Conftantinople, particularly Bajazet the second, freely imparted these treasures to the Italian emiffaries, who availing themselves of the fashionable enthusiasm, traded in the cities of Greece for the purpose of purchasing books, which they edit. Bafil. 1520. 4to. He ftaid at Rhodes five years. This was about the year 1500. I have before mentioned a Translation of Vegetius's TACTICS, written at Rhodes, in the year 1459, by John Newton, evinently one of our countrymen, who perhaps ftudied Greek there. MSS. LAUD. Bibl. Bodl. Oxon. K. 53. It must however be remembered, that the paffion for vifiting the holy places at Jerufalem did not cease among us till late in the reign of Henry the eighth. See The pylgrymage of fyr Richard Torkyngton, parfon of Mulberton in Norfolk, to Jerufalem, An. 1517. Catal. MSS. vol. 2. 182. vol. 2. William Wey, fellow of Eton college, celebrated mass cum cantu organico, at Jerufalem, in the year 1472. MSS. James, Bibl. Bodl. vi. 153. See his ITINERARIES, MSS. Bibl. Bodl. NE. F. 2. 12. In which are also some of his English rhymes on The Way to Hierufalem. He went twice thither. Barclay, in the fame stanza, like a plain ecclefiaftic, cenfures the prevailing practice of going abroad for inftruction; which, for a time at leaft, certainly proved of no fmall detriment to our English schools and univerfities. But thou, vayne boafter, if thou wilt take in hand To ftudy cunning, and ydelnes defpife, Th'royalme of England might for thee fuffice: In England is fufficient difcipline, And noble men endowed with science, &c. And in another place, ibid. fol. 54. a. One runneth to Almayne, another into Fraunce, To Paris, † Padway, Lombardy, or Spayne; And at the laft returneth home agayne, Yet this practice was encouraged by fome of our bishops, who had received their education in English univerfities. Pace, one of our learned countrymen, a friend of Erafmus, was placed for education in grammar and music in the family of Thomas Langton, bishop of Winchefter; who kept a domestic school within the precincts of his palace, for training boys in these sciences. "Humaniores literas (fays my "author) tanti eftimabat, ut domeftica "fchola pueros ac juvenes ibi erudien"dos curavit, &c." The bishop, who took the greatest pleasure in examining his scholars every evening, obferving that young Pace was an extraordinary proficient in mufic, thought him capable of better things; and fent him, while yet a boy, to the university of Padua. He afterwards ftudied at Bononia: for the fame bishop, by Will, bequeaths to his scholar, Richard Pace, ftudying at Bononia, an exhibition of ten pounds annually for seven years. See Pace's TRACTATUS de fructu qui ex doctrina percipitur, edit. Bafil, 1517. 4to. p. 27. 28. In which the author calls himself bishop Langton's a manu minifter. See alfo Langton's Will, Cur. Prærog. Cant. Regiftr. MOONE. qu. 10. Bifhop Langton had been provoft of queen's college at Oxford, and died in 1501. At Padua Pace was inftructed by Cuthbert Tunstall, afterwards bishop of Durham, and the giver of many valuable Greek books to the univerfity of Cambridge; and by Hugh Latimer. TRACTAT. ut fupr. p. 6. 99. 103. Leland, COLL. iii. 14. We find also archbishop Wareham, before the year 1520, educating at his own expence, for the space of twelve years, Richard Croke, one of the first restorers of the Greek language in England, at the univerfities of Paris, Louvain, and Leipfic: from which returning a moft accomplished fcholar, he fucceeded Erafmus in the Greek Caen and Tholoufe. + Cologne in Germany. Iii 2 profefforship, fold in Italy and it was chiefly by means of this literary traffic, that Cofmo and Laurence of Medici, and their munificent fucceffors the dukes of Florence, compofed the famous Florentine library". It is obvious to remark the popularity which must have accrued to these politer ftudies, while they thus paved the way to the most opulent and honourable promotions in the church: and the authority and estimation with which they must have been furrounded, in being thus cultivated by the most venerable ecclefiaftics. It is indeed true, that the dignified clergy of the early and darker ages were learned beyond the level of the people. Peter de Blois, fucceffively profefforfhip at Cambridge. Croke dedicated to archbishop Wareham his INTRODUCTIONES IN RUDIMENTA GRÆCA, printed in the fhop of Eucharius Cervicornius, at Cologne, 1520. Joh. de With regard to what has been here faid concerning the practice of educating boys in the families of our bishops, it appears that Grofthead, bishop of Lincoln in the thirteenth century, educated in this manner moft of the nobility in the kingdom, who were placed there in the character of pages: "Filios Nobilium procerum regni, quos "fecum habuit DOMICELLOS." " Athona. in CONSTIT. OTTOBON. Tit. 23. in Voc. BARONES. Cardinal Wolfey, archbishop of York, educated in his house many of the young nobility. Fiddes's WOLSEY, p. 100. See what is faid above of the quality of pope Leo's CUBICULARII, p. 411. Fiddes cites a record remaining in the family of the earl of Arundel, written in 1620, which contains inftructions how the younger fon of the writer, the earl of Arundel, fhould behave himself in the family of the bishop of Norwich, whither he is fent for education as page: and in which his lordship obferves, that his grandfather the duke of Norfolk, and his uncle the earl of Northampton, were both bred as pages with bishopps. Fiddes, ibid. RECORDS. No. 6. c. 4. pag. 19. Sir Thomas More was educated as a page with cardinal Moreton, archbishop of Canterbury, about 1490, who was fo ftruck with his genius, that he would often fay at dinner, This child bere awaiting at table is fo very ingenious, that be will one day prove an extraordinary man. Mori UTOP. cited by Stapleton, p. 157. 138. And Roper's MORE, p. 27. edit. ut fupr. y Many of them were fent into Italy by Laurence of Medicis, particularly John Lafcaris. Varillas fays, that Bajazet the fecond understood Averroes's commentaries on Aristotle. ANECDOT. de Florence, p. 183. P. Jovii ELOG. c. xxxi. p. 74. Lafcaris alfo made a voyage into Greece by command of Leo the tenth; and brought with him fome Greek boys, who were to be educated in the college which that pope had founded on mount Quirinal, and who were intended to propagate the genuine and native pronunciation of the Greek tongue. Jov. ut fupr. c. xxxi. The inferiour clergy were in the mean time extremely ignorant. About the year 1300, pope Boniface the eighth published an edict, ordering the incumbents of ecclefiaftic benefices to quit their cures for a certain time, and to ftudy at the universities. [See his ten CONSTITUTIONES, in the BULLARIUM MAGNUM of Laertius Cherubinus, tom. i. p. 198. feq. Where are his Erectiones ftudiorum generalium in civitate Firmana, Romæ, et Avenione, A. D. 1303.] Accordingly our epifcopal regifters are full of licences granted for this purpose. The recor archdeacon of Bath and London, about the year 1160, acquaints us, that the palace of Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, was perpetually filled with bishops highly accomplished in literature: who paffed their time there, in reading, difputing, and deciding important questions of the state. He adds, that thefe prelates, although men of the world, were rector of Bedhampton, Hants, being an accolite, is permitted to study for feven years from the time of his inftitution, in literarum fcientia, on condition that within one year he is made a fubdeacon, and after seven years a deacon and prieft. Mar. 5. 1302. Regiftr. PONTISSAR. Winton. fol. 38. Another rector is allowed to study for seven years, in loco quem eligit et ubi viget ftudium generale, 16 kal. Octobr. 1303. ibid. fol. 40. Another receives the fame privilege, to ftudy at Oxford, Orleans, or Paris, A. D. 1304. ibid. fol. 42. Another, being defirous of ftudy, and able to make a proficiency, is licenced to ftudy in aliquo Audio tranfmarino, A. D. 1291. ibid. fol. 84. This, however, was three years before Boniface became pope. Another is to ftudy per terminum conftitutionis novellæ, A. D. 1302. ibid. fol. 37. b. But these difpenfations, the neceffity of which proves the illiteracy of the priests, were most common. ly procured for pretences of abfence or neglect. Or, if in confequence of fuch dif penfations, they went to any univerfity, they feem to have mifpent their time there in riot and idlenefs, and to have returned more ignorant than before. A grievance to which Gower alludes in the Vox CLAMANTIS, a poem which prefents fome curious pictures of the manners of the clergy, both fecular and monaftic. cap. xvii lib. 3. MSS. Coll. Omn. Anim. Oxon. xxix. Hic loquitur de Rectoribus illis, qui fub episcopo licentiati fingunt fe ire fcolas, ut fub nomine virtutis vitia corporalia frequentent. Et fic Ars noftrum Curatum reddit inertem, De longo ftudio fert nihil inde domum: Stultus ibi venit, fed ftultior inde redibit, &c. By Ars we are here to understand the fcholaftic fciences, and by Curatus the be beneficed priest. But the moft extraordinary anecdote of incompetency which I have feen, occurs fo late as the year 1448. A rector is inftituted by Waynflete bishop of Winchester, on the prefentation of Merton priory in Surrey, to the parish of Sherfield in Hampshire. But previously he takes an oath before the bishop, that on account of his infufficiency in letters, and default of knowledge in the faperintendence of fouls, he will learn Latin for the two following years; and at the end of the first year he will fubmit himself to be examined by the bishop, concerning his progrefs in grammar; and that, if on a fecond examination he fhould be found deficient, he will refign the benefice. Regiftr. WAYNFLETE. Winton. fol. 7. In the Statutes of New College at Oxford, given in the year 1386, one of the ten chaplains is ordered to learn grammar, and to be able to write; in order that he may be qualified for the arduous tafk of affifting the treafurers of the fociety in tranfcribing their Latin evidences. STATUT. Coll. Nov. RUBRIC. 58. In the ftatutes of Bradgare college in Kent, given in 1398, it is required that the governor of the house, who is to be a priest, fhould read well, conftrue Latin well, and fing well, fciat bene legere, bene conftruere, et bene cantare. Dugd. MONAST. tom. iii. Ecclef. Collegiat. p. 118. col. 2. At an epifcopal vifitation of faint Swithin's priory at Winchester, an ample fociety of Benedictines, bishop William of Wykeham orders the monastery to provide an INFORMATOR, or Latin preceptor, to teach the priefts, who performed the fervice in the church without knowing what they were uttering and could not attend to the common ftops. to read grammatically, Feb. 8. 1386. MSS. Harl. 328. Thefe, indeed, were not fecular priests: the inftance, however, a fociety of scholars: yet very different from those who frequented the universities, in which nothing was taught but words and fyllables, unprofitable subtleties, elementary fpeculations, and trifling distinctions. De Blois was himself eminently learned, and one of the most distinguished ornaments of Becket's attendants. He tells us, that in his youth, when he learned the ARS VERSIFICATORIA, that is, philological literature, he was habituated to an urbanity of style and expreffion: and that he was inftituted, not in idle fables. and legendary tales, but in Livy, Quintus Curtius, Suetonius, Jofephus, Trogus Pompeius, Tacitus, and other claffical historians. At the fame time he cenfures with a just indignation, the abfurdity of training boys in the frivolous intricacies of logic and geometry, and other parts of the fcholaftic philofophy; which, to ufe his own emphatical words, "Nec domi, nec militia, nec in foro, nec in clauftro, nec in ecclefia, nec in curia, nec alicubi profunt alicui." The however, illuftrates what is here thrown together. Wiccliffe fays, that the beneficed priests of his age" kunnen [know] not the ten "commandments, ne read their fauter, ne "understand a verse of it." LIFE of Wiccliffe, p. 38. Nor were even the bishops of the fourteenth century always very eminently qualified in literature of either fort. In the year 1387, the bishop of Worcester informed his clergy, that the Lollards, a fett of reformers whofe doctrines, a few fanatical extravagancies excepted, coincided in many respects with the present rational principles of proteftantifm, were fillowers of MAHOMET. Wilkins, CONCIL. tom. iii. p. 202. [See fupr. p. 190. in the NOTES.] But at this time the moft shameful grofsnefs of manners, partly owing to their celibacy, prevailed among the clergy. In the ftatutes of the college of faint Mary Ottery in Devonshire, dated 1337, and given by the founder bifhop Grandifon, the following injunction occurs. "Item fta"tuimus, quod nullus Canonicus, Vicarius, "vel Secundarius, pueros choristas [collegii] fecum pernoctare, aut in lectulo cum "ipfis dormire, faciat feu permittat." Cap. 50. MS. apud Archiv. Wulves. Winton. And what fhall we think of the religious manners and practices of an age, when the following precautions were thought neceffary, in a refpectable collegiate church, confifting of a dean and fix fecular canons, amply endowed? "Statutum eft, quod fiquis convictus fuerit de peccato Sodo"mitico, vel arte magica, &c." From the ftatutes of Stoke-Clare college, in Suffolk, given by the dean Thomas Barnesley, in the year 1422. Dugd. MONAST. ut fupr. p. 169. col. 1. From thefe horrid pictures let us turn our eyes, and learn to fet a juft value on that pure religion, and thofe improved habits of life and manners, which we at prefent enjoy. a EPIST. Petr. Blefenf. vi. fol. 3. a. OPERA. edit. Parif. 1519. fol. EPIST. cii. fol. 49. b. Ibid. That is, "Which are of no real "use or service, at home, in the camp, at "the bar, in the cloyfter, in the court, in "the church, or indeed in any place or "fituation whatsoever." The Latin Epiftles of De Blois, from which these anecdotes are taken, are full of good fenfe, obfervations on life, elegant turns, and ingenious allufions to the claffics. He tells Jocelyne, bishop of Salisbury, that he had long wifhed to fee the bishop's two nephews, according to promife: but that he feared he expected them as the Britons expected king Arthur, or the Jews the Meffiah. He describes, with a liveliness by no means belonging to the archdeacons of the twelfth century, the difficulties, difappointments, and inconveniencies, of paying attendance at court. In the course of his correfpondence, he quotes Quintilian, Cicero, Livy, Salluft, Seneca, Virgil, Quintus Curtius, Ovid, Statius, Suetonius, Juvenal, and Horace, more frequently and familiarly than the fathers'. Horace feems his favorite. In one of the letters, he quotes a paffage concerning Pompey the Great, from the Roman Hiftory of Salluft, in fix books, now loft, and which appears at present only in part among the fragments of that valuable hiftorian. In the NUGA CURIALIUM of Mapes, or fome other manuscript Latin tract written by one of the scholars of the twelfth century, I remember to have seen a curious and striking anecdote, which in a |