Schott, were, no doubt, those anonymous productions before alluded to, written by Roye and others against the Cardinal. Schott, who was, of course, anxious to rid himself of his dead stock, may have baited Rincke, by pretending that it consisted, in part, of works by Tyndale; but it does not appear that he ever printed any thing at Strasburg.

As to the Reformer himself, the Councillor was entirely off the track. Tyndale was, at this time, at Marburg in Hesse Cassel, where the new and flourishing Protestant University, the first ever established, had called together men whose eminent scholarship, and congeniality of views with his own, must have rendered it a residence equally delightful and advantageous. During this year and part of the next, (1528-9,) the only press then existing at Marburg was kept in busy occupation by Tyndale and his beloved associate, Frith, with new works in English, for the instruction of their countrymen. Here is dated the short treatise on the Scripture Doctrine of Marriage, and the exposition of 1 Cor. vii; both of which were intended to counteract those lax and corrupting views of the conjugal relation, which had gained currency through the influence of a clergy without principle and above law.

Meanwhile, Tyndale's writings and his New Testament were making steady progress in England, in spite of all vigilance and opposition. It is a deeply interesting fact, that it was among the humble believers, whom, under the name of Lollards, we have seen enduring persecution for their attachment to Wickliffe's Bible, that the most eager interest was manifested in the improved translation. They had still their secret meetings, for the reading and exposition of the Scriptures, and other devout exercises, in Lon

don, as also in Colchester, Witham, Braintree, and various other places in Essex, and in the Friary of Clare in Suffolk; and it was chiefly from their ranks that the Bishops were furnished with the victims, through whose punishment they sought to check in the community the growing desire to become acquainted with the Scriptures. Yet we have the most satisfactory evidence, that they continued to increase in numbers, as well as in the depth and ardor of their piety, and that their influence was felt as a powerful leaven through the humbler classes of the community. These "Congregations"-so they were now called-seem to have been strictly assemblies of believers, organized on the model of the apostolic churches, for the stated worship of God, and the enjoyment of the sacraments. They will come again before our notice, in the story of Frith, and still more distinctly during the persecutions in the reign of Mary.

But alarming as was the aspect of affairs in England, when Rincke made his report to the Lord Cardinal, that dignitary seems to have given no farther attention to the matter. Before the end of the year, he was too busy in negotiating the King's divorce, and in otherwise propping up his own falling fortunes, to concern himself either with apprehending heretics, or rewarding the services of such friends as the disinterested patrician of Cologne. Henceforth, he appears only as a subordinate character, and a man of higher mark takes the lead in this great conflict.

CHAPTER V.

THE NEW ANTAGONIST.

THE steady progress of light, during the two years following the introduction of Tyndale's New Testament into England, had convinced the prelacy, that it could not be arrested by authority and force alone. The public mind was deeply infected with the new opinions; and the more they strove against the influence by outward violence, the more it grew. They were at length compelled to yield so much to truth, as to come down from their proud position, and meet it in its own way; to submit to what they most abhorred the discussion of the case, before the people, in plain English. They felt too, little as they would have been willing to confess it, that no common opponent would answer, to measure lances with William Tyndale. They selected for the purpose one, who in natural genius, accomplished scholarship, and power as a writer, was, by common consent, the choicest man in England. His readiness and felicity as an extempore orator, had gained him the name of "the English Demosthenes;" while his literary productions had placed him among the most elegant Latinists, and the most admired philosophers and wits of Europe. He had held conspicuous public stations already

more than twenty years; and as Advocate, Under-Sheriff and Justice of the Peace for the city of London, had won the highest general estimation, as a man of profound legal knowledge, and almost unequalled sagacity and skill in the management of public business. In 1517, in compliance with the imperative command of Henry VIII., though much against his own wishes, he entered the immediate service of the crown; and from that time, exercised a leading influence on the affairs of the realm. But his power was not merely that of talent and station. His unspotted domestic virtue, true old-Roman contempt of luxury and show, and his unimpeachable integrity in every public relation, in a time of unsurpassed extravagance and corruption-when even cardinals and bishops hardly made a secret of their profligacy, and bribery was the rule in courts. of justice had given him a moral weight in the nation, such as was possessed by no other man.

In

It is not strange, then, that when Sir THOMAS MORE consented, at the solicitation of the Bishops, to undertake the refutation of the growing heresy, its opponents should have indulged the most confident anticipatious, that its influence with the popular mind was about to suffer a complete overthrow. There were strong reasons, too, why the friends of truth should be satisfied with the choice. addition to Sir Thomas More's reputation for candor and uprightness, he had shown leanings, in his previous life, which might naturally lead them to expect from him greater liberality towards their views, than could be looked for from the clergy. He had been early linked, by the most intimate literary and religious friendships, with the cause of progress. From his youth, he had been a passionate lover of classic learning, then so closely associated with

the study of the Scriptures. The enlightened and pious Dean Colet, before mentioned as the first lecturer on Paul's Epistles at Oxford, was his spiritual confidant and adviser, and was regarded by him with the reverence and affection due to a father. While still at the university, his acquaintance with Erasmus, who had already commenced his splendid career as the champion of liberal culture, gave a powerful impulse and direction to his mental development. It could hardly fail, that, while drinking with Erasmus at the fountain of the Muses-experiencing in himself the solid benefits, and the exquisite pleasures of communion with the great masters of thought and style-young More should come to look, with his friend's eyes, on the obstacles then opposed to the progress of true learning, in the character and influence of the clergy. He became, heart and soul, one of the noble corps, who, with Erasmus at its head, broke the ranks of OBSCURANTISM in the sixteenth century. The weapons of his leader, those light arrows feathered with wit, but tipt with the fatal poison for the darklings-truth-were those also which More excelled in handling. Indeed, in the opinion of Dean Colet, he was the only real wit of his time in England; and he used his power unsparingly against the owls and bats, who had so long held undisturbed reign in the schools.

The friendship, cemented by so many kindred qualities, grew with years. On Erasmus' second visit to England, enriched with wider knowledge, and laden with laurels, More's house was his home; and it was here that he wrote his famous satire on the Monks-"MORIA, or The Praise of Folly." In 1515, being sent by the King on a commercial embassy to the Netherlands, Sir Thomas had the pleasure of doing his friend a very good service in