108 



ed him with marks of his particular favour and affection. 

 Bishop Fisher had great zeal to promote literature in others, 

 and to excel in it himself. Warham, Archbishop of Can- 

 terbury, was an equal encourager of learniixg and learned 

 men:* Erasmus calls him a great canonist, an able states- 

 man, and a favourer of learned men. At this time, too, 

 Polydore Virgil was patronized by Henry VIII., who gave 

 him church preferments in England. Reuchlin, one of the 

 early reformers, and the friend of Erasmus, was also one 

 of the great restorers of letters in Germany. The learned 

 Budeus, at this time, flourished in Paris, and was, like- 

 wise, the friend of Erasmus. As this last, by his bold 

 and free censures of the monks, led the way to the Re- 

 formation, it has been remarked, that " Erasmus laid the 

 eo-fi', and Luther hatched it." Thus the action and re-action 

 of genius and freedom promote each other, and energy 

 of mind is favourable to the arts. It was not merely by 

 the force of dry religious controversy, that the Reforma- 

 tion advanced. It availed itself of the exertions of ora- 

 tory and the powers of invective, enlivened by wit and 

 ridicule. Luther possessed uncommon genius, a lively 

 imagination, a great share of learning, and, at the same 

 time, sacrificed to the Graces. He composed some poems, 

 both in Latin and German: he was fond of music, in 

 which he was both a composer and performer. He said, 

 " it expelled melancholy, and put the devil to flight, who 



" mortally 



* See Jortin's Life of Erasmus. " . 



