§ 71. HUMANISM IN ENGLAND. 649
description of a visit he had from a priest. The priest, sitting in front of Colet's fire, drew forth from his bosom a small copy of the Epistles, which he had transcribed with his own hand, and then, in answer to his request, his host proceeded to set forth the golden things of the 1st chapter of Romans. ^ His expositions abound in expressions of admiration for Paul.
At Oxford, in 1498, Colet met Erasmus, who was within a few months of being of the same age, audJie_al&QXia_meinto contact with More, whom he called "a rare genius," The fellow- 'sTiip with these men confirmed him in his modern leanings. He lectured on the Areopagite's Hierarchies^ but he soon came to adopt Grocyn's view of their late date. The high estimate of Thomas Aquinas which prevailed, he abandoned and pronounced him "arrogant for attempting to define all things" and of " corrupting the whole teaching of Christ with his profane philosophy. "2 Some years later, writing to Erasmus, he disparaged the contemporary theologians as spending their lives in mere logical tricks and dialectic quibbles. Erasmus, replying to him, pronounced the theology which was once venerable become "almost dumb, poor and in rags."
As dean of St. Paul's, an appointment he received in 1504, CoTet~stands forth as a reformer of clerical abusgs, a bold preacher an<d a liberal patron of education. The statutes he issued for the cathedral clergy laid stress upon the need of reformation "in every respect, both in life and religion." The old code, while it was particular to point out the exact plane the dean should occupy in processions and the choir, did not mention preaching as one of his duties. Colet had public lectures delivered on Paul's Epistles, but it was not long till he was at odds with his chapter. The cathedral school did not meet his standard, and the funds he received^ on his f ather^s death he used to endow St. Paul's school, 1509. ^ The origi-
iFor the letter to the abbot of Winchcombe, in which Colet describes the priest's visit, see Lupton, p. 90 sqq., and Seebohm, p. 42 sqq.
2 Seebohm, p. 107.
8 Seebohm gives 1510. For date and the original name, see correspondence in London Times, July 7, 20, 1909, between M. E. J. McDonnell and Gardiner, surmaster and honorable librarian of St. Paul's. The school was some-
650 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
nal buildings were burnt down in the London fire, and new buildings reared in 1666. The statutes made the tuition free, and set the number of pupils at 153, since increased threefold. They provided for instruction in " good literature, both Latin and Greek," but especially for Christian authors that " wrote their wisdom with clean and chaste Latin." The founder's high ideal of a teacher's qualifications, moral as well as literary, set forth in his statutes for the old cathedral school, was " that he should be an upright and honorable man and of much and well-attested learning." Along with chaste literature, he was expected " to imbue the tender minds of his pupils with holy morals and be to them a master, not of grammar only, but of virtue." ^
St. Paul's has the distinction_of being the first grammarscnool iiTIEn gland where Greek was tauo^ht. The list of its masters was opened by William Lily, one of the few Englishmen of his age capable of teaching Greek. After studying at Oxford, he made a journey to Jerusalem, and returned to England by way of Italy. He died in 1522. By his will, Colet left all his books, " imprinted and in paper," to poor students of the school.
As a preacher, the dean of St. Paul's was both bold and Scriptural. Among his hearers were the Lollards. Colet himself seems to have read Wyclif's writings as well as other heretical works.^ Two of his famous sermons were delivered before convocation, 1511, and on Wolsey's receiving the red hat. The convocation discourse, which has come down to us entire, is a
times called Jesus' School by Colet. The buildings were finished, August, 1510. The present location of the school is Hammersmith,
1 The statutes are given by Lupton, Appendix A., p. 271 sqq. For the Accidence which Colet prepared for the school, see Lupton, Appendix B. In contrasting the recent Latin with the Latin of classic authors, profane and patristic, Colet called the former " blotterature rather than literature." One of the rules recjuired the boys to furnish their own candles, stipulating they should be of wax and not of tallow. For the bishop who preached against St. Paul's school as " a home of idolatry," see Colet's letter to Erasmus, Nichols, II. 63.
2 The former is an inference from Erasmus' statement in his account of the visit to Walsingham, and the latter Erasmus' plain statement in his letter to Jonas.