all manner of subjects.[1]
One day the two bent their steps to the place where Henry VII.'s younger
children were living, under the care of tutors and ladies. Princess
Margaret, the eldest, afterwards queen of Scotland, stood solemnly
beside her brother Henry, aged nine, who received them with the grand
manner he could always put on when he chose. Princess Mary, at that time
four years old, was kneeling on the floor playing with her dog, and paid
no heed to the visitors, whom she thought old and dull. Erasmus was
astonished to notice More present prince Henry with a roll on which
something, he could not tell what, was written. The prince took it with
a smile, and then looked at Erasmus, who guessed directly that a similar
offering was expected from him also; and this was confirmed by a message
sent him by Henry while the guests were dining, to say how much he hoped
to receive some remembrance of the visit of the great scholar. The
Dutchman, thus pressed, returned answer that had he dreamed his highness
would value any work from his poor pen, he would certainly have prepared
himself, but having been taken by surprise, he could only ask grace for
three days, by which time he would have composed a poem, however
unworthy.

[Footnote 1: On parting, they promised to write to each other, and many
letters passed between them in the three years that Erasmus remained in
England. Previous to his departure, they met once more in lord
Mountjoy's house, and there their walk and talks were resumed.]

The poem when written was of some length, and full of the praises of the
king, his country, and his children. It does not sound amusing, and
probably Henry, content with possessing what in these days we should
call 'Erasmus's autograph,' did not trouble himself to read much of it.

[Illustration: Erasmus was astonished to notice More present Prince
Henry with a roll.]

For three years More held his readership; then he seems to have had a
wish to become a priest, and, in his son-in-law's words, 'gave himself
to devotion and prayer in the Charterhouse of London, religiously
living there, without vow, about four years.'

Religious More remained all his life, but at the end of the four years
he felt that his place was in the world rather than in a monastery, and
this decision was largely helped by a visit he paid to master Colt in
Essex, a gentleman with three daughters. 'Albeit,' says Roper, 'his mind
most served him to the second daugh