regions can be

north and

west

toward the west; and he said it in such a way that, having Cabot believes nothing to gain or lose by it I too believe it; and, what is that the spice more, the king here, who is wise and not lavish, likewise puts reached by some faith in him; for ever since his return he has made good sailing to the provision for him, as the same Master John tells me. And it is said that in the spring his Majesty aforenamed will fit out some ships, and will, besides, give him all the convicts, and they will go to that country to make a colony, by means of which they hope to establish in London a greater emporium of spices than there is in Alexandria. The chief men of the enterprise are of Bristol, great sailors, who, now that they know where to go, say that it is not a voyage of more than fifteen days, nor do they ever have storms after they get away from Ireland.

humorous

I have also talked with a Burgundian, a comrade of Master The writer John's, who confirms everything, and wishes to return thither makes a because the admiral (for so Master John already entitles him- petition for a self) has given him an island; and he has given another one good office to a barber of his from Castiglione-of-Genoa, and both of them regard themselves as counts, nor does my lord, the admiral, esteem himself anything less than a prince. I think that with this expedition there will go several poor Italian monks, who have all been promised bishoprics. And, as I have become a friend of the admiral's, if I wished to go thither I should get an archbishopric. But I have thought that the benefices which your Excellency has in store for me are a surer thing. Therefore I beg that if these should fall vacant in my absence, you will cause possession to be given to me, taking measures to do this when it is needed, in order that they be not taken from me by others, who, because they are present, can be more diligent than I. During my stay in this country I have frequently been brought to the pass of eating ten or twelve dishes at every meal, and sitting at table three hours at a time twice a day, for the sake of your Excellency, to whom I now humbly commend myself.

Your Excellency's

Very humble servant,
RAIMONDO.

187. Erasmus to Robert

Fisher, English representative in Italy (1499)

The following letters from Erasmus, the first three written from England to various friends in Italy or in Holland, the fourth written long afterward but describing his experiences while in England, will give some idea of the group of learned men living in England at that time, of their interests, and of the family of Henry VII.

I have been rather afraid of writing to you, dearest Robert, not that I feared your affection had been at all lessened by such distances of time and place, but because you are in a country where the walls are more learned and eloquent than our men; so that what we here think eloquent and beautiful cannot but seem poor and rude and tasteless there. Your England naturally expects you to return not only most learned in the laws but equally loquacious in Greek and Latin. You would have seen me, too, in Italy before this time if my lord Mountjoy, when I was prepared for the journey, had not carried me off to England. Whither, indeed, would I not follow a young man so courteous, so amiable? I would follow him, by heaven, to the grave itself. You had amply sounded his praises, and described him like a picture; but he daily surpasses both your praises and the opinion I had myself formed of him.

But how do you like our England? you will say. Believe me, my Robert, when I answer that I never liked anything so much before. I find the climate both pleasant and wholesome; and I have met with so much kindness and so much learning-not hackneyed and trivial, but deep, accurate, ancient Latin and Greek that but for the curiosity of seeing it, I do not now care so much for Italy. When I hear my Colet, I seem to be listening to Plato himself. In Grocyn, who does not marvel at such a perfect round of learning? What can be more acute, profound, and delicate than the judgment of Linacre? What has nature ever created more gentle, more sweet, more happy than the genius of Thomas More? I need not go through the list. It is marvelous how general and abundant is the harvest of ancient learning in this country, to which you ought all the

sooner to return. My lord has so kind a remembrance of you that he speaks of no one more often or with more pleasure. Farewell. From London, in haste, this fifth day of December.

From Oxford

How I wish you had been present, as I expected, at that 188. Erasmus feast of ours. Nothing was wanting. A choice time, choice to Sixtinus. place, no arrangements neglected. The good cheer would (1499) have satisfied Epicurus; the table talk would have pleased Pythagoras. The guests might have peopled an Academy and not merely made up a dinner party. First, there was Prior Richard, that high priest of the Graces; then the divine who had preached the Latin sermon the same day, a person of modesty as well as learning; then your friend Philip, most cheerful and witty. Colet, assertor and champion of the old theology, was at the head of the table. On his right sat the prior, a man in whose composition there is an admirable mixture of learning, benevolence, and honesty. On Colet's left sat the more modern theologian. His left was covered by me, that the banquet might not be without a poet, while opposite to me sat Philip, to represent the legal profession. Below was a mixed and nameless assembly. . . .

at the convent

From London

(1505)

I have now been spending some months with my lord 189. Erasmus Mountjoy, who made a great point of calling me back to Eng- to Servatius, land, not without the general agreement of the learned of this of Steyn, country. For there are, at London, five or six men who are Holland. accurate scholars in both tongues, such as I think even Italy itself does not at present possess. I do not set any value on myself; but it seems there is not one of these that does not make much of my capacity and learning. And if it were in any circumstances allowable to boast, I might, at any rate, be pleased to have gained the approbation of those whose preeminence in letters the most envious and the most hostile cannot deny. But for myself, I think nothing settled unless I have the approval of Christ, on whose single will all our felicity depends. Farewell.

I was staying at Lord Mountjoy's country house when Thomas More came to see me and took me out with him for

190. From Erasmus' Catalogue of Lucubrations (1523)

191. Erasmus

physician to

Cardinal
Wolsey

a walk as far as the next village, where all the king's children, except Prince Arthur, who was then the eldest son, were being educated. When we came into the hall, the attendants not only of the palace but also of Mountjoy's household were all assembled. In the midst stood Prince Henry, then nine years old, and having already something of royalty in his demeanor, in which there was a certain dignity combined with singular courtesy. On his right was Margaret, almost eleven years of age, afterward married to James, king of Scots; and on his left played Mary, a child of four. Edmund was an infant in arms. More, with his companion, Arnold, after paying his respects to the boy Henry, the same that is now king of England, presented him with some writing. For my part, not having expected anything of the sort, I had nothing to offer, but promised that on another occasion I would in some way declare my duty towards him. Meantime I was angry with More for not having warned me, especially as the boy sent me a little note while we were at dinner, to challenge something from my pen. . . .

One more letter from Erasmus may be given to show some of the ways of life of the English people at that time.

. . I am frequently astonished and grieved to think how it is to Dr.Francis, that England has been now for so many years troubled by a continual pestilence, especially by a deadly sweat, which appears in a great measure to be peculiar to your country. I have read how a city was once delivered from a plague by a change in the houses, made at the suggestion of a philosopher. I am inclined to think that this, also, must be the deliverance for England.

First of all, Englishmen never consider the aspect of their doors or windows; next, their chambers are built in such a way as to admit of no ventilation. Then a great part of the walls of the house is occupied with glass casements, which admit light but exclude the air, and yet they let in the draught through holes and corners, which is often pestilential and stagnates there. The floors are, in general, laid with white clay, and are

covered with rushes, occasionally renewed, but so imperfectly that the bottom layer is left undisturbed, sometimes for twenty years, harboring expectorations, vomitings, the leakage of dogs and men, ale droppings, scraps of fish, and other abominations not fit to be mentioned. Whenever the weather changes a vapor is exhaled, which I consider very detrimental to health. I may add that England is not only everywhere surrounded by sea, but is, in many places, swampy and marshy, intersected by salt rivers, to say nothing of salt provisions, in which the common people take so much delight. I am confident the island would be much more salubrious if the use of rushes were abandoned, and if the rooms were built in such a way as to be exposed to the sky on two or three sides, and all the windows so built as to be opened or closed at once, and so completely closed as not to admit the foul air through chinks; for as it is beneficial to health to admit the air, so it is equally beneficial at times to exclude it. The common people laugh at you if you complain of a cloudy or foggy day. Thirty years ago, if ever I entered a room which had not been occupied for some months, I was sure to take a fever. More moderation in diet, and especially in the use of salt meats, might be of service; more particularly were public officers appointed to see the streets cleaned from mud and filth, and the suburbs kept in better order. . . .

Sir Thomas More's Utopia, from which the following extracts are taken, was written in Latin in 1515, and first printed in Louvain in 1516. It is the most famous of a number of books written about this period advocating reforms in education, in the government, and in general social organization. The Utopia is in two books; the first professes to describe the circumstances that led to its being written, the second to be a description of the land of Utopia itself.

Henry the Eighth, the unconquered king of England, a prince adorned with all the virtues that become a great