John Colet, 1466-1519 and theological subtleties of the schoolmen, went back to the original language of the Scriptures, studied the personality of St. Paul and the times in which he lived, and thus was the first to employ the "historical method" in the interpretation of the Bible. In order that the new learning might be deeply and permanently rooted in English soil, in 1512 he established St. Paul's School, and engaged his friends Linacre and Erasmus to write improved text-books for the boys. For head-master he selected William Lily, the friend of More, eminent for his Greek learning and celebrated henceforth for his Latin Grammar, first written for this school. Sir Thomas More, 14781535 The finest and most typical representative of the English Renaissance was Sir Thomas More, whose very name is a precious inheritance to every true Englishman. "What has nature ever created more gentle, more sweet, more happy than the genius of Thomas More?" wrote Erasmus. More was deeply interested in the Italian awakening, and translated into English a life of Pico della Mirandola, one of the leading Florentine humanists. His literary fame rests upon the Utopia, a unique book, which astonished all Europe with its audacious idealism, and which is still a world classic of living interest. It was written in Latin and first published on the Continent in 1516, and translated into German, French, and Italian before it appeared in English in 1551. The Utopia describes an ideal commonwealth, presenting a picture of government and society as they should be in a truly Christian civilization. Though undoubtedly suggested by Plato's ideal Republic, the book is essentially an original creation, and has served as a model for scores of imitations. More was criticizing the social conditions in the age of Henry VIII, but many of his ideas are the current substance of the "socialism" and "progressive" politics of to-day. In his land of "nowhere" all men are free More's and equal; there are no wars of aggression, no monopolies, no excessive labor of a lower class to support an idle class, and no religious dissensions: Any man mighte do the best he could to bring other to his opinion, so that he did it peaceablie, gentlie, quietly, and soberlie, without hastie and contentious rebuking and invehing against other. If he could not by faire and gentle speche induce them unto his opinion, yet he should use no kinde of violence, and refraine from displeasaunte and seditious woordes. To him that would vehemently and ferventlye in this cause strive and contende was decreed banishment or bondage. This lesson on toleration was especially applicable to this age, in which the religious struggle was increasing in violence. Indeed, to the bitter spirit of intolerance More himself fell a martyr; he died the most distinguished victim of Henry's savage policy of reform. Effect of The enthusiasm for classical literature naturally expressed itself in critical as well as creative impulses. Improvements of language and style began to receive serious attention. Thomas Wilson in his Art of Rhetorique, compiled from Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintilian, attempted to show that writing in English could be made an art by using the rules of the classic masters. But this admiration for the ancients led to excesses. Scorning the native tongue, the Language scholars wrote in Latin, which they regarded as the only language suited to the dignity of learning and literature. Even Bacon distrusted English and committed his thoughts to Latin. The English vocabulary became highly Latinized, a process that gave to the language melody and richness, but deprived it of some of its native strength. The rivalry of Latin and Saxon is seen in the use of pairs of synonyms, as “acknowledge and confess," "assemble and meet together," "humble and lowly," in the Prayer Book. Roger Ascham was one of the few scholars who were wise enough to oppose this classical affectation in language, and to champion the honest English speech. "He that wyll wryte well in any tongue," he says, "muste folowe thys councel of Aristotle, to speake as the common people do, to thinke as wise men do." In the dedication of his Toxophilus to the King, he says apologetically: "Althoughe to have written this boke either in Latin or Greke had bene more easier and fit for mi trade in study, yet neverthelesse, I supposinge it no point of honestie, that mi commodite should stop and hinder ani parte either of the pleasure or profite of manie, have written this English matter Roger Ascham, 1515-1568 AN EARLY VIEW OF ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL, LONDON in the English tongue for English men." With this little treatise, Toxophilus, advocating the art of shooting with the bow, the development of the English essay may be said to begin. There were no models for such writing in the native literature, so Ascham used the form of the Socratic dialogue in Plato's works, the form used later by Walton in his Complete Angler, and by many others before the structure of the English essay had been determined. Ascham is more celebrated as the author of The Scholemaster, Ascham's 1570 a pedagogical essay on the teaching of Latin, "but specially purposed for the private brynging up of youth in Jentlemen and Noblemens houses." Such a book ought to be dull, but instead it is engagingly interesting. In its theories of education it was astonishingly in advance of the times, anticipating even the best theories of to-day, and exhibiting a freshness and reasonableness of ideas that allied the author with the best of the humanists. Ascham was tutor to Elizabeth and Lady Jane Grey, and the passage in which he describes the latter's reading of Plato is a charming domestic sketch. Indeed the note of personality throughout the book is characteristic of the Renaissance literature; after a few pages the reader is in close and friendly touch with the old schoolmaster himself. Listen to his chiding of Cicero for having, in his letters to Atticus, spoken "overuncurtislie" of England, as an isle with neither silver nor learning: Now master Cicero, blessed be God, and his sonne Jesus Christ, whom you never knew . . . blessed be God, I say, that sixten hundred yeare after you were dead and gone, it may trewly be sayd, that for silver, there is more cumlie plate in one Citie of England than is in foure of the proudest Cities in all Italie, and take Rome for one of them. And for learnyng, beside the knowledge of all learned tongs and liberall sciences, even your owne bookes, Cicero, be as well read, and your excellent eloquence is as well liked and loved, and as trewlie followed in England at this day, as it is now, or ever was, sence your owne tyme in any place of Italie. Losses and Gains from the Reformation During the turbulent struggle of politics and religion which we call the Reformation, much that was old and venerable was ruthlessly sacrificed to make way for the new. In the sweeping destruction of the monasteries, for example, millions of books and manuscripts, collected through centuries in the monastic libraries, were thrown to the winds and were used by bakers to heat their ovens. Noble leaders like More, Latimer, and Cranmer were rushed to martyrdom in the terrific strife. In the attempt of Mary to crush the movement and to restore the old order, it seemed as if the finer life of all England must perish in the fires of religious conflict. But extensive and lamentable as were the losses, the gains were greater. Tradition and authority gave place to enterprise and originality. Thought was set free and the individual man discovered his own mind. Scholasticism, the unfruitful scholarship of the Middle Ages, lost forever its dignity and power. Out of the social and political chaos the people arose as a new force in the activities of the national life. As a means of increasing his personal power, Henry raised many of the commons to the ranks of the nobility; so a little later we hear Barnabe Googe, in his Eclogs, Epytaphes and Sonnets, complaining that "nobilitie begins to fade and carters up do springe." As nowhere else in Europe, the Reformation in England was a national movement, which left its impression on the whole life and character of the nation. The English The inspiring source and chief instrument of the movement was the English Bible, the supreme literary monument of the Reformation. The influence of the newly discovered classic literature was confined to the learned class; the Bible became at once the literature of all classes. With wise forethought the translators chose for their version. the simple and strong vernacular, instead of the Latinized vocabulary of literary fashion. "As a mere literary monument," says the historian Green, "the English version of the Bible remains the noblest example of the English tongue. Its perpetual use made it from the instant of its appearance the standard of our language." More than this, it transformed the national character. "The whole temper of the nation was changed. A new conception of life and of man superseded the old. A new moral and religious impulse spread through every class." Wyclif's translation of the Bible had disappeared; only the Latin Vulgate was in use, a sealed book to all but scholars. In 1526 William Tyndale, an Oxford scholar, fired with reform |