Erasmus (1467-1536), a noted Dutch scholar and theologian. He was a native of Rotterdam; he died at Basel. His father and mother died young, and left him to the charity of others. His story is one of poverty and patronage, yet of marvelous independence. He was a chorister boy in the Cathedral of Utrecht. He was a talented lad. He entered a monastery in search of learning, but found the monks "coarse, ignorant, and illiterate." The Bishop of Cambray made Erasmus his secretary, and later sent him to cheap lodgings at the University of Paris, of which he says, "I carried away nothing but a body infected with disease and a plentiful supply of vermin." Erasmus escaped from dire poverty by taking up the work of tutoring. He went to England in 1497 with a young Lord Montjoy. For a number of years he eked out an existence by tutoring, traveling, and studying, writing and editing. He was at Cambridge, Oxford, Paris, Orleans, Louvain, Brussels, Bologna, Turin, Padua, Siena, and Rome. At Venice he supervised the printing of a book of his own on the Aldine Press. As his reputation for learning and eloquence grew, the sons of the powerful were eager to be known as his pupils. He received handsome fees for delivering Latin orations at coronations, receptions, and other public occasions. Influential people opened their doors. Erasmus held various professorships, including the chair of Greek at Cambridge, but he was restless. In 1520 he settled down at Basel, then the center of the German book trade. Here he spent eight years editing Latin books, particularly the works of the Church Fathers--Jerome, Athanasius, Augustine, Origen, etc. After Basel, he lived in Freiburg, then back to Basel again, where he died. Erasmus sat to Holbein for several portraits. A contemporary describes him as follows: "In stature not tall, but not noticeably short; in figure well built and graceful; of an extremely delicate constitution, sensitive to the slightest changes of climate, food, or drink. His complexion was fair; light blue eyes, and yellowish hair. Though his voice was weak, his enunciation was distinct; the expression of his face cheerful; his manner and conversation polished, affable, even charming." Although he saw dire poverty in his youth, Erasmus was a man of elegant tastes, and was dependent upon the creature comforts of this world. The pope absolved him from his obligations as a monk. He dressed in the finest and softest clothing. In his travels, which were taken usually on horseback, he required the services of an attendant with an extra mule to carry clothing and table delicacies. Erasmus' early work as a tutor of young men gave him a hold on public affairs. His scholarship brought him into intimate relationship with all the universities of the day. His service as an editor of the church classics brought him into favor with church authorities who had a love for learning; yet he could never be prevailed upon to take a position of importance for any length of time. Although a pensioner of Charles V, and in receipt of money from other crowned heads of Europe, he did not hesitate to write, "the people build cities, princes pull them down; the industry of the citizens creates wealth for rapacious lords to plunder; plebian magistrates pass good laws for kings to violate; the people love peace and their rulers stir up war." Erasmus holds a singular position. He was a man of thought, not of action. Although he lived in the stirring times of the Protestant Reformation he could not be prevailed upon to take sides. He lashed the priests, monks, and convents; but he stood by the church. The motto was current in his lifetime that "Erasmus laid the egg and Luther hatched it," but Erasmus wished to reform the church, not to disrupt it. Luther and Melanchthon tried in vain to draw Erasmus into the Revolutionary movement. Luther's writings were offensive. Erasmus considered Luther's pamphlets vulgar and exaggerated. On the other hand, the pope and Wolsey and Henry VIII,--this before the English Reformation,--tried to induce Erasmus to condemn Luther and to declare against the German Reformation, but again Erasmus was unwilling to take sides. He appears to have enjoyed an independence that permitted him to direct the shafts of his wit and satire at the abuses and scandals of the day, whether Protestant or Catholic. Nevertheless, he died a member of the church of his childhood. Erasmus wrote modern Latin, which in his day was a living and spoken tongue. He was familiar with English, French, and German; but he preferred to converse in Latin. It is not too much to say that he was the first man of letters of his day. Had he taken a positive side in the controversies then raging, he would have been extolled by one party or the other. As the case rests, Erasmus dropped, as it were, between Catholicism and Protestantism, and he is now little read.