a court, than he did to escape it. But as it was this excellent king's desire to have his household filled with men of learning, wisdom, and integrity, he brought about him many of this character, but especially More, whom he treats with such intimate familiarity, that he never suffers him to leave him. If serious business demands attention, his counsel is the best: if it please the king to relieve his mind with more amusing conversation, he is the cheerfulest companion.

"Happy states! if every where the Prince would put in authority such men as More. Yet in all this time no haughty feeling was engendered in his heart. Amidst business so vast and so important, he forgets not his former familiar friends, and occasionally he returns to the literature he loves so well. All the influence his dignity procures him, all the favor he possesses with a most mighty king, he employs on the service of his country and of his friends. At all times indeed he had a mind anxious to deserve well of all men, and wonderfully disposed to clemency and compassion: now he exerts it more, as his power is greater. Some he assists with money: some he protects with his influence: others he advances by his recommendation: those whom he has no other means of serving, he assists with his advice ;-no one ever left him in sorrow. You would say, that More is the public patron of all the needy. He thinks he has gained much, if he has relieved the oppressed, if he has extricated from his difficulties the embarrassed: if he has reconciled him that was estrayed. No one more gladly confers a favour: no one makes it less the subject of future reproach. And yet, while he is so happy in so many respects, and though pride is wont to attach itself to happiness and prosperity, never has it been my fortune to see a man, more completely removed from this vice.

"But I return to the mention of those studies which chiefly produced the mutual and close friendship of More and myself.

"In the earlier part of his life he principally exercised himself in verse; afterwards, for a long time he labored to render his prose more smooth, practising his style in every species of writing, with what success I need not say, especially to you who have his book constantly in your hands. He was most partial to declamations, and in them of defending opinions opposed to those generally entertained, because they demand a sharper exercise of the mind. Hence, while yet a young man, he attempted a dialogue, in which he defended Plato's system of community, even that of wives. He composed an answer to the Tyrannicide of Lucian, in which question he wished me to be his opponent; that he might make a more certain trial of the proficiency he had made in these exercises. He published his Utopia to point out the circumstances which diminish the happiness of states in general, but the British he chiefly had in view, the constitution of which he knows and understands thoroughly. The second book had been written some time, during his leisure: he afterwards, as occasion served, wrote the first off hand. Hence there is some inequality of style. Yet you will find few, who are so happy in expressing themselves extempore: so happy is his genius, and so happy the language it employs. His mind is present and anticipates you every where: his memory ready, and having every

thing deposited in exact order, it promptly and unhesitatingly supplies whatever the time or the subject requires. In discussion, nothing can be imagined more acute: so that he often contends, and upon their own ground, with the most consummate theologians. John Colet, a man of keen mind and exact judgment, sometimes observes, that there is but one genius in Britain: although this Island is rich in so many admirable minds.

"He is a careful observer of the duties of true piety, though far removed from all superstition. He has certain hours, in which he supplicates the Deity in prayer, not of the lips, but of the heart. With his friends, his conversation on the life of the world to come is such as shews him to speak from the heart, and that with a lively hope. Such a man is More;-even in a court. And after all this, there are still some who think that Christians are to be found in monasteries only. Such men this wisest of kings not only admits, but even invites, not only invites, but even draws by force into his family and into his closet. These he takes for the witnesses and habitual observers of his actions, these are his counsellors, these are the companions of his journies. By these he loves to be surrounded, rather than by young men abandoned to profligacy, or by mistresses, or faithless officers, of whom one would call him away to foolish pleasures, another inflame him into a tyrant, a third prompt him to new arts of fleecing his people.

"If, my dear Hutten, you had lived in such a court as this, I know well, you would have given another picture of a court, and cease to be a court-hater (Mirauhos) although you too live with such a Prince, as cannot be excelled in virtue. Nor are there entirely wanting those who have the best dispositions, a Stromerus and a Coppus. But what is that scanty catalogue to the swarm of great men here, Montjoy, and Linacer, and Pace, and Colet, and Stocksley, and Latimer, and More, Tonstall, Clarke, and others such as these? of whom, whatever name you mention, you mention at once a world of virtues and of accomplishments. Yet I flatter myself with a hope that Albert, the only ornament of our beloved Germany in these times, will choose into his family more like to himself, and become a great example to Princes, that they too, each in his own household, may study to do the same.

"You have now a picture, after the best model indeed, but sketched in the rudest manner, and by the worst of artists. It will still less please you, if it shall be your fortune to know More more nearly," &c.

We shall next extract a remarkable character of a man, not so celebrated as More, but yet one of high virtue and considerable importance in his day, Dean Colet, the founder of St. Paul's school.

"I have given you a picture of our truly invaluable Vitrarius, a man unknown indeed to the world, but high and distinguished in the kingdom of Christ. Now take a sketch of Colet, who was much like him. I had described them to each other, and each of them had a

strong desire to see the other; and with this object, Vitrarius had gone over into England. Colet told me afterwards, that he had been visited by a Friar Minor, with whose sensible and pious conversation he had been unusually delighted, but that another stoic of the same order was present, who by the impatience which he plainly manifested, interrupted their Christian discourse. Perhaps the praise which Colet has merited is enhanced by the consideration, that neither by the favours of fortune, nor by the bent of his natural disposition, which would have led him into very different pursuits, could he be withdrawn from his devotion to a Gospel life. For his parents were opulent and distinguished, even in London: his father having twice borne the highest office among his fellow citizens, that of Lord Mayor. His mother, who is yet alive, a woman of singular excellence, was the parent of eleven sons, and as many daughters. Of all these, Colet was the eldest, and consequently, according to the laws of Britain, sole heir to his father, even if all the rest had lived: but when I first knew him, he alone survived. To these advantages of fortune was added a person tall and graceful. While yet a youth, he diligently studied whatever of school philosophy his countrymen possess, and obtained the degree, which marks a knowledge of the seven liberal arts. Of these, there was not one which he had not cultivated with diligence and success: for with eager avidity, he had devoured the writings of Cicero; those of Plato and Plotinus he had perused with considerable care,-and there was no branch of mathematics unknown to his researches. Afterwards, with all the eagerness of a merchant in quest of riches, he visited France, and soon after Italy. There he gave his whole mind to the perusal of the sacred writers; but though he had previously, with the greatest zeal, travelled through all the fields of literature, he found his highest delight in those early authors, Dionysius, Origen, Cyprian, Ambrose, and Jerome. Augustine was, of all the older writers, the least his favorite: yet he did not refuse to read Scotus and Thomas, and others of that class, if occasion demanded. He was well read in both the canon and the civil law. In short, there was not a book, that treated of the history or the constitutions of our forefathers, which he had not examined.

Britain is possessed of men, who have done for it what Dante and Petrarch have done for Italy. And Colet, by the study of the writings of such men as these, polished his language, with a view even then to prepare himself for the preaching of the gospel.

"On his return from Italy, he did not long remain with his father, but preferred residing at Oxford. There he publicly and gratuitously read lectures on the Epistles of St. Paul. At Oxford, I first became acquainted with him, for thither some chance had also driven me. He was then about thirty years old, I was two or three months his senior. In Divinity, he had neither obtained, nor sought any degree: and yet was there no Doctor, either of Divinity or of Law, no Abbot, or other Dignitary, who did not listen to him, and even take notes of what he said: a fact which does honour both to the superiority of Colet, and to the zeal of those, who, though old men, and Doctors themselves in Divinity, were not ashamed to learn of one who was young and dis

tinguished by no such title:-afterwards, however, the degree of Doctor was voluntarily conferred upon him, which he accepted, more from a willingness to comply with the desires of the University, than from any inclination of his own.

"From these holy labours he was called back to London by the favour of King Henry, the seventh of that name, and made Dean of St. Paul's,-that he might preside over the College of him, whose writings he so greatly loved.

"This dignity is the highest of that order in England, though there are others more richly endowed. But this excellent man, as if he had been called to an office of labour, rather than of dignity, set himself to reform the shattered discipline of his College, and what was a novel thing at that time, he determined to preach in his own church on every Festival, besides the extraordinary sermons which he delivered, sometimes at court, and occasionally in other places. In his own church it was his practice to take for his subject, not some isolated text of the Gospel, but some one topic, the Gospel of St. Matthew for instance, the Creed, or the Lord's prayer, and this he pursued through several sermons to its conclusion. His auditory was crowded, and among them most of the principal men of the city and of the court.

"He reduced within the limits of frugality the Dean's table, which, under the name of hospitality, had in reality served the cause of luxury. For, having himself, for several years before, entirely abstained from taking supper, he dispensed with all evening guests: besides, as he dined late, he had even at that meal not so many visitors :—but the number was diminished, because the table, though neat, was frugal; the time of sitting at dinner short,-and the conversation such as could please none but the learned and the good. After the first grace, a boy, with a clear voice, distinctly read a chapter out of the Epistles of Paul, or the Proverbs of Solomon. Then the Dean himself repeated some chosen passage of it, and took occasion to discourse upon it, asking of the learned, or the ingenious though unlearned, present, what they considered the force of this or that expression. And he so tempered his conversation, that, although pious and serious, it had nothing in it of dulness or supercilious severity.

"Again, at the end of the repast, when, if not luxury, the wants of nature at least, were satisfied, he started another subject, and then dismissed his friends so refreshed in mind and body, that they went away better than they came, and carried with them a stomach free from an unwholesome load of food. He was exceedingly delighted with the conversation of his friends, which he often protracted till a late hour :but all his discourse was on the subject of letters or on religion.

"If he had not an agreeable companion at hand (for he was not pleased with every one) a boy used to read to him out of the Bible. He sometimes made me the companion of his journeys:-then nothing could exceed his cheerfulness and good humour.

"Never, however, did he omit to take a book with him, and all his conversation was about Christ. He had a dislike to every thing slovenly, to such a degree, that he could not bear a solecism or impurity in language. In all his domestic furniture, and all his table

apparatus, in his clothes and in his books, he studied neatness,-but disregarded splendor. He wore none but black clothes, although even in common the Priests and Divines of England are arrayed in purple. His upper vestment was always woollen and single ;-if the cold required it, he fortified himself with inner clothes made of some skin.

"Whatever money he derived from his preferments, he left in the hands of his steward to spend upon domestic purposes. All his patrinony (and it was very ample) he himself distributed in pious uses. For on the death of his father, he inherited a large fortune; but, lest a hoard of riches should produce in him some moral disease, he built a new school, in St. Paul's Church Yard, dedicated to the Boy Jesus, and on a scale of great magnificence: he added handsome houses for the residence of two masters, to whom he appropriated ample salaries, that they might teach gratuitously, and yet so that the scholars should not exceed a fixed number. He separated it into four parts. The first apartment as you enter contains those who may be called the catechumens: but no one is admitted, who has not already learnt to read and write. The second apartment contains those whom the under master teaches. The third is under the care of the upper master. One apartment is separated from another by a sort of curtain which is drawn open or close, at pleasure. Over the chair of the master sits the Boy Jesus, executed in beautiful workmanship, in the attitude of a teacher, and this figure, the whole body of scholars salute with a hymn, both on entering and on leaving the school. Over this is the face of the Father, saying, 'Hear ye him :'-these words he added at my suggestion. The fourth and last part is a chapel, in which divine service may be performed. The whole school is without angles, corners, or recesses, so that there is neither eating nor sleeping apartment.Each boy has his own proper place on steps gradually ascending, and distinct from all others. Each class contains sixteen, and he who is first in the class has a seat a little higher than the rest. They do not admit every one indiscriminately: but the disposition and talents of each boy are examined. A man of such discernment was well aware, that on the right instruction of its youth in sound principles rested the best hopes of the state.

Although such an undertaking can only be accomplished at a vast expense, Colet permitted no one to share the burden with him. A certain person had left £100 sterling towards the building. Colet having found that on this ground the city were in the habit of claiming to themselves certain privileges, he, by the permission of his Bishop, expended the money on the sacred vestments of the church. Over the rents and the entire administration of his school he appointed as trustees, not the Clergy, not the Bishop, nor the Chapter as it is called, not noblemen, but some citizens of good repute associated together. To one who asked the reason of this he said, that though there is no certain dependence on any thing human, yet in men of this kind he had found the least corruption. While no one withheld his approbation from this work, many expressed their wonder, at his erecting a very magnificent building within the precincts of the monastery of the Carthusi