The Dead Yet Speaking, Biography 8
IOHN COLLET.
The Life and Death of John Colet.
IOhn Colet was borne in London, of honest and wealthy Parents: His Father was twice Lord Major of that famous City, to whom, his Mother (a chaste and fruitfull Matron) brought forth eleven Sonnes, and as many daughters: of which numerous off-spring, Iohn Colet was the eldest, and sole Survivor; the rest dyed before their Father, whereby he became Heir to a very considerable fortune: and yet nature to him was no lesse indulgent then fortune, being indowed with all the Simmetry almost imaginable in a tall and comely Person. In his younger yeeres he gave himselfe to the study of Phylosophy, and in the seaventh after his Matriculation in the Vniversity, obtained his degree of Master in Arts, an honor not so much given to his Standing, as due to his knowledge, in the Liberall Sciences; in none whereof he was ignorant, in some exquisitly learned. All Tullies wo…ks were as familiar unto him as his Epistles, neither was he any stranger to Plato and Plotinus, whom he not o…ely read, but conferred and paralleld, perusing the one, as a Comm…ntator upon the other: As for the Mathematickes, there is scarce any part thereof, wherein he was not seene abov… his yeeres, certainly above expectation. Having thus fethered his nest at home, he began to looke abroad, and improve his stock in forreigne Countries: In France he added his Humanity, what he thought necessary to the study of Divinity: which thereafter he effectually prosecuted in Italie; amongst the Ancients he was most taken with Dionysius, Areopagita, Origen, Saint Cyprian, St. Ambrose, and Saint Hierom: with St. Augustine (whether out of Singularity, or judgement) amongst all the Fathers he seemed most disguised: And yet he did not so mancipate himselfe to Antiquity, but that as occasion served he sometimes survayed Aquinas, Scotus, and other Schoolmen. In a word, he was seene in both Lawes; and singularly well read in History, both Civill and Ecclesiasticall. And because he saw that England had her owne Dant's and Petrarchs as well as Italie, who have perform…d the same here, that they there: those and these, he both read and diligently imitated; accommodating thereby his stile to the Pulpit, and Preaching of the Gospel.
After his returne from Italie, he made choyse to live at Oxford, where he publickly, but freely without stipend, …xpounded all Saint Pauls Epistles; when he was not yet full thirty yeeres of age. At Oxford, Erasmus and he became first acqu…inted, who witnesseth (…o his no smal commendation) that though at that time, he was neither Graduat, nor Candidat in Theologie; that yet there was neither Doctor, Abbot, nor Master in the whole Vniversity, who frequented not, and (which is more) tooke notes of hi… Lectures: Howsoever before he left the Vniversity, they honored him with the degree of Doctor, whereof he accepted rather to please the givers, then himselfe. From Oxford, and these sacred imployments, he was called to London by King Henry the seventh, who bestowed upon him the Denary of St. Pauls; of all the Denaries in England the highest in the ranke, but not the deepest in the manger: which Colet imbraced rather as aburdensome charge, then honor; And therfore as soone as he had regulated his Colledge of Canons, and restored it to its antient Discipline, he resolved (which was not Customary in those times) to Preach every Holy-day in the Cathedrall, over and above his Sermons at Court, and many other Churches in the City, to one or other whereof, the want of able Predicants, invited him almost every Lords-day: In his owne Church he expounded the Scriptures, not by retale, but whole-sale; running over, sometimes a whole Epistle, sometimes a whole Gospell; wheresoever he Preached, he was exceedingly followed, both by Courtiers and Citizens. The Deans Table, which in former times had been two much prostituted to excesse and luxury, he reduced to temperance and moderated by his frugality: For he restrained himselfe to one meale a day for many yeeres together, both before and after his preferment; which at one blow c…t off all his Supper-guests, late dinners not a few, and the more, because his entertainment, though neat, was neither costly nor excessive, his sitting short, and his whole discourse attemperd either to learning or piety, for immediately after grace, his boy red a Chapter, out of which, he himselfe (for the most part) chose the theme or subject of that meales discourse: wherein not onelyonly Schollers, but idiots also his Conviu's had their share, if he perceived their want of learning supplyed with a good mother wit, and ready naturall judgement; Casting one bone after another, untill he dismissed them with no lesse satisfaction to their minds, then refreshments to their bodies; fo… although he hated prodigality and scurrility, he was no enemy to good Company; who came more frequently, because with lesse charge to his Evening Collations, then set Dinners: and with whom (commonly) he spunne out a good part of the night in ventilating one point of Divinity or other; if none came, or such onelyonly as had no great feli…ity in these sacred Saturnals, having dismissed them with some few complements, his Boy red him a parcell of holy Scripture, whereupon he usually ruminated till he went to bed. In his travels he was cheerfull, but his chiefe Companion was ever some chiefe Booke: Solecisme he accounted the worst point of Slovenry, affecting neatnesse in his household-stusse, and cloathes, Books, meat, and all things else, magnificence in nothing, much lesse prodigality: Black he loved above all Colours, preferring it farre before Purple, which preserved his Doctorall robes the longer. His upper garment was alwaies of broad-cloath, and that too none of the finest, which against hard frosts, he fortified with deep Furres; whatsoeuer accrued unto him by the Church, he intirely committed to his steward, to be spent in House-keeping: His owne hereditary rents and profits (which were great, for he was heir to his Father and some of his brethren) he himselfe pursed up, and distributed to pious uses. But perceiving the manifold distractions which accompanied the managing of so plentifull an estate, he called in his Fathers debts, and sold his whole Patrimony, which in the totall amounted to a very great masse of money: and wherewith he erected and indowed that stately and famous Free-schoole in Saint Pauls Church-yard: whereunto he joyned a faire dwelling house Capable of two School-masters, to whom he assigned liberall Stipends, because they were to teach gratis. The whole fabrick he divided into four parts, whereof one is (as it were) for your Catechumany, and beareth the inscription of Catechizationis; the second for such as are under the Vsher, divided from the third part, by a vaile drawen …pon great Curtaine-roddes, and containeth onelyonly such youths as are disciplined by the chiefe School-master; the forth and last part, confisteth of an Oratory or Chappell for Prayer, and other religious exercises: Above the Masters head (if the Reformation have not pulled it downe, and levelled him with his Crosse) standeth the child Iesus curiously ingraven, and as it were in the posture of one reading a Lecture, with this Motto, Ipsum audite: whom the Children as they entered the Schoole, were wont to salute with a sacred Hymne, composed (if I be rightly informed) by Erasmus: Every Form containeth sixteen, and the Captaine or Dux of every Classe, sitteth by himselfe in a Pue or Throne somewhat more eminent then the rest; great respect had wont to be had, both to the Ingine and Ingenuity of the Intrants; how matters are now carried, I know not? This is certaine, though the whole amounted to an infinit charge, yet Colet would therein admit of no Copartners. An hundred pounds left by a charitable Cittizen, for advancement of the Structure, he bestowed (with the Bishops licence) upon Books, and sacred Vestments for the Quire; And yet though he would permit no Lay-man to have a finger in the building, he intrusted no Clergimen with the over-sight of its Revenewes: As all men praised him for this Schoole, so many wondred what he meant to build so magnificent a house for himselfe, within a Curtilage of the Carthusians, and so neer the honor of Richmond. But to take both the best & the worst together, He was by nature high minded, impatient of inivries, much given to sleep, and (as he confessed, but not sub Sigillo, to his best friend) no stranger to the temptations both of lust and Luxury; a great admirer of witty jests, and inclinable enough unto Covetousnesse; Over all which imperfections, through grace, he became more then conqueror: for his haughtinesse of minde and proud stomake, he levelled even to humility, by the common grounds of reason and Phylosophy: being then best pleased, when he was most freely admonished. Covetousnesse he put to flight, by a charitable profusion of his whole temporall Estate, upon works of mercy & piety: Venery, sleep and Luxury he nobly profligated by holy confercences, fasting, praying, indefatigable study, and often Preach…ng: But yet so, that at great feasts, and in his entertainment… of Ladi…s and Gentle-women, where without too much rigidity, he could not but give way to a more free and liberall discourse; a man might easily perceive the recoylments of his owne naturall and exorbitant proclivities: so impossible is it for flesh and bloud, not sometimes to discouer themselves, even in the most regenerate: which made him almost abstaine from all such meetings, or if he came, he commonly brought with him some learned Second, with whom he conferred in Latin, Ne intelligerent Sacerdotes; His custome was to begin and end dinner with the same dish, to content himselfe with one glasse of Beer, or two at the most; and though he loved rich Wines, yet he drank of the best but very sparingly, knowing that all mens eyes then present, were upon him. He had a wonderfull happy wit himselfe, and was much taken with it in others, especially young Boyes and Maids, with whose naturall purity, softnesse, and simplicity he seemed greatly effected, and the rather, because our Saviour himselfe, commends in them those qualities, to our imitation. In many things he dissented from those who thought themselves learned, in some, from those who indeed were so: to whom onelyonly he unbosomed himselfe, especially if they were his friends: your Scotists, who then seemed to monopolize, and divide the whole stock of wit amongst themselves, he e…teemed of all others, the most dull, barbarous, stupid, and insufferable dunces. And yet of Acquinas (I know not upon what grounds) he had a worse opinion, then of Scotus: In whose defence, when it was objected by Erasmus (perhaps ironically, for he was no great friend to either) that of all the ancient Schoolmen, Aquinas onelyonly seemed to have read the Fathers; witnesse his Aurea Catena, and that some of his Work… were highly commended for stirring up mens affections to piety: Colet answered, what tell you me of his reading, or stirrring up affections? unlesse he had beene transported with the Spirit of Arrogance, he had never so rashly, and yet so magisterially & peremptorily presumed to define all points of Religion: and if he had not savored too much of the flesh, he had not therewith mixed so much vaine and fruitlesse Phylosophy. He was no great admirer of Monks, not that he hated the Profession, but because he saw the Professors lived not accordingly: wherfore whilst he lived he gave them little, when he dyed, nothing: And yet his intent and purpose was, to end his dayes in a Monastery, if he could have found one qualified to his minde: This, by many, was censured in him, that although he himselfe lived most chastly, and as Erasmus verily beleeveth, dyed a pure Virgin, notwithstanding his naturall inclination to the Contrary, yet he had a very charilable opinion of such Priests and Frier…, whose greatest fault was their umcleann…sse. For said he, these out of the Conscience of their owne imper…ection, are (for the most part) humble, mode…t, and tractable: whereas the divell himselfe, were he not what he is, could hardly abide the pride, avarice and hypocrisie of the other: Not that he thought incontinence a light Sinne, but intractability and pride far more incompatible with piety. And therefore though it was his ill luck to live under a perverse and wrangling Diocesan (of whom we sh…ll say more anon) yet he was a true friend to Episcopacy, by being a mortal enemy to such Bishops, as under an hypocriticall maske of sanctity, pro…tituted their sacred function to ambition and Luxury: Relative worship he held no such spur to Devotion as some would make it; And was not farre from their opinion, who thinke a notoriously wicked Priest operates nothing by his consecration; for he abominated irregularity, especially in his owne order, and could not but wi…h indignation looke upon those whose impure and contaminated lives, gave the first rise and ground to this suspition, whether true or false: In his judgement concerning publike Schooles and Vniversities, he was not onelyonly heterodox, but, like the bird spoken of in the Proverb, cleerly bewrayed diverse Symptoms of an exulcerated minde: but let that passe amongst Moles in the most beautifull faces: Secret Confession he generally approved, as that whereby himselfe had received much comfort and benefit, but as much disliked that which was too anxious, and descended to a needlesse enumeration, of what can no more be numbered then the starres in heaven, or sand upon the Sea shore. Priests here, in his time, Officiated once every day, he contented himself with Sundayes and Holy-daies; it may be to set the greater edge upon his Devotion, which by these intervals was the more sharpned, or perhaps to gaine the more time for his private studies, the better to fit himselfe for his Cathedrall or Pulpit imployments. Learning he really loved, and laboured for; onelyonly that Encuclopedicall wisdome, which cannot be attained but by knowledge of all Arts, and devouring of all bookes, he esteemed rather a learned sort of madnesse, then any true provocation to Christian simplicity and charity. He deferred much to the Apostolicall Epistles, but when he compared them with that sweetnesse, wisdome, and majesty, which is to be found in our Saviours owne sayings and Sermons, he thought them saplesse, and scarce to be named the same day; which as one of his Paradoxes, I leave to be sensured by the Reader, for both proceede from the same Spirit; Howsoever, omitting the former, the latter he intended to trichotomize or reduce unto Ternaries, but was prevented by death: Gods worship and Service (as much as in him lay) he performed with an equall decency, and magnificence: and was no great approver, either of their zeale, or wisdome, who tyed Priests every day (those wherein they travell, not exceped) to the private repetition of so many and long prayers: which perhaps he knew by experience, they rather mumbled over with their lips, then considerately evaporated from their hearts. He willingly and attentively read over many Hereticall bookes, professing he sometimes bettered himselfe more by them, then theirs who without dispute, define what they please, and as they please. He indured not that any man should square his stile by the rules of Grammer, or Grammarians, but by reading and imitating the most approved Authors; which opinion brought its owne punishmeat with it, for though he was eloquent both by nature, and erudition, yet when he set himselfe to write in Latin, he often tript, even in things common and obvious to every School-boy: which did so much discourage him, that he never set forth any thing: it were to be wished, his modestey had not so much stumbled at this straw; for certainly howsoever his expression had taken the eare, his conceptions could not have disrellished the understanding: but in this, as in many things else, he dissented from the common Tenets and practice both of his owne and former times; yet so as his private opinions never troubled the publike peace, his friends were as many, as there were men of learning and Candor in the whole kingdome. His greatest enemies were certaine illiterate and irregular Friers: and amongst these his own Bishop, of whose Sophisticall Sco…istry the Deane made no great account, and the Bishop as little of his Ciceronian Divinity; The heart burning went so farre, that at last it broke forth into Articles: wherein the Bishop assisted by two of his brethren, almost as learned and Cordat as himselfe, accused him before the Arch-bishop of Canterbury, that preaching, upon the triple Pasce ous meas, he expounded the first, by good example; the Second, by Sound Doctrine, according to the common Interpretation and consent of the Doctors. But that in the third, which they expound Subsidio vitae, he had dessented from them: affirming that something else must be there understood, and that the A…postles being extreame poore, could not be bound to feed their flocks with what they had not themselves. Secondly, that in another Sermon he had Preached against worshiping of jmages: and thirdly, that in the same Sermon, he seem'd to tap those, who Preached out of their note books; which the Bishop took to himselfe, for at that time he was aged eighty; and forced by this help to piece out a Seni…e and decayed Memory. The Archbishop received the accusation, but answered it himselfe; not suffering Colet to be so much as Summoned to his Consistory. Their second attempt at Court succeeded little better, the occasion this. The King being resol…ed upon a warre with France, Colet was invited to Preach at Court; His Theame was Christs victory, in handling whereof, he preferred the most unjust peace, before the justest warre: for, said he, when the evill, out of hatred or ambition fight against the evill, and kill one another, there they fight not under Christs, but the Divels Banner; shewing how difficult a thing it was, to dye like a good Christian, how few followed the Warres, not tainted with envy or avarice: and how almost inconsistent brotherly charity is, with sheathing our sword in the Bowels of our brethern. Concluding, that it was better for Christians, to imitate in their warfare, their blessed Lord and Saviour, then either Caesars or Alexanders. At this Sermon (amongst others) were present the Bishop and two Friers Minorites, whereof the one was the chiefe incendiary to the warre, for which his ghostly counsell, he was soone after rewarded with a Bishopricke; the other, an obstreperous & stentorian whorson, who in all his Sermons (which in all were not many) was sure to have a fling at Poets and poetry: intending thereby to mump Colet, who though he had skill in musicke, yet never wrote a verse in his life: But so ignorant was the vulgar of that frye, in those dayes, that they knew not …he difference betwixt a peece of Tully and Virgil; accounting all Poetry that was not meere barbarisme. These three made agrievous complaint of him both to the King & cheife Martialists, as though Colet had done all …his of purpose, to weaken the hands of his Majesties Forces, and discourage the Commons, from so noble a…d necessary expedition; and to speak the truth, the King himselfe was somewhat startled at it. But in the Carthusian gardens at Greenwitch, he gave his Majesty such satisfaction, that when most men gave him for lost, he never parted from the King, more loaded with promises, both of protection and preferment: who injoyned him onelyonly in his next Sermon, to cleere such misprissions and Scruples, as the Common people, and Souldiery had ignorantly collected from his former; after wch neither the Bishop nor his Bricot durst meddle no more with him. But he lived not long to reape and injoy the fruits of this double victory: for after the third relapse into a pestilentiall Fever (a disease almost peculiar to the English) he fell into a Dyssentery, where of he died.
Some of his Physitians judged him far gone in an Hydropsie, but upon his imbowelling, there appeared no such thing to the Anatomists, onelyonly the extremities of his liver seemed (as it were) bearded with certaine rough and curled strings or pendants: he lyeth buried in Saint Pauls upon the south side of the Quire; a place designed by himselfe; and almost in the eye of all who passe that way.
Behold his Embleme, whose admired worth,
Few Pens can prove sufficient to set forth
Unto the World, and much lesse mine, whose skill
Can be deriu'd but from an Infant Quill.
He had a rare and well innobled heart,
Whose rich endeavours gave a life to Art:
He alwayes was ambitious to embrace,
(Although t'were seated in the meanest place)
True vertue; and he tooke delight to sée
Youth well adorn'd with Ingenuitie
Pauls Schoole can witnesse that his liberall Purse
Was ever open to reward the Nurse
That gave true Wisdome sucke: therfore his Name
Shall alwayes ride upon the wings of Fame.