SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
329
obbition of princes. He wrote many obscene ajod irreligious pieces ; bat in his latter days he repented of his follies, and employed himself in writing devotional tracts.
It is generallv beliered,that the reformation of religion in Ensland, was immediately succeeded by a floorishmg state of letters. But this «ras bj no means the case. For a long time afterwards, an effect quite contrarr was pro- duced. The reformation in England was com- pleted under the reign of Edwwd VI.: the rapa- oous courtiers were perpetually grasping at the rewards of literature, wDich being discouraged, or despised by the rich, was neglected by those of moderate fortunes. Avarice and zeal were at once gratified in robbing the clergy of their revenues, and in reducing the church to its primi- tire apostolic state of purity and poverty. The aainisters of this abused monarch, by these arbi- trary, dishonest, and imprudent measures, only DTDvided instruments, and furnished arguments, £ar restoring in the reign of Mary, that religion vrhich they professed to destroy. In everyone of the sacrilegious robberies, the interest of learning also suffered. By thus impoverishing the eccle- aiastic»l dignities, they countenanced the cla- mours of the Catholics, who declared that the Reformation was apparently founded on tempo- ral views, and that the Protestants pretended to oppose the doctrines of the church solely with a ▼lew tbat they might share in the plunder of its revenues. Roger Ascham, in a letter to the marquis of Northampton, dated 1550, laments the ruin of grammar schooL throughout Eng- laod ; and predicts the speedy extinction of the oniversities through the rapacicusness of the courtiers. A favourite nobleman of the court occupied the deanery and treasureship of a ca- thedral, with some of its best canouries ; and in this century, it was no uncommon thing for church livings, the revenues of abbeys, and even of bishoprics, to be given away with young ladies as a portion.
Queen Mary* was herself eminently learned ; bat her accomplishments in letters were darkened or impeded by religious prejudices. At the desire of queen Cauierine Par, she translated in her youth Eratmut't Paraphrate of St. John. Many of her letters are to be found in various pnblications,and particularly in Heame's Sylloge Eputolarum. Mary countess of Arun- del, who translated firom English into Latin The WUe Sayings and Etninent Deeds of the emp er o r Alexander Severut, and from Greek into Latin, SeUet Sentences of the Seven Wise Grecian Pkilosoj^ers. Lady Joanna Lumley, and lady Mary Howard, duchess of Norfolk, the daugh- ters and coheiresses of Henry Fitzallan, earl of Amndel. The first of them translated, from the Greek, three orations of Isocrates, and the Iphi- genia of Euripides ; and the other made a ver- non, from the same language, of Certain ingeni-
• In the hoiuehold expenies of qoeen Mury, Much I, I5M. a (ift of fifteen ahUUiiE* amonjc the yeoman of the fcinrd, tot btiutfag a letk to her grace, on St, David'i
ous Sentemes collected out of various authors. Three sisters, lady Anne, lady Margaret, and lady Jane Seymour, wrote four hundred Latin distiches upon the death of the queen of Navarre, sister to Francis I.,* which were translated into Greek, French, and Italian, and were celebrated abroad, long after they had been forgotten in England. Lady Elizabeth Fane may be added to the list, as having written several ]^ms, and pious meditations and proverbs, in the English tongue.
The books that were printed in the reign of Edward and Mary, were nearly of the same kind with those which have formerly been mentioned. Controversial works, and devotional pieces, were the principal occupiers of the press in an age which was so deeply engaged in re- ligious inquiry. Romances and uoetry were not entirely forgotten. Cato's Moral Distichs were published in the original, with notes, by Richard Tavemer; and there were a few translations from ancient writings. It is rather a curious circumstance in the classic history of the times, that the second book of the Eneid was translated into Greek verse by George Etherige, a physician at Oxford, and professor of the Greek language in that university.
In so short and agitated a period, many lite- rary foundations could not be expected; two colleges were, however, founded at Oxford: — Trinity college, by sir Thomas Pope,t an emi- nent citizen, and lord mayor of London, in the year 1564. Tbe founder, in his constitution, principallv inculcates the use and necessity of classical literature. St. John's college was re- founded in 15)7, by sir Thomas White, alder- man, and lord mayor of Loudon, who appropri- ated part of the w^th accumulated by industry and success in mercantile pursuits, to the estab- lishment of this college. The library of St John's,^ is one "^ the largest and best furnished in the university, and contains a valuable collec- tion of books, manuscripts, and antiquarian curiosities. In spite of every obstacle, it is pleasing to reflect, that on the whole, during the reign of Mary, the light of learning continued to break in upon our island ; and thoueh it was indeed, for awhile, only the dawn of the morn- ing, It promised to lead on to a more perfect day.
The accession of Mary to the throne revived the expectations of the catholics, and the per.
- Margaret dc Valola died December 1, IMS. She was
first maiiied to Charlea, last doke of Aleocon, who died in isss ) her second hnaband waa Henry d' Albert, liing of Navarre. She stood pre-eminent 1x>th as an anthoren and protector of literatnie, and waa celebrated for her beauty and wit. Inscriptions were composed, and medals struck, to ber honour.
t Died January ag, istg.
t In an old account book of St. John's college, Cam- bridge, for the year issg, is this entry :— "For chains <br tbe books in the libnry, 31." Again, in isSo, " For chain- ing the books in the library, u." And among the article* for keeping the universitie libiarie, Male, I SSI, "If any chaine, clasps, rope, or such like decay, liappai to be, the •ayd keeper to signify the same unto the v. chanceUonr within three days after he shall spy such default, to the end that the same may be amended."
2 T
VjOOQ IC
