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Introduction xxl
in 1517, into Italian in 1539, into English ten
years later, and into German, Dutch, and
Flemish before the end of the century. It has
since appeared in Swedish, Danish, Czech,
Russian, Polish, and Modern Greek. That there
is no Spanish translation before 1842 is remark¬
able, for Erasmus’s other works were widely
read in Spain.
The English translation of 1549 was made by
Sir Thomas Chaloner, diplomatist and scholar,
knighted for his bravery at Pinkie, and has
been more than once reprinted, the last time
in 1go1. Another well-known translation, ‘ Witt
against Wisdom, or a Panegyrick upon Folly,’
was made in 1683 by White Kennett, then a
young B.A. of St. Edmund Hall, later its
Principal and afterwards Bishop of Peterborough.
The twentieth century can appreciate Chaloner’s
work, but to the Stuarts he seemed so old¬
fashioned as to be almost unintelligible. White
Kennett says in his introduction: ‘ Our language
hath been so much polish’d, and refin’d, since
the first appearance of this Declamation in
English, that had it fallen into my hands e’re
I entred on this work, the perusal of it would