range of Grocyn's knowledge? What can be more searching, deep, and refined than the judgment of Linacre? When did nature mold a temper more gentle, endearing, and happy than the temper of Thomas More?" Later he became, for a brief period, a lecturer on Greek at the University of Cambridge. Henry VIII, of England, was his friend and patron; and among his acquaintances were Pope Julius II and Leo X.

CHIEF WORKS.-Among his best known works is the Encomium Moria, or the Praise of Folly. It is a satire upon various classes of society. But of still more importance was Erasmus's edition of the Greek New Testament, accompanied with a Latin translation and notes. "It is my desire," he said in the preface, "to lead back that cold dispute about words called theology to its real fountain. Would to God that this work may bear as much fruit to Christianity as it has cost me toil and application." This work, which appeared in 1516, helped to make Europe acquainted with the Gospel as it was preached by Christ and his apostles.

PEDAGOGY.-An enthusiastic student of the ancient classics, the pedagogical views of Erasmus do not differ materially from those of Plutarch, Quintilian, and Seneca. What he has written on education appears at times a mere paraphrase of these ancient educators. Among his educational writings may be mentioned the Adages (1500), The Order of Studies (1512), The Education of a Christian Prince (1516), and The Institution of Christian Marriage (1526). He dwelt upon the importance of early domestic training, during which the soil should be prepared for subsequent instruction. The health of children should be carefully attended to through proper food and clothing, healthful rooms, and merry companionships. By

means of plays the Greek and Roman alphabets might be learned, and through appropriate training the virtues of reverence and obedience should be developed.

INTELLECTUAL CULTURE.-Formal instruction should not begin before the seventh year. Much care should be exercised in the choice of a teacher, whose efficiency concerned not only the welfare of the child but also the welfare of the state. He reproached parents for taking more pains in the selection of a hostler than in the employment of a teacher for their children. Not only the learning of the teacher, but especially his character should be considered. During the first years of instruction private tutors seemed to Erasmus preferable to large monastic schools. In the latter the danger of moral contamination appeared to him too great, and the labors of the teacher too much divided.

As a genuine humanist, Erasmus insisted that the knowledge of words should precede the knowledge of things. Greek and Latin grammar should be studied together, for these two languages contained almost everything that is worth knowing. The rules of grammar should be few in number and restricted to what is most important; for skill in language is best acquired through conversation and reading. When a sufficient foundation in language had been laid, the pupil should turn to the study of things; and the sources of science Erasmus found in the writings of the ancient Greeks. Especial attention, he urged, should be given to the cultivation of the memory, through which the results of learning are made available. There are three principal aids to memory, namely, a right understanding of the subject, a proper order of thought, and a careful noting of distinctions. He recommended the study of geography, history, and natural science, not for their

own sake, but as necessary adjuncts in understanding and explaining the classics.

IMITATION OF CICERO.-Erasmus valued thought more than style, and inveighed against the superficial imitation of Cicero then prevalent. He laughed at the verbal trifling of the grammarians, and the insignificant quibblings of the philosophers. "You are charged," he said to the Ciceronians, " with a very difficult task; for, besides the errors of language that have escaped Cicero, the copyists have sown his works with a multitude of mistakes, and many of the writings attributed to this author are not authentic. Finally, his verses translated from the Greek are worth nothing. And you would imitate all that, the good and the bad, the authentic and the non-authentic! Certainly, your imitation is very superficial; it is unworthy of your master. Your imitation is servile, cold, and dead, without life, without movement, without feeling; it is an apishness in which one discovers none of the virtues that have made the glory of Cicero, such as his happy inspiration, the intelligent disposition of his subjects, the wisdom with which he treats each subject, his large acquaintance with men and affairs, and his ability to move those who hear him. These are what should be imitated in Cicero; and, in order to imitate him, we must, like him, identify ourselves with the age in which we live, that we may be able to adapt our language to it; otherwise, our speech has no longer that seal of reality which animated the discourse of Cicero."

METHOD IN TEACHING.-Erasmus favored a mild discipline; praise and rewards, he said, accomplish more than threats and blows. The business of the teacher was to help his pupils, and not to display his own learning. Too much talk on his part was a hindrance rather than a help. "The

teacher," he said, "ought to explain only what is strictly necessary for understanding the author; he ought to resist. the temptation of making on every occasion a display of his knowledge. The end of this rule is to concentrate the attention of the pupil upon his author, to bring him into contact with him. Too many digressions break the force of the author, and prevent the pupil from feeling and enjoying that inspiration, so well suited to quicken him who breathes it freely."

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RELIGIOUS CULTURE.-Erasmus placed moral and religious culture in the foreground of education. Throughout his writings he advocated a genuine piety of heart as over against theological refinements and religious ceremonialism. "Unless I have a pure heart," he says, unless I put away envy, hate, pride, avarice, lust, I shall not see God. But a man is not damned because he can not tell whether the Spirit has one principle or two. Has he the fruits of the Spirit? That is the question. Is he patient, kind, good, gentle, modest, temperate, chaste? Inquire if you will, but do not define. True religion is peace, and we can not have peace unless we leave the conscience unshackled on obscure points on which certainty is impossible."

The first religious instruction should teach the child to fear and love God, the omnipresent and omniscient Creator and Upholder of all things; who through his Son has given eternal life to those who believe in him and keep his commandments; who dwells through the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the righteous; and who rewards the good and punishes the wicked. Belief in angels and reverence for the Scriptures should be inculcated. The child should be taught to contemplate the splendor of the heavens, the fulness of the earth, the welling fountains, the flowing rivers, the immeasurable sea, the numberless species of ani

mals, and to look on all these things as created for the service of men. The best means of inculcating morality and religion is example, for children have a special aptitude for imitation.

FEMALE EDUCATION.-Erasmus entertained enlightened views about female education. He maintained that girls should have intellectual as well as moral and domestic training. Though most persons thought it foolish, he said, intellectual culture was advantageous in maintaining a noble and chaste spirit. More care should be taken in the moral training of girls than of boys. The first effort should be to fill their hearts with holy feelings; the second, to preserve them from contamination; the third, to guard them from idleness. As innocence suffers most through evil example, Erasmus admonished parents against all unseemly conduct in the presence of their daughters. Mingling in society seemed to him less dangerous for young women than to be kept in monastic seclusion.

2. THE RELATION OF PROTESTANTISM TO EDUCATION

PREVALENT DISSATISFACTION.-The ecclesiastical revolution of the sixteenth century-that great movement which divided the Church and established Protestantism in northern Europe-was not due, as has been sometimes alleged, to insignificant causes. At the beginning of the century and for many years previously, there existed, for various reasons that can not here be examined in detail, a profound dissatisfaction within the Church. The growing intelligence of the people and the development of a strong national self-consciousness tended to bring about a reaction against ecclesiastical authority; meanwhile writ