relates is fully vindicated by referring them to the observations which he made at his visit in the year 1511; and it may also be supposed that it was then that the young Etonian Aldrich was his companion, who became afterwards bishop of Carlisle.*

TO CANTERBURY Erasmus was accompanied by a man of still higher character, though he did not attain so exalted a rank in the Church. The identity of Gratianus Pullus with Dr. John Colet is shewn from a passage† in another production of our author; and the various particulars of the Pilgrimage to Canterbury are confirmed in so many points by evidence either still existing or remembered on good authority, that no one has ever expressed a doubt but that Erasmus wrote his description of Canterbury from personal observation.

Though no clue has been found to determine the year in which Colet and he were there together, yet it must have been before the year 1519, which was that of Colet's death. They probably performed more than one journey in company, for

Erasmus seems to refer with delight to several such pilgrimages when he says, "Me nonnunquam et PEREGRINATIONIS comitem ascivit: nihil erat eo

festivius."

The colloquy here translated, entitled "Peregrinatio Religionis ergo," was apparently not written until some years had elapsed from the author's pilgrimages to both places. The date which occurs in it, appended to the Letter supposed to have been written by the Virgin of the Stone near Basle, namely 1524, was probably the actual date of its composition: for it was in that year that Erasmus completed an enlarged edition of his Colloquies, being then resident at Basle, and they had been first printed* two years before, without the "Peregrinatio Religionis ergo." In the earlier edition of 1522 a much more brief but very lively colloquy had been published, in which the author had treated with much freedom the reputed merit of Pilgri

* That is to say, first with the author's consent. There had been one edition a little earlier, taken surreptitiously from a manuscript copy. There is even an edition Basiliæ 1524 which does not contain the "Peregrinatio Religionis ergo."

mages, as well as the reputed value of Pardons and Indulgences. In this composition, which, from its place in the volume, (immediately after the mere formularies of conversation,*) may be regarded as one of the first Erasmus wrote, he had given much offence to those interested in maintaining the superstitions of the age; and in his defence of the whole work, which was appended to the edition of 1524, his apology for the sentiments thus promulgated is nearly as long as the colloquy itself. Both the Colloquy on Rash Vows and its Apology will be found attached to these remarks.

In the same review of his labours Erasmus gave the following explanation of his intention in the Pilgrimage for Religion's Sake:"

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"In the 'Peregrinatio Religionis ergo' I censure those who have violently ejected all images from churches and then such as run mad upon pilgrimages undertaken under pretext of religion, for

* Indeed, it succeeds them with merely this title, Alia in congressu. The printer gave the pages this heading, De votis temere susceptis. Erasmus afterwards referred to the colloquy as De visendo loca sacra.

which now even associations are formed. Those who have been to Jerusalem are called knights, and they call one another brothers, and on Palm-Sunday seriously act a ridiculous farce, dragging along an ass with a rope, themselves being not much different from the wooden beast they draw. Those who have been to Compostella imitate the same thing. Such performances may be allowed indeed as an indulgence of men's fancies; but it is not to be borne that they should claim any pious merit in them. In this colloquy those also are stigmatised who exhibit doubtful relics for real, who attribute to them greater value than they are worth, or sordidly manufacture them for gain."

The present Editor does not put forth this book in any polemical spirit: though he is ready to avow his admiration of the constancy and perseverance with which, in spite of every kind of discouragement, Erasmus obeyed the command of his Lord and Master, LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE BEFORE MEN. The best answer to the enemies of Erasmus among his contemporaries, and to his de

tractors of subsequent generations, is the constant progress in all the elements and characteristics of civilisation observable in those countries into which the Reformation made its most successful advances; and of that Reformation, though he did not personally join it, the Works of Erasmus must be regarded as among the most effectual pioneers: whilst in Catholic Spain the besotted multitude still drag the wooden ass of Compostella, and alas! in Catholic Ireland they are still contented to grovel in the narrow Purgatory of Saint Patrick.

The Editor would wish, however, to leave to others to draw their inferences. His object has been merely the illustration of a feature of our early religious history, in the most approved historical manner, that is to say, from contemporary sources of information, and accompanied by the citation of his authorities. He leaves the facts thus collected to speak for themselves, and desires that they may receive that critical examination from his readers to which his own efforts have been directed, in order to place them on the firm basis of historic truth.