Pagina 9 [9]
OCR
PREFACE Tus work, which had its origin in an attempt to use the correspondence of Erasmus for an Oxford prize essay, was undertaken with the encouragement of the late Professor Froude, at the time when he was lecturing here on Erasmus. It has occupied my leisure for the last thirteen years, and has been carried on under the gloom of Indian summers and in high valleys in Kashmir. That I have been able to bring this first instalment of the task to a conclusion is due, firstly, to the generosity of the Delegates of the Clarendon Press in publishing a work of such magnitude; and, secondly, to the toil of many predecessors, whose years have failed in preliminary preparations and into whose labours I have been permitted to enter. So much unprinted material has been brought to light during the last two centuries that a new edition of Erasmus’ letters has been frequently desired and essayed; and to pass over earlier pioneers, the undertaking has been projected within recent years by Dr. Horawitz and Dr. Hartfelder, whose indefatigable exertions have given to the world great numbers of the letters of the humanists, including an edition of the correspondence of Beatus Rhenanus ; by Dr. Knaake, the editor of Luther’s works, who had planned a scheme of equal magnitude for the works of Erasmus ; by Dr. Max Reich, the author of a careful thesis on Erasmus, whose far-reaching inquiries received the support of the Berlin Academy of Sciences; and by the Dutch Historical Commission: whilst the new century has seen two volumes of translations, similar in plan to the present work though with an ampler commentary, from the scholarly pen of my friend, Mr. Francis Morgan Nichols, Honorary Fellow of Wadham College, and there is hope that a third may follow. The fruits of Dr. Horawitz’ researches appeared in many occasional publications during his lifetime; the great framework of Dr. Knaake’s edition has been placed at my disposal by the
