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LONDON: PRINTED BY

SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE AND PARLIAMENT STREET

THE

OXFORD REFORMERS

JOHN COLET, ERASMUS, AND THOMAS MORE.

BEING A HISTORY OF THEIR FELLOW-WORK.

BY

FREDERIC SEEBOHM.

'Tu interea patienter audi; ac nos ambo, collidentibus inter se silicibus, si quis
ignis excutiatur, eum avide apprehendamus. Veritatem enim quærimus, non
opinionis offensionem
(Colet, Eras. Op. v. p. 1292).

Take no heed what thing many men do, but what thing the very law of nature,
what thing very reason, what thing Our Lord himself showeth thee to be done'
(Pico della Mirandola, translated by More: More's English Works, p. 13).

'Cur sic arctamus Christi professionem quam Ille latissime voluit patere?'
(Erasmus, Letter to Volzius, prefixed to the Enchiridion').

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TWO CIRCUMSTANCES have enabled me to make this Second Edition more complete, and I trust more correct, than its predecessor.

First: the remarkable discovery by Mr. W. Aldis Wright, on the blank leaves of a MS. in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, of an apparently contemporary family register recording, inter alia, the date of the marriage of Sir Thomas More's parents, and of the birth of Sir Thomas More himself (see Appendix C), has given the clue, so long sought for in vain, to the chronology of More's early life. It has also made it needful to alter slightly the title of this work.

Secondly; the interesting MSS. of Colet's, on the 'Hierarchies of Dionysius,' found by Mr. Lupton in the library of St. Paul's School, and recently published by him with a translation and valuable introduction,1 have

1 Mr. Lupton's volume (Bell and Daldy, 1869) has a double interest. Apart from the interest it derives from its connection with Colet, it is also interesting as placing, I believe, for the first time, before the Eng

lish reader, a full abstract of two of the Pseudo-Dionysian writings, to which attention has recently been called by Mr. Wescott's valuable article in the Contemporary Review.

supplied a missing link in the chain of Colet's mental history, which has thrown much fresh light, as well upon his connection with the Neo-Platonists of Florence, as upon the position already taken by him at Oxford, before the arrival of Erasmus.

The greater part of the First Edition was already in the hands of the public, when I became aware of the importance of this newly discovered information; but, in October last, I withdrew the remaining copies from sale, as it seemed to me that it would hardly be fair, under the circumstances, to allow them to pass out of my hands. They have since been destroyed.

In publishing this revised and enlarged edition, I wish especially to tender my thanks to Mr. Lupton for his invaluable assistance in its revision, and for the free use he has throughout allowed me to make of the results of his own researches.

I have also to thank the Librarian of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, for the loan of a beautiful copy of Colet's MS. on 1 Corinthians;' and Mr. Bradshaw, for kindly obtaining for me a transcript of the MS. on 6 Romans' in the University Library.

At Mr. Bradshaw's suggestion I have added, in the Appendix, a catalogue of the early editions of the works of Erasmus in my collection. It will at least serve as evidence of the wide circulation obtained by these works during the lifetime of their author.

HITCHIN: May 10, 1869.

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