specially hostile to monks. He was afraid; but he summoned his
courage and went. If the Abbey seemed a haven before, when he came
back to it from the experiences of his ordination at Augsburg, this
time it was a refuge and strength against the fear that lurketh in
forests and the imagination of pursuing footsteps.

IV

UNIVERSITIES

In the autumn of 1495 Erasmus was at length at liberty to go to a
university. His patron, the Bishop of Cambray, gave him a small
allowance, and the authorities at Steyn were prevailed upon to
consent. His purpose was to obtain a Doctor's degree in Theology; and
so he entered the College of Montaigu at Paris, which had been founded
in 1388, but had fallen into decay and only recently been revived. In
1483 a certain John Standonck had volunteered to become Principal. By
his efforts the college buildings were restored; and by taking in rich
pupils he secured means to maintain the Domus Pauperum attached to the
College. He was an ardent, enthusiastic person, but rather lacking in
judgement; and starved his _pauperes_ in order to be able to have as
many as possible on the slender resources available. Erasmus, being
delicate and therewith fastidious, complained of the rough and meagre
fare--rotten eggs and stinking water; and with good reason, for it
made him ill, and he had to spend the summer of 1496 with his friends
in Holland.

Having established himself in the college he introduced himself to the
literary circle in Paris, through its head, Robert Gaguin, the aged
General of the Maturins, who had served on many embassies, to Spain,
to Italy, to Germany, to England. Gaguin had written much himself,
and had been one of the promoters of printing in Paris. To know him
was to be known of many. Erasmus began by addressing to him a poem and
some florid letters, and showed him some of his work. Then an
opportunity came to do him a service. Gaguin had composed a history of
the French, and it was just coming through the press. At the end the
printer found himself with two pages of the last sheet unfilled,
despite ample spacing out, and the author was too ill to lend any
help. Erasmus heard of the difficulty, and came to the rescue with a
long and most elegant epistle to Gaguin, comparing him to Sallust and
Livy, and promising him immortality. Time has turned the tables:
Gaguin's name lives, not because of his history, but because the young
and unknown Augustinian canon thought fit to court