examination of the text at
which Erasmus arrived.

To the New Testament--the other work which occupied his time at
Cambridge--he had also turned his attention shortly after his return
to Paris in 1500, beginning a commentary on the Epistles of St. Paul.
At the first start he wrote four volumes of it, but then for some
reason threw it aside, and never completed it, though his mind
recurred to it at intervals; and on one occasion after a fall from his
horse, in which he injured his spine, he vowed to St. Paul that he
would finish it, if he recovered. Probably he felt that his vow was
redeemed by his Paraphrases of the New Testament, which he wrote a few
years later, beginning with St. Paul, and completing the Epistles
before he undertook the Gospels.

His next work on the New Testament came to him at Louvain in 1504.
Walking out one day to the Abbey of Parc, outside the town--a house of
White Canons, Erasmus himself being a Black--he came upon a manuscript
in their library, the Annotations of Valla on the New Testament. There
was an affinity between his mind and that of the famous scholar-canon
of St. John Lateran, who, in spite of his dependence on Papal
patronage and favour, had been unable to keep his tongue from asking
awkward questions, from inquiring even into the authenticity of the
Donation of Constantine. Erasmus read the Annotations and liked their
critical, scholarly tone, and the frequent citations of the original
Greek. With the characteristic generosity of the age he was allowed to
carry the manuscript away and print it in Paris, with a dedication to
an Englishman, Christopher Fisher, perhaps a kinsman of the Bishop of
Rochester.

From Paris he wrote to Colet to report progress, saying that he had
learnt Greek and was ready to turn to the Scriptures, and asking him
to interest English patrons in their common work. By this time Colet
himself had become a patron, having been appointed Dean of St. Paul's.
It is therefore not surprising to find that within a year Erasmus was
established in London, living in a bishop's house, endowed by his old
pupil Lord Mountjoy, and rejoicing in the society of the learned
friends gathered in the capital. Chief among these was Colet, who lent
him manuscripts from the Chapter Library of St. Paul's, and provided a
copyist to write out the fruits of his labours, a one-eyed Brabantine,
Peter Meghen by name, who acted also as Colet's private
letter-carrier. Meghen wrote a bold,