Erasmus was precocious as a child, and it was early predicted of him that he would be a great man, a prediction which he fully verified. Through the influence and help of the Bishop of Cambray, he was enabled to go to Paris for study, though the means furnished were not sufficient for his support. He took pupils and gave lectures, thereby supplying the deficiency in his funds. It is recorded that, in his eagerness for books, he said, "When I get money, I will first buy Greek books, and then clothing." He also studied at Oxford, and afterward at Turin, where he took the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Though many high offices in the Church, and many positions in universities, were offered to him, he refused them all, preferring to be an independent man of letters. Erasmus was recognized as the supreme literary authority of the world, and this lofty position was the summit of his ambition. Nothing could turn him aside from the path that led to that eminence, and, once attained, nothing could attract him away from it. Basel had become the center of the new printing industry. This led Erasmus to choose that city as his home for the latter part of his life, and here he furthered the cause of humanism as no other man had done, by editing and giving to the world many of the classic treasures of the monasteries. He translated Greek works into Latin, thereby making them available to the world, as Latin was better understood than Greek. His edition of the Greek Testament was his most eminent service, though his "Colloquies" are better known. His "Praise of Folly" is a satirical work, in which he holds up to ridicule the ignorance and vice of the monks. Though he never broke away from the Church, without doubt his sympathies were with the reformers. But neither the persuasions nor the denunciations of Luther could bring him to take a decided stand on either side. He thought that the reform could be wrought within the Church. He accepted the dogmas of the Church, and remained within it as long as he lived. Erasmus was the exact counterpart of Luther. He appealed to the limited few, Luther to the masses; he to the educated and higher classes, Luther to the ignorant and lowly; he was a man of reflection, Luther a man of action. The apparent vacillation of Erasmus may have been due to ill health, to the influence of the Pope, to the ties of the Church in which he had been reared, to the satisfaction he found in his eminent literary position, and to his dislike for controversy. Erasmus gives us some very valuable pedagogical teachings, which may be summed up as follows:-- =Pedagogy of Erasmus.=--1. The mother is the natural educator of the child in its early years. The mother who does not care for the education of her children is only half a mother. 2. Until the seventh year the child should have little to do but play, in order to develop the body. It must have no earnest work, but must be taught politeness.