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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 ? appearing 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 patrimony 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 narrowness of his surroundings, and he made a way of escape. He used his opportunities for study
