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Introduction 1x
London in Fletestre at the signe of Saynt
George By Rycharde Pynson to hys Coste and
charge: Ended the yere of our Sauiour M. d. ix.
The .xiiii. day of December’. There were thus
two English versions of the ‘ Narrenschiff ? ap¬
pearing in London just when the ‘Praise of
Folly’ was being composed there.
Erasmus must have known of this mass of
‘Fool literature’ and have comprehended the
point of view; but his own contribution has all
the originality of genius. When he wrote it
he was 43, and had lived in many lands, among
diverse kinds of men. Born at Rotterdam of
an unmarried mother, he learnt the elements
at Gouda, until his voice gained him a place in
the choir at Utrecht ; whence he went to the
famous school at Deventer, then attracting
scholars from all parts of Europe. His parents’
early death, the dissipation of his small patri¬
mony by his guardians, and their consequent
pressure, drove him into a monastery of the
Augustinian Canons at Steyn, near Gouda. But
he hated monastic life, he chafed at the narrow¬
ness of his surroundings, and he made a way of
escape. He used his opportunities for study