In this writer, as in Plato, we discover glimpses of a knowledge of the great western continent, which afterwards re-appeared in Pulci,* and may probably have led, though indirectly, to the eventual discovery of America by Columbus. Euhemeros, the author of "Panchaia," founds his imaginary commonwealth in a different quarter of the globe; † but it is remarkable that he places it, as More places his, upon an island, and in that very Indian Ocean in which "Utopia" is said to lie. This famous work seems to have owed its immediate origin to an embassy in which More was engaged in 1515. He had always been a favourite with Henry VIII., who, with all his faults, was able to recognise merit when he saw it; and in the year I mention he was sent, in company with Cuthbert Tunstall, afterwards Bishop of Durham, and others, to confer with the ambassadors of Charles V., then Archduke of Austria, on the question of a renewal of alliance. And "since our business did admit of it," he says, "I went to Antwerp," where, among the many who visited the distinguished Englishman, was one whom he describes as more acceptable to him than any other 66 -one In the "Morgante Maggiore," cited by Prescott in his "History of the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella: "His bark The daring mariner shall urge far o'er Men shall descry another hemisphere," &c. Few things are more clear than that the idea of a western hemisphere was familiar to the minds of Europeans in the fifteenth century. Great man as Columbus was, undoubtedly, he could scarcely have evolved the existence of America out of his own inner consciousness. But he had the genius to seize and act upon the conception already floating in the popular mind. † St. John, Preliminary Discourse to "Utopia." * 66 a Peter Giles (afterwards Latinised into Egidius), man of great honour, and of good rank in his town," with whom, it would appear from a letter of More to Erasmus, the former contracted a close and enduring intimacy. It was at Antwerp, about the month of November, and probably after many interesting conversations with his new acquaintance, that More wrote the second book of his "Utopia," the first being composed at London in the early part of 1516. In October of the latter year More wrote to Erasmus to say how glad he was to hear that Ægidius liked his "Nusquama (as it was sometimes called), and his anxiety to know what Tunstall and other judges thought of it. On November 12, Gerardus Noviomagus (that is, Gerard Bonchrost, of Nimeguen) wrote to Erasmus from Louvain to say that his friend Theodoricus (or Theodore Martin) would gladly undertake to print the work, and that Paludanus would show him an engraving of the island by a great painter, in which Erasmus could, if he desired, make any alterations. A few days later Erasmus was able to assure the author that his manuscript was in the printer's hands, and about the same time Jerome Buslidanus (or Busleyden), another of More's continental friends and admirers, added his meed of praise to the commendation already bestowed upon this the latest of the perfect commonwealths. By-and-by the "Utopia" made its appearance from the press of Theodoricus: "libellus vere aureus nec minus salutaris quam festinus de optimo reip. statu. "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII.” Arranged and catalogued by the Rev. J. S. Brewer. 1864. deque rova Insula Utopia." It had no pagination.* First came the picture-chart of the island above referred to; then the Utopian alphabet, in which A to L are represented by circles or curves, M by a triangle, and N to Y by rectangles or portions of rectangles, dashes being used in connection with them for the sake of further diversity; then "a shorte meter of Utopia, written by Anemolius," the poet laureate; then a letter from Egidius "to the right honourable Hierome Buslyde, provost Arienn, and counselloure to the catholike kinge Charles; then another letter to the same individual from Paludanus,† who also contributes a poem which has never, I believe, appeared in English; then some verses "De Utopia," by Noviomagus; then the poem "Ad Lectorem," by Cornelius Graphæus,‡ then Bousleyden's letter to Thomas More; then More's letter to Ægidius, from which I shall be quoting byand-by; and then the text of the two books themselves. Such was the first edition of More's “Utopia,” which seems to have been saluted on all sides by a chorus of decided admiration. In the course of next year More is found writing to Tunstall, to say that his letters are the most delightful he ever received from him, because they speak so highly of his "Republica." He trusts they are as sincere as they are candid. He was afraid that, among his many avocations, he would not have had time for such trifles, nor would he have done so but for his partial friendship. On February 24, Erasmus * Arber's "English Reprints:" More's "Utopia," trans. by Robinson. "An ancient friend" of Erasmus. Or Schryver, Secretary to the Municipality of Antwerp in 1533. begs William Cope to send for More's "Utopia," if he has not read it, and if he wishes to see the true source of all political evils.* He writes to the author to say that a burgomaster at Antwerp is so pleased with the work that he knows it all by heart. We cannot wonder, therefore, if More is delighted with the success of his production, and that he assures Erasmus, with a touch of his accustomed wit, that he is in the clouds with the dream of the government to be offered him by his Utopians; that he fancies himself a grand potentate, with a crown and a Franciscan cloak (paludamentum), followed by a grand procession of the Amauri. Should it please Heaven to exalt him to this high dignity, where he will be too high to think of common acquaintances, he will still keep a corner in his heart for Erasmus and Tunstall; and should they pay him a visit to Utopia, he will make all his subjects honour them as befits the friends of majesty. No sooner was the first edition of "Utopia" published, than a second was undertaken by an Englishman called Thomas Lupset, who caused it to be printed at Paris by a certain Gilles de Gourmont before March, 1518. This, however, was not an authorised edition, issued under the direction of the author. The third, and apparently the most sumptuous edition of the "Utopia," was that revised by More at the request of Erasmus, and printed by Frobenius at Basle, in the November of 1518. In this, the letter and poem of "Erasmus confidently observed to an intimate friend" (what is sufficiently obvious to the most uncritical perception) "that the second book having been written before the first, had occasioned some disorder and inequality of style; but he particularly praised its novelty and originality, and its keen satire on the vices and absurdities of Europe."-MACKINTOSH. Paludanus are omitted, and in their stead is inserted letters from Erasmus to Frobenius, and from Bude* to Lupset. The fourth edition was issued at Vienna in 1519. Curiously enough, no English version of "Utopia was published in the lifetime of the writer. The earliest in point of time is that which appeared in 1551, under the title of "A fruteful and pleasaunt worke of the best state of a publique weale, and of the new yle called Utopia: written in Latine by Syr Thomas More knyght, and translated into Englyshe by Raphe Robynson Citizein and Goldsmythe of London, at the procurement, and earnest request of George Fadlowe, Citezein and Haberdassher of the same Citie. Imprinted At London by Abraham Wele, dwelling in Pauls Churcheyarde at the sygne of the Lambe." On the title-page of the second and revised edition, issued in the following year, Robinson figures as sometime fellowe of Corpus Christi College, in Oxford," and his version has certainly the merit of being plain and faithful. More popular, though not less accurate in form and substance, is the translation published by Bishop Gilbert Burnet, in 1684; "revised, corrected, and improved" by Thomas Williamson, in 1751, and by A Gentleman of Oxford, in 1753. The only other translation of importance * Or Budæus, "the restorer," says Mackintosh, "of Greek learning in France, and probably the most critical scholar in that province of literature on the north of the Alps." † Reprinted, with copious_notes and a biographical and critical introduction, by the Rev. T. F. Dibdin, F.S.A., in 1808. It will also be found included among Mr. Arber's excellent reprints of the English classics. Reprinted in the Phoenix Library, by J. M. Morgan, in 1850, |