-^^-.
Statue of Erasmus at Eotterdum.
mus barely support- ed himself, by taking pupils, and he suffer- ed greatly from sick- ness and poverty. He afterwards attrib- uted his weakness of constitution to his wretched food and un- wholesome lodgings in Paris. After a short visit to Cam- bray and to Holland for his health, he re- turned to Paris, where his pension from the bishop failed, and he taught for his bread. Among his pupils was lord William Mount- joj', who ever after remained his friend and patron. For him he wrote the treatise De Ratione conscribendi epistolas. IMountjoj' offered him a pension to accompany him to England. Eras- mus passed a year there (1498-9), chiefly at Lon- don, Oxford, and Cambridge, and became acquaint- ed with many Englishmen distinguished for piety and learning. At Oxford he studied in St. IMary's College, and formed many connections which were afterwards of use to him. Among his special friends were Colet, Grocyn, Latimer, and the celebrated chancellor Thomas More. From England Erasmus returned to Paris, where he again supported him- self by pupils. In 1499 he returned to the Conti- nent, and spent his time chiefly in studying Greek, and in translating Greek authors into Latin. He I had no fixed abode ; now he was in Paris, and again in the provinces of FVance or in Holland. The Ada- (jia and the Enchiridion Militis Christiani were pub- lished between 1500 and 1504. He began his Bib- lical studies also about this time, publishing in 1505 a new edition of the Remarks of Laureniius Valla on the N. T. In 1505 he spent a short time in England, where he made the acquaintance of archbishop War- ham, to whom he dedicated his translation of the Hec- uba. In 1506 he accomplished his long-cherished de- sire of visiting Italy, where he succeeded in obtaining from pope Julius II a dispensation from his monastic vows. At Turin he was made D.D. (1506), and his time was divided between Bologna, Rome, Florence, and Padua, where he improved his knowledge of Greek under the instruction of the best Greek and Italian scholars. In 1507 he superintended, at Venice, a new edition of his Adar/ia, printed by the celebrated Aldus Manutius. " At Rome he met with a flattering recep- tion, and promises of high advancement ; but, having engaged to return to England, he did so in 1510, in the expectation that the recent accession of Henry VIII, with whom he had for some time maintained a corre- spondence, would insure to him an honorable provis- ion." On the journey he wrote the worlc which gave him his greatest celebrity for the time, the Encomium Morice (Panegyric on Folly), which he dedicated to Thomas More. He lived "for some time at Caniv bridge, where he was appointed Ladj' Margaret pro= fessor (in divinity), and also lectured on Greek. His lodging was in 'Queen's College, in the grounds of which Erasmus's Walk is still shown. In 1509, at the request of Colet, he published Copia Verborum ac re- rum, long in use as a school-book. He accepted an invitation from the archduke, afterwards Charles V, and went to Brabant in 1514, with the office of coun- cillor, and a salary of 200 florins. After this we find him resident sometimes in the Netherlands, sometimes at Basel, where the great work in which he had been
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many years engaged, the first edition of the New Tes- t.iuRnt ill Greeli, was jjuhlishi'd in 1510, accompanied by a new Latin translation. Some amusing specimens of the objections made to this undertaking by the ig- norant clergy will be found in his 'Letters' (vi, 2)" (£nr/l. Cyclop.). It was dedicated to pope Leo X. His fame had by this time spread all over Europe ; he and Reuchliii were called the Eyes ofGej-maivi. From this period onward he resided chiefly at Basel, though his ^vaIlderi^lg habits were never entirely shaken off. The second edition of his N. T. appeared in 1519, and pre- fixed to it was his Rniio sen Mcthodus cmipendio perve- niendi ad veram Theolufjltm (also published separately, 1522). lu 1521 he published his Colloqida, "composed ostensibly to supply young persons with an easy school-book in the Latin language, and at the same time to teach them religion and morals. For the pur- pose of teaching the Latin language this little book seems peculiarly well adapted : it was long used for this purpose in England. In these ' Colloquies,' which are generally very amusing, Erasmus has made some of his smartest attacks on various superstitions of the Eoman Catholic Church. On this account the book •was prohibited" {Enff. Ci/clop.). His Annotations in N. T. appeared at Basel (1516-22, manj' editions), and his Paraphrases in N. T. (1524, fol. ; Berlin, 1777-80, 3 vols, fol.) The Paraphrases were so much esteemed in England that it was made the duty of every parish church, by an order in council (1547), to possess a copy of the English translation (Lond. 1548, 2 vols, fol., by Udall, Coverdale, and others ; 2d edit. 1551).
As Erasmus had decided to remain in the Church of Eome, his residence at Basel became an uneasy one when the Reformation got possession of that city. In 1529 he removed to Freiburg, in Breisgau, where he built a house with a view to permanent residence, but never liked it. His later years were embittered by literary and religious quarrels. His pecuniary aflairs, however, which had always been embarrassed in his early years, were now easy. In 1535 he returned to Basel, intending, however, only a short stay before re- turning to his native land to die. He was soon taken ill, but recovered sufficiently to continue his literary labors, especially on his edition of Origen. He suf- fered from gravel ; an attack of dysentery supervened, and carried him off on the night of July 11-12 (O.S.), 1530. He left his property to the poor.