defrrous likcwifc to add thofe of the univcrfitics, and accord-
ingly took the degrees of doctor of laws and phyfic. I J c wa
a man of an extenfive genius, and will (killed in many parts
of knowledge, and a variety of languages; as he him (elf
tells us, though notpeihaps with fo much modefty as could
be defircd : "I am (lays he) pretty well (killed in ci"ht !
- guages, and fo complete a mailer of fix, that 1 not only
- ' underftand and fpeak them, but can even make an elegant
- ' oration, dictate and trandate in thefe languages. 1 have
" befides a pretty ex ten five knowledge in fomeubftrufe ftuii: , " and a general acquaintance with the whole circle of fci- " ences." His invariable curiofity, the freedom of his'- - I 7 ?. pen, and the inconftancy of his temper, involved him in many*' misfortunes : he was continually changing his fuuation ; al-' ways engaging himfelf in fome difficulty or other; and, to complete his troubles, he drew upon himfelf the hatred of the ecclefiaUits by his writings. According to his letters, IKM. r r . ;. he was in F ranee before the year 1507, in Spain in 1508, i: "- '. and at Dole in 1509. At this Lift place he read public Icc-^' tures on the myltenous work of Reuchlin, De verbo mirijice,^. i, which engaged him in a dilpute with Catilinet, a Francifcan. Thefe lectures, though they drew upon him the relentrv.cnt of the monks, yet gained him general applaufe, and theopcr. tom. counfellors of the parliament went themfelves to hear them."- P- 5 ci - In order to ingratiate himfelf into the favour of Margaret of Aufbia, governefsof the Low Countries, hecompofed a trea- tife " On the Excellence of Women ;" but the perfecution he met with from the monks prevented him from publishing it, and obliged him to go over to England, where he wrote a Commentary upon St. Paul's Epiftles. Upon his return to Cologn, he read public lectures upon thefe queftions in divi- nity which are called ^ttedlibetales. He afterwards went to Italy, to join the army of the emperor Maximilian, and fh.id there till he was invited to Pi fa by the card inal de SaintcF.!-.i;;. Croix.
In the year 1515, he read lectures upon Mercurius Trif- megirtus at Pavia. He left this city the fame year, or the year following ; but his departure feemed rather like a flight than a retreat. By his fecond book of Letters we find, that his friends endeavoured to procure him fome bqnourable it t- tlement at Grenoble, Geneva, Avignon, or Metz : he chole the laft of thefe places ; and in 1518, was employed a< fyndic, p< , advocate, and counfellor for that city. The perfecutianftjib. ii. railed againft him by the monks, becaufe he had refuted a vulgar notion about St. Anne's three hufbands, and becaufe 8 he
