Erasmus!--Erasmus!--the walls of Eltham, Oxford, and London resounded with the name. The king could not live without the learned; nor the learned without Erasmus. This scholar, who was an enthusiast for the young king, was not long in answering to the call. When Richard Pace, one of the most accomplished men of that age, met the learned Dutchman at Ferrara, the latter took from his pocket a little box which he always carried with him: "You don't know," he said, "what a treasure you have in England: I will just show you;" and he took from the box a letter of Henry's expressing in Latin of considerable purity the tenderest regard for his correspondent.[229] Immediately after the coronation Montjoy wrote to Erasmus: "Our Henry _Octavus_, or rather _Octavius_, is on the throne. Come and behold the new star.[230] The heavens smile, the earth leaps for joy, and all is flowing with milk, nectar, and honey.[231] Avarice has fled away, liberality has descended, scattering on every side with gracious hand her bounteous largesses. Our king desires not gold or precious stones, but virtue, glory, and immortality." [229] Scripsit ad me suapte manu litteras amantissimas. Erasm. Vita ad Ep. [230] Ut hoc novum sidus aspicias. Ibid. p. 277: an expression of Virgil, speaking of the deified Augustus. [231] Ridet æther, exultat terra, omnia lactis, omnia mellis, omnia nectaris sunt plena. Ibid. In such glowing terms was the young king described by a man who had seen him closely. Erasmus could resist no longer: he bade the pope farewell, and hastened to London, where he met with a hearty welcome from Henry. Science and power embraced each other: England was about to have its Medici; and the friends of learning no longer doubted of the regeneration of Britain. [Sidenote: CROMWELL AND THE POPE.]