APPENDIX C.

P. 41. CHARACTER OF ARCHBISHOP WARHAM.

HE following is the description of this good prelate

THE

given by Erasmus. It occurs in the first book of his Ecclesiastes, and was written when death had removed all inducements to flattery :

"I here bethink me," he says, "of the name of one who deserves all the remembrance posterity can bestow. It is that of William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of all England, a Doctor of Divinity in deed if not in title. For his degree of Doctor was obtained in Civil and Canon Law. Having gained distinction by the successful conduct of various embassies, he became highly valued by that sagacious prince, Henry VII., and was raised by successive steps to the exalted position of Archbishop of Canterbury, the foremost a subject in England can attain. Burdensome as this office is, another and yet heavier charge was added to it. For he was constrained to undertake the office of Chancellor, an office in that country of absolutely royal rank. Before the holder of it, whenever he appears in public, the crown and sceptre are borne, and before none other. For he is, so to speak, the king's eye, and the king's mouth, and his right hand, and the supreme judge of the whole realm of Britain. This department he administered for a number of years with such ability, that you would have said he was born for the office, and had no other cares to occupy him. Yet at the

same time, in all matters relating to religion, and the ministrations of the Church, he was so watchful and attentive, that you would again have said he had no external cares to distract him. He found time for the reverent performance of his own daily devotions, for celebrating mass almost every day, for being present at two or three services besides, for hearing causes, for receiving embassies, for counselling his sovereign, if any serious emergency had arisen at Court, for the visitation of churches, when anything befell to require his intervention, for entertaining often as many as two hundred guests; while lastly his own reading and study had their share of quiet leisure. For such varied matters of weight as these, he found, single-handed as he was, both the time and the will. But then he gave up no time to the sports of the chase, or to gaming; none to idle talk; none to dissipation or the pursuits of pleasure. In lieu of all such gratifications, a chapter from some pleasant book, or a chat with some learned man, was quite sufficient for him. Though at times he numbered among his guests both bishops, and dukes, and earls, his dinner was always over within the hour. Amid all the splendid establishment which his high office demanded, he himself was singularly abstemious. Wine he seldom tasted. Even at seventy years of age he would usually drink the small ale they call beer, and that too very sparingly. And yet, though equally temperate in eating also, he had such a pleasant look, and such a cheerful way of talking, that he brightened up all the repast. You would see no difference in his composed demeanour, whether it were after dinner or before. From suppers he either abstained altogether, or, if some intimate friends had chanced to arrive among whom I might count myself-he would sit to

table, but would scarce taste anything on it. If no such friends presented themselves, he would spend the time allotted for supper in prayer and study. In the sayings that fell from his lips there ran a vein of rare pleasantry, equally removed from the trivial and the sarcastic. He found a like pleasure in the outspoken jests of his friends. But from coarse jocularity or detraction he shrank as one would from a serpent. Thus did this eminent man find the days amply long enough for him, though many complain of their being too short. But then such persons, who are ever and anon complaining of want of leisure for their serious occupations, waste on trifles a good part of the day, and not seldom of the night as well."

Erasmus goes on to mention the circumstances, honourable alike to his patron and himself, of his presentation to Aldington; adding these noble words :-" I say not this in flattery. I loved him in life, and I love him none the less in death. For what I loved in him is not dead."

Warham was a liberal patron of men of letters, and died so poor, notwithstanding all his preferments, that when, in his last illness, he inquired of his steward what amount of money remained, the answer was :- "but thirty pounds.""Satis viatici ad cælum," he exclaimed; "enough to carry me to heaven." 1

1 The story is almost too familiar to be repeated; and I have only reverted to it because, in an article on Erasmus in Fraser's Magazine (February, 1876, p. 188), Dean Colet was made the subject of it.

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