The Cambridge History of English Literature

THE_classical renascence implied a knowledge and imitation of the great literary artists of the golden past of classical antiquity, and, as a preliminary, a competent acquaintance with, and some power to use, the Latin and Greek languages. Italy gave it birth and it gradually spread beyond the Alps into Germany, France and England. In the end it created, almost imperceptibly, a cosmopolitan republic of which Guillaume Budé and Erasmus disputed the sovereignty, and where, latterly, Erasmus, by universal consent, ruled as chief. This republic established itself in a Europe almost savage, supremely warlike and comparatively untaught in it and yet not of it. Its citizens were a select people who lived and worked in the midst of the tumult of arms, the conflict of politics and the war of creeds which went on around them. It spread widely and silently until it almost became the mark of a well-educated person to be able to read, write and converse fluently in Latin, and to know something of Greek. It refused to admit the limitations of sex. The learned lady (erudita) of the Colloquia of Erasmus easily discomfits the pretentious abbot. The prince of humanists himself, in no spirit of condescension, corresponded with the sisters of Pirkheimer and the daughters of More. At the celebrated reunions of Marguerite d'Angoulême, which were anticipations of the eighteenth century salon, Latin, Greek and even Hebrew were continually used. Her niece and grand-nieces were trained in the humanities. Mary of Scotland read Latin authors with George Buchanan. In England, well-born young ladies, towards the close of queen Mary's reign, were accomplished scholars. Elizabeth herself overwhelmed luckless ambassadors with floods of improvised Latinity. 'But this queen is extremely wise and has eyes that can flame,' wrote one who had, with difficulty, saved himself from the deluge.

E. L. III. CH. 1.

The enthusiasts of the classical renascence, who had spent time and pains in mastering the secrets of style of the literary artists of antiquity, were somewhat disdainful of their mother tongues. They were inclined to believe that cultured thought could only find fit expression in the apt words, deft phrases and rhythmical cadences, of the revived language of ancient Rome. They preferred to write in Latin, and the use of the common speech of their cosmopolitan republic gave them an audience in all parts of educated Europe. Nevertheless, the classical renascence had a powerful effect in moulding the literary languages of modern Europe and in enriching them with graces of style and expression. Its influence was so pervading and impalpable that it worked like leaven, almost imperceptiblý, yet really and potently.

The classical renascence recognised no one land in Europe as its own; it possessed all and belonged to all. Yet it is possible to describe its progress in Italy, Germany, France and even Spain, without introducing alien names. England is an exception. Erasmus belongs as much to the history of the classical renascence in our land as does Linacre, Colet, or More. The country received him when his fortunes were at a low ebb. He was

about 33 years of age. The torments and temptations of Hertogenbosch, the midnight labours of Stein, the horrors of the Collège Montaigu and the penury of Paris had left their marks on his frail body. He had produced little or nothing. He was almost unknown and he had no sure prospects in life. In England he found friends, who gladly gave him hospitable welcome, whose cultured leisure enabled them to appreciate his learning, his humour, his untiring capacity for work and his ceaseless activity of mind. No wonder that the fortune-tossed wanderer was glad to fancy himself an Englishman and delighted in the men and women, the manners, the scholarship, even in the climate, of his new home-in everything English, in fact, save the beer and the draughty rooms.

He came, too, at the moment most fitting to make an impression. Scholasticism still reigned; but there were signs that its authority was waning. The honoured friend of English leading scholars, sought after by the educational reformer of one of its great universities, patronised by its archbishop, complimented by its young and popular king, Erasmus could not fail to make a deep impression on the country at a peculiarly impressionable time—an impression all the stronger because he appealed to the practical side of the English people in a way more directly than

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The Cambridge History of English Literature, Volume 12