BISHOP AYLMER. 175 



Insomuch that John Fox the Martyrologist, in one of his CHAP. 

 letters to him, (while they were both exiles,) praised him for X111 

 his singular judgment, and that mixed with a snowy can 

 dour. And when the same Fox had sent him a translation 

 of his into Latin, (I think it was Archbishop Cranmer s last 

 book of the Eucharist, with his confutation of the Bishop of 

 Winchester,) he prayed him narrowly to peruse it, in order 

 to his printing of it at Basil, where Fox then was : for that 

 he was resolved, as he said, to stand to his judgment alone; 

 and that it should be approved or rejected according to his 

 only censure. Which address made Ay liner give a cha 

 racter of himself varying from what Fox had given, (where 

 in, perhaps, the learned man was over-severe towards him 

 self;) namely, &quot; That he was too critical in other men s 

 &quot; performances, and too blind in the conceit of his own. 1 1 

 The former he called in alienis curiositas, et ingenium ni- 

 mis iTnrjfujTixoy, i. e. &quot;a curiosity in other men s matters, and 

 &quot; a disposition too much addicted to find fault.&quot; Sum enim, 

 as he added, ut vere de me ipso dicam, ex eorum nume- 

 ro, qui facilius reprehendunt quam emendant ; ut minoris 

 multo negotii est solver e quam componere, et, ut pliilosophis 

 placet, destruere quam ex cedificare : i. e. &quot; For I am, to 

 &quot; speak the truth of myself, of the number of them that 

 66 are more ready to find fault than to amend ; as it is a 

 &quot; much less labour to dissolve than to frame, and, as the 

 &quot; philosophers speak, to pull down than to build up. Do 

 &quot; not therefore doubt of me,&quot; speaking to Fox, &quot; that I am 

 &quot; too candid, but doubt that I be not more rigid than pru- 

 &quot; dent, and a lover of mine own beauty more than is fit, 

 &quot; and a less esteemer of the beauty of others. But besides, 

 &quot; this is a quality peculiar to me, (for let me set forth to 

 &quot; you my virtues,) that I look upon the things of others 

 &quot; with lyncean and too piercing eyes, even then especially 

 &quot; when I am purblind in mine own. Whereupon those 

 &quot; that know me are wont to reprove my more delicate j udg- 

 &quot; ment and rigid censoriousness, rather than to esteem me 

 &quot; a man that think over-candidly and kindly even of my 

 &quot; best and dearest friends.&quot; 



