THOMAS
690
THOMAS
renowned scholars. Colet became More's confessor,
and Lilly vied with him in translating epigrams from
the Greek Anthology into Latin, their joint produc-
tions being published in 1518 (Progymnasmata T.
More et Gul. Lilii sodalium). In 1497 More was intro-
duced to Erasmus, probably at the house of Lord
Mountjoy, the great scholar's pupil and patron. The
friendship at once became intimate, and later on
Erasmus paid several long visits at More's Chelsea
house, and the two friends corresponded regularly
until death separated them. Besides law and the
Classics More read the Fathers with care, and he
delivered, in the Chtu-ch of St. Lawrence Jewry, a
series of lectures on St. Augustine's De civitate Dei"
which were attended by many learned men, among
whom Grocyn, the rector of the church, is expressly
mentioned. For such an audience the lectures must
have been prepared with great care, but unhappily
not a fragment of them has
survived. These lectures were
given somewhere between 1499
and 1503, a period during
which More's mind wa.s occu-
pied almost wholly with re-
ligion and the question of his
own vocation for the priest-
hood.
This portion of his life has caused much misunderstand- ing among his various biogra- phers. It is certain that he went to live near the London Charterhouse and often joined in the spiritual exercises of the monks there. He wore "a sharp shirt of hair next his skin, which he never left oflf wholly" (Cresacre More), and gave himself up to a life of prayer and penance. His mind wavered for some time between joining the Carthu- sians or the Observant Fran- ciscans, both of which orders observed the religious life with extreme strictness and fervour. In the end, apparently preservea m i^avai
with the approval of Colet, he abandoned the hope of becoming a priest or religious, his decision being due to a mistrust of his powers of perseverance. Erasmus, his intimate friend and confidant, WTites on this matter as follows (Epp. 447) ; " Meanwhile he applied his whole mind to exercises of piety, looking to and pondering on the priesthood in vigils, fasts and prayers and similar austerities. In which matter he proved himself far more prudent than most candidates who thrust themselves rashly into that arduous pro- fession without any previous trial of their ]>owers. The one thing that prevented him from giving him- self to that kind of life was that he could not shake off the desire of the married state. He chose, therefore, to be a chaste husband rather than an impure priest." The last sentence of this ]iassage has led certain writ- ers, notably Mr. Seebohm and Lord Campbell, to expatiate at great length on the supposed corruption of the religious orders at this date, wliii'h, llicy de- clare, disgtisted More .so much that he abandoned his wish to enter religion on that account. Father Bridg- ett deals with this question at considerable length (Life and Writings of Sir Thomas More, pp. 23-36), but it is enough to say that this view h;is now been abandoned even by non-Catholic ^Titers, as witness Mr. W. H. Hutton: "It is absurd to assert that More was disgusted with monastic corruption, that he 'loathed monks as a disgrace to the Church'. He was throughout his life a warm friend of the religious orders, and a devoted admirer of the monastic ideal.
Blessed Thi
etching by Wicker
He condemned the vices of individuals; he said, as
his great-grandson says, 'that at that time religious
men in England had somewhat degenerated from their
ancient strictness and fervour of spirit'; but there is
not the slightest sign that his decision to decline the
monastic life was due in the smallest degree to a dis-
trust of the system or a distaste for the theology of the
Church."
The question of religious vocation being disposed of. More threw himself into his work at the Bar and scored immediate success. In 1504 he was elected a member of Parliament, but as the returns are missing his constituency is unknown. Here he immediately began to oppose the large and unjust exactions of money which King Henry VII was making from his subjects through the agency of Empson and Dudley, the latter being .Speaker of the House of Commons. In this Parliament Henry demanded a grant of three- fifteenths, about £113,000, but thanks to More's protests the Commons reduced the sum to £30,000. Some years later Dudley told More that his boldness would have cost him his head but for the fact that he had not attacked the king in person. Even as it was Henry was so eru'aged with More that he "devised a causeless quarrel against his father, keeping him in the Tower till he had made him pay a hundred povmds fine" (Roper). Meanwhile More had made friends with one "Maister John Colte, a gen- tleman" of Newhall, Essex, whose eldest daughter, Jane, he married in 1505. Roper wTites of his choice: "albeit his mind most served him to the second daughter, for that he thought her the fairest and best favoured, yet when he considered that it would iil.n of the Durer portrait be great grief and some """="••'• -^loit'-eal. shame also to the eldest to
see her younger sister preferred before her in mar- riage, he then, of a certain pity, framed his fancy towards" the eldest of the three sisters. The union proved a supremely happy one ; of it were born three daughters, Margaret, Elizabeth, and Cecilia, and a son, John; and then, in 1511, Jane More died, still almost a child. In the epitaph which More himself composed twenty years later he calls her "uxorcula Mori", and a few lines in one of Erasmus' letters are almost all we know of her gentle, winning personality. Of ;More himself Erasmus has left us a wonderful portrait in his famous letter to Ulrich von Hutten dated 23 July, 1519 (Epp. 447). The description is too long to give in full, but some extracts must be made. "To begin then with what is least known to you, in stature he is not tall, though not remarkably short. His limbs are formed with such perfect symmetry as to leave nothing to be desired. His complexion is white, his face fair rather than pale and though by no means ruddy, a faint flush of pink ap- pears beneath the whiteness of his skin. His hair is dark brown or brownish black. The eyes are greyish blue, with some spots, a kind which betokens singular talent, :md among the English is considered attract- ive, whereas Germans generally prefer black. It is said that none are so free from vice. His countenance is in harmony with his character, being always ex- pressive of an amiable joyousness, and even an in- (npient laughter and, to speak (Candidly, it is better framed for gladness than for gravity or dignity,
