cian scholar; Linacre, the learned physician, who would not
admire them! And whose spirit was ever softer, sweeter or happier than
that of Thomas More!

A disagreeable incident occurred as Erasmus was leaving English soil in
January 1500. Unfortunately it not only obscured his pleasant memories
of the happy island, but also placed another obstacle in the path of his
career, and left in his supersensitive soul a sting which vexed him for
years afterwards.

The livelihood which he had been gaining at Paris of late years was
precarious. The support from the bishop had probably been withdrawn;
that of Anna of Veere had trickled but languidly; he could not too
firmly rely on Mountjoy. Under these circumstances a modest fund, some
provision against a rainy day, was of the highest consequence. Such
savings he brought from England, twenty pounds. An act of Edward III,
re-enacted by Henry VII not long before, prohibited the export of gold
and silver, but More and Mountjoy had assured Erasmus that he could
safely take his money with him, if only it was not in English coin. At
Dover he learned that the custom-house officers were of a different
opinion. He might only keep six 'angels'--the rest was left behind in
the hands of the officials and was evidently confiscated.

The shock which this incident gave him perhaps contributed to his
fancying himself threatened by robbers and murderers on the road from
Calais to Paris. The loss of his money plunged him afresh into
perplexity as to his support from day to day. It forced him to resume
the profession of a _bel esprit_, which he already began to loathe, and
to take all the humiliating steps to get what was due to it from
patrons. And, above all, it affected his mental balance and his dignity.
Yet this mishap had its great advantage for the world, and for Erasmus,
too, after all. To it the world owes the _Adagia_; and he the fame,
which began with this work.

The feelings with which his misfortune at Dover inspired Erasmus were
bitter anger and thirst for revenge. A few months later he writes to
Batt: 'Things with me are as they are wont to be in such cases: the
wound received in England begins to smart only now that it has become
inveterate, and that the more as I cannot have my revenge in any way'.
And six months later, 'I shall swallow it. An occasion may offer itself,
no doubt, to be even with them.' Yet meanwhile true insight told this
man, whose strength did not always attai