Erasmus in praise of folly - 1922 Author:Desiderius Erasmus Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: which reason his parents (according to the superstition of the times) designed to consecrate him to the church. His brothers liked the notion, because, as the ch... more »urch then governed all, they hoped, if he rose in his profession, to have a sure friend to advance their interest ; but no importunities could prevail on Gerard to turn ecclesiastic. Finding himself continually pressed upon so disagreeable a subject, and not being able longer to bear it, he was forced to fly from his native country, leaving a letter for his friends, in which he acquainted them with the reason of his departure, and that he should never trouble them again. Thus he left her who was to have been his wife, big with child, and made the best of his way to Rome. Being an admirable master of the pen, he made a very genteel livelihood by transcribing most authors of note (for printing was not then in use). He for some time lived at large, but afterwards applied close to study, made great progress in the Greek and L,atin languages, and in the civil law ; for Rome at that time was full of learned men. When his friends knew he was at Rome, they sent him word that the young gentlewoman whom he had courted for a wife was dead ; upon which, in a melancholy fit, he took orders, and turned his thoughts wholly to the study of divinity. He returned to his own country, and found to his grief that he had been imposed upon ; but it was too late to think of marriage, so he dropped all farther pretensions to his mistress ; nor would she after this unlucky adventure be induced to marry. The son took the name of Gerard after his father, which in German signifies amiable, and (after the fashion chapter{Section 4of the learned men of that age, who affected, to give their names a Greek or Latin turn) his was turned into Erasmus, ...« less