English, as may be seen in his English works. He had made up also, imitating in this St. Jerome and others, a small psaltery consisting of selected psalms, which he often used. He would also make pilgrimages to holy places, sometimes seven miles from his house, and always on foot, which even the common people scarcely do in England."* Among these holy places near London would be, no doubt, Our Lady of the Pew, at Westminster; Our Lady of Barking, near the Tower; Our Lady of Willesden, then much frequented; and Our Lady of Grace, near the Tower. Besides Our Lady's shrines there were many others then much venerated in London-as the Rood at the north door of St. Paul's, the Rood called St. Saviour in Southwark, St. Dominick at the Black Friars, St. Francis at the Grey Friars, etc. At a later period Sir Thomas earnestly defended the practice of making pilgrimages. "Whenever he entered on a new office, or undertook a difficult business, he strengthened himself by the Holy Communion." So far Stapleton. ‡ Some other details will be given of his private devotion when we come to his life at Chelsea, to which period may be reserved what has been handed down regarding his family devotions and his co-operation in the public worship in his parish church, as well as his alms-giving. As I began this chapter with an account of More's earthly love, and have come now to speak of his heavenly love, I may conclude by a few words from his translation of the works of Pico, Count of Mirandula, which was made just before, or at an early period of, his married life, in which these two kinds of love are compared. I would beg the reader who wishes seriously to study the life of one of the world's best and greatest men not to skip the following passage as if it were a bit of laborious * Vita, cap. 6. + The abbey near the Tower called Eastminster was destroyed by Henry. + Vita, cap. 6. or trifling of clever men, like the "conceits" of Donne Cowley. We have More's ideal of human and Christian lifean ideal which he never changed, and which he strove hard, and not unsuccessfully, to realise. "The twelve properties or conditions of a lover " given by Pico are these :— 1. To love one alone. 2. To think him unhappy that is not with his love. 4. To suffer all things, even death, to be with his love. 6. To be ever with his love, at least in thought. 7. To love all things that pertain to his love. 8. To covet the praise of his love. 9. To believe of his love all things excellent. 10. To weep often with his love for joy or sorrow. 11. To languish and burn in the desire of his love. 12. To serve his love, nothing thinking of reward. Each of these properties is developed by More in verse, or, as he calls it, in ballad-the lover of God taking lessons for. himself from the conduct, and even fantasies, of earthly lovers. I must be content here with one specimen. In the following stanzas are developed the second "property " of the twelve : Of his love, lo! the sight and company So should the lover of God esteem, that he Yet till the time that he may once resort Where he of God may have the glorious sight, We have seen how joyous was the character of More; we shall see that his whole life, until the last great catastrophe (in a worldly sense), was continuous happiness and prosperity. Yet it is no exaggeration to say that a man more detached from this world never lived, for the reason that his mind was entirely set upon the joy that can never fail. In the letter to Ulrich, Erasmus gives the following emphatic testimony: "Although in so many respects he is one of the happiest of men (and vainglory generally accompanies happiness), I never yet met mortal man so perfectly free from this vice. Without the least taint of superstition, he is earnest in all true piety. He has his hours set apart for prayer-prayer not of routine, but from the heart. With his friends he so converses on the life that will follow this, that you cannot doubt that he speaks from the heart with a most earnest hope." * Cum amicis sic fabulatur de vita futuri sæculi ut agnoscas illum ex animo loqui, neque sine optima spe. CHAPTER VI. PROFESSIONAL. E have seen More promoted to the rank of utter W barrister, and chosen for the honourable office of reader in an Inn of Chancery. This is not to be confounded with reader at an Inn of Court. The latter office demanded much higher learning and ability, and was reserved for the benchers. The Chancery reader had for his audience young students, clerks, and attornies: the reader at the Inn of Court, his brother barristers, and even the judges. After his marriage, says Roper, More applied himself diligently to the study of the law, "until he was called to the bench,* and had read there twice, which is as often as any judge of the law doth ordinarily read". "This office of reader," adds Stapleton, writing for the information of foreigners, "is most illustrious in England, and only given to seniors, and never exercised except by the most skilful, the rest who feel themselves unfit purchasing their liberty at a great expense." † It was not until after the accession of Henry VIII. that More became a bencher. His first reading took place in the autumn of 1511, his second in Lent, 1516. On 3rd September, 1510, he was made under-sheriff of London. This office was in many respects different from that which is now known by the same name. He was the sheriff's judicial representative, and a great number of cases came under his jurisdiction. Hence it was the custom for the Common Council to select + Foss. * Made bencher, not judge. + Vita, cap. 2. for the office some learned lawyer, who continued to hold it year after year by renomination. "I conjecture," writes. Lord Campbell, "that the under-sheriff, besides his other duties, sat in the court of the Lord Mayor and the sheriffs, in which causes of importance were then determined, and the jurisdiction of which, by the process of foreign attachment, was very extensive." * Erasmus, who resided with More while he was under-sheriff, gives the following account : "In London he has held for some years the office of judge in civil causes. The office is noways onerous, for the judge sits only on Thursdays, and during the forenoon, but it is considered very honourable. No one ever concluded more cases, or decided them with greater integrity. He often remits the fees which it is customary for the suitors to pay. Before the opening of the case each party pays in three groats, nor is it allowed to demand anything further. By his way of acting he has become very popular with the citizens. of London." + By his private practice as barrister, and by his official position, he made, as Roper learnt from himself, an income of about £400 a year, equal to about £5000 in our own time. Yet Erasmus says: "No one was ever more free from avarice. He would set aside from his income for his children what he thought sufficient, and the remainder he used bountifully. While he was still dependent on his fees, he gave to all true and friendly counsel, considering their interests rather than his own; he persuaded many to settle with their opponents as the cheaper course. If he could not induce them to act in that manner-for some men delight in litigation-he would still indicate the method that was least expensive." § Stapleton *Lives of Chancellors (More). + Tres drachmas-Harpsfield translated groats. A groat=4d. Letter to Ulrich. The office of under-sheriff had been held by Dudley, Henry VII.'s evil adviser (Seebohm, p. 192). § Ib. |