I have said enough about the foreign side of the Renaissance in England. English learning was not affected by courtly patronage, nor was it much influenced by the presence of foreign scholars. The pursuit of style had little attraction for Englishmen, nor did those who strove after it acquire any great facility. Very few, if indeed any, seem to have learned from the Italian scholars who were brought to grace courtly society. Such Englishmen as wished to learn went for that purpose to Italy, where they prepared themselves to vie with the Italians on their own ground. In the middle of the fifteenth century we find a small body of Oxford men who responded to the impulse given by the Duke of Gloucester, and wandered to Italy to seek there that instruction which England could not give. These self-selected Humanists have scarcely been appreciated as they deserve, and I would venture to trace the outlines of their careers. I think the first to set the example was William Grey, of the family of Lord Grey of Codnor, who, after learning what he could at Balliol College, went to Cologne, which was in advance of England in logic, philosophy and theology. But Grey had a desire for classical culture, which Cologne could not supply, and resolved to seek it in Italy. Being a man of wealth, he lived with some state; and the burghers of Cologne found him so profitable a resident, that they were unwilling to let him go. To escape from their embarrassing hospitality he had to feign a serious illness, and then flee by night with his complaisant physician, both disguised as Irish pilgrims. He went to Florence, where he ordered a library of books:
