as well as by detecting the shameful abuses of monasteries and houses called religious,' and pointing out the evils which attended the celibacy of the clergy.

Farther promotion was to be the reward of his conspicuous merit: in 1502 he was made prebendary of Sarum, in 1504 he became D. D., and in 1505, having been previously instituted to the prebend of Mora in St. Paul's, he was by the favour of Henry VII., who esteemed him both as an able preacher and an unambitious divine, without either his solicitation or knowledge, made Dean of St. Paul's. Thus elevated, as if he had been called only to the labours, not to the dignity of his office, he restored the decayed discipline of his cathedral church,* introduced the new practice of preaching himself upon Sundays, and among others summoned to his assistance Grocyn and Sowle, whom he appointed to read divinity-lectures upon all solemn festivals. He himself in the pulpit, instead of taking a desultory text out of the Epistle or Gospel for the day, was accustomed to select a fixed and comprehensive subject, for the purpose of prosecuting it in several successive discourses. Upon these occasions

*«The reform with respect to residence in the cathedral of St. Paul's, which Warham, during the short time he occupied the see of London, had set himself to accomplish, Dean Colet carried into effect. In the body of statutes as revised by him, and confirmed by the legatine authority of Wolsey, it was enacted, that there should in future be, under the Dean as head, four and only four canons resident, eligible (as before) out of the senior prebendaries, offering themselves and protesting their design of residence, as formerly, at one of the quarterly feasts; when, if none came forward, some one should be invited to accept the office, and in case of refusal be amerced in some pecuniary fine!" (Churton's Life of Nowell.)

he had always a full auditory, among whom were the chief magistrates of the city. Nor was he an assiduous preacher of the gospel in his own cathedral alone, but at court likewise, and in many other churches, his sermons were attended by crowded congregations,

At this time, there was scarcely even a Latin Testament to be found in any English cathedral. Instead of the Gospel of Christ, the Gospel of Nicodemus was affixed to a pillar in the nave of the metropolitan church of Canterbury. But Dean Colet's method of expounding the Scriptures began to raise in the nation an inquiry after "the oracles of God." That he was indeed more than half a Protestant, appears from his having condemned Auricular Confession, Purgatory, and the daily celebration of the Mass. It was his pious ambition, to have all divine service performed in a solemn manner: with the Apostolical Epistles he was delighted; but what most deeply affected him were the admirable discourses of Christ in the Gospels, which he selected and arranged under proper heads.

Of his mode of living Erasmus has transmitted the following relation, as an example to posterity: "The Dean's table, which in the time of his predecessor, under the name of hospitality, had savoured too much of pomp and luxury, he contracted to a more frugal and temperate way of entertainment. It had been his custom for many years to eat only one meal a-day, that of dinner; so that he always had the evening to himself. When he dined in private with his own family, he had usually some strangers for his guests; but these were only few, because his provision was frugal, though genteel. The sitting

at table was short, and such as pleased only the learned and the good. After grace before meat some boy, who had a good voice, read distinctly a chapter out of one of St. Paul's Epistles, or out of Solomon's Proverbs. When the chapter was ended, the Dean would select some particular part of it as a theme for conversation, and ask his companions their opinion of it's meaning: at the same time so adapting his manner to their dispositions, that even these grave topics under his judicious management neither tired their patience, nor occasioned them any distaste. Toward the end of the repast, he generally suggested some other subject of discourse; and then dismissed his guests, improved both in mind and body by their religious and rational visit. From the conversation of his particular friends, which usually turned upon either religion or learning, he derived infinite delight, and he would sometimes protract it far into the evening. In the choice of his company, indeed, he was in general scrupulously careful; and, if he could not have such as were agreeable, he caused a servant to read to him out of the Scriptures. "In his excursions," says Erasmus, " he would sometimes make me one of his company, and then no man could be more easy and pleasant. He always carried a book with him, and seasoned his conversation with religion. He had an aversion from all impure and improper discourse, and loved to be neat and clean in his apparel, furniture, entertainment, books, and whatever belonged to him; but he held all pageantry and magnificence in contempt. Though it was then a custom for the higher clergy to appear in purple, his habit was invariably black. His upper garment, of plain woollen cloth, was in cold weather

lined with fur.

Whatever he received from his church-preferments was delivered to his steward, to be laid out in family-occasions, or hospitality; and the entire produce of his large paternal estate was appropriated to pious and charitable uses."

Yet, notwithstanding the purity of his life, he could not escape the imputation of heresy; having had the courage, in compassion for the sufferers called Lollards,' to interpose in behalf of one of them with the king, who granted him his life and liberty. This act of humanity exposed him to the hostility of the Bishop of London,* a superstitious and stubborn Scotist and a virulent persecutor of the new sect, who presented articles against him to the Archbishop of Canterbury: 1. That he had said, Images were not to be worshipped; 2. That he had expounded the triple injunction, Feed my sheep, by good example, sound doctrine, and something different from temporal revenue; and 3. That by blaming those who read their sermons he had obliquely taxed his diocesan, whose age rendered such

* Richard Fitzjames, who had been successively Prebendary of St. Paul's, Bishop of Rochester 1496, and Bishop of Chichester 1504. He was translated to London in 1506, and was succeeded in that see in 1522, by the celebrated Cuthbert Tunstall. Failing in his charges before Warham, he next attempted, but in vain, to incense the court against Colet, for having affirmed in a sermon, 'That an unjust peace was to be preferred before a most just war.' "The Dean was not only in trouble," we learn from Latimer's Sermons, "but would have been burnt, if God had not turned the King's heart to the contrary." The prebendaries of St. Paul's likewise, Erasmus informs us, complained that he used them as if they were monks; whereas, indeed, that college was anciently (and, in old records, is) called the Eastern Monastery,' as Westmonasterium the Western Monastery.

an indulgence necessary. But Warham, who well knew the Dean's integrity, would not give him the trouble of putting in any formal answer. It is added, that the Bishop would have convicted him likewise of heresy for having translated the Pater Noster into English, if the Archbishop had not stood up in his defence.

The troubles and persecutions however, which Colet underwent, only served to increase his charity and his devotion. Having no near relations, he was resolved to consecrate the chief part of his large property to some permanent benefaction in his life-time, as William of Wykeham had done at Winchester in the reign of Edward III. With the view therefore of promoting the restoration and improvement of letters, he determined to provide a grammar-school, for the instruction of youth in the Latin and Greek languages. This, he apprehended, 'would lay the best foundation for academical studies, particularly those of divinity; and thus, in founding one school, he hoped to become the restorer of the two universities. Of this his intended beneficence he deemed London, as the place of his nativity, the most worthy. The best account of his institution is given by Erasmus, who says, "He laid out a considerable portion * of his inheritance in building St. Paul's school, which is a magnificent fabric dedicated to the child Jesus. Two dwelling-houses were added for the two masters, to whom ample salaries are allotted. The school is divided into four apartments: the boys have their distinct forms one above another; and every form holds sixteen. The greatest hopes

* Amounting, at that time, to 1221, 4s. 74d.