The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1803-03-14 00:00:00

tfie question, Ant though they had never read his
works, they neverthnless knew they were Ilan serous,
were it • :dime for being written in 'obscere Latin !
It is unfortunate that Erasmus did mit possess more
of that intrepidity and openness of soul which be-
longs to a free-horn Dutchman, and that he was
too timorous to utter his sentiments aloud to the
world : a proof of which timidity he sufficiently
evinced in his reply to the deputation sent to him for
his advice by the Bohemian church. Also was his
opinion rclarive to the divorce of King Henry ex-
tremely wavering; sometimes for, and sometimes
against his majesty, according as he was impelled
by his hopes or fears. He had reached the age of
nearly seventy years, when he died in a very chris-
tian-like manner, at the house nf.the femme; printer
Frobenius, at Basle: his heirs were BonifaciusAmer-
bachius, Frobenius, and Nicolas Episcopius.
About a month before his death, he was attacked by
the flux, and, feeling his end approaching, foretold
it to several friends. It happened on a certain day,
that the above three persons having visited Erasmus,
and were offering their condolence, that he said te
them, " you resemble dr three friends of Job, with
the exception that I neither behold your clothes teen,
nor ashes on your heads." He employed his time
in devotion and prtyer, but free from any of those
superstitious ceremonies, for which he had so fre-
neently chastised the mon!::. To the latest moment
of his existence, he preserved his understanding, and
died very gently. He was buried in the great
church at ifasle, his funeral being attended by a
great concourse of people. The monks, whose ma-
lice pursued Erasmus beyond the grave, published
that he expired without hope, religion, or God.
It would be utterly superfluous to remark of
Erasmus, that he was one of the greatest men the
republic of letters has ever produced ; and though
this is a truism which admits of no coatradiditm,
yet had he many enemies, exclusive of the invete-
rate and ignorant monks. Under the number of
those was the celebrated Julius Cxsar Scaligcr, who
uttered many base and font slanders against his
character. Of his bastardy he never reproached
him, though he insisted he had won his bread as
corredor of the press to Aldus Manutius, when
hindered by drunkenness, from perceiving he had
sanctioned many errors which escaped his attention !
Afterwards, however, the furious Scaliger re-
proached Erasmus with being the offspring of a
prostitute ! From a letter published by the son of
this candid critic, it is made to appear, that his fa-
ther had neither read nor understood the works of
this illustrious man ! and, afterwards, on having
studied a little, finding how great a man he had
been libelling, he became half ashamed of his cm-
dud, and his son did all he could to help those dis-
graceful publications out of the world. It appears
that, bn Scaliger's publishing one of his abusive
works against Erasmus, that great and injured
man applied to his friends to buy up the whole
edition, and destroy them as soon as published,
by which means, so zealous were those friends
in the execution of their work, that scarcely a •
single copy escaped their hands, and they were all
destroyed. Many of the enemies of Erasmus have
denied that it was ever the intention of any Pope
to elevate him to the rank of a Cardinal; but
such persons have egregiously erred. Boisart
states positively, that he refused to accept the prof-
fered dignity, and was regarded as a kind of super-
natural being. It is certain, that under the ponti-
ficacy of Adrian the Sixth, he might have had that
dignity, would he alone have one to Rome, to
which he was invited by the Pope himself : but
Erasmus declined the invitation on account of weak
health, and wrote also a confidential letter to his
Holiness, wherein he said he must refrain the prof-
ferred honours, to silence the malignance of his ene-
mies, who would not fail to assert that he ran after
the Court to of fain dignities. Under Paul the
Third, the affair of the cardinalship fcr Erasmus
Was set on foot with renewed vigour, and he had
but to extend his hand and take it : but his modesty
Was greater than his ambition. This fad rests not
so much upon the evidence of Erasmus, as that of
several great men, who were assured of its truth.
Tt was but with great difficulty Erasmus could be
inducA to seff:r his likeness to be taken. At
length, moved by the entreaties of his bosom friend,
the celebrated Holbein, he permitted an half length
portrait to be taken of him. Reza wrote.an epigram
on this piece; in which he paid the following hyper-
bolic compliment to the great original : "This paint-
ing exhibits but half the person of the great Erasmus,
whose fame has filled the world, but why not the
whole ? be not astonished thereat, Reader, for the
whole earth itself could not contain him !" From
this portrait flowed a multitude of copies on canvas,
wood, &c. and statues of different sizes and metals.
About the year Pi2'2, some fanatical preachers
of Rotterdam made war against the statue of Eras-
mus. The cause was as follows : shortly bei'ore
this period, sonic Protestant miristers had applied
for pecuniary help ti um the magistrates of the city,
and received for answer, that the state of the coup-
try would not permit it. The metal statue, which
yet remains in the great market-place, Was just then
ere Fled ; and a certain rancorous priest, called Jacob
van Leeuwen, took upon himself to censure the go-
vernors of the city in very indecorous and seditiuus
terms : I iok," said the angry bigot, "if the state
of the land can suffer metal images to be crated,
which cost many thousands, end that to a perion
who has merited nothing but from libertincs and
impious men, who sport at all religion, I say that.
God, for such provocations, shall visit the land
with plagues," &c. It was pretended among the
vulgar, that simple and superstitious people of time
Catholic faith bent their knees before this statue,
making of Erasmus a new saint, and thafthis figure
would give occasion to the restoration of the wor-
ship of images ! As an antidote to this, a petition
was delivered in the name of Erasmus to the ma-
gistrates of the city, complaining. of the hate and
persecuting spirit of the clergy against the person of
Erasmus, soliciting protection, .and in the event
that they had not power to afford it, to appeal to
the States of Holland, or to a general Synod.
Againq the scurrilous slanders of this Leeuwen,
came a work to light, written by H. Ballinger, under
the title " Stove Erasmi," or, " a blotting out of
the defamatory scandals of the Minister J. Van Lee-
uwen, against Desiderius Erasmus," in which the
dodrine preached by Leeuwen was severely handled,
who notwithstanding possessed many stupid adhe-
rents. Some of the members of the Rotterdam
Church represented to the Synod for South Holland,
then sitting at Corinchem, that great inquiettides
had arisen In the Church owing to the ereetion of a
statue of Erasmus in CFI and it was city, to be