere his posset, nihil hærere in lucubratiunculis
meis sordidum immundumve sinis; necdum id efficias, vel
temporis ullius jacturæ vel labori parcis. In quo tamen
tibi quoque consulere non nihil videri potes, qui tersis
politisque tibi esse eminendum potius quàm parum mundis
statuis. Emines autem profectò ferè omnibus quantum
cateris nymphis ὀμερικη Λητω, πασεων δυπερ ηγε καρη εχει
ηδε μετωπα. Adeo jam eminentiâ ipsâ securus, minùs
mirum est si de æmulo non dubitas. Cùm verò veluti
alteram paginam inspiciens, nihil in me esse animadverto,
quo tantis meritis tuis respondeam: meritò de fortunâ meâ
queror, quæ mihi quod aliàs summa voluptas foret, invidit:
ηδυσον γαρ οισθα ουτις ερᾶται τυχεῖν. Mihi verò vel in
310
APPENDIX.
primis esset votis, ut tecum aliquando paria facerem.
Cæterum quæ tuæ est naturæ mira felicitas, tu ipse hâc
quoque parte occurris, tantâque solicitudine non parum nos
levas, qui pro magnitudine animi tui, et propria (non du-
bito) egregii facti conscientiâ es contentus, et nostram in-
vicem boni consules, qui tam herclè mihi promptissimè
reponendi officii voluntatis sum conscius, quàm tantæ sum
facultatis inops. Quâ tum unâ ratione licet non ingrato
esse; et nunc ago tibi gratias quas possum maximas, et id
sedulò agam, ut nec loci nec temporis occasioni defuisse
usque videar, quin commemorando, scribendo, prædicando
παντα λίθον χινων, και όλως παντα γενόμενος, summa in me
merita tua perpetuo testificer. Επεμψα δε σοι δακτυλίες τινας,
ους ηδε σοι δοθεντας πειθομαι. ατελες πανυ, ει προς την τιμην
αυτων αποβλέπεις, δώρον, ει δε προς την δυναμιν, ουκ ανεπιτήδειον
ισως της ημων φιλιας ενεχυρον δακτυλίους δε και γαμόντων και
διδασκαλων και ενωχησομενων βεβαιον πισιν ουτοι δε και το
βασιλέως ημων ἀφιερωθέντες, αλεξιτηριον σπασμών απαντῶν ειναι
νομίζονται· ωσθ' ιερους οντας, φιλίας, ιερό, χρηματος, ουκ αλ
λοτριον ητι δεσμον, είναι η μνημοσυνον· συ δ' ουν αυτές, όπως αν
ἔχωσιν, μετ' ευνοίας πεμφθέντας, ευνοίκως ἀποδεξη.
Κελτών λογιωτάτε. Londini quarto Idas Junias.
Έρρωσο
II.
(Page 170.)
[Thomæ Linacri Britanni in Procli Diadochi Sphæram Præfatio. Prefixed to
the Aldine Edition printed in 1499.]
Ad Illustrissimum Arcturum Cornubiæ Valliæque Princi-
pem.
Cùm statuissem, Arcture Princeps Illustrissime et to-
tius ævi tui decus, pro meâ incredibili erga te pietate, sum-
mâque observantiâ, mearum lucubrationum monumentum
APPENDIX.
311
aliquod tibi nuncupare, succurrebat in primis Procli
Sphæra, dignum, ni fallor, opus, cui tu præsertim aliquam
partem studiorum tuorum impertias. Quippe qui secundus
ex omni majorum numero extitisti, qui gentili syderis no-
mine vocarere: hùc accedit quod non parùm adjumenti
præstabit, vel ad poetarum lectionem (cui te incumbere miro
jam successu coepisse intelligo) vel ad celebrium locorum
situs, naturæque cognitionem, quæ reliquam quoque ætatem,
post publicas solicitudines jucundissimâ voluptate recreet
atque reficiat. Neque enim ea cognitio aliâ ratione para-
bilis et præsertìm tibi, cui per occupationes regni, peragrare
orbem minimè licebit, quàm ex iis libris, qui prorsus intel-
ligi sine Sphæræ notitiâ non possunt. Id quod firmissimis
rationibus addicerem, nisi vererer ne nimiùm longa præfatio,
operis compendio parùm quadraret. Feci itàque tibi è
græco latinum Proclum de Sphærâ disserentem, non quòd
anteà latinè de eâ proditum etiàm ab homine nostrate non
sit, sed quòd multò certè melius à Proclo: ut taceam, si
quid in nostrate requirimus, quod etiàm per alium è nostris
quoque modo sarciri, non fuerit fortassis alienum. Hanc,
inclyte Princeps, tuâ occasione legent studiosi: leges et tu
cùm tibi commodum videbitur maximâ indidem (nisi
nimiùm operis amore labor) cum spe fructus. Simul illud
interim admonitus, si quod ex eâ linguâ desideras, in quâ
omnis humanitatis monumenta sunt condita, quod vel
tuorum publicis studiis vel tuis, quæ magis et publica sunt,
conducere putaris, non deesse ex Britannis tuis, qui tibi
nonnihil fortassis in ea re gratificari possint. Utinam
tàm possint quàm velint. Sed nunc Proclum ipsum, si
libet, loquentem audies perinde tamen, ac si in Græciâ
esset. Ad cujus certè horizonta sphæram pinxit. Quod
ità statìm ingressu operis significasse, non fuerit fortassis
ab re.
312
APPENDIX.
III.
(Page 208.)
[Galeni de Sanitate tuendà Libri sex Thomâ Linacro Anglo Interprete.
Parisiis per Guilelmum Rubeum Typographum, M.D.XVII.]
Invictissimo illustrissimoque Henrico octavo Angliæ regi,
domino Hiberniæ, ac Walliæ Cornubiæque principi,
Thomas Linacrus, Medicus suus, salutem plurimam
dicit.
Cum multi tibi quotidie, Henrice regum clarissime,
splendore gloriâque nominis tui allecti; multa quæ te variè
oblectent, certatìm afferant: alius generosos equos, alius
insignes canes, alius aurum argentumve; sed quorum
ingenii cujuspiam opus materiam superet: ego cùm ejus-
modi facultatibus minimè abundem, nihil vel officio meo
vel professione dignius inveni, quàm ut tibi studiorum
meorum monumentum aliquod dicarem. Quo fieret ut
simul otii quod per indulgentiam tuam à justo tibi minis-
terio aliquandò suffuror, ratio tibi constet, simul intelligas
me non modo horis iis quibus te præsens fruor; sed etiam
reliquis omnibus id pro viribus moliri, quod tibi aliquandò
gratum fore existimem. Delegi igitùr potissimùm ex iis
quæ nuper verti Galeni opus quod De Sanitate tuendâ
inscribitur, opus scilicèt vel authoris merito, vel suo præ-
stantissimum. Quippe author ipse tantus in omni medendi
arte fuit, ut non immeritò tùm patriam suam nobilitarit,
tùm seculum illustrarit: qui summis alioqùi viris, qui ante
eum vel condidisse artem vel plurimum auxisse sunt visi,
omnibus plane, cùm ab Hippocrate discesseris, umbram
sui nominis claritate induxit: atque hunc ipsum solus nobis
suâ partim interpretatione, partim commendatione servavit.
Qui, nisi hujus fusa jucundaque claritas suppetias tulisset,
ut minimè à nobis intellectus, ità planè fuisset neglectus.
1
APPENDIX.
313
Posteris verò adeò omnem laudis materiam in medicinâ
præripuit, ut nihil illis ad laudem reliqui ferè fecerit.
Declarant eorum opera, à quibus si, quæ ab illo sunt mu-
tuati, detraxeris: tam pauca ea quæ restant incultaque
comperias, ut horatianæ corniculæ exemplo risum moveant.
Atque utinam tantum risum moverent, ac non sæpè jus-
tissimam potiùs indignationem, cùm multa perniciosa sint,
multa viciosè perperàmque tradita, pleraque omnia quæ
scribunt adeò ambigua obscuraque, ut posteà etiàm quàm
verbosissimos interpretes fatigârunt, Edipi alicujus Apol-
linisve opem adhuc desideret. Quo minùs mirum est, si
hìc tanta posteris invidia fuit, ut summa eorum ingenia
nonnullum doloris sui remedium putarint, si ex innumera-
bilibus quæ scripsit, minutias aliquas taxare et carpere
potuerint. Quamquàm idem rursùs adeò omnem eorum
invidiam vicit; ut illi ipsi qui carpere in eo quicquam sunt
ausi; omnes tamen, quò invidiam suam dissimularent, eum
priùs laudare sint coacti. Adeò quòd quidam sibi impro-
bissimè arrogavit, qui se iatronicem inscripsit, id huic omnes
verissimè attestemur: qui si universæ virtutes ejus æstimen-
tur, medicos omnes quique priores se, quique posteriores
fuerunt, planè vicit. Opus verò ipsum quanta sit præstan-
tia vel quamlibet ejus dotem expendenti facile appareat.
Sive (quam curiosus quispiam anquireret) ejus originem,
quam constat ipsam fuisse naturam, quæ tantùm non vivâ
voce, instrumentorum quæ nobis tribuit officiis, summas hìc
traditæ artis insinuavit. Sive quibus exculta sit ingeniis,
cum iisdem quibus omnis philosophia speciosissimæque
artium, et inventæ sunt, et absolutæ,-quippe qui proptereà
quòd iis incubuerunt, quæ sicut animo salutaria, sic corpori
fuere inimica: ab hâc sibi petere auxilium necesse habuere.
Sive (quæ mihi ad solidam ejus laudem magis pertinere.
videntur) magnitudinem eorum quæ promittit et perficit.
Quandò illud sine quo nihil est in vitâ dulce, et quod, non
314
APPENDIX.
quolibet testimonio, sed Delphici ipsius oraculi, in vitâ
perhibent optimum, perpetuum sibi auscultatibus præstat.
Sive ejus supra reliquas medicinæ partes quæ corpori
hominis tuendo sunt inventæ, præstantiam: vel eam quæ
instantes morbos præcavet, vel quæ presentes eliminat.
Eas namque tanto intervallo precedere intelligetur, quanto
ipsius gratia illarum muneribus multo est communior, eòque
non immeritò desideratior. Cum sanitas nulli non ætati,
non tempori, sit expetenda, illarum præsidia tùm demùm
sint usui, cùm jam morbus, vel minatur vel urget. Proin-
deque hujus (ut breviter dicam) bonitas paci, illarum
militum virtuti, sit quàm simillima, quorum usum, nisi in
bello, constat nunquam esse concupiscendum. Et author
quidem atque opus ejusmodi sunt. Si qui latinitati à me
donati minores fortassè cuipiam videbuntur, quàm sunt a
me prædicati: erit id fateor infantiæ meæ maximè impu-
tandum nisi etiam eorum virtuti utpotè quàm pro merito
exequare nec modestus quispiam speraverit, nec temerarius
possit. Quo etiàm justius et tibi lucubrationes has dican-
das censui, (ex cujus authoritate multum pretii illis acces-
surum non dubitavi, multa enim (ut ille ait) ideò preciosa
sunt, quod templis dicata) et à legentibus veniam faciliùs
speraverim, si ingenuè cedens in iis quæ consequi, nedum
evincere non erat, in eo aliquid perfeci quod detrectare non
licuit. Nam ut cùm elucutione authoris certandum mihi
non fuit, certè rerum fides non erat omni conatu non ade-
unda quam præstiterim necne: libuit publicum judicium
experiri, idque etiam sub nomine potissimum tuo. Quod
tamen ut facerem animus mihi planè defuisset, tametsi me
viri doctissimi, partìm ex Italis, partìm ex Germanis et
Gallis, præcipuè duo nostræ ætatis lumina, Budæus et Eras-
mus, ad editionem operis crebrâ me appellatione impulissent,
nisi singularis tua spectataque omnibus humanitas, boni se
consulturam promitteret. Hæc enim præcipua profectò
APPENDIX.
315
fiducia est: quæ si me non frustrabitur, et litterarium hoc
munusculum lætâ fronte accipies: non mihi modò majora
quæ premo edendi animum addideris, sed etiam alios ex
tuis ad multa quæ te et sæculum fortasse tuum illustrent,
scribenda excitabis. Diu vivas precor Regum splendor, et
sæculi tui decus. Londini xvi. Calen. Quintiles. Anno
salutis Christianæ M.D.xvij.
IV.
(Page 213.)
[Prefixed in MS. to the presentation copy on vellum of the translation of
Galen De Sanitate tuendâ, in the British Museum. Printed at Paris by
Rubeus in 1517.]
Reverendissimo in Christo Patri et Domino, Domino
Thomæ, divinâ providentiâ Tituli Sanctæ Ceciliæ Pres-
bytero Cardinali, Archiepiscopo Eboracensi, Apostolicæ
sedis Legato, Angliæ Primati et Cancellario: Thomas
Linacrus Medicus debitam observantiam.
Quas proximè lucubrationes meas Clarissimo Regi nostro
dedicavi, earum, Reverendissime Pater, exemplum nunc ad
te mitto. Quo tuæ quoque sanitati pro virili, secundum
illius, consulam. Id quod optimo jure me facere existimo,
cùm tu ejus tranquillati, serenatatique ità consulis ne (quod
indignissimum alioqui sit,) curæ ullæ sanitatem ejus possint
convellere. Utinamque ipse per immensas occupationes
tuas lucubrationes has posses perlegere. Invenies (nisi me
nimium amor operis fallit) quod nonnihil ex stomacho tuo
evocet. Qui pro singulari eruditione tuâ, non protinus
quidlibet, sed tantum quod solida ratio munivit, adınittis.
Hìc autem nihil est gratis (ut aiunt) dictum. Sed omnia,
partìm certa methodo inventa, partìm firmissimis rationibus.
316
APPENDIX.
sic asserta, ut mille circiter, et trecentis annis (tot enim sunt
ex quo author vixit,) nihil à quoque in his sit refutatum.
Sed sive tu eas releges, acerrimoque judicio tuo perpendes,
sive is qui pro tuâ sanitate tuendâ noctes diesque vigilare
pro officio debet; facilè deprehendi ex ipsis poterit, quibus
rebus utens, quibusque abstinens, non tutissimus modò à
morbis sis, sed etiam senectutem tuam longissimè differas.
Cùm interim nec illud operæ pretium esse non possit, quod
ex his commentariis, priscorum quoque victûs omnis ratio
intelligetur. Quæ si cui minus fortassè probabitur, quod
videlicet à nostrâ nonnihil dissidet; is meminisse debebit,
eorum hanc calculo fuisse comprobatam, quorum hactenus
sapientiam in omni reliquâ vitæ parte nunquam satis mira-
mur. Quo magis hanc nostram potius suspectam habere
decet, proptereà quod ab illa tíñe aliena. Vale.
V.
(Page 213.)
[From a MS. copy inserted in the edition of the translation of Galen De
Sanitate tuendâ printed at Paris by Rubeus, 1517, in the library of the
College of Physicians in London.]
Reverendo in Christo Patri et Domino, Domino Richardo,
divinâ providentiâ Wyntoniensi Episcopo, Thomas Li-
nacrus Medicus salutem plurimam dicit.
Cùm tu, Præsul amplissime, ità studiis consulis, ut cor-
poris quidèm alimenta non exiguo studiosorum numero
deesse non possint, animi verò etiàm toti gymnasio abun-
dent; quorum sicuti priore nulli usque nostratium, quos
simile studium habuit, cedis; ità secundò planè omnes
qui hactenus ferè superas: neminem arbitror Angliâ præ-
ertìm nominis studiosiorum esse, qui se frugiferum aliquid
APPENDIX.
317
ex studiis prompturum speret, qui tibi ejus aliquid non
quasi justum debeat, quo tibi dum se non ingratum probet.
Sanctissimum pientissimumque hoc tuum institutum magis
magisque tibi commendet. Ego certè quæ lucubravi tum
hoc communi nomine debere tibi me censeo, tum illo privato
quod sanitati tuæ (cui literati omnes benè precari debent,)
nonnihil his consuluero. Mitto igitur ad te hoc codice,
sex Galeni de tuendâ Sanitate libros, quos proximè ut potui
Latinos feci. Optaremque lectione tuâ dignos, nisi id
omninò vota superaret. Nunc agi mecum præclarè putabo,
si à Doctorum, quos in contubernio tecum habes, lectione
non abhorrebunt: si enim (nisi fallor) multa-in his depre-
hendent, quibus si usus fueris non sanitate modo magìs
integra, verùm etiàm longiore vitâ ad ea perficienda, quæ
magnificè simul et summâ cum pietate cepisti, fruere.
Quod ut tibi felicitèr contingat, ipse certè adeò Optimo
Maximo omnibus votis ferè contendere non desino. Vale
Antistes humanissime, et gravissime.
VI.
(Page 214.)
[Galeni Methodus medendi, vel de Morbis curandis, Thoma Linacro Anglo
interprete, Libri Quatuordecim. Sumptu Godefridi Hiltorpii Spectatâ Fide
Mercatoris, apud Desiderium Mahcu. Paris. Folio. 1519.]
Invictissimo Illustrissimoque Henrico octavo Angliæ regi,
domino Hyberniæ, ac Walliæ Cornubiæque principi,
Thomas Linacrus, Medicus suus, S. P. D.
Iterum jam Majestatem tuam, Henrice Regum clarissime,
cogor exorare, ut ex inclyti nominis tui præfatione lucubra-
tionibus meis favoris aliquid conciliem. Quas enim ad te
nunc affero, tantò profectò magis quàm priores patrocinium
318
APPENDIX.
tuum postulant, quantò fuere sicut gravioris operæ, ita
vereor ne supra vires meas. Affero enim nunc Galeni
opus in quo ille omnem, quæ propriè de medendo institui-
tur, rationem complectitur. Opus planè arduum, et quod
sive id ob subtilitatem suam, sive prolixitatem, mille jam
annis nemo satis latinè, ne dicam ex tanti operis dignitate
vertere (quod sciam) est aggressus: ut mihi planè dolenda
studiosorum sors videatur, qui hactenus desyderio ejus
partìm barbaris quibusdam iisdemque malæ fidei inver-
sionibus, partìm nudis rerum capitibus Arabum quorun-
dam arbitrio excerptis, omnique non modo ratione quæ
reluctantem lectorem ducere, sed etiam quæ hesitantem
quoquo modo inhortari possit orbatis, incumbere sunt
coacti. Quod ipse mecum identidem reputans, tentandum
pro virili existimavi nunquid ipse præstare possem quo
simul his melius consulerem, simul cùm duas medicinæ
parteis prioribus lucubrationibus tibi dedicassem, non com-
mitterem ut vel tertiæ partis desyderio officium in te meum
claudicaret vel cùm multi tibi pro servatâ sanitate et
debeant et debituri sint, non plurimi etiam sint qui redditam
sibi salutem, tibi aliquando acceptam referant. Itaque
quanquam magnitudo rei nonnihil me meritò deterruit, tùm
quòd quovis labore instantiâque non longissimo saltem
intervallo me assequi posse confidebam, detrectandum non
censui: potissimùm cùm me magnoperè consolaretur quòd
docti quoque homines primos nostros conatus velutique
præludia sic approbarunt, ut sicubi in iis quæ nunc paravi,
vel tædio tàm longi operis lassus, vel difficultate alienis
vestigiis semper insistendi victus, humano fortassè more
laber: facile sperem æquos lectores, modo plura niteant,
paucis (quas ipse præsertim occupatus, et subcisivis tem-
poribus ista cudens, parùm ubique caverim) non iri offen-
sum maculis. Quas alioqui ipsas, quo tuo nomine quæ
afferimus, minus sint indigna: non in his modo, verum in
:
APPENDIX.
319
omnibus quæ scripsero, prout vel ab amicis lectoribus ad-
monebor, vel ipse eas deprehendam: in eo quod superest
vitæ meæ statui emaculare. Interim, Rex clarissime, sinest
has quoque lucubrationes sub tui nominis patrocinio com-
mendatiores exire: præsertìm cùm non tàm à me tibi des-
tinatæ sint, quàm planè debitæ: vel quòd (in quâ natæ
sunt) aulæ tuæ veluti fætura sint: vel quòd tu quicquid
usquam laborum est meorum, jure tibi vendices: qui me
tam munificè non victu modò stipendioque alis, sed etiam
amplissimis muneribus ornas. Et alioqui cui potius mea
omnia aut debeantur, aut etiam dedicentur quàm tibi; qui
sic meas quamtumvis tenues lucubratiunculas æstimare.
soleas? Cui potius medicus tuus hoc quo sanitati tuæ
consuli possit, conferam, quàm tibi ? Cui satiùs literarum
studiosus ipse quicquid in his mussito nuncupem quàm
tibi Regum omnium literatissimo? cùm certè non aliter
eruditos viros sic ut facis complectereris, nisi doctrinam
eorum ipse pbe perspiceres. Cui denique Anglus ipse auli-
cusque tuus, nisi tibi et Regi meo, et principi indulgentis-
simo? Quo magis his, cùm tot nominibus tibi debita vel
verius tua sint, gratiam aliquam vel ex eo quòd tibi om-
nino non displicent, parari patieris. Id futurum non dubito,
si ea (quod dixi) sub inclyti nominis tui præfatione veluti
munita in publicum prodire permittas. Diu valeas vivas-
que Regum decus.
320
APPENDIX.
VII.
(Page 218.)
[Prefixed in MS. to the illuminated presentation copy on vellum of Linacre's
translation of Galeni Methodus medendi vel De Morbis curandis. Printed at
Paris by Desiderius Maheu, 1519, and now in the British Museum.]
Reverendissimo in Christo Patri et Domino, Domino
Thomæ, divinâ miseratione tituli Sanctæ Ceciliæ Sacro-
sanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ Presbitero Cardinali, Ebora-
censi Archiepiscopo, et Apostolica Sedis etiam de Latere
Legato, regni Angliæ Primati, et ejusdem regni Can-
cellario.
Ex iis, Pater mihi omnium Reverendissime meritòque
observandissime, quæ vel modo vel prius ad publicam uti-
litatem lucubravi, atque ad Invictissimum Principem de-
dicavi, nullum profectò majorem ullâ me unquam ex parte
fructum percepturum censeo, quam si ea tuæ aliquando
saluti ex usu esse intelligam. Cujus mea profectò senten-
tia, nulli qui Principi ipsi consultum velit, non maxima
habenda est cura. Quippe cùm is sis, qui infinitis tuis
vigiliis, ità omnes ejus in republicâ partes obis atque
imples, ut ille corporis sui sanitati vacare securus possit.
Qui externis quidem regni ejus negotiis eâ prudentiâ mo-
deraris, ut illi cum exteris principibus undique sit amicitia
et pax. Internas vero ejus regni res eâ tùm justitiâ tùm
æquitate administras, ut, cùm nec potentioribus inferiores
premere permittas, nec inferioribus suo officio non defungi,
publicæ summa sit tranquillitatis. Nec verò domesticis
ejus curis, non aliquam sollicitudinis tuæ partem impendis,
cùm tuâ operâ nunquam eæ nec splendidiores nec magni-
ficentiores, idque nullo Principis tædio, sint visæ. Sed et
aliæ nec paucæ, nec hæ mediocres causæ sunt, quæ meritò
optimum quenque sollicitum de tuâ salute reddant (licebit
APPENDIX.
321
enim non minus arbitror quàm gratias agentibus, quarum
laudum fructum omnes percipimus, eas sine assentationis
suspicione vel apud teipsum commemorare). Quippe iis
tantis in Principis negotiis virtutum industriæque tuæ
editis exemplis, ecce non minor alia cura, nisi etiam om-
nium quæ sunt in republicâ fortassè maxima, nempe eccle-
siarum clerique invisendi recognoscendique ab ipso eccle-
siarum summo Principe unà cum summi honoris authoritate,
tibi delegatur, qui te alias Apostolica Sedis in provinciâ
perpetuum Legatum, etiam à latere sibi Legatum esse.
voluit. In quo munere cum ea destines, quæ facis, non
potest qui ipse ecclesiæ cleroque favet, non tibi salutem
benè precari. Cùm ea quæ destinas absolveris: non omnes
omni ævo tua præconia celebrare. Quid quod inter tantas
tuas de rebus tantis cogitationes, nec studia ipsa literarum
extra tuam relinquas curam. Qui ut tot publicas lectiones
tuis impensis institutas, ut tot munera in doctos viros col-
lata, ut lectis ingeniis sumptus in alimenta suppeditatos
omittam: etiam ipsius publici gymnasii literariam disci-
plinam, longo severioris animadversionis desiderio jam in-
clinatam, ad pristinum, vel certè meliorem statum, summâ
authoritate ad te in id ultrò delata, revocare jam cœpisti.
Jam inter ipsa literarum studia nonne peculiaritèr medicinæ
utilissimæ omnium scientiæ. Sed cujus improborum et
indoctorum ne dicam illiteratorum audaciâ et impunitate
fides et authoritas jamdudùm penè est abrogata; sic cum
Principis, omnibus memorandi seculis, authoritate consulis,
ut brevi certa spes sit, eam non solum minus abutendam,
sed etiam pristinum locum cum multorum salute receptu-
Ità cùm tantæ sis ubique felicitatis author, ut ne-
mini qui verus sit Anglus, de salute tuâ jure non habenda
sit cura; me certè præter cæteros peculiaris ratio de tuâ
sanitate meritò sollicitum habet, ut quem non modo hono-
rificis ipse muneribus ornaris, sed etiam humanissimo ac
ram.
Y
322
APPENDIX.
verè heroico Principi ità commendaris, ut non tàm verbo-
rum quàm rerum fide facilè sentiam, quæ sit tua apud eum
authoritas. Itàque cum dies noctesque meritò occasiones
dispiciam, quibus videri possim munificentiæ tuæ nec im-
memor nec ingratus: cùm aliud se nihil adhuc offerat,
hunc saltèm interìm libellum saluti tuæ (ut spero) futurum
non incommodum ad te mitto. Quo sit medicis tuis,
quorum ego me è numero (idque meo Rege ut spero non
invito) semper profitebor. Sit inquam medicis tuis, in quo
omnis medendi ratio contineatur, semper aliquid ad manum.
Hoc animi in te mei qualecunque indicium si solitâ tuæ in
me frontis lætitiâ suscipies omnium me vigiliarum mearum
cumulatis summum præmium accepisse putabo. Vale.
VIII.
(Page 220.)
[The History of the Worthies of England endeavoured, by Thomas Fuller,
D.D. London, 1662, p. 135. Derbyshire.]
Reverendissimo in Christo Patri ac Domino, Domino
Gulielmo, Dei gratiâ Cantuariensi Archiepiscopo, totius
Angliæ Primati et Apostolicæ Sedis Legato, Thomas
Linacrus, Medicus, salutem cum debitâ dicit obser-
vantiâ.
Quod tibi (Archiepiscope Clarissime!) opus hoc, sicuti
promiseram, non dedicavi, sed ejus duntaxat exemplum ad
Te misi, nolis, obsecro, pro spectatâ humanitate Tuâ, me
magìs aut promissi putare immemorem, aut ejus levem
habuisse curam, quin id implere maximè cupientem, facere
tamen non potuisse. Nam cùm in eâ sententiâ sic persti-
tissem, ut ex eâ me, præter unum, nemo hominum dejicere
potuisset, is profectò, nec alius, eam mutavit. Quippe
APPENDIX.
323
Rex ipse, cùm ex certorum hominum sermone, qui nimio
studio mei, mea omnia nimio plus prædicant, intellexisset,
è tribus partibus, quibus tota Medicinæ ars integratur,
hanc, quæ hoc codice continetur, esse reliquam; eam
quoque, veluti justam sibi, nec à reliquis nuncupatione
distrahendum vendicavit : jussitque Domino Joanni Cham-
bre, observantissimo Paternitatis Tuæ famulo, tum præsenti
atque audienti, ut sibi eam inscriberem. Itàque cùm Te
perspicere non dubitem, quantum apud me valere, quàmque
legis instar haberi debeat esse voluntas; non difficultèr, ut
spero, à Te impetrabo (id quod etiam magnis precibus con-
tendo) ut alio quopiam, ex iis quæ in manibus sunt, opere,
et studiosis (ut opinor) futuro non ingrato, oppigneratam
Tibi fidem reluere liceat. Quod si concedes, utrumque
per Te simul fiet, ut et voluptate, quam ex requisitis à
tanto principe vigiliis meis concepi, eâ fruar; et solicitu-
dine, quâ pro redimendâ fide angebar, eâ liberor. Nec eò
spectat (Reverendissime Præsul !) hæc tam sedula excusatio,
quasi ullas meas nugas sic censeam, ut Tibi usquam expe-
titas, expetendasve putem. Sic eam potiùs intelligi postulo,
cùm Tu mihi primus ad otium literarium beneficiis Tuis
aditum patefeceris, justissimum extimâsse me, Tibi ejus otii
rationem aliquam esse reddendam, ex quâ me intelligeres
non omnino id frustrà conterere: Sed cùm id, partim in-
stituendis quibusdam, partìm his, qualiacunque sunt, ad
usum studiorum scribendis impendam, hoc agere imprimis,
ut qui ex eo audientes legentesve fructum aliquem perci-
pient, Tibi, quem non minimum ejus autorem ubique pro-
fiteor, bonam ejus partem acceptam referant. Quod utique
tum in his, quæ jam edidimus, velim faciant, tum quæ
aliàs unquam scribam; nedum quæ Tibi nominatim (modo
vita supersit) dicabuntur. Diu valeas, Pater amplissime.
Y 2
324
APPENDIX.
IX.
(Page 224.)
[De Temperamentis, et De Inæquali Temperie, 4to. Cambridge, per Joan-
nem Siberch, 1521.]
Sanctissimo Domino nostro Papæ Leoni Decimo, Thomas
Linacer, Medicorum minimus, S. D.
Non hanc tibi lucubratiunculum meam, Beatissime Pater,
quasi tuis aptam studiis dignamve affero, quem totum
totius Christianæ Reipublicæ gubernaculis incumbere omnes
scimus, sed quòd studiosis eam futuram non ingratam
sperem. Quibus quidquid usui esse potest, tibi quoque
fore jucundum non dubito. Accedit quòd quum recens
in me collatæ non vulgaris munificentiæ tuæ, quâ me quo-
que, sicut reliquos quicunque te olim comitabamur in
ludum, beare es dignatus, non immemorem me aliquo
saltem officii genere declarare volui: unum hoc inter facul-
tates meas quo id officere conarer literarium perspexi genus
quod et mihi cui penè præter literas nihil est, et tibi qui in
literis es eminentissimus maximè visum sit congruens.
quo genere Galeni hic se obtulit libellus, brevis omnino,
sed non minùs philosophis, quàm medicis necessarius.
Qui brevitate suâ simul officium meum minus erat mora-
turus, simul meæ in vertendo, quantulæcunque, certè tenuis
facultatis gustum aliquem tibi præbiturus. Perexigua
(fateor) res nimisque impar quæ pro tantæ benignitatis vel
Mnemosyno ad sacram præsertìm Celsitudinem tuam mitta-
tur.
In
Verum est cujus ipse vicem in terris geris pauperculæ
mulieris duo minuta probavit : et mola salsa litare eos, qui
thura non haberent, proditum non ignoras. Sunt sanè
mihi plura majoraque in manibus, quæ ut primum per
valetudinem et ministerii mei officia licebit, si tibi hæc non
displicere intelligam, sub nomine tuo (modò id non graveris)
APPENDIX.
325
ædentur. Non quò iis operæ pretium tibi ullum me fac-
turum autumem, quod scilicet mihi de meo ingeniolo sperare
non licet, sed quo iis ex præfatione nominis tui, quod
meritò literatis omnibus est charissimum, gratiam aliquam
authoritatemque captem. Permultum sanè si qui erunt qui
ex vigiliis meis fructum aliquem percipient, Sanctitati tuæ
debituris qui tam insigni beneficentia studiorum meorum
otio consulueris. Deum Opt. Max. precor diu te nobis.
servet atque incæpta tua omnia secundet. Londini anno
Christianæ salutis M.D.xxi. Nonis Septembris.
X.
(Page 227.)
[Galeni Pergameni De Naturalibus Facultatibus Libri tres; Tho. Linacro
Anglo interprete. Londini in ædibus Richardi Pynsoni, 1523.
Reverendissimo in Christo Patri et Domino, D. Guilielmo,
Dei gratiâ Cantuariensi Archiepiscopo, totius Angliæ Pri-
mati, et Apostolicæ Sedis Legato, Tho. Linacrus, Medi-
cus, cùm debitâ observantiâ, S. D.
Statueram, amplissime Præsul, pro otio in quod me (ho-
norifico collato sacerdotio) ex negotio primus vindicâsti,
meritò primos ejus fructus tibi dedicare. Tenue fateor
animi in te mei declarandi argumentum, nec quod alio
quam cujusdam congruentiæ nomine, ut primi fructus
primo eorum redderentur authori sperabam fore idoneum.
Id concilium quemadmodum necessario, non sponte mu-
tarim, aliâ epistolâ significavi. Decreveram et aliud
animi mei exiguum illud quidem, sed tamen non omnino
incongruum monimentum tibi nuncupare, ut Galeni de
elementis opere, quod cæteros ejus libros ordine præcedit,
à me converso, et tibi dicato, in ipsâ maximè fronte mearum
326
APPENDIX.
in eum lucubrationum primus author otii nostri legereris.
Sed cùm id certis negotiis districtus distulissem, ecce
malum hoc quo assiduè crucior, ità desevire cœpit, ut quod
destinaram, absolvi à me posse desperarem. Unum igitur
quo me munificentiæ tuæ non immemorem testarer, fuit
reliquum, ut Galeni de naturalibus facultatibus libros quos
inchoatos in manibus habebam, ubi per morbi sævitiam
liceret, absolverem: ac ultimos saltem otii mei fructus,
qñ primos non licuit, sub tuo nomine publicarem. Satis-
facturos sperabam nonnihil vel hos voto meo, ut debitum
meum in te officium homines intelligant. Nam cùm non
medicorum modo, sed etiam philosophorum omnium lectori
sint ex usu, cùm à pluribus legentur, plures etiam intelli-
gent, quantum munificentiæ tuæ Linacrus tuus debeat:
Imo verò quantum ipsi. Quippe qui si quem fructum ex
iis libris percipient, eum nisi tu otium studiis meis pepe-
risses, percepturi non fuissent. Accipies igitur pro summâ
et spectatâ humanitate tuâ in bonam partem hoc obser-
vantiæ in te meæ qualecunque testimonium, feresque æquo
animo ut sub nomine tuo in publicum prodiens, majorem
mihi à legentibus favorem conciliet. Diu et felicitèr valeas
præstantissime Antistes.
APPENDIX.
327
XI.
(Page 228.)
[Galeni Pergameni de Pulsuum Usu, Tho. Linacro Anglo intreprete. Lon-
dini, in ædibus Pynsoni: without date.]
Reverendissimo in Christo Patri et Domino, Domino
Thomæ, divinâ providentiâ tituli Sanctæ Cecilia trans
Tyberim, Sacrosanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ Presbytero
Cardinali, Eboracensi Archiepiscopo, et Apostolicæ Sedis
etiam de latere Legato, regni Angliæ Primati, et ejus-
dem regni magno Cancellario.
Multos esse non dubito, reverendissime cardinalis et à
latere legate, qui variis muneribus arte naturâque spectan-
dis, prosperum tibi lætumque futurum annum, calendis
his ominentur. Mihi potius visum est literario aliquo
munusculo, anni tibi felicitatem ominari: ratus nimirum
munificentissimo instituto tuo, quo tum literas omnis
generis tot modis promovere pergis, tum literatis omnibus
te veluti parentem tot argumentis prestas, id esse non in-
congruum. Accipies igitur ea frontis serenitate, quâ
tenuium clientum tuorum obsequia soles, Galeni hoc opus-
culum, in quo arteriarum motûs usum mirâ solertiâ dili-
gentiâque investigat. Sanè si argumentum ipsum spectes,
non leve, sed arduum, et acerrimo ingenio planè dignum,
utpote in quo maximè archanum naturæ opus veluti è
tenebris in lucem profert. Sin voluminis modum inspicias,
certè breve et sicut tenuitati donantis, sic saturnalibus.
quibus olim nuces et ficus boni omnis causâ missitatæ vel
à principibus non aspernabantur, ut opinor non incongruum.
Diù precor, multisque felicibus annis valeas et vivas litera-
torum unicè Mœcenas.
328
APPENDIX.
XII.
(Page 230.)
[Impress. Londini in ædibus Pynsonianis. An. Christi 1524. 4to.]
Galeni Pergameni De Symptomatum Differentiis Liber unus;
Ejusdem De Symptomatum Causis, Libri tres: Thomâ
Linacro Britanno interprete.
Studioso Lectori.
Vix potest explicari, studiose lector, quàm elegans et
eruditum de symptomatis opusculum in manibus habes.
Cujus elegantiam ut mira voluptas, ità multiplicem et
variam eruditionem fructus haud dubiè maximus comitatur.
Galenus enim ipse medicorum princeps, sui nusquam dis-
similis, immensam suæ eruditionis supellectilem tantâ
gratiâ et ornatu undique condire solet, ut passìm eloquen-
tiam cum eruditione contendere dicas. Ut enim ora-
tionis virtutem et perpetuam illam commentariorum seriem
(quæ hìc non desiderabis) consultò prætereamus, admire-
baris haud dubiè causas omnium ferè affectionum cor-
poris humani veluti oceanum quendam naturalis disciplinæ
in tam exiguo volumine potuisse describi. Huc spectat,
ne interim tacendum esset, quantis linguæ Latinæ deliciis
hos commentarios Linacrus dudum donavit, vir et utrius-
que linguæ doctissimus, ità reconditarum artium cum pri-
mis eruditus, qui studiosos omnes (dum vixerat) ad me-
liorem illam mentem non modò adhortabatur, verùm
etiam maximis muneribus et fovere et alere solebat, ut non
immeritò tanquam alter Maecenas doctis hominibus habe-
retur. Ille suis lucubrationibus et vigiliis fortassis in non
parvum suæ valetudinis dispendium nostræ conditionis
miseratus, tantum de re medicâ meritus est, quan-
tum nostri seculi nemo alius, quippe qui meliorem par-
tem medicinæ è Græco in Latinum rarâ felicitate ver-
APPENDIX.
329
terit. Quatuordecim enim libros de methodo medendi,
de sanitate tuendâ sex, de naturali facultate tres, de tem-
peramentis tres, de inæquali temperie unum, de usu pul-
suum unum, cum his de symptomatis summi sui ingenii
fœtura, tam Latinè vertit, ut non meliùs aut elegantiùs
Græcè eos olim Galenus scripserit. Multa item alia à se
versa reliquit, quæ, quod ante obitum non erant edita,
verendum est ne in studiosorum nunquam exeant. Gram-
maticam verò absolutissimam paulò ante mortem calco-
graphis excudendam commiserat. In quibus ut cæteris
omnibus satisfaciebat, ità sibi ferè nusquam, utpote qui
per valetudinem, qua multis annis parùm fuit prospera,
otium illud literis dicatum vel minutatìm concidere cogeba-
tur. Ex hujus hominis interitu res medica tantam jac-
turam passa est, ut suo jam patrono vidua propè elangues-
cat, et periclitetur. Benè precamini, studiosi lectores,
animæ hujus de re literariâ tam benè meriti, qui ad hæc tùm
Oxonii tùm Cantabrigiæ suis impensis publicas lectiones
medicinæ studiosis perpetuò futuras, easque honorificis
salariis sustinendas curavit, quo ars una generi humano
maximè necessaria, jamdiù propè extincta, veterem illum
suum nitorem resumat et assequatur. Vale.
XIII.
(Page 232.)
[Rudimenta Grammatices Thomæ Linacri diligentèr castigata denuò. Im-
press. Londini in ædibus Pynsonianis. Cum privilegio à rege indulto.]
Illustrissimæ Mariæ, Invictissimi Angliæ Franciæque Regis
ac Fidei Defensoris filiæ, Cornubiæ et Walliæ Principi:
Thomas Linacrus, Medicus, cum omni observantiâ, S. D.
Quum tibi, illustrissima Maria, datus ab invictissimo
330
APPENDIX.
rege, patre tuo, pro tuâ sanitate tuendâ, sim comes, nec id
ministerium obire per valetudinem licuerit, cogitavi mecum,
quânam aliâ ratione tibi esse usui potissimum possem.
Itàque cernens in te, præter indolem quandam ad omne
virtutum genus, quæ eminere in muliere possunt, incredi-
bilem, nunc quoque felicissimi ingenii tui ad studia lite-
rarum generosum impetum; hunc mihi quàm maximè pro
mea virili, juvandum favendumque censui, vel intermissi diù
officii mei sarciendi, vel literatorum omnium causâ, quibus
ipsa in literis proficiens maximo procul dubio futura es tum
ornamento, tum adjumento. Accipies igitur eâ vultûs sereni-
tate, quâ reliqua soles, hæc Latinæ linguæ rudimenta, quæ
aliàs Anglis tuis per me edita nunc in summam quàm po-
tui redegi claritatem. Non potest, (fateor,) nisi rude esse
munus, sicut ipso nomine præ se fert. Sed si aptum tibi
principium ad majora discenda erit, vel oportunitate suâ
principii gratiam, (quod juxta Proverbium, Plus est quàm
dimidium,) licet totam nec mereatur, nec speret, tamen
nec ea in totum (ut spero,) destituetur.
glorum deliciæ et decus.
Diù vivas An-
XIV.
(Page 272.)
[Rot. 16 Hen. VIII. Pars 1. m. 17. Rymer, Fœdera, Lond. 1712. Vol. 14,
p. 25.
Diploma Regium pro tribus Lecturis in Arte Medicinali,
1524.
Rex omnibus ad quos præsentes literæ pervenerint, salutem.
Sciatis quòd nos, de gratiâ nostrâ speciali ac ex certâ
scientiâ et mero motu nostris, concessimus et licentiam
dedimus, ac per præsentes concedimus et licentiam damus,
pro nobis et hæredibus nostris, quantum in nobis est, di-
APPENDIX.
331
lecto nobis Magistro Thomæ Lynacre in medicinis doctori
ac medico nostro, quòd ipse executores et assignati sui seu
eorum aliquis vel aliqui, ad laudem Dei et veræ medici-
nalis artis, ad consolationem subditorum, totius regni nostri
augmentationem, tres separatas lecturas artis medicinalis
prædictæ, de tribus separatis lectoribus dictam artem me-
dicinalem legentibus, (videlicet, duas in Universitate nostrân
Oxoniensi, ac unam in Universitate nostra Cantabrigiensi,)
juxta ordinationem dispositionem et provisionem ipsius
Thomæ Lynacre, executorum vel assignatorum suorum, aut
eorum alicujus, facere fundare erigere creare et stabilire
poterint, perpetuis temporibus duraturas; et quod dictæ
tres separatæ lecturæ de dictis tribus separatis lectoribus,
cùm sic in dictis Universitatibus erectæ factæ fundatæ
creatæ et stabilitæ fuerint, lecturæ Thomæ Lynacre vul-
gariter nuncupatæ, Lynacre's Lectures nominentur et pro
perpetuo nuncupentur.
Et ulterius, de uberiori gratiâ nostrâ ac ex certâ scientiâ
et mero motu nostris, concessimus et licentiam damus, pro
nobis et hæredibus nostris, quantum in nobis est, dilectis
subditis nostris custodibus et communitati misteræ de mer-
ceris Londoniæ et successoribus suis, quòd ipsi et succes-
sores sui, pro sustentatione et manutentione lecturarum
prædictarum cæterisque aliis faciendis et perimplendis, juxta
ordinationem provisionem et dispositionem prædicta Thomæ
Lynacre executorum vel assignatorum suorum, dominią
maneria terras tenementa redditus reversiones servitia et
hæreditamenta quæcunque ac alias possessiones quascumque,
ad annuum valorem triginta librarum sterlingorum, ultra
omnia onera et reprisalia unâ vice vel diversis vicibus
de præfato Thoma Lynacre sive à quâcumque aliâ per-
sonâ vel quibuscumque aliis personis, ea is dare conce-
dere legare, vel assignare volente aut volentibus, licet de
Nobis in capite vel aliter aut de aliis personis vel aliâ per-
332
APPENDIX.
soná mediatè vel immediatè teneantur liberè acquirere
perquirere percipere recipere et acceptare possint et valeant
habenda et tenenda sibi et successoribus suis in formâ præ-
dictâ imperpetuum, et eidem Thomæ Lynacre ac cuicum-
que aliæ personæ vel quibuscumque aliis personis quòd
ipsi vel eorum aliquis seu aliqui prædicta dominia maneria
terras tenementa redditus reversiones et servitia ac cætera
præmissa dictis custodimus et communitati et successoribus
suis prædictis ad annuum valorem prædictum in formâ
prædicta dare concedere legare vel assignare possint et
valeant, similitèr licentiam dedimus et concessimus ac
damus et concedimus per præsentes specialem, absque im-
pedimento impetitione seu gravamine Nostri vel hæredum
aut successorum nostrorum justiciariorum escaetorum vice-
comitum ballivorum seu aliorum ministrorum nostrorum
quorumcumque; statuto de terris et tenementis ad manum
mortuum non ponendis edito non obstante.
Volumus insuper, ac per præsentes concedimus præfatis
custodibus et communitati et successoribus suis, quòd ipsi
et successores sui habeant et obtineant ac habere et obti-
nere possint et valeant tàm præsentes literas nostras pa-
tentes, quàm omnia et omnimoda brevia et literas regias
executorias et confirmatorias in hâc parte de tempore in
tempus fienda prosequenda et habenda, absque aliquo fine et
feodo sive aliquibus finibus et feodis inde in Cancellariâ
Nostrâ hæredum et successorum nostrorum seu hanaperio
ejusdem Cancellariæ vel alibi quoquo modo ad usum nos-
trum hæredum vel successorum nostrorum taxandis impo-
nendis fiendis solvendis vel capiendis.
Et quòd custos sive clericus hanaperii prædicti ac ejus
deputatus ibidem pro tempore existentes, inde quieti et in
compoto suo ad Saccarium nostrum hæredum et successo-
rum nostrorum reddendo exonerati existant imperpetuum;
aliquibus statutis actubus ordinationibus restrictionibus
APPENDIX.
333
sive mandatis in contrarium factis editis sive ordinatis
aut fiendis sive ordinandis, aut aliquâ aliâ re vel materiâ
quâcunque, non obstantibus.
Eo quod expressa mentio de certitudine præmissorum
seu de aliis donis sive concessionibus eidem Thomæ Lynacre.
hæredibus executoribus seu assignatis suis aut præfatis
custodibus et communitati et successoribus suis per Nos
ante hæc tempora factis in præsentibus minimè facta ex-
istit in aliquo non obstantibus, aliquo statuto, &c.
In cujus rei testimonium has literas nostras fieri fecimus
patentes.
Teste Rege apud Westmonasterium duodecimo die Oc-
tobris, A. D. 1524.
Per ipsum Regem.
XV.
(Page 279.)
[From the original in the Archives of the College, exemplified under the
Great Seal, A.D. 1658.]
Exemplification of the College Charter, 10 Hen. VIII. and
of the Stat. 14 and 15. Hen. VIII. cap. 5.
OLIVER, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of Eng-
land, Scotland, and Ireland, and the Dominions and Terri-
tories thereto belonging, To all to whome theis presents
shall come greeting. We have looked into the Inrollment
of a certayne Acte of Parliament, holden at our Cittie of
London the Fifteenth day of Aprill, in the Fourteenth yeare
of the Raigne of King Henry the Eight, and from thence
proroged to Westminster, and houlden there the last day
of Julie, in the Fifteenth yeare of the said King Henry,
remayning vpon Record in our Court of Chauncery in theis
334
APPENDIX.
words. PARLIAMENTUM inchoatum et tentum in civitate
Londonniari quinto decimo die Aprilis, anno regni metuen-
dissimi ac potentissimi Regis Henrici octavi, fidei Defensoris,
quartodecimo, et deinde prorogatum usque Westmonaste-
rium, et ibidem tentum die Veneris vltimo die Julii, Anno
eiusdem Regis quintodecimo. In the moost humble wise
sheweth vnto your highnes, your true and faythfull sub-
jects and leigemen John Chamber, Thomas Linacre, Fernan-
dus de Victoria, your Physicions; and Nicholas Halswell,
John Fraunces, and Robert Yaxley, and all oder men of
the same faculte within the Cittie of London, and seven
myles about ; and where your highnes by your moost gra-
cious lettres Patents berying date att Westminster the
xxiiith day of September the Tenth yere of your moost
noble Reigne, for the Commonwelth of this your realme
in due exercising and practising of the facultie of Phisicke,
and the good ministracion of Medecyns to be had, have
incorporate and made of vs, and of our cumpany aforesaid,
one bodie and perpetuall Cominaltie or fellisshipp of the
facultie of Physick, and to have perpetuall succession and
common seale, and to chose yerely a President of the same
fellisshipp and cominalty, to overse, rule, and governe the
said fellisshipp and Cominaltie, and all men of the said
facultie, with divers oder liberties and privileges by your
highnes to vs granted for the Commenwelth of this your
Realme, as in your said most gracious lettres Patents
more att large is specified, and conteyned, the Tenour
whereof followeth in theis words.
HENRICUS, Dei Gratiâ Rex Angliæ et Franciæ, et Do-
minus Hiberniæ, Omnibus ad quos præsentes literæ per-
venerint, salutem. Cum Regii officii nominavimus nostri
munus arbitremur, ditionis nostræ homini felicitati omni
ratione consulere, id autem vel imprimis fore si improborum
conatibus tempestivè occurramus, apprimè necessarium
APPENDIX.
335
duximus improborum quoque homini qui medicinam magis
avaritiæ suæ causâ quam ullius bonæ conscientiæ fiduciâ
profitibuntur unde rudi et credulæ plebi plurima incom-
moda oriantur audaciam compescere. Itaque partim benè
institutarum civitatum in Italiâ et aliis multis nationibus
exemplum imitati, partim gravium virorum doctorum Jo-
hannis Chamber, Thomæ Linacre, Fernandi de Victoriâ,
medicorum nostrorum, Nicholai Halswell, Johannis Fran-
cisci et Roberti Yaxley, medicorum, ac præcipuè Reveren-
dissimi in Christo Patris ac Domini tituli Sanctæ Cecilia
trans Tiberim sacrosanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ Presbyteri
Cardinalis Eboracum Archiepiscopi et Regni nostri Angliæ
Cancellarii charissimi, precibus inclinati, Collegium perpe-
tuum doctorum et gravium virorum qui medicinam in urbe
nostrâ Londino et suburbis intraque septem millia passuum
ab eâ urbe quaquà versus publicè exerceant, institui volui-
mus atque imperamus. Quibus tum sui honoris tum publicæ
utilitatis nomine cura (ut speramus) erit malitiosorum quo-
rum meminimus inscientiam temeritatemque tàm exemplo
gravitateque suâ deterrere quàm per leges nostras nuper
editas ac per constitutiones per idem Collegium condendas
punire. Quæ quo facilius ritè peragi possint, memoratis
Doctoribus Johanni Chamber, Thomæ Linacre, Fernando
de Victoria, medicis nostris, Nicholao Halswell, Johanni
Francisco, et Roberto Yaxley, medicis, concessimus quod
ipsi omnesque homines ejusdem facultatis de et in civitate
prædictâ, sint in re et nomine unum corpus et communitas
perpetua sive Collegium perpetuum. Et quòd eadem com-
munitas sive Collegium singulis annis imperpetuum eligere
possint et facere de communitate illâ aliquem providum
virum et in facultate medicinæ expertum in præsidentem
ejusdem Collegii sive communitatis, ad supervidendum re-
cognoscendum et gubernandum pro illo anno Collegium
sive communitatem prædictam et omnes homines ejusdem
336
APPENDIX.
facultatis et negotia eorundem. Et quòd idem Præsidens
et Collegium sive communitas habeant successionem per-
petuam et commune sigillum negotiis dictæ communitatis
et Præsidentis in perpetuum serviturum. Et quòd ipsi vel
successores sui in perpetuum sint personæ habiles et ca-
paces ad perquirendum et possidendum in feodo et perpe-
tuitate terras et tenementa redditus et alias possessiones.
quascunque. Concessimus etiam eis et successoribus suis,
pro nobis et hæredibus nostris, quòd ipsi et successores sui
possint perquirere sibi et successoribus suis, tàm in dictâ
urbe quàm extra, terras et tenementa quæcunque annuum
valorem duodecim librarum non excedentes, statuto de ali-
enatione ad manum mortuam non obstante. Et quòd ipsi
per nomina Præsidentis Collegii sive communitatis facul-
tatis medicinæ Londonensis placitare et implacitari possint
coram quibuscunque judicibus curiis et actionibus quibus-
cunque. Et quòd prædictus Præsidens Collegium sive
communitas et eorum successores congregationes licitas et
honestas de seipsis ac statuta et ordinationes pro salubri
gubernatione supervisu et correctione Collegii sive commu-
nitatis prædictæ et omnium hominum eandem facultatem in
dictâ civitate seu per septem milliaria in circuitu ejusdem
civitatis exercentium, secundum necessitatis exigentiam,
quoties et quando opus fuerit facere, valeant licitè et impunè
sine impedimento nostrorum hæredum vel successorum
nostrorum justiciarum eschaetorum vicecomitum et alio-
rum ballivorum et ministrorum nostrorum hæredum vel
successorum nostrorum quorumcunque. Concessimus etiam
eisdem Præsidenti et Collegio sive communitati et succes-
soribus suis, quòd nemo in dictâ civitate aut per septem
milliaria in circuitu ejusdem exerceat dictam facultatem
nisi ad hoc per dictum Præsidentem et communitatem seu
successores eorum qui pro tempore fuerint admissus sit
per ejusdem Præsidentis et Collegii literas sigillo suo com-
1
APPENDIX.
337
mune sigillatas, sub pœnâ centum solidorum pro quolibet
mense quo non admissus eandem facultatem exercuit, dimi-
dium inde nobis et hæredibus nostris et dimidium dicto
Præsidenti et Collegio applicandum. Prætereà volumus
et concedimus, pro nobis et successoribus nostris, quantum
in nobis est, quòd per Præsidentem et Collegium prædictæ
communitatis pro tempore existente et eorum successores
imperpetuum quatuor singulis annis per ipsos eligantur, qui
habeant supervisum et scrutinium correctionem guberna-
tionem omnium et singulorum dictæ civitatis medicorum
utentium facultate medicinæ in eâdem civitate ac aliorum
medicorum forinsecorum quorumcunque facultatem illam
medicinæ aliquo modo frequentantium et utentium infra
eandem civitatem et suburbia ejusdem sive infra septem
milliaria in circuitu ejusdem civitatis, ac punitionem eorun-
dem pro delictis suis in non benè exequenda facienda et
utenda illa; necnon supervisum et scrutinium omnimodis
medicinarum et earum recepta per dictos medicos seu ali-
quem eorum hujusmodi ligeis nostris, pro eorum infirmita-
tibus curandis et sanandis, dandis imponendis et utendis,
quoties et quando opus fuerit pro commodo et utilitate
eorundem liegorum nostrorum : ità quòd punitio hujusmodi
medicorum utentium dictâ facultate medicinæ sic in præ-
missis delinquentium, per fines amerciamenta et imprisona-
menta corporum suorum et per alias vias rationabiles et con-
gruas exequatur. Volumus etiam et concedimus, pro nobis
hæredibus et successoribus nostris, quantum in nobis.
est, quòd nec Præsidens nec aliquis de Collegio prædicto
medicorum nec successores sui, nec eorum aliquis exercens
facultatem illam quoquomodo in futurum infra civitatem
nostram prædictam et suburbia ejusdem seu alibi, sum-
moneantur aut ponantur in aliquibus assisis juratis inquestis
inquisitionibus attinctis et aliis recognitionibus infra dictam
civitatem et suburbia ejusdem imposterum coram majori et
Z
338
APPENDIX.
vicecomitibus seu coronatoribus dictæ civitatis nostræ pro
tempore existente capiendus, aut per aliquem officiarium
seu ministrum suum vel officiarios sive ministros suos su-
monendus, licet iidem jurati inquisitiones seu recognitiones
summoniti fuerint super brevi vel brevibus nostris vel hære-
dum nostrorum de recto, sed quòd dicti magistri sive guber-
natores ac communitas facultatis antedictæ et successores
sui et eorum quilibet dictam facultatem exercentes, versus
nos hæredes et successores nostros, ac versus majorem et
vicecomites civitatis nostræ prædictæ pro tempore existente
et quoscunque officiarios et ministros suos, sint inde quieti
et penitus exonerati imperpetuum per præsentes: proviso
quod literæ nostræ seu aliquis in iis contentus non cedent
in prejudicium civitatis nostræ Londini seu libertatis ejus-
dem; et hoc absque fine seu feodo pro præmissis seu si-
gillatione præsentium nobis faciendo solvendo vel aliqua-
liter reddendo, aliquo statuto ordinatione vel actu in contra-
rium ante hæc tempora facto edito ordinato seu proviso in
aliquo non obstante. In cujus rei testimonium has literas
nostras fieri fecimus patentes. Teste meipso apud Westmo-
nasterium vicesimo tertio die Septembris, anno regni nostri
decimo. Per ipsum Regem et de datâ prædictâ autoritate
Parliamenti.
TUNSTALL.
And for so moch as the makeing of the said Corporation
is meritorious and very good for the Common wealth of
this your Realme, it is therefor expedient and necessarie to
provide that noe person of the said polityke Body and
Commonaltie aforesaid, be suffered to exercise and practyse
Physyk; but oonly these persons that be profound, sad
and discreete, groundly learned, and deply studied in
Physyk. In consideration whereof, and for the further
auctorysyng of the same letters Patents, and also en-
largeyng of further Articles for the said Commonwelth to
APPENDIX.
339
be had and made, Pleaseth your Highnes, with the assent
of your Lords spirituall and temporall, and the Commons
in this present Parliament assembled, to enacte, ordeign
and establish, that the said Corporation of the said Com-
monaltie and fellowship of the faculty of Physyk afore-
said, and all and every graunt, articles and other thing
conteigned and specifyed in the said letters Patentes, be
approved, graunted, ratefyed and confirmed in this present
Parliament, and clerely auctoryzed and admitted by the
same good, lawfull and avaylable to your said bodie Cor-
porate and their Successors for ever, in as ample and large
manner as may be taken, thought and construed by the
same. And that it please your Highnes, with the assent of
your said Lords spirituall and temporall, and the Commens
in this your present Parliament assembled, furtherlie to
enacte, ordeign and stablisshe that the six persons afore-
said in your said moost gracious letters Patentes named
as Principalles, and first named of the said Commonaltie
and Felisship, chosyng to them to moo of the said Com-
monaltie, from hensforward be called and clepyd Electys,
and that the said Electys yearely chose one of them to be
President of the said Commonaltie. And as ofte as any
of the Rowmes and places of the same Electys shall for-
tune to bee voyd by death or otherwise, then the survivors
of the same Electys, within thirty or forty dayes next after
the death of them or any of them, shall chose, name and
admit one or moo, as neede shall require, of the moost cun-
nyng and expert men of and in the said facultie in London,
to supplie the said rome and nombre of eight persons, so
that he or they that shalbe so chosen be first by the said
Supervisors straytly examined, after a fourme devysed by
the said Electys, and alsoe by the said Supervisours ap-
proved; and where that in Diocesys of England out of
London, it is not light to fynde alway men hable to suf-
z 2
340
APPENDIX.
ficiciaiently examyne, after the statute, such as shalbe ad-
mitted to exercise Physyk in them, that it may bee enacted
in this present Parliament that noo person from hensforth
be suffred to exercyse or practyse in Physyk through Eng-
land, untill such tyme that he be examined at London, by
the said President and three of the said Electys. And to
have frome the said President and Electys letters testimo-
nial of their approving and examination, except he be a
Graduat of Oxford or Cantebrygge, which hath accom-
plisshed all things for the fourme, without any grace.
DIE Mercurii vicesimo nono die mensis Julii, centesimo.
decimo sexto die Parliamenti, peste indies magis et magis
in vrbe Londino ac præsertim circa palatium Domini Regis
de Bridewell invalescente, Reverendissimus Dominus Lega-
tus Cancellarius exhibuit, ostendidit certis dominis spiri-
tualibus et temporalibus quandam commissionem Domini
Regis magno sigillo suo sigillatam, cujus tenor sequitur in
hæc verba. HENRICUS Octavus Dei gratiâ Angliæ et
Franciæ Rex fidei defensor et Dominus Hiberniæ, Reveren-
dissimo in Christo patri intimoque ac dilectissimo consiliario
suo Thomæ, miseratione divinâ tituli Sanctæ Cecilia sacro-
sanctæ Romanæ ecclesiæ Presbitero Cardinali Eboracensi
Archiepiscopo Angliæ primati apostolicæ sedis etiam de
latere legato cancellario suo, salutem. Sciatis quòd, propter
infectionem aeris pestiferi ubique per civitatem nostram
London invalescentem, de avisamento et assensu consilii
nostri assignavimus vos ac vobis tenore præsentium com-
mittimus potestatem et auctoritatem specialem ad præsens
Parliamentum nostrum usque Westmonasterium ad diem
Veneris proximum futurum prorogandum et continuandum
ibidemque tenendum, dantes vlterius universis et singulis
tam Archiepiscopis Episcopis Abbatibus Prioribus
Ducibus Comitibus Vicecomitibus Baronibus Militibus
Civibus Burgensibus, quàm omnibus aliis quorum interest
APPENDIX.
341
ad dictum Parliamentum nostrum prædictum conventuris,
tenore præsentium firmitèr in mandatis, quod vobis in præ-
missis faciendis et exequendis pareant obediant et inten-
dant prout decet. In cujus rei testimonium has literas
ostras fieri fecimus patentes: teste meipso apud West-
monasterium xxix die Julii, anno regni nostri quinto de-
cimo. Quâ quidem commissione, publicè per clericum
Parliamenti lecta, dictus Reverendissimus Dominus Legatus
Cancellarius, virtute ejusdem commissionis, prorogavit con-
tinuavit et adjornavit præsens Parliamentum usque West-
monasterium, ad diem Veneris tunc proximum futurum
ibidemque tenendum horâ consuetâ. Mandavit insuper
dictus Reverendissimus Dominus Legatus Cancellarius at-
tornatui et solicitatori Domini Regis, quod assumpta secum
dicta commissione, die sequenti accederent in domum com-
munem intimaturi eis de domo communi dictam proroga-
tionem continuationem et ajornationem, lecturique coram
eis dictam commissionem, ad intentionem quod ipsi com-
munes diem prefixum apud Westmonasterium observent
prout decet. Die Jovis tertio decimo die mensis Augusti,
centesimo tricesimo die Parliamenti, ad horam fermè sextam
post meridiem, Domino Rege in solio majestatis sedente in
camerâ vulgariter dictâ camerâ Parliamentorum infra pa-
latium suum Westmonasteriense assedentibus Dominis tam
spiritualibus quàm temporalibus habitibus sive robis parlia-
mentalibus decoratis, præsente etiam de domo communi sive
inferiori toto populo et plebe, Thomas Moore miles corum
prolocutor, silentio prius indicto, gravi eloquentiâ et magno
cum honoris et humilitatis ac modestiæ honestamento regiam
affatus est Majestatem eandem summis et meritis quidem ex-
tollens laudibus, dotes graves naturæ et fortunæ cædem suæ
Majestati à Deo maximo concessas copiosissimè persequeba-
tur, magnam in prudentiâ excellentiam, promptam fortitu-
dinis, agilitatem, mirum temperantiæ moderamen, divinum
342
APPENDIX.
justitiæ ardorem, innatam clementiæ erga subditos benignita-
tem subditorumque erga eandem suam Majestatem amorem
obedientiam ac debitam observantiam, multa per exempla
declarabat. In cujus rei comprobationem quoddam scrip-
tum indentatum concessionem cujusdam maximi subsidii
in se continens regiæ Majestati extulit argumentum certè
evidentissimum summæ devotionis bonorum * * * *§regem
subditorum cui tam excellenti orationi fine tam imposito
dictus Reverendissimus Dominus Legatus Cancellarius
Domino Rege prius consulto singula egregiè recitando res-
pondebat. Quo facto idem Reverendissimus Dominus
Legatus Cancellarius, acta omnia in præsenti Parliamento
pro bono publico dicta et facta, ex mandato Domini Regis
recitari et publicari jussit. Quibus ex ordine per initia
recitatis et lectis et singulis per clericum Parliamenti res-
ponsione secundum annotationes Regiæ voluntatis declara-
tivas à dorso scriptas factâ, dictus Reverendissimus Dominus
Legatus Cancellarius exhortando et admonendo nomine
Regis omnes Dominos et Communes supradictos, ut dili-
genter ordinata et statuta pro bono publico in hoc Parlia-
mento observarent et ab aliis observari procurarent.
gratiarum ex parte Domini Regis acceptionem dictis Do-
minis et Communibus pro eorum diligenti et laboriosâ per-
severantiâ circa expeditionem præmissorum, Parliamentum
per prædictum nomine Regis duxit finiendum et dissolven-
dum et illud realitèr finivit posuit et dissolvit, concedens
omnibus liberam et propriam recedendi facultatem, anno
regni supradicti metuendissimi ac potentissimi Domini
nostri Regis quinto decimo.
Post
Wee have also by theis presents caused the tenor of the
premisses to be exemplified at the request of Edward
Alston, Doctor of Physick, and President of the Colledge
§ Desunt pauca verba in textu.
APPENDIX.
343
of Physitions, London. In witnes whereof wee have
caused theis our Letters to be made Patents. Witnes
ovrselfe at Westmynster.
XVI.
LENTHALL, CL.
(Page 299.)
[Extracted from the Registry of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. Bod-
field 21, fol. xxxvi.]
Testament of Thomas Lynacre, Doctor in Medicine.
In the name of God, Amen. The xixth day of Juyñ, in
the yere of our Lord god a thousande fyve hundred
and xxiiij, and the xvj yere of the reigne of Kyng Henry
Henry the Eight, I, Thomas Lynacre, doctour of phesike,
being hole of mynde and in good memory, lawde and
praysing be vnto almighty god, make, ordeyn, and dis-
poase this my present testament and last will, in manner
and fourme following; that is to witt, ffirst, I bequẽth and
recomende my soule vnto Almighty, &c., and my body to
be buried within the Cathedrall Churche of Saint Poule, of
London, before the rode of North dore there, bitwene the
longe forme and the wall directly over agaynst the said
rode. And I bequeth for my buriall there to be had suche
convenient sume of money as shalbe thought by the dis-
crecions of myn executours. Item, I bequêth to the high
awter of Saint Benet, where I am a pishen, for my tithes
forgotten in discharge of my soule and conscience, xiij³ iiijª.
Item, I bequẽth to the high awter of Saint Stephyns, in
Walbroke, for my tithes there forgotten in discharge of my
soule and conscience, vis viijd. Item, I woll that suche
due detts as I owe of right or of conscience to any maner
344
APPENDIX.
psone or persones shall be well and truely contented and
paid. Item, I woll that Alice, my suster, shall yerely during
hir lyfe have of the londes to be bought for my lectour at
Cambridge, syx pounds sterlinge to be paide to hir halfe
yerely. And I woll that Joane, my suster, shalhave during
hir lyfe fyve pounds sterlinge of the landes to be bought
for the said lecto', in like maner and fourme to be paide,
or ells the said sumes to be yerely xceyved of the profits
of my lands in Kent or in London, after the discrecions of
my Lorde of London, Sir Thomas More, Knyght, and
Maister John Stokesley, Prebendary of Saint Stevyns at
Westmynster. Item, I bequeth to Thomas Lynacre, my
brother, xls. Item, I bequêth to my two neses, Agnes and
Margaret, eche of them a bedde, with all things to it com-
plete, after the discrecions of myn executours, so that
Margaret shalhave the better. Item, I bequêth Mr.
William Dancaster a fether bed and two Irishe blanketts,
with a bolster. Item, I bequeth to John Plumtre these
boks, Palax, Thuchiddes, wt that that foloweth, Theoder
and Apolones, Libanius Declamacions, Theocritas with
the Coment, Pynderus with the Coment, the Coment
vpon Omer. Item, I woll that my funeralls and burying
shall be doon in moderat maner, after the discrecions of
myn executours. Item, I bequeth to Richard, my serunt,
a blak gowne of iijs a yarde and xl³ in money, for the good
service that he hath doon to me. Item, I bequeth to eche
of John Appulby and Edward Tagge, my serunts, a blak
gowne a pece of iij³ a yarde and vj³ viijª a pece; and I woll
that all my serunts and housholde have mete and drynke
for a moneth next after my decesse. Item, I bequëth to
my cosyn, Robert Wright of Chester, a doblet cloth of
blak satyn, beyng in the keping of my sister Alice. Item,
I bequëth to Richard Wright a black gowne and xx in
money. Item, I bequeth to Elizabeth, my mayde serunt,
S
APPENDIX.
345
a blak gowne and hir wages after the rate of xxvjs viijd by
yere. The residue of all my goodes, whatsoever they be
after that my detts be paide, my funerall charges doon,
and these my legacies and bequets expressed in this my
present testament and last Wille fulfilled and perfourmed, I
woll shalbe solde by myn executours; and the money
comyng of the sale of the same to be applyed for and
towards the pformauns and fulfilling of this my present
testament and last Wille. And of this my present testa-
ment and last Will I make and ordeyn my Lord Cuthbert,
Bisshop of London, Sir Thomas More, Knyght, and Maister
John Stokesley, Prebendary of St. Stevyne at Westmynster,
myn executours, desiring and requiring them to substitute
and make som honest proctour vnder them, to take the
labours aboute the pforming of this my testament; and
the same proctour to be rewarded for his diligence in that
behalfe wt parte of my goodes, after the discrecons of my
said executours. These witnesse Maister William Dan-
caster, Clerk, William Latymer, Clerk, John Wylford,
Notary, Richard Hardyng, John Appulby.
Probatum fuit testamentum suprascripti defuncti coram
prefatis Comissarijs in eccția Cath Divi Pauli London xviij
die mensis Julij anno Dõi millimo quingentesimo vicesimo
quinto jurament executorum in himoi test̃o nõiať in psona
mağri Andree Smyth notarij puci procuris &c. Ac approbat
et insumať et cōmissa fuit admistracio aucte prefatorum
Rmoz patrum oñm et singulorum bonorū juîm et creditorum
dci defuncti prefats executoribz in psona dei procuris de
bene et fideler admistrand ac de pleno et fideli iurio secundo
die post festum Sce Anne prox futur exhid necnon de
plano et vero compto reddend ad sancta Dei Eungelia in
debita iuris forma jurat.
346
APPENDIX.
XVII.
(Page 298.)
[History of St. Paul's in London, by William Dugdale, 1657, p. 56.]
Epitaphium Thomæ Linacri in Ecclesia Cathedrali Divi
Pauli, Lond. Juxta Boreale ostium, super laminam
æneam, muro affixam.
THOMAS LYNACRUS, Regis Henrici VIII. medicus; vir
Græcè et Latinè, atque in re medicâ longè eruditissimus :
Multos ætate suâ languentes, et qui jam animam despon-
derant, vitæ restituit: Multa Galeni opera in Latinam lin-
guam, mirâ et singulari facundiâ vertit: Egregium opus
de emendatâ structurâ Latini sermonis, amicorum rogatu,
paulo ante mortem edidit. Medicinæ studiosis Oxoniæ
publicas lectiones duas, Cantabrigiæ unam, in perpetuum
stabilivit. In hâc urbe Collegium Medicorum fieri suâ
industriâ curavit, cujus et Præsidens proximus electus est.
Fraudes dolosque mirè perosus; fidus amicis; omnibus
ordinibus juxta clarus: aliquot annos antequam obieret
Presbyter factus. Plenus annis ex hâc vitâ migravit, mul-
tùm desideratus, Anno Domini 1524, die 20 Octobris.
Vivit post funera virtus.
Thomæ Linacro, clarissimo Medico,
Johannes Caius posuit, anno 1557.
XVIII.
[Opuscula Medica, iterum edita, Auctore Georgio Baker, Serenissimæ Re-
ginæ Charlottæ Medico Ordinario. Londini, 1771, p. 157.]
Oratio ex Harveii instituto habita in Theatro Collegii
Regii Medicorum, Londin. 1761.
ATQUE ut indè dicendo proficiscamur, undè oritur
APPENDIX.
347
nobilitatis vestræ principium; ecquis usquam est in uni-
versâ medicorum gente, quin virum illum, cujus consiliis,
sapientiâ, legibus, hanc optimè et constitutam et moratam
esse civitatem gloriamur, tanquam aliquem medicinæ præ-
sidentem Deum, suscipere soleat ac venerari? Ecquis qui
sinceris scientiæ cognitionisque fontibus vel prima labra
admovit, quin ex animo honoratum LINACRI nomen salu-
tare gestiat, et reviviscentium simul literarum auspicia sibi
gratulari? Contemplemini enim animo, natum ante LINA-
CRUM sacra illa doctrinæ omnis lux, quàm aut prorsus
jaceret extincta, aut, si crepuscula quædam, maligna illa
atque incerta, et quasi sublustrem caliginem hinc inde
spargeret. Recognoscite ecclesiam adeò non, quod decuit,
antiquâ sapientiâ venerabilem ; ut ne erubesceret illa quidem
sapientiam omnino omnem nescire simul et contemnere.
Academias videtis tam inerti torpore languidas, suique
prorsus absimiles, ut Athenas profectò aliquis ipsis in
Athenis frustrà esset quæsiturus. Pro studio philosophandi,
pro liberâ et erectâ naturæ verique investigatione, quæ
principatum jam ibi quendam jure suo obtinent, insederant
tum penitùs monstra illa, multisque sæculis inveterata do-
minabantur, error, ignoratia, et somnus.
Jacebat ars,
vitæ humanæ præses, horrida atque inculta, et tanquam
sordidissimus aliquis atque illiberalis quæstus, ad tabernas,
et officinas amandabatur; nec cuiquam, medicum se pro-
fessuro, aliud datum erat negotii, nisi ut fieret benè et
gnaviter impudens.
Quæ cùm ità essent, an fortunam LINACRI miseram ac
miserandam putem, eò quòd domi non haberet undè dis-
ceret; an felicem cum potiùs prædicem, cui contigit ea
foris didicisse, quæ possent et ipsum patriæ, et patriam
terrarum orbi commendare; cui contigit quicquid Flo-
rentia, quicquid Roma literarum aluit (fuit autem tùm
temporis Italia Græcarum artium plenissima) in academiæ
348
APPENDIX.
suæ sinum secum deportare, et apud suos auctiora atque
uberiora depromere transalpinæ eruditionis miracula? Si
placuit novum aliquod de proprio in lucem dare, brevis
fuit, emunctus, elegans, ad docendum unicè intentus: si
Græcos vertere, fidus satis, sed nec aridus interpres;
neque enim formam modo effigiemque adumbravit, sed
succum ipsum sanguinemque transfudit, et spiritu quodam
suo instinctos animavit. Tam singulari intereà modestiâ
fuit, ut scripta sua quæcunque non nisi timidè et dubi-
tantèr, ac ferè coactus prece emitteret ; tam limato judicio,
ut, qui aliis abundè placuit, soli non placeret sibi; et quanti
esset LINACRUS, neminem nisi ipsum lateret.
Jam verò ex vitâ umbratili evocatus in solem atque pul-
verem, totum se atque intimum excussit, et in communem
vita commoditatem operam suam omnem et facultates
strenuè contulit. Cùm uni viro, merito summo suo, duplex
simul demandaretur provincia, ille utramque egregiè sus-
tinuit, ut ne prudentissimum regem pœniteret unquam aut
tali magistro filium erudiendum, aut medico curandum se
commisisse.
Sed in hoc studiorum et gloriæ curriculo, nulla res magis
viro illi præstantissmo in votis fuit, quam ut medicina suis
se tandem sordibus et inhumanitate exueret, et se quoque
dignam fingeret, quæ liberalium virorum cultu et consue-
tudine uteretur. In hoc concilio exequendo campum sibi
prospexit latissimè patentem, in quo posset liberius excur-
rere virtus sua, et benevolentia ad quamplurimos pertinere.
Vehementèr illi doluit inscitiam et audaciam, nullâ lege
coercitam, in vitas hominum tam impunè grassari: doluit,
civium salutem in extremo discrimine versari, quos et morbi
simul vexarent, et remedia. Itàque arti afflictæ fidem suam
porrexit ; inopem recreavit ; et è solitudine et tenebris, qui-
bus adhuc obruta delituerat, in hunc societatis splendorem,
et in amicissimam consiliorum studiorumque conjunctionem
APPENDIX.
349
vindicavit. Videre videor, quâ ille animi benignitate apud
parvulum senatum suum leges, judicia, jura describeret:
quo gaudio malas suas artes, tanquam mucrones cervicibus
hominum intentatos, empiricis extorqueret: quàm lætus in
posterum perspiceret, animo jam tum præsentiens, jacta à
se fundamenta in quantum excretura essent ædificii, quan-
tam ad amplitudinem perventura.
Vos autem, quos civitate suâ donari voluit LINACRUS,
hæc vehementèr velim in memoriâ habeatis impressa, atque
etiam insculpta penitissimè; inter eos, qui humaniores huc
literas importaverint, principem fuisse medicum : medicum
eum fuisse, qui et sinceram Latini sermonis integritatem, et
quicquid est atticæ elegantiæ in Britanniam, agrestem ad-
huc et inhumanam, transtulerit: medicum majores vestros
et philosophiam docuisse et grammaticam ; quarum altera
utique ut rectè sentiamus facit, altera ut id, quod sentimus,
purè et politè eloquamur: medicinam denique, unà cum li-
teris renatam, paribus auspiciis, sub eodem auctore efflo-
ruisse, cum iisdem una jugiter excolendam, nec, nisi cum
illis simul, unquam interituram.
XIX.
[From the original in the College Archives.]
Grant of Arms to the College of Physicians by Christopher
Barker, Garter, 20 Sept. 1546.
To all present and to come which these present letters
shall see, reede, or here, Christopher Barker, esquier, alias
garter principall kinge at armes of Engleshemen, sendeth
gretenge w¹ due and humble Recomendacion. Equite Wil-
lethe, and reason ordenethe, that men vertuous and of cōmen-
dable Disposicion and lyvenge, be by theire merytes and good
350
APPENDIX.
renowne rewarded and had in perpetuall memory for their
good name and ffame, and theire Successours after them for
euermore. And where it is so, that the compeny and Col-
lege of ffysicions of this Cittie of London hathe heretofore
honestely and Discretely guyded and gouuerned them selfes
as other Compeny's have doon, they desyringe to haue
tokens of wourshipp to bere and vse to them, whereby
they may be knowen as other Compenys be, And they not
willinge to doo no pereiudice to any manner of parson,
Willm ffreman, president, Richarde Bartlet, Edwarde Wut-
ton, and John Clement, Docters of the College of ffysy-
cions, and Peter Asheton, maister of the chauncery, wt all
the hole compeny Ingenerally, Hathe requyred and In-
stantely Desyred me the saide Garter principall kinge of
armes, to ordein, devise, appointe, and assigne vnto and
for the saide Presydent and Compeny and theire Succes-
sours, armes lawfull, and conveniente tokens of honner and
wourshipp: And therefore considerenge there Requeste to
be Juste and Reasonable, and allso by vertu, power and auc-
toritee to myn office of principall kinge of armes annexed
and attributed by the Kinge our Souveraign lorde, I have De-
mised ordeined and assigned vnto, and for the said presy-
dent and compeny, these armes, tokens of honner, in man'
and fforme followenge: that ys to wytt, Sables, a Border
with Semy flourdeluces golde, in the Chefe an arme char-
nois oute of a clowde Argent and Asure, with the Rase of
the Son golde, with a Cuffe ermin, the hande ffelenge the
powllse of an arme in fesse charnois; in point a powme-
grannath golde: as more plainely Apperethe Depicted in
this margent. To have and to holde vnto the said Willm
ffreman president, Richarde Barthelet, Edwarde Woutton,
John Clement, Docters of the College of ffysycions as
aforesayde; Peter Asheton Maister of the chauncery, and
to their Successours of the sayde compeny, they then to
APPENDIX.
351
vse and Inioy to these wourshippes for euermore. In wit-
nes whereof I the sayde Garter Principall kinge of Armes
as abouesayde, have Signed these Presentes withe myn
owen hande, and thereunto have sett the Seal of myn
office, and allso the Seale of myn Armes. Yeven at Lon-
don the xxth Day of September, in the yere of ower Lorde
God mcccccxlvj, and of the Reigne of our Souueraigne
Lorde Kynge Henry the viijth, by the Grace of God Kynge
of England, ffraunce, and Irland, Defender of the ffaythe,
and in earthe of the churche of England and Irland Su-
preme hedde, the xxxviijth yere.
INDEX.
ABORIGINES of Britain, school of the, p. 25.
Albertus Pius introduced to Linacre, 143; calumniates Erasmus at the
papal court, ib.
Aldus Manutius, his acquaintance with Linacre, 141; prints Linacre's
translation of the Sphere of Proclus, 142.
Alfred, promotion of letters by, 27; his institutions opposed by the old
scholastics, 31; determines their disputes, 34; re-establishes schools
after their subversion by the Danes, 36; erects habitations for the
teachers, ib.; devotes a fourth of his revenue for their support, ib.
Alexander of Hales, 49; composes a system of theology at the request
of Pope Innocent IV. 51; character of, 52; effects of his system of
theology upon learning, 53.
André (Bernard), tutor to Prince Arthur, 170; endeavours to prejudice
King Henry VII. against Linacre, 171.
Apothecaries, duty of, and the mode of their remuneration, 166.
Aquinas (St. Thomas), 55; character of his works, 56, 57.
Arabian literature, an account of, 46.
Argyropylus (Joannes), teaches Greek at Florence, 110; succeeded by
Politian as the instructor of Piero and Lorenzo de' Medici, 112,
Aristotle, introduction of his works into the South of Europe, 46; into
Spain by the Arabians, ib.
Arius, 35.
Arthur, Prince of Wales, arrives at Oxford, 161; marriage of, 162; Li-
nacre appointed his tutor, ib.; death of, 174.
Arts, state of the, at Rome during the pontificate of Innocent VIII. 125.
2 a
354
INDEX.
B.
Barbarus (Hermolaus), introduced to Linacre, 127; restores the text of
Pliny the younger, ib.; parentage of, 129; deputed envoy from the
states of Venice to the Emperor Frederic, ib.; nominated by Inno-
cent VIII. to the patriarchate of Aqueleia, ib.; rupture of, with the
Venetian senate, 130; continues to reside at Rome, 131; attach-
ment of, to literature, ib.; opinion of, on matrimony, 133; division
of his time, 134; translations of, from Greek authors, 136; style of,
138; his illness and death, 140.
Basyng (John de), assists Grostest in his translations from the Greek,
77; imports Greek MSS. into England, ib.
Boeria (Giambattista de), physician to King Henry VII. 168; tutor to
Prince Arthur, 170.
Bologna, reputation of the university of, in the fifteenth century, 103.
Budé, his correspondence with Linacre, 246.
C.
Callistus (Joannes Andronicus), teaches Greek at Florence, 110.
Calphurnius (Matthew), 203.
Cambridge, state of learning in the university of, at the end of the fifteenth
century, 97; introduction of Greek not opposed by, 201.
Candidus (Petrus), 119.
Castellanus (Georgius), 119.
Chalcondyles (Demetrius), birth, and arrival of, in Italy, 118; associated
with Politian in the instruction of Piero and Giovanni de' Medici,
119; quarrels with Politian and travels to Milan, ib.; marriage of,
ib.; some account of his sons, 120; death of, ib.; character of, 121.
Cheke (Sir John), accuses Linacre of infidelity, 188; effects a reforma-
tion in the pronunciation of Greek at Cambridge, 258.
Chrysoloras (Emanuel), succeeded in the Greek school at Florence by
Politian, 112.
Church of Rome, better cultivation of learning by, 101.
Clement V. reforms the schools, 79; corrects the opinions of the clergy,
80.
INDEX.
355
Clement (John), a physician, 203.
Clementine constitutions, 80, 82.
Colet (Dr. John), intimacy of, with Linacre, 183; requests him to com-
pose a manual for the use of his new schools, 235; rejects it, ib.;
writes two treatises himself, 236; rupture with Linacre, 237.
Collegiate establishments, origin of, 11.
Council of Vienne, 79.
Croyland Abbey, 37; destroyed by fire, 38; re-established by Joffrid,
38.
D.
Danes, effect of the incursions of the, on the schools of England, 35.
December, 119.
Demetrius Chalcondyles.-See Chalcondyles.
Difference in the tenets of the Greek and Latin churches, 84.
Disputes of the Graduates in law and medicine for precedency, 86; the
victory gained by the latter, 87.
Duns (John), founds the sect of Scotists or Reals, 58; a subscription to
his doctrine of the immaculate conception made a requisite to candi-
dates for degrees in theology, 60.
E.
Elicherus, 73.
Erasmus arrives in England, 157; proceeds to Oxford, 158; studies
Greek under Linacre, Grocyn and Latimer, 159; his opinion of
Oxford, 159; his literary labours there, 160; describes the court of
Henry VIII. 185; attempts to heal the breach between Colet and
Linacre, 237; publishes a translation of the New Testament at
Cambridge, 202.
Faceby (John), 165.
Ficinus (Marsilius), 110.
F.
356
INDEX.
Fisher (Dr. John), Bishop of Rochester, aspires to the study of Greek,
201.
Fleming (Robert), 91.
Florence celebrated for the protection and encouragement of literature
by its dukes, 108.
Fox (Richard), Bishop of Winchester, institutes lectures on Greek and
Latin at Oxford, 268.
Freas or Free (John), 91.
G.
Galenic system, introduction of the, 208.
George of Trebisond, 119.
Giambattista de Boeria, physician to King Henry VIII. 168; tutor to
Prince Arthur, 170.
Greek language, first taught in England by Vitelli, 13; state of, at Ox-
ford during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, 70; its intro-
duction into Calabria, 105; cultivated by Petrarch in Italy, 106;
diffused throughout Italy in consequence of the fall of Constantinople,
107; no considerable progress effected in the cultivation of it in
England till the sixteenth century, 200; the cultivators of, termed
heretics, ib.; lectures on, instituted, 268; barbarous pronunciation
of the, 258; the pronunciation of it reformed by Cheke at Cam-
bridge, ib.
Grocyn (William), the birth of, and acquaintance with Linacre, 15; sent
to Winchester College, ib.; elected a scholar of New College, at
Oxford, 16; collated to the rectory of Newnton Longville, ib.;
cultivates Greek, ib.; chosen reader in divinity in Magdalen Col-
lege, 17; opposes John Taylor in the disputations before King
Richard III. ib.; instructs Erasmus in Greek, 159; undertakes a
translation of Aristotle in conjunction with Linacre and Latimer,
204; memoir of, 256.
Grostest, birth and parentage of, 72; literary pursuits of, 73; character
of, as a translator, 76; the effects of his writings upon literature, 78;
claim of, to the title of restorer of Greek literature in England, 150.
Grouthead (Robert).-See Grostest.
INDEX.
357
H.
Hatcliffe, 165.
Hateley, 165.
Henry III. re-establishes schools in England, 48.
VII. appoints Linacre his physician and tutor to Prince Arthur,
162; death of, 175.
VIII. succeeds to the throne, 175; popularity and munificence
of, 176; an account of the court of, ib.; appoints Linacre his phy-
sician, 182; his patronage of the learned, 184.
Hermolaus Barbarus.-See Barbarus.
Holt (Nicholas), the preceptor of More at the school of St. Anthonie in
London, 20; one of the earliest writers on grammar in England, ib.
Ingulph, 37.
I.
J.
Janus Vitales, verses by, on the departure of Linacre from Italy, 147.
Joffrid, 38.
Juan Luis Vives, 232.
K.
Kemer (Gilbert), 164.
L.
Lascaris (James), writes an epigram on Linacre's translation of Galen's
Method of Healing, 217.
Latimer (William), birth and acquaintance of, with Linacre, 18; sent to
Oxford, ib.; elected fellow of All Souls College, ib.; pursuits of,
there, ib.; instructs Erasmus in Greek, 159; undertakes a translation
358
INDEX.
of the works of Aristotle, with Linacre and Grocyn, 204; memoir
of, 263.
Latin language, how acquired in the schools and universities, 88; ne-
glected in the schools in the fifteenth century, 43; barbarous state
of the, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, 70; lectures insti-
tuted on the, 268.
Latomus (Joannes), writes verses on Linacre's departure from Italy, 147.
Laurentius Valla, 119.
Learning, the system of, adopted in the schools and universities, from the
middle of the thirteenth to the middle of the fourteenth centuries,
64; consequences of, 67; state of, during the Saxon era, 40; the
causes of its depression in the twelfth century, 41; of the schools,
45; how affected by the discovery of the pandects, 41, 68; by the
system of Alexander of Hales, 53; the state of, in the thirteenth
century, ib; how affected by the opinion of Wicliff, 78; by the con-
stitutions of Clement, 84; state of, at Oxford and Cambridge at the
end of the fifteenth century, 97.
Lectures, the institution of, 267; Linacre lectures, 272; Shagglyng, 178.
Libraries at Rome, the state of the, during the pontificate of Innocent
VIII. 125; of the ecclesiastical and conventual previous to the
fifteenth century, 90, 92; of the orders of St. Dominic and St.
Francis at Oxford, 92; neglected in the fifteenth century, 94, 96.
Lilye (William), the claim of, to the title of restorer of Greek literature
in England, 151; confounds Linacre's treatise De Emendatâ Struc-
turâ Latini Sermonis with his grammar, 235; the first master of St.
Paul's school, 151; publishes a Latin grammar, 152.
Linacre, birth of, 1; birth place of, 1; antiquity of the family of, 2;
early education of, 4; studies under Selling, 4; early prejudice of,
against the then common mode of instruction, 10; goes to Oxford,
ib.; elected fellow of All Souls College, 12; consanguinity of, to
the founder, ib.; studies Greek under Vitelli, 13; studies dialectic,
14; acquaintance of with Grocyn, acquaintance of with Latimer,
18; becomes a private tutor at Oxford, 19; tutor to Thomas More,
il. travels to Italy, 99; introduction of, to Politian at Bologna,
102; removes to Florence, 108; patronized by Lorenzo de' Medici,
123; studies with the sons of Lorenzo under Politian and Demetrius
Chalcondyles, ib.; leaves Florence for Rome, 125; acquaintance of,
with Hermolaus Barbarus, 126; bias of, in favour of celibacy, 133;
comparison of the characters of Linacre and Barbarus, 140; visits
Venice, 141; acquaintance of, with Aldus Manutius, ib.; acquaint-
INDEX.
359
ance of, with Albertus Pius, ib.; visits Padua, 143; takes there the
degree of doctor in medicine, 144; transcribes Greek MSS. 145;
returns to England, 146; verses on his departure from Italy, 147;
claim of, to the title of restorer of Greek literature in England, 152;
resides at Oxford, 153; incorporated Doctor of Medicine by the
universities of Oxford and Cambridge, 154; instructs Erasmus in
Greek at Oxford, 159; summoned to court to superintend the edu-
cation of Prince Arthur, 162; appointed physician to King Henry
VII., quære, ib.; dedicates his translation of the Sphere of Proclus
to Prince Arthur, 169; returns to Oxford at the death of the prince,
174; devotes himself to the practice of his profession, 175; delivers
a Shagglyng lecture, 178; delivers lectures at Oxford, 179; letter
to, from the university of Oxford, 180; appointed physician to King
Henry VIII. 182; still tutor to More, 183; takes orders, 186; ac-
cused of doubting the truths of Christianity, 187; vindicated by
Selden, 190; various preferments of, 192; contemplates a transla-
tion of the works of Aristotle, with Grocyn and Latimer, 204;
translates Galen's Treatise on the Preservation of Health, 208;
translates the Method of Healing, 214; translates other treatises of
Galen, 224; forebodes his decease, 228; appointed tutor to the
Princess Mary, 231; composes his Rudiments of Grammar, 232;
composes his treatise De Emendatâ Structurâ Latini Sermonis, 235;
quarrels with Dean Colet, 237; Antonio Francino Varchiese dedi-
cates to him his edition of the Onomasticon of Pollux, 242; corres-
pondence of, with Budé, 246; letter from the university of Oxford
to, 269; institutes two lectures at Oxford and one at Cambridge,
272; designs the foundation of the College of Physicians, 279;
assigns his house to the college, 294; disease of, increases, 296;
death and burial of, 298; dispositions of, by will, 299; character of,
302.
Linacre Lectures, the institution of, 272; the trustees pervert the funds,
274; the duties and qualifications of the lecturers, 275, 277.
Literary entertainments, 131.
Lombardus (Petrus), founds the system of Argumentative Theology, 43.
M.
Mahommedan conquests in the East, the effect of the, on the literature of
the west of Europe, 25.
Marsilius Ficinus teaches Greek at Florence, 110.
Medici, Giovanni de', a fellow pupil with Linacre, 123.
360
INDEX.
Medici, Giovanni de', elected Pope by the title of Leo. X. 225.
Lorenzo de', patronizes the learned, 108; patronizes Linacre, 123;
his estimate of education, ib.
Medicine, the state of, previous to the foundation of the College of Physi-
cians, 278; laws relating to practitioners in, 284; cultivated at
Padua, 143.
Merlac, 71.-See Morley.
More (Sir Thomas), the pupil of Linacre at Oxford, 19; admitted a
member of Canterbury College, ib.; the early education of, 20; the
character of, by Erasmus, 21; delivers public lectures on theology,
22.
Morilegus, 71.-See Morley.
Morley, 71; gives a description of the professors in Arabia and Spain, ib.
Mountjoy, Lord, gives a description of the court of Henry VIII., 176.
Nicholas, 73.
Nominals, 14, 61.
N.
0.
Occham (William) founds the sect of Nominals or Terminists, 61; quar-
rels with the Pope, 62; seeks protection from the Emperor, ib.
Oxford, the University of, founded by Alfred, 36; William the Conqueror
seizes the funds, and consequent decline of, 36; re-established by
Henry III., 48; great number of students, 49; state of Greek and
Latin in, during the 13th and 14th centuries, 64; the reformation of,
effected by Pope Clement, 82; the poverty of the members, 88; the
University of Paris renounces its alliance with, ib.; state of learn-
ing in, at the end of the 15th century, 97; letter from, to Linacre,
180; opposes the cultivation of Greek, 201; letter from, to Linacre,
269; makes an arrangement with the College of Physicians respect-
ing degrees in medicine, 291.
P.
Padua, the University of, celebrated as a school for medicine, 143.
INDEX.
261
Pandects, the effects of the discovery of the, on the state of learning, 41,
68.
Pelagius, 35.
Petrus Lombardus, 43.
Physic, the state of, before the 15th century, 163.
Physicians to the king, the origin of, 163; in the reign of Henry VI., ib.
in the reign of Henry VII., 167; the mode of remuneration of, 165.
college of, founded by Linacre, 279; the powers of, 281; the
mode of election of members and officers, ib., 283; inaccuracies in
the wording of the letters-patent, 287; the charter revoked by James
II. Charter of Charles II., 287; charter of William III., 290;
the antiquity of the different orders and ranks in the, 291; the ar-
rangement of, with the University of Oxford respecting its granting
degrees in medicine, ib.
Politian introduced to Linacre, 102; early history of, 109; received into
the family of the Medici, ib.; studies Greek, 110; genius of for
poetry, ib.; appointed teacher of Greek to the sons of Lorenzo de'
Medici, 112; appointed teacher of the Greek school at Florence, ib.;
quarrels with Demetrius Chalcondyles, 113; translates the Lives of
Herodian, 114; death of, 115; character of, ib.; the charge of
atheism against him refuted, 117.
Pole, 263
Reals, 14, 58.
Retenensis, Robertus, 86.
Richard III. visits Oxford, 17.
R.
S.
Scotists, 58.
Schools-Monastic, 7; called Universities, 8; the system of instruction
pursued in the, ib.; Roman literature neglected in the, 9; of the
aborigines of Britain, 25; instituted by Alfred, 27; subverted by the
Danes, 35; re-established by Alfred, 36; cclebrity of Oxford, ib. ;
its decline, 36; abbey of Croyland, 37; general decay of in England,
42; celebrity of those of Paris, 44; their decline, 47; those of
England re-established by Henry III.
262
INDEX.
Selden vindicates Linacre from the charge of infidelity, 190.
Selling (William), birth and parentage of, 5; some account of his early
literary life, ib.; tutor to Linacre, ib.; qualifications of, as a teacher,
10; related to Linacre by marriage. ib.; sent ambassador by Henry
VII. to the court of Rome, 101; death and character of, 156.
Shagglyng Lecture, 178.
T.
Taylor (John), opposes Grocyn in the disputations held before King
Richard III. at Oxford, 17.
Terminists, 61.
Thomists, 14, 55.
Tiptoft (John), Earl of Worcester, 91.
Tilly. See Selling.
U.
Universities, the younger members of, accustomed to hold public disputa-
tions, 22.
of Bologna.-See Bologna.
of Cambridge.-See Cambridge.
of Florence.-See Florence.
of Oxford. See Oxford.
of Padua.-See Padua.
Valla Laurentius, 119.
Varchiese, Antonio Francino, 242.
V.
Vitelli teaches Greek at Oxford, 13; first teacher of Greek in England, ib.
Vives (Juan Luis), 232; composes two treatises on grammar for the use
of the Princess Mary, 233.
INDEX.
263
Wainfleet founds three schools, 97.
W.
Warham (William), the favourite of Henry VII., 101; memoir of, 194.
Wolsey, Cardinal, institutes Greek lectures, 203, 268; supposed to have
fraudulently obtained the royal assent to the letters-patent for the
foundation of the College of Physicians, 286.
LONDON:
C. ROWORTH AND SONS, BELL YARD,
TEMPLE BAR.
EDWARD LUMLEY'S
Periodical Catalogues
OF
NEW AND SECOND-HAND BOOKS,
WITH THE PRICES AFFIXED,
MAY BE HAD, GRATIS, OF THE PUBLISHER, 27, CHANCERY LANE,
CONTAINING
A SELECTION of Works in Bibliography, Literary History,
Catalogues of Public and Private Libraries, Reviews, Theology,-Hebrew,
Oriental, Greek, Latin, and other versions of the Bible,-Commentaries, Cri-
ticisms and Concordances,-Councils, Ecclesiastical Discipline and Rites,—
Liturgies, Fathers of the Church, Modern Divines, Pagan Theology,-Philoso-
phy (Ancient and Modern),-Logic, Metaphysics, Occult Philosophy, Ethics,
-Political Economy,-Jurisprudence, Grecian, Roman, Canon and Foreign
Law, together with the Municipal and Ecclesiastical Law of Great Britain,—
Sciences, Physic,-Natural and Experimental Philosophy (Ancient and Mo-
dern)-Natural History-Botany-Medicine-Surgery-Chemistry-Mathe-
matics Mechanics Arts History-Geography-Voyages-Chronology-
Universal History-Civil and Ecclesiastical Biography-Heraldry-Antiqui-
ties, Numismatics, Inscriptions-Languages-Grammars-Dictionaries-Rhe-
toric-Poetry,-Rare and Privately Printed Books, &c. &c. &c.
Where also may be had,
THE LIBRARY OF THE FINE ARTS, complete in
4 vols. 8vo., with the APPENDIX, neat, in canvas, for 18s.
This work, which was edited by and published at the sole expense of J. Ken-
nedy, Esq., M.P., without regard to any other consideration than furthering the
interests of Art and the progress of Taste, will be found to contain a vast body
of information highly interesting to all connected with the Fine Arts. It in-
cludes fine Portraits, with original Biographical Notices, of Sir T. Lawrence,
Jackson, Northcote, Harlow, Sandby, Fuseli, Liverseege, Paye, Sir J. Reynolds,
Bonington, Girtin, Sir F. Bourgeois, Sir W. Beechy, Bartolozzi, Opie, Cosway,
&c.
N.B.-This work is not to be confounded with " Arnold's Library of the Fine
Arts."
A New and very Neat Edition of Sir JOSHUA REYNOLDS' and
OPIE'S LECTURES, with fine Portraits, and which are included in the above,
may be had separately, price 2s. 6d. each.
COLLIN'S Dictionary of SPANISH PROVERBS, from the
best Spanish Authorities; with English Translations and Explanatory Illustra-
tions, from the Latin, Spanish, and English Authors. 1 vol. 12mo. price 33.
NON
CIRCULATING

NON
CIRCULATING
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
3 9015 02838 2672