a ERASMUS. a - 197 
—— a of spirit, yet expressed 
with much 
1 ac aa a a et AC — 
him to continue to bea spectator rather 
clat in the contest: ‘‘ We saw the Lord had not 
conferred on you the decernment and resolution to join 
as, and ly expose those monsters ; therefore dared 
not exact ou what greatly surpasseth your strength 
ity. We have even borne with your weak- 
and a 
ness, and honoured that portion of the gift of God which 
is in you.” “On the other hand, my dear Erasmus, 
if you Gidy. seflect on your owns ienbeciity, you will wb- 
stain from these sharp and of rhetoric ; 
and if you cannot or will not defend our sentiments, 
you will let them alone, and treat of subjects which suit 
you better.” In 1525, however, Erasmus commenced 
hostilities, by publishing his Diatribe de libero 
years at Basle, a place 
and which his enemies used to call his city of refuge. 
He was made rector of the university, ing sur- 
rounded by friends in whom he could confide, he found 
- ao the ref " 
writings, discusses “the right pronunciation of the Greek 
and Latin languages ;” and in the other, entitled Cice- 
ronianus, he rallies, with great ingenuity and sprightli- 
ness, the servile followers of Cicero, who scrupled to 
tion, and prevailed w 
mus, to do justice to his memory. As Erasmus advan- 
ced in life, he lost much of that and candour 
which had distinguished his early years; and so anxi« 
ous did he become to disclaim the cause of the refor= 
mers, that, besides dissembling, he led to con= 
tradict his most avowed sentiments. He had always 
professed his abhorrence of every thing like cruelty in 
the measures which were adopted for suppressing the 
ee en but, when some of the . 
ts began to produce passages from his wri< 
{ing®: which seemed to favour their cause, and particu« 
y to deny the lawfulness of putting heretics to death, 
he was so fearful of being suspected by the persecuting 
princes of his day of condemning their barbarous do- 
that he published a letter “ against some who 
falsely call themselves Evangelics,” in which he main-« 
tains, with unusual acrimony, that there were certain 
heretics, who might lawfully be put to death, as guilty 
of blasphemy sedition. These unworthy conces- 
sions on his were duly appreciated by the court 
of Rome ; as he was now the declared defender of 
the church, it was resolved to him for receivin 
a seat in the of s; but these re 
came too late, and his increasing infirmities obliged him 
to decline the preferments which were offered to him in 
that view. In 1535,he went to Basle, in order to superin- 
tend the printing of his Ecclesiastes, and in the hope of 
recovering his lost health; but his strength continuedra« 
idly to ine, and he died of a dysentery on the 12th 
y of July 1536, in the 69th year of his age. He was 
buried with great funeral pomp in the cathedral church 
of Basle, where his tomb still remains, and where his 
cabinet, containing his ring, seal, pencil, knife, sword, 
: se a New Testament para td his own 
|, is ibi to strangers, as one test 
curiosities in the city. His memory is equally Roem: 
ed at Rotterdam, by an inscription upon the house in 
which he was born, and upon the co! which bears 
his name; and a bronze statue in the great square. 
By his will, he handsome legacies to several of his 
ees 
ied to charitable purposes ; by which it a 
that he was neither so straitened in his circumstances, 
nor so defective in economy, as he was accustomed to 
t himself. He is said to have left more than 
7000 ducats. Erasmus was rather of low stature, but 
well formed, of a fair complexion, with eyes, a 
cheerful countenance, a low voice, and agreeable elocu- 
tion. His bodily constitution was very infirm; and, 
am other peculiarities, he was not able to endure 
even the smell of fish, which made it necessary for him 
es ispensation for using other food in Lent, 
ree as im occasion to say of himself, that how~ 
ever friendly to the church in principle, he had a most 
Lutheran stomach. He was always neat in his appa- 
rel, facetious in his disposition, and fond of a witty sto- 
ry directed against himself. He used to dine 
late, that he might have a long morning for study ; but 
after dinner, he conversed cheerfully with his friends 
on any subject, and delivered his opinions both on men 
and things with the greatest freedom. *In his intellec- 
tual character, he was distinguished by a strong me- 
mory, extensive reading, a penetrating ius, and a 
lively imagination. e composed with great facility, 
but disliked the task of revising his writings, aeaeie. 
style in Latin, (the language to which he sal levo- 
ted his attention, not always i pure, 
is uniformly anil chu, and copious ; but his 
himmjiafter the 'death of Eras. Beumie. 
