XXVI
[A sketch of Thomas More, sent in reply to a request from Ulrich von
Hutten, the celebrated German knight; written in 1519.
Thomas More (1477 or 1478-1535) was the son of Sir John More (c. 1453-1530), knight, and afterwards Judge of the King's Bench. He was a friend of Erasmus' earliest months in England (see V). Henry VII attached him to his court and sent him on many embassies, and he afterwards filled numerous offices; being Under-sheriff of London, Privy Councillor, Treasurer of the Exchequer, Speaker of the House of Commons, and in 1529 Lord Chancellor in succession to Wolsey. This office he resigned in 1532, feeling himself in opposition to Henry's ecclesiastical policy; and this opposition cost him his life.
He married in 1505 Jane Colt; and shortly after her death, probably in 1511, Alice Middleton.]
29. Apelles was a Greek painter of the fourth century B.C. Alexander the Great thought so highly of him that he would allow no one else to paint his portrait.
30. FULVII RUTUBAEQUE] The names of gladiators (cf. Hor. Sat. 2. 7. 96); who are taken here as types of the unskilled.
35. LEGATIO] i.e. if either More or Hutten should be sent on an embassy, which would bring them together.
66. OVIDIUS] A. A. l. 509 seqq.
67, 8. E CULMO] 'e culmo perspicitur spica demessa: etiam in sene apparet cuiusmodi fuerit iuvenis.' Erasmus, Adagia.
81. MOS] The custom of the loving-cup.