ns of Lucian
and Plutarch.

At Cambridge Erasmus lectured on divinity and Greek, but it brought him
little success and still less profit. The long-wished-for prebend,
indeed, had at last been given him, in the form of the rectory of
Aldington, in Kent, to which Archbishop William Warham, his patron,
appointed him in 1512. Instead of residing he was allowed to draw a
pension of twenty pounds a year. The archbishop affirms explicitly that,
contrary to his custom, he had granted this favour to Erasmus, because
he, 'a light of learning in Latin and Greek literature, had, out of love
for England, disdained to live in Italy, France, or Germany, in order to
pass the rest of his life here, with his friends'. We see how nations
already begin to vie with each other for the honour of sheltering
Erasmus.

Relief from all cares the post did not bring. Intercourse and
correspondence with Colet was a little soured under the light veil of
jests and kindness by his constant need of money. Seeking new resources
by undertaking new labours, or preparing new editions of his old books,
remained a hard necessity for Erasmus. The great works upon which he had
set his heart, and to which he had given all his energies at Cambridge,
held out no promise of immediate profit. His serious theological labours
ranked above all others; and in these hard years, he devoted his best
strength to preparation for the great edition of Jerome's works and
emendation of the text of the New Testament, a task inspired, encouraged
and promoted by Colet.

For his living other books had to serve. He had a sufficient number now,
and the printers were eager enough about them, though the profit which
the author made by them was not large. After leaving Aldus at Venice,
Erasmus had returned to the publisher who had printed for him as early
as 1505--Josse Badius, of Brabant, who, at Paris, had established the
Ascensian Press (called after his native place, Assche) and who, a
scholar himself, rivalled Aldus in point of the accuracy of his editions
of the classics. At the time when Erasmus took the _Moria_ to Gourmont,
at Paris, he had charged Badius with a new edition, still to be revised,
of the _Adagia_. Why the _Moria_ was published by another, we cannot
tell; perhaps Badius did not like it at first. From the _Adagia_ he
promised himself the more profit, but that was a long work, the
alterations and preface of which he was still waiting for Erasmus to
send. He felt v