THE UBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL ENDOWED BY THE DIALECTIC AND PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETIES PR2201 .A2 G5, pt. 1 V. 1, f } UNjVERjl j^^^ N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL , 00014192866 This book is due at the LOUIS R. WILSON LIBRARY on the 1 last date stamped under "Date Due." If not on hold it may be renewed by bringing it to the library. DATE nT?T DlIfL DATE DUE RET. 1 Ml — w SlMM 1 — ^ i \Ti - — J fHE WHOLE WORKS OF ROGER ASCHAM, NOW FIRST COLLECTED AND BEVISED, WITH A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR; BY THE REV. DR GILES, TOEMEBLY TELLOW Or C. C. C, OXrORD. VOL. I, PAET I. LIFE, &c., AND LETTERS. JOHN EUSSELL SMITH, 80H0 SQUARE. 1865. LONDON T. PICKTON, PKINTER, GREAT PORTLAND STREET OXFORD STREET. TO HEK ROYAL HIGHNESS g^le^aii^rn, ^riiuess 0f Hides. ^ Madam, ^ - The public joy with which jom Royal Highnesses coming amongst us was greeted by all our people, was felt most thoroughly by myself; and the pleasure which you visibly derived from it has given all a proof that you are, as much as our hearts can wish, a truly English Princess, as our hope is that you will hereafter become a truly English Queen. Permit me to lay at your feet the works of that great scholar, Rogee, Ascham, tutor to her whose glory, as an English Queen, has never been equalled until the present da^j^ when all are ready to acknovi^ledge that the crown of Elizabeth has gained fresh honour from en- circling the brovv^ of Victoria. I am, Madam, ^ Your Royal Highnesses Most Obedient, ^ and Most Eaithful Servant, rO J. A. G. Ckaneord, March 1, 1865. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/wholeworksofroge11asch P E E F A C E. The works of Eoger Ascham have never before been collected. The principal of these are the Toxophilus and the Schoolmaster, which have been often printed. His Discourse on Germany has also twice been edited separately. Of all these an account will be found in the second and third volumes of this work. His Poemata also are to be found in our third volume ; and besides these he published the Commentaries of (Ecomenius, under the title : — Expositiones Antiquse in Epistolam Divi Pauli ad Titum et Philemonem ex diversis sanctorum Patrnm Grrsece scriptis com- raentariis ab GEcumenio collectae et Cantabrigise Latine versae Anno Domini, 1542. These Commentaries brought their translator into some trouble with the Archbishop of York : and he was equally unlucky with another treatise, on the Lord^s Supper^ published in the same volume, and after Ascham's death, reprinted by Grant, in a volume bearing this title : Apologia doctissimi viri Eogeri Aschami Angli, pro Coena D ominica, contra Missam et ejus prsestigias : in Academia olim Cantabrigiensi exercitationis gratia inchoata. — London, H. iv PREI'ACE. Middleton, 1577 [12mo. The date is altered in the title of some copies, to 1578, but not in the colophon.] In the same volume are also found Themata Theologica : but it would have been an affront to the reader^s patience to rescue any of these theo- logical treatises from merited oblivion by reprint- ing them with Ascham^s other works. It remains^ therefore, to speak of his Letters, which are by far the most interesting part of his writings^ and occupy as much space as all his other works put together. The greater number of them^ it is true^ are written in Latin, whereby they are less generally accessible to the reader. But I have endeavoured to remedy this by pre- fixing to every letter a short summary of its con- tents, by means of which; the reader may trace the chief facts of Ascham^s life from the year 1 539, when he was in full reputation as a scholar at the University, to his death in 1568. The Latin letters of Roger Ascham were col- lected and published by Edward Grant in the year 157G, under this title : 1. Disertissimi viri Eogeri Aschami Angli regise majestati non ita pridem a Latinis epistolis familiarium epistolariim Libri tres, magna orationis elegantia conscripti. Quorum primo prsefigitur elegantissima epistola de Imitatione Oratoria. Hue accesserunt ejusdem pauca qusedam poemata. Omnia in s.tudio- sorum gratiam collecta et nunc primum edita studio et labore Eduardi Grante, Scholse Westmon. Moderatoris. Addita est in fine ejusdem Ed. G-r. oratio de vita et obitu PREFACE. V Eogeri Aschami, ac ejus dictionis elegantia, cum adhortatioiie ad adolescentulos. Excusum Londini impensis Francisci Coldocki. There is no date or place of imprint : it is 12mO; Lond. 1576. 2. A second edition of Grrant's work appeared. — 8vo. Lond. 1578. Copies of both these are in the British Museum. 3. A third edition, Lond. Bjnneman, 1581, 8vo. A copy is found in St John^s College^ Cam- bridge^ with the MS. note ^^Editio Londin. altera non paulo melior. Lego eollegio D. Jo. Cant. Tho. Baker.'' The fourth edition seems to be the following, of which I have a copy, bearing this title : — 4. Disertissimi viri Eogeri Aschami Angli, Regise olim Majes- tati aLatinis epistolis, Familiarium Epistolarum libri tres, magna orationis elegantia conscripti, nunc postremo emend ati et aucti. QuiBUS adjunctus est Commendatitiarum, Petitoriarum, et aHarum hujus generis sim ilium epistolarum, aliorum nomine, ad alios principes et Magnates ab eodem R. Aschamo con- scriptarum, liber unus. Accesseeunt hac postrema editione Joannis Sturmii, Hieronymi Osorii, aliorumque epistolas'adRog. Aschamum aliosque nobiles Anglos missae. ADDITA sunt pauca qusedam Eogeri Aschami Poemata. OMNIA in studio- Borum gratiam collecta, opera et studio E. Gr. ADJECTA est in fine ejasdem, E. G. Oratio de vita et obitu Eogeri Aschami et ejus dictionis elegantia. Londini, in officina typographies Ar. Hatfield pro Francisco Coldocko, 1590. Foolscap 8vo. [At the end of the volume is the date 1589.] To these succeed three editions, printed on the Continent, and containing a few additional let- ters : — VI PKEFACE. 5. Hanoviee, 1602, 12mo. 6. Hanovise, 1610, 12mo. 7. Colonise Allobrogum, 1611, 12mo. After these comes the edition of Elstob (a fine copy of which — volume de luxe — is in the British Museum) bearing this title : — 8. Rogeri Ascliami epistolarum libri quatuor. Accessifc Joannis Sturmii, aliorumque ad Aschamum, Anglosque alios eruditos epistolarum liber unus. Editio Novissima Prioribus auctior, " Est enim, inquam, mihi cum Cicerone semulatio, nec sum contentus eloquentia sseculi nostri. Nam stultissimum credo, ad imitandum non optima quseque propouere." Plin. Epist. V, Lib. 1. Oxonise, typis Lichfieldianis, prostant venales apud Henricum Clements, Anno Domini MDCCIII. 8vo. The editor of this volume was Elstob^ who dedicates his work to Sir Robert Heath — Roberto Hethseo armigero Gulielmus Elstob. S. P. D. It contains a few more Letters than the previous editions^ but not the Poems, and is very inaccurate in more ways than one. Besides these separate editions of Ascham^s Letters and other writings, there have been two collections of his English works : 1. By James Bennet, 4to, London, 1761, with a Life of Ascham, by Dr Johnson. 2. The English Works of Roger Ascham, Preceptor to Queen Elizabeth. A new edition. ' * He that will write well in any tongue, must follow this counsel of Aristotle, To speak as the common people do, to think as wise men do." — Toxophilus. London : Printed for White, Cochrane, and Co., Horace's Head, Fleet Street, mdcccxy. 8vo. [Contains five letters to Sir William Cecil, now first published.] PREFACE. Vll The editor of this volume was J. G. Cochrane : 250 copies only were printed ; it was re-issued some time afterwards^ with a new title and the addition of a half-title, but without a date. The letters contained in the various editions of the Epistolse are 235 in number : besides which many others are found in various printed books, and forty more, hitherto found only in MSS., have been now printed for the first time ; nor can I discover, by careful inquiry, that any other letters of Ascham are in existence not included in these volumes. ElstoVs, Book 1 13 II 55 III 35 IV 76 V 56 The English Works, 1815 . . , .11 Whittaker^s Hist, of Richmondshire . 14 Hardwicke's State Papers 1 Mayor^s Contributions to the Arch- bridge Archaeological Society ... 6 Landsdowne MS. 98 39 Cambridge MS. Dd, ix, page 44. . . 1 Total 307 Deduct Letters occurring twice 12 Total number of Letters in the New Edition .... 295 viii PREFACE. I have now only to ask the reader's consideration for any errors he may detect in the chronological arrangement of these letters. They have hitherto been printed without regard to date or subject. The greater number of them are without date, either of place, day or year ; and even those which have the day of the month as well as the year affixed, sometimes give equal trouble, if written in one of those months which, varying with the use of the old or the new style, may belong to either of two successive years. On this point I have come to the conclusion that Ascham followed the new style, as we now use it, and have accord- ingly adopted it in the arrangement of the letters. The date of each letter is given at the end of the small print heading prefixed, but whenever there is the least doubt of its accuracy, the figures are enclosed in brackets. I have thought it best, in editing the works of so late a writer as Ascham, to adopt the spelling now in use, except in the case of such words as either are obsolete or have some peculiarity attached to them. My thanks are due to Mr Cooper, author of the AlhencB Cantahrigienses, for some valuable assistance rendered in the course of the work. J. A. G. THE LIFE OF ASCHAM. The name of Roger Ascham is familiar to every one who studies English literature ; but few know more of him than that he was tutor to Queen Elizabeth, and wrote two books, one on Archery, the other on Education. Many writers are indeed known only by their works : " the incidents of a literary life (says Dr Johnson) are seldom observed and therefore seldom recounted : but Ascham has escaped the common fate by the friendship of Edward Graunt, the learned master of Westminster School, who de- voted an oration to his memory, and has marked the various vicissitudes of his fortune. Graunt either avoided the labour of minute inquiry, or thought domestic occurrences unworthy of notice ; or, preferring the character of an orator to that of an historian, selected only such particulars as he could best express or most happily embellish/^ The Oration about the Life and Death of the most eloquent Roger Ascham does but very little however towards giving us a clear insight into the Royal Tutor^s life and character. We owe a X LIFE OF ASCHAM. heavier debt to Edward Graunt for the Letters, about two hundred in number, y/hich he collected and published in the same volume with the Oration, These letters, indeed, written in Latin, are re- pulsive to the English reader, and have hitherto been printed without any regard whatever to the order in which they were written. Many of them have no date at all ; others bear the date of the day only and not of the year, whilst even those which have both the day and the year given in full, are almost useless for historical purposes^ owing to the preposterous manner in which they are printed. Dr Johnson seems to have made little use of these letters, from which alone we can gain any know- ledge of the writer^s thoughts and feelings, though there are not many collections extant, containing so curious a fund of literary anecdotes and fur- nishing such ample materials for literary biography. These letters extend over the space of about thirty years, beginning with 1539, when Ascham was a fellow of St John^s College, Cambridge, and ending in December 1568, a few days before his death. Roger Ascham was born in the year 1515, at Kirby Wiske, (or Kirby Wicke,) a village near North AUerton in Yorkshire, of a family above the vulgar. His father, John Ascham, was house - steward in the family of Lord Scroop, and is said to have borne an unblemished reputation for honesty and uprightness of life. Margaret, wife of John Ascham, was allied to many considerable familiesj but her maiden name is not known. She LIFE OF ASCHAM. xi had three sons^ Thomas, Antony,* and Roger, besides some daughters; and we learn from a letter (No XXI.) written by her son Roger, in the year 1544, that she and her husband having lived together forty-seven years, at last died on the same day and almost at the same hour. Rogers first years were spent under his father's roof, but he w^as received at a very youthful age into the family of Sir Antony Wingfield, who fur- nished money for his education, and placed Roger, together with his own sons, under a tutor, whose name was R. Bond. The boy had by nature a taste for books, and showed his good taste by read- ing English in preference to Latin, with wonderful eagerness. This was the more remarkable from the fact that Latin was still the language of litera- ture, and it is not likely that the few English books written at that time^ were at all largely spread abroad in places far away from the Uni- versities and Cathedral towns. In or about the year 1530, Mr Bond the domestic tutor resigned the charge of young Roger, who was now about fifteen years old, and,, by the advice and pecuniary aid of his kind patron Sir Antony, he was enabled to enter St John's Col- lege, Cambridge, at that time the most famous seminary of learning in all England. * Was this the Antony Ascham, who studied medicine at Cambridge, and took the degree of M.B., after eight jears of study, in 1540 ? The date seems to favour this supposition. See CooPEit's Athence Cantabrlgienses^ voL i, p. 197. Xll LIFE OF ASCHAM. Ascham entered Cambridge at a time when the last great revolution of the intellectual world was filling every academical mind with ardour or anxiety. The destruction of the Constantinopolitan empire had driven the Greeks with their language into the interior parts of Europe^ the art of printing had made books easily attainable^ and Greek was now largely taught in England. The doctrines of Luther had already filled all the nations of the Romish communion with controversy and dissen- sion. New studies of literature, and new tenets of religion^ found employment for all who were desirous of truths or ambitious of fame. Learning was at that time prosecuted with that eagerness and perseverance which in this age of indifference and dissipation is not easy to conceive. The Rolls of our Universities have seldom displayed a more brilliant list of names than was at this time found at Cambridge. George Day^ afterwards Bishop of Chichester, Sir John Cheke, Sir Thomas Smith, Dr Redman, one of the compilers of the Book of Common Prayer, Ridley the Martyr, Watson, Bishop of Lincoln, Pilkington, Bishop of Durham, Haddon, Christopherson, Wilson, and many others, were the distinguished contemporaries of Roger Ascham. His tutor was Hugh Fitzherbert, fellow of St John^s, whose intimate friend, George Pem- ber, took the most lively interest in the youug student, and exercised much influence on his future career. Ascham soon resolved to unite himself to those LIFE OF ASCHAM. xiii who were enlarging the bounds of knowledge^ and immediately upon his admission into the college, applied himself to the study of Greek. Those who were zealous for the new learning, were often no great friends to the old religion ; and Ascham, as he became a Grecian, became at heart a protestant. But the Reformation was not yet begun; disaffection to Popery was considered as a crime justly punished by exclusion from favour and preferment, and was not yet openly professed, though superstition was gradually losing its hold upon the public. The study of Greek was reputable enough, and Ascham pursued it with diligence and success equally con- spicuous. He thought a language might be most easily learned by teaching it ; and, when he had obtained some proficiency in Greek, read lectures, while he was yet a boy, to other boys who were desirous of instruction. His industry was much encouraged by Pember, who was one of the great promoters of Greek learning, and particularly applauded Ascham 's Lectures, assuring him in a letter, of which Graunt has preserved an extract, that he would gain more knowledge by explaining one of ^sop^s Fables to a boy, than by hearing one of Homer^s Poems explained by another. The zeal of Roger Ascham in completing his studies seems to have been most persevering : he took his bachelor^ s degree in 1531, Feb. 18, in the eighteenth year of his age, a time of life at which it is now more common to enter the University than to take a degree, but which, according to the modes XIV LIFE OF A3CHAM, of education then in use^ was not tlioiiglit preraa- ture. On the 23rd of March following, he was elected fellow of the College, and thereby obtained an honourable position^ though less lucrative than it would be in the present day when the increased value of land has added much to the yearly income of our colleges and public schools. But the young scholar ran a near risk of losing his fellowship altogether. His own account of this matter is found in the Schoolmaster as follows : — " Doctor Nicholas Medcalfe^ that honourable father, was Master of St John^s College, when I came thither; a man meanly learned himself, but not meanly affectioned to set forward learning in others. Some men thought that Dr Medcalfe was par- tial to northern men, but sure I am of this, that northern men were partial in doing more good and giving more lands to the furtherance of learning, than any other country men in those days did. ^^This worthy Nicholas followed the steps of good old St Nicholaus, that learned bishop. He was a papist in deed^ but would to God amongst all us protestants I might once see but one, that would win like praise in doing like good for the advancement of learning and virtue. And yet, though he were a papist, if any young man, given to new learning (as they termed it) went beyond his fellows in wit, labour, and towardness, even the same neither lacked open praise to en- 1 LIFE OF ASCHAM. XV courage him^ nor private exhibition to maintain him, as worthy Sir John Cheke^ if he were alive^ would bear good witness^ and so can many more. I myself^ one of the meanest of a great number in that college, because there appeared in me some small show of towardness and diligence^ lacked not his favour to further me in learning. " And being a boy, new bachelor of art^ I chanced amongst my companions to speak against the pope : which matter was then in every man^s mouth, because Dr Haines and Dr Skip were come from the court, to debate the same matter by preaching and disputation in the university. This happened the same time, when I stood to be fellow there ; my talk came to Dr Medcalfe^s ear ; I was called before him and the seniors, and after grievous rebuke and some punishment, open warn- ing was given to all the fellows, none to be so hardy as to give me his voice at that election. And yet for all those open threats, the good father himself privily procured that I should even then be chosen fellow. But, the election being done, he made countenance of great discontentation thereat. This good man^s goodness and fatherly discretion, used towards me that one day, shall never out of my remembrance all the days of my life. And for the same cause have I put it here in this small record of learning. For, next God^s Providence, surely that day was by that good father's means dies natalis to me, for the whole foundation of the poor learning I have, and of all xvi LIFE OF ASCHAM. the furtherance that hitherto elsewhere I have obtained/^ It appears from the flowery language of Graunt, that the expenses of Ascham^s education had hitherto been borne by Sir A. Wingfield^ but it may be presumed that when the young man obtained his fellowship, he would, as a matter of course, relieve his kind patron from the cost of maintaining him any longer. Dependence/^ says Dr Johnson, though in those days it was more common and therefore less irksome than in the present state of things, can never have been free from discontent ; and therefore he that was released from it must always have rejoiced/^ It would have been more easy to assent to this proposition, if Ascham^s after-life had shown more of the in- dependence which ought to mark the character of a learned man. The delight of having escaped from a patron, does not seem to have been felt by him in all its intensity ; though, at all events, we cannot accuse him of forgetfulness ; he is recorded to have preserved the most grateful and affectionate reverence for Wingfield, and to have never grown weary of recounting his benefits. Ascham^s reputation still increased, and many resorted to his chamber to hear the Greek writers explained. He was likewise eminent for other accomplishments. By the advice of Pember, he had learned to play on musical instruments ; and he was one of the few who excelled in the me- chanical art of writing, which then began to be LIFE OF ASCHAM. XVll cultivated among us, and in which we now surpass all other nations. He not only wrote his pages with neatness, but embellished them with elegant draughts and illuminations, — an art at that time so highly vahied, that it contributed much both to his fame and fortune/' He took the degree of M.A. on Tuesday the 29th of June, 1537, when he was in the 21st year of his age, and though so young, seems already to have met with much success as a tutor. Among his pupils we find the names of Raven, Ireland, Grindal, and others, all of whom possessed more than the average stock of classical and general learning. Ascham^s own tutors, before he took his degree, had been Fitzherbert, and John Cheke, afterwards so famous at Court, and though we lose sight of the former, yet Cheke will still appear among the friends and patrons of Ascham, until removed from his fame, his labours, and his mis- fortunes by an early death. But, whilst we repeat the praises of Ascham as they have been handed to us in the oratory of Graunt, and copied by a number of later writers, we must not pass over in silence certain indica- tions, apparent in many of his letters, that the Collegiate Society of St John^s was not the resi- dence of men perfectly happy and free from the bickerings and annoyances of the world. Nor can we be sure, even from the testimony of Ascham himself, that his busy and active disposition did not lead him into quarrels with the other fellows XVlll LIFE OF ASCHAM. of his college. Certain it is that we shall remark many passages of his letters pointing to cabals and factions in the college^ for which we are at a loss to say whether Ascham or his adversaries were most to blame. Seven years had passed between Ascham^s first entering the University and his taking the degree of M.A._, and it seems that he had never once visited his parents during the whole of that time. A letter to some unnamed friend informs us of this fact; it is without a date^ but by comparing it with other letters, it appears to have been written in the latter half of 1538. Letter II. I should long ago {says lie) have wiped out every suspicion of neglect that you might have entertained from my long silence, if T had not paid a visit last spring to my native country and my old parents, whom I had not seen for some years. Since, therefore, I have met with so worthy and pious a man to take charge of my letter, a great admirer too of yours, and the more to your liking, seeing that he is so great a favourite with Bain and Eedman, I thought it my duty to send you this token of my remembering your former kindness, and at the same time of my own good will towards you ; for your friend Ascham's means have become so small and straitened that he has no power to show his gratitude in any other way. In July, 1538, Dr Tailer became Master of St John^s College, and it is in a letter to him, when absent from Cambridge, that Ascham again occurs to our notice. LIFE OF ASCHAM. XIX Letter V. — To Dr Tailer. St John's, March 9, 1539. There was a time, most accomplished sir, when a better opportunity of writing to you presented itself, and my own feelings prompted me to avail myself thereof. I could then have opened to you all the thoughts of my heart more freely than now, and have shown forth more credibly the earnestness of my good will towards you. Were I to write so now, I fear me I should bring down upon me the charge of open flattery. I did, indeed, think to tell you how readily all have borne with you as their head, as also how praiseworthy has been your own dis- charge of duties. All have testified, with one consent, how peaceful and calm have been their studies for nearly two years, unbroken by inward jars, and unentangled in any meshes of litigation, and they ascribe this, after God, to your prudent management. . . There are, as you know, among us in this your college, some fellowships, wisely established to reward superior talents. One of these, lately vacated by Master Baister, is to be filled up next Lent ; and if you would give your support to John Thomson, a student of this college, you would bind Ascham to you by a stronger bond than he is bound already. As for the young man himself, besides the supporters he has gained by his good conduct and zeal in acquiring learning, he has none, that I know of, who are able or willing to ask your interest in his behalf. I might bring many testimonies to his good conduct and learning, but I would rather ask you to lend your ear to Sir John Cheke and Barker's judgment in his favour. There are, indeed, other candidates, men of honesty and learning ; one of them is a pupil of Redman ; another has not yet taken his bachelor's degree : Master Trusley is XX LIFE OF ASCHAM. getting votes for the last-named by every means in his power. If, however, you will show some favour to this my petition (and I never shall ask a greater favour of you), you will undoubtedly gain for me what I wish, and will bind me to you by an everlasting obligation. When you come home you will learn more fully of the matter. May our Lord J esus Christ ever have you in his keeping. Two other letters, one to Cordingley, the other to Cumberford, both of them fellows of St John^s, bear witness to Ascham^s zeal to secure the fellow- ship for Thomson, but such zeal often makes ene- mies of those who have a candidate of their own to support. All of the candidates, Fisher, Burton, Thomson, and the other candidate whose name is not given (for there were four), were, according to Ascham^s own words, men of much learning, and all in need of the help which a fellowship would give them ; but, says he in his letter to Cumberford : — I can easily convince you not only that John Thomson is in greater need of it than they, but that they can be provided for elsewhere, whereas, if Thomson is set aside, all his labours carried on among us under the almost total desperation of his fortunes, will have been carried on in vain. This was no doubt a serious case for Thomson, but the advocacy of such a cause was not likely to be without danger to Ascham; it was no doubt the cause of the coolness which existed for some time between him and Redman. Ascham himself felt and knew this to be the case, when three LIFE OF ASCHAM. xxi years afterwards he wrote to Redman (Letter XX.) in these words : — When I carry back my thoughts to the last three years, during which (as some thought), there has been some estrangement of outward wishes between us, though (as we ourselves know well), there has been no alteration of inward feeling ; and when I look at the reasons why men thought so, I see that they were greater in the estimate than in the reality. Eor, though the chief and only thing was, that I diflPered from you in the elections of our fellows, yet even in that, I had the same motive for my actions, though my zeal was different from yours : for each of us sought to help his own pupils. Wherefore, if I am to blame for this — our love of one another and your own amiableness allow me to speak freely — you are your- self not wholly free from that fault, unless it be thought fair that you should have toiled to the utmost for your friends, but that I should have given up all care or patronage, or good faith towards mine ; whereas, I rather think that it was my duty to show the more zeal in seizing the chance then offered me of benefitting my pupils, seeing that you daily have better opportunities of advancing yours, whilst I could never meet with a better chance of helping mine again. And as far as regards J. G., whatever you asked me to do in that matter either at Cambridge, or when I was with you in London, I did all to the best of my power, with diligence and good faith : for you told me yourself, that you wished him to be chosen into our college, not that he might thence be able to live more affluently, but that he might there have a better opportunity of studying. I acted in that matter as promptly as I could, for I have never been one of those, on the contrary, have always kept aloof from those, who XXll LIFE OF ASCHAM. think that what you do for one man is to be accounted as nothing unless you show yourself a formidable adversary to another who is poor and honest. I am most unwilling now to refer to those days, or to re-open the wound which lapse of time has healed, &c. The three years which passed between the elec- tion quarrels at St John's and the conciliatory letter to Redman, seems to have been a time of sickness and distress to Ascham. Towards the end of 1539, or the beginning of 1540, we are told that he was made Mathematical Lecturer to the University, and kept this appointment through the year 1541. But the only mention which he makes of this in his own writings, is found in Letter IV to his friend Watson : — Buckm aster is again vice-chancellor, both designate and actual, though there were other candidates. Without him my cause would have fallen utterly, and the hope which I had fixed on many who were more friends than lovers, even about the Mathematics, would have been altogether vain and naught. We must suppose that he had lost his mathe- matical lectureship in 1541, for in that year he applies to Lee, archbishop of York [Letter IX], and to Holgate, bishop of Llandaff [Letter X], asking them for some literary employment, which may help to eke out his slender means of living. In writing to the former he points out how he may be useful to the archbishop : — If vou wish to know for what matters and necessities your lordship may be able to use my service, which (so LIFE OF ASCHAM. XXlll far from being able to effect great things) cannot even fulfil moderate things ; yet, if your lordship wishes to hand down anything to immortality, and to leave to pos- terity any monument of your great learning, I may be able to save your lordship from some trouble and labour in this matter, either by collating, revising, or making notes to passages, and, if there is any book which you have not time to read because you are entangled in so many businesses, by making an abstract of it for you. I would willingly give my labour to translating books out of Greek, seeing that there is no small, but rather an ample store for doing this in the works of Basilius, Chrysostom, Theophylact, and other excellent men, who, though they speak elegantly enough, yet do not speak to us in safe and good Latin, seeing that they have come into the hands of men who were not altogether free from the charge of heresy. Care, therefore, should be taken to see that they have not polluted what was sound, twisted what was strait, blotted out what was genuine, and put some thing new into its place. There are also certain Scholia called Grcecanica, on the epistles' of St Paul and the other epistles, selected out of the most approved and the most ancient fathers, hitherto, as far as I know, unknown to Latin ; a work full of antiquity and erudition, on which a man might exercise his style with profit to himself and benefit to the public. The end of this correspondence was, that arch- bishop Lee gave him a pension of forty shillings worth probably as much as forty pounds in our day ; and Asham, in gratitude for the aid thus given him, set himself to work on a translation of QEcu- menius^s Commentaries on Saint PauFs epistles, gathered out of Cyril, Chrysostom, and other xxiv LIFE OF ASCHAM. Greek Fathers. On Jan, 1^ 1542^ he sends this work to Seton, accompanied with a letter (XI), in which he says that he means to offer to archbishop Lee his translation of the Epistle to Titus, if Seton thinks it a gift worthy of his acceptance. These translations were probably written in Yorkshire, where he at this time spent two years : illness prevented his return to Cambridge, and his mind was too active to pass so long a time in idle- ness. But every theological work in those days was dangerous — periculosce plenum opus alece— to its writer; the Latin translation of CEcumenius was presented to the archbishop, as appears from Letter XIII, late in the year 1542, for in that letter the writer speaks of not having written to his Grace for twelve months : — If (says he), most accomplished bishop, there is any thing in this version, my first literary attempt, which from negligence I have examined with too little care, or from ignorance have not fully comprehended, in this, as in all other matters, when warned thereof by your lord- ship, I will readily acknowledge my error. The danger was nearer Ascham than he had anti- cipated ; and it availed him little that he had done his best to deprecate offence. Some time in 1543 Ascham was in London, and called to pay his respects to the archbishop, who, being confined to his bed by illness, was unable to see him. The result of this affair may be best gathered from the letter to Redman, before quoted, and written late in the year 1543. LIFE OF ASCHAM. XXV .... Last year, as you are aware, I translated the Greek commentaries on the Epistle to Titus, which I thought fit to offer as a mark of my respect to the Most Reverend the Archbishop of York. When I went to his house T found that he was ill in bed, and not being able to see him, I gave the book to his brother Geoffrey Lee, requesting him to give it to the archbishop. He gave it, and the archbishop read it, but he found in it something which offended him: he therefore sent back the book, with a present, that I might examine the passage, which runs thus : — " Let the husband of one wife," says he, " know that she is the only lawful wife ; he stigmatizes as heretics those who abhor marriage, &c." [Comm. on Tit, 1, 6]. On my return home I looked into Chrysostom, from whom (Ecumeuius extracted in great part those commentaries, but, as I had not a Greek Chrysostom at hand, I beg of you to look into the passage for me. I think indeed that in the early ages of the church many things were allowed of necessity, which at its more advanced and mature age were done away with by its prudent governors. This is all that I did not think right to hide from you ; and I do not therefore see what suspicion the Most Eeverend father can feel towards me, or what care you need take about the whole business : this I know that I bad as little thought about any thing unsound or heterodox when I translated that book, as I had about what was going on at that time in the land of Utopia. Wherefore, to give proof of the loyalty and respect which I have long since paid him and have hitherto shewn in his service, and that he may know how vexed I should be to lose his favour which I now enjoy, or to exchange it for any hopes or favour from any other 3 xxvi LIFE OF ASCHAM. person, I entreat you by all the bonds of our holy connection to give such testimony of me as may restore me to his favour, if in any part I have lost it without manifest blame on my part. Your opinion v^^ill have so much weight with him that I doubt not a word from you will secure for me an addition to the favour which he formerly felt towards me. If you will do this, you cannot devise anything more agreeable to me in my present way of life, or more fitting as regards our inti- macy and future friendship. But see how much I am promising myself from your goodness. I have another thing to ask of you — that you will speak to Geoffry Lee, or whoever it may be that manages the household of the Most Reverend father, and ask him to send me through you the money which he allows me yearly to pursue my studies. The amount thereof is forty shillings : twenty were due to me last Michaelmas, and I have to receive the same sum at the present time : for his lordship of York so fixed the payment. But, now, if by your muni- ficent aid this could be exchanged for some prebend, as they call it, even of the smallest worth (though my Greek Readership allows me to hold even the very best together with my college revenues), I could not think of any thing greater for you to do for me, or more easy for him to accede to your request in, or more desirable for me to ask from you or to hope from him. Six letters only from Ascham to the archbishop have come down to us. They bear no dates, and it is difficult to determine the exact order of them, especially of those two [xvi and xviii], in which allusion is made to the offence given about the marriage of the clergy. It is amusing to see the first beginnings of that caution which Ascham LIFE OF ASCHAM. XXVll afterwards used in steering safely between the opposite opinions of his time. He says in the last letter [xviii] to the archbishop : — If it were needful, or I thought that it would please your lordship, I would confute the rumour which is spread abroad about me by the testimonies of singular and single men in our college. That I am not opinionated or given to novelties, the whole course of my lectures on Aristotle, Plato, and Cicero, according to my daily custom, plainly indicates. Need I say that my mind has always kept aloof from books, whether written in English or Latin, in which any new doctrine was conveyed ? so that, saving the Psalter of 'David and the New Testament (in Greek too), I have never used any book about the Christian religion, either small or great. Wherefore I earnestly contend that your lordship suffer your former opinion of me to have free course rather than give credit to what informers have lately been saying about me. If you will add this to your former good deeds towards me, I will take care, with God's help, never to be wanting in respect towards your lordship, diligence in literature, or sincerity in religion. I send herewith two Homilies of Saint John Chrysos- tom, translated out of Greek into Latin by that man of singular learning among us, John Cheke, as a memorial not only of his erudition, but of my respect for your lordship. There is no ground for supposing that the arch- bishop stopped Asham^s pension as a punishment for the slip which he was supposed to have made in his orthodoxy ; for there was often great delay in such matters through the neglect of the officials whose duty it was to pay such pensions. Arch- XXVlll LIFE OF ASCHAM. bishop Lee died on the 13th of September^ 1544, and as we hear no more of the commentaries in the interval, it is probable that the offence was overlooked. But the years 1542, 3, and 4, seem to have been anything but a peaceful or happy period of Ascham^s life, if we may judge from a letter to Cheke, bearing no date, but apparently written after Lady Day, 1544. The death of his father and mother, following close upon that of a brother, happened at this time : and the letter in which he tells his bereave- ment, seems to show that in sorrow a man is often led to tell what in his prouder moments he would perhaps wish had been concealed. The aged father, two hundred miles away, justly warned his son against strife in the college, and advised him to enter into some honourable profession. But the son, trusting to his talents, and energetic beyond his equals, chose to neglect this advice, and to plunge into the uncertainties of a political and literary life. LETTER XXL— To Cheke. Most accomplished Cheke, I would have written to you last week by Wilson or by John Christopherson, if I had not given them at the same time letters to his lordship of York, to Lord Mountjoie, and to John Eedraan, who had written to me first with a request that I should enter the service of Lord Mountjoie. You know that I had some communication with you on a journey which I was to make to London before Easter. I cannot do so, without that book I took in hand to translate from the Greek of Chrysostom. I therefore LIFE OF ASCHAM. xxix entreat you by your friendship to send back the Greek book as soon as you can, either by Christopherson or by some one who is coming back shortly. Your friend Ascham is writing to you, my accomplished Cheke, in tears and sorrow : he has just heard, too suddenly for his weak nature to bear, that his wise and good father is departed to Christ. This news, heavy enough in itself, is made heavier still by another severe stroke : for all my friends despair of the life of my mother, so far at least as life in this world is concerned. How hard is my lot ! I first lost my brother, such, an one as not only our family, but all England could hardly match, and now to lose both my parents, as if I-Was not already over- whelmed with sorrow ! . . . . You remember, my friend, that I received a letter from my father (the last lie ever wrote me !) just before Christmas day : he therein warned me, and, whilst he blessed me, almost bound me by an oath that I should at once leave Cambridge and take myself to some honest course of life, for that we provoked against us the severe anger and just indignation of God by the contentions that went on amongst us. I told you at the time, unless I am mistaken, how much I was vexed at this. This matter now again causes me much trouble, and no saying of Isaiah, St John, or St Paul, causes me more anxiety, or is of more weight with me. Can any thing be more weighty than the advice of a father, as sung by that wise man, Gregory Nazianzen ? Can any thing be more binding than his last will and testament ? That was his last letter to me — those were his last words ! Was that command easy for me to bear? Was it not given at an awful moment, when his soul was about to take its departure to the Lord ; and did it not speak to me of Christ, and of everything which concerns Christ ? Eound therefore XXX LIFE OF ASCHAM. as I am by the sacrament of my father's advice, I have only to ask you, my most accomplished friend Cheke, in the bowels of Jesus Christ, that, as you have been my guide, which I can testif}^, in the following after every thing and in eschewing quarrels, ever since our intimacy first began, you will now take the lead in endeavouring to restore quiet to all of us, even those who have had the most bitter feelings towards yourself. .... If peace and unanimity can be fully restored, I shall then think that I have virtually left Cambridge, according to my father's advice, when I have escaped out of the trouble which these differences have caused. But if, which God forbid, peace is not restored, I will give myself up w^holly to your friendship, and try to please all in reality, but to displease no one, not even by a word : if this fails, I will take my departure from the university, as soon as ever I am able In the early part of Ascham^s career at Cam- bridge there was no Professor of Greek, and the University appointed him to read a lecture in the public schools, ip^jing him a liberal salary for his services; but when Henry VIII, in 1540, founded six Regius Professorships ^t Cambridge, Ascham quitted the schools and confined his Greek lectures to the walls of his own college. The first Eegius Professor of Greek was Sir John Cheke, famous for having introduced the present system of pro- nouncing Greek — a system which is not only barbarous in itself, and irreconcilable with all known theories of language, but has separated the English as much in the power of communicating in speech with other nations^ as they are separated LIFE OF ASCHAM. XXXI physically from their continental neighbours by the straits of Dover. Ascham took part in this, as he seems to have done in almost every question that arose at Cambridge, and by doing so was not likely to cause any lull in the storms which were blowing on all sides at the University. Mr Cooper tells us in his Athense Cantabrigien- ses (vol. 1, p. 264) that " in July, 1542, he suppli- cated the University of Oxford for incorporation, but it does not appear whether hisT^equest was granted/^ If Ascham really wished to leave Cambridge, I should ascribe it to the bickerings and petty quarrels which still went on in his college. Another mode of gratifying his wishes was in the end more successful, and he had already alluded to it in his letters^ especially that in which he informed Cheke of his father^s death. The politics of the day were beginning to attract his attention, and he soon conceived the design of travelling into foreign countries. In 15 i4 Henry VIII besieged and took the town of Boulogne in France. The king returned to England in September of that year^ having achieved his object sooner than was expected. Ascham had already begun a work which he justly thought might promote his wishes. This was his Toxo- 'philus^ or Treatise on the art of shooting with ^ However great was his [Ascham's] learning, he was not always immured in his chamber ; but being valetudinary, and weak of body, thought it necessary to spend many hours ia such exercises as might best relieve him after the fatigue of xxxii LIFE OF ASCHAM. the bow. The intention of its writer was to offer it to the king before he left England to undertake the siege of Boulogne : but in this he failed ; the study. His favourite amusement was archery, in which he spent, or, in the opinion of others, lost so much time, that those whom either his faults or his virtues made his enemies, and perhaps some whose kindness wished him always worthily em- ployed, did not scruple to censure his practice, as unsuitable to a man professing learning, and perhaps of bad example in a place of education. To free himself from this censure was one of the reasons for which he published, in 1544, his Toxophilus, or the School or Partitions of Shooting, in which he joins the praise with the precepts of archery. He designed not only to teach the art of shooting, but to give an example of diction more natural and more truly English than was used by the common writers of that age, whom he censures for mingling exotic terms with their native language, and of whom he complains, that they were made authors, not by skill or education, but by arrogance and temerity. He has not failed in either of his purposes. He has suffi- ciently vindicated archery as an innocent, salutary, useful, and liberal diversion ; and if his precepts are of no great use, he has only shown by one example among many, how little the hand can derive from the mind, how little intelligence can conduce to dexterity. In every art practice is much ; in arts manual practice is almost the whole. Precept can at most but warn against error, it can never bestow excellence. The bow has beeji so long disused, that most English readers have forgotten its importance, though it was the weapon by which we gained the battle of Agincourt, a weapon which, when handled by English yeomen, no foreign troops were able to resist. We were not only abler of body than the Frencli, and therefore superior in the use of arms which are forcible only in proportion to the strength with which they are handled ; but the national practice of shooting for pleasure or for prizes, by which every man was inured to archery from his infancy, gave LIFE OF ASCHAM. xxxiii work was not ready, and was not presented to his majesty before 1545, the year in which the first U3 insuperable advantage, the bow requiring more practice to skilful use than any other instrument of offence, f Fire-arms were then in their infancy ; and though battering pieces had been some time in use, I know not whether any soldiers were armed with hand-guns when the Toxophilus was first published : they were soon after used by the Spanish troops, whom other nations made haste to imitate: but how little they could effect, will be understood from the account given by the ingenious author of the exercise for the Norfolk miUTia : — " The first muskets were very heavy, and could not be fired without a rest ; they had match-locks, and barrels of a wide bore, that carried a large ball and charge of powder, and did execution at a greater distance. " The musketeers on a march carried only their rests and ammunition, and had boys to bear their muskets after them, for which they were allowed great additional pay. " They were very slow in loading, not only by reason of the unwieldmess of the pieces, and because they carried the powder and balls separate, but from the time it took to prepare and adjust the matcli j so that their fire was not near so brisk as ours is now. Afterwards a lighter kind of match-lock musket came into use, and they carried their ammunition in bandeliers, which were broad belts that came over the shoulder, to which were hung several little cases of wood covered with leather, each containing a charge of powder j the balls they carried loose in a pouch ; and they had also a priming horn hanging by their side. " The old English writers call those large muskets calivers : the harquebuze was a lighter piece, that could be fired without a rest. The match-lock was fired by a match fixed by a kind of tongs in the serpentine or cock, which, by pulling the trigger, [t The reader will no doubt remember that in almost every town and large village the name Butts still marks the place where the national games were held. — Ed.] xxxiv LIFE OF ASCHAM. edition of the work — now exceedingly rare — -was committed to the press. Ascham presented his Toxophilus to Henry the Eighth in the picture-gallery at Greenwich. His Majesty was pleased with the work^ and gave its author a pension of ten pounds a year. This was an improvement on Archbishop Lee^s forty shil- lings, and with his fellowship and his Greek readership, the worth of which is not named, might have been enough for him to live on.* was brought down with great quickness upon the priming in the pan ; over which there was a sHding cover, which was drawn back by the hand just at the time of firing. There was a great deal of nicety and care required to fit the match properly to the cock, so as to come down exactly true on the priming, to blow the ashes from the coal, and to guard the pan from the sparks that fell from it. A great deal of time was also lost in taking it out of the cock, and returning it between the fingers of the left hand every time that the piece was fired ; and wet weather often rendered the match useless." While this was the state of fire-arms (and this state continued among us to the civil war with very little improvement), it is no wonder tliat the long-bow was preferred by Sir John Smith, who wrote of the choice of weapons in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when the use of the bow still continued, though the musket was gradually prevailing. Sir John Hay ward, a writer yet later, has, in his history of the Norman kings, endeavoured to evince the superiority of the archer to the musketeer : however, in the long peace of King James, the bow was wholly forgotten. Guns have from that time been the weapons of the English, as of other nations, and as they are now improved, are certainly more efficacious. — Dr Johnson's Life of Ascham. ^ A pension of ten pounds granted by a king of England to a man of letters, appears to modern readers so contemptible a benefaction, that it is not unworthy of inquiry what might be its value at that time, and how much Ascham might be enriched by it. Nothing is more uncertain than the estimation of wealth LIFE OF ASCHAM. XXXV But^ in 1546^ he was made Public Orator in the place of Cheke^ who resigned, and in this capacity he had to write all the public letters of the by denominated money ; the precious metals never retain long the same proportion to real commodities, and the same names in different ages do not imply the same quantity of metal ; so -^m£>-" that it is equally difficult to know how much money was con- tained in any nominal sum, and to find what any supposed quantity of gold or silver would purchase; both which are necessary to the commensuration of money, or the adjustment of proportion between the same &j>ms at different periods of time. A nominal pound in King's Henry's time contained, as now^ twenty shillings ; and therefore it must be inquired what twenty shillings could perform. Bread-corn is the most certain stan- dard of the necessaries of life. Wheat was generally sold at that time for one shilling the bushel : if therefore we take five shillings the bushel for the current price, ten pounds were equi- valent to fifty. But here is danger of a fallacy. It may be doubted, whether wheat was the general bread-corn of that age ; and if rye, barley, or oats, were the common food, and wheat, as I suspect, only a delicacy, the value of wheat will not regulate the price of other things. This doubt is however in favour of Ascham : for if we raise the worth of wheat, we raise that of his pension. But the value of money has another variation, which we are still less able to ascertain : the rules of custom, or the different needs of artificial life, make that revenue little at one time which is great at another. Men are rich and poor, not only in propor- tion to what they have, but to what they want. In some ages, not only necessaries are cheaper, but fewer things are necessary. In the age of Ascham, most of the elegancies and expenses of our present fashions were unknown : commerce had not yet distributed superfluity through the lower classes of the people, and the character of a student implied frugality, and required no splendor to support it. His pension, therefore, reckoning together the wants which he could supply and the wants from which he was exempt, may be estimated, in my opinion, at more than one hundred pounds a year ; which, added to the income of fellowship, put him far enough above distress. --De Johnsoih . xxxvi LIFE OF ASCHAM. University, which however he is said to have done already for some years before. For this last- named duty he was remarkably well fitted, as he was one of the best penmen of his time, and acted as writing-master* to Prince Edward, the Princess Elizabeth, and others. He also, by the advice of Pember, learnt to play on musical instru- ments, and, in fact, seems to have been what is called an universal genius. Some letters addressed to Sir William Paget and others will explain all these matters more agreeably to the reader than any words of mine : LETTEE XII.— To Brandesby. [Cambridge, 1542-43.] Our friend Tennand was with us last mai ket day. I was glad to have the opportunity of asking him about you, for I had heard nothing of you for two years .... during w^hich time I have been lost to all serious occupa- tions, having been laid up with a quartan fever in ray father's house in Yorkshire If you wish to know anything about Cambridge, I can tell you what will perhaps be news to you. Our munificent king has bestowed on that university a most noble and immortal aid to all kinds of learning. Five public professors have been appointed, Wiggin for Divi- nity, Smith for Law, Cheke for the Greek tongue, Wakefield for Hebrew, and Blith, who married Mr Cheke's sister, for Medicine : they are to receive a yearly * Her ladyship of Suffolk, this last year, when I taught Lord Charles Greek during several months, and made him write a good hand, promised me much assistance. I have reserved her liberality for such time as this. Her so% also the duke, who owes to me the beautiful hand which he writes, will no doubt forward my petition to his mother. [Letter cviii, written in 1550.] LIFE OF ASCHAM. xxxvii salary of forty pounds. Aristotle and Plato are now read by the boys in the original language, but that has been done among us at St John's for the last five years. Sophocles and Euripides are now more familiar to us than Plautus was when you were here. Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon are more read now than Livy was then. They talk now as much of Demosthenes, as they did of Cicero at that time. There are more copies of Isocrates to be met with now than th^e were of Terence then. Yet we do not treat the Latin writers with contempt, but we cherish the best of them who flourished in the golden age of their liieraiure. It was Cheke who gave the first impulse towards bringing about this state of things : he twice read through Homer, Sophocles, Euripides, and Herodotus, at a public lecture, and that too without taking any fee. He meant to do the same for all the Greek poets, historians, orators, and philosophers, if ill luck had not stood in the way of such a great advancement of learning. For when Cheke wished to enlarge his course of usefulness in the cause of earning by bringing back the true and ancient pronun- ciation of Greek, lo, the right reverend the bishop of Winchester, yielding to the requests of certain envious men, issued a decree to forbid the use of this new mode, and thus not only stopped the new pronunciation in spite of the remonstrances of almost all the university, but almost wholly extinguished all the zeal for learning which had been kindled up among us. Do you think this a slight hinderance to learning Greek ? Every one is aware that all knowledge comes to us through our senses : if then we are thus deprived of the use of our ears, how can we distinguish between one word and another unless we keep our eyes constantly fixed upon a book ? The Greek vowels are now all pronounced so thin and slender, so xxxviii LIFE OF ASCHAM. closely allied to the letter iota that you can distinguish nothing but the piping of a sparrow, or the hissing of a snake. We lament this check and decay of learning the more, because the great patron of our university, who is otherwise most famous for his prudence, wisdom, and authority, has been the cause of it. Some letters have passed between his lordship and Cheke on this matter, almost as big as books. No one can defend the old barbarous pronunciation better than his lordship of Win- chester: but this- 1 will say; he has the strongest, we the best side of the argument. You could not believe how Cheke has come out in defending his views, unless you were to read his letters. Cheke, Madew, Seton, Tong, Langdale, and Bill, send you their best wishes. I always have thought long letters the best, and I shall expect a long one from you. LETTEH XXII.-To Siu W. Paget. It is the common talk and boast of all good men, excellent sir, that your goodness affords a refuge to every man of letters. For this reason, therefore, I am paying no regard either to the magnitude of those affairs which the king, knowing your prudence, has committed to your hands, nor to the low condition in which fortune has placed me, when I thus call off your attention from those important daily matters, to aid me in a business, which though not of necessity yet is at all events honourable for you to take up on my behalf. There are two young men, both of them ornaments to learning, and both aided by the strongest support by friends, candidates for the Greek Professorship, which our munificent king founded three years ago in the public schools of Cambridge. Now, as I could not expect to rival these in the help and influence of my friends, I had LIFE OF ASCHAM. xxxix long ago given up all hope and even every thought of becoming a candidate, until a report was spread in the university, that the king's majesty would give the office to him who knew most of the Greek language. When this was known, many of our learned men, who for some reason or other thought well of me, urged me to go to London, and try whether God who is the helper of orphans and of the poor such as I am, and who is always best able to help us, as he sometimes condescends wonderfully to show, would help me in promoting my present cause. Whilst I was dwelling at court, the most obscure among the obscure I found there, and dared not, destitute as I was of all friends, to put my little learning in competition with those two, and indeed, if I had dared, knew not how to do it ; at that moment you suddenly returned home, with the congratulations of all men, high and low, for having, as they say, so successfully fulfilled the mission on which the king had sent you. I was myself present at the time, and saw how universal was the public joy, from the way in which all eyes were fixed on you, and all the talk of the people was about your praises. I at once saw that you were the Deus ex macMna sent by Almighty God, not only for the good of learning in general, but to undertake for me the cause which I had at heart. I hoped even then that my cause would get support from that high and honourable character which had gained for you the favour of the king's majesty as well as the good wishes of all men, which prompts you to espouse the interests of learning and its followers, and by which you so wisely promote the good of all mankind. If therefore, most accomplished sir, by your favour the king's majesty should deem me worthy by my learning to be Professor of Greek, I must indeed acknowledge that although you cannot expect any recompense from me, yet xl LIFE OF ASCHAM. you will refer all that good deed to Him, and will receive abundant reward from Him, who hath said : Whatsoever ye shall do to one of these little ones, ye shall have done it unto me, I need not tell you that this saying, coming from such an author, never yet has turned out vain or fruitless. If you ask what pleas may be brought forward to support my cause, I answer that there are some and those not slight ones. For before the king's majesty established his lecture at Cambridge, I was appointed by the votes of all the university, and was paid a handsome salary, to profess the Greek tongue in public ; and I have ever since read a lecture in St John's college, of which I am a fellow. Moreover the letters which the university have sent either to the king's majesty or to any other honourable men for the last twelve years, have all been written by me. I have also written and dedicated to the king's majesty a book, which is now in the press. On the art of shooting, and in which I have shown how well it is fitted for Englishmen, both at home and abroad, and how certain rules of art may be laid down to ensure its being learnt thoroughly by all our fellow-countrymen. This book, I hope, will be published before the king's departure, and will be no doubful sign of my love to my country, or mean memorial of my humble learning. My character is well known to my lord of Chichester, Redman, and Eidley, but best of all to John Cheke, if he were here ; for I have been associated with him several years lately in the study of Greek. And I say all this, neither falsely nor boastingly, but that I may further by every means in my power the cause which I am asking you to support. If it grieves you to have your time occupied by such a subject, you must ascribe it to your great LIFE OF ASCHAM. xli goodness which provokes all men to have recourse to that quarter from which they have the greatest hope. LETTER XXIIL— fo Cheke. [About Sept. 13, 154^.] In proportion to the pleasure which T have always felt, when we were together, from the prudence you have shown in putting a stop to our domestic stirs, and encouraging us in the pursuit of learning, the more bitterly do I feel the necessity which compels me, by ths change which has followed your leaving us, to write to you this present letter in which I have to express my grief at our all losing the benefit of your counsel, rather than the common joy arising from the fruits of that counsel which when you were here we did not all equally follow. For things are now brought to such a pass that I know not what good can any longer be expected from that consent of good men, for the advance- ment of letters, and to check the turbulence and intole- rance of some amongst us, which, although much sup- ported by the goodness of the cause, was nevertheless kept up in a great measure by your prudent management. Thus some have tried with all their might and main to prevent me, to whom it is due that themselves are of any account at all, from ever again looking forward to any source from which I may bring honour to my friends who are also yours, or ever support myself in my present humble lot. For lately, if I may tell you the whole matter, when we were dividing out our readers, I wished much to help my friend Grindal on account of his poverty, and to that end seeking to make use of, not every means in my power, but only such means as I thought you would approve of, I told it to M[adew], 4 xlii LIFE OF ASCHAM. B[ill], A. . . , and the others of that stamp, only one or two days before the thing was to be settled, when sud- denly F . . . , and your friend B . . . , either by a perfidious plan of their own, or prompted by H . . . , or perhaps from both causes combined, made common cause with S . . . and his friends M . . . P . . . , and upset all the authority which we had so long possessed ; and though they might have done the very same through us, they so utterly set at naught M[adew], A . . . , myself, and M . . . , as he himself acknowledges, that they declared openly they were able and willing without our help to name any one they pleased. If this is to be approved, or even put up with, those are the prudent and moderate men, who can look out on all sides to protect their own interests; and the others, who have laid open themselves to ridicule, and their friends to danger, by not abandoning a good cause, are no better than fools. I at that time despised those noisy fellows in consideration of my interest in gaining my object and protecting my friend Grindal, and I am now glad that I stuck so closely to the point. If any evil hereafter arise out of this storm to the college, which has hitherto been safe under your guidance, you, whose love and approba- tion I wish always to possess, will be able clearly to understand all about it. But you will say perhaps that I take oflPence from a slight cause. Is it a slight cause that our president and seniors have had their authority depised and limited ? Could I see all my hopes shattered, when I had the best opportunity of defending my friends and of wounding those who bore me malice ? when neither my kindness in showing leniency nor my power of hurting was of the least avail in checking their hatred ? I knew for certain that my friend Grindal, next to you and Smith, was LIFE OF ASCHAM. xliii second to none in Greek, and so poor tliat lie had neither heart for study nor a sufficiency to live on, and that he was so attached to me that all our interests are in common. Could I then forgive his beino; Sjcparated for ever from the learning in which he excelled, the studies to which he was devoted, and me his most familiar friend ? In short, if I were to overlook all the offences and wounds which have been aimed at our little commonwealth and at myself, yet I cannot put up with the fraud, faithlessness, backbiting, boasting, and intolerance which, instead of being allayed, has been aggravated by the shameful afPair that has just happened among us I hope it may be brought to pass by your prudent admonition, that the authority of Madew, which we all ought to obey, may no longer be set at naught, that the seniors may have due respect paid to them, and all insolent boasting be checked And now a few words about myself privately. My lord of York, as you know, is dying, to the great detriment of my fortunes. Biit that is the least evil. I am looking out for another master to take the place of Lee : I should like nothing better than that the good bishop of West- minster should succeed him. Give me over, if you will, to any one you please, or keep me yourself ; nothing- could be better. If you can think of anything hereafter, favour me with the slightest notice thereof. As I was sealing my letter, Madew and Bill came to me about sending Grindal to you. I felt a pang at the recollection of our close friendship, but was overjoyed for his sake ..... I commend him to you as a man of mark, and promise that you shall find him diligent and respectful, zealous in learning and love of you, silent, faithful, temperate, and'honest, and in every way devoted and well fitted for your service Farewell. xliv LIFE OF ASCHAM. LETTER XXIV.— To a Friend at Yoek. [About November, 1544.] Your own humanity, most accomplished sir, (which all ascribe to you as most remarkable) causes me, forgetful of all humanity, thus to molest you with my letters, though I am an obscure and unknown man. However, an affair of much importance is on my hands, to get rid of which, I thought proper to write to you, as being the only man whose abilities render you capable of doing all you wish, and w^hose humanity makes you wish to do all you can. It is your help I ask in this business, and not your money. By the death of the most reverend father and master of mine, Edward, Archbishop of York, I felt a sorrow which was common to many others, but the loss was chiefly and almost wholly my own. Three years ago he engaged all my respect, obedience, and services, by a yearly stipend of forty shillings. Which pension, under the name of wages rather than of an exhibition, as we call it, was paid to me every year at the feast of Annun- ciation and on Micliaelmas-day. . . Of which matter Mr Langerigge can bear ample testimony, as having been present when the reverend father thus bound me to his service. At the last feast of St Michael, I ought to have received twenty shillings, which sum I think I can demand the more justly, seeing that all the other servants of the most reverend father, as E understand, have re- ceived their salaries in full. But if I had to go without this money, I should feel it the more from being the only one who was not paid. And since the amount is not so large that the payment of it can be a matter of mucji importance to the executors of the most reverend father, nor indeed so small, but that it may be a great assistance to me in pursuing the course of my studies ; I beseech LIFE OF ASCHAM. xlv you by your humanity, most charitable sir, and by that disposition of yours with which you are said to cherish both letters and men of letters, to bestow on this my request as mu^i pains, help, and influence (which can be done without inconvenience to yourself) as may be suffi- cient to obtain for me this scanty sum. I care not much whether the money is paid, or a few of his Greek books given me instead ; especially if any of them are on oratory, philosophy, or history. There is a Greek book, called " The Ten Rhetoricians," containing orations of -^schines, Lycurgus, Dinarchus, and others ; this I much wish to have, as it cannot be got here. If you can either get it for me in the manner I have stated, or buy it with money, you will do me not only an act of great kindness, which I shall always remember, but T will use my utmost diligence to recompense you for tlie same. And this is all the request which I deem proper to be announced to you in this present letter. I could easily have got the most accomplished prelate, the Lord George Day, Bishop of Chichester, to further this object by a letter, had I not felt that this kind of backing up one's requests to prudent men is even more useless than it is trouble- some. Wherefore I throw myself and my cause into your hands ; trusting that you will bestow thereon w^hat- ever care you think fit, and I feel sure it will be as much as the cause itself, the study of letters, and my own slender means may seem in any way, either individually to ask or collectively to demand. There is also one other thing which I wish to communicate to you. The most reverend father told me himself that he had written on the whole Pentateuch of Moses, and as far as I could make out from his wishes, he wished that book to appear before the world in print. If with your aid this book can see the light, and come before the eyes of men, it xlvi LIFE OF ASCIIAM. will bring mucli credit to you, and immortal glory to the name of the reverend father, as well as be the source of much profit and advantage hereafter to the cause of Christianity : since there are very few of the ancients who seem to explain those books fully or clearly. If you will impose on me the task of writing the preface, I shall deem it rather an honour than an onus. I would more readily undertake it in order to reply to one Pasquillus, the author of a book, in vvhich, amongst other severe aspersions on the name of the most reverend father, he has represented him, in a dialogue, as an unlearned and barbarous asker of questions; although I knew him to be an especial lover of elegance and pureness of diction, to the attainment of which he also gave me frequent exhortations. The censures of such men as these would be most prudently passed over in silence, if they had not used an inordinate freedom of speech. About producing the commentaries of the most reverend father, there are many here who think with me; you, however, most prudent sir, will do whatever seems best to you in this matter. If you will signify to me in three words what you think about the contents of this letter, when the chance of a letter-carrier shall offer itself, I shall deem it a singular mark of your kindness and condescension. Eareweli. LETTEE XLYI.— To Sik W. Paget.* [1546.] That I have neither seen you nor written to you for so long a time, must not be taken for a sign that I have * This letter is given in the Latin series, under the year 1546. If, however, Ascham was substituted in Cheke's place as Orator in 1544 (which is doubtful), tliis letter belongs to the last-named year. LIFE OF ASCHAM. xlvii forgotten my own obligations or your kindness. But I have been ill great part of this last year and unable to reside at Cambridge ; and, as you have been chosen with the consent of all men to transact the business of the State in France, my duty to you may seem to have been interrupted by the vicissitudes of the times and not to have been broken off by my neglect. Since, however, you are now come back to England, to the great delight of every body, 1 could not help writing to tell you how thoroughly I take part in the universal joy at your success .... If you have time to hear what I have to say about myself, a full meeting of the University Senate has lately bestowed upon me the office of Public Orator in the place of John Cheke; and I do not tell you this from a wish to boast of my gifts, which T know to be very small, but because the testimony of the University, where I am well known, has thus confirmed the judgment which you formed of me when I was a stranger, and this gives me pleasure which no one is able to take away. Nothing is more desirable to me than that which can increase your good opinion of me ; and every care shall be taken on my part to preserve it uninterruptedly. The young man named in one of these letters^ William Grindal, was the pupil and protege of Ascbam. He seems to have been the cause of some trouble to his tutor^ who put forth all his natural energy on behalf of his pupil and thereby caused offence to some of the fellows of St Johri^s. This^ however, may have soon passed away ; for Grindal was removed in 1544 to be the tutor of the Princess Elizabeth. In January, 1547, Henry VIII died^ and xlviii LIFE or ASCHAM. Ascham^s pension ceased^ but it was renewed by Edward VI, At the end of the same year, an awkward disputation took place at Cambridge respecting the Mass, and Ascham very nearly got into another scrape by taking part in it. He gives a full account of it in his letters. In January, 1548, his pupil Grindal* died, and he was sent for to Court to be tutor to the Princess Elizabeth in GrindaFs place. He obeyed the summons, as we may easily believe, with readiness, and for nearly two years instructed the Princess with great diligence.f But at the end of 1549 he abruptly left the Court, offended, as he tells us, by the impertinence of some of the servants. Dr Johnson suggests that he was per- haps eager again to change his life. This is probably true, for Ascham was certainly of a restless disposition. It is also probable that he ^ Ascham speaks again of the death of Grrindal in letter cxvii, (vol. 1, page 272): "He left the Court plunged in deeper sorrow at his death than any one, I think, who lias died there for many years : and caused me greater grief than I felt at the death of hoth my parents, who died the same day and almost at the same hour, after they had lived together in the greatest harmony forty-seven years." The Latin text of this passage is evidently corrupt — Aula tantum^ 8^c, Aulce perhaps is the proper reading. It may be again remarked that these letters have come down to us in a very bad state ; the text of Elstob being not only full of mistakes, but printed in such a style as to render it almost impossible to reprint them correctly. t We learn from the Schoolmaster, vol. iii, page l7l, that Ascham, on his first coming to Cheshunt, was put to sleep in the same bed with John Whitney, a young gentleman of the Court. LIFE OF ASCHAM. xlix long repented of his precipitancy, and, as tliose who are not accustomed to disrespect, cannot easily forgive it, he would probably have felt the effects of his imprudence to his death, if he had not taken extraordinary pains to reinstate himself in Elizabeth^s favour. During all this time the University and Colleges of Cambridge were in great commotion, and most of Ascham^s letters were written in his character of Public Orator, Several commissions were appointed to visit the universities at this time. Constant stirs took place between the town and gown, as well as between the rival forms of religion. The limits assigned to this biography do not allow me to speak more fully of these things : the reader will be better pleased to know those events in which Ascham was privately con- cerned, and to gain from his own private letters as much insight into his life and character* as such memorials are able to furnish. LETTEH LXXXIIL— To Sir W. Cecil. Jan. 5, 1548. Most accomplished sir, — A month ago, or even more, there was a disputation in this college, according to our custom, about the Mass, whether it was the same as our Lord's Supper or not. This question was handled most learnedly by Thomas Lever and Eoger Hutchinson, whom I think you know : they are in truth men of great learn- ing. Some members of the University were angry when * A petition to Archbishop Cranmer for a licence to eat flesh [see Letter xxTii] was probably no unusual thing then, nor iudeed a hundred years later, as shown by certain parish registers. 1 LIFE OF ASCHAM. they heard of what had happened, and the matter was brought to such a point, or rather I was myself so wrought upon by the exhortations of many in our college, that I consented to transfer this discussion from the walls of our society to the public schools, with this intent, that we might hear freely and without reserve from men of learning what arguments could be drawn from the well of Sacred Scripture in defence of the Mass which now not only holds the highest place in religion and the con- sciences of mankind, but has almost driven out all faithful ministry of the Word of God and of the Sacra- ments from the use and custom of Christians. We entered upon this subject with the utmost gentleness, we compared together our common studies, and set forth the canon of Scripture as our guide, hoping that the whole matter might be decided by its authority. The ancient canons of the early Church, the councils of the Fathers, the decrees of Popes, the judgments of the Doctors, together with a multitude of Questionists, and all the modern writers we could meet with, both German and Eoman, were brought together to clear up the subject of our discussion. Certain members of the University took notice of our proceedings in their sermons, and by their means. Master Madew, the vice-chancellor, was persuaded to forbid by letter our carrying on the disputation any further. We obeyed, as in duty bound, but we were not content that the right of disputing should be taken from us, whilst the others w^ere allowed the right of saying in their sermons anything they pleased. W^e heard that the Archbishop of Canterbury was unfavourable to us ; nor is this to be wondered at, most discreet sir, for our adversaries (I am compelled unwillingly to use so harsh a name) used the most tragical language in reporting to LIFE OF ASCHAM. li him the affair. Whether in doing this they most showed their malice or their ignorance may well be doubted. For Thomas Aquinas proves that the Mass went beyond our Lord's Supper by many of its privileges, and differed very widely from it in many points. First, by the sex ; for women ought not to partake of the Mass, but are not excluded from the Supper : next, by age, by the fault of parents, and by loss of limb ; for children, bastards, and those who are mutilated, are excluded from the dignity of the Mass, but are admitted to the more lowly partaking of the Supper, and in many other ways ; so that they would have much more reason to cry out if any one were to say that the Mass and the Lord's Supper were the same thing. But what shall T say of those men whom I have alluded to ? Only this, that Herod was moved, and all Jerusalem with him." They syy that we are hasty: certainly no one is so hasty that he cannot be recalled ; so that all Cambridge needs the spur rather than the rein. But, as I was telling you, though our disputation was forbidden, yet our inclinations in that same cause were somehow stronger than before. For we have written a whole book on the Mass, whicli we propose to to present in a short time to the Lord Protector, unless it seem best to you and Master Cheke not to do so. As regards the management of this business, I would wish you should keep your opinion about it, not for conver- sation with others, but for judgment of it hereafter : and we do not say this, because we dare not promise anything on our own part, but because we fear that certain men are too eager to hinder what they do not like by any means in their power. We have read the most holy confessions of our queen, together with our eloquent letter. I hope you will lii LIFE OF ASCIJAM. devote some of your time to cultivate the English tongue ; so that men might understand that even our language allows a man to write in it with beauty and eloquence. Master Cheke's letter to our college gave us all great pleasure ; it contained in few words great good will towards you and me both. The Lord Protector's letter, which you wrote for him, delighted us all marvellously. It is the common wish among us that Cambridge may at some time, and that soon, see John Cheke Provost of King's College. That bishop is of no use to our studies ; I wish he did no harm, and I say this, not to catch at any one's favour, but for the good of the whole Univer- sity. They are many causes which compel us to think so, and your foresight will supply us with more still. We friends thus communicate with one another, perhaps not very prudently, but yet most cautiously, and, what is not least, most lovingly. Consider about this matter as you please, but farther it as much as you can: I am too troublesome to you. Farewell in Christ. Jan. 5, 1548. From the College of St John the Baptist. LETTEE LXXXII.— To the Master of St John's. [Jan. 1548.] Most respected sir, — Your letter dated, as we believe, the 24th of November, have been read to us, and have caused us greater bitterness of mind than either you can conceive or I can describe. The four seniors went to ask Master Crosley to lend us the letter, if only for one hour, but he would not agree to this, nor would he read it over to them again. We fear, however, that others will read it, and those no very great friends to us and still less to you. We have thus been hindered from writing to you more at length : but we deem it sufficient that we write LIFE OF ASCHAM. liii to you at all, and give you our best thanks, as is our bounden duty, for the care you take of the college, 'with- out describing to you the bitterness which our own minds have felt. We were quiet and industrious, God knows, until your letter plunged us, not into a disturbance, but into the greatest sorrow. We have done nothing to merit so bitter a letter. Fawden has been quietly and piously teaching our young men early in the morning. All of us, who were present, were delighted to taste what it is to worship God in spirit and in truth, and hope that we may always have the chance of doing so : we cannot find fault with anything that he has done. Some taunt us about obedience to the magistrates ; and some say to us, Thou art not a friend to Csesar." I wish this had not been said by both in the same manner. I am un- willing to say so, but I wish both our hearts and theirs had been laid open, that it might have been seen what feeling we each of us bore towards our Prince. lioger Hutchinson and Thomas Lever, two grave, learned, and good men, disputed whether the Mass is the Supper of the Lord. They spoke highly and reverently of the Sacrament of the Eucharist, and not a word was said among ourselves on this subject. But some talked about it in the town, and, as we did not wish to shut up our disputations in a corner but put them forth to the light, we have made up our minds to hold the disputation in the public schools, that we may hear what the world will say about the question of the Mass, which holds at present such sway over the consciences of men. We have done this already, and, with God's help, will so handle the subject that religion may suflPer no harm, nor our College be exposed to scandal, save from a few, who favour neither side. In this matter we shall put our trust, neither in learning, age, nor rank, but in God's LIFE OF ASCHAM. Holy Spirit. God shows his truth to men in wonderful ways, and is therefore wonderful in all his works. We shall hold fast to the obedience due to the magistrates, and we believe that they will approve what we do, if we first plough up and prepare the consciences of men, for them afterwards to sow the seeds of good laws. Nothing can be sown in untilled ground. This is a mighty matter, but comprised in few words. If any workmen ever ought to mind the proper season for doing things, it is the University, and none therein more than we. We have set about this in a Christian spirit, and will go on so, in spite of the thunders of the Papists. You being absent cannot take part in our folly : we will declare openly, unless you do not wish it, how much you differ from us. But meanwhile we are most disturbed at M. B. having said at dinner that you did not care if you gave up your office which you have held among us so much to our satisfaction. Who are we, and who are they ? What are the studies^ and what their fruits, on both sides ? W'ith which party resides the credit and the learning of this College? Who are the instructors of our young men ? Wlio are they that do it, or that are willing, or able to do it ? Look round on the modesty and decency of our lives : if one or two of us are hasty or violent, do not impute that to all of us. Hear what we have to say. You have such a set of men as could not readily be gathered together again, if once broken up. There are certainly some who have no great desire of remaining here ; but, whilst they do, they will obey you for the Lord's sake, so that, when they are gone, you will then find out what sort of men and what good friends you once had in this College. May God long keep you, most respected sir, and may he perfect by his almighty power what he has begun in us, which we trust will be both LIFE OF ASCHAM. Iv pleasing in his sight, useful to his church, and fit and honorable to this College. LETTER LXXXIV.— To the Princess Elizabeth. [Jan. 22, 1548.] I can easily estimate, most illustrious lady, your grief at the death of our friend Grindal, from the great love and respect which he always used to feel towards you ; and I should fear that reminding you of it would rather increase than assuage your sorrow, if I did not clearly understand your great prudence, strengthened by the ♦ counsels of Mistress Catherine Astley and the precepts of my dear Grindal himself. This leads me to see that your own reflections and your own prudence will take out the bitterness from that grief which time alone heals in the minds of fools. If you expect consolation from this mournful letter, written by one who has enough to do to console himself, the best comfort, in my judgment, will be to bring to maturity that excellent learning of which you have had the seeds laid by Grindal. .To this end you must not hope, now that your own Grindal is dead, to get a better tutor in his place than is that other Grindal ; * who comes as near to him in sweetness and gentleness of manners as he does in name and in kindred. From the close friendship which I have had for so many years with Grindal, I never hoped to reap more benefit than I have got in the good-will which by his means you have shown towards me. Nor do I ask for anything so much in my daily prayers, as that your * Thers is here some allusion to another G-rindal. Edmund Grindal, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, was at Cam- bridge at this same time, as also was a third Grrindal, named James. See Strjpe's Life cf Grindal, at the beginning. Ivi LIFE or ASCHAM. former favour may rest on the opinion wliicli Giindal has so long held about me, and not be referred to the judg- ment of any one else ; for, though I have lost him, I do not wish to lose the benefit of his good opinion* I will do my best to make my diligence in serving you answer to the hopes which I have formed from your goodness, so that all my zeal, loyalty, and obedience may fulfil all you can wish and redound to your honour and dignity. I shall think it my greatest happiness, if the time ever comes when my services can be of use to you. May the Lord Jesus ever have you in his keeping. Jan. 22, 1548. LETTER LXXXY.— To Sir J. Cheke. Eeb. 12, 1548. .... That illustrious lady is thinking of having me in the place of Grindal. ... I was with the illustrious lady during these last days : she signified to me her pleasure, and I did not try to make any bargain for my own advantage, but at once declared that I was ready to obey her orders. She told me how the Queen and the Lord Admiral had laboured in favour of Goldsmith ; and I advised her to comply ; I praised Goldsmith to her, and exhorted her, as much as I could, to follow their judgment in such a matter : 1 prayed her not to think of any good to be got by me, but to let nothing stand in the way of her bringing to perfection that singular learning of which Grindal had sown the seeds. It cannot be be- lieved, most accomplished sir, to what a knowledge of the Latin and Greek tongues she will arrive, if she goes on as she has begun under Grindal. We at least agreed in one point, she out of her good will to me and I out of loyalty and respect for her, that she ought to have the best teacher that could be got. I can say nothing about 'life of ascham. Ivii myself ; but I hope, although I am foolish and in fact nobody in almost everything, yet that I can be of use to her in teaching her Greek and Latin and in performing the duties of her secretary. When the Lady Elizabeth comes to London, she will talk over this matter with the Queen and the Lord Admiral ; nor do I think they will settle anything without you. As for me, I trust all my labour, studies, and course of life to your prudence, which I will ever try to follow. May the Lord Jesus have you in his keeping, Feb. 12, 1548. LETTER XC— To William Ireland. Cheshunt, July 8 [1549]. Your letter was brought to me by Petrus Perusinus, and gave me much pleasure. I would willingly have gone to see you all with John Whitney at the last meeting [of the Senate], had not my illustrious mistress prevented me : either because Huntley died lately among you, or be- cause she never lets me go away anywhere. I mean to go to you at Michaelmas, and remain with you for good, if I can get my lady's permission, which I can hardly hope, for she favours me wonderfully. Many men, who have become courtiers, praise their former life of retirement, but have not courage to leave the splendour of a court : I cannot promise anything about myself, but I think somewhat about it. I wish, my dear Ireland, you could spend one or two days with me here at Cheston, that I might pour all my thoughts into your faithful bosom. You thank me, most undeservedly, for kindness to you which I do not know that I have shown : I recognize your gratitude, but not anything that I have done to earn it. If you understand those two letters which I got from the Marquis of Northampton and Lord Erancis 5 Iviii LIFE OF ASCHAM. Briaa about eating flesh, on behalf of you and Eaven, I am glad that Grinwood gave them to you, and I wish to know if it is so. I should like you to see yourself or hear from others how I pass my life here ; though, if you wish it, I will write again and describe it to you. Give my best salutations to my respected friend Mr Madew ; I have not forgotten what I owe to him, and wnll write to him shortly. Salute the most noble Stafford, to whom I wish all he can wish for himself, namely, the greatest learning and the greatest virtue. I was lately at Court with the King's Majesty, and saw there in Lord Somer's chamber many noblemen, friends of Lord Stafford at the Court. Their talk was on the most trifling sub- jects. Oh, what wretched men ! thought I ; how happy is our Lord Stafi'ord, conversing with Cicero at Cam- bridge about matters of importance and worthy of a worthy man. Salute the Master of the College, as also. Masters Crosley, Langdale, Fauding, Faucet, Brown, Bullock, Eland, Hutton, Lever, both the Pilkingtons, my friend Thomson, whom I have made senior in my place, Patrick, my friend Pindar, Tailer, Let, Thexton, Salt, Squier, both the Wilsons (if the elder is with you), and my friend Lakin, whose goodness and learning will, I pray, make good the hopes and the opinion which I have formed of him. I send the same to my friend Calibutt, who seems to have forgotten me, for he never writes. I have heard something, but hope much of it is un- true : I never can approve of a wrong being done to any one, unless I pay no heed to what Christ teaches. I wish I had been there : I should either have done away with those stirs, or at all events have assuaged them .... I have sent no salutation to my friend Raven, because I write this letter to him as well as to you. Catharine E., a most choice and worthy maiden, has been LIFE or ASCHAM. lix with us : I was that day at the Court, when she came to Ohelsoii : if it had not been so, 1 should have brought her to my most illustrious lady. 1 told our noble damsels that I loved her above every one, and that she would be my wife; which almost all believed. If you go to Witham, be careful to salute all of them. Keep my room and its humble furniture carefully and neatly, as you have been doing. Write to me fully and long : 1 find it hard to leave off talking to you. Farewell in Christ Jesus. Cheston, July 8th. LETTER XCIV.— To Sir John Cfieke. I have always heartily thanked God, and shall do so all my life, for having been allowed by His especial good- will to spend so large a part of my life at the University of Cambridge, and more particularly, that I should find there such a good friend and such a learned teacher as you. For whatever aids I there obtained, whether moderately bestowed by fortune for the wants of life, or the still more moderate aids of learning for the improve- ment of my mind, all have originated from your singular and abundant love towards me, and from those sources of learning which for so many years you happily and con- stantly opened for me by your superior intellect, supplying me thereby both precept, example, and advice. And iu proportion as I have found the greater pleasure from the frequent recollection, day and night, of that most pleasant life which i enjoyed at College in your company, and from the remembrance of those discourses which we carried on apart in your room ; wherein you declared your particu- lar interest in me, and led me to place my hopes in you ; as well as, lastly, of all your past kindness, which, both at College and at Court, has been abundantly bestowed on me ; so now is my present desolation the more nard Ix LIFE OF ASCHAM. to bear, seeing that in this late shipwreck which I have suffered, overcome by court violence and wrongs, though the blame is rather to be laid on my bad fortune than on any fault of my own, yet certain men have, at a time so unlucky for me, made great endeavours to put an end to your kindness towards me. But wronged as I have been on all sides, I have been chiefly sustained by the fact that by no means could it be so painful to me to be accused to you, through hatred and by false statements, as it would be agreeable to be defended by the silent testimony of your judgment in my behalf: which indeed I easily understood from your words to me the last time I was at Court. I have never yet been led, nor shall I ever be, to fear more from any new calumny of my enemies than to place a firm reliance on your old friend- ship. And now this would seem a fit place for me to explain the whole affair of my life at Court, and why I left it ; which indeed T would willingly do, but that the matter can be more easily explained to you by word of mouth, than by a short letter. However, I do not wish any trust to be placed in me, pleading my own cause, about matters relating to myself, unless the most weighty testi- mony of most worthy men, in all my words and deeds, shall have attested my innocence. It is enough that I can bring forward E. . . S. . . , an upright man, on behalf of a just cause, to oppose all the unjust censures of triflers. But him, the participator in my thoughts and sharer of my fortunes, I bring not forward. But Cumberford and Wilkinson have long been known to you as men of mark, and they will neither speak falsely, nor refuse to speak the truth in this matter. And if by their testimony all those injuries with which the storm at Court overwhelmed me, cannot be proved to have sprung from LIFE OP ASCHAM. ki that very source whence I ought rather to have enjoyed the fruits of my occupation than have laboured under any fear of offence ; then I shall easily put up with the loss of your kindness towards me, from which all the whole course of my former life has flowed, and also a bright hope still shines forth of help on many occasions that may occur. But if you shall discover that I have been attacked, without any fault of mine, by the injuries not of my most illustrious mistress, but of her steward, I beg of you not to let any letters of men or injuries of the times hinder you from regarding with the same good- will and defending your old friend Ascham. And this I wish so much the more, as 1 have never valued your love more than your approbation ; and I will labour with all care, diligence, and respect, that this may always be so. But now, in this my abject and humble condition, nothing can more excite my hopes than if, next to the king's majesty and my most illustrious mistress (whose favour I should part with most unwillingly), my earnest fidelity and service which you have already sometimes commended may be still of some account and value in your eyes. You will surely not blame this desire of mine, since it arises from nothing else bui a certain induction and tendency of a mind for many years devoted to you. The other things that I had to write to you about, either concerning settling my life comfortably at the University, or passing two years in studies abroad, to the accomplishment of which I promise myself a little assis- tance and favour from you, I will shortly explain to you in another letter or, more to the purpose, by word of mouth. Our friend Eland has recommended to you a certain young man of this College, Henry Wright, who, if I am able to judge, with very great prospects of talent, Ixii LIFE OP ASCHAM. industry, and perseverance, has entered upon a most correct course of study, that is to say, so happily does he join Plato and Aristotle with Cicero, that, if he continues as he has begun, he will certainly be worthy to meet with favour and support at your hands and at the hands of those who are like you; I mean those who are set by God to promote the advancement of learning. May Christ Jesus long preserve you. LETTER XCIX.— To Stukm. St John's, Ap. 4, 1550. .... Tnere are here at Cambridge many eminent men, among whom is most conspicuous my friend Walter Haddon, now Vice-Chanceilor of this University. He seems worthy to be compared with those former two, rather than to be reckoned among us. I do not know what all the Oxford men are about, but some months ago, at Court, 1 fell in with a man from that University who, by his preference of Lucian, Plutarch, Herodian, Seneca, Aulus Gellius, and Apuleius, seemed to bring both of those tongues down to their latest and most debased age. Our illustrious King Edward surpasses all men, as well as his own years, and every one's expecta- tion, in talent, industry, perseverance, and learning. I do not speak from hearsay, but happily have seen it with my own eyes. His mind is become the dwelling-place of a whole troop of virtues. France will, I have no doubt, hnd out the superior learning of the Duke of Suffolk, and the rest of that noble company of young men who have set out this very day with the king to visit France. T'here are many honourable ladies now who surpass Thomes More's daughters in all kinds of learning ; but among all of them the brightest star is my iliubtrious Lady Elizabeth, the king's sister^ so that 1 have no LIFE OF ASCHAM. Ixiii difficulty in finding subject for writing in her praise, but only in setting bounds to what I write. I will write nothing however which I have not myself witnessed. She had me for her tutor in Greek and Latin two years ; but now I am released from the Court and restored to my old literary leisure here, where by her beneficence I hold an honest place in this University. It is difficult to say whether the gifts of nature or of fortune are most to be admired in that illustrious lady. The praise which Aristotle gives wholly centres in her — beauty, stature, prudence, and industry. She has just passed her sixteenth birthday, and shows such dignity and gentleness as are wonderful at her age and in her rank. Her study of true religion and learning is most energetic. Her mind has no womanly weakness, her perseverance is equal to that of a man, and her memory long keeps what it quickly picks up. She talks French and Italian as well as English : she has often talked to me readily and well in Latin, and moderately so in Greek. When she writes Greek and Latin, nothing is more beautiful than her hand-writing. She is as much delighted with music as she is skilful in the art. In adornment she is elegant rather than showy, and by her contempt of gold and head-dresses, she reminds one of Hippolyte rather than of Phsedra. She read with me almost all Cicero, and great part of Titus Livius ; for she drew all her knowledge of Latin from those two authors. She used to give the morning of the day to the Greek Testament, and after- wards read select orations of Isocrates and the tragedies of Sophocles. For I thought that from those sources she might gain purity of style, and her mind derive instruc- tion that would be of value to her to meet every contin- gency of life. To these I added Saint Cyprian and Melanchthon's Common Places, &c., as best suited, after Ixiv LIFE OF ASCHAM. the Holy Scriptures, to teach her the foundations of religion, together with elegant language and sound doctrine. Whatever she reads she at once perceives any word that has a doubtful or curious meaning. She cannot endure those foolish imitators of Erasmus, who have tied up the Latin tongue in those wretched fetters of proverbs. She likes a style that grows out of the subject ; chaste because it is suitable, and beautiful because it is clear. She very much admires modest metaphors, and com- parisons of contraries well put together and contrasting felicitously with one another. Her ears are so well practised in discriminating all these things, and her judgment is so good, that in all Greek, Latin, and English composition, there is nothing so loose on the one hand or so concise on the other, which she does not immediately attend to, and either reject with disgust or receive with pleasure, as the case may be. I am not inventing anything, my dear Sturm ; it is all true : ut I only seek to give you an outline of her excellence, and whilst doing so, I have been pleased to recal to my mind the dear memory of my most illustrious lady St John's College, Cambridge, April 4, 1550. CHAPTER II. ASCHAM's sojourn in GERMANY, AND AFTERWARDS AT THE COURT OF QUEEN MARY. In the preceding pages have been related the early life of Ascham^ his studies at the University of Cambridge, and his short residence at Cheshunt, where he was tutor to the Princess Elizabeth. These events brought him to the thirty-fourth year of his age : he had been eighteen years at Cambridge, and now, after spending nearly two years with the Princess, he returned to the Uni- versity in the month of September, it is said, 1549. In the following year he went to see his friends in Yorkshire, and whilst he was there, a letter came from Sir John Cheke to say that he had been appointed secretary to accompany Sir Richard Morison, who was going as ambassador from Edward the Sixth to the court of Charles the Fifth of Germany. On his way to London he paid that memorable visit to Lady Jane Gray, at Broadgate in Leicestershire, when he found her reading the Phsedo in Greek, as he has related in some of his letters, and more fully in his School- master.* Ascham was now to give up for ever * See vol. iii, pp. 117-118. Ixvi LIFE OF ASCHAM. ^^the pleasant tallc*^ of his old friends at the University where he had spent such a " sweet time/^"^ and to plunge into the politics of the world, for which he had been long hankering. On the 17th of September, 1550, we find him at the house of Mr William Eland in London, from which he sends a letter (cm) by John Day to his friend Edward Eaven at Cambridge. On the 20th of the same month he tells us (civ) he sat some hours t with Sir John Cheke discoursing about their friends at Cambridge and the discipline of their old College (St John^s) . The next day the ambassador and his followers embarked at Bil- lingsgate, and landing again at Gravesend, after visiting the Archbishop of Canterbury, who escorted them on horseback to Dover, they crossed to Calais, and passing through Gravelines, Dun- kirk, Nieuport, Bruges, and Calf, arrived on the 30th at Antwerp, where they rested three days. On October the 3rd they left for Mechlin ; reached Brussels the next day, and proceeded to Louvain on the 6th. Thence they went through Tirlemont, Tongres, Maestricht, and Jiilic, to Cologne, where they arrived on October the 11th. The rest of their route lay through the following towns, to the names of which are added the days of the month on which they started for each place : — Bonn (by water) Oct. 13, Bronsic 14, Coblentz 15, * Schoolmaster, p. 249. t Does the phrase a meridie usque ad nonam horam mean rom noon till three o'clock, or till nine o'clock? LIFE OF ASCHAM. Ixvii Witchley 16, Binga 17, Mayence 18, Worms 19, Spires 20, Bretten (on horseback) 21, Esslingen oa the Nekker 23, Gieslingen 24, Ulm 25, Gamsbroug 27, Augsburg 28. Sir Richard Morison perhaps made Augsburg his head -quarters, for Ascham^s letters are all dated from that town until November 17th, 1551, on which day he writes to Bav^en and Ireland from Halle in the Tyrol. On November 18th, 1551, he writes from Inspruck, which town he left in a hurry* on May 19th of the next year, though it would appear that he did not stay there the whole of the intervening time ; for he writes on the 29th of January again from Halse Tirolensium.^^ During the year 1552 he writes from Halle, from Villach in Carinthia, and from Spires. On the 6th of March, 1553, he writes from Brussels, where he probably remained until the death of Edward VI on the 6th of July put an end to his foreign travels. On the 7th of July he wrote long letters to his friends Cecil and Cheke about Roman coins and other matters, being ignorant of the event which had happened the day before, and which would cause another change in his life and fortunes. In the course of his travels, Ascham visited many towns of Germany, made observations on all that seemed worthy of his attention, and con- tracted an acquaintance with many men of letters* He went to Strasbourg to see his friend Sturm, * See vol. iii, p. 10. Ixviii LIFE OF ASCHAM. the Master of the Grammar School, who had already for four years been his correspondent; but Sturm was not at home, and these two illus- trious and learned friends never saw one another. During the course of his embassy, Ascham read some pages of Herodotus with Sir Richard Morison every morning four days in the week, and more than two hundred verses of Sophocles or Euripides every afternoon. He also read some orations of Demosthenes with him. On the other days he wrote the letters of business, and every night filled up his diary, digested his remarks on what he had seen, and wrote private letters to his friends in England, and particularly to his old companions at St John^s College, whom he con- tinually exhorted to perseverance in study. Dr J ohnson thinks that Amidst all the pleasures of novelty which his travels supplied, and in the dignity of his public station, he preferred the tranquillity of private study, and the quiet of academical retirement.^^ The reasonableness of this choice has no doubt been often disputed, and, in the contrariety of human interests and disposi- tions, the controversy will not easily be decided : but I have been led to infer from the tenour of Ascham^s letters that he was desirous, not of re- turning into private life, but of remaining at the Court, and getting as much as he could from the munificence of his sovereign and his friends to enable him to live there in a liberal and creditable style. LIFE OF ASCHAM, Ixix It was perhaps during his stay at Augsburg that Ascham visited Italy, and he mentions the vices of Venice with great severity in his School- master."^ He was desirous of seeing Trent, where the Council of the Church was then sitting, but the scantiness of his purse prevented him. He wrote his Report of Germany probably from Spires, where he was in October, 1552. In that work he describes the dispositions and interests of the German princes like a man who is inquisitive and judicious, and he relates many particulars which are lost in the mass of general history, and that too in a style which to the ears of that age was undoubtedly mellifluous, and which is still valuable as an early specimen of genuine English. In the latter part of Ascham^s life, he writes more frequently in his native tongue. The age in fact was progressing, and many of his letters written in English at this time have been pre- served which it is not necessary to introduce into this biographical sketch. A few extracts, however, may be translated from his Latin letters, written during his stay abroad, and quoted in this place, as containing incidents which help to describe his life and character. The reader will find no difiiculty in perusing the other English letters, in the order of their dates, as they occur in the series. * See vol. iii, p. 164. Ixx LIFE OF ASCHAM* LETTEE ex.— To Sturm. [Augsburg] Dec. 14, 1550. Your two letters, my good John Sturm, dated Sept. 5 and Nov. 18, were delivered to me by our friend Chris- topher Mount. I read them again and again with the greatest pleasure, and never leave off reading them with- out feeling a great increase of that pleasure You wish that both your letter and mine should be given to the world, to be a lasting token of our love for one another : and you do not wish this more than I do, though this is what I cannot ask from any one without impudence, or from you without suspicion of impru- dence. But you embolden me to say, that unless you wish otherwise, and if the letters are not already given to the printer, I should wish them to occupy some page that would otherwise be blank in your Aristotelian Dialogues — but it is foolish of me to ask this; you know best what to do The natural gifts of our young prince are quite equal to his high fortune, and both are exceeded by his virtue, or rather I should say as a Christian man, by the mani- fold grace of God ; for he is marvellous beyond his years in love of learning, zeal for true religion, in rectitude of will, in judgment and in perseverance. In nothing do 1 think him more fortunate than in having John Cheke as the teacher of his youthful years. He understands, speaks, and writes Latin with propriety, accurately and readily, and does all three with judgment If I had more time, I would write to you more fully about His Majesty, and of my own illustrious mistress the Lady Elizabeth, as also of the noble daughters of the Duke of Somerset : but I must not omit two English ladies in particular, nor must you omit them, my dear LIFE OF ASCHAM. Ixxi Sturm, if you have any thought of doing honour to your friends in EngUind, which would give me the greatest pleasure if you would do it. One of them is the Lady Jane Gray, the daughter of the most noble Marquis of Dorset, grand -daughter to Mary, Queen of France, and therefore of kin to our King Edward. She is fifteen years old. I was very intimate with her at Court, and she wrote me very learned letters. This last summer, when I visited my friends in Yorkshire, and was fetched away to the Court by a letter from John Cheke, I turned out of my road to Leicester, where Jane Gray was living with her father. I was immediately admitted into her chamber, and found the noble damsel — Oh, ye gods ! — reading Plato's Phsedo in Greek, and so thoroughly understanding it that she caused me the greatest astonishment The other lady is Mildred Cecil, who understands and talks Greek as well as English; so that I am doubtful whether she is the more to be envied for her surpassing knowledge, or for having the noble Antony Cook for her father and teacher, the associate of John Cheke in instructing our young king, or again for having married William Cecil, a young man it is true, but possessed of such prudence beyond his years, such learning, and such moderation, that the voice of all men ascribes to him the possession of all those four excellencies which Thucydides says were blended in the Athenian Pericles LETTEE CXL— To Maetin Bucer. Augsburg, Jan. 1, 1551. .... I hope soon to write you a longer letter : if I have an opportunity, my will shall not be wanting. I must entreat you, my good teacher, more strongly than Ixxii LIFE OF ASCHAM, before, to take some care for me your absent son. You remember how I went to see you on your first coming to England, when you lived at Lambeth. I told you then how badly I was treated, not by my Lady Elizabeth, but by some of her household ; and I asked you to endeavour by letter to replace me in my lady's favour, which had been somewhat alienated from me, not through ray own fault, as God is my witness, but by the wicked agency of others. Before my departure from England, I went and saw my most illustrious mistress : she received me kindly, and still more kindly blamed me, because I wished to leave her in such a way, and took no pains, by using the intervention of a third party, to regain her favour. I ask of you, my good sir, by the bond of our friendship, to write to my illustrious mistress and tell her how desirous I am that you should do this for me ; as indeed I think you would have done before, if ill health had not prevented you. I am fortified, my dear Bucer, by my own conscience, as regards all I said or did when I was at her Court ; and, if shame did not restrain me, I would tell you what advantages my illus- trious mistress got from me. If you will do this kind act for me, now that I am absent, it will be most accept- able both to me and my friends. You know I asked you before at Lambeth to do this for me : let me hear, now that I am at Augsburg, with what success I am again asking of you the same favour. The office of peace- maker is most fit for those who are fashioned after the likeness of Christ himself. If the current of ray illus- trious raistress's favour again sets in towards me, I shall refer it all to your kind mediation : and I shall soon hear what you are able to do for me in this business Farewell St George's Monastery, Augsburg, the day after the Epiphany. LIFE OF ASCHAM. Ixxiii LETTER CXIIl.— To Sm John Cheke. Augsburg, Jan. 14, 1551. I wish indeed to write to you often and at great length ; but I have a wise and good reason for not doing so : the most important affairs, which go on here, are written down either in my lord the ambassador's private letters to you, or in his public letters to the king's council. If I were to write the same in my letters, I should both betray my trust, and spend my time on a task that would do no one good but myself, and give you much trouble ; whereas if I told you about other trifling things which are talked about in the streets, and can never be traced to any other source than falsehood, I should seem to have a very low opinion of your dignity, your prudence, or your judgment. Besides which I have very little leisure, and should not be able to do it, even if I had the greatest wish in the world. For my lord the ambassador, when- ever he is free from his public duties, takes long journeys daily into the regions of Greek literature, and never puts up at any inn or turns off to any resting-place. He is already beginning to traverse the whole domain, and I hope will soon do it with speed, so as to think nothing of surpassing other Englishmen in this course, unless he overtakes you the celestials, as I think he will soon do, however much you may do to prevent it. This is my way of spending my time : I either study, or read with my lord, or copy the letters which my lord writes to England : I rarely go into the city, but seek all my pleasure from my duties at home. In every service which T can render to my lord (and I hope he does not exact of me what I cannot render), I will show hard work, diligence, and reverence, with the utmost good will, loyalty, and per- severance 6 Ixxiv LIFE OF ASCHAM. In tlie Greek language I am diligent, and I also am somebody in Italian, but in Latin I am nobody ; for I have very little practice in reading, less in speaking it, and least of all in writing it. I should like much to visit Italy for a few months. As I wrote to you in former letters, you would yourself especially get much advantage from my taking such a journey. 'Fox if I were free from all the cares of business, and could take note of times and places, men and things, there would be no movement in the state, in religion, in the progress of learning, in public morals, events, public counsels, or secret plots, which I would not do my best to fish out, and give you a full account of. If you would aid in getting for me the means of doing this,, it would be doubly grateful to me at this present time, when I am so far away from you all, and one word from you would secure for me what I ask, I am not so severe upon myself as not to know what I am capable of, and what others are not capable of, who have nevertheless had valuable prsebends given to them. The headship of the king^s libraiy, as you know, is granted to me. If some other advantage does not com- pensate me for this loss which I have suffered, I must deplore my atycJiia : other persons cannot excuse their adikia, unless it must be set down as no crime for one man to circumvent another LETTER CXIV.-~To Lady Jane Gray. Augsburg, Jan. 18, 1551. Most illustrious lady, — In this long travel of mine, I have passed over wide tracts of country, and seen the largest cities, I have studied the customs, institutes, laws, and religion of many men and divers nations, with as much diligence as I was able : but in all this variety of subjects, nothing has caused in me so much wonder as LIFE OF ASCHAM. Ixxv my having fallen upon you last summer, a maiden of noble birth, and that too in the absence of your tutor, in the hall of your most noble family, and at a time when others, both men and women, give themselves up to hunting and pleasures, you, a divine maiden, reading carefully in Greek the Ph^do of the divine Plato ; and happier in being so occupied than because you derive your birth, both on your father's side, and on your mother's, from kings and queens ! Go on then, most accomplished maiden, to bring honour on your country, happiness on your parents, glory to yourself, credit to your tutor, congratulation to all your friends, and the greatest admiration to all strangers ! O happy Elmar in having such a pupil, and happier still you, in having such a tutor I ask two things of you, my dear Elmar, for I suppose you will read this letter, that you will persuade the Lady Jane to write me a letter in Greek as soon as possible ; for she promised she would do so I have also lately written to John Sturm, and told him that she had promised. Take care that I get a letter soon from her as well as from you. It is a long way for letters to come, but John Hales will be a most convenient letter-carrier and bring them safely. .... About the news of this place, I know not what to write : letters that contained none would be worthless, and yet, as Cicero complains of his own times, " no letter of any weight or importance could find its way to you without being lightened on the road by being read." Salute, I pray you, my kinswoman Mary Latin, and my wife* Alice, whose words I am more apt to remember than happy in following. Salute also the noble young * TJxorem meam. — I cannot understand this allusion. Ixxvi LIFE OF ASCHAM. Garret and James Haddon. Farewell, most illustrious lady, in Christ. Augsburg, Jan. 18, 1551. LETTER CXVIII.— Brandesby to Ascham. Louvain, Feb. 8, 1551. From the highest hope I have fallen, my learned and kind friend Ascham, into the lowest despair of seeing you ; and this is the more to be lamented because I was so near to succeeding in my purpose. For when I heard at Brussels that his lordship the ambassador, Richard Morison, had landed at Antwerp, I at once determined to go and see you and him as soon as possible. I proceeded therefore without delay to Antwerp, and went to bed tired with the journey. The next day, Saturday, at twelve o'clock, I inquired after the ambassador, and heard that he was gone on with his retinue to Brussels on his way to Louvain. I here thought I should have a great deal of time to spare, but, not to lose my chance of seeing you, I came back on Monday to Louvain, hoping to be able to show my dutiful respect to the ambassador, and all usual hospitality to you at my own house. On the road I met George Gilpin,* the secretary, together with our own lady, at the first mile-stone out of Louvain. He told me you had not stopped at Louvain, and, though I could not believe it at first, yet I found it to be true. LETTER CXXXY.— To Sturm. HaUe, Jan. 29, 1552. I have long and eagerly been expecting a letter from you, my most accomplished friend Sturm, and it is now become absolutely necessary to me. Some friends write me word from England that Peter Ramus has written something against our letters which you published at * The names Gipkin and Gilpin occur in some of the Latin letters : they are probably the same. LIFE OF ASCHAM. Ixxvii Strasbourg. Tou know the opinion I wrote to you in a former letter about his learning and talent. I thought he was crushing certain foolish followers of Aristotle rather than refuting Aristotle himself. .... You perhaps have heard from Mr Hales that I am somebody with my bow and arrows, and also that I am not a very tall man. Why then should I not, like Teucer, hide under the shield of Sturm, and so ward off the blows of Kamus, or at least despise them ? Tou can easily find some convenient place in your Nidrusian discourse, and, in three words, refute his insolence and vindicate me, whereas I have never intentionally written one word to attack Eamus publicly LETTEH CXLII.— To the Same. Spires, Oct. 20, 1552. I cannot tell you, my most accomplished John Sturm, but you can yourself suppose, with what eagerness I went to Strasbourg to see, and with what sorrow I heard that you were not there. I have travelled with the greatest pleasure over great part of Germany and some part of Italy, but I looked forward to nothing with so much pleasure in all my travels as to visit Strasbourg, and , see there my friend Sturm in his Nidrusian, I looked forward to a long talk with you about the various things that have happened in these days at the Court of Caesar, the true as well as the false rumours that have been spread abroad. For ever since the flight from Tnnspruck up to this day, I have kept a record of all that has passed. You would have laughed to hear me tell, how we were much more frightened on the second of July than we had been at Innspruck on the 19th of May, and took to flight, all of us alarmed, and some of us dispersed in all direc- tions. Surely it must have been Pan himself, or some Ixxviii LIFE OF ASCHAM. nymph from the Alps, that caused our flight by the false reports brought about the Turks, and suspicions of the Venetians. LETTER CL.— To Sir John Cheke. Brussels, July, 7, 1553. It was most welcome news to me, my most accom- plished friend, that you had been chosen into the king's council. But seeing that this dignity was long due, by the consent of all, to your learning, prudence, and integ- rity, I do not so much congratulate you, as those who, b}^ electing you, showed prudence even greater than your good fortune in rising to this height of dignity. I con- gratulate all the British nation, but first and mostly our good prince for having you formerly as the preceptor of his boyhood, and now the prudent and faithful counsellor of his youth I wrote to you last month by the man-servant of Lord Chamberlaine : I rejoice if the letter has reached you on account of two old coins which I enclosed in it, one of Caius Caesar, the other of Publius Clodius. The letter you last wrote to me, was delivered to me last year at Augsbourg : it was welcome, but gave me less pleasure than your other letters. It savoured indeed of affection, but I thought it somewhat pungent, and it left a sting behind it for some time. I think the cause of this was my custom of always weighing your words and meaning, and of always being anxious about your opinion of me. However the scruples, which a false alarm had caused, have been removed by my better judgment, and I have been unwilling to set up a hastily formed opinion before your long tried benevolence. You will forgive my fears, and ascribe the freedom, with which I now tell them, to your kindness which encourages me to do so LIFE OF ASCHAM. Ixxix I am now in the habit of writing in the English tongue. ... * There was a time when I could have given a tolerable polish to these subjects even in Latin ; but the stream of pure diction, drawn from those springs which you opened so plentifully to me and others, is now dried up : the whetstone of your learning and teaching once sharpened my style, but it is now blunted, in this desperate state of my fortune — but it is not my fortune that I meant to complain of, but yours, about which I was congratulating you. I will do this more fully when I get home and see you. We are hoping every day to return to England. I hope you will try to quicken the time of onr doing so. By the death of King Edward^ in 1553^ the reformation was stopped^ Morison was recalled^ and Ascham^s pension and hopes were at an end. He therefore retired to his fellowship in a state of disappointment and despair^ which his biographer has endeavoured to express in the deepest strain of plaintive declamation. He was deprived of all his support/^ says Grants " stripped of his pen- sion^ and cut off from the assistance of his friends, who had now lost their influence ; so that he had nec prcemia nec prcBdia, neither pension nor estate, to support him at Cambridge.^^ There is no credit due to a rhetorician^s account either of good or evil. The truth is, that Ascham still had in his Fellowship and his Public Oratorship, which he kept until June, 1554, all that in the early part of his life had given him plenty, and might have lived like the other inhabitants of the college, with the advantage of more knowledge and higher Ixxx LIFE OF ASCHAM. reputation. But notwithstanding his love of academical retirement, he had now too long enjoyed the pleasures and festivities of public life, V to return with a good will to academical poverty. He had however better fortune than he expected, and, if he lamented his condition like his historian, better than he deserved.^ Though he had never acted as secretary to Edward VI, he had obtained this appointment by the influence of his friends, whilst he was in Germany, f and after his return to England he procured, by the intervention of Gardiner and Sir William Paget, the same office at the court of Queen Mary, with a salary of forty J marks. About the same time his pensioE was renewed, and increased to .3620 a year, in consequence of an ingenious device by which a blank was left in the patent, for which the word ten was too short. This device is humorously related in some of his English letters. § Sir William Petre also procured for him from Queen Mary the lease of a farm at Walthamstow, Essex, called Salisbury Hall, at the low rent of £20 a year. [| * Dr Johnson's Life, p. 18, t See yol. iii, p. 331. % " Regina omnibus, ad quos &c., salutem — Sciatis quod nos, de fidelitate Concessimus servienii nostro pro lingua Latina — cum feodo quadraginta marcarum. T[este] R[egina3 apud Westm. YII. 7 Mar. 1554."— Eymee, xt, 388. § See Letter clxx, yol. i, part 2, p. 412. See also Lxxxyii, vol. ii, p. 152. II " Salisbury Hall was the farm at Walthamstow. It took its name from Margaret Plantagenet, Countess of Salisbury. Queen Mary granted it to Sir Thomas White. In 1590 Elizabeth \ LIFE OF ASCHAM. Ixxxi Soon after his admission to his new employ- ment, he gave an extraordinary specimen of his abilities and diligence^ by composing and trans- cribing with his usual elegance, in three days, forty-seven letters to princes and personages, of whom cardinals were the lowest.^ How Ascham, who was known to be a Protes- tant, could preserve the favour of Gardiner, and hold a place of honour and profit in Queen Mary^s court, it must be very natural to inquire. Cheke, as is well known, was compelled f to a recantation ; and why Ascham was spared, cannot be discovered. Grant, at a time when the transactions of Queen Mary^s reign must have been well remembered, declares, that Ascham always made open profession of the reformed religion, and that Sir Francis Englefield and others often endeavoured to incite Gardiner against him, but found their accusa- tions rejected with contempt : yet he allows, that suspicions and charges of temporizing and com- pliance had somewhat sullied his reputation. The author of the Biographia Britannica conjectures that he owed his safety to his innocence and usefulness ; that it would have been unpopular to attack a man so little liable to censure, and that the loss of his pen could not have been easily supplied. But the truth is, that morality was never suffered in the days of persecution to granted it to E. Symons (Morant's Essex, I, ii, pp. 35, 36).'*— Mayer in Archseol., &c., p. 120. See Letter XXYII, vol. ii, p. 47. * Grant, Oratio. See vol. iii, p. 332. t See his Letter to Queen Mary, vol. i, p. 448. Ixxxii LIFE OF ASCHAM. protect heresy ; nor are we sure that Ascham was more clear from common failings than those who suffered more ; and whatever might be his abilities, they were not so necessary but that Gardiner could have easily filled his place with another secretary. Nothing is more vain^ than at a distant time to examine the motives of discrimination and par- tiality ; for the inquirer^ having considered interest and policy^ is obliged to omit more frequent and more active motives of human conduct^ caprice, accident, and private affection. At that time, if some were punished, many were forborne ; and of many why should not Ascham happen to be one ? He seems to have been calm and prudent, and content with that peace which he was suffered to enjoy; a mode of behaviour that seldom fails to produce security. He had been abroad in the last years of King Edward, and had at least given no recent offence. He was certainly, according to his own opinion, not much in danger ; for in the next year he resigned his fellowship, which by Gardiner's favour he had continued to hold, though not resident; and married Margaret Howe, a young gentlewoman of a good family. This marriage seems to have added much to his domestic comfort, though little to his worldly estate; if we may judge from some letters which show that he got into some trouble through his wife's family. He was distinguished in this reigu by the notice of Cardinal Pole, a man of great candour, learning. LIFE OF ASCHAM. Ixxxiii and gentleness of manners^ and particularly emi- nent for his skill in Latin. He thought so highly of Ascham^s style^ that when he was desirous of communicating a speech made by himself as legate, in Parliament, to the Pope, he employed Ascham to translate it. Ascham is said to have been not only protected by the officers of state, but favoured and coun- tenanced by the queen herself, and in fact he seems to have been as much a favourite at court, as if he had been one of the staunchest of Catholics. It may be observed of this part of his life that he never once alludes in any of his letters to the fate of Lady Jane Grey, or the other dreadful crimes which stain this part of our history. His patroness died on the 17th of Nov. 1558, and Ascham^s services were transferred to a new mistress. A few extracts translated from his Latin letters during the reign of Mary, will be enough for our present purpose. LETTER CLVIIL— To Bishop Gakdiner. Oct. 8, 1553. I doubt not that our illustrious queen will confirm to me the pension which Henry VIII liberally granted, and Edward VI kindly continued to me. I have therefore had letters patent written out for me, that by your influence and authority the queen may be led to set her hand and seal to them in the usual way. Ixxxiv LIFE OF ASCHAM. LETTER CLXYI.— To Lady Claeke. London, Jan. 12, 1554. Your remarkable love of virtue and zeal for learning, most illustrious lady, joined with such talents and per- severance, are worthy of great praise in themselves, and greater still because you are a woman, but greatest of all because you are a lady of the court ; where there are many other occupations for ladies, besides learning, and many other pleasures besides the practice of the virtues. This double praise is further enhanced by the two pat- terns that you have proposed to yourself to follow, the one furnished you by the court, the other by your family. I mean our illustrious queen Mary, and your noble grand- father, Thomas Moore — a man whose virtues go to raise England above all other nations I am led to write thus not altogether by my admiration of you, but partly by my own wish and more from the nature of my own office. It was I who was invited some years ago from the University of Cambridge by your mother, Margaret Eoper — a lady worthy of her great father, and of you her daughter — to the house of your kinsman. Lord Giles Alington, to teach you and her other children the Greek and Latin tongues ; but at that time no offers could induce me to leave the University. It is sweet to me to bear in mind this request of your mother's, and I now not only remind you thereof, but would offer you, now that I am at court, if not to fulfil her wishes, yet to do my best to fulfil them, were it not that you have so much learning in yourself, and also the aid of those two learned men, Cole and Christopherson, so that you need no help from me, unless in their absence you make use of my assistance, and if you like, abuse it. I write thus not because of any talents I possess (for LIFE OF ASCHAM. Ixxxv I know they are very small), but because of my will (whicli I know is very great), and because of the oppor- tunity long wished for and now granted me. For by favour of that great bishop the Lord Stephen of Win- chester, I have been fetched away from the University to serve our illustrious queen at court, and that too in such a post, that 1 can there follow the same mode of life for the discharge of my duties as I did at the University for study. My office is to write Latin letters for the queen, and I hope I shall fulfil that office, if not with ability, yet faithfully, diligently, and unblameably Fare- well, most accomplished lady! Jan. 15, 1554. LETTER CLXXXVIII.— To Sir W. Petre. [April 7, 1554.]* .... I have nothing to write about myself, save that all my hopes, rest on your bounty and that I have offered this book [OsORius de Noh, civ, Christ.^ to you, not as an important claimant, but as a modest pleader for me and my concerns. If now therefore, either from the judg- ment of the Bishop of Winchester, Lord Paget, and Lord Cecil, about me, or from any specimen of my talents taken out of my private letters to you, or those which I wrote for the queen's majesty, you think me not unfit to undertake this office of writing letters, I will willingly keep myself wholly at your disposal to meet every opportunity that shall offer. But if you think otherwise, I shall deem it a favour if you let me know, in order that I may not cherish hope and waste my time here, and become heavier in debt every day, and a greater * See the short abstract of this letter in vol. 1, p. 436. The chronology is doubtful. In CLXVI he speaks of his having been appointed Latin Secretary, and here he seems to be still in expectation of it. Ixxxvi LIFE OF ASCHAM. burden upon my friends. For how can I keep up, I will not say a court, but even a city life, a whole year on twenty pounds, when, living closely and sparingly I have spent forty within the last five months ? LETTEE CXCI.— To Sturm. Greenwich, Sept. 14, 1555. My not having written to you for the long space of two years, illustrious John Sturm, shows no want of will, no forgetfulness of you, nor neglect of my duty towards you. I have had plenty to write about, and also the means of sending a letter. It was not the derangements of public matters but of my own private affairs, that have been the hindrance. I speak of my marriage, of which you have heard, and which a turbulent fellow* tried with all his might to prevent : but he was beaten by the judgment of the law and the justice of my cause : every thing was duly cleared up and settled to my satisfaction. I will therefore now make amends by frequent letters for the long time that has passed without any All that the former kings, Henry and Edward, be- stowed upon me, has been restored and doubled. I have been made secretary for the Latin tongue to the kingf and queen ; and I would not change it, so help me Christ, for any other way of life that could be offered me. Stephen, Bishop of Winchester, Lord High Chancellor of England, has patronized me with the greatest kindness and favour, so that I cannot easily determine whether Paget was more ready to recommend me, or Winchester to protect and exalt me. There have not been wanting * See Letter clxii, vol. i, p. 321. Was that young lady the same who afterwards became Ascham's wife ? t Philip of Spain, to whom Queen Mary was married, Oct. 16, 1554. LIFE OF ASCHAM. IxXXvii some* who have endeavoured to hinder the flow of his benevolence towards me on account of my religion, but they have not succeeded. I owe much therefore to the kindness of Winchester, and I willingly owe it. Not only I, but many others, have felt his humane consideration. I have often been meditating to speak to him of your great analytical work. I know he favours literary study, and I promise myself much from his bounty. If you wish it and will tell me what you think about it, I will try what I can do, and I hope shall succeed. There will be nothing inconvenient in that, at least in my opinion. You wish to know about my wife, in face she is like her aunt, the wife of Sir R. Walop. She is just such a wife as John Sturm would desire for his friend, Eoger Ascham : her name is Margaret ; our wedding day was the 1st of June, 1554, if there be anything lucky in that name or in that day. If you wish to know what I do at court, let me tell you that I never enjoyed more desirable leisure at the University than I do here. The Lady Elizabeth and I read together in Greek the orations of jSiSchines and Demosthenes on the Crown. She reads it first to me, and at first sight understands everything, not only the peculiarity of the language and the meaning of the orator, but all the struggles of that contest, the decrees of the people, the customs and manners of the city, in a way to strike you with astonishment If you have nothing else to write about, tell me what has been the course of your studies and of your writings during the last two years. I often think about the Epithalamium which you are going to send to England, * " Qui de Anglico campo nomen habet," that is Englefield, see vol. ii, p. 129, and vol. iii, p. 333. Ixxxviii LIFE OF ASCHAM. and I am eagerly expecting to see it, dressed in a suitable garb, whether it be the Koman toga, the Attic mantle, or the Doric stole. To conclude, I greet you well, and my wife greets yours. Farewell, and write back. Greenwich, Sept. 14, 1555. CHAPTER IIL ASCHAM's llESIDENCE AT THE COURT OF ELIZABETH FROM 1559 TILL HIS DEATH IN 1568. The third part of Roger Aschara^s life^ spent at the court of Elizabeth^ is of less interest to us than the other parts^ which contain his literary career at Cambridge and his foreign travels. But it is his connection with the greatest of English queens that has most of all brought his name down to the knowledge of the present times ; and those^ who are unable to discriminate the merits of his early English style, can appreciate fully the position in which he was placed of private secre- tary to a queen who interfered so largely with the practical government of her kingdom. Ascham^s marriage, and departure from Cam- bridge, of course deprived him of his fellowship and of other emoluments which he had enjoyed at the University. Unless therefore he could make up an income by his interest at court, he was in a worse condition than before. This may be an excuse for the numerous and clamorous letters which occur at this time in his correspondence. However this may be, he was continued in his secretaryship, and still received his pension, to 7 xc LIFE OP ASCII AM. which Queen Elizabeth^ in the first year of her reign^ added a grant of the prebend or canonry of Wetwang^^ in the church of York^ and he was admitted thereto on the 11th of March^, 1560, This gift was not wholly void of trouble to Ascham ; the Atchbishop of York presented it to another^ and it was a long time before Ascham * " Eogenis Ascham habet Iiteras Reginse Eliz. de prses. ad canonicatum et prsebendam de Wetwang in eccl. cath. Ebor, T[este] K[egina] apud Westm, 9 Octob. reg, 1, Rymee, 2v, 551s "Wetwang [Prebend] takes its nam© from Wetwang parisliy in B across Deanery, the Impropriation and Advowson of which this Prebendary has, and also the Advowsons of the Vicaridges of Fridaythorpe, Elanghton, and Kirkby-upon- Wharf, rated all together for Eirst-fruits, £82 ll^. 3d. Though it was leased by Archbishop Sandys, his son, to hi-s family, who still [17273 retain it, being Anno 1693 renewed, at £86 per ann. to Henry Sandys, Esq., of Down in Kent, — Erowne Willises Cathedrals, I, p. 174. Among the prebendaries are named 'Eoger de- Askham, March 11, 1559, on the Deprivation of Palmes j Robert Dudley, Jan. 28, 1568, on the death of Askham, on th& Presentation of Dudley, Earl of Leicester, for this turn ; Edwin Sandys, on the Deprivation of Robert Dudley, Marah 17, 1581* lie was son to Archbishop Sandys, and made a lea&e to his family of this prebend yet in being.' " — Ibid. p. 176. In Baker's MSS, vol. xxxiT, p. 203, is a dispensation granted by Whitgift to James Evelegh, a layman, to hold this same prebend of Wetwang (A.D. 1601-2). Cromwell was Dean of Wells ; Cecil, in Edward's days, Rector of Wimbledon. Eliza- beth, when princess, begged for a parsonage for her yeoman of the robes (see Parry to Cecil, Sept. 22, 1550, in Ty tier's Eng- land under Edw. YI and Mary, i, 322). In a MS. volume (Dd. 9, 16, Art. 1) in Cambridge University Library, is an anonj mous treatise upon the question, " How far forth such alienations may be adjudged valid in fora interno.^^ — Mayek. LIFE OF ASCHAM. xci fully enjoyed his prebend, by the interference of the queen, and not without a suit at law. But Ascham was something of a pluralist ; he now had a pension of £20 a year: his Latin secretaryship brought him in forty marks; he held the lease of Salisbury Hall at Walthamstow, for which he paid the queen the yearly sum of £20, not too much rent, we may be sure, for its value, and on the death of Mrs. Howe, his mother- in-law, which happened between 1561 and 1566, he became possessed, although not in holy orders, of the little parsonage of Wicklyfourd, for which he paid to the queen £20 a year. In a letter, moreover, which he writes to the Master and Fellows of St. John (vol. ii, xl, p. 74), he solicits them, in consideration of his former fellowship and residence among them, to grant him a lease of a farm at Bromehall, near Windsor, belonging to their fraternity ; but it does not appear whether they granted what he asked. Whatever may have been his whole income from these sources, he was obliged, it seems, to mortgage his farm at Wal- thamstow to Antony Hussey,t for an hundred pounds, and afterwards, was on the point of selling his lease of Wicklyfourd parsonage J to Henry Colton, to pay a debt to Queen Elizabeth, but the ^ Her husband died in 1559. See Letter xxvii, vol. ii. t See Ascham's letter (vol. ii, xxvii, p. 46) to Sir William Cecil. X See Ascham's letter (vol. ii, ixxxvi, p. 148) to Sir William Cecil. xcii LIFE OF ASCHAM. queen saved the parsonage by forgiving him the debt. It is difficult for us to say whether Ascham^s fortune was proportionate to his rank or to the favour in which he stood with the queen his mistress. Elizabeth was not naturally bountiful, but seemed to combine the prudent parsimony of her grandfather, Henry VII, with the haughty temper of her father. She may not have thought it needful to reward too largely a man who had left her service so hastily ten years ago, and whom she might still suspect of serving her rather from interest than affection. Grant exerts his rhetori- cal powers in praise of Ascham^s disinterestedness and contempt of money ; and declares, that though he was often reproached by his friends with neglect of his own interest, he never would ask any thing, and inflexibly refused all presents ^ which his office or imagined interest induced any to offer to him. Camden, however, imputes the narrowness of his condition to his love of dice and cock-fighting ; and Grant, forgetting himself, allows that Ascham was sometimes thrown into agonies by disappointed expectations. It has been questioned whether Ascham was really addicted to cock-fighting; but the following passage in his Schoolmaster, seems to be a sufficient evidence of his attachment to that diversion : But of all kinds of pastimes fit ^ Facts do not seem to bear out his statement (vol. iii, p. 337, last line), " Sed ab iilo semper prius dabantur quam ab illo petebantur." LIFE OF ASCHAM. xciii for a gentleman/^ &c. It cannot reasonably be supposed that Ascham would have thought of writing on this subject^ if he had not been ad- dicted to cock-fighting, and it is perhaps a cir- cumstance favourable to his memory that he did not execute his intended work. With regard to the other part of the charge, viz. the love of dice ; if the testimony of his own works can be admitted as evidence, nothing was ever more unjust or unfounded : Indeed you may honestly gather that I hate them greatly, in that I speak against them ; not that I have used them greatly in that I speak of them.^^ It would be difficult in the whole compass of English literature, to point out a more lively and forcible picture of the vice of gambling, and of the destructive consequences which an indulgence of it produces, than that which this work exhibits. If there was any foundation for the charge, he must be admitted to have sinned both against knowledge and conviction. The whole tenor of his previous and subsequent life appears, however, to militate in the strongest degree against its probability. Of Ascham^s private life and peculiar tastes, we have as few or as many notices as might be expected. Some readers may like to know that he was fond of roasted chestnuts, and his friend Christopher Mount tells us in a letter dated Dec. 24, 1565, that he often thinks with pleasure on the time when they had met and eaten them xciv LIFE 01? ASCHAM. fourteen years before in Germany^ at the court of Charles the Fifth. Ascham^s ill healthy which was shown by re- peated attacks of fever^ was a sufficient excuse for his applying to the archbishop for a license to eat meat in Lent, but if it was his practice to lose his money at the gambling-table, we may excuse Elizabeth, who knew the domestic character of her servants, if she did not give much to him who was so lavish of a little. In 1563, he was invited by Sir Edward Sackville to write the Schoolmaster, a treatise on education, upon an occasion which he relates in the beginning of that work. This work, though begun with alacrity, in the hopes of a considerable reward, was interrupted by the death of the patron. But • no tokens of weakness or decay are to be found in the work, which is conceived with great vigour, and finished with great accuracy; and perhaps contains the best advice that was ever given for the study of languages. This treatise he completed, but did not publish ; for that poverty which in our days drives authors so hastily in such numbers to the press, in the time of Ascham, I believe, debarred them from it. The printers gave little for a copy, and, if we may believe the tale of HaleigVs history, were not forward to print what was offered them for nothing, Ascham's book therefore lay unseen in his study, and was at last dedicated to Lord Cecil by hm widow. LIFE 0¥ ASCHAM. The letters which have been preserved^ written during the reign of Elizabeth, mostly concern public affairs : some, however, touch on more private topics, and a few extracts may here be inserted to complete this sketch of his life, which is necessarily confined within narrow limits. LETTEl I. — To Chaeles, Duke op Austria, Written in the Queen!' s Name, Jan. 11, 1559. We have read your letter written with your own hand, and delivered to us by the Count of Helfen stein. We clearly gather from it your goocj will towards us, and value it so much that there is no ooe to whom we would sooner respond in every good wish ; but so that our wishes be understood in friendship only, and not to be extended to marriage. For since God, in whose hand are our hearts, has not hitherto turned our thoughts to matrimony, we do not doubt but that guided by the advice of your prudent father, and also by your oww prudence, you will kindly and fairly interpret this our letter. May God preserve your highness for many and happy years ! LETTER XXXIV,~To Sturm. London, Ap. 11, 1562. What means this, my friend Sturm? Our common friend, Michael Toxites — so desirable a letter-carrier — to oome over and not bring me a word from you? Is Cook^ or Hales, or indeed any man in England, more eager to get a letter from you than I am ? But I fancy I hear you say, " What, Ascham ? do you complain of my silence, when you have not written me a line for three years? " Xou speak the truths my deamgt fnmA. Joba xcvi LIFE OE ASCHAM. Stuvm. But my expostulation is not in anger, nor with, the view to rebuke you, but is only put forth insidiously and for a design. I feared you might be the first to find fault, as you had a right to do, and to rebuke me first. But a truce to all this. I will write freely and openly : my silence has not arisen from my own wish, nor from forgetfulness of you, nor neglect of my duty. I cannot plead either want of matter to write about, or of some one to carry my letter. The true cause will call forth from you not anger but pity, for I know you love me. I have had such constant fevers during these last four years, that before one has left me, I have caught another. My strength has been so broken down that my whole body suffers from a continual hectic fever, which the physicians can sometimes perhaps soothe but not cure for good Your last letter to me was dated the 15th of January, 1560: it contained remarks on the affairs in Scotland, and on the queen's marriage ; which led me to give it her to read. She readily discovered and noticed to me your singular regard for her. She highly approved your judgment about affairs in Scotland, and loves you for the interest you take in our welfare. She read over what you say about her marriage three times, as I well remember, and smiled, but from modesty said nothing, I can tell you nothing certain about her marriage, and I am sure no one else here can. .... She has reformed the coinage, and made it all of pure silver instead of base metal, as it used to be, — a thing which Henry VIII and Edward never attempted to do. ^ The whole of Ascham's remarks about Queen Elizabeth are of interestj but we have no room for translating them. LIFE OF ASCHAM. XCVU I was one day present when she spoke in three languages at once to three anabassadors — the French, the Swedish, and the Imperial : she spoke to them in Italian, French, and Latin, not hesitatingly or con- fusedly, but with ease and fluently, in reply to the various things they talked about. That you may see how elegantly she writes, I send you enclosed a piece of paper on which she has written the word qtiemadmodiim with her own hand : the upper one is mine, the lower one the queen's. LETTER XXXYIIL— To Sturm. London, Oct. 20, 1562. .... Eight days ago my wife bore me my third son : I have christened him by the name of Sturm, to keep up the memory of our friendship. I pray God daily that he may bear some likeness to you in learning and virtue as well as in name I have written to you by Henry Knolles, our queen's ambassador to the Princes of Germany : he is a great admirer of yours, and will be able to tell you all the English news. Our queen is very well disposed, and fully prepared to break the tyrannical yoke of the Guises, and to protect the young king and the innocent people, without meaning any harm in any way to that king or to his kingdom. I believe our soldiers enter Normandy to-day ; you will learn this from public report sooner than from my letter. I wish you would write the history of this conspiracy of the Guises * * Letters Lix, Lxxxvi, Lxxxvii, and xcvii, belong to this date : they are in English, and will merit the attention of the reader, as they give us some interesting particulars of Ascham^s family. XCVlll LIFE OF ASCHAM. Ascham never had a robust or vigorous body^ and was obliged to take many hours of diversion from inability to endure a long continuance of sedentary thought. In the latter part of his life he found it necessary to forbear any intense appli- cation of the mind from dinner to bed-time, and rose to read and write early in the morning. He was for some years hectically feverish ; and though he found some alleviation of his distemper, never obtained a perfect recovery of his health. The immediate cause of his last sickness was too close application to the composition of a poem, which he purposed to present to the Queen on the day of her accession. To finish this he forbore to sleep at his accustomed hours, till in December, 1568, he fell sick of a kind of lingering disease, which Grant has not named, nor accurately described* The most afflictive symptom was want of sleep, which he endeavoured to obtain by the motion of a cradle. Growing every day weaker, he found it vain to contend with his distemper, and prepared to die with the resignation and piety of a true Christian. He was attended on his death-bed by Gravet, Vicar of St Sepulchre, and Dr Nowell, the learned Dean of St PauFs, who gave ample testimony to the decency and devotion of his con- cluding life. He frequently testified his desire of that dissolution which he soon obtained. His funeral-sermon was preached by Dr Nowell. Ascham died in the fifty-third year of his age, having enjoyed, perhaps, as long a life as he could LIFE OF ASCHAM. Xcix have expected. So many notices of his being ill occur in his letters that it is to be wondered he lived so long. His letters are the most interesting part of his works, but his English writings are valuable as a specimen of the English language, as it was spoken at a period which has left us few other specimens. There are too many complaints of poverty in Ascham^s letters to allow of our looking upon him as a man of exalted mind. Great men either bear privations bravely, or, engrossed in their own elevated pursuits, are not aware of their existence. It is much to be feared that the real truth of Ascham^s character has still to be discovered. There are contradictions and inconsistencies in most men that it is not easy to reconcile or to account for. Whether Ascham was poor by his own fault or the fault of others, cannot now be decided; but it is certain that many have been rich with less merit. His philological learning would have gained him honour in any country, and among us it may justly call for that reverence which all nations owe to those who first rouse them from ignorance, and kindle among them the light of literature. Of his manners nothing can be said but from his own testimony and that of his contemporaries. Those who mention him allow him many virtues. His courtesy, benevo- lence, and liberality, are celebrated; and of his piety, we have not only the testimony of his friends, but the evidence of his writings. c LIFE OF ASCHAM. Ascham's Latin letters were collected by Grants wlio dedicated them to Queen Elizabeth^ that he might have an opportunity of recommending his son^ Giles Ascham, to her patronage. The young man/^ says Dr Johnson, " was in conse- quence made by the queen^s mandate fellow of a college in Cambridge, where he obtained conside- rable reputation — but the young man^^ seems to have been a worthy scion of the parent tree, if we may judge by the letters published in our third volume, which show plainly that he knew as well as his father how to supplicate for patronage and preferment. VERSES, DEDICATIONS, &c., FROM THE YAEIOUS PRECEDINa EDITIONS. 1. AD ILLUSTRISSIMAM EEGINAM ELIZABETHAM — LIBER DE SE. [Grrant's Epistolss, &c., Londini, 1590, back of title.] Non vaga mordacis metuo convicia vulgi, Non ego euro tuas improba turba minas. Indoctos spemo, rabiosaque murmura Momi, EegiDse satis est posse placere mese. Ilia fuit Domini semper gratissima princeps, Illi semper erit cura benigna mei : Ilia solet grate doctos admittere libros, Ilia solet cupide volvere ssepe libros. Consilio pollet prudens, pia, docta, diserta, Ingenio praestat, prsestat et arte potens ; Judicio insignis, rerum usu, mente, loqnela, Ac prseceptoris grata memorque sui. Principis ast dubito penetralia visere gressu : Quid ? non est clemens Elisabetba suis ? Elisabetha suis decus et tutela Britannis, Clemens clementi suscipit ore libros. Te precor, Elisabeth, grato me suscipe vultUj Protege, volve lubens, sum tuus ecce liber. Turba maligna, vale, fuge tu dignissima morte ; Turba benigna veni ; perlege, disce, vale ! VERSES^ ETC. 2. LIBER DE SUO DOMINO VITA DEFUNCTO. [Ibidem, p. Tiii.] Heu nimium mortis crudelia fata malignse ! Heu nimium triplicia stamina torta dese I Quo tua se rabies tandem jactabit acerba ? O mors, prssstantes quo rapis atra viros ? Sanguineus nullis satiatur cladibus ardor ? Pars irse expletur nulla cruore tuse ? Quid premis insontes telis audacibus artus ? Quid rapis eximios Palladis arte viros? Nil te doctrinoe movit prsestantia rarce, Quique erat in dulci melleus ore lepos ? Heu, Eogere, jaces fulva tumulatus arena ! Jamque lutosa suum terra recepit onus : Et tua jam tristi sunt membra inclusa sepulcbro. Corpus humi recubat, spiritus astra colit. Conscius integree floret super sethera vita?, Inque domos superas carcere liber abit. Nescia mens sceleris, recti et sibi conscia gaudet,. Quae modo corporea compede vincta fuit. 0 tibi quis, K-ogere, fuit pietate secundus ? Floruit aut rerum cognitione pari ? Turpis avaritise rabies, nec inutilis auri Sollicitos sensus extimulavit amor. Divitias et opes didicit contemnere vanas. Quae curis animos exagitare solent. Vivere sorte sua potuit contentus, et areta Sollicite servans fcedera pacta fide, Ignarus fraudis, technseque dolique maligni, Eximia prsestans simplicitate fuit. Par fuit in rebus peragendis semper honestas. Par fuit in sacra relligione fides. VERSES^ ETC. ciii Assidueque puer scripturse verba legebat Sacra animo infigens, lecta tenensque suO'. Adfuit ingeiiii certe admirancla facultas, Et vena pectus uberiore fluens. Tullius eximia mentem dulcedine mulsit^ Et Plato flumineis ora replevit aquis. Magnus Aristoteles concessit munera larga^ Et Demosthenfeos fluxit ubique sonos. Salus Aristophanes perfudit lumine mentem^ Euripidem voluit no€te dieque puer. Et Xenophon linguam condivit seepe loquela^ Herodotus docuit, Thucydidesque simul. Divitis eluxit facundia maxima linguee, Et lepor in multa non minor arte latens, Copia multorum perstrinxit amabilis aures, Tllectos animos in sua vota trahens. Egit et ornate caussas, et dixit acutCj Flumine verborum divite scripta rigansv Dictio dulcis erat verborum lumine splendens^ Est KavrappiyLTj testis aperta satis. Hie capta astantis stupuerunt pectora coetus 2 Mirata est unum doctaqne turba virum, Et vixit clarus fama trans sequora notus^ Delicise multis scripta fuere viris. Sturmius, Osorius, Toxites, Wolfius olim, Admirabantur scripta, diserte, tna. Quae redolent clarum clari Ciceronis acumen, Tinctaque Ceesarea scripta fuere phrasi. Clara viri poterat maqis efflorescere virtus^ Sed mors inceptnm sseva moratur iter. Solaque ab exequiis revirescit vivida virtus^ In quam jura fugax non habet uUa dies, Vivis adhuc, Eogere, tuis, clarissime, scriptis. Quae tibi pcrpetuum sunt paritura decus. civ VERSES^ ETC. Care, jaces, sed scripta vigent, tu vivis in illis, Ilia dabunt nullo posse perire modo. Nam liber ecce tuus volitabo per sequora tutus, Et domino eximium spero parare decus. Post mortem latui tenebras detrusus in atras, Dispersus variis per tua scripta modis. Exero sed tandem caput, utilis omnibus Anglis, Qui tua percupide scripta diserta legunt. Colligor ex variis chartis compactus in unum Fasciculum, ut volitem docta per ora virum. Is qui me grate jam sic congessit in unum, Hac opera gratus nititur esse tuis. Elizabetha sui decus indelebile regni. Me capit atque legit, diligit, ornat, amat. Non satis hoc, Eogere, tibi qui dulce quiescis ? Te moriente, vigent gloria, fama, decus. Care, vale, Rogere, vale, tua funera flevi. Sum tuus, et nunquam desinis esse mens. 3. AMPLISSIMI VIRI THOMiE WILSON LEGUM DOCTORIS, SA-CRATISSlMiE REGIN^ ELIZABETHS ANGLIiE, &C., A SECRETIS. [Ibidem, page xiii.] Carmen Encomiasticum. Lis magna est, Cicero fuerit Eomanus au Anglus, At Eomse Arpinas dictus ubique fuit. Sed dubitant Angli, Ciceronis origine nati, Atque Britannorum sede locare volunt. Scilicet hoc regno natum, post tempora Bruti, Indigenamque tuum terra Britanna ferunt. Unde Britannorum decus est et gloria magna, Plurima quod Cicero pignora laudis habet. VERSES. CV Inter et eximios Aschami est fama diserta, Filius eloquio qui Ciceronis erat. Yim Deraostheneam Cicero, gravitate Platonem Exprimit, Isocratem dulcis ubique sonat. Vis eadem Ascbamo est, gravis et dulcedine plenus Discit ab indigena filius iste patre. Anglia ter felix Anglo Cicerone parente, Talia quod tanti pignora patris habet. 4. IN DOCTISSIMI VIRI llOGERI ASCHAMI LAUDEM SYLVA. [Ibidem, p. xiv.] Marmore de Pario statu as si ponere possem, Pingere vel vultus, vivoque polire colore, Ducere si possem referentes ssre figuras, Carmine vel dignos memori committere famse, Sive viros meritos coslo stellisque beare, Aschamum statuas, color, sss, carmenque referrent : Staret et in coslo radiantibus inclytus astris, Qua Draco Junonis sublimes dividit Arctos, Aut ubi cum Jovio lyra volvitur Orpbica cygno. Sola sed in coelum divina potentia tollit, Et mea non docilis manus est, heu scribere docte Nulla potest, ccelare nequit, depingere nescit. Invidet ingenium Cyllenius, invidet artes, Sola valet, quse cuncta velit, propensa voluntas, Haec cupit Ascliamum foma celebrare perenni, Quumque nequit, luget, stupet, admiratur, et ecce Non bene deductum parit admiratio carmen. Carmen at in tanti laudes timet ire magistri, Qui solus veteres sequat, superatque, futuros, Solus et eripuit laudem prsesentibus omnem. De patria laus nulla sibi, de stemmate nulla Quseritur, et patria est regio celebrata Brigantum. 8 cvi VERSES. Et genus antiquo proavorum stemmate ducit ; llle sed ingenio nomen qusesivit et arte, Quo genus et patriam celebrat, celebratur ut ille. Auspicibus diis natus erat Junone favente, Ingeniique dator supera Cyllenius arce jNfascenti aifulsit, dedit ingeniumque facetum. Quod dii suspiciunt, homines rairantur, et unde Ni Jove nata foret, velit ipsa Minerva renasci. Nec levis ingenium varias coluisse per artes Cura fuit, studiis melioribus abdidit ipsum, Evolvit veteres, doctum Ciceronis in sevuna Se retulit, secum placide Eomana venustas Cecropiusque lepor secum sunt ssepe loquuta. Jura Deum, moresque virum percalluit omnes, Spectaris terras, tenuit terrestria quseque, Spectaris caelum, coelestia singula novit. Omnia sic novit, recteque est omnibus usus. Prsestitit eloquii facundi divite vena, Larga sibi fandi, scribendi gratia larga : Invidiam superat scriptis, hoc nemo repertus Materiem vel nosse prior, vel scribere major. Perlege quae scripsit monumenta, revise libellos, Quam bene rem sermo digesserit ordine verbis. Hie facilis, simplex et ilia faceta, diserta. Quique suos laudant .... non ego dignis Laudibus invideo, sed non viburna cupressum, Non cedrum corili, non sequat cynthia solem, Attollit magnum Batavus vicinus Erasmum, Eeigica Longolium loquitur, deplorat ademptum, Sturmius est doctis Germanis Tullius alter, Delicii^e Venetiim Venetos Manutius ornat. Prsesulis Osorii vim Lusitania laudat, Eoma Sadoletum jactat, Bemboque triumphat, Gallia clara suiim prcetendit ubivque Bunellum, VERSES. evil Aschamum jactet celebretqae Britannia nostrum. Hie est Mercurius, suadseque medulla Britannis. Hoc superet dicam ? dubio mens fluctuat sestu, Quod ratio proferre velit, reverentia celat : Hoc saltern dicam, sinon super eminet omnes Viribus eloquii, tamen omnes unus adsequat : Dumque sit eloquii Ciceroni laurea prima, Fas erit Aschamo palmam deferre secundam. Sedulitas solers : solertia sedula mentis Hoc coeunt, junctimque viget prudentia docta, Eeddidit hunc aptum natura, scientia certum, Usus et expertem, referensque imitatio summum. Majori sunt digna tuba, plectroque sonanda, Hsec cantent alii musis et Apolline pleni. Et quod te minime celebrarim carmine digno, Ignoscas, Asehame, precor, voluisse probetur, Non mihi, musa, pedes fundit, non avia Cirrlise Novi, non liedcrae virides mihi tempora lambunt. TJt Plato Cecropius tantum laudandus honestis, Sic laus Ascliami tantum cantanda peritis. Sed verbis metrisque modus, modus omnibus insit : Aschami longum maneat per ssecula nomen, Florescat, vivat, vigeat, non excidat sevo. Vindicis et Grantee studium celebretur, ametur. Consulit is nobis, Aschamo consulit, ilium Consuluisse juvet, studium modo consulis sequi. GuL. Camden, Wesimomskriensis. 5. elstob's dedication. Eoberto Hetliseo, Armigero, Gulielmus Elstob, S.P.I) — Hunc ego librum tibi commendo, mi Hethsse suavis- sime, paucis atque parce; quum quis locus ei apud'^te CVlll elstob's misso a tui amantissimo, sit futurus, et plane scio, et libenter etiam commemoro : habet enim et nuperae amici- tise recordatio quid jucundum. Sed, quos arctior nexus consuetudinis et similis studiorum ratio semel conjunxe- rint, mirum est, quantum ex istis rebus capiunt ii volup- tatis, quas etiam aut loco, aut fortuna, aut tempore sane disjuncti, senes meminerint, quibus juvenes una confi- ciendis interfuerint. Quse res partim nobis evenerunt ; reliquum adferet setas : nam tu quidem aetata paulo minor; neuter tamen ad mediam jam pervenerit. Sed tu longe superior sorte , bumilior ego et inferior. Nos vero etiamsi sors diversa, et tantum locorum inteivallum dim divulserit, animos tamen, uti spero, neque id quod aevum afferre solet poterit sejungere. Quanto gratior est istius diei memoria mihi et honorificentior, qua pri- mum mihi munus illud exoptatissiraum contigit, meam in studiis tuis adjuvandis coUocandi operam ? cujus postea nostrse inter nos necessitudinis fructus adeo uberrimos percepi, ut idem plane esset animorum consensus, et utrique eadem quasi mens atque voluntas eadem sentiendi, eosdem auctores et amandi et periegendi atque imitandi. Inter quos, dum tu optimum quemque et ad virtutem et ad stilum recte conformandiim seligendum esse duxeris, de hac re tamen ita judicaris, ut Ciceronis diviuse elo- quentise anteponendam esse nullam existimaris. Quse pulchra tua sententia de homine eruditissimo et eloquen- tissimo elfecit, ut totus in eo sis et ut ejus simiiibus plurimum quidem delecteris. Quo fit, ut etiam si is sit animi tui candor, ea judicii tui temperata vis etmoderatio, ut hodiernam nolis eloquentiam condemnare, malis tamen laudare illam setatem, quae eam peperit dicendi copiam et elegantiam, quae turn maxime viguit, quum Ciceronis prudens et erudita queedam imitatio, et foris apud ex- teros et domi etiam apud nostros, maxime et felicissime DEDICATION. cix floreret. Habiiimus enim nos et Checos nostros et Smithos et Haddonos ; quos si contuleris, aut Sturmiis, aut Osoriis, aut Manutiis, vix concederent, vel splendore ingenii, vel eruditionis laude, vel sermonis nitore et prses- tantia. Quibus ego si Aschamum adnumerarem, habeo quorum auctoritate me defendam, viros ex omni gente pr'XJclarissimos. Hisce tu fidem adhibeas, et ex iis cog- noscas, qualis nunc vir te familiarem modo non adjungit, sed adoptat patronura. Nam qui Ciceronem prudentis- sime ad iraitandum proposuit, qua ratione eum imitare- mur eruditissime docuit, et id quod docuit idem prsestitit accuratissime ; ipse a te, qui et ipsi Ciceroni et tantopere faves Ciceronianis, submisse rogat et liumiliter, tibi ut acceptus sit. Neque est ut nomen iliud aspernentur ii qui recte sentiunt, aut Erasmi, aut aliorum permoti conviciis : de cujus auctoritate hac in re, multi quidem contendunt, pauci tamen recte : quum is et imitationem Ciceronis optimam esse norit, et spreverit tantum eos, qui earn adsequi sunt conati frigide et pueriliter. Sed de Erasmo quid? cujus eruditionem viri prudentes in omni- bus fere laudant, stilum certe non semper probant, judi- cium nonnunquam requirunt : de caeteris minus laborabo. Nam quum totum illud, quod iis qui Ciceronem sunt sequuti vitio vertunt, in duabus rebus sit positum, vel in iis qu8e ad mores spectant, vel in ipsa forma orationis, quod de moribus dicunt, ab imitatione Ciceronis esse eos corruptos et depravatos, ut falsum et inane prsetermitto : adversatur enim et res ipsa, et ratio, et historia ; quae novit plurimos et ejusmodi eloquentia florentes et summa erga Deum pietate. Ad hsec, de moribus quis Cicerone honestius, de Deo quis scripsit divinius? sed de optimo dicendi genere ab iis judicium est expetendum, qui quum rationem artificiosse compositionis, et verborum delectum, sententiarum et numerorum vim atque potentiam igno- cx ELSTOB^S rant, aut disoendi tsedium ferre non possunt, aut scien- tiam omnino negligunt ? Mittaraus igitur et hos : iis enim non concessum est, ut discernant, qui carent oculis. Sed quis ego, qui tot de tantis viris in tanta le ? Ecce Ascbamus tuus te adloquitur. Quern tuo nomine ita nunc velim commendari, ut accendantur juvenes ipsius doctrina et exemplo, ad summam et perfectissimam orationis formam exquirendam perpoliendamque : csete- rum, quod ad me attinet, volui ipse, ut auctor quidem elegantissimus, vetustate autem sordidus et pene con- sumptus, aspectu atque cultu nunc exiret paulo ornatior. Si visum erit illud secus, non repugno : facilem te tamen spero, omnes etiam eos, qui quid sit bene velle melius norint, quam ea ad no tare et perstringere, quae minus sunt perfecta et accurata. Hsec ad te is, qui et pietate et virtute et omnibus prseclaris artibus instructissimum te et ornatissimum esse cupit. Yale. 6. elstob's preface. Ad lectorem editoris praefatio. — Et tu pariter, amice lector, es salutandus : sed quam brevissime. De auctore igitur inprimis cognosce quid expectes ; de editione postea. Multa quidem Grantius noster, cujus unius opera et in- dustria Ascbami hsec scripta ad nos pervenerint, et fuse de ejus vita atque scriptis et eleganter est locutus. Quae restant, de ipso Ascbamo sunt fere nulla, de filio ejus primogenito quam paucissima. Erat autem is -^gidius,* qui, mortuo patre, alum^nus scholse Westmonasteriensis, moderante quidem Grantio, eodem usus est prseceptore. Hunc Grantius et amabat plurimum, et serenissime reginae Elizabetbse mirum in modum commendabat. Sed disci- * His letters are now published for the first time, at the end . of Volume III of this edition. PREFACE. cxi pulo huic suo quas laudes ipse* tribuit, totse sunt e scbok: majores meruit ex academia. Nam quum ego amicos quosdam forte rogarem, ecquid scireiit prcetermissum, quod ad nomen Aschamianum pertiiieret, cseterique fere omnes tacerent : ecce Strj^pssus noster, cujus ego peritise in hac parte historige multum tribuOj plurimum amicitise ; is turn benignissime, ut solet, de iEgidio Aschamo me multis faciebat certiorem. Eum nimirum in coliegio divi Johannis Cantabrigise, quod pater olim socius exornaverat, primam in studiis operam posuisse. Deiode doraini Burghleii magni Anglise thesaiirarii literis, coliegio S. S. Trinitatis commendatum, et virtute mandati cujusdam reginse eidem coliegio celeberrimo socium adscriptum, Egisse posthaec de pensione viginti iibrarum patri quon- dam annuatim soluta, a serenissima reginse majestate obtinenda. Nomen prseterea exstitisse iater ejusdem col- legii octo socios seniores Anno MDCXV : et in facultate demum Latine conscribendi epistolas patri Eogero vix cessisse, idem vir amicissimus mihi affirmabat, Hsec de j!Egidio, de patre ac de reliqua stirpe, neque a Kirbe Wiske, qu83 patria fait Ascbamorum, neque a vicinis loois Eboracensibus, quidquam certi habemus : ne nominis quidem uUa manent vestigia, f Antonio Aschamo, qui ultimus ejus nominis occurrit mihi, scriptis suis hand ig- notus, quid eontigerit, et quisnam fuerit, ab historiographo Oxoniensi licet cognoscas. Hactenus de auctore: de editione tandem. Habes hie Aschami epistolas, et amicorum, libris quin- que non modo distinctas, sed numeratas, omnes quas vel Grantius in tribus editionibus Londinensibus, Annis 1576, * Tide Epistol. Dedicat. JEdv, Grant Mizahetha Keginae ante has Epist. t Athen. Oxon,^ vol. ii, p. 286. cxu ELSTOB. ]578, 1590, divulgarit: vel quae in duabiis Hannovien- sibus A.T1. 1602, 1610, et in ea qnse colonise Allobrogum 1611 prodiit, reperiantur. Hisce ex MSS. qusedam adji- ciuntur. Quarum unam atque alteram debes Strypseo nostro, cujus antebac summee erga me benevolentise grato animo facta est mentio. Eeliqnas, viro mihi amicissimo, ciijus ingenio et prseclara opera factum est, ut celeberrirca academia Cantabrigiensis Terentium optimum poetam, et nitidissime impressum et accuratissime emendatum, orbi iiterario commendarit. Poemata Aschamiana non rejeci, sed omisi ; quum bibliopolse qusedam rationes persuade- lent, et tibi et sibi ipsi posse eiim melius consulere si non adjungerenturo Errores quotquot leviores animadvertis clementer velim corrigas : graviores siqui obrepserint, est aiiquid typographis minus curiosis et soUertibus conce- de ndiiin. Vale. 7. ROGERO ASCHAMO ANGLO, G. BUCHANANUS. [Elstob. from Buchanani JE^pigram.^ lib. II, p. 339.} Aschamum extinctum patrise Graiasque Camoense Et Latise vera cum pietate dolent. Principibus vixit cams, jucnndus amicis, Ee modica, in mores dicere fama nequit. 8. ADVERTISEMENT. [English Works, London, 1815.] No apology seems requisite for introducing to the public a new edition of the Works of this valuable writer^ in a form better adapted for general circulation than the preceding, edited by the Eeverend James Bennet, which COCHRANE's ADVEIITISEMENT. CXUl appears from its tardy sale to have contributed little to bring them into better notice. The best feature of that edition was the Life of Jscham^ which the editor procured to be written by Dr Johnson; in other respects he did little, and that little was not done well. The Report and Discourse of the State of Germany, and the ToxopJiihis, were reprinted, preserving the old orthography, while, with great inconsistency, the Schoolmaster presented the modern orthography, from the text, and with the notes, of Mr Upton's edition. The Letters, then first publishedj appear to have been printed from an inaccurate transcript. The editor of the present edition pretends to little merit beyond avoiding the errors of his predecessor : following the example of Mr Upton in the 8choolmaste7\ he has conformed the orthography of the other works to the modern standard ; and having the advantage of referring to a more accurate transcript of the Letters, he has been enabled to rectify several passages which were obscure or unintelligible, or altogether mistaken. To these^ the five letters to Sir William Cecil, which are now first publishedj constitute an addition equally curious and valuable. To the Life, written by Dr Johnson, a few notes are attached, where the narrative appeared to require elucida- tion, or where the biographer has sanctioned imputations on the memory of Ascham, which appear not only to rest on insufficient authority, but to be at variance with the whole of his character, as exhibited in his life and writings. This impression is limited to 250 copies. London, Jan, 1815o cxiv VERSES. 9. IN PARTITIONES SAGITTARIAS ROGERI ASHAMI, GUAL- TERUS HADDONUS CANTABRIGIENSIS* REGIUS. [Ibidem, p. 51.] Mittere qui celeres sunima velit arte sagittas, Ars erit ex isto summa profecta libro. Quicquid habent arcus rigidi, nervique rotundi, Sumere si libet, hoc sumere fonte licet. Aschamus est auctor, magnum quern fecit Apollo Arte sua, magnum Pallas et arte sua. Docta manus dedit liunc, dedit hunc mens docta iibellum : Quse videt ars, usus visa parata facit. Optimus hsec auctor quia tradidit optima scripta, Convenit hsec nobis optima velle sequi. 10. ODE BY THOMAS MASTERS. [Ibidem, p. 349.] Els' THN TOT XPIXTOT STavpcoLKa. ^AAIS evOeov (^\vapov • AfjL€i^6 Movaa j(opha<;^ Kai /3ap/3iTOP Xa/3ov(Ta^ S^/JLVOV fCp0T7](T0V VfJbVOV STaVpOV/jL€P(A) AvafCTU S2 OavfJLaTCOV airKrjcrTe * Of King's College. Haddon was famous for his Latin style, of which he has here given no shining specimen ; but the fipst rude essays of authors, compared with the works of their maturer years, are useful to show how much is in the power of diligence. VERSES. cxv (3^7;(7af/)6, Kairepavre. To aoL, Ti irpcoTOV ecirco ; OeXco Xeyeiv av€KCO^* Kai coXevcop lepov Kparo^ EjKapaLOP 7r€Ta(r(Ta<; f N7]X€€crat yoij,(l>OL^ UeTTapixevov evda Kai evda ! AvOpcoire raXaVy Tavr airaOr]^ iSXeirec^ ; Oifiw^e TToXXa^ EcrdrjTa prj^ov, Kai Tvirre ajepvoVy KaL TiXXe X^^'^V^^ Kat GirXayyva klvov. H ovx opaa^ oXoTTop^vpoVy StiX^opt ov (bXoyt cxvi VERSES. yCaiixan ara^o/jievGy ; fi6v airo Kpora^oov KvKXovfJbevcav aKav6rj<;, O^VCTTOflOLab KOVpaLV T(p he Kai etc fjueXecop Ke^apayfjLevcov IfJuaaOXri^ TlLfcprjai, cru/jLTrkofcrjaL. Avof^jy avocye IIv\a<; OTTCOTTOOV • Avaav • ylrcfca^e, Seve yaiav, XvV TO) a(j)€LSco<: *Eov alfjua xeav- 'T, oXlj arra Xet^eiv SaKpva Tt9 aggrediar, si ista non ita displicuisse intellexero, et tu ulterius progrediendi, si non auctor mihi et impulsor, saltem approbator tacitus esse velis : sin minus, facile pedem referam. In ipsius Ejiistolce versione, Erasmum per omnia sum sequutus, nisi quod pro rogo verto ego deprecor, auctorem habens summum ilium M. T. Cicero- NEM, qui ait nos tum deprecari quum non factum defendi- mus, sed delicti veniam postulamus ; in qua re una tota hsec ad Philemonem versatur Epistola. Sin vero hoc, in re tam sublimi summique momenti, audacius factum esse videbitur, culpam fassus, veniam pro meo deprecor me a te facile deprecaturum non despero. Yale, et Aschamum tuum, ut soles, ama. An. Dom. 1542, Galend. Januar. XIL— TO BEANDESBY, (2, 9). Ascham takes advantage of a friend named Tennand, to seiid a letter to Brandesby ; tells him that he had been kept by illness nearly two years in Yorkshire ; and that King Henry YIII had given great encouragement to learning at Cambridge, by appointing several professors, with £40 a year salary to each; and that Gardiner, bishop of Win- chester, had issued a decree [dated May 15, 1542,] against 1542.] ascham's letters. 25 Cheke's new pronunciation of G-reek; which Oheke had defended by some letters. Wakefield's appointment is dated Nov. 9, 1540. See Coopee's Annals^ I, 397. [Cambridge, 1542-1543.] JBrandisbceo, amico suo ckarissimo. — Ornatis- sime BeandisBtEE, Tennandus noster hie apud nos fuit his proximis nundinis ; a quo □ ego lubens admodum de te rebusque tuis quserebam : id quod eo lubentius feci, quia de te ante hoc tempus hos duos integros annos nihil accepi. De BiiANDiSBiEO jucundissimus mihi sermo fuit; ejus semper in me vel puerum benivolentiam eximiam et singularem experiebar. Committere non potui, quam- vis vix unam aut alteram horam apud nos se manere posse dicebat Tennandus, quin aliquid ad te, non tam loci intercapedine a nobis sejunctum, quam quotidiana quadam tui recordatione animis nostris propinquum, de rebus quse hie aguntur, scriberem ; jam usu et experientia vel ipse edoctus, quam verum illud Ccelii sit ad Cicero- NEM : * Nihil posse peregrinantihus esse gratitis, quam vel minimarum rerum quce domi gerantur fieri certiores. Hoc ita esse, biennium hoc prseteritum, quum ab amicis literas receperim, commonstrabat : quod tempus fere mihi omne a gravioribus studiis abripuit, et domi apud parentes in agro Eboracensi a musis omnibus feriatum detinuit vis quartanse febris. Expostularem tecum graviter, quod nunquam ad me scripseras, nisi ipse in eodem vitio essem : sed consultius esse puto, ut uterque quicquid utrinque in hac parte peccatum sit, assiduitate scribendi redimamus. De Cantabrigia si quid aves audire, en jam pene nova tibi videri potest : tam divinis et immortalibus literarum prsesidiis et ornamentis auxit cam optimi principis nostri munificentia. Wigginus Tkeologice, Smithus Jurispm- ^ Ad Fam. Lib. VIII, Epist I. 26 ascham's letters. [1542. dentice, Checus Lingua Grcecce, Wakfeldus Hebraicce^ Blitus, qui sororem Domini Checi duxit, Medicince, publici professores sunt instituti. Salarium quadraginta librarum singuli quotannis sunt accepturi. Aristoteles nunc et Plato, quod factum est etiam apud nos hoc quinquennium, in sua lingua a pueris leguntur. Sopho- cles et Euripides sunt hie familiariores, quam olim Plau- tus fuerit quum tu hie eras. Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, magis in ore et manibus omnium teruntur, quam tum Titus Livius. Quod de Cicerone olim, nunc de Demosthene audires. Plures Isocrates hie in manibus puerorum habentur, quam tum Tekentti. Nec Latinos interim aspernamur, sed optimos quosque et seculo illo aureo florentes ardentissime amplexamur. Hunc literarum ardorem et incendit et fovit Checi nostri labor et exemplum. Qui publice gratis prselegit totum Homerum, totum Sophoclem, et id bis : totum EuRi- PIDEM, omnem fere Herodotum. Id quod fecisset in omnibus Graecis Poetis, historiographis, oratoribus, phi- losophis, nisi pessimum fatum tam felicem literarum pro- gressum nobis invidisset. Nam quum Checus ad tantam diligentiam, sumraum ad Grsecas literas perdiscendas prsesidium, veram et antiquam pronuntiationem adjunx- isset, ecce tibi reverendissimus Wintoniensis quorundam invidorum hominum precibus victus, edicto quodam admo- dum severo promulgato, ne ea pronuntiandi ratione utatur, non solum pronuntiationem illam, quas summum veluti literarum fomentum fuit, nobis, tota fere Academia recla- mante, extorsit, sed omnem pene Greecae linguae perdis- cendae ardorem in animis nostris funditus extinxit. Putas enim tu leve ad Graecas literas discendas impedimentum aobis esse objectum, quum omnes hoc sciunt, omnem rei'mn cognitionem sensuum nostrorum officio ad animum deferri, quum, inquam, nos sumus aurium praesidio sic 1542.] ascham's letters. 27 spoliati et in eas augustias compulsi et redacti, ut, nisi oculos semper in literas defigamus, " ne tenuem quidem literarum umbram percipere possimus ? Sic omnes soni Grseci nunc similes et iidem sunt, tarn tenues vincti et graciles, et sic unius literse Iwra potestati subjecti, ut nihil jam in Grsecis literis praeter inanem quandam pas- rerum pipitationem et anguium molestam sibilationem discernere queas. Hunc Graecse linguse interitum pene et occasum eo acerbius ferimus, quod eum, omnibus literarum, prudentiae, consilii, auctoritatis preesidiis ornatissimus, absque hac una re esset, literarum et Academise nostrse patronus amplissimus, nobis quodammodo importavit. Sunt de hac re inter Dominum Wintoniensem et Checum, ultro citroque missse epistolae, instar librorum quorundam. Nemo potest doctius tam barbarara et a barbaris ipsis invectam pronuntiationem propugnare, quam Dominus Wintoniensts facit. Sed hoc tantum dicam : ille superiores, nos meliores partes tuemur. Non facile crederes, quantus sit in hac caussa Cpiecus, et quantis literarum, rationum, auctoritatum prsesidiis ean- dem munivit ; nisi forte ipse literas ejus, quas de hac re scripsit, legeres. Yale. Salutant te Checus, MADiEUS, Setonus, Tongus, Langdallus, BiLLUS. Literas lon- gissimas optimas semper esse putavi; tales abs te expecto. XIII.— TO AECHBISHOP LEE, (2, 5). Eefers to the king's late visit to York — sends his translation of CEcumenius as a present to the archbishop, to whom he apologises for having not written for several months. Henry YIII left York to return to London, Sep. 26, 1541. See Heebert's Life of Henry VIII, p. 531. [Cambridge, 1542.] everendiss, in Chr. pafri Edvardo Lceo, arcMep. Ebor, — Quum et prseteriti nostri officii, et singularis cujusdam negligentise crimine mani- festo teneri non iramerito videar, reverendis-^ sime pater, quod hac superiore sestate nuUas 28 ascham's letters. [1543. ad dominationem tuam literas dederim ; quamvis omnem prsetermissi muneris accusationem justa et idonea quadam purgatione redimere potuerim ; magis tamen iiigenui magisqiie pudentis ego esse existimarim, errati veniam ag- noscendo impetrare, quam liberationem culpse occultando vendicare. Ut iion scriberem, iiiprimis me persuaserat magnificus ille Eegiss majestatis accessus, qui, id quod minime me latuerat, dominationem tuam in eas curas demiserat, tantisque occupationibus detinuerat, ut vix tibi respirandi, nedum otiosa nostra relegendi facultas concederetur. Neque hoc tamen sic mihi opposito impedi- mento destiti, quin tum quidem scriberem. Cujus rei, ut est integerrimus vir, ita locupletissimus testis esse poterit D. Joannes Eedmannus, cui eas literas ad dominationem tuam perferendas committebam. Quem, quum jam esset in itinere, et coeli gravioris et quartanse febris metus, qua su- periore anno mi sere affligebatur, ad nos una cum literis nostris reportabat. Sed utcunque justa negligentise nota mihi inuri possit, nunc tamen facere non potui, quin ali- quid sublimitati tuse ofFerrem, quo quum raeritorum ac- ceptorum testificationem, tum debiti nostri officii et obser- vantiae declarationem tibi significarem. Accipias ergo, ornatissime prsesul, prsesulem ilium TiTUM, quem vel eo nomine multo tibi acceptiorem fore existimo, quod, ut olim Cretensis Ecclesise summse moder- andag apud Titum, ita nunc Eboracensis quam simillimam curam apud dominationem tuam excubare novimus. (Ecumenius quisquis ille fuerat, qui hos commentarios congessit, &c. Si quid, eruditissime prsesul, in hac versione quae prima ingenii nostri periclitatio est animadvertatur, quod vel negligentia oscitanter perpendimus, vel imperitia non plene assequuti sumus, in hac re ut in cseteris omnibus, a dominatione tua moniti erratum libenter agnoscemus. 1543.] ascham's letters. 29 Dominus Jesus Christus sublimitatem tuam diutissime servet incolumem. XIY.— TO A KINSMAN, (2, 10). Returns thanks for some favour and kindness formerly shown him. St John's, Cambridge, Ap. 25, [1543]. uidam cognato. — Diu in animo habui ad te scrip sisse, ornatissime vir, vel quia tibi cog- natione et sanguinis propinquitate conjunctis- siraus, vel quia magno amploque beneficiorum cumulo tibi ssepe saepiusque obstrictissimus. Quod si non suscepto consilio, quod in animo jam deii- beratum fixumque habui, aliquando meipsum liberarem, partim in ipsam natuvam, quae nos arctissimis conjanctis- simisque propinquitatis vinculis conjugavit, non leviter peccarera, partim ipsi divinse justitiae, omnis ingratitudinis ultrici severissimse, et vim injuriamque facerem et insigne etiam flagitium designarem. Gratias ago itaque, aliquando ut spero relaturus non vulgares, sed quas possum summas et singulares, pro amplissimis tuis beneficiis, tum, quum primum apud te essera, mihi vix de facie tibi noto collo*- catis ; tum per M. FoxuM utrique nostrum et amicum eximium et affinitate propinquum, optata et insperata tempestate allatis. Nihil habeo, ornatissime vir, quod tibi pro tanto meritorum cumulo rependam, nisi gratum erga te animi mei studium et propensissimam voluntatem : quse tibi gratam rem facere nunquam desistent, modo aliquid contigerit, in quo certam voluntatis mese signifi- cationem tibi ostenderem, et firmum benivolentise testi- monium relinquerem. Yaleas in Christo. Cantabrigise, e collegio D. Joannis Evangelistse, Festo D. Marci. 80 ascham's letters. [1543. XY.— TO BISHOP HOLGATE, (2, 7.) Written on behalf of the college, to request the bishop of Llandaff not to allow Cowper and Bland to interfere vi^ith the farm bequeathed by Eoger Lupton for the maintenance of their school at Sedbergh. [1543.] rnatissimo viro Roberto Holgato, 'prmuli Land- affensi, jpro collegio. — Optime semper hi de republica merentur, orriatissime prsRsul, qui ut publicee juventutis anirai atque mores fin- gerentur, nullum aliquem privatum sumptum nimis magnum esse judicant. Ex hujus enim initiis atque fundamentis, et rempublicam florere et privatam sibi laudem excitare rectissime quidem sentiunt. Cujus prse- clari facti atque instituti laudem cum dominatione tua, quod nos omnes intelligimus, licet non parem, communem tamen ante aliquot annos commeruit pise memorise vir D. lloGERUS Lupton us, qui scholam publicam, ubi Uteris et humanitate juventus excoleretur, apud Sedbarienses insti- tuit, institutam prsediolo quod am ad ludimagistrum sus- tentandum donavit, donatum nostri fidei ac quasi guber- nationi commisit ac commen davit. Huic scholse nos nuper preefecimus honestum, moderatum et eruditum virum E. Hebil. Hie quum sentit nonnullam injuriam de prsediolo isto per Blandum quendam et Coupeiium, homines apud suos et opum et amicorum copia potentes, sibi intentari, perfecit, ut nos nostris literis dominationem tuam rogaremus, ne qua vis aut injuria huic scholse im- ponatur, sed ita prudentise tuse auctoritas horum hominum libidinem reprimat et coerceat, ut hinc reliqui discant, quid sit in scholas et otia juventutis, quae sunt ipsa melioris reipublicse fundamenta, impetum facere : id quod si feceris, nos, literas, et rempublicam uno hoc beneficio tibi multum obligabis. 1543.] ascham's letters. 31 Universam caussam fusius euarrabit is, qui has perfert literas : cui ut fidem adhibeas, vehementer dominationem tuam rogamus. Dominus Jesus dominationem tuam diutissime servet incolumem. XVI.— TO ARCHBISHOP LEE, (2, 3). Says that he went to London last year to see his Grace, but in addition to not seeing him, because he was ill, he also found that he had incurred his anger by the very translation of CEcumenius, which had been sent for the purpose of gaining his favour, and promises to stick to the classics in future, and translate Sophocles. [1543.] everendiss, in Chr, patri Edvardo Lceo, archiep, Ebor, — Quum proximo hoc anno, reverendis- sime in Christo pater, officii mei oratio, qua me tibi obstrinxisti, Londinum ut peterem dominationis tuse visendse gratia persuasit, iter illud me in triplicem animi mcerorem et doloris acer- bitatem conjecit. Nam tui videndi et adloquendi fructu, quem sperabam, carere peracerbum ; illud tamen incom- modum meum, quod me solum tangebat, cum tanto salutis tuse discrimine, quod plurimos ut par erat angebat, con- junctum esse, longe acerbius. Verum ad haec duo incom- moda tertium accedere, nimirum eam viam quam mihi ad majorem gratia m tuam coUigendam muniebam, eandem ipsam ad nonnuUara animi tui offensiunculam faciendam perducere, ad omnem sensum doloris longe mihi acerbissi- mum fuit. Putabam enim ego nunquam fore hos com- mentarios, quos ex Basilic, Gregorio, et magnam partem ex Chrysostomo, quasi horto purissimo et omni cicuta ac noxiis herbis vacuo, CEcumenius collegerat, plus veneni et praesentiorem pestem ad exitium com- parandum, quam succi integri atque salubritatis ad salutem 32 ascham's letters. [1543. conservandam posse continere. Hsec res me domum regressum in varias cogitationes, et anxiferas animi curas atque sollicitudines distraxit ; et eo me gravius premebat, quo nullam ejus partem vel intimis meis impartiebam, sed earn totam mihi ipsi animo meo inclusam tenebam. Et quum ista me diu anxietas torsisset, nec longo tempore ab ea cogitationem meam abducere potuissem, tandem id in mentem meam venit, quod ex animo omnem banc mihi segritudinem adimebat, et voluntatis tuse non ullam lactam mutationem, sed illustrem ac testatam ejusdem significa- tionem ostendebat. Nam hino facile perspexi graves et prudentes viros, nonnunquam nutu et obscuris signis, imperitorum hominum et rerum insolentium errores redar- guere. Censebat enim prudentia tua eam cogitationem stulte a me esse susceptam, ut ante in tam rebus gravibus vertendi munus attentarem, quam in aliis rebus, vel momenti levioris vel periculi minoris, vires ingenii mei periclitatiis essem. Quum igitur dominatio tua, si quid ego video, non tam uUum factum meum reprehenderit, quam quomodo quid a me sit faciendum ostenderit ; ad hoc grave consilium prudensque monitum tuum, omnes protinus studiorum meorum rationes accommodabam. Statim enim in manus sumpsi Sofroclis Fkiloctelem^ quae tragoedia ad imitationem quantum potui Seneca. versa, et versibus eisdem iambicis atque choricis fere om^ nibus, quibus usus est Sophocles, reddita, in tuo nomine divulgata apparebit ; nisi huic meo proposito dominationis tuse sententia palam adversata fuerit. Quo facto officium meum et observantia qua me obligasti tibi erit declarata ; et propensissimus dominationis tuse animus et voluntas, qua indies studia literarum sustentas, aliqua ex parte erit manifestata, Eestat ergo ut rogem dominationem tuam, ut, quemadmodum ego omnem observantiam meam ad dominationis tuse nutum atque voluntatem detuli et 1543.] asciiam's letters. 33 servavi, ita dominationis tuse favor atque bonitas nuUo raodo erga me diminuatur. Dorainus Jesus Christus dominationem tuam incolumem conservet. XVII.— TO A FEIEND, (2, 8). Acknowledges the loan of a copy of Isocrates ; and suggests that he might be of use to assist the bishop of Chichester [Day] in completing the Ordo Psalmorum, begun by the bishop of Hereford. Day was made bishop of Chichester May 10, 1543. [1543.] tiidam, amico, — Isocratem tuum, colende vir, cujus usum eo usque mihi pateris, dum repe- titurus fueris, tandem recepi : in quo certe libro commodando, adeo me praeter sequum et justum audacem effecit facilitas ac divina ilia tua humanitas, ut alium etiam porro librura, nempe commentarios in Hermogenem, a fratre tuo, primum tamen cautione ctieirographi mei data, mutuo itidem su- merem. Pro utroque libro gratias non magnas, sed ut ait ille ingentes, hoc tibi egissem tempore, nisi satis mihi prius compertum comprehensumque fuisset, quam vehe- menter a trita ilia et populari, gratiarum actione dicam an assentatione sane dubito, animus tuus abliorreat. Verum si, quanta mihi ad referendas gratias est voluntas, tanta ad easdem aliquando praestandas suppeteret facultas, ani- mum certe meum non beneficii immemorem aut ingratum argueres, sed singulari erga te studio affectum persentis- ceres. Audio, verum sit necne incertus sum, reverendis- simum Cicestrensem ordinem ilium Psalmorum a D. Herefordiensi inchoatum, in manus sumpturum et ad exitum perducturum. Gauderem si opella mea D. Ciges- trensi ea in re usui esse possit; quern et propter summam 3 ascham's letters. [1543-4, eruditionem suspicio et propter eximiam vitse suae sancti- moniam colo venerorque. Libentissime scire vellern, an tu pagellas eas, quas pro D. Herepordiensi descripsi et ad te per D. Deium misi, habeas necne? Sed quid pergo molestus esse ? Condones queeso ei, quia ita exigit res, dum tui studiosus, quod maxime velit, annitatur; perquam tibi operosus, quod omnium nolit, reperiatur. Greece tibi pro libris tuis gratias agere animus fuit. Quod nunc facere non potui, propter tabellionem jam iter arri- pientem. Id quod alias tarn en effectum dabitur. Dominus Jesus, &c. XYUL— TO ARCHBISHOP LEE, (2, 6). Apologises for the offence which he had unwittingly committed in his translation of GEcumenius, and which he had learnt through Thomas Conyer from the archbishop's brother. He says that he nerer read books about new doctrines, and offers Lee a copy of Cheke's Two Homilies from Chrysostom. The printed edition of this bears the date Christmas, 1543. [Early in 1544.] idem. — Quo majore semper studio laborabam, reverendissime in Christo pater, ut vitse mese rationes summis beneficiis tuis non indignis- simse esse viderentur, eo sane nunc acerbius graviusque ferre debeo, ullam in me animi dominationis tuse, quod mihi ita esse ex fratre tuo viro optimo retulit Thomas Conyerus noster, aliquorum bominum sermone factam esse offensionem. At quamvis non ignorem, quam sit mihi vel accusari grave, de prava et perversa opinione multo gravius, apud dominationem tuam longe gravissimum ; tamen quum sciam has falso de me jactatas voces non posse sic prudentiam tuam occupare quin plus apud dominationem tuam aequo et bono quam ulli uUorum perverso sermoni loci reliquum sit ; non credo 1544.] ascham's letteks. 35 equidem tam gravia suspicionis vestigia illomm hominura rumores in animo tuo reliquisse, quin ea omnia vel caussse meas innocentia debeat vel dominationis tuse bonitas velit facillime abstergere. Si res postularet, vel si id domina- tioni tuae complacitum iri existimarem, illi de me ' sparso rumori judiciorum bominum, qui in nostro collegio sunt non solum singularium sed etiam singulorum, de me tes- timonia opponerem. Quod non sim opiniosus, vel novi- tatis alicujus studiosus, ipsse studiorum meorum rationes^ in Aristotelis, Platonis, Ciceronis lectione, quoti- diana mea consuetudine solum occupatse declarant. Quid, quod etiara tantum semper abborruit animus meus ab omnibus quum Anglice turn Latine scriptis libris, quibus nova aliqua importaretur doctrina, ut excepto Psalterio David IS et Novo Testamento, eoque Grceco, nullum de Christiana religione librum, ov^k afxiKpbv ovdk fisyav, ut verbis Platonis utar, nunquam usurpaverim. Quamobrem immensum in modum a dominatione tua contendo, ut veteris tuse de me existimationis, quam novae ullorum contra me delationis cursus liberior esse possit. Quod beneficium, si reliquis tuis cumulatissimis adjiciatur, Deo adjuvante, perficiam, ut nec mea in dominationem tuam observantia, in literas diligentia, nec in religionem since- ritas unquam desideretur. Duas Homilias D. Joannis Chrysostomi e Grseco in Latinum, opera Joannis Checi nostri viri doctrinse singularis, conversas, et ejus erudi- tionis et mese observantise testimonium Dominationi tuae mitto. Dominationem Jesus, &c. XIX.— TO LOED MOUNTJOYE, (2, 47). Thanks Mountjoye for offering him, through Eedman, the tutorship of his son, which he is obliged to decline, because he had engaged his services to Archbishop Lee about two 36 ascham's letters. [1544. years ago. That was late in 1541. This letter was written about Lady Day, 1544, as appears by the two following letters to Eedman and Cheke. [Lady Day, 1544.] ohilissimo viro Domino Mountjoio. — Quum prox- ime CantabrigisB Dominus Joannes Eed- MANNUs esset, nobilissime vir, et turn mecum coram sermone et nuper Uteris vehementer agebat, ut me totum et omnes vitse mese rationes ad te, vel in aula tibi ut servirem vel domi ut filium tuum instituerem, honesta sane conditione deferrem. De qua re quum diu multumque eogitarem, et viderem meipsum, qui aliquot annos otio me literarum dedidissem, ab aulse negotio et rerum tumultu nonnihil abhorrere ; et libertatis suavitate, qua jamdiu fruebar, a serviendo me libenter velle abstinere ; nec ad filium tuum instituendum, quantum vel prudentia tua a me expectat vel aliorum benevolentia de me prsedicat, vel talis muneris susceptio postulat, tantum a me posse exhiberi ; tamen et tanti viri hortatu multum commovebar, et literatissimse Mountjoi^e familise nomine atque celebritate plurimum alliciebar. Revera enim censebam, me non ab otio in negotium, non a Uteris in aulam, non a libertatis fructu et suavitate ad gravem serviendi usum ac molestiam ; sed ad illud musarum domicilium ac familiam vocari, cui prseter unam in Italia Medicseam, in omni seculorum et vetustatis memoria, parem aut similem non invenies. In qua re eo major prse ceteris omnibus laus tua est, quo plurimi familiam suam et literarum studiis fundatam, et eruditionis splendore illustratam esse voluerunt, ut pater tuus : sed perpauci sunt, qui hujusmodi literarum quasi hsereditatem sibi relictam, vel multis vigiliis gravibusque studiis suis retentam et conservatam coluerunt, vel magno accessionis cumulo amplificatam adauxerunt quod tibi cum non mul- tis aliis commune est. Verum qui eandem tam sancte et 1544.] ascham's letters. 37 integre conservatam, tam omnibus modis auctam et cumu- latam, liberis et sic omni posteritati propagare studuerunt ; nulli fere post natos homines fuerunt, et dubium an dein- ceps posthac futuri sint, quos tu tam gioriosse laudis socios et consortes merito potes habere. Hsec res, clarissime vir, omne meum studium, et vitse rationes, ad tuse voluntati obsequendum adduxisset, nisi reverendis- simus pater Dominus Eboracensis biennio abhinc omnem meam fidem et observantiam maximis suis beneficiis sibi divinctam obstrinxisset. Quamobrem si ulla alia res sit, in qua tenuitas nostra usui tibi esse possit, nee lubentiore animo nec paratiore studio quemquam id efFecturum invenies. Per literas ergo te rogo, quas tu sic quotidie ornas, ornatissime vir, ut illam voluntatem, quam de me aliorum prsedicatione concepisti, eam perpetuo integram tua bonitate mihi conservatam esse velis. Dominus Jesus, &c. XX.— TO REDMAN, (2, 48). Thanks Redman for his letter lately brought by Gr, Hodgesoiij containing Mountjoye's invitation to be tutor to his son, and hopes that the coolness, which has existed between them during the last three years, since they took different sides in the election for fellowships, has now ended. He informs Redman that he has declined Mountjoye's offer, and also explains the offence he had given last year to Archbishop Lee, to whom he requests Redman to deliver a letter of apology, whicli he encloses. He asks Redman to get payment for him of his pension (40 shillings a year), of which half had been due last Michaelmas, and the other was just falling due [i.e. Lady Day, 1544]. He is still Greek Reader at St John's ; he would like to accompany some ambassador abroad. He speaks of a book which he had transcribed last year for Redman, to be presented to the king. 38 ascham's letters. [1544. [Lady Day, 1544.] 7*natissimo viro Domino Joanni Redmanno. — Literse tuse, ornatissime vir, quas mihi abs te nuper G. Hodgessonus attulit, mirifica me quadam voluptate aflPecerunt. Nam, prseter- quam quod temporis illius, quiim nos inter nos quotidiana familiaritate conjunctissimi essemus, perjucun-. dam mihi memoriam renovabant ; singularem preeterea illam benevolentise tuee voluntatem, qua me a puero unice semper es complexus, nec ulla vel temporis iniquitate mu- tatam, nec locorum intervallo diminutam, sed retentam animo tuo et amantissime conservatam esse, grave in- primis et eximium testimonium dabant. Quod bene- volentise tuse erga me studium dimittere eo gravius et acerbius semper esse duxi, quo idem literarum et virtutis nomine susceptum, et judicio potius ac volunlate, quam ulla necessitate profectum esse perpetuo intellexi. Et profecto quum in proximum hoc triennium me cogitatione refero, in quo aliqua, ut aliqui putabant, voluntatum nostrarum separatio, nulla animorum nostrorum ut nos scimus distractio fuerat ; et quum in caussas singulas, quamobrem homines ita cogitarent, diligent er intueor, eas omnes opinione quam reipsa majores esse video. Nam, quamvis, quod summum et solum fuit, in sociorum nos- trorum electionibus, a te et tua voluntate discrepabam, ego tamen vel tum quid em in earidem tecum rem, eodem animo, licet dispari studio, incumbebam : uterque enim pupillos suos juvandi studio commotus, ad eundem con- siliorum effectum contendebamus. Quare, si aliqua hujus rei culpa ego teneri videor, tu ipse, pro nostro amore et pradenti facilitate tua (libere loquar), om- nino ab ea liberari et longissime abesse non potes : nisi fortasse, te pro tuis omni coutentione laborasse, me om- nem meorum curam, tutelam, ac fidem abjecisse, sequum 15M.] ascham's letters. ^9 esse videatui ; quum ego potius ceiiseOj eo me majori studio debuisse illam iiim mihi oblatam pupillos meos juvandi occasionem et facultatem urgere, quo tu quotidie ad omandum tuos loiige majorem, ego vero ad tuendum meos, baud unquam post id temporis consimilem nan- oisci potuerim. Atque quod ad J ... , G . . . . attinet, quantum tu a me, in ea caussa ut facerem, vel Cantabrigiss vel quum essem apud te Londini, rogabas, tantum omni opera, diligentia atque fide navavi et perfeci. Nam, non ut majorem ad victum affluentiam inde caperet, sed ut aptiorem ad studium opportuuitatem ibi haberet, te velle ilium in nostrum collegium cooptari ipse tu mihi dicebas . Quam rem, ut in primis potui, curavi ; ita in eorum sententia nunquam fui, sed ab ea longissime abesse cupio, qui putant, quod pro uno facias, pro nihilo esse haben- dum, nisi contra alterum inopem et honestam te intendas gravem adversarium. Invitus sane facio, optime Eedmanne, ut ullam vel horum temporum memoriam renovem, vel cicatricem dolorum meorum acerbitate obductam refricem ; eo tamen lubentius hoc apud te facio, quoniam si te novi, si tu his turbis afFuisses, et minus ego ab aliis tua moderatione iaesus fuissem, et ea vulnera quee excipiebam, maturo prudentis in genii tui remedio facilius multo curassem. Nam, ut domesticas injurias preeteream et gravissimas repulsarum acerbitates, quibus hsec me pene tempora con- ficiebant, ut lenissimis verbis in tanta re utar, hoc tamen minime ferendum est, eo usque prorumpere hominum alios Isedendi libidinem, ut non satis esse ducerent domes- ticam meam tenuitatem ad desperationem usque affligere, nisi omnem de me apud multos prseclaros viros positam sestimationem prsecidere conarentur. In quam rem ita sedulo nonnuUi, tantisque opibus incumbebant, ut nulla unquam cuiquam homini, mei temporis, loci, et conditionis? 40 ascham's letteks. [1544. facta sit injuria, vel acerbior ad calamitatem vel gravior ad existimationem, qiiam heec facta fuerit mihi. Verum, quod ex animo, optime Redmanj^e, loquor, si quemad- modum omnem illatse mihi injiirise record ationem, jam din non solum mitigavit dies sed totam oblivione con- trivit, ita mutatas aliorum voluntates redemisset dies, et violatam existimationem in integrum mihi restituisset ; haud unquam vel ejus memoriam refricuissem, vel tarn ge- mentes cogitationes meas apud te hoc tempore depo- suissem. Yeliementer tamen Isetor, hanc ad te seribendi mihi oblatam esse occasionem, libenterque facio ut hsec apud te pfFundam, quoniam amorem tuum erga me plus et vetustatis et virium habere spero, et moderationem tuam vel in gravissimis injuriis placabiliorem esse scio, quam ut, quum in toto hoc negotio nulla mea certe prsecipua culpa fuerat, ulla gravis et singularis offensio in animo tuo resideat. Quamobrem te rogo, optime vir, per vetustatem amoris nostri, per pias omnes et intimas necessitudines, quse mihi tecum unquam intercessere, ut veteris potius tuse de me non meo merito sed benevolentia tua conceptse opinionis, quam uUius non culpa mea sed aliorum malevolentia recens excogitatse offensionis, cursum liberiorem et expeditiorem esse velis : quam rem a te pariter et ab eximio viro, quem mihi semper ad colen- dum et observandum proposui, D. N. exoratam esse cupio. Sed de his rebus, si tu ita voles, coram opportunius nos inter nos communicabimus. ISunc venio ad literas tuas; quibus tu me in aulam, ut Domino Mountjoio servirem et filium ejus Uteris instituerem, non pessima conditione accersis. Atque ut breviter ad singula res- pondeam, non tantum mihi placuisset ad longe amplius vivendi munus vocari, quantum nunc Isetor me a te ad hoc, etiamsi multo esset tenuius, requiri. Verum mihi, 1544.] ascham's letters. 41 et omnes mei ipsius et vitse mese rationes consideranti, et eas difficultates in quas hujus muneris susceptio conjiceret prospicienti, non tot ad alliciendiim invitationes propositse, quot ad absterrendum avocationes objectse esse videntur. Nam vitse genus commutare et leipsum quasi qnodam- modo retexere, ut opus magnum arduumque est, ita ab omni vel periculi metu vel doloris sensu vacuum esse non potest. Quamobrem, quum ego me hos aliquot annos in literarum studia, si non maximo cum fructu, non minima tamen cum voluptate abdiderim, et nunc a tam placido portu in eas fluctuum procellas meipsum abducerem ; nec a magna doloris acerbitate, propter veteris otii mei et tranquillitatis recordationem, nec a summo periculi metu et discrimine propter insolentem quandam tantarum re rum imperitiam abesse diu potuerim. Prseterea, quum in tanta quiete et in hac ut ita dicam vivendi plaidtie, non- dum adolescentise mese gressus vel mediocriter confirma- tos habuerim i quomodo quseso in tam prsecipiti aulse lubrico absque gravi et periculosa prolapsione constiterim ? Itaque, sive otii mei fructu quo carerem delectatus, sive gravioris alicujus casus metu, in quem inciderem, avocatus, ab aula hoc certe tempore et ea conditione nonnihil abhorreo. Dominus Mountjoius quamvis a Uteris ut opinor alienus non sit, optimo patris exemplo nonnihil incitatus, ad alias tamen res vereor magis proclivis ne sit, adolescentise fer- vore et aulse quasi aucupio et tendiculis prolectatus. Nec me fugit, quam esse solent omnes aulici ad pollicen- dum largi et prolixi, ad prsestandum tamen tenaces et restricti. Quid, quod nec animi aut ingenii ornamenta, quae in me sunt perexigua, ita ullo judicio sestimant; quemadmodum corporis vires ac prsesidia, quse in me sunt prorsus nulla, ad tempus desiderant. Quod mones, ut hanc conditionem ad quam Dominus Mountjoius me 42 ascham's letters. [1544. invitat, aliquot mensibus experirer et si arrideret amplec- terer; sin minus, ad collegium redirem, quod interim mihi salvum esset; amanter quidem facis, illud tamen consilium hand mihi sequendum esse duco. Nam si ita facerem, vel temeritatis in suscipiendo quod prsestare non potuerim, vel perfidise in deserendo, ut fama esset, cui me addixerim, vel levitatis et inconstantis vivendi rationis, quam sic indies commutarem, insignem quandam notam gravemque reprehensionem apad illos quibus hoc consilium non satis esset explicatum, sustinerem. Ad docendum pueros grammaticam, quam primoribus labiis vix satis ad usum meum degustavi, non perfecte pleneque ut alios cumulate instituerem edidici ; nec re ipsa habilis aut ac- commodatus existo, et ab eo munere quodam animi mei judicio vehementer abhorreo. Stipendium quam vis exi- guum non contemno : namque ipse jam diu satis usu obdurui, ad quamtumvis tenuem et jacentem fortunam excipiendam ; et animus mens (nec hoc dictum arroganter putari velim) nunquam nimis vehementi cupiditate exarsit aut ferebatur ad preecipuam aliquam et affluentem fortunam concupiscendam. Quamobrem, quum aditus homini mese setatis et loci ad aulam vix satis patet tutus, et domum eo consilio regressus non admodum dabitur honestus, et ego ipse ad tale munus nullo modo habilis sum aut aptus, et hac mea mediocri fortuna facile sum contentus, Dom- inum MouNTJOTUM sequo animo laturum spero, si volun- tati ejus hac in parte satisfacere non queo. Verum, ut hsec omnia essent solutissima, alia re istis omnibus longe majori ab hujus muneris susceptione excluderer. Eeve- rendissimo enim Eboracensi omne meum studium jam- pridem, observantiam, et officii rationes deferebam: quo prsesule, nec ad res meas adaugendas magis munificum, nec quicum otium literarum amplexer magis opportunum, quenquam quaerendum mihi esse duco. Cui literas, quas 1544.] ascham's letters. 43 ad eo scribo ut tu tradas, optime vir, vehementer es mihi rogandus. Quod eo impensins a te efflagito, quo magis timeo, ne de ea voluntate, quam in me sponte sua pro- pensissimam contulit, aliorum iniqua perversitas, hac temporum iniquitate, nonnihil detraxerit. Nam neque ullus est tam longinquus locus, quo ea non pervasit (l3Xd€ai enim sunt TrodwKug, ut ait in Antigone Sophocles), nec ullum pectus tam sanctum atque integrum quod ea non attentavit. Nec eo ista dico, quasi conscius mihi sim aliquid a me commissum esse et designatum, quo animus ejus a me ullo modo sit abalienatus : nam, nisi Setonus et Wats ON us studiorum et vitse mese rationis, si requi- rantur, testimonium dederint honestum, non amplius ego te rogabo, in meam gratiam ut ab ore tuo verbum exeat unum. Hoc tamen te non celabo. Proximo anno, ut tu scis, verti Commentarios Grsecos * in epistolam ad Titum, quos quasi observantiee mese sig- nificationem Eeverendissimo Eboracensi ofFerendos esse duxi. Quum ad sedes ejus accesserim, nec in conspectum ejus, quem tum in lecto gra vitas valetudinis detinuerat, venerim, librum ei tradendum Galfrido L^.o fratri ejus committebam. Tradidit, perlegit ; in illo, quod eum ofFenderat invenit : librum remisit non sine munere, ut locum excuterem ; locus hie fuit : f Mtac ywaiKOQ avripy avTrjV, (prjoiv^ddsTio voiiifxr]v fiovrjv r&g rov yafxa jS^eXvacrofxsvovQ, alpeTLKsg EnKTrofiL^SL mq Swafisvovg Kal ya^s iTriaKoirrig tlvoq irpovoeCv. Domum reversus Chrysostomum, ex quo hos commentarios (Ecumenius magnam partem excerpsit, inspexi ; locum inde mutuatum esse facile intellexi : Grsecus Chrysostomus non erat ad manum; quaeso excute tu locum. Et puto ego multa, nascente ecclesia, ^ These commentaries were printed together with Apologia pro Coena Dominica and Themata Theologica^ Lond. 1587. t J^pist. ad Titumj i. 6. 44 ascham's letters. [1544. necessitate quadam fuisse permissa, quae, quum ea ado- leverit et quasi setate grandior facta fuerit, prudentum magistratuum consiliis sint rescissa. Et hoc totum illud est quod te celare nolui. Quam ergo vel reverendissimo patri de me suspicionem vel tibi de toto negotio cogita- tionem hsec res movere potest, plane non video ; hoc scio, me tantum de ulla re quse non esset Integra aut orthodoxa, tum quum eum librum verti, cogitasse, quantmn quid in Utopia ageretur eodem tempore cogitavi. Quamobrem ut fidei et observantise meee, quam omnem j amp rid em ad eum detuli, et ad ejus solius usum at que voluntatem hactenus conservavi, aliqua ratio constet, utque sciet quam gravi animo ferrem, gratiam ejus mihi collectam, cujusvis rei spe vel hominis favore, efiundere et dimittere ; a te per omnia sanctioris nostrse necessitudinis vincula quseso, ut si aliquid de ejus animo erga me extra meam manifestam culpam detrahatur, id tui de me judicii testimonio in integrum mihi restituatur. Tantum enim apud eum opinionis tuse testimonium habiturum est, ut non dubitem quin novus quid em ac singularis gratise cumulus, ad priorem ejus voluntatem, vel levi tua commendatione mihi accessurus sit : id quod si feceris, nec mihi vitseque mese rationibus gratius et commodius, nec tibi veterique mori et perpetuse consuetudini tuae proprius et conjunctius quicquam excogitare potes, Quum hoc facies, vides quan- tum mihi de tua bonitate polliceor, etiam adhuc aliud mihi rogandus es ut facias ; nempe, ut cum Galfrido Lmo vel qui familise reverendissimi patris procurationi prsesit, agas, ut cam pecuniam, quam mihi reverendissimus pater quotannis ad studia literarum sustendanda suppeditat, per te mihi mittat. Summa est quadraginta solidorum ; viginti enim ad festum Michaelis prseteritum debebantur, et tantum hoc tempore recepturus sum : ita enim pecuniam solvendam esse constituit ipse dominus Eboracensis. 1544.] ascham's letters. 45 At vero, si lioc annuum stipendium, in aliquam preebendam quam vocant, vel infimi prsetii et sestimationis, (licet maximum quiddam ad retinendum una cum coUegio mea Lectio Grseca mihi permittat) opera tua et ejus munifi- centia commutaretur, nec tibi ad faciendum mea caussa majus, nec illi ad tribuendum tua petitione facilius, nec mihi, quod vel a te requiram vel ab eo sperem, optabilius possit inveniri. Et hsec hactenus. Nunc vero, ornatissime vir, si tu me interrogares, (utinam tam tibi non esset molestum quam mihi est perjucundum, tecum literis colloqui !) quam mihi vivendi rationem, et studiorum meorum exitum proposuerim, ad quem potissimum omnes curse et cogitationes mese sunt evigilaturse ; ingenue responderem, Yerbi Dei cogni- tionem, Platonis, Aristotelis, Ciceronisque lectione, quasi ministra et ancilla comitatam : et eum finem mihi esse propositum, ad quem reliquum vitse mese cursum, Dei voluntate, intend am atque dirigam. Yerum, si optio mihi daretur, et facultas a Domino Eboracensi concederetur, et fortunarum nostrarum tenuitas pateretur, nihil prius optarem, quam ut aliquem prseclarum virum, qui a regia majestate ad exteras nationes legaretur, aliquot annos comitarer. Nam, ut confido me posse in hujusmodi munere non ineptissime versari, sive Trpbq tov GviKpCKoKoyuv, sive quum res exigeret, ut literse domum mitterentur, quum vir ille magnitudine negotiorum distraheretur, ad ilium laborem aliqua ex parte minuendum; ita plane existimo, talem vivendi ad tempus rationem priori meo proposito nequaquam adversari. Tu fortassis hanc cogi- tationem vanam et inanem esse, et quasi quoddam adoles- centise mese somnium judicabis ; sed utut est, quum hoc consilium meum cum labore et periculo conjunctum sit, quae duse res vitiomm omnium exterminatrices esse solent, quumque nihil longius unquam in optatis meis habui, nisi 46 ascham's letters. [1544. vehementer tibi displiceat, vehementer te rogo, ut liujus voti quum opportunitas id efficiendi tibi dabitur, me quod potes compotem facias. Audivi, quod post rescivi, ultimo anno operam meam ad librum quern E[egi9e] M[ajestati] obtulisti transcribendum pergratam esse potuisse. Doleo profecto, non tam eam mihi occasion em tibi gratum faciendi ita male cecidisse, quam te cogitare aliquod meum officium tibi esse ad requirendum commodum, quod idem ad prsestandum tibi non sit mihi perjucundum. Quamobrem, si vis ut intelligam me a te amari, quuni aliquod opus tuum quod non nimis longum erit operam meam postulabit, tantum quantum cupis de me tibi pol- licere ; nam si quanta est in me id faciendi voluntas, tanta idem efficiendi in me esset facultas, baud profecto quem- quam, qui illud munus vel alacrius susciperet vel ornatius expoliret, in venires, Nec est quod lubentius facerem quam ut aliquot dies apud te ponerem : quae res non tantum tibi usus et opportunitatis ad ullam commodi- tatem, quantum mihi fructus et jucunditatis ad veteris consuetudinis nostrse renovationem asportaret. Yides quam molesta epistola literas tuas compensavi : si scirem tibi illam non nimis displicere, ssepius ad te scriberem. Gratissimum mihi faceres, si de his rebus tribus verbis, vel per Christopheesonum nostrum vel per quemcunque vis, scriberes : nam nihil mihi literarum tuarum sermone jucundius. Yale. XXL— TO CHEKE, (2, 49). Saying that he had written to Lee, Mountjoye, and Eedman a week ago, and that he had just heard of the death of his father, (whose last letter had reached him just before Christ- mas), also about quarrels in the college, which his father advised him to end by leaving Cambridge and following some honest course of life. 1544.] ascham's letters. 47 [Lady Day, 1544]. OANNI CHUCO.—S. P. in Christo Jesu. Ornatissime Cheke, proxima hebdomada ad te per Wilsonum aut Joannem Christo- PHERSONUM scripsissem, sinon eodem tempore ad dominum EBORACENsEM,dominum Mount- JOIUM, et Joannem Redmannum, qui ad me prius, ut domino Mountjoio servirem, scripserat, literas dedissem. Nosti me aliquando tecum de itinere communicasse, quod Londinum ante pascha facerem : quod facere nullo modo possum, absque eo libro quern e Grseco Chrysostomo con- vertendum in manus sumpsi. Te ergo rogo per amicitiam nostram, ut librum Grsecum quam celerrime remittas, vel per Christophersonum, vel per alium qui brevi sit reversurus. Hoec scribit ad te, ornatissime Chece, AscHAMUs tuus lachrymis et gemitibus confectissimus ; qui, paulo antequam has literas scripsi, patrem meum virum prndentissimum e terris ad Christum commigrasse, longe certior quam infirmitas mea cupit factus sum. Et quum hoc solum ad maximum dolorem acerbissimum asset, huic tamen accedit alter longe gravissimus cumulus : nam carissimse matris meoe salutem, quantum ad hanc vitam pertinet, omnes amicimei in desperatissimis habent. O durum fatum ! Quod pi'imum fratrem mihi talem abstulit, qualem non familia nostra, sed vix unquam Anglia tulit ; et nunc simul ambos parentes meos, ne non satis calamitate et undis lachrymarum obruar. ^Quam hoc acerbum sit, tu ipse intelligis, mihi praesertim homini ut scis animo etiam in levioribus rebus valde fracfco et humili. Quid gravius, quid tristius, quam utroque parente simul orbari? 0 me infelicem, qui tuo nunc sermone et coUoquio, solatio mihi desideratissimo privor ! Utinam adesses, mi Chece, ut lachrymas meas apud te effun- derem, ut gemitus et suspiria mea, in prudentissimo et 48 ascham's letters. [1544. suavissimo consilio tuo deponerem. Yerum ita non coii- ficior dolore, ut mei ipsius qui sim, et Dei bonitatis erga illos, quanta fuerat et ad quam decursam et exactam eetatem eos perduxerat, obliviscar. Novi enim banc esse viam universse carnis ; novi etiam, quod me unice consola- tur, bujus vitse exitum melioris vitse ingressionem esse, et bsec spes mea posita est in sinu meo. Meministi, ut opinor, mi Chece, me literas a Patre mep paulo ante Cbristi natalem diem' (et eas beu extremas excepi !) accepisse : quibus me monuit pater, et quasi quodam benedictionis sacramento me obstrinxit, ut quam mox relicta Cantabrigia, ad aliquod honeste vivendi genus me conferrem : nos enim irritare in nos contentionibus nostris gravissimam iram et offensam Dei. Quantum hsec res me tum commovebat, tibi nisi fallor impartiebar. Ea nunc in animo meo ita renovata est, et nocte dieque mibi ita in perpetuis cogitationibus meis versatur, ut nullum dictum EsAT^, Joannis vel Pauli, vel fixius mihi possit inhasrescere vel majus pondus auctoritatis apud me habere. An aliquid monitione patris ad sequendum gravius? irarpoQ TrapdcpaaLQ dpiffrr) cecinit prudentissimus Gregorixjs Nazianzenus. An aliquid ultima patris voluntate, et extremo testamento, ad religiosissime conservandum sanc- tius ? nam has ego extremas literas, banc etiam extremam vocem excipiebam. An hoc mihi leviter imperabat ? An non eo tempore, quo anima ejus jam brevi tempore ad Christum evolatura, de Christo et quae ad Christum per- tinebant philosophata est ? Quum ego ergo tanto paternse monitionis sacramento obstrictus sum, nihil prius habeo^ ornatissime Chece, quam ut te in visceribus Jesu Christi rogem, ut, quemadmodum tu semper, cujus ego rei locupletissimus testis sura, ex quo primum ulla farailiaritas inter nos intercessit, teipsum ad omnes res honestas per- sequendas, non ad uUas vel minimas contentiones susci- 1544.] ascham's letters. 49 tandas, ducem prsebuisti ; ita aliis omnibus, vel his qui in te iniquissimis fuerint animis, ad tranquillitatem inter nos omnes constituendam te auctorem principem praebeas. Nam, quemadmodum illud erat ad sequitatis tuse laudem prasclarissimum, ita hoc erit et ad prudentise tuae commen- dationem, et omnium nostroTum utilitatem perpetuum et immortale monumentum. Et quamvis ethnici quidam honestum bellum inhonestse paci prseferant, licet neque id Ciceroni placeat, tamen vereor ut possint nobis Christi- anis, nobis, inquam, quos idem literarura, vii'tutis, et honestatis studium in unum domicilium conclusit, quos arctior qusedam necessitudo conjunxit, quos tanta literarum et Dei voluntatis cognitio instruxit, satis esse justse caussse, ut sic nonnunquam excandescere, sic semper in diversa studia distrahi uUo modo liceat. Et hie puto ' singulis nobis usurpandum ilium Psalmi versum, Nec declines, Domine, cor meum in verba malitia, ad excusandas excusationes in peccatis. Si pax nobis et animorum con- junctio in integrum restituta fuerit, turn satis me reliquisse Cantabrigiam, juxta patris monitionem, hoc est, e tanta dissensionis confusione liberatum esse putabo. Sin mi- nus, quod omen obruat Deus, suavissimse familiaritati tu9e totum me dedam, et omnibus reipsa placere, nemini vel verbo^ displicere conabor: si neque hoc bene successerit, ab academia, quam primum potuero, discedam. Has literas sic miseras, ut vides, et fere flentes, et ab omni sensu prseterquam doloris vacuas, ingemiscens admodum cogitatio mea vix inter lachrymas meas mihi expressit. Nihil sermone literarum tuarum ad solatium, et doloris levationem potest esse exoptatius. Saluta quseso officio- sissime Henricum Cumberfordum nostrum. Jesus Christus, etc. 4 50 ascham's letters. [1544, XXII.— TO SIR WILLIAM PAGET, (2, 22). Asks his interest in getting the Greek professorship, founded about three years ago [in 1540], by the king ; there are two other candidates for the same. Aseham pleads that he had been appointed with a salary by the university to lecture on G-reek in St J ohn's College, before the regius professorship was founded. He also says that he has written the pubhc dispatches of the university for the last twelve years, and that he has in the press a book about archery, which he hopes to present to the king before he departs, i.e. for the siege of Boulogne, in July, 1544. [1544.] rnatissimo viro. Bom. Gulielmo Fagetto, regio 8ec7'etario. — Quam omnium, qui sese Uteris dediderunt, commune perfugium bonitas tua sit, optime ornatissimeque vir, communis om- nium fere bonorum vox est et prsedicatio. Quse sane res facit, ut ego nunc nec magnitudines ne- gotiorum tuomm, quibus te propter singularem pru- dentiam tuam prudentissimus princeps prsefecit, ullam rationem ducam, nec tenuem mei ipsius conditionem, cui me mea fortuna subjecit, ulla in memoria habeam ; qui sic te a. gravissimis gravissiraorum horum temporum negotiis, quibus in sino;ulas boras circumfusus es, ad banc meam caussam, licet non maxime necessariam non minime tamen nec tibi ad agendum honestam nec mihi ad obtinendum exoptatam, abstrabere studeam. Hujusmodi res est. Graecse linguae professionem quam proximo hoc triennio munificentissimus princeps noster publice in schola Can- tabrigiensi instituit, ambiunt duo juvenes, et literarum ornamentis exculti, et summis summorum amicorum prae- sidiis adjuti. Ego quum hos ope et gratia amicorum aequare nulla ex parte potuerim, non modo omnem spem scd omnem etiam illius rei vel cogitationem abjeci, donee 1544.] ascham's letters. 51 rumor quidam apud nos in Academia percrebuerit, regiam majestatem statuere ei, qui in Greeca lingua periti simus esset, illud manus tribuendum fore. Qua re audita, multi doeti viri de me (quam vere, nescio) optime sane sentientes me non tarn obtinendi spe quam illis morem gerendi voluntate incitarunt, ut Londinum irem, periclita- turus, nunquid Dens orphanorum et pauperum qualis ego sum adjutor meam etiam caussam promovere vellet, qui optime semper potest et incredibiliter ssepissime solet. Dum ego hie in aula inter obscuriores homines obscuris- simus verser, nec eruditionem meam quae ipsa perquam exigua est in contentionem cum illis duobus committere, omni amicorum ope destitutus, ausus fuerim, nec, si maxime auderem, ullam viam qua illud facerera scirem : ecce subito tu, legatione tua ut omnium in ore est pru- dentissime confecta, domum revenis, cum summa omnium optimatum et infimorum congratulatione. Quod ego tum forte praesens, ex Iseto hominum aspectu qui in te omnis conversus est, et ex perpetuo omnium de te sermone, et eo quidem laudum tuarum plenissimo, facillime intellexi. Turn cepi ego multas cogitationes versare, ecquisne tu, quasi Deus dirh /i?;x«^»ic a Deo Optimo Maximo non solum ad Reipublicse salutem sed etiam ad mese caussse suscep- tionem mittereris. Nam vel tum sperabam summam illam probitatem tuam, qua Eegiam Majestatem tibi surame benevolam conciliasti, qua omnium hominum vo- luntates et studia ad te diligendum aggregasti, qua literas et earum cultores uuice amplecteris, qua caussas omnium prudentissime conficis, ad meam etiam caussam aliquid adportaturum. Quamobrem, ornatissime vir, si Eegia Majestas opera et gratia tua hoc munus Grsecse linguae profitendse, modo eruditio mea non ineptissima inveniatur, mihi concesserit, ut quod res est loquar, remuneratio a me nulla expectari potest, sed totum hoc beneficium illi feres 52 ascham's letters. [1544. et ab eodem satis copiosum fructum reportabis, qui dicit Quicquid Jeceritis uni ex minimis istis, mihi feceritis. Quod dictum ab hujusmodi auctore profectum nunquam inane aut irritum fore tu ipse optime nosti. Si qussris momentane ulla sint quae caussam meam adjuvare possunt, sunt quidam nonnuUa et ea non levissima. Nam ante- quam Regia Majestas lectionem suam in Academia insti- tuerit, fui ego adscitus totius Academise suffragiis cum satis luculento stipendio ad Greecam linguam publice pro- fitendam ; et ex eo tempore Gr^ecam linguam quotidie in collegio D. JoANNis, ubi ego socius sum, prselegi. Literse prseterea, quas Academia ad Regiam Majestatem sive ad quoscunque alios honoratos viros hos duodecim annos dedit, a me semper scriptse sunt. Scripsi etiam librum ad Regiam Majestatem, qui nunc sub prsp.lo est, de re Sagittaria^ quam apta sit Anglis, quum domi turn in bello, et quomodo certa qusedam ejus- dem ars tradi possit, ut plenissime ad perfectionem ejus ab omnibus Anglis discatur. Hie libellus, ut spero, quum apparebit in lucem, (quod fiet Deo volente ante Regis protectionem) nec obscurum amoris mei in pa- triam signum, nec mediocris mese eruditionis mediocre testimoniun erit. Qualis sum satis noverunt Dominus CicESTRENSis, Redmannus, et RiDLiEUs, scd optime Joannes Checus si adesset, quicum in studio Grsecarum literarum hos aliquot annos conjunctus fuerim. Et hsec sunt a me non ficta, ut nimis insolenter me ipsum jactem atque venditem ; sed absque omni arrogantia, a qua long- issime abesse cupio, dicta, ut caussam meam apud te, ornatissime vir, quantum possem adjuvem. Si segre fers, quod his literis meis tempora tua atque negotia impe- diantur, tibi ipsi hoc assignare debes, qui sic spectatissima quadam bonitate prsestas, ut omnes ad earn a qui optima sperant provoces. Postremo quicquid in hac re facies. 1544.] ascham's letters. 53 non mihi solum sed literis et Christo Jesu, qui me ut scriberem ad te excitavit, facies. Quern in singulos dies precabor, ut te literis benevolum, et reipublicse salutarem perpetuo conservet. XXIII.— TO CHliKE, (2, 15). Complains of quarrels in the college since Cheke's departure, especially in consequence of Ascham's patronising Grindal, He refers to Archbishop Lee as either dying or already dead, and hopes the bishop of Westminster will succeed him. As he was sealing his letter, he received a message from Madew and Bill, asking him to recommend Grindal to Cheke in London, which he accordingly does. Lee died Sep. 13, 1544. I cannot explain the initials in p. 54. See many names of Fellows of St John's, in a letter to Ireland, dated July 8, 1848. [About Sep. 13, 1544.] rnatissimo vh'o J). Joanni Checo. — Quo majorera voluptatem, semper prsesens ex praesentis tui prudentia, in doraesticis nostris motibus sapi- enter sedandis, literarum studiis diligenter ex- citandis capiebam, ornatissime vir, eo gravius equidem et acerbius nunc fero, talia tempora post tuum digressum esse consequuta, ut eas literas ad te perneces- sario scriberem, quae moerorem meum prsecipuum potius, ex desiderio consiliorum tuorum quibus caruimus, quam uUam communem Isetitiam, ex fructu eorundem quibus non omnes usi fumus, declararent. Eo enim nunc perdu- cimur, ut quid jam amplius ex consensu illo bonorum, ut putabatur, ad literas excolendas, ad turbulentas quorun- dam horamum intolerantias coercendas, licet multum semper caussse susceptse honestate nixo, plurimum taraen prudentiae tuae moderatione hactenus retento, sperandum sit, uescio. Ita omnibus operibus a quibusdam elaboratum est, ut ego, per quern illi ipsi aliquid sunt, nihil jam in posterum momenti, non ad ornandum meos qui semper tui, si qui alii, fuere, sed vix ad hanc tenuitatem meam ascham's letters. [1544. tuendam, expectare queam. Nam nuper, ut rem tibi omnem patefaciam, quurn ego in discernendis lectoribus nostris Grindallum meum propter hominis indigeiitiam adjutare studiosissirae cupiissem, ad illiusque consilii effectum non omnem rationem, sed earn solum quam honestissimam maxime tibi probatum iri sperabam, adhi- buissem, et tantummodo ad M[ad8sum] B [ilium] A . . et ceeteros illius notse viros, nec id ante unum aut alterum diem quam res conficeretur, caussam illam detuli&sem; ecce tibi F . . . et B . . . tuus, consilio sive suo sive H . . . sive utroque perfidiosissirao, junctis copiis cum S . . , et suis, M . . . P , . . et nos omnes de vetere nostra aucto- ritate dejecere, et quum per nos idem quod jam foctum est perficere potuissent, ita tamen belle M ... A ... me et M . . ., quod ille ipse fatetur, contempserunt, ut apertis vocibus jactarint se citra nostram opem et posse et velle quemcumque pro arbitratu suo designare. Quod factum si aut probandum aut ferendum sit, prudentes illi quidem et frugi homines, qui undique utilitati suae consulere possunt; stulti alii, qui ut honestam caussam non de- sererent, et sese ludibrio et suos discrimini extremo sub- jecerunt. Quos turbulentos homines, ut ego tum, prse omni in desiderio meo explendo et in Grindallo meo tuendo utilitate fortiter coutempsi, ita etiam nunc me in eo consilio constitisse sicque per omnia fecisse, vehementer gaudeo atque glorior : ut si postea ex hac tempestate aliquod malum in communes collegii nostri rationes, quas hactenus sartas tectas sola consilii tui gubernatio servavit, redundaverit, et quo turbine illud acciderit, tu a quo non solum amari sed in omnibus factis meis probari volui, plane intelligeres. Sed de levi caussa nirais gravem olFen- sionem me fortasse suscepisse dicis. Profecto, ut leve putetur prsesidis nOstramque senioriam auctoritatem spre- tam et circumscriptam fuisse ! ut hoc condonem, meas 1544.] ascham's letters. 55 spes omnes eo tempore, quum vel ad tuendum meos vel ad Isedendum malevolos maxime valerent, iiianes cecidisse ! ubi nee benevolentia mea ad leniendum, nec facultas ulla nocendi, ad reprimendum tantum illorum odium aliquid momenti habuit ! ut perpetiiae oblivioni hoc dem, Grin- DALLUM meum, ita literis excultum, quod ego certo scio, ut, quum a te ipso et Smith o discesseris, in Graecis literis nemini in hac academia concedat, ita paupertate oppressum ut nec alacritas ad studium nec mediocritas ad victum illi suppetat, ita benevolentia mihi conjunctum ut ejus com- modura incommodumque meum plane existat, a literis quibus excelluerit, a studiis quibus se totum dederit, a me quicum conjunctissime vixerit in perpetuum divelli ! Atque, ut breviter dicam, ut offensiones omnes acerbaque vulnera, quibus vel res nostra publica vel ego affligimur, levissime perferantur, tantam tamen hominum fraudem, perfidiam, calumniam, jactationem et intolerantiam, quae uon jam restincta et sopita conquiescit. sed potius hoc improbo facto quod in malis semper usu venit, quasi novis viribus et alimentis hinc assumptis, in graviorem aliquem aliquando casum inflammata exardescit, pati nuUo modo possum. Nam profecto, ornatissime vir, omnium prse- teritarum rerum eventum quantum vis calamitosum, com- munis concordise caussa oblivione delerem : nisi acerbius quiddam horum hominum consilium nimis perfidiosum in nos et literas portendere, vehementer pertimescerem. Etenim, ubi lucrum non leges, venter non literae, obscurae perfidise non aperta consilia, woXvirpayfioavvt] kindKHa^ furores abjectorum et indignitas non prudentum modera- tiones et auctoritas dominatur, quid amplius vel ulli honestorum hominum consensioni, vel aperto alicui patenti et simplici sperandum sit, non intelligo. Et haec de publica re ; nunc si vacet tibi, pauca de me. Ex profectione tua nihil unquam institui, ornatissime vir, 56 ascham's letters. [1544. cujus non te taciturn probatorera solum sed quasi prse- sentem spectatorem esse volui. Quod ut perficerem, multo quam antea diligentius Uteris, violentis legibus custodiendis, quieti retinendae totum meipsura tradidi. Quod consilium meum quatenus in cseteris rebus omnibus, et in hac etiam novissima re persequutus sum, M[ad8eus] et B[illlus],a quibus nun quam discrepabam,testificari possunt. Cujus etiam quieti consilii, quo malevoli illi ad suam libidi- nem insignem ad meum mserorem ingentemabusi sunt,maxi- mum et honestissimum fructum percepissem, si non pru- dentise tuse gubernatione his temporibus caruissem. Quamobrem, sic de Aschamo tuo perpetuo existima, ut de homine, qui omnes injurias odia et contumelias prius deponeret quam minimam benevolentise tuse partem di- mitteret. Tibi igitur me et omne hoc negotium trado, ut pro aibitratu tuo modereris, quamvis nec ipsa voluntas mea aliquid sit immutata, sed perfidorum hominum in- credibilis perversitas his literis potius expressa, qui, quum me, nisi tu aliter vis, abs se, quem firmissimum retinere potuerunt, abalienaverunt, de veteri tamen mea in communi caussa tuenda sententia minime depulere. Impera igitur mihi quicquid vis, spero tamen effectum iri, ut tua salubri monitione, auctoritas M[ad8ei] quam omnes sequi debemus, non amplius contemnatur, seniorum ratio habeatur, ttoXw- irpay^ocTvvrj insolens jactatio eo, quo locus et ordo postulat, coerceatur : ut aliquando prsemia literarum et honestatis,non in omnium officia sese ingerendo intercipiantur, sed in studia diligenter abdendo conferantur. Nam nisi pruden- tiores observemus, leges nostras custodiamus, studia lite- rarum excitemus, firma aliqua concordia inter nos consistere non potest. Cognosce igitur, prudentissime vir, ac de nobis ac de rebus nostris quicquid vis statue. Hsec de me publico, nunc de me privato. Dominus mens Eboracensis, ut scis, moritur, quo fato fortunulse 15M.] ascham's letters. 57 nostrse multum imminutse sunt. Sed ea res minime omnium me angit. Tamen de alio domino cogito, et de eo qui [est] L.EO successurus multum spero, quicunque is fuerit : nihil in votis majus habeo quam ut optimus praesul Westmonasteriensis ei succedat. Tu si vis, trades me cuicunque vis ; sed si tibi ipsi, nihil spe mea esset expletius. Si aliquid tale in posterum cogitas, felicem me vel levi aliqua significatione redde. Quum has obsignarem literas, ecce Mad^us et Billus ad me, de Grindallo ad te mittendo: quae res propter arctam meam cum eo conjunctionem aliquid coramovit, propter utilitatis tamen suae rationem immensa Isetitia perfudit. Quem horninem de optima noia, ut Cicero noster loquitur, tibi coramendo; quemque diligentia et amore observantissimum, doctrina et studio tuo aptissi- mum, taciturnitate, fidelitate, et abstinentia honestissi- mum, ad quodvis opus tuum faciendum demississimuiu fore, recipio atque promitto. Quamobrem si ad eam voluntatem, quain vel tu olim tua benevolentia vel nuper B[illi] et M[ad8ei] commendatione contulisti, novus cumu- lus his Uteris meis accedat, non in ilium sed in me totuni illud beneficium coUocatum esse putabo. Dominus Jesus solem ilium illustrissimum orientem, patris patriseque spem maxiraam, fidei, tutelje, consiliique tui quadrigis commissum, ab omni occasu immunem sustentet et tueatur. Vale in Christo Jesu. XXIV. TO A FLilEND AT YORK, (2, 17). Tells him that archbishop Lee gave him a pension of forty sliil- lings three years ago : half of which, due at Michaelmas, had not been paid, in consequence of the archbishop's deatli. He asks his friend to get the money, or instead of it, a book called Rhetores Grceci out of Lee's Hbrary : also he wishes to be allowed to edit a work on the Pentateuch which Lee had left in manuscript. 58 ascham's letters. [1544. [about Nov., 1544.] uidam Amico Eboracensi. — Humaiiitas tua facit, ornatissime vir (quam omnes tibi singularem tribuunt), ut ego omnis humanitatis oblitus te, cui obscurus et ignotus sum, literis meis inter- pellem. Pernecessaria tamen res mihi incum- bit, ad quam expediendam, quia tu solus is es, qui tantum facultate potes quantum vis et tantum humanitate tua vis quantum potes, inprimis ad te scribendum esse duxi. In qua re opem tuara non opes ullas expecto et requiro. Ex obitu reverendissimi patris et domini mei Edvardi Eboracensis dolorem cum plurimis communem, jacturam praecipuam et prope singularem accepi. Hie ante trien- nium omnem meam observantiam, obedientiam, et servi- tutem sibi firmissima iide mea devinctam, tenebat stipendio annuo dato quadraginta solidorura. Quae pensio non exhibitionis ut loquimur, sed mercedis nomine mihi quot- annis ad festum Annuntiationis Marine, et D. Michaelis soluta est. Cujus rei locupletissimus testis esse potest D. Langeriggus, qui turn prsesens fuerit, quum reve- rendissimus pater fidem meam sibi obligabat. Yiginti solidos hoc proximo superiore festo Michaelis recepissem, quam pecuniae summam eo justius me posse exigere videor, quod ceteri reverendissimi patris famuli omnes, ut intelligo, integra stipendia sua obtinuerint. Qua pecunia si carerera, eo gravius ferrem si solus carerem. Et quum ea pecunia nec ita magna sit, ut pensio ejus his qui reverendissimi * patris voluntatem exequuntur gravis esse possit, nec ita exigua, quin tenues studiorum meorum rationes plurimum sit levatura ; obsecro te per humanitatem tuam, humanis- sime vir, et per cam voluntatem tuam qua literas et literatos omnes unice fovere diceris,ut tantum laboris, opis,et gratiae tuae. huic petitioni meae tribuas, quod sine magna molestia tua fiat, quantum ad hanc exiguam pecuniam obtinendam 1544..] ascham's letters. 59 satis esse potest. Pecuniane mihi solvatur an aliquot ex ejus Grsecis libris mihi concedantur, non magnopere euro ; prsecipue si illi in numero oratorum, philosophorum, aut historicorum fuerint. Est liber Grsecus, qui Decern RJie- tores nominatur; continet enim orationes ^schinis, Lycurgi, Dinarchi et aliorum; hunc vehementer ex- peto, quia apud nos parabilis non est. Istum iibrum si vel ad eum modum quern dixi, vel pecunia mea mihi comparare potueris ; rem,: non gratissimam solum et perpetua recoidatione mihi usurpandam, sed omni mea observantia tibi compensandam facies. Et hsec omnis mea petitio est, quam tibi significandam hisce litevis esse duxi. Ad quam adjuvandam literas ornatissimi prsesulis D. Georgii Daii CiCESTRENSis episcopi, facillime para- vissem, nisi in hac ego semper fuissem sententia, hujus- modi omnia intempestiva literarum subsidia, prudentibus viris non tam molesta, quam supervacauea existere. Quamobrem me et caussam meam omnem in unius tui benevolentise sinum depono ; cui tantum tribues quantum vis, tantum scio voles quantum ipsa caussa, literarum studia, tenues fortunse mese, sive singula hyec petere, sive ea universa exigere, ullo modo videri possunt. Est et alia res quam tibi participare volo. Eeverendus pater mihi ipse narrabat, se scripsisse in universum Pe7itateuchum Mosis, et quantum ego tum ex sermone ejus elicere potuerim, in animo habere ut liber ille excusus in vulgus appareret. Si hie liber opera tua in lucem et conspeetum hominum prodire potest, ea res et tibi prse- claram laudem et reverendi patris nomini immortale decus, et Christianse religioni omni immensum quendam fructum et emolumentum aliquando est paritura : quum tam pauci sunt ex veteribus, qui eos libros fuse planeque explicare videntur. Si munus prsefandi in eos libros mihi imposueris, non onus sed honorem eximium mihi 60 ascham's letters. [1544. attuleris. Quam operam libentius susciperem, ut auctori libri nescio cujus Pasquilli respondeam, qui prseter alias maculas gravissimas nomini reverendissimi patris aspersas, tribuit ei etiara in dialogo quodam personam indoctissimi et barbarissimi qusestionistse : quum ego tamen noverim ilium omnis elegantiae et purse dictionis amatorem prseci- puum, ad quam rem perpoliendam non me semel exbor- tatus est. Hujusmodi liominum obtrectationes silentio prudentissime obruerentur, si non immoderate nimis pro- cacitate linguae abuterentur. De commentariis reveren- dissimi patris in lucem divulgandis plurimi hie idem quod ego sentiunt : facias tamen, prudentissime vir, quod tibi hac in re consultissimum fuerit. Si de universa barum literarum ratione, quum primum opportunitas tabellarii oblata tibi fuerit, quid sentias tribus verbis significares, singulari humanitati tuse hoc esset tribuendum. Yale. XXV.— TO JOHN SETON, (2, 18). Speaks of the departure of Grindal, and of the death of Arch- bi!»hop Lee ; and proposes to secure, if he can, the patronage of the bisliop of Winchester instead of Lee's, which he bad lost. [About Nov., 1544.] Joanni Setono. — Quid scribam nunquam mihi deesse potest quoties ad Setonum scribo. Quod sane libenter semper facio, nunquam 3 tamen libentius quam hoc tempore, quum me et mea sponte currentem vehementer ad id incitavit etiam Watsonus noster. Ecce Thomas Thwa- tus tuus discipulus est, ad cujus rei effectum, mirifice singuli sed potissimum Thwatus et Madjeus, et id tua caussa, elaborarunt. Qua in re quicquid ego feci, abun- dantia amoris erga te feci, et illud totum quicquid fuit, et jampridem debeo tibi, et plus eo, si usus ad id unquam 1544.] ascham's letters. 61 tulerit. De Grindallo meo, de qua re mecum aliquid B[illusJ noster, stomachari tibi non possum, cui aliquid certo scio tribuisses, si aliquid tibi rogatu meo iraposuis- sem. Amisi ego fidelissimum amicum, amisit collegium doctissimum virum, cui parem, quod audeo dicere, quum a Watsono discesseris, non habemus. Hinc migravit, ut scis, in meliorem sedem reverendis- simus pater et dominus mens D. Eboracensis ; ex cujus obitu animus mens dolorem cum plurimis commuuem, fortunse mese jacturam praecipuam et prope singularem exceperunt. Alius dominus mihi quserendus est. Nemo omnium est, cui potius me et omnem observantiam meam traderem, quam ornatissimo Wintoniensi tuo, qui quum sit omnium doctissimus, quid etiam docti sint optime novit. Molestus esse ei non cupio, nec tam opes quam opem ejus requirere volo. Puto me usui illi aliqua ex parte esse posse. Si tu ita vis, scribam ad eum, vel Grsece vel Latine vel utrumque, vel ex alterutra lingua versum vel ex meo cerebro profectum. Sin tu non vis, non faciam. Quid mihi in hac re faciendum est, tu optime potes vel consulere propter prudentiam, vel monere propter amicitiam, vel imperare propter auctoritatem. Quas singulares facultates, sive ingenii sive bonitatis tuse, ut in aliis rebus singulas ssepenumero periclitatus sum, ita in hoc gravi flexu fortunarum mearum, non sine gravi causa universas vehementer expecto. Si me amas ergo, quam primum poteris, quid auctor mihi eris Uteris tuis suavissimis mihi significa. Te in quartanam incidisse graviter fero, quod consilium meum in ea re requiris amanter accipio. Quod igitur vel usu vel auditione cog- novi, id tibi libenter defero, id quod ut plurimum prosit tibi vehementer exopto. Eescribe quseso; nihil litera- rum tuarum sermone dulcius esse potest. Vale. 62 ascham's letters. [1544. . XXVI.— TO W. GEINDAL, (2, 19). Laments his absence, and speaks of his cubiculum or college- room where he no longer saw Grindal ; also of the quarrels and heart-burnings which had lately been going on in the college. uL Grindallo suo. — Quo arctiore benevolentiee vel pietatis potius necessitudine nos inter nos aliquot hos annos conjuncti fuimus, eo et acer- bius digressum tuum quotidiana cogitatione usurpo, et molestius oculos meos in bis bomini- bus intuendis defatigo, qui in nos deferendo perfidise crimen subire, quam in te tuendo amicitise nomen retinere maluerunt. Quam eorum sive malevolentiam, sive contu- meliam, sive injuriam, utriusque sane nostri acerbissimum dolorem ut communi concordise demus, ut Uteris et magno illi Checo remittamus, ut Christo Jesu hoc totum quicquid sit condonemiis, nostram tamen suavissimam vitse con- suetudinem ita proditam et distractam esse, baud secus fero quoties de ea cogito, (toties autem cogito quando- cunque te in cubiculo meo, in cibo, in ambulationibus, in studiis meis non video), quam hi homines faciunt, qui grave aliquod vulnus faciei inflictum et eminens, ab inimicissimis acceptum, cicatrice nulla nisi deformissima obducendum identidem in speculo contemplari solent. Nec vulnus certe uUi ullum humanse societati gravius im- poni potest, quam ab eo abstrahi, quem in omni pietatis officio carissimum, morum suavitate conjunctissimum, obsequio pupillum, consilio veluti tutorem quendam semper habere licuerit. Qui ergo te mihi abstulerunt, mi Grin DALLE, non divitias sed ipsam vitse mese animam exhausisse videntur. Quorum opera eloboratum est, ut necessario ad ea remedia compingamur, quae ut sunt ex- trema in amicitia, ita vel rarum vel obscurum semper consolationis levamen afferre solent ; et quae partam 1544.] ascham's letters. 63 amicitiam tueri, non veterem cumulo aiiquo et accessioLe augere possunt. Literas dico, quamra crebritate non solum utriusque nostrum absentis desiderium deliniri, sed notitia nostra hactenus semper mutuis officiis culta sanctissime et confirmata, utcunque contineri potest. Dum hsec scribo, mi Grindalle, quantum angor vel stomacho propter hominum indignitatem, vel moeroris acerbitate propter absentis tui desiderium, melius tu cogitatione quam ego scriptura coUigere potes : ab ea re igitur paululum abducere me ipsum volo, ut scias quid hie rerum geratur. Conierus et ego in cubicula nostra, et si vis in studia nostra in singulos dies abdimus, te optamus, jucundissimum consuetudinis tuse fructum desi- deramus. Desunt reliqua. XXVIL— TO AUCHBISHOP CHANMER, (2, 51). Asks the Archbishop to grant him a dispensation, that he may not be obliged to eat fish, which he says always disagreed with his stomach, but may eat flesh on fast days. He alludes, in very general terms, to the studies and theological disputes going on at Cambridge, and also to the boyish age of the students, none of whom carried on their studies t-o any degree of perfection, as formerly. He says that Cheke's departure from Cambridge [July 10, 1544] to be tutor to Edward VI, had done great harm to that univerrity. [Jan. 1545.] everendissimo in Christo Patri ac Domino, Do- mino ThomcB Cantuariensi Archiepiscopo, litera- rum patrono maximo — Nec tibi novum literas ab obscuris et ignotis ho minibus accipere, nec homini mei loci insolens et inauditum esse potest, ad tantum virum libenter velle scribere, ornatissime preesul. Nam dum in te tantum emineat bonitatis et eluceat ad quemvis provocandum, et nobis, qui nosmet 64 ascham's letters. [1544. ipsi literarum studiis dederimus, tot monumenta suppe- tant ad excitandum ; dum alter rerum inopia urgeatur, alter studio sese venditandi efferatur ; singuli singulis, et una aliqua certe caussa fere omnes, vel necessario com- pulsi vel sponte sua adducti ad id faciendum fuerint; literas profecto nec tibi accipiendi occasio nec nobis scribendi opportunitas unquam deesse potest. Novum ergo non tibi usu recipiendi, sed novum fortasse more scribendi, novus homo a te postulo, eruditissime preesul. Quod veteri tamen non novo aliquo modo ut accipias, omnem veterem humanitatem tuam vehementer rogo. Rogo autera, non opes tuas aut quicquid illius generis sit, sed opem tantum tuam et aliquam gratise et auctori- tatis tuse partem, quae et tibi erit ad tribuendum facilis atque prompta, et eadem mihi ad capiendum optata ad- modum erit et jucunda. Verum si quis sim et quid petam scire aves, is sum profecto, quem fortuna tenuem et ob- scurum, sedes Cantabrigiensera, institutum vitse perpe- tuum literarum cultorem, natura imbecillem valetudo me- lancholicum reddit. Sed quorsum hsec pertinent ? dicis. Ut scias, quum Dei inprirais provisio, amicorum aliquid cura, nonnihil mea me voluntas, omnem ut setatem meam in literarum studio contererem, commovisset, atque in ipsam studiorum viam non infeliciter ingressus fuissem : ecce tibi, partim otiosum boc literarum stadium, et vitse institutum quod sequor, partim situs loci et cceli intemperies in qua vivo, partim imbecillitas naturae et febris quartanae vis qua non paucos menses gravissime jactabar, ita omnes salutis meae et salubrioris sanitatis rationes, vel urgent baec singula vel opprimunt universa ; ut eum cursum, quem in litera- rum studio conficere instituerim, nec constanter ad laudem nec diligenter ad usum diu tenere potuero. Itaque quum nec meae me fortunae sinant hoc solum sedis mutatione 1544.] ascham's letters. 65 vertere, nee mea voluntas, et animi inductio gestiant vitse institutum relinquere, nee curatio uila possit naturae imbecillitatem corrigere, nec tempus adhuc voluit amissas vires restituere, vel colluviem iilam fBecemque melancholiae et reliquias quartanse febris ejicere : et quum me contra ab Optimo remedio vict usque ratione excludunt partim constitutiones humanse, in quas impetum facere nefas esse duco ; partim superstitiosse aliquot hominum conscientiae, quarum nullam ducere rationem iniquum esse scio ; quum inquam, fortunarum angustia, loci intemperies, studiorum rationes, naturae imbecillitas, melancholiae vis, lex dura, hominum sive imperitia sive superstitio, gravi impetu in salutem corporis facto, immensum in modum cursum studiorum meorum impediunt ; rogo dominationem tuam per banc Academiae sedem [quam incolo, per vitae studio- rumque rationem quam sequor, per naturae valetudinisque imbecillitatem, qua graviter implicatus premor ; ut ego, auctoritate tua, non amplius tenear ea traditione, qua certus ciborum delectus certis temporibus praecipitur. Quam meam petitionem nec cura carnis ad concupiscen- tiam finxit, nec licentia ulla ad insolentiam subornavit ; sed salutis meas ratio tantum, ad expeditiorem studiorum meorum progressum excogitavit. Cujus si compos fuero, vulgi neo in offensam nec in sermonem efferendo, sed tacite, confiiderate, quiete, abstinenter cum gratiarum actione usurpabo. Qui nemini nisi desperato morbo laboranti han€ libertatem concedunt, perinde faciunt, ac hi homines solent, qui nunquam aedes suas nisi vetustate ruinosas et jamjam coUapsuras reparant. Frugi patres familias aliter faciunt, aliter periti medici, qui non sero medicinam parant, at principiis semper obstare solent. Itaque, qui nunquam nisi desperata salute hujus divini beneficii usum hominibus impartiunt, et imperiti sunt, quid prudens in omnibus rebuspublicis provisio facit, et 5 66 ascham's letters. [1544, nimis insolenter abutentes sunt divinitus nobis dato bono, quo tempore u^us ejus aut nullus aut exiguus esse potest; quum tamen hujusmodi bonum bonun non est quia ex- ternum est, nisi ex ea parte tantum quatenus usus aliquis ejus consequatur. Cibo ergo non ad desperatos morbos inutiliter abuti ; sed ad salutem vitse nostrse retinendam accommodare debemus, jubente ipso Paulo : ubi ait, Aib TrapaicaXuj vfiaQ irpoaXaPeiv rpocprjv. rSro yap Trpbg t7]v vfierspav aiDTripiav virapxei, Sed banc causam urgere nec loci op- portunitas nec epistolae modus nec temporum tuorum ratio nec rei uUa obscuritas requirit, eruditissime prsesul. Unum hoc tamen tacitus prseterire nullo modo possum, quod Herodotus in Euterpe, de sacerdotibus^gyptiis memorise prodidit. Hi homines, quum ab illis tanquam ab ipsis fontibus omnes artes omniaque disciplinarum genera pro- fluxerunt, quod Homerus, Pythagoras, et Plato, tres viri omnis doctrinse et ingenii principes, eo nomine Egypto peragrata intellexerunt, in studio literarum semper versati, et in naturae virtutisque contemplatione omnem et mentis cogitationem et eetatis cur sum conterentes, ab omni piscium esu, religione quadam obstricti, perpetuo abstinebant, ob banc caussam solam, sine omni con- troversia, ne ignea vis ingenii atque prsestantia ullo frigido succo, quem esus piscium ingeneraretj extingue- retur. Et hie inique comparatum est, ornatissime prsesul, ut quum tot superstitionum genera ab Egyptiis, quod facile probari potest, primum ad Grsecos deinde ad Romanos redundarunt, post in nostra tempora per sentinam illam Papisticam derivata sunt, unum istud praeclarum sapientissimorum virorum consilium ac remedium ad doc- trinam amplificandam susceptum, sic asset vel ab indoctis propter imperitiam, vel ab imbecillis propter superstitionem, cum magno magnorum ingeniorum incommodo, nobis interceptum. Itaque quum nemo melius quam dominatio AS€HAM's lettees. 67 tua intelligat, unde haec consuetudo orta sit, a quibus alta atque fota sit, per quos ad nos deducta sit, et per quos potissimum ad nos pertineat: et quum omnis sit esus piscium vernis temporibus ineptus, uliginosis locis inutilis, studio rum nostronim ratio nibus insalnbris, valetudini melancholicae pestiferus, et stomacho meo semper odiosus, precor te per literas ipsas, quibus omnia tribuere soles, ornatissime prassul, ut quemadmodum ego in possessionem liujus libertatis irruere nunquam instituerim, ita per tuam auctoritatem liceat mihi quiete in eam immigrare, Quam si integram recuperare, et in ea sedem ac domicilium col- locare non permittis, at saltem vel pedem ponere, et in ea si non domum ad habitationem, certe diversorium aliquod ad commorationem, condonare mihi velis. Nummum quo rediman istud mihi, nullum habeo, praeter unicnm ilium exiguum, quem concredidit mihi coelestis ille paterfamilias, quem profecto integrum, ut aliqua veteris libertatis possessio redhibeatur, vel e Graecis Latine vertendo, vel publice in Academia, vel privatim in hoc collegio sive Grsecum sive Latinum pro tenui mea facultate prselegendo, ad arbitrium nutumque domina- tionis tu8e erogabo. De hac re aliquid a te, vel hac lata conditione, in summa ista gratia et auctoritate tua, me impetraturum spero, quum ego certus sum quod quantum apud alios magna pecuniae vis extorquendo possit expri- mere, tantum apud dominationem tuam ipsum literarum nomen exorando soleat obtinere. Et ipse etiam scis, hujusmodi libertatem sequius literarum studiosis, ad salu- tem suam retinendam dari, quam uUam licentiam, in nescio quos homines, ad libidinem suam explendam con- ferri debere. Eem omnem cognoscis, cui tantum tribues quantum vis, tantum scio voles quantum honesta petitio ab sequissima auctoritate sperare, et literarum cultor ab earundem vero antistite et summo patrono expectare debet. 68 ASCHAM^S LETTEKS. [1544. Et quia longo sermone literarum mearum jampridem scio me nimis insolenter humanitate tua abusum esse, et omnes verecimdise fines transisse : libet profecto nun0 ipsius * CiCERONis consilio uti, et beiae naviterque im- pudentem esse. Si cupias igitnr scire, quam iloreat academia, quis fructus literarum apud nos sit, meam seii- tentiam sic paucis explicabo. Ad sacrarum literarum cognitionem viam alFectant plurirai, ad eum tamen diversi homines dirersa voluntatum studiorumque ratione deiec- tati, alium atque alium aditum sibi patefaciuiit. Quidam et hi sane multi insano tamen judicio immensum quantum Pigio tribuunt ; et in ilia controversia de Peccato Origi- nali, ac Prsedestinatione Dei, ejus vestigiis insistentes, praecipites in errorem ferri malunt, quam cum divo AuGUSTiNO rectam viam persequi : qui, et ingenii erudi- tionisque prsestantia superiore et industria, opportuni- I tateque id plenissime illustrandi majore, reliquos omnes, qui setate aut antegressi aut subsequnti sunt, superavit. Alii ad quotidianam verbi Dei lectionem, Augustini inprimis sententiam et earn quam possunt maximam lin» guarum cognitionem quasi subsidio comparant. Linguae passim ab iis discuntur, qui quum discendi, tum intelli- gendi magistri optimi habiti sunt : ut nec ratio propter infantiam nimium obmutesceret, nec oratio propter im- prudentiam loquaciter insolescere queat. Ad hanc rem Platonem et Aristotelem, ex quorum fontibus inter Grzecos loquens ilia prudentia optime hauriri potest, adhibemus : ad quos, e Latinorum turba, solum fere CicERONEM adjungimus. Herodotus, Thucydides, et Xenophon, tria temporum, veritatis, et Grsecse elo- quentise lumina, magnum splendorem ceteris studiis nostris apportant. Homerus, Sophocles, et Euripides, ele- gantis omnis doctseque poeseos hie fons illi duo flumina, * Ad Fam. L. v. JEpisf. 12. ad Lucceium. 1544.] ascham's letters. 69 affluentius nunc ad ceterorum studiorum nostrorum irri- gationes redundant, quam his proximis superioribus annis Terentius ac Virgilius. Etin hanc optimam studendi viam, potissimum Joannis Checi vel ope ae prassidio adjuti, vel consiiio et exemplo excitati, plurimi sese dedi- demnt, cujiis a nobis digressum, per quern in tarn facilem paratumque ciirsum producti fuerimus, eo facilius ferimus qiio eertius cognoscimus, banc nostram incommoditatem cum universse reipublicae comnaodo ac saliite conjunctam et implicatam esse. Hinc tamen facile quam vera ilia Flatonis sententia sit, intelligi potest, nempe plurimum reipublicae interesse, ut unus aliquis existat semper praes- tans excellensque vir, ad cujus virtutis imitationem ceteri voluntate, industria, studio, et spe erecii totos sese effin- gant et accommodent. Istis studiorum nostrorum rationibus, hoc modo satis in pi'seclaro cursu expeditis, duo inferuntur gravissima impedimenta : alterum, quod nescio quo fato vel potiu« quorum facto effectum sit, ut pauci admodum majores natu viri in Acadcmia commorentur, qiiorum exemplo stiidia literarum excitari, auctoritate mores adolescentium fingi atque formari rectissime potuissent, alterum, quod illi fere omnes qui hue Cantabrigiam confluunt, pueri sunt divitumque filii, et hi etiam qui nunquam inducunt animum suum, ut abundanti aliqua perfectaque eruditione perpoli- antur, sed ut ad alia reipublicae munera obeunda levi aliqua et inchoata cognitione paratiores efficiantur. Et hie singularis qusedam injuria bifariam academiae inten- tata est ; vel quia hoc modo omnis expletse absolutaeque doctrinae spes longe ante messem, in ipsa quasi herbes- centi viriditate, praeciditur; vel quia omnis pauperum inopumque expectatio, quorum aetates omnes in literarum studio conteruntur, ab his fucis eorum sedes occupantibus, exclusa illusaque praeripitur. Ingenium enim, doctrina, 70 ascham's letters. [1544. inopia, judicium, nil quicquam domi valent, ubi gratia, favor, magnatum literge, et alise persimilcs extraordinariss illegitima^que rationes vim foris adferunt. Hinc quoque illud accedit incommodum, quod quidam prudentes viri nimis segre ferunt partem aliquam regise pecuniae in collegiorum socios impartiri ; quasi illi non maxime indi- geant, aut quasi ulla spes perfectse eruditionionis in ullis aliis residere potest, quam in his, qui in perpetuo literarum studio perpetuum vitse suse tabemaculum col- locarunt. De bac re longiorem sermonem habere potu- erim, quam epistolse modus postulat ; at hsec breviter at- tingere volui, ut studia nostra nee qunm progrediuntur gaudio tuo ad congratulationem, nec quum imped iuntur consilio tuo ad opitulationem carere uUo modo possint r quoniam tu is es qui Uteris progredientibus plurimum gau- dere soles propter singularem tuam erga illas voluntatem j et eisdem laborantibus unice mederi potes propter summam tuam auctoritatem. Yale literal um decus et ornamentumv XXVIII.— TO PONET, (2, 52), Asks Ponet to back up the petition contained in the last letter to Cranmer, that he may be allowed to eat flesh on fast days : also asks the loan of Gregory Nyssen from Ponet or the archbishop. [About Jan., 1545.] matissimo mro D. Poneto^ S.P. — Ornatissime PoNETE. Literas scripsi ad Eeverendissimum patrem Cantuariensem, quas si tu ope tua et gratia qua plurimnm apud ilhim vales adju- turus sis, et mihi rem gratissimam et amicitia nostra dignissimam facies. Opem ejus non opes ulla& peto, et earn etiam quse non foris molestiam adfert. No» enim ut literas scribat, non ut quicquam a quoquam meo nomine impetret requiro ; sed quse tota in ejus potestate sita est, quaeque illi ad tribuendum expedita, et mihi ad accipiendum necessaria, et tibi ad juvandum ope tua ad- 1545.] ascham's letters. 71 modum lionesta erit. Peto ut ejus auctoritate non am- plius illaqueer ea traditione, qua certus ciborum delectus certis temporibus interdicitur. Hsec una res omnes vitse studiorumque meorum ratioiies vehementer impedit. Ut hoc a reverendissimo patre postularem, commovebat loci situs qui frigidus et uliginosus est ; vitse institutum quod otiosum est ; natura corporis, quse imbecilla est ; valetudo qu^ melancholica est, propter reliquias quartanse febris, a quibus diim integre liberari nequeo; et stomacbus etiam meus, qui a nulla re perinde ac ab esu piscium semper abhorruit. Non abs re hoc jam petere videor, dum adhuc in aliquo consistunt statu vires corporis mei, et antequam morbo nimium inclinentur. Nam nun- quam frugi visi sunt mihi illi patresfamilias, qui nequaquam sedes suas nisi ruinosas et coUapsuras reparare solent : qui sic faciunt rem nunquam faciunt. Hane rem apud reverendissimum patrem non urgeo, vel quia non opus est, vel quia id te facturum si res ita tulerit spero. Quamob- rem, si ope tua et iilius auctoritate hoc mihi concedatur ; nee tibi ad faciendum mea caussa majus, nec illi ad tribuendum tua petitione facilius, nec mihi certe hoc tempore, quod vel a te requiram vel ab eo expectem op- tabilius accidere potest. Certiorem me quseso facias Uteris tuis, quid reverendissimus pater de petitione et literis meis sentiat : nihil gratius facies. Nihil enim sermone literarum tuarum jucundius esse potest : literis tuis me tibi devincies ut ssepissime scribam ad te, modo hoc non molestum tibi fuerit. Gregorium Nyssenum Gi*£ecum, si habes, doctissime Ponete, ad tempus mutuo libentis- sime sumerem : sin tu non habes, rogo te per vetustatem amicitise nostree, ut ilium a reverendissimo patre ad aliquot menses mihi impetres : quod si facies, quam gratam rem facies proximis literis meis declarabo. Vale in Christo ornatissime Ponete. 72 ascham's letters. [1545. XXIX.-~TO AECHBISHOP CEANMEK, (2, 53). Thanks the archbishop for the kind manner in which (as James Bingham tells him) he had received Ascham's former letter. He requests the archbishop to let Ponet give the seal for the license to Dr Tailer, Master of St John's, who will bring it to Cambridge. Tailer resigned in 1546. [About Jan. 1545.] everendimmo in Chruto patri ac domiyho, Domino Tkoma Archiepiscopo Cantmriensi, — Literas meas ad eum modum quena mihi vetulit Fa- COBIJS BrNGAMUS, a te fuisse aceeptas, orna- tissime pr8esul,singularis cujiisdam humanitatis tuse illustre fuit et expressum signum : meam antem de ciborum delectu petitionem tarn prudenti facilitate a te esse concessam, exiraise bonitatis tuss in tuenda studio- sorum salutis incolumitate sincerissimum est testimonium. Sed tenuitatem fortunarum mearum, tanto tuo sumptu, in ea pro regio sigillo solutione esse alievatum, perpetuum apud me semper divinss liberalitatis tu8& repositum erit monumentum. Quum ergo pro singulari tua in literis meis accipiendis humanitate, pro eximia tua in eoncedenda petitione mea bonitate, pro ampla tua in rerum mearum angustia levanda liberalitate, gratias quas agerem tibi, vulgares tantum habeam et tritas quas referrem tibi aut nuUas aut perexiguas, et tamen pro tanto beneficio debeam tibi longe maximas; video sane earn tantum mihi re- munerandi tibi rationem reliquam esse, qu8& tamen ipsa, uti spero, et mese facultati erit ad perficiendum aptissima, et dominationis tuse voluntati ad accipiendnm gratissima, nimirum, ut literarumstudium assidua persequar diligentia, singulare hoc beneficium tuum perpetua nsnrpem memoria, facultate ista a te mihi concessa considerata semper per- fruar prudentia. De sigillo licentise mese quod nec ipse scripserim nec ad dominationem tuam accesserim, caussa 1545.] ascham's letters. 73 fuit, quia in eis locis ex eo tempore semper commoratus es quo nullu3 certus tabellarius proficiscebatur, cui vel recte liter se mese vel tuto sigillum illud committi potuerat. Nunc rogandus es, per humanitatem tuam, ut illud per PoNETUM nostrum Domino Tailero prsefecto nostri ooUegii concedatur. Breviter et indiligenter nunc scribo, ornatissime prsesul, quia valetudo mea hos duos fere menses, ardentissima febri afflicta, accuratiores scribere non permittit: postea Deo volente diligentius. Jesus Christus, &c. XXX.— TO GRINDAL, (2, 20). Complains of the blank which Q-rindal had left by his departure from Cambridge : tells him he had written a long letter to Archbishop Cranmer ; that he had received Cheke's Chry- sostom, and that he is wholly taken up with writing his Toxophilus. Cheke's translation is dated 1545, which de- termines the date of this letter, as the Toxophilus was pub- lished in the same year. It also determines the dates of the letter to Cranmer [XXVII] and the two which follow it. Feb. 13, [1546.] idem* — Salve et vale, carissime Grin dalle. Hoc exordio libenter utor, quoniam fere nihil suppetit quod attexam. Potes per Pull^enum nostrum bene et tute scribere quicquid vis, et in primis ecquidne placeat tibi ilia vivendi via, in quam me invito te ipse dedisti. Utinam te ipsum nos- cere voluisses, et quantum tibi momenti ad summam eru- ditionem infuderit Deus agnoscere sustinuisses. Hoc modo, ut nihil gravius dicam, et amicis tuis summum luctum et malevolis immensum gaudium attulisti. Post * This italic superscription must have been added by G-rant, in whose edition this Letter follows a previous one also ad- dressed to Grrindal. We have retained all the italic headings unaltered. 74 ascham's letters. [1545. tuum a me digressum, quicum perpetuo vixissem, nimias amicitiarurn propinquitates fugiam : sunt enim homini inepto et vix satis ad res perferendas confirmato, qualis ego sum, moeroris et curamm plenissirase. Sequar jam iliud sapientis, ama tanq;unm osurus * sed aliquando quum otium fuerit, efFundam in sinum tuum omnes animi mei cogitationes. Quum in aula principis sis, nihil audeo scribere quod secretum esse velim: vereor ne quidam homines nimis sint suspiciosi et curiositatis pleni. Quoties scribis ad me, scribe quas literas et ad quem diem datas a me recipis. Per Ruddum nolui scribere, nunquam enim fiet meo suasu ut ullius gratia relinquas Academiam, nedum Euddi. Sciipsi longissimas literas ad Dominum Cantuaei- ENSEM : si magister noster nondum obsignaverit, vellem ut iegeres et de tota illarum literarum ratione ad me scriberes. Non omnino dedo me acerbitati et luctui; canimus, sed turn tui maxime pungit desiderium. Feci ego rhythmum quendam Latinnm in modos iilius can- tilense My little pretty one, de Natali Edvardi principis. Dialogum fecit Christophorus hoc nataii, et in eo lepidissime Cant. Utrumque mittam ad te, si adhuc delectaris hujusmodi nugis. De corona nihil audeo, quam misit Dormerg. tibi pro loco pensionarii tui. Eecepi Chrysostomum summi Checi nostri cum tua prsefixa epis- tola ; nihil legi avidius. Irelandus et Eavenus diebus singulis festis cum Grseco conferunt : volo enim ut cum eruditione pietatem imbibant : alias in Platone et Cicerone toti sunt. Saluta quseso mihi heroicum ilium herum tuum, apud quem quaeso de me ssepissime loquitor ; nam nihil seque peto quam ut nunquam dimittam gratiam iilius viri. Est hoc stulte a me petitum, Grindalle, sed omnes meas stultitias libenter apud te efFeram : facit hoc nostra amicitia, facit studium meum quo rapior ad Checum 1545.] ascham's letters. 75 perpetuo admirandnm. Queeso, mi Grin dalle, elabora ut placeas hero tuo : nihil Deo, hero, mihi jam acceptius esse potest. Scribe quoeso seepius ad Magistrnm Cheke ; Ula res erit gratior hero tuo quam uUum aliud officium, nihil erit magis ex usu tuo. Totus sum in Toxophilo meo, seposui Herodotum ad tempus. Si scripsissem Toxo- philum Latine, videor potuisse mediocriter illud munus ornare : meo nomini melius consuluissem, sed non his qui cum lib rum libentissime lecturi sunt. Yides, ut prseter expectationem abripior in longissimam confabulationem i sed nihil facio libentius, quam tecum loquor. Tabellarius non sinit me plus scribere. Scribe longissime XIII Febr. XXXL~TO THE PRINCESS ELIZABETH, (2, 21). A letter of praise for her progress in learning, under the tuition of Lady Champernown and William Grrindal ; and exhortation to make further progress therein. [Date between 1545 and 1547.] Uustrissimce D. Elizabethce, — Ad te scribere, illustrissima Elizabetha, magisne abster- reret dignitas tua an invitaret bonitas, multum diuque dubitavi. At quum cogitatione com- plexus sum, quanta me et ab sen tern memoria et prsesentem ssepe humanitate prosequuta es, malui certe committere, ut importunitatis potius in scribendo accu- sares quam taciturnitatis uUius ingratee in [non] scribendo convinceres ; et facilius passus sum meum nimium repre- hendi officium, quam meum ingratum culpari silentium ; quum certissime sciam literas meas amplitudini tuse molestas esse non posse. Et quum mihi infinita sup- petant ad te scribendi argumenta, nihil tamen lubentius facio quam gratulor tibi, quod tanta fortunes natureeque ornamenta tantis literarum prsesidiis in dies magis ac magis illustras. Ex qua re majorne tibi ipsi ad veram gloriam facta sit accessio, an illustrior ingenii indus- 76 ascham's letters. [1545. triseque tuse in sermone omniuin excitata commendatio, dubium et incertiim est. Et quamvis hoc institutum tuum, in jungenda prseclara doctrina cum summa dignitate tua, ex Platonis disciplina effluxisse certo noverim ; tamen non dubito, quin plurimnm tua sponte et prsestanti judicio susceptum, multum ex prsestantissimse feminse Dominse Champernown^ consiliis profectum, nonnihil etiam Gulielmi Grindalli mei optimis praeceptis adju- tum et promotnm esse vere affirmaverim. Legimns prseterea, et ante Platonis tempora, et in veris historiis et in fictis poematis, optimum quemque semper princi- pem prudentem aliquem philosophum sibi ad omne vitss consilium adbibere solere. Sic Jovem Prometheo et Agimemnonem Ne store usum esse fingunt poetse ; sic Hieronem Simonidem, Periclem Anaxagoram, sibi adjunxisse tradunt historici : ex quibus docemur sive prseclaris factis prseclarissimorum principum, sive pru- dentissimis consiliis prudentissimomm pbilosophorum, nihil antiquius esse debere, quam ut summa potestas cum summa do doctrina semper conjungatur. Atque hsec non eo referuntur, ut liter se mese te cunctantem evocavisse, sed festinantem potius incitavisse, et in ipso extremo cursu existentem veluti grato plausu excepisse videantur. In quo prseclarissirao laudis cursu, quum nemo sit, quicum aut majore contentione certare debeas, aut a quo victoriam insigniorem reportare poteris, quam a te ipsa ; facis ergo, nobilissima Elizabeth a, quod quotidie facis, ut teipsam in dies superes et generis tui claritatem splendore etiam literarum illustriorem efficias. Quo facto, nec fortunse tuse majus quicquam accedere, nec votis tuorum exoptatius contingere, nec prsesenti hominum judicio laudabilius proponi, nec posteritatis expectatione admirabilius relinqui potest. Dominus Jesus amplitudinem tuam nova indies virtutis et literarum accessione ampliorem reddat. 1545.] ascham's letters. 77 XXXII.— TO THE EAUL OF ESSEX, (2, 23). Presents a copy of his ToxopMlus with complimentary remarks, and speaks of his having presented a copy to the King and Queen Catharine. [1545.] Essexia. — Ex omnibus primaiiis viris tu pri- mus et princeps es, nobilissime vir, cujus manibus hie liber imprimis gestari gestit. 3 Tibi enim uni quam cseteris fere universis se plus debere agnoscit : nam tu primus eras cui se primum commit tere, et cujus prsecipua ope in lucem conspectumque hominum apparere ausus est. Modera- tissimam tuam prudentiam in eo cognoscendo, et para- tissimam tuam voluntatem in eo exornando vehementer admiror et suspicio. Quod enim tu de eo dicebas, vel tum quum se amplissimo consilio regio ostenderit, vel nu- perrime quum Kegise Majestati sese verecunde admodum et timide obtulerit, perpetuo usurpabo memoria. Yidere enim vel jam videor et quasi prsesenti quodam obtutu in- tueri, quam divina animi tui inductione, quanta vultus suavitate, quam eximia laudis prsedicatione, hunc librum extuleras commendaverasque divee Augustse Catharine, quum ea forte quisnam liber is esset interrogarat. Quam- mobrem quum hsec singula singularem quandam bonitatem in te perspicue declarant, universa autem divinam et heroicam naturam, natam ad rem et literariam et sagit- tariam promovendam, duo summa Anglise decora et orna- menta manifestissime testantur, summopere mihi elabo- randum esse video, ut quum minimam partem hujus summse tuse in me bonitatis omni mea sedulitate consequi nequiverim, parata tamen voluntate et studio semper prsesto sim, ad eum hominem perpetuo me prsestandum in quem hanc opem non indignissime consumptam esse judicabis. Perge igitur, nobilissime vir, et literas etiam atque etiam exorna ut illse te vicissim exoruent, et contende 78 ascham's lettees. [1545. hanc laudem ceteris omnibus prseripere, ex qua re vere nobilis et germana semperque duratura gloria solet proficisci. Dominus Jesus etc. xxxiiL— TO Ld chancellor WRIOTHESLEY, (2, 24). Offering a copy of his Toxo'pTiilus by the advice of the Bishop of Chichester. [1545.] onoratissimo viro Thomce WriotJiesleio, Anglice cancellario magno^ academice Cantabrigiensis et liter arum j)atrono maximo. — Nec prius mihi quicquam faciendum putavi nec magis oppor- tunum, honoratissime vir, quam ut in hoc omnium et hominum et negotiorom ad te concursu, hunc libellum tibi ad legend um offerrem. Inique enim com- paratum est, si universi tibi libellos litibus querimoniis et turba refertos porrigerent, et nullus pateret aditus illis hominibus, qui libros otii et delectationis tibi adferrent, quum nec prudentissimse cogitationes tuse, sic quotidianis hominum controversiis attritse, diutissime in negotiis con- sistere ac durare potuerunt, nisi aliquo aliquando otii fructu recreatse jucunditati sese dediderint. Contrarise enim res contrarias retinent et complectuntur. Hoc enim omni naturae consilio et artis imitatione cernitur. Sic diei labores fovet noctis requies. sic somnus vigilias sequitur : nec scamnum ullum ad sedem firmum et stabile est, quod contrariis inter se pedibus cohserens ac fultum eonsistat. Quamobrem, quum omnes fere cogitationes tuse in cura et sollicitudine versentur, et tanta tot hominum negotia ab omni externa oblectatione excludant : offero tibi hunc libellum, otii mei in Uteris consumpti signum et aliquod non ingrati animi in patriam testimonium. Qui si nihil attulerit ad te insigniter oblectandum, aliquid tamen morse et impendimunti osse poterit, ad te a nimis intentis cogitationibus avocandum. At vero vix ausus 1545.] ascham's letters. 79 fuissem tempora tua a remm gravissimamm procuratione remorari, nisi me prius ad id faciendum commovisset con- silium emditissimi prsesulis Domini Cicestrensis, cui unum ex istis libris obtuli, qui mihi animum addidit, affirmans fore banc operam meam tibi non ingratam, quia plus tu unus quam universi alii rei et iiterarise et sagittarise tribuendum esse sentis. Itaque si hunc laborem meum non penitus displicuisse tibi intelligam, aliquid posthac certe navabo et perficiam, quod quum fuerit minus literati hominis magis proprium, et mihi ad dandum tibi aptius et tibi ad perlegendum acceptius esse poterit. Dominus J^sus etc. XXXIV.— TO BISHOP GAEDINEB, (2, 25). Presents a copy of his ToxopMlus, and says that he was much pleased at the manner in which the king's council had received that book, which he says he has written with the hope of finding a new patron in the place of Archbishop Lee, lately dead, or perhaps of getting a pension from the king. [1545.] ~\ommo TFi7itoniensi. — Librum meum regio con- silio tarn communi omnium consensu probari, mirifica quadam Isetitia me perfudit, orna- tissime pater. Singulari tamen prsedicatione "a te tam laudato viro laudari, incredibili sane infinitae voluptatis abundantia me totum delibutum red- didit. Nam quum tu in omni rerura gerendarum suscep- tione singulos consilio, in quavis autem rerum scribendarum institutione, universos judieio superas : tibi prefect© uni quam ceteris universis hoc institutum meum probari longe pluris facio. In hoc libro scribendo, longissime abesse et discrepare ab universo fere Anglorum scriptorum numero studebam : non quod aliquid Anglice scrip tum esse asgre feram sed quod plurimum homines indoctos et temerarios in hoc studendi genere elaborasse intelligam. Materiam 80 ascham's letters. [1545. autem inanem aut eorum facultati imparem sequuntur, in qua re verba propria et perspicua fugiunt, translata et ad verumsplendorem accommodata nesciuut; deinomnis rectae tractationis ignari et imperiti sunt, Nam Dialecticam ad ratiocinationem, aut Rhetoricam ad exornationem, ne summis quidem labris unquam gustaverunt; et sic in nostra lingua vernacula non domestici et proprii sed pere- grini et advense esse student. Quum hoc nimis verum esse scio : Anglos ad Anglice scribendum nudos et inanes facultatis, prgecipites autem et plenos temeritatis, tarn in- considerate irruere vehementer segre fero. Audaciores enim non peritiores in banc rem fere soli bos aliquot annos incubuere : quse res et magnam confusionem in nostram linguam invexit, et hoc regnum ineptissimis omnis generis libris opplevit. Sequutus sum ego rem, nec mihi propter usum imparem nec cuiquam perniciosam et inutilem : ubi si tuo judicio aliqua ex parte satisfeci, et voto meo plurimum et optimorum certe expectationi aliquid me satisfacturum scio. Ad hunc vero librum scribendum plurimse me rationes cohortatse sunt ; vel ut aliquibus prseclaris viris, qui me nimio sagittandi studio a gravioribus rebus distineri putabant, aliqua ex parte cognitum esset, non omne tempus meum r*^ ro^evuv UTETo^evaOai ut Aristophanis verbo utar, sed ut prseclara hsec res plurima occupatione usurpata, aliqua aliquando opera mea, si non ad summam perfec- tionem, ad mediocrem tamen conatum exornata, in lucem conspectumque hominum appareret ; vel ut ego tenui et exigua vivendi conditione usus, longe infra communem studiosorum usum positus, et jam recenti hinc commi- gratione in meliorem lucem reverendissimi patris et summi patroni mei Domini Edvardi Eboracensis, in magnam solitudinem conjectus, vel hac saltem via insisterem, quse me, si non aiiquem vitse splendorem et speciem, quod non 1545.] ascham's letters. 81 desidero, ad quietem tamen aliquam et studioso homini necessariam vivendi facultatem, qua re vehementer opus habeo, aliquando esset perductura. Efc hoc meum con- silium felicior consequetur eventus, si pro eo amore quo literas et earum cultores unice amplecteris, aliquod testi- monium judicii tui de me, quum occasio ad id tulerit, me meamque caussam apud regiam majestatem adjuvet. A regia autem majestate nihil prius aut majore studio ex- pecto, quam ut studia mea in Italia et transmarinis partibus aliquot annos sustentari possint. Hie scopus est, quern ToxopMlus meus ferire elaborat : hunc si attigero, et rectissime et honestissime collimasse putabo. In eo majorem spem hujus petitiouis mese adducor, quo certius intelligo, regiam majestatem solere prsestantibus sagittariis, (cujus rei nec ego omnino imperitus sum), sed literarum penitus rudibus, prseclaras et eas perpetuas vivendi conditiones tribuere. Ego igitur ad banc rem conficiendam, tantum de dominatione tua mihi poUiceor, quantum honestissimacaussaa summa auctoritate, literarum studia ab unico earundem patrono, alumnus Cantabrigia? ab ejus dignissirao cancellario expectare potest. Domiuus Jesus etc. XXXV.— TO THE BISHOP OE WOECESTEK, (2, 26). Offering his ToxopMlus, [1545.] omino Wigorniensi. — Et nos intelligimus quan- tum tu, eruditissime prsesul, literis et earum cultoribus faves, et ssepe etiam accepimus quantum rei sagittarise prae cseteris primariis viris tribuendum esse sentis. Ego igitur, qui omnem vitae mese cursum literarum otio destinavi, nonni- hil tamen tempora studiorum meorum sagittandi crebritate tanquam honestissima oblectatione tempera vi, hunc librum tibi offero, qui tantum utrique rei tribuis quantum utraque 6 82 ascham's letters. [1545, a prudentissimo praesiile expectare potest. Qui si domi- nationis tuae judicio satisfaciet, et nunc minus laboro quid vulgus hominum de eo existimaverit, et in posterum studebo, ut is fructus ex studiis meis in apertum pro- feratur, qui quum literarum magis proprius erit, et mihi ad scribendum aptior, et tibi ad legendum acceptior esse poterit. XXXYI.~TO SIR ANTONY DENNEY, (2, 27). Presents him with a copy of the ToxopMlm ; and tells him he has just heard from Paget that the king had granted him a pension. [1545.] rnatissimo viro Domino Antonio Denneio. — Ex- imiam bonitatem tuam, eximie vir, in literas et literarum studiosos, quum ante seepe et pri-- vato ex sermone Joan n is Checi et communi omnium voce, tum nuperrime, ex prseclaris tui dictis et vultus suavitate quum librum meum regies majestati obtulerim, cognovi. Opem, graiiam, studiuni tuum ssepe dociioribus contulisti, optime vir ; apud neminem tamen, qui vel majori literarum cupiditate teneatur vel tenaciore meraoria banc bonitatem tuam com- plectatur, unquam deposuisti. Perge igitur, clarissime vir, et etiam atque etiam tuere ilium dignitatis locum ad quem te evexit Chkistus Optimus Maximus,ut, quasi alter JosEPHUS constitutus, inopum sed prsecipue literatorum patrocinium susciperes. Auge illam tuam opinionem de me, quam tibi attulerit, vel nonnulla ex libro meo spes, vel ilia familiaritas quam cum Joanne CiiECO in omni arctissima studiorum voluntate conjunetioneque aliquot annos habueriin, vel summa ilia tua bonitas qua cunctos complecteris et tueris. Scripsi ego Toxophilum meum, non tam quod honesta- tem sagittationis et ejus usum scripto me iliiistrare insti- 1545.] ascham's letters. 83 tuerim, quam potissimum, ut hac via insisterem, periculum facturus num ea aliquando vitse mese rationes tenues ad« modum, et infra communem studiosorum conditionem positas, promovere potuerit. Intellexi enim aliquot peritos sagittarios suinma beneficia a regia majestate accepisse. Ea res me in magnam adduxit spem, in aliquo loco et numero fore hanc operam et industriam meam, qua ipsum saoittariorum numerum aut peritiorem aut copiosiorem efficere elaborarem. Hanc spem meam sequutus est prseclarus eventus : nam regia majestas, ut audio ex summo patrono meo Domino Pagetto, certam quandam anuuam pecuniam mihi concessit. Nunc tu orandus es a me, optime vir, ut illam opem tuam in hac re conficienda mihi adferas, qua literas ipsas et earum studiosos fere omnes tibi arctissime devinctos retines. Deposueris hoc beneficium non apud insignem sagittarium, sed apud me- diocrem cultorem literarum ; qui hac boniLate et regia et tua non ad sumptum et speciem abutetur, sed per quem ea omnis ad literarum otia sustentanda convertetur. Doniinus Jesus etc. XXXVII.— -TO JOHN WHITNEY, (2, 28). Refers obscurely to Grindal ; introduces William Ireland, and salutes Whitney's sister. oanni Whitnceo. — Quo ties de praeclara aliqua indole cogito, quae nata ad virtutem, comparata ad doctrinam sit, toties tui mihi in mentem venit, carissime Joannes Whitn.ee, qui in tanto anise negotio literarum otium sequeris, et in maximorum vitiorum illecebris minime ab honestatis et germanse virtutis via deflectis. Hoc spatium certe et curriculum verse laudis existit, in quo tu superari ab aliis non potes, si teipsum quotidie vincere velis. Opus non I habeo, ut te in hunc doctrinse virtutisque cursum incitem, I 84 ascham'es letters. [1545, set! currentem potius imprimis coUaudem. Si ad reliqua studia tua, has mortis imagines, hoc est istius humanse vicissitudinis, et istius aulicse vestrse inanitatis certissimum exitum adjungere velis, multum sane et animum pietate et ingenium optimo carmine juvabis. Grindallus diffi- ciliora omnia explicare potest : si non ita facit, pessime facit. Accipe quseso, carissime WniTNiBE, hunc juvenem GuLiELMUM Irelandum meum in eo loco quo me acci- pere velis : si noveris eum, quemadmodum ego novi, dio;num ma«:na humanitate tua esse diceres. Fac ut ex ejus sermone, quum redit, veterem humanitatem tuam recognoscam. Adventum tuum avidissime expectamus. Saluta omnem illam nobilem famiiiam, potissimum orna- iissimam sororem tuam. Vale et me ama, ac rescribe. XXXVIIL— TO BARNABI FITZPATRIGK, (2, 29). Tells him to take Prince Edward for his pattern, and that he has sent copies [of ToxopMlus ?] " to the king and to the rest of that noble company." [1545.] larissimo Juveni Barnabce FitzpatriJce, — Quan- quam intelligo quo ardore ad literarum cogni- tionem incensus es, clarissime Barnaba, te tamen etiam aliquid commovere meis Uteris institui; vel quia tu ita rogasti et ego ipse prsesens coram me sic facturum recepi. Et quum multse res sunt quae te ad studium doctrinse commovere multum possunt, summa ingenii tui indoles, tempestivse setatis opportunitas, prseclara industrise spes, locus iste quem prse ceteris apud Eegiam Majestatem tenes, et prseceptorum tuorum excellens doctrina, quum hgec quidem singula plurimum possint, ne ea tamen universa tantum debent te excitare, quantum splendor ille ingenii, studii, virtutis, et literarum qui in illustrissimo principe nostro Edvardo te indies inspectante, eminet et elucel. Majorem industriam, 1545.] ascham's letters. 85 perfectius exemplum, clariorem laudis spem, proponere tibi ipsi non potes. Sat dixi, omnia dixi, quae vel tu ad laudem vel ego ad imitationem tibi constitiiere queam, Pollicitus es te reseriptumm mihi, quod facies, vel ut liberes fidem tuam, vel ut declares quam bene scribis et qnam diligenter studes. Tabellarium aptiorem, quam qui has perfert literas, requirere non potes. Misi exemplaria ad Kegiam Majestatem et reliquum ilium nobilissimnm Chorum. Faxit Chkistus ut Divus Edvakdus laude patrem, doctrina prseceptores, annis et felicitate preces Anglorum suorum superet. Et Christus te novo indies virtutis, eruditionis, et nobilitatis cumulo adaugeat. XXXIX.— TO Mrs ASTLEY, (A, 18), earty commendations and health in Him who is the Author of all healthy ^c. — Gentle Mrs AsTLEY, would God my wit wist what words would express the thanks you have deserved of all true English hearts for that noble imp by your labour and wisdom, so flourishing in all godly godliness, the fruit whereof doth even now redound to her grace's high honour and profit, of singular commenda- tions amongst men, and desert at God's hands, to the rejoicing of all that hear it, to the example of all that will follow, and to me, although the least amongst the most, yet one that knoweth it best. So pleasing a thing as to him in will is most ready, and in wishing most desirous to have her grace come to that end in perfectness with likelihood of her wit, painfulness in her study, true trade of her teaching, and your diligent overseeing doth most constantly promise. And although this one, thing be sufficient for me to love you, yet the knot which hath knit Mr Astley and you together doth so bind me also to you, that if ray ability would match my good will, you 86 ascham's letters. should find no friend faster unto you. He is a man whom I loved for his virtue before I knew him through acquaintance, whose friendship I account amongst my chief gains gotten in the court. Your favour to Mr Gtiindall and gentleness towards me are matters suffi- cient enough to deserve more good will than my little power is able to requite, and seeing every one of these occasions be causes convenient for thanks and duty to be rendered again at ray hands, surely they altogether com- pel me to promise you most willing service, wherein seeing at this time I cannot perform that which will would, yet good will (which never goeth from me in the absence of ability) hath sent you this pen of silver for a token, the which if you so gladly receive as it was wil- lingly sent, it may think itself well bestowed, if my prayer will ease your pain, you shall always be sure of it. Good Mrs, I would have you in any case to labour, and not to give yourself to ease. I wish all increase of virtue and honour to that my good lady whose wit, good Mrs Ast- LEY, I beseech you, somewhat favour. The younger, the more tender; the quicker, the easier to break. Blunt edges be dull, and dure much pain to little profit ; the free edge is soon turned if it be not handled thereafter. If you pour much drink at once into a goblet, the most part will dash out and run over ; if you pour it softly vou may fill it even to the top, and so her grace, I doubt' not, by little and little, may be increased in learning, that at length greater cannot be required. And if you think not this, gentle Mrs Astley, yet I trust you will take mv words as spoken, although not of the greatest wisdom, vet not of the least good will. I pray you commend me to my good Lady of Troye, and all that company of godly gentlewomen. I send my lady her pen, an Italian book, a book of 1545.] ascham's letters. 87 prayers. Send the silver pen which is broken, and it shall be mended quickly. So I commit and commend you all to the Almighty's mercifnl protection. Your ever obliged friend, Eoger As c ham. To his very loving friend, Mrs Astley, these. XL.—TO THE PUINCESS ELIZABETH, (2, 30). Sends back her pen, which he has mended, and names Mildred Astley, her governess. [1545.] llustrissima domincB ElizabeilKje. — In toto illo splendore dignitatis tuse, illustrissima domina, nihil habes iilustrius, quam quod maxima heec tua et fortunse et naturae ornamenta sic majora indies literarum accessione efficere conaris. Et in hoc studio discendi, nihil studiosius discere debes quam quod, queecunque tibi sunt vel generis nobilitate concessa vel naturse fortunseque prsemio commodata, aliena laude esse conjuncta aut incerta possessione ad tempora occu- pata : qu9e vero virtutis tuse industria parta sint studiique assiduitate comparata, ad utilitatem certissimum fructum, ad veram gloriam maximum ornamentum semper allatura . Hsec laudis opinio inanis non est, neque banc glorise partem praescindendam tibi unquam sentiet prudentissima femina M[iriDREDA] A[stl^a] sed ab aliis etiam atque etiam tibi inserendam et a te omni studio augendam per- petuo judicabit. Perge vero, clarissima princeps, et ra- tione qua initium fecisti extrema persequere : ut hse virtutis industriseque tuse fruges, quae nunc in spe et expectatione supra fetatem tuam efflorescant, re aliquando supra ho- minum opinionem maturitatem assequantur. Cum his Uteris pennam tuam reparatam per hunc tabellarium misi, honestum juvenem, et amicum meum. Deus Jesus, &c. 88 ascham's letters. [1545. XLL—rO ANxNT COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE. (2, 31). Asks her interest with the queen for Pindar, and hopes to have from her a letter, however short, on the return of the young man who conveyed his letter. [1545.] obilissimce femince Annce, lUustrissimi Comitis Penbrochiensis iixori, — Magna tna in Midle- TONUM beneficia, et major tua in me benevo- lentia, maximas meas postulant gratias, am* plissima domina. Sed quum sic sumiis ntrique et in ea conditione positi, ut tu aptior sis ad conferendum nova beneficia, quam ego ad reponendum veteres gratias? gaudeo tamen vehementer, hoc beneficii genus a te hoc tempore postulandum esse, in quo facilitas tua in con- cedendo quam labor meus in rogando paratior expediti- orque erit. Eogo ut Pindarus tuus te utatur tarn munifica adjutrice quam hactenus usus est. Et quanquam satis intelligo quod hie a te sic tractabitur ut meam com- mendationem non desideret, et quod omnia per se ipse a te consequi possit, peto tamen a te, et majorem in modum ac si mea res esset, ut tua ope et gratia sic apud serenis- simam reginam utatur, ut Pindarus sentiat et ego in- telligam novam aliquam accessionem ad cumulum veteris tuae in ilium benevolentise his iiteris meis adjectam esse. Quamobrem in hanc curam omni studio tibi incumbendum est, ut nulla sint nec ingenii tui praesidia nec doctoris tui prsecepta nec N. fratris tui exempla nec clarissimi patris vestigia, quae non te ad industriam, ad doctrinam, ad laudem, ad nobilitatem incitent et commoveant. Neque heec scribo in hanc sententiam, ut te cunctantem evocem, sed festinantem potius in hoc prseclaro cursu incitem : et ut videar non tam suscepisse munus monentis, quam officium declarasse gratulantis, quanquam literse mese praeclarum illud imitantur carmen OviDii, Qui monet ut facias quod jam facis, ipse monendo Laudat et hortatu comprobat acta suo. 1545.] ascham's letters. 89 Tereor ne nimis longus sim; hoc solum reliquum est, ut te rogem vel tribus verbis rescribere mihi per hunc juvenem amicum meum. Literae tuse erunt in me, vel quantum in Latina lingua proficis vel quantum me diligis, certissimum testimonium. Salnta quseso summum virum T . . . S . . . et WiNSLiEUM opinor, nisi nomen mihi excidit, quum morum ejus suavitas fixius inhseret mihi, quam ut unquam evelli queat. XLIL— TO THE SAME, (2, 32). Sends back her Cicero. [1545.] idem, — Tandem Ciceronem tuum mitto, no- bilissima domina, cujus libri studio quod tan- tum delectaris, sapienter quidem facis. Cicero enim reliquos omnes in hoc libro seipsum su- perat. Sermo prudentior, prudentia desertior, requiri non potest : reliquam ejus philosophiam splendor religionis Chrtsti obscurat ; veteres ejus orationes nova fora nostra non recipiunt. Libri Officiorum nullam non partem humanse vitse complectuntur : germanum honestatis exemplum his libris exprimitur, ad cujus imitationem quisquis sese tradiderit, ab optima certe civilis vitee con- suetudine longissime abesse non potest. Neque hssc scribo, ut hortantis munus suscepisse, sed gratulantis officium declaravisse videar. Diligentissime enim studes, nec hortatione ulla eges, nec habeo quod tibi ad imitandum proponam, nisi teipsum imitari velis et tecum quotidie contendere. Qua reportata victoria, ut alio tempore ad te scripsi, nec ad fortuniB tuse dignitatem illustrius nec ad verse laudis perpetuitatem constantius, adjicere quidquam potes. Dominus Jesus amplitudinem tuam novo indies virtutis et literarum cumulo adaugeat. 90 asciiam's letters. [1545. XLIII.— TO A FEIEND, (2, 33). Earnestly begs his friend to aid a certain young man in obtain- ing the favour of the queen. [1545.] rnatissimo cuidam viro aniico suo. — Is ipse juvenis est, ornatissime vir, cujus caussam ut apud reginam ope et gratia tua adjuvares, tan- topere efflagitabam. At qimm ex suavitate sermonis tui in colloquendo, et ex alacritate studii tui in reginam adeundo, facile perspexi, quo ardore incensus es quemque tuendi ornandique literarum nomine, minus mihi laborandum esse putavi de nova aliqua istius nunc instituenda commendatione ; hoc tantum mihi spon- dendum in meque recipiendum esse duxi, eam hujus juvenis et morum probitatem et studiorum optimorum aviditatem esse, ut tu ilium et mea scriptione ad com- mendandum et tuo prsesidio ad sublevandum dignum sis reperturus. Si mea res esset, non tantopere laborarem : quum aliunde fortunse meae sustentatse sunt, istius autem angustise tantse et nunc sunt et ante fuemnt, ut nisi serenissimse reginae unius beneficentia nixsg hactenus constitissent, omnis spes eruditionis, quae in hoc juvene nunc est singularemque pollicetur fructum, in ipsa veluti herba repressa omnis exaruisset. Itaque si nova gratia et ope tua vetus in istum reginse beneficentia contineri potest, eisdem officiis, quibus hunc tibi obstrinxeris, et me etiam tibi obligatum judicabo. Et sic spes, vel hujus juvenis in mea commendatione, vel mea in tua gratia et auctoritate, vel nostiTim omnium trium in amplissima reginae beneficentia, minime falsa et inanis existet. Yale. XLIY.— TO BISHOP GAEDINEE, (2, 34). Names a young man, who for several years had shared his room with him at college, as tutor to the nephew or grandson of the .Duke of Norfolk. 1_1545.] 1545.] ascham's letters. 91 rcBSuli Winto7iiensi. — Quam illustri ope tua et eximia gratia me, quum in Aula essem, com- plexus es, nec propter ingratitudinem tacitus praeterire nec propter rei magnitudinem un- quam satis commemorare possum, ornatissime praesul. Hsec summa bonitas tua me ad novum poscendum beneficium, quam ad veterem reponendam ^ratiam, multo paratiorem reddit. Dominus NoR- FOLCiENSis hoc onus mihi imposuit, ut unum aliquem doctum probumque virum ad nepotem illius erudiendum appararem. Is est, qui has perfert literas, mihi familiari- tate intimus, propinquitate conjunctissimus, et ea erudi- tione prseditus, quae a Wats on o melius commendari quam a me commemorari potest. Hoc tamen a me dici potest, paucos admodum in Academia esse, qui omni solidioris eruditionis parte instructiores existunt. Unus ex eorum numero est, ornatissime pr^sul, quos ego a Uteris et Academia divelli segerrime ferebam. Sed ne vei mei nominis honestati vel illustrissimi domini expecta- tioni deesse viderer, eum hominem paravi, quem ei muneri prsefici vehementer gaudeo : a mea tamen familiaritate, quam eisdem cubiculi et animi parietibus multos annos arctissime conservavimus, ullo modo abstrahi etiam atque etiam doleo. In cujus gratiam ad te literas scribo, erudi- tissime praesul, quum tu solus nobis fere reliquus es, qui tua prudentia scis, auctoritate potes, voluntate soles, tan- tum Uteris literatisque viris tribuere, quantum tribuendum est. Si hie aliquo judicii tui testimonio domino NoR- FOLCiENSi de meliore nota commendaretur, et meis Uteris, hujus voto imprimis satisfactum esset. Quod ipsum ut facias nequaquam rogo, nisi eum hoc beneficio tuo dignum Wat son us affirmaverit. Dominus Jesus dominationem tuam diutissime conservet incolumem. 92 ascham's letteks. [1545. XLV.— TO SIR JOHN ASTLEY, (2, 85). Sends him a book, and rejoices that Grrindal, having left Cam- bridge, has been admitted into Astley's friendship. [1545.] rnatissimo viro B. Joanni Astlceo. — Ex sermone GuLiELMi Grind ALLi mQi^OYndXi^^im^Astlcee^ facile intellexi, illam sententiam Platonis a Cicerone usurpatam verissimam esse, quod Honesti fades si oculis cerneretur, admirabiles sui amores Jiominihus excitaret [Off, 5]. Vix enim credi- bile est, quas faces ad te perpetuo diligendum admoverit mihi eximia ilia virtutis tuae vis, quae in sermone Grin- dalli et assidua commemoratione tui, tanquam in speculo aliquo, mirifice elucebat. Hie ardor amoris tui, his ex- citatus initiis, me admirabiliter inflammabat, et quasi hominem nimis prudentem et in angulos obscuritatis suae libenter sese abdentem, evocabat, ut hunc libellum, quo ipse libentissime utor, studii et voluntatis mese certum testimonium mitterem. Quod factum meum, non tarn audacter sane susceptum ut me tibi venditem, quam amanter certe institutum fuit, ut aliquam amicitise tuse partem vel hoc pacto mihi adjungerem. Hunc lib rum mitto, quia, ut audio, vehementer eo legendo delectaris. Consilium profecto hoc tuum est prudentissimum, et ad omnem honestioris vitse dignitatem, quam tu summa con- st antiee laude sequeris, adipiscendam accommodatissimum. In his enim libris non adumbratum aliquod honestatis simulacrum informatur, sed germana et vera virtutis effigies exprimitur, ita cum ipsa Jesu Christi religione cohserens et impiicata, ut si non eeterna salus hinc quse- renda sit, tamen omnis is vitse nostras cursus, quem ad earn destinamus, non his legendis impeditior, sed paratior multo et facilior efficiatur. Qui aliter sentit adeat Christum loquentem : Qui non est contra me, mecum est. 1545.] ascham's letters. 93 Perge igitur, ornatissirae Astljge, et sic circumsonent aures tuse honestis prseceptionibus libri hujus, ut nun- quam cum vulgo aulicorum, ad perniciosas aulse ille- cebras, quibus imperiti magis quam uUis Sirenum cantibus capiuntur, adhserescas. Non hsec scribo, quasi ipsa in mentem tuam non sine mea hortatione veniant, aut quasi uUum opus mea monitione habeas ; sed ut potius intel- ligas, id quod elegans poeta elegantissimo carmine ex- pressit ; Qui monet ut facias quod jam facis, ipse monendo Laudat et hortatu comprobat acta suo. Grindallum meum, quicum conjunctissime hos ali- quot annos vixerim, a me nescio quo fato abreptum, a te in tuam familiaritatem receptum esse gaudeo vehem enter, eaque ut perpetua illi sit, etiam atque etiam opto : tantum in illo diligendo tibi nihil cedam. In qua sane conten- tione, ego te an tu me vincas, nihil moror. Sentiet Grindallus tamen in carendo possessione veteris fami- liaritatis mese, et tarn auspicato immigrando in tuam, prseclaram atque utilem mutationem fecisse. Postea longior ero si hsec tibi non displicuisse cognovero. Vale. XL VP— TO SIR W. PAGET, (2, 86). Excuses his long silence by saying that he had been away from Cambridge ill during the greatest part of last year, whilst Paget was in France, whence he was now come back, bring- ing the agreeable news of peace. [This may be the peace made June 7, 1546]. Ascham informs Paget that he has just been made Public Orator by a full senate of the Uni- versity, in the place of Cheke. [1546.] rnatissimo viro Domino Gulielmo Fagetto. — Quod tanto intervallo nec preesens ipse nec absens Uteris te interpellaverim, ornatissime vir, nolim ut vel mei erga te officii debiti vel tui in me beneficii summi oblivione factum 94 ascham's letters. [1546. esse existimares. Sed quum ego proximi biijtis supe- rioris anni magnam partem gi'avi tentatus morbo Can- tabrigise noii fuerim, et tu, pro tua summa prudentia, ad summa reipublicas negotia cum Gallis pertractanda cora- muni totius Angiise et voce et voluntate seleclus lega- baris ; hinc consequutum est lit officium: meum non culpa mea prseteritum sed hornm temporum varietate inter- ruptum esse videatur. Nunc vero, quum in Angliam redieris, pacem patrise ad immensam singulorum con- gratulationem apportans, laudem tibi ipsi ad infinitam singulorum temporum memoriam excitans, committere non potui, quin Uteris saltern signiticarem, quanto studio et leetitia hunc prosperum cursum, quum publicse salutis per te partus tum tantsB laudis sermone omnium in te con- gestse, ipse prosequutus sum. Lsetitiam autem meam cum commoditate reipublicee confusam et implicatam, cum tua gloria coliserentem et permistam, non possum sermone meo ostendere, sed volo eam opinioni tuBe relinquerCj. quam non ex mediocritate infimse conditionis mese, sed ex magnitudine bonitatis tuse qua me tibi arctissime devinxisti, spstimare debes. Si vacat de me etiam aliquid audire^ quern sponte tua tuendum ornandumque susceperis, frequens nuper senatus academias nostrse me in Joannis Checi locum, Oratorem academise designavit. Nec eo a me liic suscipitur sermo ut me ipse ostentem, in quo omnia sunt perexigua, sed ut ostendam banc gaudii partem mihi eripi non posse^ quod judicium prudentise tuee, de me ignoto susceptura, testimonium academies cui notissimus sum sic aliqua ex parte comprobaverit. Nihil enim milii exoptabilius est^ quam id, quod tuam de me veterem existimationem ulla nova accessione adaugere possit : quse ut perpetuo mihi conservetur, oranis mea in omni genere observantia tibi perpetuo deservitura est. Yale. 1546.] ascham's letteks. 95 XLVIL— TO BISHOP GARDINER, (4, 16). Congratulates the bishop on his return to his episcopal duties, and asks his protection to the University against the king's visitors. Also says they have the queen's letter [dated Feb. 26, 1546, see Cooper's Annals of Cambridge,] and relates how one Maxwell had pressed into the king's service for the conveyance of fish, a horse belonging to the Master of Peterhouse [Before May, 1546.] rnatissimo Frcesuli Wintoniensi. — Fro Academia. — In quam soUicito absentis tui desiderio uni- versa nostra academia hisce jacuit temporibus, non tain explicate nostra scriptione ostendi, quam vere et expresse iua opinione compre- hend! potest, ornatissime prsesul. Et quamvis in hac communi omnium de reditu tuo congratulatione, Vetera potius erga nos beneficia tua grato animo repetere, quam nova ulla negotia tam subito tibi imponere debeamus : tamen, ut nunc sumus ad tres res non tam natura sua difficiles, quam ipso tempore implicatas, consilium, opem, et gratiam tuam vehementer requirimus. Quemadmodum coUegiorum nostrormn omnium prsedia cum annuis snis fructibus per regios procuratores censentur, et in certos libellos relata sunt, obscnrum dominationi tuse esse non potest : rumore tamen ad nos perfertur, novos etiam alios procuratores ad universa collegia ubivis in agro Cantabri- giensi sita per regiam majestatem amandari, qui ne po- testatem suam in Academiam etiam exerceant, vehementer pertimescimns : quoniam, nt auditione accepimus, neque nos quidem nominatim excipimur. Quae certe res nos omnes in varias et pertnrbatas conjecit cogitationes. Quamvis enim certus et explicatissimus nobis sit per- petuus illse regise majestatis favor, et immortale literarum dignitatis tuendse studium, manuque etiam tenemus se- renissimse reginse literas, quibus hoc ipsum prsecise et explorate nobis significatum sit ; nonnihil tamen veremur, 96 ascham's letters. [1546. ne certorum hominum nimis projecta importimitas aliquid nobis importet turbse et negotii. Quorum hominum audacia nisi pmdenti consilio et aucloritate prsecipua repressa coerceatur, quid amplius Uteris sperandum sit nemo dubitare potest. Itaque, quum hsec una caussa finibus suis non dignitatem solum literarum sed vitam earundem et spem contineat, quse sedulitas adhibenda, et quae auctoritas interponenda sit, tu pro tua summa pru- dentia etiam at que etiam perspicis. Aliam porro caussam dominationi tuee adferimus, quse licet non exitium studiis, permolestum tamen negotium omnibus studiosis perlatura est, nisi aliquod certum re- medium et matura cautio adhibeatur. Est homo apud nos obscurus et egens, nomine Maxwellus, moribus op- pidanus tuvbulentissimus, vitse institute aut carceris semper aut ursi custos ; nunc tamen, ut sit, vecturse regise piscis praeficitur. Hie bomo, in hoc positus loco, equos pro sua libidine, istius vecturse nomine, cunctis absque delectu adimit, et paucis abhinc diebus, quum currus ejus aliquot jam horas in itinere fuisset, novo more, nullo exemplo, si in multorum seculorum memo- riam respicere velis, equum praefecti collegii Divi Petri in ipsa platea abducit, nulla minima pactione facta cum equi domino ; quse tamen ante fieri debet, ut taceamus privi- legia nostra, quibus cautum est ne quid in nos juris habeant bujusmodi homines. Istius sive hominis intole- rantiam, sive rei indignitatem, et reliqua ea universa, quae tam insolenti opportunitati adjuncta esse solent, facile prudentia tua ob oculos tibi proponere potest. Yides etiam quo hsec audacia fluat, et quid turbae ex hac re struatur omnibus eis, qui equum aliquem sibi hie alere volunt, nisi istius hominis tam effluens improbitas aliquo supplicio coerceatur. Est et alter homo, natura sua perquam litigiosus qui 1546.] ascham's letters. 97 Magistmm Edovaedum Bucknamum virum quietum collegiique tui socium, Londinum ad jus experiundum de peculii debitis coram summo Angliae concellario ar- cessit. In qua caussa, si auctoritate tua tantum effe- ceritj ut nec innocenti viro injuria illata nec privilegiis nostris vis ulla imposita sit ; et tranquillitatem magnam nostris studiis comparari et spem omnem malis negotii facessendi prsecidi existimabimus. Has tres gravissimas caussas leviter attigimus, singulas autem fuse persequi non potuimus. Quamobrem vehementer dominationem tuam rogamus, ut buic nuntio nostro G. Sh. prudenti et gravi viro fidem adhibeas, qui singula longissime expli- cabit, quae ad has caussas pertinebunt. Dominus Jesus, &c. XLVIIL— TO EAILTON, (2, 46.) Sends this letter to Eailton by a young man who is going to London. arissimo suo Railiono. — Hunc juvenem sine meis ad te Uteris Londinum proficisci nolui, Carissiine Eailton E : nam ex amicis meis universis ne unum in Aula, quum plurimi mihi sunt, habeo, ad quem vel majori studio vel justiori de caussa scribere debeam, quam ad te. Versa- tur enim semperque versabitur ob oculos meos, et mag- num beneficium tuum in me adjuvando, et major benevo- lentia tua in me tam amice suscipiendo. Nec mirari debes, si existimem magnitudinem beneficii tui superatam esse opportunitate benevolentise tuse : nam beneficium a quo vis accipere, et populare et quotidianum quiddam est ; uti autem benevolentia, opera, consilio, gratia, et auctori- tate talis viri qualis tu es, rarse certe propeque divinse felicitatis est. Et hie fructus benevolentise tuse, qui sin- gularis mihi fuit ad usum meum, eo gratior ad animi jueunditatem et eo paratior ad memorise diuturnitatem 7 98 ascham's letters. [1546, existitj quod abs te profectus sit, qui virtutis opinione, non mercedis uUius expectatione adductus, voluptatem potius ex officio capiendam, quam utilitatem ex beneficio foenerandam esse judicas. Cujus instituti laudem in aliis tuendis tuere tu perpetuo, perpetuaque defige in me- moria prsestantem illam Cicekonis sententiam, qui putat, Nullum nec opum, nec grati<2y nec dignitatis frudum^ vel uheriorem ad mum, vel ampliorem ad laudem, posse existere quam is est, qui in aliorum transfertur et collocatur commoditatem. Neque hoc quasi novum beneficium aucupans scribo ; sed ut intelligas, quanti viri judicio liujus facti tui institutum comprobetur. Yides, orna- tissime Eailtone, ut inanibus literis meis certa benevo- lentise tuse ratio compensata est : nam, quum par in referenda gratia tibi esse non potui, studium tamen et voluntatem non deesse mihi, his literis ut declararem iaboravi. Quod consilium meum si non displicuisse tibi vel uno verbo significes, literarum crebritate te posthae sum defatigaturus. Yale in Christo. XLIX.— TO LORD CHANCELLOR WillOTHESLEY, (4, 22). On behalf of the University — complaining of the wrong done to the Master of Peterhouse by Maxwell, who had taken his horse on the pretended service of the king, contrary to law and the charters of the university. idem, — ^ro Academia, — E sacra scriptura dis- cimus, honoratissime domine, turn demum populo suo Deum Optimum Maximum unice favere, quum non pueros, sed viros prudentes ad rerum publicarum gubernationem divinitus designasse videtur. Splendor autem et decus prudentis viri nulla alia in re eminentius elucet, quam quum tota mente in banc incumbit curam, ut ilia hominum societas, eujus rectionem susceperit, sumraa cum felicitate tran- 1547.] ascham's letters. 99 quiilam vitam traducat : id quod semper evenire solet, ubi hominum quum mens doctrina exculta, turn reliqua omnis vita publics pacis preesidio communita fuerit. Doctrinse homines, ut homines sint et ut germanum humanitatis nomen retineant, solas faciant. Prsesidium pacis sic homines inter se devincit, ut, absque ea esset, omnis hominum humanitas in immanitatem belluarum brevi prolaberetur. Quantum vero prudentia tua divina ad haec duo reipublicas vincula conservanda elaboraverit, Jucunda nos profecto memoria tenemus, et in literarum monumentis in infinitam posteritatem transmittemus. Nam si ab ipso primo ortu crescentis dignitatis tuae, beneficia tua in Academiam nostram commemorando per- veniremus ad hanc celsam sedem, in qua nunc coUatus es, sentiemus, nunquam tibi aditum pat^factum esse ad sublimiorem dignitatem, quin iisdem ipsis gradibus tuis literee nixae et insistentes ad majorem semper splendorem et amplitudinem una tecum excitatae aspiraverint. Et, ut vere fateamur, agnoscimus bonitatem tuam sic se effudisse, ad complectendum omnes partes dignitatis literarum, ut ipsse liter ae ignorent, quid amplius a te ad earum conservationem petere queant, nisi hoc tantum, ut quod semper fecisti hoc perpetuo facias, ut dum lite- rarum petitiones a tuis meritis vincantur, minime for- mident ne aliorum imperitae crudelitati subjiciantur. Age igitur, clarissime vir, et perpetuo age ut iiterae in hunc locum ubi nunc sunt tua potissimum opera evectae, tua itidem auctoritate in eodem, cum dignitate sua et consueto otio, acquiescere queant ; quo otio, quo minus more nostro frui liceat, tentatum est per hominem apud nos valde turbulentum, nomine Maxwellum. Ees primo aspectu gravis esse non videtur, verum si attente con- sideretur, praeterquara quod est contra omnem antegressas memoriae consuetudinem, sine omni exemplo contra jus 100 ascham's letters. [1547. et fas, profecto nisi provisio huic rei adhibeatur, in- finitam perturbationem posterse vitse nostrse invectura est. Hie Maxwellus ad vecturam regii piscis cui prse- iicitur, equos solet, per auctoritatem scripti cujusdam, a certis bominibus ademptos ad banc vecturam traducere : et nuper, sive imperitus quantum facere debet, sive im- probitate concitatus ad quicquid ei libet, eqiium prsefecti collegii Petri, cui uni propter temperatum et compositum incessum, ad salutem suam recuperandam, quse valde hoc anno imminuta est, certis temporibus consuevit, in ipsa platea ubi multi alii fuerunt equi, invito servo ejus, nulla ante pactione cum equi domino facta, abducit : nec id quidem ad vecturam piscis, nam currus ejus jam aliquot boras in itinere progressus fuerat, sed ad servum ejus vehendum, qui longe post currum insequutus est. Nec bujus equi nec bujus preefecti caussam agimus, prudentis- sime domine : agitur caussa omnium eorum qui equos in posterum hie habituri sunt. Prospicimus jam, nisi hie homo auctoritate tua reprimatur, quo hsec importunitas paulatim serpendo evasura sit. Sentit etiam prudentia tua, quam insolenter ad vexandum cseteros solet sese jactare hoc genus hominum, si imperita illorum libido nulla prudenti moderatione coerceretur. Cautum enim est nobis antiquissimo senatusconsulto, ab usque Ed- VARDO Primo nobis confirmato, ne ulla tali in re vexa- remur. Quod privilegium nostrum, tot seculis, in tarn intenta adversus Academiam oppidanorum audacia, in tanta improborum hominum licentia, inviolatum hactenus et integrum nobis fuit. Kogamus igitur te, per pruden- tiam, ne subjiciamur istius modi hominum intolerantiae contra privilegia nostra, sed ita in eum animadvertatur, ut omnes tum quieti tum turbulenti homines intelligant, quid a dominatione tua expectare debeant; et quod, te cancellario, nec bonis prsesidium ad suorum levationem 1546.] ascham's letters. 101 deesse, nec malis spes uUa ad aliorum vexationem re- linqui possit. Kogamus etiam dominationem tuam, ut huic nuntio nostro viro integro et prudenti fidem adhibeas, qui tibi has et alias res fasius possit exponere. Ckristus Jesus dominationem tuam ad publicam et literariam rem tuendam perpetuo servet incolumem. L.— TO BISHOP THURLBY, (4, 33). Asks the bishop to aid in exempting the university from fur- nishing soldiers to the king's levy lately ordered by the Council. Aug. 19 [1546.] idem, — Pro Academia. — Quum regii consilii auctoritas de novo militum delectu habendo ad nos perveniret, ejusque rei procuratio sum- mis et optimis viris traderetur, ut toto hoc comitatu Cantabrigiensi conquirerentur ; quia nulla nos exceptione excludebamur, ejus mandati jus ad nos etiam putabant pervenire, institueruntque, ut reli- quorum, sic nostrorum hominum delectum habere. Quod quum nos animadverteremus, et superioribus temporibus simili in caussa regies majestatis consilio essemus liberati, putavimus nostris rebus accommodatum fore, si qua im- munitate eramus exclusi eandem illis ostenderemus. Quam quidem perhumaniter accipiebant, libenterque sese aiebant hoc nostrse libertati condonare velle, si vestrse etiam auc- toritatis testimonium accederet. Quare pro singulari tua benevolentia erga nos, magnopere a te contendimus, ut exigui laborem temporis, in voluntate tua erga nos de- claranda, impartias ; et ut eadem nobis conditio remaneat, qua semper ante hoc tempus, et superioribus annis regii consilii decreto usi sumus. Dominus Jesus amplitudinem tuam diutissime servet incolumem. Cantabrigise, @- Senatu nostro, XIX Augusti. 102 ascham's letters. [1546. LL— TO BISHOP GAEDINER, (4,17). On behalf of the University — Complains that two aldermen and others have refused to take the oath about keeping the peace. This refusal is known to have been ^iven on Oct. 32, 1546. [After Oct. 22, 1546.] idem pro Academia. — Quam secure hactenus hos aliquot annos in tiise solins auctoritatis prsesidio Academia nostra conqiiieverit, orna- tissime prsesul, et nos nniversi intelligimiis et singuli fere expert! sumus. Veremur tamen, ut amplius possimus eum cursum, quern tranquillum diu tenuimus, nisi recens orta ab oppidanis nostris et nimis imminens nostrse quieti tempestas veteri consilii tui gubernatione devitetur. Chartam nostram antiquissimam, de juramento a duobus aldermannis et aliis oppidanis ad pacem conservandam exigendo, abrogare conantur. Jus- jurandum aldermanni repudiant, ratione ut ilia opinantur arguta et aKqua, ut nos arbitramur inani et nulla, ut dominatio tua ni fallimur judicabit, insolenti admodum et inepta. Aiunt enim se jurejurando ad pacem semel obli- gatos, novo deinceps obstringi non debere. Omnem nostram disceptationem hie nuutius, qui illis rebus inter- fuit, fusissime narrare potest. Nihil non confusione miscere conantur. Quse hominum nimis effluens audacia, nisi auctoritate aliqua primaria coerceatur, ad magnam quietis et studiorum nostrorum calamitatem redundabit. Hanc caussam et reliquas Academise nostrse rationes uni- versas, more nostro, prudentissimo tutissimoque consilio tuo tradimus et commendamus. Dominus Jesus, etc. LIL— TO THE SAME, (4, 19.) On behalf of the university — Asks the bishop to aid them in exempting the colleges from paying contributions to the king's procurators. [1546] 1545.] ascham's letters. 103 idem pro Academia. — Procuratores regii, orna- tissime prsesul, qui pecuni^ contribuendee prseficiuntur, etiam nostra collegia in banc solutionem illigare conantur: quam tamen vacua ab hujusmodi solutionibus Academia solet esse, nemo melius intelligit, quam dominatio tua, cujus ope et gratia ad omnem immunitatem nostram obtinendam semper utebamur. Quantus autem Uteris occasus immineat et interitus, si nostree tenuitati heec solutio imponeretur, penitus prudentia tua perspicit et certius videt quam nos possimus Uteris explicare. Videt etiam prudentia tua infinitas alias difficultates cohaerentes et implicatas cum hac solutione, nisi ab ea ope et cousilio tuo expediamur. Petitio nostra eadem est- quae semper fuit ; ut literarum cursus liber et solutus et nullis im- pedimentis retardatus eo progrediatur, quo ut perveniat omnes prudentise tuae cogitationes cum magna sedulitate hactenus elaborarunt. Haec caussa nostra non nova est, sed novis temporibus renovata est, quae ut nullum nobis novum onus importet, omnem veterem tuam in nos pietatem et studium imploramus. Dominus Jesus, etc. LIIT.— TO LORD CHANCELLOE WEIOTHESLEY, (4, 20.) Complains that, whereas by a charter of Henry III the Univer- sity has always had the right of exacting an oath from two aldermen and other townsmen, they have this year been unable to enforce this right, owing to the temper of the times, and he asks the aid of the bishop to enforce the privileges of the University. agno Anglice cancellario^ — pro Academia. — Inviti facimus, honoratissime domine, ut tibi tantam regni molem soli fere sustinenti ullum novum onus imponamus. Yeteres tamen vexatores quietis nostrae oppidani Cantabrigiae eo nos 104 ascham's letteks. [1546, compellunt, ut hoc tempore tempora tua paululum morari cogamur. Cogimur autum iujusta illorum opera, et eo injustiori quo illi ad magis justam reipublicse partem complectendam a nobis hactenus excitati nunquam fuerint, nempe ut pacem regiam inviolatam nos inter nos conser- varemus. Kes hsec est. Chartam habemus ab Henrici III usque temporibus deductam, perpetua deinceps regum auctoritate firmatam, et longa seculorum serie in annuo usu apud nos positam, ut singulis annis vice-cancellarius et preefectus urbis ad dictum diem et locum coirent, quo jusjurandum a certis scholasticis et oppidanis ad pacem quietemque publicam tuendam exigerent. Ex oppidanis duo aldermanni. et ex singulis parochiis duo alii requiruntur. Hoc anno nec aldermannus uilus, et vix etiam ex grege populi quisquam alius perduci potuerat, ut hoc faceret : quum illud tamen ut facerent, vice-cancellarius ssepe regis nomine postulabat. Quod nomen regis, ne publica auctoritas centemnatur, in omnibus juramentis veluti sacramentum quoddam inter- poni putamus. Universam rem in longam verborum disceptationem productam, brevibus complecti literis non possumus : fidem propterea ut huic nuntio nostro gravi viro adhibeasj etiam at que etiam rogamus. Unum tamen hoc verbum ut animo figas vel potius memorise tuae revoces, vehementer cupimus. Tuit tempus, quum oppi- dani nostri, metu scholasticorum, se probe in officio con- tinerent ; nunc autem, quum nos sic sumus et eo status Academise devenit ut nuUus metus a nobis immineat, nulla nocturna grassatio illorum ferociam comprimat, eo jam sese efferunt ut, quod antea non sperare, hoc jam palam audere, et cuncta pro libidine miscere non vereantur. Nos contra nihil prsesidii in domesticis fortunis ponimus ; sed nos totos sequitatis tntelse, hoc est, tuse prudentiae jampridem tradidimus. Quod sane consilium nostrum 1546.] ascham's letters. 105 in banc spem nos perduxit, ut nunquam possit esse tarn projecta oppidanorum audacia, quse auctoritate tua non reprimatur : iiec Academiee salus tarn jacens et deposita, quae ope tua non facile erigatur, Faxit Deus Optimus Maximus ut te summum principi consiliarium, patriae cancellarium, Uteris patronum diutissime conservet. LIV.— TO LOED CHANCELLOE WEIOTHESLEY, (4,21). On behalf of the University — prays the chancellor to lend his aid in procuring for the University exemption from paying the same military contributions as the towns-people. Cambridge, [1546.] onoratissimo viro B. Tk. Wriothesleio, Anglice cancellario magno, Academioi Cantabrigiensis, et literamm patrono maximo. Fro Jcademia, — Ex Uteris quas nuper ad Academiam regiae majestatis consiliarii dederunt, intelligimus, clarissime vir, quantum oppidani nostri, conatu quodam novo, sed antiquo suo more et instituto, laboraverunt, ut omnis illorum sumptus in rem militarem faciendus Aca- demiee seque ac illis imponeretur. Quae caussa illorum constare minime potest : quum ea omnis duplici funda- mento nititur ; quorum alterum verura non est, altemm admodum imbecillum. Nam, quod de consuetudine adferunt, quantum nos ex his, qui multa provecti setate multos annos in Academia permanserunt, elicere quimus, vel quantum ex omni superiorum tempomm memoria, et monumentorum nostrorum omnium antiquitate colliger^ possumus, nihil tale unquam in usu apud nos positum fuit. Ex illo vero decreto, quo Academiam ad eum cum oppidanis sumptum partiendum teneri contendunt, faci- lius conjicere possumus, quanto studio veteres illi vexatores quietis nostras ad Academiam perturbandam incumbunt, 106 ascham's letters. [1546. quam quid Academia et musse ad belli vires sustentandas conferre ullo modo debeant. Quod profecto decretum si pro ea re unquam quicquam facere potuisset, certe oppi- dani nostri, homines ad suam rem tarn attenti excubatores, in Academiam tarn intenti semper adversarii, in tanta temporum opportunitate, in tam justa ut ipsi ferunt caussa ; quum et injustissimara quamque attentare audeant, tam diuturno silentio obrutam deiitescere minime permisissent. Quamobrem Academia cum omni literarum ratione ad te unum conversa, cui uni quam universis aliis se cariorem intelligit, partim tibi ut alumno suo cum auctoritate imperat, partim ut patrono summo demisse et liumiliter supplicat; ut ejus decus atque dignitas omnis, ab omni bellicarum rerum motu immunis et calumniatorum strepitu secura, in tui unius gratia, ope, et auctoritate conquiescere possit. Oppidani nostri, qui se tam graves adversaries ad convellendam Academiam intendunt, duplici errore hoc faciunt : quorum alter ingrat^ impudentise est, alter mirse cujusdam imperitiee. Ingrati enim sunt, quod eos Isedere conantur, quorum vitee communione omnis illorum vita con- tinetur. Nam opibus nostris ut vivant, ope nostra ut bene vivant, facillime efficitur. Imperiti autem sunt, quod dum abducere nos a studio literarum et rei bellicse ratione irretire cupiunt, quantam injuriam universes reipublicse moliantur, non satis intelligunt. Etenim si viderent, quod dominatio tua cum paucis aliis videt, quanta ad puram religionem reti- nendam, ad veram obedientiam principi et magistratibus exhibendam, ad omnem denique humanse vitse societatem, a ferino ritu et ignoratione separandam in se literse momenta haberent, nequaquam nos ulla belli curatione a studiis lite- rarum distraherent : sine quibus, nec quando bellum juste suscipiatur, nec quando pax rite constituitur, ullo modo cognosci potest. Itaque quum princeps noster gravissimum 1546,] ascham's letters. 107 hoc reipublicse suse munus Academise imponit, ut omnis cognitionis et doctrinarum genera ab ea tanquam e fonte quodam profluant, quae postea in reliquas regni sui partes di£Fusa, sinceram religionem, omnium officiorum ordinem et descriptionem, virtutis morumque probitatem progig- nant et conservent, precamur a te, prudentissime vir, ut ope ac consilio tuo Academia nostra non distrahatur ad alias quasvis reipublicse partes, sed totam sese ad eam gravissimam reipublicse provinciam exornandam tradat et accommodet, quam princeps non sine magno consilio im- ponit, et ab ea semper non sine magna expectatione requirit exigitque. Quo beneficio tuo, non solum Acade- miam, nos omnes et ipsas literas ; sed religionem, rectam vitae institutionem, et reliquam universam reipublicae salutem, quse Uteris aut alitur aut continetur, complecteris. Christus Jesus dominationem tuam diutissime servet incolumem. Cantabrigiae, e Senatu nostro. LV.— TO SIK J. ASTLEY, (2, 37) Speaks of learned women ; praises the Princess Elizabeth and Queen Catharine, and hopes that much will be reformed in the new parliament. [1547.] rnatimmo viro Joanrd Astlceo, — Tandem, clar- issime AsTLiEE, Catalogum Bpistolarum ad Claras feminas ex Hieiionymo et Augustino tibi mitto : in quibus rebus investigandis, an- imadverti felicissimum illud et doctissimum seculum fuisse, in quo plures feminse quam nunc viri lite- * rarum laude floruerunt. Omni laude superiores sunt illustrissima regina nostra et nobilissima domina mea domina Elizabeth a, quae in hunc antiqui feminei decoris cursum sese tradiderunt. Turpe esset, si tu vir ab istis feminis literarum studio superareris: et frater tuus 108 ascham's letters. [1547. EiCHARDUS, nisi valde properes, tantum brevi anteibit tibi doctrina quantum tu illi setate. Est hie Irelandus, qui has perfert literas, honestissimus juvenis : quicquid illi aut feceris aut dixeris, mihi factum esse putabo. Ex- pectamus, imo Deum oramus, ut omnis i^eXo^^prjaKda in hoc parlamento tollatur. Quam late patet hoc Grsecum vocabulum, et quem impetum facit in universas verse re- ligionis partes, explicare tibi potest Grind allus noster. Veram doctrinam Christi populus omnis libentissime amplectitur ; sola sacerdotum natio contra veritatem re- pugnabit. Hoc novum non est, hi prophetas, hi Christum, hi apostolos, hi reliquos pios omnes semper perturbarunt. Sacerdotes expectant literarum interitum, quia illi con- temnuntur : quasi unquam illis quicquam commercii cum Uteris fuit. Imo, quae spes Uteris illustrior proponi po- test, quam quum ignorantia horum hominum justissime castigatur ? Sed diligens cautio adhibenda est, ne aliqui homines plus elaborent in plectendis malis sacerdotibus, quam reliqui omnes in excitandis ad veram doctrinam bonis ingeniis. Si hsec res bene ibit, reliqua omnia sunt in bono cursu, et in optima expectatione. Hsec ad te, quia vir parlamentarius es. Has mortis imagines tibi mitto : ad veram pietatem, ad praeclaram doctrinam, multa hinc haurire potes. Euinam glorise, carnis, mundi, libidinis, et omnis inanitatis, tanquam in speculo cernes. Libenter tecum coUoquor literis meis, et propterea longior quam expectabam sum : et omnia sine ordine effutio, sed novi te. Alias accuratius. Kescribe queeso. Saluta optimam feminam conjugem tuam. Yale in Christo. LVI.— TO SIE T. SMITH, (2, 54). Reminds Smith how much he owes to the University, and ex- horts him to support its cause. [1547] 1547.] ascham's letters. 109 la?'iS'Simo viro D, Thomce Smitho^ pro Academia — Si tu is es, clarissime Smithe, in quern Academia hsec Cantabrigiensis universas vires suas, universa pietatis jura exercuerit ; si tibi uni omnia doctrinse sues genera, omnia rei- publicee suse ornamenta libentissime contulerit ; si fructum glories suse in te uno jactaverit ; si spem salutis suae in te potissimum reposuerit : age ergo et mente ac cogitatione tua complectere, quid tu vicissim illi debes ; quid ilia, quid literse, quid respublica, quid Deus ipse, pro tantis pietatis officiis, quibus sic dignitas tua efflorescit, jus- tissime requirit. Academia nihil debet tibi, imo omnia feua in te transfudit ; et propterea abs te non simpliciter petit beneficium, sed merito repetit officium ; nec unam aliquam caussam tibi proponit, sed sua omnia et se ipsam tibi committit ; nec sua necesse habet aperire tibi consilia quorum recessus et diverticula nosti universa. Age igitur quod scis, et velis quod potes, et perfice quod debes ; sic literis Academise, reipublicae, et religioni, sic Christo et principi rem debitam et expectatam efficies. Jesus te diutissime servet incolumem. LYIL— TO SIR J. CHEKE, (2, 55). Reminds Cheke of the good which has resulted both to Cam- bridge and to himself from the connection between them, and exhorts him to stand up for the interests of the uni- versity on all occasions. [1547.] rnatissimo viro D, Joanni CJieco^ pro Academia. — Ex universo illo numero clarissimorum vi» rorum, clarissime Chece, qui ex hac Academia in rempublicam unquam prodierunt, tu unus es quern semper hsec Academia prse universis aliis et prsesentem complexa est et absentem admirata est. Quam tu vicissim, plus quam universi alii, et prsesens 110 ascham's letters. [1547. ornaveras et absens juvas. Presens enim ea prsecepta (loctrinse ad omnem institutionem tradidisti, et ea exempla ingenii ad omiiem imitationem proposuistij quae quum omnes sequuti sunt ad summam utilitatem, nemo asse- quutus est ad summam perfectionem. Nemo profecto inter nos omnes est, vel tam ignarus qui nesciat, vel tarn invidiosus qui neget, hos felicissimos studiorum nostrorum foiites, quos multi magna industria, studio, et spe atti- gerunt, ex tui unius ingenii laude, prsesidio, exemplo et consilio effluxisse. Et istis humanitatis tuse, ingenii, et doctrinse monumentis consecrata est perpetua recordatio memorise tuee in omnium nostrorum animis. Absens autem majorem opem certiusque prsesidium ad dignitatem Acade- miee perpetuo tuendum aggregasti, quam aut reliqui amici cogitare, aut nos ipsi expectare unquam potuisseraus. Nam dum rex institutus prsecepto tuo sic prseest eruditioni, consilio tuo, quid reliqui aut velint aut debeant tribuere Academise nostree, non ignoramus. Hanc spem nostram, et hanc disciplinam ex Platone tuo, ad pessimum regem DiONYSiUM exhausimus ; fructum tamen et usum ejus nuper, ope tua, in optimo principe nostro Ed yard o ex- perti sumus. Itaque, quum tot mutua officia, tam pise propinquitates et vincula inter te et academiam intercedunt, ut repetendo memoriam ab ipsis infantiae tuse incunabulis ad banc dignitatis laudem, in qua nunc versaris, nullum in te reperiri possit vel naturae beneficium, vel industriae fructus, vel ingenii laus, velfortunae praesidium, vel digni- tatis ornamentum, cujus non sit Academia nostra vel ad- jutrix ad usum tuum vel particeps ad gloriam suam ; non dubitamus quin Academia nunc fructum ornamentorum suorum in te collatorum abs te sperare et repetere possit ; ut nulla posthac facultas dignitatis tuae esse queat, quse non in Academiae dignitate conservanda omnes vires suas exercerc velit. Non unam, sed caussas nostras universas 1547.] ascham's letters. Ill tibi commendamus, in quibus tantum te elaboratumm speramus, quantum vel tu nobis tribuere, vel nos a te expectare debemus. Dominus Jesus, &c. LVIIL— TO QUEEN CATHEEINE, (4, 8). On behalf of the University — Thanks the queen for her letter of last year [Feb. 26, 1846 : see Cooper's Camb.l^ 430]. Compliments her on her love of letters, which she shares with the princess Elizabeth : asks her patronage at the meeting of parliament, and refers for further explanation to the vice-chancellor Madew. [1547.] ereuissimce re^mce nostrce divm Catharince virMis, nobilitatis et literarum illustrissimcB principi— Fro Academia, — Si magnam commoditatem ex beneficiis tuis in nos collatis, si majorem voluptatem ex Uteris tuis proximo superiori anno ad nos scriptis percepimus, ciarissima princips, maximam profecto culpam committeremus, si vel tanti beneficii in adjuvando, vel eximise voluntatis tuse in scri- bendo, memoriam unquam abjiceremus. Et quanquam beneficia tua ita grata fuerint nobis, ut absque his salus Academise nostrse contineri non queat ; magnitudo tamen eorum omnium ita superata est suavitate literarum tuarum ut istis beneficiis quibus nunc utimur, quam illis Uteris quas olim recepimus, carere maluissemus. Beneficium enim a quovis accipere, populare quiddam et quotidianum est : uti autem tantss principis tanta benevoleutia, ut nihil est ad usum uberius, ita profecto nec ad animi jucundi- tatem suavius nec ad memorise diuturnitatem stabilius quidquam exoptiri potest. Juva igitur nos semper, optima princeps, et scribe ad nos ssepius, eruditissima re- gina. Hoc nomen eruditionis ne spernas, prudentissima femina ; est enim laus industries et ingenii tui major om- nibus ornamentis fortunse tu83. At fortunse quid ? Hie 112 ascham's letters. [1547. certe loci nihil habet, quum tu omnia tua soli Christo accepta referas. Vehementer sane omnes admiramur felicitatem tuam, felicissima princeps ; quse plura discis in tanto negotio dignitatis tuse, quam plurimi apud nos in tanto otio quietis nostrse ; et hoc facis etiam in ea celsi- tatis amplitudine, nbi reiiqnse feminse literas despicere velint : et in ea etiam setate, quando doctrinam antea per- ceptam ex animo abjicere solent. Et banc doctrinae laudem sic nniversam possides, nt eam ceteris omnibus praereptam, soli tamen divee Elizabeth.^ communicatam esse, cum magna mutuse societatis suavitate, libenti animo feras. Vides ergo, nobilissima regina, qua spe et qua re commoti ad te accedimus opem tuam imploraturi. Nam ut opem feras nobis auctorit^te et jussu tuo, in l>oc parla- mento vehementer petimus : qua autem ratione hoc facias, gravissimus vir et magna eruditione ac modestia prseditus Joannes Madew vice-cancellarius noster, tibi si ita libet coram fuse declaraturus est : cui ut fidem habeas etiam atque etiam omnes roganms. Dominus Jesus ampli- tudinem tuam honore, felicitate, doctrina, et virtute am- pliorem indies faciat. LIX.— TO AECHBISHOP CUANMEE, (4, 9). On behalf of the University — Asks the archbishop to maintain the privileges of the University against the townsfolk of Cam- bridge, &c. [1547.] everendissimo in Christo patri ac domino, Domino Thomce Cantuariensi archiejpiscopo, totiusAnglicB primati et patrono nodro singulari- — Pro Aca- demia. — Quantas quotidie curas laboresque exhauris, reverendissime pater, in repurgandis fsecibus illis quae per sentinam papisticam in ecclesiam Anglicanara derivatee influxerunt, universi nos cum summa et laude tua et congratulatione nostra accepimus. Et 1547.] ascham's letters. 113 quum tibi sedulo inprimis incumbenti ad banc puram tradendam constituendamque doctrinam, bsec nostra Academia singularem opem, paratissimum studium, in- structissimos semper viros prsestiterit ; vicissim ilia a te postulat et expectat, ut mutua ope auctoritateque tua ejus dignitas atque salus coiiservetur. Salus antem ejus hoc tempore graviter tentata jactataque est, nova audacia veterum vexatorum quietis nostrse, oppidanorum Can- tabrigiensium. Privilegia enim nostra, quibus omnis Academise salus continetur, auctoritate regum, consensu parlamentorum, longinquitate temporum munitissima, de tradendis in publicum carcerem sceleratis hominibus, eripere nobis ceperunt. Hujus facti et horum hominum importunam indignitatem et vim, qui has perferunt literas late explicare possunt. Nos satis mirari non possumus, unde banc spem et hsec nova consilia susceperunt oppi- dani nostri ; nec scimus quorsum hsec insolentia his rei- publicse temporibus eruptura sit. Hoc oranes scimus, Academiam nostram, quomodo nunc est, per se satis depositam et inclinatam esse, quo veniendi paucissimis spes et hie diu manendi paucioribus alacritas est. Itaque si Academia extrinsecus et foris ne umbram quidem veteris dignitatis et loci tueri queat, ihtus autem et domi vincula nerviqua salutis ejus concidantur, quid regnum, quid religio, quid regia majestas ab hac Academia sperare amplius possit, non videmus. Et profecto literarum studiis nulla insignis pernicies importari potest, quse non veram etiam religionem eodem motu in eundem casum et interitum trahat. Quamobrem in banc spem ducimur, nullam noctem et tenebras literarum studiis offundi posse, in his potissimum temporibus, quae ad splendorem verse germanseque re- ligionis mirifice illucescunt. Et quum hse duse res sic inter se cohserent implicitseque sunt, ut si hsec fluat ilia 8 ascham's letters. [1547. consistere non possit ; non dubitamus, qnin, quam curam in vera doctrina illustranda suscepisti, eandem ipsam in Academise nostrse dignitate constitnenda collocaturas sis. Nos autem perpetuo laborabimus, ut nostra in studiis diligentia, in moribus modestia, in religione sinceritas, hoc beneficio tuo nos non indignos sit demonstratura, Dominus Jesus, &c. LX.—TO Dr WENDY, (4, 28.) On behalf of the University — Thanlss Wendy for his zeal in the cause of the University, and congratulates him on having succeeded to the honours of Dr Butt who was formerly their patron. This no doubt refers to Wendy's having been appointed physician to Edward YI in March 1547. [About April, 1547.] ' Wendceo pro Academia. — Quoties tuam olim in consiliis nostris domesticis prndentianiy et singularem nunc in negotiis nostris au- 3 licis diiigentiam consideramns, clarissime vir, toties optimi viri et maximi patroni Academise nostrse Gulielmi Butti memoriam, acerbam animis nostris, sed debitam ejus in nos beneficiis renova- inus. Sed quum tu nuper immigrasti in possessionem non solum ordinis et loci illius, ad tuam dignitatem, sed voluntatis etiam et studii illius erga nostram Academiam, existimavimus in te Buttum reviviscere. Qua cogitatione non modo desiderium tanti viri melius toleramus, sed vehementer et tibi, propter sequalem dignitatem, et nobis, propter parem commoditatem, gratulamur. Indue totum Buttum ergo, clarissime Wend.i;e, hoc est, totum ani- mum, studium, voluntatem ejus erga literas, locum, gratiam, et dignitatem ejus apud regem, capesse. Clarior vir ad imitationem proponi, major dignitas ad laudem requiri profecto non potest. Neque hsec scribimus, ut munus videamur suscipere monendi, sed declarare potius 1547.] ascham's letters. 115 officium tibi gratulandi, imitantes preeclarum illud prse- clarissimi poetse carmen : Qui monet ut facias quod jam facis, ipse monendo Laudat, et hortatu comprobat acta suo. Academia vicissim poUicetur tibi eundem animum, eandem voluntatem, qua semper Buttum unice complexa est : et hac sane caritate, nec a te expectari, nee ab ilia dari gratius quicquam potest. Dominus Jesus, etc. LXI.—TO SIR Wm PAGET, (4, 24.) On behalf of the University — Tells him that the townsmen of Cambridge have been lately more rebellious than usual, not- withstanding that the University has been unusually gentle towards them. They have rescued by force some disorderly men whom the proctors had confined in the castle : he refers to the bearers of tins letter for further information. [Sep. 17, 1547.] G. Pagetto^ regice familice censori dignissimo — Pro Academia. — Si oppidani nostri, pruden- tissime vir, vel jurisjurandi quo se obstrinx- erint, vel Academise tranquillse lenitatis qua nunc usi fuerint, vel horum reipublicee nostrse temporum, vel tuee dignitatis et reliquorum regise majes- tatis consiliariorum ullam rationem habuissent, aut nullas hoc tempore aut certe alias literas ad te scripsissemus. Sed qu.um tempu.s nunquam fuit, quando oppidani nostri usi sint mitiori Academia, quum nullus metus a nobis immineat illis, nulla nocturna grassatio, nulla juvenum ferocia eos interturbet, et quum hac nostra lenitate non contineantur, sed hinc potius sumpta occasione in quam- vis audacise libidinem sese effundant ; cogimur profecto, cogimur, quum nihil prsesidii in domestica ope jam aliquot annos posuimus, Academise salutem prudentise tuse tradere et commendare ; utpote in cujus unius auctoritate et con- silio acquiescere cogitamus. 116 ascham's letters. [1547. His proximis superioribus nundinis nostris, procuratores nostri, multorum boiiorum virorum vocibus et querelis excitati, certa quadam nocte peragrarunt suburbana loca et reliquos nundinarum recessus atque latebras, in qiias abdere sese solet magna nefariorum hominmn eluvies, qui hoc semper tempore in has confluunt nundinas : et magna turba deprehensa, in his etiam facinoribus, quae honeste nominari non possunt, ad majorem qui vocatur oppidi procuratores veninnt, clavem commuiiis carceris petituri. Major autem, nova audacia, absque omni more, nullo exemplo, contra omnia privilegia, quibus conservandis ille ipse singulari jurejurando astrictus est, clavem denegat ; qua caussa commotus, non intelligimus, nisi segre ferat hanc perditam malorum intolerantiam legibus coercere. Procuratores nostri hoc exclusi carcere, ad castellum, utroque enim loco arbitratu nostro uti per privilegia licet, sese conferunt, ubi, in carcerem datis nefariis illis quos adduxissent, ecce tibi post unam aut alteram horam, majoris filius majori certe insolentia quam pater agitatus, hos omnes e castello abducit, et ad pristina scelera, cum nova spe, cum novis animis, fractis legibus, contemptis magistralibus, derisis bonis illis viris quorum querela comprehensi sunt, liberrime remittit. Importunam hujus facti indignitatem disertis verbis urgere nec possumus nec volumus, prudentissime vir : hoc tamen plane et simpli- citer dicimus : Si hsec juvenilis licentia, si tanta impro- borum impunitas, contra salutem reipublicse, contra tot regum privilegia, tot parlamentorum consilia, in hac nostra lenitate, sub hac tua auctoritate in his reipublicse temporibus, quum domestica omnia quietissima esse debent, aut tegi sine animadversione aut defendi ad novani licentia m potest ; quo fluet audacia, quo prorumpet vis, quid audebunt mali, quid non audebunt improbi, aut quid in posterum sperabunt boni et quieti, non videmus. 1547.] ascham's letters. 117 Agnosce igitur caussam nostram, clarissime vir, et aucto- ritate tua perfice, ut hi homines sentiant, quid sit leges violare, jus injuriis perfringere, impunitatem alere, potes- tatem non vereri. Ex quo facto tuo universi homines intelligent, per te effectum esse, ut posthac nec malis spes ulla ad alios vexandos relinqui, nec bonis prassidium ad sese defendendos deesse possit. Hanc rem fusius et alias etiam Academige caussas tibi explicaremus, nisi hi graves viii, qui has perferunt literas, id coram sermone oppor- tunius facerent : quibus ut fidem adjungas, rogamus. Dominus Jesus, &c. LXIL— TO KING EDWAED VI, (4, 3.) On behalf of the University — Prays his majesty to keep up all the former rights and privileges of the University, and calls bis attention to the disturbance lately caused by the towns- people ; which is too long to be described by letter, but will be more fully explained by certain members of the University sent for that purpose. [1547.] xcellentissimo illustrissimoque principi^ Edvardo Sexto, Anglice^ Francicje^ et Hybemics regi^ fidei defensori^ ecclesia AnglicancR, Hybernicco- que post Christum supremo capiti, domino nostro clementissimo — Pro Academia, — Populo pacem dare summa laus summorum regum semper fuit, illustris- sime rex, pax autem nulli reipublicse parti confirm ari potius debet, quam illi, unde pacis germanse artes et vera doctrina ad alios transfundi solet. Si hi fontes exaruerint vel aliqua injecta turba occludantur, quomodo ulla quietis spes reliquse reipublicae ali excitarique possit, non videmus. Petimus igitur a te, nobilissime rex, ut quibus legibus ad quietem studiorum nostrorum quietissime hactenus bene- ficio majorum tuorum usi sumus, iisdem deinceps nos communiti, in veteri tranquillitate nostra auctoritate et jussu tuo conquiescamus. Novum beneficium non peti- 118 ascham's letters. [1547. mus, sed vetus ne nobis auferatur requirimus : qnod a vetustissimis majoribus tuis traditum accepimus, et Ion- gissimis temporibus quiete usurpatum possedimus. Quo- modo vero quies Academise tuee ab inquietis oppidanis nostris pertnrbata est, majestati tu^ Uteris referre nimis longnra esset ; banc rem propterea commisimus istis gravissimis viris Academise nostra, qui omnia tibi si ita visum fuerit fusissime explicare possunt, quibus ut majestas tua fidem habeat, vehementer omnes rogamus. Et spera- raus quidem te tantum literarum caussee tribuere velle, quantum vel antiqua majorum tuorum exempla, vel proxima nobilissimi patris tui vestigia, vel eruditissima doctorum tuorum prsecepta, vel ingenii tui et animi boni- tatis ornamenta, literis tribuere te commovere velint. Nos vicissim omnibus studiis nostris laborabimus, ut purissima semper doctrina cum optimis literis conjuncta ex Academia tua Cantabrigiensi derivata, in reliquas regni tui partes affluentissime redundet. Dominus Jesus majes- tatem tuam imperio majorem, doctrina et virtute maximam indies semper efficiat. LXIIT.— TO AECHBISHOP CEANMER, (4, 10.) On behalf of St John's College — About the young Frenchman named J oseph, a retainer of the Lord Stafford, who cut the rope by which the pyxis was supported in the college chapel. Sept. 24, 1547. )]idem — Pro Collegio. — Ad decimum Calendas Octobris, reverendissime in Christo pater, juvenis iste, quem ad te misimus, nomine JosEPHUS, natione Gallus, officio servus Do- mini EoBEPtTi Staffordii, importuua qua- dam et iraperita audacia, funiculum ilium quo pyxis superaltaris in nostro collegio ligata est, clam nocte concidit. Hanc rem Inprimis dominationi tuse signifi- candam esse duximus. Qua ratione, quibus vestigiis, 1547.] ascham's letters. 119 haec res a nobis investigata est, Thomas Leverus, qui has perfert literas, vir eruditus admodiim et gravis, collegii nostri socius, tibi explicabit. Qua mente autem et quo consilio, hoc factum ab eo institutum fuit, ab illo ipso intelliges. Kem ipsam tractavimus, raiuimo motu, nullo tumultu; veremur tamen ne certi quidam homines, qui occasum interitumque superstitionis admodum stoma- chantur, et relucenti, hoc tempore, evangelio tenebras qiiovis modo offundere conantur, hoc ejus facto ad im- minuendam dignitatem hujus collegii abuti velint. Ipse juvenis eruditus certe est et quiete honesteque hactenus se gessit apud nos. Et quauquam Dominus Stafeokdius, qui literarum studio mirifice sese dedidit, istius juvenis opera carere dolet ; prudenter tamen, quid tu vel de facto judices vel de poena statuas, prudentiae tii83 committit. Nos omnes orabimus Deum ut Pauli spiritu, quod hactenus fecisti, banc rem et reliquas purae religionis a te susceptas institutasque rationes modereris. Christus Jesus dominationem, &c. Ad octavum Calendas Octobris, 1547. LXIV.— TO SIR W. PAGET, (4, 27.) Speaks of the act of Parliament, about farms, &c., belonging to colleges, and asks Paget's aid in favour of the University. idem — Pro Academia. — Quum te virtus tua et singulare ingenium magnis literarum prsesidiis ornatum in summo dignitatis gradu colioca- verit, ornatissime vir, nihil profeeto est vel in spe nostra majus, vel in sermone nostro fre- quentius, quam quod tu perpetuo vis, universam banc prseclarse fortunse tuae dignitatem vicissim ad virtutem et literarum studium convertere. Et quum nos omnes intel- ligimus, quanto favore, ope, et gratia, singulos quosque complecteris, qui literarum nomine a te quicquam petunt : nullo modo sane diffiteri possumus, quin nos universos, cum universa literarum caussa, ad te confugientes, consilio 120 ASCHAm's LETTEllS. [1547. et auctoritate tua adjuvare velis. Atque, quum nullum beneficium vel amplius ad splendorem existat, vel latius ad reipublicse utilitatem emanet, quam id quod in universes transfundatur, nihil profecto in omnes homines magis uni- verse pertinet, quam quod nobilem hanc literarum sedem stabilire queat; quss ve] propterea a prudentibus viris universUas nominata est, quod universa fere humanse vitse salus, ut religio in Deum, obedientia in principem, ordo et descriptio officiorum, probitas et integritas morum, ex hoc loco, veluti puro quod am literarum fonte, optime percipi et abunde hauriri solet. Caussa, quam ut tuearis expetimus, hujusmodi est. Sentimus nos teneri €o senatus consulto, quo caetera ubivis locorum in Anglia tenentur collegia. Atque ut certo scimuSj quod optime et conside- ratissime literarum studiis propagandis consultum pros- pectumque fuerit, ita vehementer petimus, ne caussa literarum illis hominibus tradatur, qui melius cognoscunt, quid pecunia solet facere, quam quo in loco doctrina debet esse, sed ab his ut tota transigatur, qui ex utriusque rei natura utramque rem probe sestimare norunt. Nihil aliud in hac caussa petimus, quam quod tu ipse Uteris tribuen- dum esse judicaveris. Literae enim nullo modo fluctuare possunt, si in prudentissima consilii tui gubernatione conquiescunt. Nam minime existimavimus, quod tantum possit uUius hominis libido aut potestas ad prsediola nostra diminuenda, quantum tua gratia valet apud regiam majestatem et auctoritas ad studia literarum adaugenda. Quicquid ergo ad rationes Academiae nostrae constituendas allatum fuerit, id primum regise munificen- tiae acceptum feremus : dein totum illud, quicquid sit, a tuo consilio profectum esse dicemus. Quo beneficio tuo, neque nobis ad usum, neque posteritati nostrae ad memo- riam, neque tibi ipsi ad veram laudem, majus aliud esse potest. 1547.] ascham's letters. 121 LXV.— TO SIR A. DENNY, (4, 30.) Speaks of the evils which will result to the Universities from the loss of their estates, and says, that even now few go to college for the purpose of stopping there to study, but go away again as soon as they can. idem — Fro Academia. — Quum nemo te sit, ornatissime vir, vel majori apud regem gratia et auctoritate, vel paratiori erga literas studio ac voluntate, in certam spem dueimur, ipsas literas, quas taiitum diligis, a rege apud quern tantum potes, te prsesertim patrono, quicquid impetraturas. Scis quod fortunse et facultates nostras universse regise potestati sese tradiderint. Prudentes viri, qui prudentiam regise majestatis mirifico ardor e ad fovendas literas incen- sam intelligunt, non hinc metum ullum Uteris imminere, sed perpetuam quandam securitatem eisdem comparari, et ipsi plane prospiciunt et cunctis palam promittunt. Pleri- que tamen homines (quia homines sunt) et hoc rerum motu vehemen<-er tang-untur, et magno perculsi metu verentur, ne quidam dulcedine prsediorum nostrorum illecti plus suis rebus studeant, quam quid Uteris fiat laborent. Aditum omnem istis hominibus irrependi in prsedia nostra prsecludi vehementer optamus. Quod fiet, si non permit- tantur literarum negotiis sese immiscere, sed tota hssc res illis committatur viris, qui quantum doctrina in omni republica valeat, ad societatem hominum, ordine, modera- tione, et humanitate devinciendam, prudenter intelUgunt. Nam si haec parva prsediola nostra, quae revera nervi sunt studiorum, uUo modo praeciderentur, quam praesens lite- rarum interitus consequeretur, tu ipse, prudentissime Demn^^e, plane vides. Scis enim literarum initia a parentibus imperitis ortum habere ; hi liberos suos lite- rarum scholis committunt, non praestantia doctrinae ex- citati, sed spe vitse fortunatse consequendse ailecti. Si 122 ascham's letters. [1547. praemia tollas, concidit parentiim spes ; et sic in ingres- sione omnis via literis obstructa est. Quamobrem, nisi certa literarum prsemia infirmam parentum spem concita- verint, omni fructu qui ex doctrina percipi solet respublica carebit. In hoc rerum metu, quo plerique circumfusi sunt, matumm remedium cum magna celeritate expecta- mus. Eo enim res redit, ut vix ulli ad Academiam veniendi spem, et adraodum pauci diutius in Academia manendi alacritatem habeant. A te petimus igitur, orna^ tissime vir, ut gratia et ope tua eveniat, primum, ne nos cum nostris fortunis quibusvis hominibus committamur : deinde, ut aliqua etiam in his rebus conficiendis celeritas adhibeatur. Quo facto, parentum vota meliore spe allicies, adoiesceatium ingenia alacritate acues, ornamenta literarum quasi de integro excitabis, et perpetuam tibi ipsi laudem in omnium memoriam comparabis. Deus, &c. LXYI.— TO KING EDWARD YI. (4, 4.) Oa behalf of the University — Asks the king to look with favour on the privileges of the University as his forefathers have done. [Before Nov. 1547.] idem principi nobilissimo. — Fro Academia. — Mos fuit majorum tuorum, maxime rex, sus- ceptis a Christo regni gubernaculis, inprimis in hanc cur am incumbere, ut habitis descrip- tisque solennibus comitiis parlamentariis, pri- mum verse religionis dein reipublicse salutis ratio habere- tur. Ad quas duas res constituendas, quum animadver- tissent literarum cognitionem maximum conferre adju- mentum, nihil prius faciendum sibi ducebant quam Academias regni sui privilegiis et immuuitatibus sic munire ut spes ingeniorum excitata beneficiis illorum ad omne disciplinae genus alliceretur. Nunc autem, si nos longo sermone apud te urgeremus exemplum hoc majorum 1547.] ascham's lettees. 123 tuorum ad nostra privilegia de integro confirmanda, com- mitteremus certe, ut tu merito existimares, nos aut stulte ignorare qualis tu nunc es, aut improbe dubitare qualis erga nos perpetuo futurus sis. Da igitur, optime princeps, tantura huic majorum tuorum CKemplo, quantum vera religio, salus regni tui, voluntas animi et bonitatis tuse tribuendum esse postulet. Christus Optimus Maximus prsestet, ut annis, imperio, doctrina, virtute, felicitate votum et spem Anglorum tuorum superes. LXVIL— TO AECHBISHOP CEANMER, (4, 11.) On behalf of the university — asks his influence and support of the university, in the parliament which is about to meet. [Before Nov. 1547.] Idem. — Fro Academia, — Aliquid a te suppliciter petere, quum tu omnia nobis lubenter tribuis, doctissime prsesul, non inane et supervacaneum negotium, sed gratse voluntatis debitum potius officium esse ducimus. Eogamus igitur te, ut *in hoc senatu vestro privilegia nostra confirmentur. Quantum reipublicse interest, ut doctrinee ratio haberetur, omnes fere intelligunt ; quantum vero purse religionis interest, tu unus plus universis aliis animadvertis. Scis enim tu, quod annis ab hinc quiagentis, aut plus eo, cognitio literarum, regum vitio a quibus ali debuerat, e conspectu hominum sese abducere et in tenebras relabi coepit. In quibus temporibus sic caligine obductis, sic ignorantia involutis, aper ille singularis de sylva, supra modum depopulatus est vineam Jesu Christi, non pro- culcans solum reges terrse, et imperium sibi collocans mundi, sed ita invasit erupitque in sanctam sedem et templum conscienti8B,ut nulli fere nunc sint mores hominum, nulla institutio vitse, nullus ceremoniarum ritus, nullum ecclesise sacramentum, nullum Christi vestigium, quod 124 ascham's letters. [1547. non sit ejus aut fulmine prostratum, aut halitu fcEdatum, quod non sit, ut mitius sed significantius cum divo Paulo loquamur, prudentia humanse IBteXo^prjaKeiag foedissime corruptum et construpratum. Hsec nos disci- plinarum et ignoratio vocem Domini nobis abstulit, et humanse doctrinse iraperium in illam libidinem evexit, ut pro vero cultu Dei, recto divinissimarum rerum usu, in- tegra et pura vitse consuetudine, hypocrysis, idololatria, et adulterium cervicibus hominum astutissime imponeretur. Hanc inscientisg pestem libentius commemoramus, quod nunc in magnam spem ducimur constituendae de integro dignitatis literarum, in his prsesertim temporibus quum omnia ad veram religionem illustrandam, a qua prseclara doctrina abesse certe non potest, mirifice comparata sunt. Et quum prudentia tua ad verbum Dei restituendum, divinitus sit et nunc excitata, et diu reservata : non dubi- tamus, quin omnem operam et auctoritatem tuam, ad salutem etiam literarum continendam collaturus sis ; commotus aliquid certe vel hac ratione, quod nulla hoc tempore Uteris vel insperata clades, vel expectata com- moditas accidere potest, cujus tu non aut auctor, ad magnam commendationem, aut particeps ad aliquam reprehensionem voce ac sermone omnium jactatus eris. Dominus Jesus, etc. LXVIII.— TO THE EARL OF WAEWICK, (4, 13.) On behalf of the university — asks the earl to maintain the privileges of the university, in the parliament which is about to meet. The vice-chancellor, who carries this letter, will explain how this may best be done. [Before Nov. 2, 1547.] larissimo viro comiti Warwicensi, — Fro Aca- demia. — QuumintelligimuSjUobilissimedomine, te esse et salutis patriae strenuum defensorem et verse religionis fortem propugnatorem, ut non majorem soleas incutere terrorem hostibus 1547.] ascham's letteks. 125 regni, quam inimicis Jesu Christi et verbi Dei, in earn cogitationem adducimur universi nos qui Cantabrigiensem Academiam incolimus, ut credamus te literarum eliam dignitati multum tribuere velle. Nec dubitamus quin earn laudem, quam maximam tibi in propugnanda et republica et religione consequutus es, majorem indies, suscepta quoque literarum defensione, accumulare velis. Atque, si splendor laudis bellicse, si studium religionis purae, si patrocinium doctrinse, tria maxima ornamenta maximorum semper principum, in uno Warwisensi con- spiraverint, quid amplius ad veram gloriam in hac vitse usura accidere tibi potest, profecto non videmus. Et animum tuum mirifice inflammari literarum amore, vel bine certe perspicimus, quod tantam curam suscipis tibi in educandis omnibus filiis tuis, potissimum vero in nobilissimi patris nobilissimo filio tuo Domino de Lysle ; nec apud te prius quicquam est, quam ut elaritas generis et fortunae dignitas splendore literarum indies illustraretur. Academia nostra petit a te, nobilissime vir, ut ope et gratia tua privilegia et immunitates ejus in boo primo senatu parlamentario Edvardi regis nostri, quemad- modum mos semper fuit, confirmentur. Eationem peti- tion] s nostrae universam declarabit tibi fusissime, qui has perfert literas, gravis simus vir dominus Vicecancellarius noster. Expectamus igitur te tantum laboraturum in hac re, quantum ad veram laudem tuam, ad dignitatem Academise, ad certam nostram de te opinionem pertinebit. Eaxit Deus, ut te Christus fortem religionis suae propugnatorem, princeps strenuum regi sui defensorem, Academia nostra summum literarum patronum diutissime sentiat. Dominus Jesus, etc. 126 ascham's letters. [1547. LXIX.— TO THE MARQ. OF NOETHAMPTON, (4, 13.) On behalf of the university — asks the marquis to support the cause of the university in the approaching parHament, and refers him to Madew, the vice-chancellor, for further in- formation. [Before Nov. 1547.] mplissimo domino Guilielmo marcJiioni North- ampioniensi, comiti Essexice, Baroni de Kendal^ Domino Far, magno liter arum patrono, — Tro Academia, — Quum in te tanto viro, tanta humanitas, consilium, et auctoritas cernitur, amplissime domine, ut major in quavis justa caussa, vel suscipienda voluntas, vel agenda prudentia, vel perficienda facultas, quam in te sit requiri non possit ; mirifico sane Academia nostra studio excitata est scribendi ad te, hoc postulans ut literarum dignitas dignissimo tuo patrocinio, in hoc proximo senatu parlamentario, ad privilegia sua confirmanda uti possit. Eationem caussse hujus tuendae universam fuse tibi explicaturus est, qui has perfert literas, gravissimus vir dominus Joannes Maddew vice-cancel- larius noster. Quse caussa ut defendatur, non tam nostra interest qui scribimus, quam vestra, qui a Deo ad veram religionem conservandam, ad salutem reipubiicse procu- randam constituti estis ; quam aliorum omnium, qui ex Uteris ullum fructum percipere queant. Nos enim qui ista scribimus, tantum adjumenti ex studiis nostris cepi- mus, quantum ad mediocrem vitam in republica susten- tandam, quomodocunque fors tulerit, sufficere possit. At quum Academia singularem opem suam, ad opes certe aliquas et vitse commoditates nobis constituendas contu- lerit, manifesta officii praeteriti culpa teneremur, si non significaremus vobis, (nam et hoc tantum possumus) quomodo salus et dignitas ejus conservari potest. Vos autem non dubitamus quin sic cogitetis, quod quo major a Deo vobis auctoritas conceditur, eo major cura ab eodem 1547.] ascham's letteus. ]27 imponitur, et eo major poena a vobis eiiam repetitur, si vestra culpa splendor literarum uUis tenebris obscuraretur : obscurabitur certe, si non ea lux bonitatis et auctoritatis vestrse his temporibus refulserit, quse et literis veterem honorem et ingeniis novam spem allatura est. Credi enim vix potest, quam pauci sunt, qui literarum magno ardore inflammantur. In hoc parlamento, nisi valde fallimur, veram religionem restituetis. Divinum profecto consilium et nos una Deum rogamus omnes, ut ne vestigium quidem papisticse feecis in ulla parte religionis, qusecunque ilia fnerit, amplius resideat. Sed ignorantia quid? Tolletur ex omni populo. Quorum industria ? Doctorum. At ubi sunt ? In Academiis. Quod nulli illic sunt, falsum est ; quod pauci iliic sunt, neque hoc verum est : si angustias acaderniarum respiciamus. Quam plurimi illic sunt, et quot requiruntur ad ignorantiam Anglia relegandam, poliiceri quidem nos non audemus. At plures quotidie iiiuc coHxluent. Qua spe ? honore artium ? Nullus fere est. Expectatione prsemiorum ? Sed ilia et rara sunt et exigua. Nomine et honestate literarum? Quo loco nunc jacent literae, vel ignari omnium literarum facile animadvertunt. Et qui posthac docti erunt ? Pauperes ? At hie non diu manent propter inopiam. Sed divitum iilii ? At hi minus, vel propter alterius vitse expectati- onem vel literarum his temporibus obscuram conditionem. Sed parentes ut filii instituantur literis semper curabunt. Ast hi spe lucri magis, quae jam sublata est, quam doctrinse cupiditate, quae in illis nulla est, hoc fecerunt. Ast boni viri inopiam studiosorum ievabunt. Hoc olim factum est ; sed nunc prioris seculi felicitatem potius admirari, quam spe studiosorum vitam alere et sustentare possumus. Quorsum tot scholse in Anglia, si ad Acade- mias pauci sese conferunt? Imo aut paucse sunt, aut 128 a§ciiam's letters. [1547. relictse et contemptse sunt : et parentes hodie cuivis rei potius quam Uteris liberos suos addicunt. Sed respublica huic rei remedium adferet. Digna certe res, in qua totum oecupetur parlamentum. Nisi enim lisec semina doctrinas teneris animis tempestive sparsa fuerint, qusenam in republica vel exoriatur spes, vel adolescat virtus, vel efflorescat pura religio, et vera felicitas, prudentia tua intelligit. Multa ad hunc modum verissime dici possnnt, delabenti jam et admodum proclivi ad occasum literarum dignitate, nobilissime marchio : quse res, quantum in se veri habet, tantum adjumenti a te requirit ad maturum illi adferendum remedium. Hoc dabis religioni et rei- publicse ; hoc dabis multorum parent um sollicitee spei, multorum ingeniorum prseclarae indoli ; dabis hoc etiara saluti posterorum temporum, in quibus nuUus doctrinse fructus exoriri potest, cujus sementis superioribus tempo- bus facta non fuerit. Dabis his omnibus quantum vis, vis eerte tantum, quantum literis, hoc est summis et verse religionis prsesidiis et florentis reipublicse ornamentis dari debere prudentia tua judicabit. Dominus Jesus, etc. LXX.— TO THE, EARL OF ARUNDEL, (4, 14). On behalf of the university — asks the earl to support the rights of the university in the first parliament of Edward VI, vrhich was about to assemble. [Before Nov. 1547.] obilitatis^ virtutis et literarum ornamentis da- rissimo, Cotniti Arundelio. — Pro Academia. — Laus florentis reipublicae amplior esse non po- test, amplissime comes, quam ubi nobilitas fortunae suae doctrinam sociara, ?apientiam moderatricem adjungit. Hinc prudenter fingunt poetse Nestorem Agamemnoni, Polyidum Minoi, Prome- THEUM Jovi prsesto semper fuisse. Hinc etiam vera tradit historia, Simonidem Pausani^, Anaxagoram 1547.] ascham's LETTEaa. 129 Pericli, Polybium aut L^lium Scipioni, in omni vit;^ rerumque ratione assiduum comitem fuisse. Haec laus illustrandi claritatem generis, splendore doctrinae, et so- cietate virtutis, ficta poetarum monumentis, expressa Claris simorum virorum exemplis, tradita Platonis ad DioNYSiUM prssceptis, neglecta tandem midtis seculis, relegata ex omnibus fere regionibus, nuper in Italia ex- citata Medicum familiis, et nunc postremo in Anglia in Arundelio nomine sic omnem sedem suam et taberna- culum posuit, ut tuo merito et omnium judicio, nec inter nobiles doctior nec inter doctos nobilior quam tu es, quis- quam reperiri queat. Itaque, quum literse nobilitati tuae tanto ornamento sunt, sequum sane est, ut tua vicissim no- bilitas literis magno prsesidio esse velit. Hac de te opinione provocata Academia ad te in primis scribere in- stituit, postulans ut ope, consilio, gratia et auctoritate tua, immunitates ac privilegia ejus in his primis regis Edvardi solennibus comitiis, quod fieri semper solitum est, con- firmentiir. Hsec caussa non ad nostram utilitatem sus- cepta, sed ad singularem potius usum verae religionis, reipublicae salatis, spei omnium parentum, alacritatis in- geniorum, curse etiam posterorum temporum instituta nobis fuit. Et quanto tu magis scis quam reliqui homines quod hsec vera sint, tanto libentius scribimus ad te atque rogamus, ut dignitas literarum a te dignissimo earum patrono in hoc parlamento conservetur. Nos Deum ora- bimus, ut te religionis, reipublicse, et doctrinae tantum praesidium et ornamentum diutissime servet incolumem. LXXL— TO LOm CHANCELLOE EICH, (4, 23). Asks him to protect the interests of the university in the ap- proaching first parliament of Edward VI. Eich was made chancellor Oct. 23, 1547. 9 130 ascham's letters. [1547^ R. Rtche, magno Anglice cancellario. — Quum primura cognovimus te in lianc celsissimaiB reipublic98 sedem evectum esse, pmdentissime 3 domine, in qua tu sedens habes in te con- jectos omnium hominum oculos, in qua tu quamvis judex sedens, judicia tamen aliorum sustinebis et colloquia etiam plurimorum hominum subibis ; ecce Academia Cantabrigiensis tibi banc novara dignitatem gi'atulatura, ut debet, et veterem opem suam ex hac sede quam tu nunc possides imploratura, ut solet, offert sese tibi inter reliquam hominum turbam, qui salutem suam ex sequitate tua postulant et expectant. Petit vero ut privilegia ejus in hoc primo regis nostri parlamento con- firmentur : sine quibus nec spes Uteris, nec alacritas in- geniis, nec ulla Academise salus contineri potest. Quid Academia sit, quam reipublicse partem complectitur, quos et quot viros quotidie emit tit et in vineam Domini et in administrationem reipublicse, quantam spem optimorum ingeniorum sustinet, et quantam curam salutis etiam posterorum temporum in se recipit, prudentise tuse ob- scurum esse non potest. Hsec utilitas ab Academia ssepissime percepta, et in universas verse religionis reli- quseque reipublicse partes latissime diffusa, excitavit omnes reges, omnia parlamenta, omnes Anglise cancellarios, in magnam curam procurandee salutis Academies nostrse. Hinc favor ille, quo nostra setate mirifice Academiam hanc complexi sunt omnes, qui te in hoc officio antegressi sunt : quos quum tu eequas in omni ratione poteslatis et pru- dentige, superari certe te ab illis in ulla parte voluntatis erga literas, non solum obscuratse laudis tuse certissimura indicium, sed prseteritae etiam alicujus partis officii tui, quod Deo, principi, et reipublicae debes, clarutn esset testimonium. Libera, sed vere loquimur, nec magis ad utilitatem 1547.] as€ham's letters. 131 aostram comparandam, quam ad laudem tuam immensam excitandam. Utilitatem enim quam nos ex studiis nostris qusesivimus, magnam partem jam percipimus, aliomm_ caussa qui nihil didicemnt ; religionis, reipublicse caussa, quibus duabus rebus doctrina plurimum confert ; ipsius etiara prudentise tuse caussa, cui Deus et princeps curam hujus rei fcuend^ imposuit, potissimum hoc tempore agitur. Age igitur, clarissime vir, et tantum tribue his literls Eostrisj quantum respublica, religio, et prudentia tua lite- rarum studiis tribuendum esse judicet. Nos Domiiium nostrum Jesum Christum orabimus, ut te novum Angliee cancellarium, novum verae religionis adjutorem, et novum etiam Academise nostrse patronum diutissime servet in- columem. LXXII.— TO THE DUKE OF SOMERSET, (4, 2). On behalf of the university — asks the patronage of the duke for the university in the parliament which is about to assemble. [Nov. 8, 1547.] idem, — Fro Academia.- — In maximis illis curis, quas tu quotidie in reipublicse procuratione suscipis, honoratissime princeps, speramus te quoque aliquam partem temporis tui et huic cogitationi impartiri, quomodo literarum dig- nitas sub te dignissimo reipublicse protectore conservetur. Nam, quum omnes consiliorum tuorum rationes in his tribus rebus versentur, ut Dei purus cultus, principis vera obedientia, populi salus et quies et restituantur et conser- ventur;. et quum prudenter intelligis quantum adjumenti ad has res constituendas doctrina conferat ; facile quidem perspicimus, quo in loco, et quo numero literae apud te sunt. Literae tamen, ut dignitatem suam non solum ju- dicio tuo commendatam sed auctoritate etiam tua con- lirmatara retineant, vehementer hoc tempore laborant : 132 AS Guam's letteiis. [1547. laborani enim, ut in hoe coBsilio parlamentario earum ratio habeatur, ut illse immunitates et privilegia, quae longissimis ab usque temporibus ad nostra tempora de- ducta sunt, et singulorum Anglorum regum et voluntate et auctoritate comprobata sunt, in hoc etiam novo parla- niento novam auctoritatem et dignitatem obtineant. Ex quo novo regis, parlamenti, et tuo beneficio, novam quan- dam alacritatem ad vetera sua studia persequenda Aca- demia nostra suscipiet, unde novus eerte et singularis fructus, ad magnam reipubiicse salutem exoriturus est. Non dubitamus igitur quin, quantum con^modi literse quotidie reipublicee adferunt, tan turn adjurnenti respublica vicissim literis per tuam auctoritatem in hoc parlamento sit allatura. Dominus Jesus, &c. LXXIII.— TO SIE A. DENNY, (4, 29). On behalf of the university — asks his support in defending the privileges of the university in the approaching parliamentc [Nov. 8, 1547.] larissimo viro Domino Antonio Denn jeo, eq^uiti aurato, re^is consiliario dignissimo. — Pro Aca- demia. — Illustriorne sit in te, clarissime vir, prudentia, consilium, gratia, et auctoritas tua, an voluntas, studium, suavissimi mores, et humanitas tua, anceps sane qusestio inter omnes esse solet. Sed quum hsec omnia sunt vel fortunse ornamenta, vel naturse beneficia, vel industrise et laboris tui fructus, ex his certe commoditatibus quamvis magna, non maxima tamen laus tua efilorescit. Omnium voce et consensu percrebrescit alia tui commendatio, quam tu tibi, non auspicio fortunse sed ductu spiritus sancti, in restituenda vera religione, in procuranda reipublicse salute, in tuenda literarum dignitate comparasti. Hse'tres res studia tua sunt, quorum -laus in sermonem omnium temporum per- volitabit, fructus in commoditatem plurimorum hominum 1547.] ascham's letters. 13S redundabit, exemplum ad imitationem optimorura in re- publica virorum longissime perdurabit. Et quum religio, •doctrina, respublica omnes curas tuas sic occupant, ut extra has tres res milium tempus consumas, hoc tempore tamen opus habemuSj non ut a te contendamus, sed ut in memoriam redigamms, atque rogemiis te, ut opera tua in his proximis regni comitiis Academije nostra privilegia, nova auctoritate regis, novo consensu pariamenti stabili- antur. Caussa, ut tu prudenter vides, pmdentissime DenN-1:e, non agitiir eorum studiosorum, qui nunc Can- tabrigi^ moenibus includuntur : agitur sabis absentium, qui aut ignari propter iosci^ntiam, ant exclusi propter setatem, nec agnoscere qmod ?itile €st, nee petere quod ^quum est, possunt. Agitur spes eorum patrum, qui hue ad studia literarum liberos suos mittere &olent ; agitur salus etiam posterorum ; aguntmr ornament a Horontis rei- ipublicae; aguntur prsesidia ver^ doctrinse. Caussam ii^anc urgere same possumus, sed apud te profecto nolu- mus unana tam^n rem in altissima mente tua €ondere cupimus, nec m tua solum, sed in eorum omnium, qui hoc tempore reipublicse gubernatores a Deo constituti sunt. Ilk hujiismodi est, ne ea ratio, quae ignorantiam malorum sacerdot^mjustissirae puniat, optiraorum etiam ingeniorum spem a studiis literarum una auferat. Hoc remedium non raalos ad sanitatcm adduceret, sed bonos ad despera- tion^m adigeret. Sed tu hsec melius prudentia tua com- plecti, quam nos scriptura nostra explicare possumus. Quo agitmr te ducit cura religionis^ salus reipublicse, et utiiitas doctrinse, studio, ope, gratia, et auctoritate tua incumbe. Oominus Jesus, &e. LXXIV.— TO SIR Wm PAGET, (4,25.) On behalf of the university — asks his protection for the privi- leges of the university in the parliament which is about to meet. [Nov, 8, 1547.] 134 ascham's letteks. [1547. idem. — Pro Academia. — Quum studiuin timni, et in hac Academia nostra co mplectenda et m omni reipublicse parte procnranda, inajns sit, prndentissime vir, quam nt nosvel hoc augere possimus vel istiid imminiiere debeamns, non committemus, ut vel maxima negotia nostra, in hoc minima otio tuo, longo literarum sermone implicemus. Adferimus igitnr tibi, non veterum beneficiorum tnorum r ecordati- onem, sed novorum potinsnovam quandam postnlationem, Postnlamus enim, ut in hoc senatu parlamentario immu- nitates et privilegia nostra, quse vinciila sunt et nervi literarnm, nova regia auctoritate et novo reipublic^ con- sensu possint eommmiiri. Qui mos tuendi dignitatem Academise quum longinquitate temporum, in parlamen- torum omnium primis comitiis, ab omnibus Angliae regibus sanctissime cultus constanterque servatus est \ fieri certe non potest, ut literse hoc tempore sub Edvardo principe et Pagetto patrono novam aliquam et inusita- tarn repulsam patiantur. Age igitur, clarissime vir, ac si judicio tuo literse sunt Dei amplissimum munus, regum optimorum clarissima insignia, florentis reipublicaB cer- tissima proesidia ; age atque perfice, ut ex ope consilioque tuo, magna Academise spes, major reipubiicse fructus^ maxima tibi ipsi laus excitari possit. Dominus Jesus, etc. LXXV.— TO THE DUKE OF SOMERSET, (4, 7). On behalf of the university — offers him the chancellorship, and refers to tlieir former letter about his supporting their privi- leges in the parliament. [Nov. 14, 1547.] nclyto duci Somersettensi, — Pro Academia. — " Inveni virum secundum cor meum," vox est seterni patris, et clarissimum elogium in Davidem, honoratissime dux. Sed unde tanta tanti viri laus ? Pax, salus, et justitia ; timor 1547.] ascham's letters. 135 Dei, et vera religio, mentis altitiulo, et divina ad fran- gendos hostes pmdentia, hsec singula Deo placuerunt ; hsec universa David em Deo commendaverunt. T'amilia Jessse magno timore erga Deum, non maximo honore apud populum efflorescebat : et ex parvis initiis magna provi- dentia Dei David em non maximum virum in summum locum evehebat. Et nos quum singularem gratiam et prsecipuum Dei favorem erga familiam Semuriam aaimad- vertimus ; quum te et omne setatis tuae prseteritse spatium ab ipsis incunabulis tuis in hunc diem deducimus : vide- mus certe, et hos aliquot annos vidimus, te, nobilissime dux, non virga Mercurii sed novo Samuelis spiritu et digito Dei, e reliquo numero liominum selectum esse, cui uni quatuor res in hoc mundo maxime a Deo com- mendarentur. Pax et salus reipublicse, cura laborque belli, purioris religionis sollicitudo, Divi Edvardi regis virginis sacrosancta custodia tibi uni imponitur. Attende quid nos dicimus, intellige quantum tu sustines, et ag- nosce quantum in his omnibus Deo debes. Pax per te taiita, tantaque vivendi suavitas Anglise nunc constituta est, ut quos vox populi de te sit, quantus favor singulorum existat, quomodo patrem patrise iiniversi certatim te ap- pellant, anirao tuo te suaviter concipere quam nos literis nostris ostendeie maluerimus. In bello Deus Gedeonis gladium tibi commisit ; victoriam dat non communem cum quotidianis mundi principibus, sed qualem JosUA a regibus Madan et Asur; qualem Judas a magno An- u iocHO et Ni CAN ore olim reportarunt. In religione ejusdem Gedeonis spiritum, ad demoliendam aram Baal, in te Deus excitavit, cujus abominationes universas ut radicitus evellas, universi nos obsecramus. In sacro- sancta custodia Josi^ nostri tam divinam suscipis curara, ut hie rex virgo primus [enim] nostras memorise regum merito esse dicatur, qui ab omni non labe solum, sed sus- 136 ASCHAM's LETTJlKS. [1547. picione etiam fornicationis cum meretrice Babylonica pums et integer virgo existat. Itaque qnum te unum Deus constituit domi, pacis auctorenij militise, patrise propugnatorera, religionis for- tissimum vindicem, sacrosanctse regise majestatis sane- tissimnm tutorem, vox profecto Dei et vox populi de te est, Inveni virum secundum cor meura. Et quum hsec dignitas tua ornata his quatuor rebus maximis amplissima existat, ut nuUus locus ejus augend se reliquus esse vide- atur ; ecce Deus, quia ilium et providentiam ejus in his omnibus sancto timore agnoscis, suscipis, et veneraris, novo cumulo honoris, nova accessione laudis te etiam atque etiam augere instituit. En literse et studia lite- rarum univers8e Academise Cantabrigieusis sese offerunt tibi; quintum locum laudis apnd te occuparc student^ tuse voluntati opi, eonsiiio, gratise, et auctoritati sese tradunt et commendant : te ducem et protectorem, te summum earum cancellarium, una mente et voluntate^ una voce et ore agnoscunt. Ut literarum dignitatem in tuam fidem recipias, pax publica rogat, lauis bellica postulate vera religio obsecrat, et regia majestas exemplo suo imperat ; quoniam hse qixatuor res, licet maximse sint, sine literarum tamen prsssidiis decuQ et splendorem suum tueri certe non possunt. Jam laus major nec a te ex- pectari nec a nobis excogitari uUa potest ; jam hoc solum reliquum est, ut una et consentiens efferatur vox Deijregis^ reipublicse, religionis, et literarum : Invenimus virum se- cundum cor nostrum o Scripsimus nuper ad te de literarum dignitate in hoc parlamento conservanda ; nunc tua res tota est : incumbe igitur eo, quo te in hae re religionis et reipublicse salus^ quo te regiae majestatis, et tua voluntas provocat. Si beneficium quseris, audi prudentissime vir ; libere, vere, et obligata tibi fide nostra loquimur. In nullum homi- 1547.J ascham's lettj!rs. 137 nem, in nullam rem benevolentiam tuam unquam con- tulisti, quae diuturniore in memoria retinere, et omni pos- teritati opportunius beneficii recordationem transmittere potest, quam literse facere solent. Quid te facere cu- pimus, et antea nos scripsimus et tu optiine nosti : hoc tantum addimus, et in alta mente tua condere cupimiis, ut non tantum laborare velis, quomodo hi qui nunc doctrina florent prsemiis afficiantur : quantum quomodo spes parentum, qui liberos suos solent mittere ad studia lite- rarum, quomodo spes juvenum et ingeniorum ad novam alacritatem excitari possint. Maximam rem paucis verbis complexi sumus. Si hsec una res bene ibit, expeditissimum cursum optimorum studiormn respublica expectare potest : quae res quum universis summo emolumento, tibi uni profecto maximo ornamento erit. Yeremur ne simus molesti amplitudini tuee. Deum igitur rogamus omnes, vt, qua providentia Deus te ad hunc multiplicem honorem hos multos annos reservavit, eadem etiam providentia, te perpetuum pacis auctorem, fortissimum reipublicae vin- dicem, sincerss religionis repurgatorem, regiae majestatis fidissimum tutorem, et Academise Cantabrigiensis sum- mum cancellarium diutissime servet incolumem. LXXVI.— TO THE SAME, (4, 1). On behalf of St John's College— prays the protector to advocate the cause of the college and of true learning, and to procure that some of the spoils of Babylon, i.e. of the monasteries may be added to the revenues of St John's College. [Nov. 21, 1547. J onoratissimo principi Edvaudo, duci Somerset- tensi reg. majestat. gubernat. et totius imp. ejus protect, etc. literarum patrono rmxim^o^ Rogerus Aschamus, — Pro collegio B. Joannis. — Nos homines in hac humili conditione posit! ad te in altissima reipublicae sede collocatum non scriberemus, 138 asciiam's letteks. [154-7. tiisi nostra caussa magna, nisi tua bonitas maxima existeret, honoratissime dux. Et qimm Deus in te congessit singu- larem gratiam suam, quum tu a Deo excitatus in hoc totus sis, ut aut publicam salutem alas, aut patriam ab bostibus defendas, aut veram religionem restituas, babes tamen aliud quiddam a Deo, cujus utilitas erga rempublicam sequat singulas virtutes tuas, cujus laus in te superat universas commendationes tuas, hoc est quod caussas inopum respicis, quod gemitum pauperum exaudis. tlssc lion pvudentia humana, sed benedictitio divina, et rarissi- morum temporum rarissima certe felicitas existit. Agnosce lianc veram laudem tuam et perpetuo tuere, prudentissirae domine : hsec una laus superat universam reliquam fortu- nam tuam. Hac opinione certa de te nos commoti, caussam nostram tibi adferimus. Si scire cupis, quinam homines sumus ? Eespondemus, universus coetus studeu- tiiim coliegii Divi Joannis Evangelistse Cantabrigi^e. Si unde orti ? Ex omnibus Anglise partibus in hoc collegium promiscue coiifluimus. Quorsum ? Ut studeamus. In quern potissimum finem ? Primum ut Evangelium Domini populo Dei dispergamus. Dein, ut humanam doctrinam, hoc est papismum, cum omni hypocrisi, superstitione, et idololatria, quantum nos possumus, tollamus. Quae leges continent vos? Ad laborem difficillimse, ad fructum studiovum valde comparatse. Quam operam et opem reipublicse confertis? Primum alimus optima ingenia optimis disciplinis et moribus : deinde, ex nostro coetu proficiscuntur, qui reliqua fere singula collegia expleut et ornant : demum, in vineam Domini mittimus plurimos operarios : in reliquam rempublicam aptos et instructos viros. Quern numerum sustinetis ? In hac re superamus singula in hoc regno collegia. Quibus prsediis et fructibus hoc efficitis ? Et hie quidem superamur nos a singulis fere collegiis. Quae certa pecunia vobis penditur? Ad 1547.] ASCHAM S LETTERS, 139 victum, singulis hebdomadis, hi tres denarios, illi septem : qui maximum capiunt, duodecim. Ad vestitum discipuli nihil, socii marcam unam ; ad reliquam vitam sustentandam, ad supellectilem universam, ad libros eraendos alteram marcam accipiunt. Sed adjuvant boni viri ? Hi vixerunt. At patres ? Nunc dierum non possunt. Quse reliqiia spes vobis est ? Ut ad te veniamus suppices, nobilissime dux. Quid petituri? I'artem, ut sequum et quoi nostrum est postulemus ; partim, ut pietatim tuam exci- temus. Quod eequum et vestrum est postulare licet. Nunc sane licet, et felicia haec tempora, in quibus licet ; et te felicissimum, per quem licet. Fingant adulatores quicquid velint ; felicissime agitur cum republica, quum suum cuique postulare libere licet, qua felicitate ad laudem tuam maxima, ad reipubiicee saiutem utilissima, ut Anglia diu per te fruatur commune omnium Angloram votum est. Sed quam petitionem instituitis ? Petimus re ipsa justum, nobis certe utile, sed reipublicee utilissimum et nomiui tuo valde gloriosura. Auscuita benevole quae dicimus, et da benigne quse petimus. Diva Makgaketa proavia Edvardi regis nostri hoe collegium fundavit ; optimis legibus ad doctrinam, coai- modissimis prsediis ad usum munivit. Ex eo tempore tria acerbissima tempora hoc collegium afflictarunt : primum, certi quidem homines regii ministri, qui divitias regis in acervis pecuniarum ponunt, quum benevolentia populi, salus reipublicse, vera religio et optima doctrina, optimi regis certissimse divitiae existant, hoc benehcium divee Margarets magnam partem nobis abstulerunt ; quadringentse enim mins3 annuse ex nostris prsediolis concis83 et amputates sunt. Multis annis post, Joannes FiscHERUS episcopus lioffensis, dum falsam doctrinam nimis perverse defendit, optimas literas in hoc collegio suis ornamentis et suis divitiis denudavit. Hie vir nutu 140 ascham's letters. [1547. suo rexit hoc collegium : et propterea in manii ejus posita sunt clarissima ornamenta, quse diva Margareta huic collegio elargita est. Singula recensere nolumus, universa uno verbo complexi sumus. Libri etiam ejus universi nostri erant. Quum libros ejus dicimus, magnum thesau* rum diciraus. Thesaurus sane ille dignus erat, qui inci- disset in bonos et peritos homines. Quid multis ? Ejus perversa doctrina, et ilium vita et nos summis divitiis nostris privavit. His duobus modis, in magnam penuriam collegium nostrum redactum excipit tertia calamitas, quae diu nos pressit, in miram angustiam compegit, et in extremam conditionera hoc tempore non nos solum, sed reliquos omnes studiosos detrusit. Quae ilia est. Du- rissima caritas omnium rerum vendibilium. Augetur pretium omnium, pecunia nostra non augetur. Quomodo olim duodecim denariis, nunc non licet vivere viginti. Unde hsec miseria ? A Deo ? Verba meliora. Deus iiunquam magis benedixit terram. A singulis hominibus ? Facile credimus : quia singuli homines singulariter peccant. Ubi culpa? In multis magna, in certis hominibus maxima. Et quia hue oratione nostra devenimus, et tu is es a Deo constitutus qui istis rebus et potes et debes mederi : aperte maximam reipublicag ruinam ostendemus. Nuilus est tarn imperitus rerum vestiarius, lanius, vel sutor, qui non didicit expilare publicam utilitatem. In singula quaque arte singuli peritissimi sunt, ad augendum commune rerum pretium, hoc est, ad tollendam omnem bumanam societatem, et ad permiscendam summa miseria totam rempublicam. Culpa igitur residet omnis in his quotidianis artificibus ? Aliqaa certe, sed ea minima, quia non tarn sua voluntate et malo animo commoti, quam ex- trcma necessitate et aliorum scelere coacti, hoc faciunt. Qui auctores sunt tantae miseriae ? Dicemus, et Domino monente ac demonstrante dicemus. Sunt ilii qui domum 1547.] ascuam's letters. 141 ad domum conjungunt, qui rapinas pauperum congerant, qui fmctum eorum rarissime comedunt. Hsec dicit Dominus per Esaiam prophetam : nos apertius loquemur. Sunt illi qui hodie passim, in Anglia, prsedia monaste- riorum gravissimis annuis reditibus auxerunt. Hinc omnium rerum exauctum pretium : hi homines expilant totam rempublicam. Yillici et coloni universi labor ant, parcunt, corradunt, ut istis satisfaciant, hinc singuli ooguntur singulis imponere, et universa respublica gravis- sime premitur. Hinc tot familise dissipatse, tot domus collapsse, tot communes mensse aut jam nullse aut in angulos et latebras conclusse. Hinc, quod omnium miserrimum est, nobile illud decus et robur Anglise, nomen, inquam, Yomanorum Anglorum fractum et collisum est. Et hsec etiam miseria maxime redundat ad auctores ejusdem. Quotusquisque enim est mercatorum Londinen- sium (hi homines banc miseriam mirifice concitarunt), qui non angustius, tenuius et pressius his temporibus vivit, quam quum passi sunt alios homines vivere ; Nam vita, quae nunc vivitur a plurimis, non vita, sed miseria est. Tum, omnes res parabiles et venales erant : pretium rerum moderatum erat. Nunc plurimi in banc unam curam incumbunt, quomodo ad satiandos paucos merca- tores pecuniam quam non habent quoquo modo corradant. Quomodo hsec res f regit reipublicse vires, quomodo stomachum omnem et facultatem ad bellum sustinendum abstulit, quomodo nova furta et inauditas intolerantias invexit, nimis longum esset percensere. Hoc omnes experiuntur, infinitam omnium miseriam esse. Bubones illi Babylonici qui lucem oderunt evangelicam, totam banc calamitatem assignant relucenti verse doctrinse. Sed hsec vox horum hominum nova non est : ad hunc modiim sub lege, contra prophetas : et sub gratia, nascente jam ecclesia contra apostolos, vociferatum est. Quanto sanius 142 ascham's letters. [1547. iiisanus ille apud Sophoclem Ajax, qui dona et spolia inimicorum damna esse ducebat? Hxc spolia ^gypti, scripturas verbis utimur, et heec bona monasteriomm, quemadmodiim olim domini illorum, sic ilia nunc, culpa certorum hominum, rempublicara vehementer perturbant. Hsec nimis ionga, sed profecto nimis vera. Vides ergo, prudentissime dux, quomodo tota respublica convellitur, et in miserrimas angustias compingitur, et quibus modis et quorum hominum improbitate hoc fit. Quae calamitas eo certe calamitosior existit, quod illi viri earn minime sentiunt qui tanto malo remedium potissi- mum adferre possunt. Abjecti homines et humi repentes acerbissimum sensum hujus mali tolerant, qui nullam opem sibi adferre valent, et auxilium ab aliis vix implorare audent. Sed sedet in coelo, qui non obliviscitur paupe- rum, et cujus palpebrse interrogant filios hominum. Tandem exsurget Deus propter gemitum pauperum ; nec dubitamus quin jam surrexerit in te, amplissime dux, ut per te coerceat nimis effluentem horum temporum privatam cupiditatem. Agnosce quem locum tueris, circumspice oculos pauperum in te suspicientes, et suspice tu in Deum, qui vultu suo judicat et judicem et populum. Et hoc a te petimus, nos quidem Uteris nostris, sed universa respublica votis publicis ; quanquam in nullam partem reipublicse majori impetu invasit hoc malum, quam in rem literariam. Keliqui homines ita liberi sunt, ut possunt quserere sibi vitam ; studiosi non quaerunt, sed quaesitam recipiunt : quae si augetur, hoc sit non opera illorum sed bonitate aliorum. Postremo, debet pecunia nostra aut major esse (quod cupimus), aut caritas, quae quanta nunc sit omnes fere intelligunt, rerum minor esse (quod per te fore speramus), aut fructus studiorum mini- mus erit, (quod maxime omnium metuimus). Alios relinquimus : de nobis et nostro coUegio jam loquimur. 1546.] ascham's letters. 143 Hsec tanta caritas rerum, et heec nulla caritas liominum, intra lios paucos annos expulit ex hoc uno collegio plura optima ingenia, quam nunc sunt perfecte docti viri in tota Academia: nec solum expellit prsesentes, sed aufert una etiam universam absentium spem. Quale nostrum col- legium sit, quae studia sequimur, quantam opem et religioni et rei})ublic8e adferre possumus, Joannes Ciiiicus, et GuLiEMius Cecillius, olim duo alumni hujus col- legii, nunc duo clarissima lumina totius reipublicse, tibi explicare possunt : qui nec tibi falsum dicere audeiit, nec in caussa honesta verum reticere debent. Petimus tantum quantum tu dare vis. Sumus centum septuaginta et plures, qui hoc petimus, qui participes unius tui beneficii esse cupimus. Cupimus, ut clarissimum hoc collegium, conditum ad illustrandam doctrinam Jesu Christi, quod instruit optimis disciplinis optima ingenia, quod sustinet minimis praediis plurima corpora ; cupimus et hoc communibus precibus projectiantebonitatemtuam, ut aliqua pars spoiiorum Babylonis sustentare possit in hoc collegio tantum numerum ingeniorum, qu9e gloriam Christi postea illustrabunt. Intelligimus multos privatos viros ex benignitate regum magnas divitias consequutos esse. Optime factum ; hoc modo excitabuntur reliqui ut reipublicee serviant. Yerum, si utilitatem, quse proficis- citur ex plurimis ingeniis optime institutis, cum unius hominis opera comparare velis, facile cernes quantum nos honeste petere, et quantum tu juste tribuere non nobis sed reipublicse potius debes. Graeci Eomanique principes nobilissimi, qui belli aut pacis laude floruerunt, tropcea, statuas, pyramides, et arcus triumph ales sibi erexerunt : monumentum profecto nec illustrius ad laudem nec stabilius ad omnem perpetui- tatem erigere tibi ipse potes, quam si insigne aliquod testimonium animi tui erga virtutem, et doctrinam Jesu 144 ASCHAM S LETTERS. [1547. Chuisti, in hoc coilegio constitues. Hsec pyramis alti- tudiiie sua superabit omnes illas Memphicas, imo penetrabit in conspectum Jesu Christi, qui hoc operetuo multumde- lectabitur. Age igitur, clarissime princeps ; fove et com- plectere spera nostram, quae in te tanta sita est quanta tua bonitas est, et tantum nos abs te expectamus quantum ab Optimo principe sperare debemus. Dominus Jesus subli- mitatem tuam, etc. Sublimitatis tuse deditissimi Gul, Byllus et omnis coetus sociorum ac scholarium coUegii D. Joan. Evang. LXXVII.— DUKE OF SOMERSET TO THE UNIVEESITY, (5, 44). Accepts the office of Chancellor which had been offered him, and advises the university to pursue their studies and not trouble themselves with matters of state and politics. Dec. 9, 1547. icecancellario, et Universitati Cantabrigiensi amicis bonis, — In honoribus vestris mandandis, et cancellario deligendo, quod me potissimum unum idoneum judicaveritis, cui literarum vestrarum ac studiorum cura atque adminis- tratio traderetur, viri ornatissimi, magnas vobis gratias habeo, et illustre testimonium amorum vestrorum erga me esse judico. Qui quod maximum habetis, sic in ilium confertis, in quo maxima et clarissima multarum rerum ornamenta esse putetis. Ego vero si qu9g sit in me vel ad rempublicam administrandam prudentia, vel ad res gerendas felicitas, vel ad commovendos hominum animos auctoritas, eam ego divinse bonitati corda principum guber- nanti assigno ; et vos ut idem cogitetis adhortor, et eadem illi tribuatis, qui efficit omnia in omnibus, qui dividit dona quemadmodum ipse vult, qui ad mensuram singulis dat, non pro merito utentis, sed pro bene placito, et gratia donantis. Literas vestras regiae majestati ostendi, et quam me apud vos gerere personam volueritis declaravi. f t 1547.] ascham's letters. 145 Qui non modo factum vestrum et studia probavit, sed me ad id etiam sascipiendum hortatus est. Quae res non modo me promptiorem ad hoc capessendum fecit, sed etiam animos vestros excitare debet, ut in eorum studi- orum genere in quo nunc estis, maxima cum diligentia, ad religionis fructum et reipublicse usum versemini, quum videritis regem clarissimum non modo literatis favere, sec! etiam in literarum studia cum laude incumbere. Quod si id nunc effici possit, ut non modo communiter omnes in studiorum cursu conficiendo diligentem operam ponant^ sed etiam se totos ad sanctitatis, pietatis, ac verse re- ligionis indagationem conservationemque tradant, satis prseclare et vos officium vestrum fecisse, et me rauneris mei uberrimos fructus percepisse putabo. Quid enim est aliud in quo vobis hoc tempore elaborandum et contenden- dum est, quam ut primum vera religio exq,uiratur, et ejus puritas teneatur, verbum Domini ab humanis inventis separetur, consuetudinis auctoritas sempiternse veritati cedat, tempora rebus inserviant, judicii rectissima regula adhibeatur, scripta a non scriptis, manifesta ab ambiguis, necessaria ab ancipitibus, perfecta a mediis distinguantur ? Deinde, ut in reliquis scientiis brevissima et rectissima ad percipiendas disciplinas via proponatur, optimi quique in suo genere, et utilissimi, ad communem imitationem et exercitationem prsecipiantur, cseteri ad privatos tempo- rum U.SUS reserventur, a mathematicorum initiis reliqua philosophia exstruatur, singuli sua lingua publice et pri- vatim legantur, et disciplines ad usum reipublicee spec- tantes prsecipue colantur, privata studia diuturna exer- citatione alantur, non rerum legendarum multitudo, sed judicium dispositum quaeratur ; non in recitandis rebus ostentatio, sed in coUocandis judicium spectetur; non quam multa sed quam bona, nec quam plausibilia sed quam vera studia sint contendatur ; et finis studiorum ad 10 146 AS Cham's letteks. [1547, reipubiic^e utiiitatem, non ad privatum usum constituatnv ; ut nou scientia inflata ad arrogantiam, sed cliaritas tem- perata ad sedificationem sit ; cognitio vestra ad veritatein spectet ; rerum mutatio magistratibus relinquatur ; studia veritatis rationibus compleantur, res constituendas sibi non aiTOgent; ad errores depellendos sint instrueti, eorum depulsionem a raagistratu requirant; et profecisse se patent si videant vernm, nec festinatione, quia verum vident, aliorum prudentiam antevertant ; sed ad verum recipieiidum ipsi se prseparent, prseparati magistratuura preescripta patienfcer expectent : nec diu ditferant sentire quod verum est, et nolle frangere quod prseceptum est ; iaudabile putetur quod verissimum sit tenere, et animi posse patientia illud non ad ofiensionem aliorum objicere, sed ad prseceptiones raagistratuum reservare. Tunc enim rnagistratus ad res quiete stabiliendas incitatiores erunt : et studiosi ad imperata facienda multo paratiores. De- nique in rebus scientise et cognitionis fidei regula, in vita et moribus cbaritatis vis vakat ; ut in omrdbus et opinioni- bus et factis ita sentiamus et ita vivamus, ut omnia ad gloriam Dei faciamus, et illi vivamus et moriamur, qui nobis non sibi vixit et mortuus est. Hanc viam vos puto sequi ; sed commonefaciendi jam mihi estis, et spero ad- monitione mea nihilo segniores futuri estis, qni ista videtis in disciplinarum vestrarum prseceptis per se esse sequenda etiam si aliorum auctoritate atque sententia ad id non commoveamini. Et quanquam studiis humanitatis et Academia3 vestrae propriis non ita instructus sim, ut qui ante me cancellarii vestri permulti fuerant, iilud tamen voliintate atque sequitate efficiam, ut neque vita vestra quiela atque otiosa, vel perturbationibus vexetur, vel curis distraliatur, velerroribus abducatur, sed Uteris honos, studiis quiesj eruditis merces laborum tribuatur, et nisi vos ipsi vobis deesse volueritis, nihil quod justum et 1547.] ascham's letteus. U7 aequum est per nos vobis defuturum. Ex eedibus Somer- set, Decembris IX, 1547. Vester bonus amicus, et stu- diorum pakonus siogularis Edyardus Somehset^ LXXVIIL— TO SIE J. CHEKE, (4, 35). On behalf of his college — thanks him for his labours in defence of the colleg literas tuas, colendissime vir, datas, ut putamus, vicesimo quarto Novembris. Audivimus qui- dem, et id semel, sed tanta cum animi nostri acerbitate, quantum nec tu opinione tua concipere, nee nos literis nostris exprimere possumus. Quattuor seniores profecti sunt ad magistrum Crosleum petituri has literas, vel ad unam horam : quod quum denegatum est, vel saltern, ut relegerent, petierunt, neque hoc sane concessum est. Veremur tamen, ne hse literas tuse his hominibus saepe et libere perlegantur, qui non multum nobis, et minime tibi favent. Hoc modo impediti sumus, quo minus tibi plene scribamus : satis tamen superque satis habemus, quod 154 ascham's letters. [1547* scribamus, et maliiimus gratias tibi agere pro hoc studio tuo, quo collegium indies juvas, quod debemus, et quod etiam faciraus, quam acerbitates animomm nostrorum ostendere. Quieti fuimus, tranquilli, Iseti, abditi in op- tima studia nostra, Deum testem invocamus, antequam tu8e literse nos conjecerint, in nullum certe tumultum, sed in maximum profecto moerorem. Nullum factum nostrum commeruit tarn acerbas literas tuas. Faudingus, pie, Christiane, tranquille, quiete erudivit juventutem nostram in aurora : ubi sane nos omnes, quotquot adfuimus, summo gaudio perfusi sumus, postquam semel gustaverimus quid sit Deum in spiritu et veritate colere, et exoptamus ut hoc semper nobis fiat : tantum abest, ut ejus factum ullo modo damnemus. Sunt qui obedientiam raagistratuum nobis objiciunt, fuerunt etiam qui dixerunt. Non es amicus C^SARi. Utinam non eodem modo ab utrisque hoc dictum fuisset. Utinam cor da et nostra et illorum, inviti his verbis utimur, ita revelata essent, ut quem animum erga principem nostrum, et ejus leges, utrique nos geri- mus, palam patefieret. EoGERUS HuTCHiNSONUs, et Thom^ Leverus, duo viri et docti, et graves, et pii, disputabant an Missa sit coena Dominica. Sacramentum eucharistiee reverendissime perlaudabant : ne verbum apud nos de hac re : quidam, nescimus quid, nec quos, in oppido loquuntur de hac re : et propterea, ne videamur sic disputationes nostras in angulos compingere, ut lucem et conspectum hominum ferre non possint, communi consilio, communibus studiis, communibus precibus apud Deum, nos inter nos consti- tuimus, hanc ipsam propositionem in publicas scholas adducere, quod jam fecimus, ut doceamur quid pro missa, quae sic possidet conscientias hominum dici potest. Eem, Deo vclente et adjuvante, sic tractabimus, ut nec vera religio jacturam, nec hoc collegium scandalum, nisi a 1547.] ASCHAM's LETTEPtS. 155 certis hominbus, qui iieutri favent, patiatur. Hoc facie- mus non fisi eruditione, quam noii agnoscimus; non setate, lion gradibus : sed iisi spiritu ejus, qui potest omnem imbeciilitatem corroborare. Deus veritatem suam miris modis promit mundo, et propterea, est admirabilis in omnibus factis suis. Obedientiam magistratui^m nos summopere araplectemur, et credimus quod iili probabunt factum nostrum, si nos conscientias hominum primum aramus et colimus, ut illi postea opportunius optimas leges serant. In solo inculto nihil seri potest. Hoc magnum est, licet paucis verbis comprebensum est. Et, si ulli operarii tempestivitatem nrgere debent, Academia certe debet, et in Academia nuUi ante nos. Quiete, Christiane hoc instituimus, et in Domino progrediemur, et in 60 fulmina papistarum omnium contemnimus. Tu absens es, nec particeps eris nostras stultitise, libenter, nisi tu aiiter vis, declarabimus, quantum tu a nobis dis- crepas. Sed interim, hoc nos omnes vehementer pertur- bavit, quod de te jactavit in prandio M. B. nempe te non multum curare, si nostra caussa ponas hunc magis- tratum, quem geris apud nos, cum summa nostra voluptate et voluntate. Quinain nos sumus ? Aut quinam iili sunt? Quae studia? Quis fructus utrorumque? In quibus residet laus et doctrina hujus collegii ? Per quos instituitur juventus ? Qui solent hoc facere ? Qui volunt ? Qui possunt ? Qui faciunt ? Yitse modestiam et hones- tatem circumspice? Quid si unus aut alter ex nobis nimis prseceps et vehemens est, hoc omnibus imputas ? Audi quid didmus. llabes tu hie chorum talium virorum, qui si dissipatus fuerit, talem vix iterum in hoc coliiges. 8unt certe qui non maximam phicritatem habent hie manendi, interim tamen sic tibi, propter Dominum pare- bunt, ut quum abierint, turn senties, quales viros et certos araicos in hoc collegio olim habueris. Dominus te, colen- 156 ascham's letters. [1547. dissime vir, diutissime servet incoluirie n, et nos precabi- mur Ueum, ut quod in nobis inccx3pit, hoc sua potentia perficiat, quod erit, speramus, et Doo gratum, et ecclesiae Dei utile, et huic coilegio commoduni et honestum. LXXXIII.-- -TO SIR W. CECIL, (3, 35). Grives a more full account of the affair described in the last letter ; alludes to the letter lately received from the Duke of Somersec ; and says that every body at Cambridge hopes that Cheke will be made Provost of King's College. Jan. 5, 1548. matissimo clarissimoque viro Gulielmo OecillOi S, P. in Christo Jem. — Ornatissime Vir. Ante mensem, aut plus eo, disputatum fuit in hoc coilegio, more nostro, de missa, ipsane coena Dominica fuerit necne. Magna sane eruditione hsec qusestio tractata fuit a Thoma Levero et EoGERO HuTCHiNSONE, quos opiuor nosti. Sunt pro- fecto docti viri. Quidam in Academia hanc rem segre tulerunt. Hue tandem res est perducta, vel ego potius pertractus fui hortatu communi multorum in nostro coilegio, ut hanc ipsam qusestionem e domesticis parieti- bus in publicas scholas perferrem ; hoc animo et instituto, ut disceremus libenter et sine rubore a doctis viris, quide fontibus Sacrse Scripturse libari potuerit ad defendendam Missam, quae non solum summum locum in religione et conscientiis hominum occupat, sed omne fidele prope- modum ministerium verbi Dei et sacramentorum, ex usu et consuetudine Christianorum, abstulit. Rem quietissime aggressi sumus ; communia studia nos inter nos confere- bamus ; scripturam canonicam nobis proposuimus ; cujus auctoritate totam hanc rem decidi cupiebamus. Veteres canones ineuntis ecclesiae, consilia patrum, decreta pontifi- cum, judicia doctorum, quaestionistarum turbam, recen- tiores omnes, quos potuimus et Germanos et Romanos, ad hanc rem adhibuimus. 1548.] ascham's letters. 157 Quidam in Acaclemia publicis concionibus notabant hoc factum nostrum : et tandem laborarunt, ut Dominus Made us vicecancellarius literis suis banc disputationem prohiberet : nos libenter paruimus, ut par fuit ; sed segre tulimus disputandi faeultatem nobis intercipi, concionandi vero copiam pro libidine aliis concedi. Audivimus Cantuariensem nobis iniquiorum fuisse ; nec mirum est, nam adversarii nostri, (cogor invitus acerbiori voce uti) pradentissime vir, tragicis clamoribus banc rem illi detulerunt. Quod factum illorum majorine malitia an imperitia institutum fuit dubitari potest. Thomas enim Aquinas probat Missam Dominicam coenam multis prserogativis superasse, et longissime ab ea discrepasse multis notis. Sexu, missare enim mulieres non debent, a Coena tamen non excluduntur ; eetate, vitio parentum, luxatione membrorum ; nam pueri, nothi et mutilati a Missse dignitate repelluntur, ad coense humilitatem reci- piuntur, et multis aliis modis, ut si quis affimaret eandem esse Missam et coenam, multo magis exclamarent. Sed quid dicam de iis nostris ? Nihil aliud, nisi Her odes turhatus est, et tota Hierosolyma cum eo. Dicunt nos esse prsecipites. Certe nemo tam prseceps est, quin facile revocari possit : ut calcaribus, potius quam habenis tota Cantabrigia egeat. Sed quod institui tibi enarrare, quanquam disputatio nostra fuerit prohibita, studia tamen „ nostra in eadem re quodammodo aucta sunt. Scripsimus enim fere justum librum de Missa, quem brevi offerre in- stituimus Domino Protectori, nisi tibi et magistro Checo aliter visum fuerit. Quantum ad tractationem rei pertinet, vellem ut judicium tuum, non sermoni aliorum, sed ipsi rei reservare veiis : neque hoc dicimus, quia de nobis aliquid polliceri audemus : sed quia veremur, ne certi homines nimis studeant illud impedire quovis modo, quod ipsi non probant. Legimus sanctissimas confessiones 158 ascham's letters. [1548. rc o'insB nostr^B, cum tua eloquentissima epistola. Utinam aliquid teniporis tui ad excolendam A^nglicanam linguam impartire velis ; ut homines intelligerent, et nostram linguam omnes eloquentise riumeros facile admittere. I.iterse magistri Checi ad collegium nostrum fuerunt omnibus nobis gratissimae ; ubi minimis verbis maxima beiievolentia, et ejus et tua, comprehensa fuit. Domini Protectoris literse ad Academiam, a te scriptse, mirifice nos omnes delectarnnt. Commune votum est apud nos lit Cantabrigia aliquando, imo brevissime, sentiat .JoaNNEM Checum preepositnra Kegii collegii. Episcopus ille nihil prodest studiis, vellem ut non obesset, et hoc non dico ad aucupium cujusvis gratiee, sed ad commodum totius Aca- demias. Plurima sunt, quee nos sic sentire cogunt, et plura tua prudentia videt : nos sic amici inter nos com- municamus, fortasse non prudentissime, cautissime tamen : et quod minimum est, valde amanter. Cogita de hac re quid vis, promove tamen quantum potes : nimis molestus sum. Vale in Christo. 5 Januarii, 1548. E coUegio Divi Joannis Cantabrigise. LXXXIV.— TO THE PSINCESS ELIZABETH, (2, 38). Writes to condole with her on the death of G-rindal. [Cambridge], Jan. 22, 1548. lluslrissimce Bom. Mizabethoi, — Magnitudinem doloris tui, ex obitu Grindalli nostri, ex magnitudine amoris et observantise illius erga te, facile sestimo, illustrissima domina. Hunc dolorem magis apud te renovando augere, quam consolando lenire vererer, nisi perspccta esset mihi pru- dentia tua, sic consiliis prudentissimee feminse, dominse Catherine Astle^e munita, et optimis prseceptis optimi Grindalli mei sic olim instructa, nt facile intelligam, iilud remedium, quod dies et tempus stultorum moeroribus 1548.] asciiam's letters. 159 aciferre soleat, in tua cogitatione, mente, et prudentia ita vecoriditum esse, iit illud ad omnem acerbitatis sensum raitigandum facile depromere possis. Mque si a me et his lugubribus literis meis consolationem expectas, qui nori minirao meo dolore irapeditus, miniraum remedium vel aliis vel mihi ipsi prsestare queam : null us tamen certior fructus consolationis meo judicio. vel magis ex dignitate tua, vel ex voluntate Grindalli tui, qui obiit diem suum, vel ex omnium nostrum expectatione esse potest, quam si maxima in te spes excellentis doctrinse, Gkindalli opera excitata, ad speratam maturitatem perduci queat. Ad quam rem perficiendam, aptiorem prseceptorem tibi, post Gri^dallum ilium tuum, quam iste Grindallus est, sperare non potes. Qui ut nomine et cognatione, Grin- DALLUM tuum proxime attingit, ita literarum prsestantia, momra quum suavitate tum gravitate propinquissime accedit. Et hsec de his. Ex arctissima conjunctione studii, voluntatis, benevolentise, amoris, et intimee neces- situdinis ac pietatis, quee mihi cum Grindallo meo multos annos intercessit, nullum fructum majorem spectare unquam potui, quam quod ejus opera tanta benevolentia tua mihi parta fuerit. Nec in optatis meis quicquam nunc magis quotidiarmm esse debet, quam nt tuus erga oie vetus favor veteri Grindalli de me judicio nitatur, non ad novum vel sermonem vel opinionem alterius hominis referatur, nam quum Grindallum meum summa cum niea acerbitate amiserim, Grindalli tamen de me judicium apud te amittere nulio modo velim. Et ego iaborabo, ut quantum spem coUocaverim in bonitate tua, tantam etiam operam navem in omni diligentia mea, ut studium^ tides, et observantia mea universa, ad tuam voluntatem, gratiam, honorem, dignitatem perpetuo refer- antur. Et maximam felicitatem esse putabo, si illud tempus mihi oblatum fuerit, quum mea opera ampiitudini 160 ascham's letters. [1548. fuse Usui esse possit. Dominus Jesus, &c. amplitudinem tuain, virtute, doctrina, et honore amp lio rem indies faciat. XXII Januarii, 1548. LXXXV.— TO SIK J. CHEKE, (2, 40). Tells him that the Princess Elizabeth wishes to have him for her tutor and secretary, in Grindal's place ; that the Queen and the Admiral are in favour of Goldsmith, and that he trusts to Cheke to do all that may be needful in getting him the appointment. [Cambridge,] Feb. 12, 1548. oanni Checo. — Qua moeroris acerbitate afflixit me GuiNDALLi mei obitus, tu facile existimare potes, ornatissime vir. Is tamen ejus animus, in ipso extreme spiritu, tam cseteris curis ex- peditus et in Deum intentissimus, magnum mihi solatium attulit, ut testimonio talis animi desiderium tanti amici aliquantulum levari videatur. Conjunctio arctissimse amicitise, quse mihi cum Grindallo inter- cessit, semper mihi perjucunda fuit; nunquam tamen gratior exstitit nec comparatior ad usum meum, quam quum ad illius opportunitatem tanta benevolentia illustris- simse dominse Elizabeth^e mihi collecta fuerit. Heee bonitas illustrissimse dominse ELiZABETHiE, vivente qui- dem Grindallo, maxima apparuit, sed post discessum illius ita nunc eminet et effundit sese ex omni parte, ut in hsereditatem totius benevolentise Grindalli pervenisse, non possessionem veteris illius in me gratise amisisse videar. Cogitat enim clarissima domina me in locum Grtndalli sufficere. Et quanquam banc tantam gratiam tantse feminse dimittere non instituerim, non libenter tamen in cam vitae rationem me ipse darem, nisi aliquo testimonio voluntatis tuse et judicii de me ad illud munus accederem. Neque hoc a te contendo, vel favoris illius augendi gratia, qui cumulatissimus est, vel commendationis 1548.] ascham's letters. 161 tuffi aucupandae studio, quas mihi exploratissiraa existit, sed quod, nescio quomodo, tantum de te mihi largior, ut nihil magnum mihi magnopere persequendum existimem, quod non tui consilii gubernatione et ductu suscipiendum putem. Quod ut hoc tempore facerem, mea multum me voluntas, plurimum tamen tua humanitas, nonnihil etiam familiaris olim consuetudinis nostras vetustas commovebat. Quam grave tibi videri potest alienae honestatis judicium sustinere, facile intelligo : et quam mihi quoque optatum censeri debet tanti viri testimonium adferre, certe non ignoro ; tu propterea facies quod tibi potissimum faciendum esse duxeris. His superioribus diebus eram cum illustrissima domina ; mentem suam mihi declaravit, ubi ego, non subdolam cauponariam tergiversando ad utilitatem meam exercebam ; sed apertam meam voluntatem ad observantiam illius paratissimam ostendebam. Declaravit mihi quoque quan- tum pro GoLDSMiTHO laborarent regina et dominus admirallus. Suasi ego ut illis morem gereret; com- mendabam Goldsmithum illi, et hortabar quantum potui utjudicio consilioque tuo uteretur potissimum ad banc rem ; rogabamque, ut posthabito omni favore in me, hoc ante omnia curaret, ut ilia spes singularis in ilia doctrinae GuiNDALLi opera excitata ad maturitatem perduceretur. Vix enim credi potest, ornatissime vir, ad quantam peri- tiam Latinae Graecaeque linguae ilia pervenire poterit, si eo quo Grindallo duce coeperit cursu progressura est. Tandem hue pervenimus, ut ilia pro summa sua in me benevolentia, solum me, ego pro fide mea in illam et debita observantia optimum aliquem praeceptorem illi exoptaverim. De me nihil dicere possum ; in banc spem tamen adducor, ut quanquam in omnibus fere rebus ineptus et nuUus sim, in tradenda tamen Graeca Latinaque lingua et in munere illo secretario aliquis certe esse possum. Quum Londinum 11 162 ascham's letters. [1548. venerit Domina Eltzabetha, banc rem actnra est cum regina et domino admirallo ; nec abs te qnicquam credo conficietur. Quantum ad me spectat, operam omnem meam, studium, rationem vitse, et meipsum prudentise tu9e trado, cujus eonsilii ductum sequi perpetuo laborabo. Dominus Jesus te diutissime servet incolumem. Duo- decimo die Februarii, anno 1548. LXXXVI.— PAGET AND SMITH TO THE UNIYEHSITY, (5, 51). They send a draft of agreement for settling the quarrels between the town and the university. This letter, as printed by Elstob, is dated London, Feb. 21, 1547. But the quarrels between the university and the town of Cambridge had not then taken place. Perhaps the writers used the old style of date, which made the year end on the 25th of March. London, Feb. 21, 1547 [8 ?] ignimmo procancellario totique academice Canta- brigiensi, amicis perdilectis^ Gulielmus Paget- Tus et Thomas Smithus, S. D. — Negotium non solum arduum ac difficile, verum etiam infinitum et inexplicabile, vestra caussa sumus aggressi ; ut vestras et oppidanorum coutroversias cora- poneremus. Et quidem existimamus nos, quamvis ssepe definita et prascisa interlocutione, multas aliquando quidem odiosas, aliquando vero magis irritabiles, quam graves eomm querelas ac petitiones tenedia quasi bipenni prseci- dimus, tamen ut in arbitriis fere fit, neutri nos placuisse parti. Quid egimus inclusa pagella docet. Quibus linea subducitur, eorum liturse sunt, et quae volunt expungi. Nos non omnino iniquum quoque illud esse arbitramur, ut quietis caussa fiat, si vobis ita videbitur. Keliquimus tamen vestro arbitrio, delenda judicetis an secus. Ad cetera quae non notantur lineis, ipsi coram nobis assense- runt. Si haec formula pacis placeat, primum diligite inter 1548.] ascham's letters. V03 domi, qui accuratius hsec pertractent, Et deinde si fieri potest, quae nunc in summa dicuntur, tracta inter vos latius, et ad jureconsultorum rationes deducta, signis vestris invicem lirmanda curate. Quod si semel fiat, nullusque sit qui dicat contrarium, de libello petitioneque vestra nihil erit hie hsesitationis. Sin displiceat hsee ratio componendse disoordiae, relinquimus vobis omnia Integra. Bene valete. Londini XXI, Feb. Anno Dom. 1547. Vestri Gulielmus Pagettus, Thomas Smithus. LXXXVII.— TO ALBEET MABQUIS OF BRAN- DENBURG, (4, 36). On behalf of "W. Watson — asks of the Marquia permission to build four ships in the Marquis's city of Konningsberg. April 6, [1548.] Alberto Marchioiti Brand, seniori in Frussia — Pro Gulielmo JVatsono. — lUustrissime prin- ceps, domine honoratissime. Pro summis 3 excellentiae tuse in me jam saepe collocatis beneficiis, et gratias, quas habeo maximas, in prsesentia libenti animo ago, et omnia mea deinceps in posterum officia paratissima voluntate ampiltudini tuae offero et addico. Ista bonitas amplitudinis tua^, antea sic mihi cognita et experta, facit, ut non solum libenter, sed etiam audacter jam petam a vestra excellentia, quod amplitudini vestrae ad concedendum valde facile, mihi vero meisque rebus ad accipiendum ita necessarium erit, ut novus cumulus ad Vetera beneficia in me saepe collocata accessisse videatur. Peto igitur summopere a vestra amplitudine, ut libera mihi vestra facultas concedatur aedificandi quatuor naves in urbe vestra Regiomontana : utque ad eam rem perficiendam integrum mihi sit, vestro bono favore atque gratia, eo adducere fabros et architecios Anglos qui periti sunt construendarum navium ad morem et 164 ascham's letters. [1548. iisum Anglicanum, utque mihi liceat piaeterea in ilia vestra ditione materiam ad id aptam justo pretio emere, et operam eiiam subditorum vesiromm, qui gnari sunt illius artis, communi mercede conducere. Si hoc benefi- cium mihi meoque nomine, meis procuratoribus vestra amplitndo concedat, quicquid erit in Anglia quod vestrse excellentiae aut voluptati aut usui esse possit, quod mea diligentia perquiri aut meis fortunis comparari queat : tantum in ea re navabo, et perficiam, quantum, uti spero, me et memorem talis accepti beneficii, et paratissimum deinccps ad omne genus reliqui officii vestrse excellentiae praestandi ostendet et declarabit. Eesponsionem favoris et gratise vestrse amplitudinis plenam cupide expecto. Deus longissimam vitam, et felicissimum rerum successum vestrse amplitudini concedat. Londini, Aprilis VI. LXXXYIIL— TO THE SAME, (4, 37). On behalf of W. Watson — acknowledges his letter dated June 11, by which it appeared that the marquis had received the former letter [lxxxvii] written for Watson, dated Lon- don, April 6. Ibei'to MarcMoni Brand, seniori in Prussia. Fro GMlielmo Watson o. — Illustrissime et ex- cellentissime princeps, honoratissime domine. Literas excellentiae vestrae undecimo Junii, Montiregii datas, accepi. Ex quibus literis duplicem cepi voluptatem; primum quod ex his literis intellexi, raeas, sexto Aprilis Londini datas, ad manus vestrse excellentiae pervenisse ; deinde, vestram excellen- tiam petitionem meam de quatuor navibus istic sedificandis clementer benigneque mihi concessisse. Eo animo accipio hoc beneficium, ut summopere mihi laborandum esse putem, ut quemadmodum ego nunc expertus sum vestram excellentiam munificentissimum esse principem, sic vestra 154.8.] ascham's letters. 165 excellentia aliquando seiitiat me esse vimm et gratum et taati beneficii non iniinemorem. Quod ut verbis nunc libenter ostendo, sic re ipsa, brevi, Deo volente, idem declarabo. Conditiones omnes, quas vestra excellentia scribit mihi esse sequendas in sedificandis his quatuor navibus, et accipio libenti animo, et prsestabo certissima fide : ita, ut nec cuiquam privato viro nec ipsi reipublicse occasionem daturus sim juste in bac re de me conquerendi. De incommodo ullo vel periculo minimo expectando, vel regi Danise vel ullis vicinis vestris ex sedificatione harum navium, non est ut vestra excellentia quicquam timeat. NuUus enim non levis rumor, sed ne minima quidem sus- picio uUius motus contra quenquam in hoc regno Anglise existit. In qua re fidem mihi velim vestra excellentia habeat, in caeteris vero meis rebus omnibus, summo studio rogo, ut procuratori meo eandem fidem vestra excel- lentia tribuere diguetur, ac si ego prsesens istic essem. Deus, &c. LXXXIX.— TO Sm A. DENNY, (4, 31.) On behalf of the college — thanks him for the service he had done St John's College, by saving Sedberg school from ruin, and securing the farms attached to it from being sold. See Let- ter XCYIII. March 29, 1549. ^idem. — Fro collegio. — Tuam in Deum pietatem eximiam, singulare in bonas literas studium, egregiam et plane summam in egenos quosque sublevando caritatem atque amorem abundan- tissimum, ut ssepe antehac, clarissime vir, auditione quidem accepimus, ita nunc re experti, eorum omnium testes constantes sumus j rati nihil tam magnifice dici posse, istis in rebus, id quin tua virtus multis partibus superet. Nam quod scholam nostram Sedbariensem jam nutantem, imo dilapsam, et plane desperatam, vigilantia et industria tua assidua tam mirabili modo recuperaveris, 166 ASCHAM^S LETTERS. [154^, non modo snperiorem fiindorum vendition em impedienda, venim etiam diligentissirae prsecavendo, ne in simile post- hsec pericnlum deveniat : in ea re egregie ostendisti turn quantopere pietati faveres, turn cnjiis modi sis doctrinss- patroDus, turn qualem te habeant adjiitorem, et qiiam in- signem defensorem, omnes tenuioris fortitnee et pauper- euli homines. Hsec quum ita sint, et re multo majora, quam ut nlla par oratio reperiri possit, certe uno ore omnes confitemur, beneficinmnos magnum de te accepisse, et pro ho€ snmmo maximoque officio tuo in nos, gratias sane maximas animo gratissimo libenter habebimns. Nec solum dignitati turn obligatissimos reddidisti, quos tanto munere auxeris, sed patriam illam commiinem, inopem et longinquam, de qua nunc optime meritus es, qu^ fmctura hujus rei cumulatissime sentiet, preces ad Deum facies perpetuo fnndere, imo nedum natos pueros, qui ex ista schola emittentur, et per te optimam educationem asse- quuturi sunt, immortali hoc beneficio in perpetuum obli- gabis tu^ dominationi semper fore devinctissimos. Dom- inum Jesum precamur, ut, qnemadmodum feliciter jam diu coeperis, omnia pia studia, et bonas eaussas graviter promoveas, sic progrediare indies in eonsimilibus adju- tandis : ita fiet, ut toti reipublicse corpori sis ori>amento non vulgari, piis solatio summo, academiis patrocinio maximo, collegio nostio adjumento incredibili, tibi ipsi commendationi singulari. Cantabrigise, e Collegio nostro D. Joannis. Anno 1549, XIX MartiL XC— TO WILLIAM lEELANB, (2,41). Says that he would have visited his Cambridge friends at the last meeting [of the senate ?] if the princess Elizabeth had not prevented him : but he meant to go back to Cambridge for good next Michaelmas, if he can get leave. He sends salutations to all his friends by name i omitting Eaven, 1549.] ascham's letters. 167 because this letter is addressed to him as well as to Ireland. Lastly, he begs Ireland to take care of his college room and the things he left in it. Cheshunt, July 8, [1549.] arissimo co7ijunctisnmoque amicOy Guilielmo Irlando, collegii divi Joannis socio, — Literse tuse, quas Petrus Perusinus mihi attulit, pergratse fuemnt. Libentissime vos visissem cum Joanne Whitn.eo meo in his proximis superioribus comitiis, si illustrissima mea domina non impedivisset hoc meum consilium : vel quia Huntleus mortuus est nuper apud vos, vel quia libenter me nusquam dimittit. Cogito ad vos iterum ad festum Michaelis, hoc est, ut perpetuo vobiscum maneam, si hoc cum bona dominse venia impetrari possit, quod certe vix spero ; favet enim mihi unice. Multi aulici facti veterem quietem magnopere probant, sed hunc splendorem et speciem vitse aulicse reiinquere nolunt : polliceri de me quicquam non possum, cogito tamen aliquid. Et utinam, mi carissime Irlande, unum autaltemm diemmecum hie CHESTONiiE consumere velles ; ut omnes intimas cogitationes meas in fidissimum sinum tuum infunderem. Summas gratias, sed eas indebitas, pro nescio qua mea in te beneficentia mihi agis ; tuum gratissimum animum, meum nullum beneficium agnosco. Si literas illas duas intelligis, quas a Domino Marchione Northamptoni^ et Domino Francisco Briano pro ferina in tuam et Eaveni mei gratiam impetrabam, gaudeo si Grintvodus noster eas tradidit tibi, et id libenter scire cupio. Quomodo traduco vitam meam, vellem ut vel ipse prsesens cognos- ceres vel ex aliorum sermone disceres : quanquam si sciam hoc te cupere, fuse in aliis Uteris tibi perscribam. Saluta gravissimum virum et mihi amicissimum Domi- num Mad^um, cui quantum debeo non excidit mihi, sed quotidianse inhseret memorise : ad quem Deo volente 168 ascham's letters. [1549. scribam brevi. Saluta nobilissimum Staffordum, cui id opto quod ille sibi : hoc est, summam eruditionem cum summa virtute conjunctam. Tui nuper in aula cum regia majestate ; vidi in cubiculo domini Somer multos nobiles viros, quibus in aula mnltum Dominus Staffor- DUS usus est; sermonem de rebus levissimis audivi. O hos miseros ! cogitabam, et felicissimum Dominum Staffordum nostrum, qui nunc cum Cicerone Canta- brigise de rebus gravissimis et viro digno sane dignissimis colloquitur. Saluta Ma^istrum nostrum, Magistros Cros- LEUM, Langdallum, Paudingum, Faucetum, Brow- NUM, BuLLocuM, Elandum, Hut[tonum], Leverum, Pilkingtonum utrumque, Tomsonum meum quem con- stitui seniorem pro me, Patrickum, Pindarum meum, Tailerum, Letum, Thextonum, Saltum, Squierum, WiLSONUM utrumque, si major apud vos sit, Lakinum meum, cui tantum virtutis et eruditionis exopto, quanta fuit mea semper de illo spes et existimatio. Et hoc dico etiam Calibutto meo, quem video nescio quomodo a me alienatum esse, quod nunquam ad me scribit. Audio aliquid, et cupio multa esse falsa ; injuriam factam cuiquam probare non possum, nisi a Christi sententia discrepare vellem : utinam affuissem ; opinor hos motus aut sustulissem, aut sedassem. De Optimo Staffordo optime sane judico : et interim de Hutchinsono meo pessime cogitare non possum ; est enim, si quid ego video, magno ingenio, singulari erudi- tione; et paucissimis cedit, honestis moribus, judicio in religionem sincero : est fidus et papismum ex animo odit. Quo immerita injuria quemvis impellere possit, tu facile intelligis. Ingenium, eruditio hominis, nulla nec recepta nec sperata commoditas me hsec loqui cogit. At natura fervidiore est ? Quis sapiens hoc vitium non facile ferret, quod tot compensant virtutes? Quantum gaudium 1549.] asguam's letters. 169 papistis nostris hsec turba attulit, facile video ; et video etiam quas illi faces huic incendio admoverunt. Major iujuria doctrinse Christi puriori allata est, quam ulli homini : si Dominus Stafeordus omnia remitteret, majorem laudem hinc reportaret, quam ex Bononiensi ilia expiignatione retulerit : quod non dubito ilium factumm, quum novi animurn ejus ut excelsum et magnum ut par est, ita ad gloriam Christi adaugendam quidvis cuivis concedentem. Et spero jam omnia inter illos constituta et integra esse : si scirem aliquid residere, quo minus animi illorum conjungantur, ego ipse advolarem periculum facturus, an quos habeo mihi conjunctissimos vinculo pietatis, quod neuter opinor detrectaret, copulare potu- erim necne. Nava tu interim, mi Irlande, et effice, quod me putares effecturum, si apud vos essem. Verba Huttoni ut acerbissima, ita sine ulla caussa Hiltoniae in me conjecta facile tuli : nec sic tamen dimittebam amorem hominis, sed conciliabam in arctissimam necessi- tudinem. Spero idem eventurum clarissimo Staffordo nostro, quem scio multo prudentiorem quam ego fuerim ad id perficiendum esse. Saluta officiosissime venerandam illam feminam magistram Cheke, dominum Blith, et uxorem ejus. Saluta optimum virum Joannem Barnes, uxorem ejus cum tota familia, neque putet me abjecisse curam illius. Saluta Dickinsonum et Guilielmum CocuM. Eavenum meum ex industria non salutabam, quia has literas, perinde ut tibi, illi scribo. Katuarina K . . . . lectissima et honestissima puella fuit mecum : eram eo die in aula regia, quum ilia Cuelsonam venit ; sin minus, adduxissem ad dominam illustrissimam. Dixi illustrissimis et puellis nostris me unice amare illam, et fore uxorem, quod facile omnes fere credebant. Si Wittamiam iveris, saluta omnes officiosissime. Serva cubiculum meum et exiguam illam supellectilem diligenter 170 ascham's letters. [1549. et nitide, ut facis. Scribe longissime et fusissime ; literge facile tradi possunt. Mgre divellor a coUoquio tuo. Vale ill Cliristo Jesu. Chestonise, VIII Julii. XCL— TO A FRIEND, (2, 42). Declares his wish to be united to him more closely by marrying A. B. his niece ; states the probability that some nobleman would be sent to the General Council now being holden, and wishes that himself miglit go as secretary to any one who should be sent to it from England. uidam. ornatisnmo Amico. — Ut me ipse cum omui niea voluntate, studio, opera, et fide tibi adjungerem, semper laboravi, clarissime vir. Quod semper ego feci, Deum testem habeo, non magna fortunse beneficia per te aucupans, sed maxima virtutis orriamenta iu te admirans. Hsecmia res me ssepissime commovebat, ut, si non re obtinerem,voto saltem expeterem earn mihi rationem vitse aliquando oblatum iri, per quam fructum consuetudinis et usus tui propinquiore aliqua suavitate delibarem. Hanc meam cogitalionem animo meo semper usurpatam et sermone ineo tibi verecunde saepe significatam, veluti novo auspicio, bis novissimis diebus excitavit in me, sive Dei sive mea sive amicorum nostrorum voluntas et consilium, ut ex- perirer, ut illi sperabant feliciter, ut ego putabam au- dacter, ut utrique judicabimus, satis honeste, possitne fieri ut amor in te mens, propter virtutem tuam jam maximus, per nova vincula propinquitatis et affinitatis etiam major existeret. A. B. neptem tuam intelligo, clarissime vir, quam mihi dari cum voluntate tua si vehementer exoptem, quanquam audax factum vel mea opinione videri potest, nullum scelus tamen vel tuo judicio existimari debet ; et ut tam speratam optarem Uteris meis propinquitatem, nulla in me dignitas, sed summa in te humanitas provocat ; ut, si 1549.] ascham's letters. 171 peccatum in hac re ullum sit, error potius ex magna benevolentia, qnam culpa ex lionesta postulatione censer: debeat. Quum in me intueor, nulla naturae fortuneeve prsesidia agnosco, quibus in spem tanti beneficii conse- quendi excitari queam ; quum Deum cogito, et ejus in me, omnium hominum indignissimum, prsecipuam curam et singularem provisionem considero, desperare non debeo ; sed in banc dubitationem adducor, posse fieri ut Deus ad reliqua sua beneficia in me collocata hoc etiam adjungere velit ; et propterea, ad banc rem patrono apud te uti, prseter Deum et humanitatem tuam, noninstitui, nisi me- ipsum admittere vis, quern spondeo tibi ad omnem volun- tatem et usum tuum, opera, studio, re, fide, et observantia fore paratissimum. Si opes requiruntur, prudenrissime vir, multse exploratse vise cum Dei benignitate sese offerunt ad Las non difficiliime consequendas : quse vise multo expeditiore exstabunt, si hujus consilii cursus, tua voluntate, felix et explicatus futurus est. Animum meum in illam a Deo excitatum verbi Dei gubernatio semper moderabitur. Si de intima mea benevolentia dubites, refer animum ad eos pupillos, quibus plurimum usus sum et quibuscum intra eosdem parietes semper victitarim. Nee levis ardor, sed certa animi ratio, amicorum utriusque nostrum consiliis gubernata, hue me irnpuiit ; ut plus deiigerem illam cum tua si fieri potest voluntate, quam diiigerem cum ulla ut ssepe solet juvenili levitate. Non prsestans forma, sed laudata vestra familia, nec illecebr^e voluptatis, sed exploratse rationes honestatis, in hoc me consilium deduxerunt : ad cujus consilii elfeclum ut per- venirem, non alium aditum mihi dari optarem, quam quern Deus Optinius Maximus tibi patefacere dignabitur. C^uic- quid ille auctor tibi erit in hac re, feiiciter perfice. Sin autem, non desperamus quin ille et banc rem et reliqua omnia ad eum exitum, qui iilius voluntati optimus esse 172 ascham's letters. [1549. videbitur, perducturus est. Christus dignitatem tuara virtutis et honoris cumulo indies adaugeat. Si quis nobilis vir, ad generale concilium, de quo percrebescit sermo, legatus fuerit, libentissime illi in eo itinere servi- rem, cui fortasse opera mea idonea esse poterit. Vale in Christo. XCIL— HADDON TO PARKEE, (5, 52). Obscurely hints at what he is doing in his lodgings ; and sends salutations to Bucer. Dec. 13, [1549.] arkero suo. — Doctissime et optime et mi Par- ke re. Totum hunc diem cum censoribus nostris transegi, magno labor e meo conquisit-is ; minus datum quam vellem, et tamen plus quam expectabam ; prsesertim in tarn singulari per- versitate nostrorum hominum. Delineaverunt multas res nostras illis a me repra33entatas, sed adhuc desunt vivi colores : propediera, ut spero, consequentur. Tu vero quoniam non solum amas procancellarium, sed etiam Haddonum diligis, fortasse de propria vis caussa mea cognoscere ; quae quum ex his viris religata sit qui ipsi adhuc soluti non sunt, cam quoque vinculis illorum impli- catam esse necesse est. Et plane constricta tenetur Smithi compedibus, de quo si quicquam esset con- stitutum, facillirae transigerem. Sed totum hoc genus in expectatione summa est, et singuli dies finem allaturi videntur. Sed aliquis casus semper hujus opiniones elu- dit : reditus meus omnia secum perfecta deportabit : qui hinc abest longius quam vellem tamen quum Academiae caussa, tum mea, nollem si queam res impolitas et acerbas relinquere. Tu vero, quoniam otium habes cum dignitate, fac illud omnibas modis prosequaris, in quo uno fructus inest omnis, et suavitas vitse : tum aliquid de subcisivis temporibus tuis ad communem Academiae statum iufluat : 1549.] ascham's letteks. 173 nihil potes faceve divinius. Sed quid ego tibi prsecipio juvenis, in republica mdis, homini acutissimo et omnibus reipublicse partibus exercitatissimo ? Hoc fac quod facis, et me dilige ut soles, et optime vale. XIII Decembris in diversorio meo festinatissime. Si BucERUM aliquando visitabis, accurate ilium meo nomine saluta : dii boni quem virum ! id scripsissem ad ilium, si quicquam fuisset vel argumenti, vel temporis : plenius etiam ad te nisi paulo post sperarem me tecum fore: tunc quae supersunt. Etiam dominura Sandum meum, et uxorem primum tuam, deinde illius, denique parentes meos, ut sequum est, quseso saluta : rursus vale. Tuus ad omnia Gualtekus Haddon. XCIIL~THE SAME TO THE SAME, (5, 53). About Bucer's admission into the University of Cambridge. atthceo Parkero, S.T.D. — Dominum Bucerum in ordinem nostrum cooptavimus. Nihil ilii prseter admissionem deest : in qua doctorem theologicum inesse oportet, qui ilium, ut scis, mihi et Academiae commendet: hoc abs te fieri aptissime posse arbitror, nec opus est, ut cur ita sentiam afferam, quum nec ipse dissentias, nisi vehementer fallor, nec caussas ignores. Si non vis aut non potes, non postulo : si vis, et si commode licet, hue ad nos quseso paulisper, ut inaugurati Buceki laudem visam arripias, ut senex olim commemorare possis. Imo, inquis, non tanti est. Si non est, taceo : quod si esse putas, eras aut pe- rendie te expectabo : nullus est theologus prseter Redman- NUM, et ille cubat. Yale, optime etmi Pakkere ! Assen- sum est. Tuus ad omnia, Gualterus Haddon. XCIY.— TO Sm J. CHEKE, (2, 43). Says that his sudden departure from Cheshunt was brought about not by any ill-treatment received from the princess, but from 174 ascham's letteks. [1550. her steward; and hopes that he may now either get help to. pursue his studies at college, or may go with some envoy of the king's, and spend the next two years in foreign parts. Jan. 28, 1550. oanni CJieco. — Quas ego maximas habeo gratias Deo semper ago, agaraque dum vivam, quod ejus prseeipua in me benignitate factum sit, ut vitse meae magnam partem in studio litera- rum Cantabrigiee in amplissimo collegio coUo- c^\rem, et id potissimum, ubi te et summum amicum et doctissimum praeceptorera haberem. Nam, quaecimque ego consequutus sum preesidia, sive fortunse ad usum vitse mediocria sive doctrinae ad cultum ingenii perexigua, ea quidem universa ex abundantia amoris tui in me singu- laris, et ex his literarum fontibus quos tu nobis ma^no multos annos ingenio, prascepto, exemplo, consilio feliciter constanterque aperuisti, profluxerunt. Et, quo jucundior luihi semper exstitit frequentissima ilia dies noctesque milii usurpata cogitatio, de suavissima vitee consuetudine, qua tecum in Academia usus sum, de illis sermonibus quos nos inter nos separatim in tuo sedentes cubicalo habuimus ; quibus persaspe et tuum in me singulare studium declarasti, et meara in te certissimam spem excitasti ; de universa denique superioris humanitatis tuae ratione, quse semper et in Academia et in Aula, in omnes partes vitae meae abundanlissime se effudit; tanto sane acerbior mihi jam solitudo injecta est, quod in hoc recenti naufragio, quod ego nuper aulica vi et injuria jactatus fortuna magis quam culpa calaraitosum feci, tantopere certi homines laborarent ut in meo maxime alieno difficilique tempore tuas etiam de me benevolentiae cursura impedirent. Sed in hoc con- cursu gravissimarum injuriarum hoc me potissimum levat, quod nullo modo mihi tarn molestum esse potuit me apud te, aperto odio et conquisito mendacio accusari, quam 1550.] ascham's letters. 175 jucmidum certe fuit tacito tui de me judicii testimonio defendi : id quod ex sermone tuo, quern mecura qimm proxime in Aula fuerim habebas, facile intellexi. Neque ego profecto unquam potui nec in postemm adduci potero, ut plus timoris in ulla nova malevolorum calumnia, quam roboris in veteri tua benevolentia defigam. Et hoc in loco videtur milii aptum tempus dari, ex- ponendi de tota ilia ratione Aulicse vitse mese, et ejus relin- quendse consilio : quod libenter quidem nunc facerem, nisi quod ilia res poterit opportunius, quum tibi visum fuerit, prsesenti explicari sermone quam nunc in breves literas includi. Quanquara mihi in mea caussa, de me dicendi, nullam fidem adhiberi volo, nisi gravissimorum hominum gravissimum testimonium meam innocentiam in omnibus meis dictis factisque defenderit. Unum E . . . S . . . gravis et integrse vitse virum, justissima de caussa, omnibus in- justis vocibus levium,(ut levissime dicam) hominum objicere possum, Sed ilium mei et consilii participem et fortunse socium non adfero. Cumberfordus vero et Wilkin- son us viri tibi de meliori nota multos annos cogniti, in hac re nec falsum fingere nec verum reticere volunt. Itaque si vel his testibus non sunt inde omnes illse deri- vatae injuriae, quibus aulica me tempestas obruit, unde fructum potius officii delibare quam ofFensionis metum haurire debuissem ; facile tum patior quidem, et tuam mihi quoque occludi benevolentiam, ex qua et commo- diores omnes superioris vitse mese rationes dimanarunt, et praeclara etiamnum ad multas insequentes opportunitaies effiorescit spes. Sin aliter, et me acerbe nimis absque ulla culpa mea injuriis non illustrissimae Dominse mese, sed (Deconomi illius oppugnatum esse comperies ; hoc im- petrem abs te, quod sponte dabis, ne te sic auferant vel hominum literse vel temporum injuriae, quin vetus huma- nitas tua veterem Aschamum agnoscat et tueatur. El hoc 176 ascham's letters. [1550. to vehementius contendo, quia nunquam pluris feci ma abs te diligi quam probari; id quod ut perpetuo teneaiu, omni studio, diligentia et observantia laborabo, Nunc vero in Lac deposita et jacente conditione mea, nihil magis me ad aliquam spem excitare potest, quam si post regiam majestatem, et illustrissimam dominam meam, (cujus gra- tiam invitissime dimitterem) voluntas, fides, et opera mea, quae nonuunquam nonnihil tibi probata est, in aliquo loco et numero apud te esse possit. Studium hoc meum certe non reprehendes, quura illud non ab ulla alia re potius quam ab iuductione quadam et applicatione propensi hos multos annos in te animi proficiscatur. Eeliqua quae scribenda mihi fuissent ad te, vel de vita mea interea in Academia commode constituenda, vel in trans- marinis studiis duos annos sustentanda, ad quae perfici- enda nonnihil polliceor mihi de tua ope et gratia ; velaliis literis brevi vel coram sermone opportunius explicabo. Elandus noster commendavit tibi juvenem quendam ex nostro collegio Henricum Wrightum, qui, si quid ego judico, tanta ingenii, industriae, constantly, spe in rectis- simum studiorum cursum ingressus est, hoc est, tarn feliciter Aristotelem et Platoxem cum Cicerone con- jungit, ut, si qua ratione coepit progredietur, dignus sane erit, quem tu et tui simillimi, hoc est hi qui a Deo studiis fovendis praeficiuntur, favore et opibus complectantur. Christus Jesus te diutissime servet incolumem. Januarii XXYIII, 1550. XCY.— TO CECIL, (2, 44). After complimenting Cecil on his public character and reputation, he laments that he should have himself suffered wrong at the hands of Cecil, and says he will explain things more fully at a fitter time. St John's, Feb. 15, 1550. 1550.] ascham's letters. 177 rnatissimo viro B. Cicello. — Si scires, ornatissime CiCELLE, quomodo in hoc alieno tempore tuo percrebuerunt, et frequentissimo omnium ser- mone et publica etiam reipublicae voce, quura innocentise tuse singula testimonia, tum de salute tua communia vota ; plus sane sincer88 voluptatis ex istis omnium in te studiis, quam moeroris ex illis tem- porum et fortunse acerbitatibus, haurire deberes. Contigit enim tibi soli quod nemini alteri, ut quum tempora essent tibi maxime difficilia, nunquam hominum in te studia fuerint expeditiora. Et quum hoc consequutus es, in vita etiam fortuna, non tantum felicitati tuse quantum virtuti tuse tvibuimus, ex qua plus verse laudis quam ex ilia varse salutis contigerit. Nam dici non potest, quam prsecise universes Heipublicse singulse voces, quibus vox Dei semper fere se permiscet, tribuerunt tibi quadriparti- tarn illam laudem, quam Peeiccli tribuit Thucydides, TviZvai TCL ^kovTa^ epixrjvevaaL rd yvui^kvra, cpiXoTroXiQ elvai^ Kal XprjjJLdrujv KpeiTTojv. [Thuc, 2. 60j. Ex qua moderata pru- dentia tua et singulari abstinentia, quo major vel laus tibi vel utilitas innumeris aliis profecta est, tanto mea quidem fortuna infelicior est, ut quum nemo alius quam ego, vel certiori judicio tuam semper dignitatem, vel majori gratulatione tuam nuper salutem prosequutus est, solus tamen a te Isesus sira, a quo cseteri sunt mirifice ad- juti. Et, quanquara omnia in me inferiora semper fue- runt, quam quse unquam debuerint promereri ullam partem singularis tuse benevolentise, nunquam tamen credere pos- sum, ut tu, qui aliis spectatam opem attuleris, mihi soli insperatam injuriam faceres. Sed quemadmodum nec tum quidem illis verbis mihi allatis ullam fidem adjunxi, sic nunc tantum mihi largior de tua prudentia et sequitate, ut quum causse mese judicem neminem recusem, te tamen ante omnes expeterem ; et nisi, te judice, superavero, perpe- 12 178 ascham's letters. [1550. tuam et tuam et omnium bonorum offensionem libenter sustineo. Ees longior est, quam ut literarum brevitate terminari possit : opportunius, si modo tibi est otium et si vis, coram sermone rem tibi explicabo. Precor Deum, lit perpetuse tibi illee et virtuiis et fortima? accessiones fiant, quae tuse dignitati et reipublicse expectationi et meis optatis respondeant. E coliegio divi Joankis, XV Eebr. 1550. XCVI.~TO THE KING'S COUNCIL, (4, 6). On behalf of the University — asks that Haddon may be appointed professor of civil law. Mar. 1, 1550. onoratissimo senaiui, regio consilio, dominis consiliariis prudentissimis. — Pro Academia. — Qiium singuli vos maxima beneficia in banc Academiam seorsim ssepe collocavistis, honora- tissimi domini, universi unum, et id quidem vobis ad tribuendum perexiguum, Academise vero nostrse ad impetrandum summe necessarium, facile concedetis. Schola Juris Civilis nunc apud nos conticescit : quoe quum hos aliquot preeteritos annos, doctissima Gualteri Haddon I voce, ad illius immensam laudem, ad Academise summam utilitatem, circumsonuit, lubentes quidem boc tempore facimus, ut cujus divino ingenio et singulari doctrina universa hsec Academia mirifice illustrata est, is ipse etiam, publica Academise voce, vicissim ad hocmunus commendaretur : quanquam non Haddoni caussam, sed literarum quum praesentem salutem, turn posteram spem agimus. Tantum enim abest, ut pertimescamus, ne plus studii erga privatum virum, quam officii erga rempublicam bsec consentiens Academies vox declaravisse videatur ; ut multo magis nobis verendum sit, ne vobis, quos Deus, ad tuendam doctrinam, in banc celsam sedem evexit, videa- mur indigni vel eruditione tanti viii, vel beneficentia tanti 1550.] ascham's letters. 179 principis, si nostro silentio commit teretur ; ut inferioris notse homines irrependo in possessionem praemiorum doctrinae, illustrem banc iilustrissimi regis in Academiam liberalitatem obscurarent. Itaque commendando talem virum, quum nos et nostrum debitnm officium sequuti fuerimus, et vestram justam offensionem effugerimus ; non dubitamus quin si hoc eruditionis premium huic erudi* tissimo viro conferatis, hoc uiium vestrum beneficium, et plurimos Haddonos ex hac Academia procreabit, et reliqua excellentia ingenia, simili praemiorum ,spe, ad doctrine laudern excitabit. Dominus Jesus, &c. 15 50, 1 Martii. XCVII-TO KING EDWARD VI, (4, 5). On the same subject. [March, 1550.] Idem illustrissimo principi, Domino EdvarrH Sexio^ domino ncstro cltmentissimo, — Pro Jca- demia. — Princeps prudentissimns Henricus OcTAVUS pater tuus, illustrissime rex, maxi- mara et sibi laudem ad sempiternam nominis memia'iara, et huic Academiae spem ad singularem doc- trinae cultum excitavit. Cujus divino beneficio factum est, ut omnium linguarum et optimarum scientiarum optimi professores, amplissimis ab eo doriati praemiis, in hac Academia constituerentur. Inter hsec patris tui immortalia monuraenta, munus profitendi juris civilis nunc vacuum est. Cujus scientiae praeclaram doctrinam, tanto ingenio, eruditione, et assiduitate, frequentissimo hominum concursu, Gualterus Haddonus hoc triennium apud nos tradidit, ut nihil prius universi nos una voce a niajestate tua contendamus, quam ut hoc docendi munus huic doctissimo viro conferatur. Et talem virum majes- tati tuae commendamus, cujus unius ingenio, et illustri doctrina, universa base Academia commeudatior existit. 180 ASCHAM*S LETTERS. [1550. Huic omnium nostrmn de hoc viro iestimonio, et consen- tienti Academise voci, quantum majestas tua tiibutura est, facile inteiligimus : et quanto prsestat amplissima doctrina magnis quidem divitiis, tanto erit tua, in prseficiendo eruditissimo doctore, quam patris in constituenda utilis- sima lectione major et illustrior gloria. Dominus Jesus, etc. XCVIIL— TO THE MAEQ. OF NORTHAMPTON, (4, 15). Asks the marquis to aid the college in recovering Sedburg school. Bill their master and Thomas Lever will give him the facts of the case. There would seem to be some error in the date either of this letter or of Letter lxxxix. March 25, 1550. owdno Ma7x1iioni Northamtoniertd. — Pro Col- legio. — Quantum tu unus universse Academiae nostras, et prsesentem alacritatem, et posteram spem alis, clarissime domine, sm^uli fere nos cum summa et utilitate sentimus et congratu- latione agnoscimus. Nam quomodo et ope tua utimur, et opibus tuis fruimur ad omnes nostras, sive publicas caussas in aula proniovendas, sive privatas tenuitates in Academia susteiitandas, nemo omnium nostrorum est, vel tarn ignarus qui nescit, vel tam ingratus qui non summe prsedicat. Et his proximis superioribus diebus, sic per Thomam Leverum, et inopiam plurimoium sublevabas, et spem omnium excitabas, ut haec nova alacritas studiis per te reddita, novos literarum fructus in his etiam diffi- cillimis temporibus ad immensam religionis reipublicasque utilitatem procreatura sit. Sed haec singularis et Academiae commoditas, et laudis tuse commendatio diuturna esse non potest, si literarum fontes, e quibus Academiae deductae sunt, sic ut fit passim in Anglia exaruerint. Ruinam inteiligimus et interitum publicarum scliolarum, in quibus nisi radices juventutis 1550.] ascham's letters. 181 recte cult?e fuerint, nihil in Acadeniiis adolesoet, qnod iti vineam Domini, aut in administvationem reipublicae postea assiirni possit. Et quam gravis iiniversa hpec scholarum calamitas est, nos facile experiraur in una Sedbavensi schola, ex qua muUa prseclara ingenia ad hoc collegium multosjam annos prodierunt. Cujus scliolje recuperandse nisi spes nova aliqua nobis affidserit, quomodo hujus collegii veterem splendorem et laudem contineamus, plane nescimus. Ad te ergo, nobilissime domine, nos convevti- mus : quoniam neminem cognoscimus, qui majori aut auctoritate possit, aut studio velit, tarn honestam caussam snscipere. Rem totam, venerabilis vir Gulielmus Billus prsefectus collegii nostri, et Thomas Leverus tibi expli- cabunt. Age igitur, clarissime domine, fove et complectere spem nostram, quae in te tanta sita est, quanta tua bonitas est, ex qua tantum in hac literarum causa expectamus, quantum ip&se literse ex Optimo eariim patrono sperare possunt. Dominas Jesus, etc. 15 lO, Alartii XXV. XCIX.— TO STURM, (I, 2). On literary subjects for the most part. Speaks also of Bucer, of King Edward VT, whom he calls their jTosiah, of the peace lately made with France by the Earl of Bedford, Paget and Mason, of Haddon who is now vice-chancellor of Cambridge, and of the Princess Elizabeth, who is a sort of central star among a crowd of young ladies, all of whom are more learned than formerly were the daughters of Sip T. More. St John's College, Cambridge, ^pril 4, 1550. ogerns JscJiamus Joanni Sturmio^ S. P, in Christo Jesu. — Nec ars ad usum vitse, nec scientia ad cultum ingenii, meo quidera judicio, ornatis- sime Joan. Sturmi, ulla inventa est, quae cum illius facultatis preestantia comparari potest, cujiis prsesidio efficitur, ut ratio ad prudenter intelligendum, sermo ad diserte loquendum instituatur. 182 a>