rue, a somewhat later phase of Erasmus's
life, that which began after he had left the monastery; neither is the
comfortable tone of his witty defence of profane literature any longer
that of the poet at Steyn. But the ideal of a free and noble life of
friendly intercourse and the uninterrupted study of the Ancients had
already occurred to him within the convent walls.

In the course of years those walls probably hemmed him in more and more
closely. Neither learned and poetic correspondence nor the art of
painting with which he occupied himself,[1] together with one Sasboud,
could sweeten the oppression of monastic life and a narrow-minded,
unfriendly environment. Of the later period of his life in the
monastery, no letters at all have been preserved, according to Dr.
Allen's carefully considered dating. Had he dropped his correspondence
out of spleen, or had his superiors forbidden him to keep it up, or are
we merely left in the dark because of accidental loss? We know nothing
about the circumstances and the frame of mind in which Erasmus was
ordained on 25 April 1492, by the Bishop of Utrecht, David of Burgundy.
Perhaps his taking holy orders was connected with his design to leave
the monastery. He himself afterwards declared that he had but rarely
read mass. He got his chance to leave the monastery when offered the
post of secretary to the Bishop of Cambray, Henry of Bergen. Erasmus
owed this preferment to his fame as a Latinist and a man of letters; for
it was with a view to a journey to Rome, where the bishop hoped to
obtain a cardinal's hat, that Erasmus entered his service. The
authorization of the Bishop of Utrecht had been obtained, and also that
of the prior and the general of the order. Of course, there was no
question yet of taking leave for good, since, as the bishop's servant,
Erasmus continued to wear his canon's dress. He had prepared for his
departure in the deepest secrecy. There is something touching in the
glimpse we get of his friend and fellow-poet, William Hermans, waiting
in vain outside of Gouda to see his friend just for a moment, when on
his way south he would pass the town. It seems there had been
consultations between them as to leaving Steyn together, and Erasmus, on
his part, had left him ignorant of his plans. William had to console
himself with the literature that might be had at Steyn.

* * * * *

Erasmus, then twenty-five years old--for in all probabilit