24. COMMUNIONEM] Cf. XVIII. 57-8.
32. PRO MORE REGIONIS] The following extracts from Erasmus' writings show
the reputation of the English at this time in the matter of
entertainment: 'Angli ostentatores': 'miramur si quis videat frugalem
Anglum': 'asscribo Anglis lautas mensas et formam.'
33. VULGARIBUS] _sc_. cibis.
38. HOLOSERICIS] _sc_. vestibus. Similarly _byssinis ac damascenis_, l.
44.
40. CONVENTUM] This took place in July 1520, shortly after Henry's
meeting with Francis I at Ardres, known as the 'Field of the Cloth of
Gold '.
41. UNDECIM] Erasmus' memory for dates was uncertain.
42. EBORACENSIS] Wolsey.
XXIV
[A letter written in 1521 from Anderlecht, a suburb of Brussels, to
Jodocus Jonas, a member of the University of Erfurt, and afterwards one
of the followers of Luther. Jonas had asked for a sketch of the life of
Colet, who had died on 16 Sept. 1519; and Erasmus in reply sent this
letter, to convey some impression of the man to whom he felt himself to
owe so much. With it he coupled a slighter sketch of another friend, also
dead, in whose character he traced much the same features as he had
admired in Colet. Very little is known of Vitrarius beyond the
information contained in this letter; without which our knowledge of
Colet and also of Henry VIII--the 'divine young king', as he was often
called in these early years--would not be so full as it is.]
2. PAUCIS] _sc_. verbis.
17. ORDINIS FRANCISCANI] The order of friars founded by St. Francis of
Assisi (1182-1226).
18. ADOLESCENS INCIDERAT] Here and in l. 38 Erasmus is clearly thinking
of the circumstances under which he himself had embraced the monastic
life (see p. 8[*]). His strong bias against monasticism, which is very
evident throughout this piece, often makes him unjust in his
representations of it.
[* At the beginning of LIFE OF ERASMUS. Transcriptor.]
27. SCOTICAS ARGUTIAS] An unflattering allusion to the philosophy of John
Duns Scotus (the Scot), who was one of the leaders of mediaeval thought;
_fl_. 1300.
30. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (died 397) was--with Jerome, Leo, and
Gregory--one of the four great Doctors of the Latin Church. Cyprian (died
257) was also one of the Latin Fathers.
50. OFFENDICULO] Cf. 1 Cor. 8. 9.
55. UNGUES] Cf. Juv. 7. 232.
56. DEDISSES] A conditional clause; the condition being expressed by
placing the verb first, without _si_. Cf. Verg, _Aen_. 6. 31 'Partem
opere in tanto, sineret dolor, Icare, haberes'; or in English such forms
as 'Give him an inch, he will take an ell'.
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