# Galeni pergamensis de temperamentis, et de inaequali intemperie

## Part 2

Book page: https://www.cyberlibrary.org/la/books/galeni-pergamensis-de-temperamentis-et-de-inaequali-intemperie-58978/index.md

The dissertation which the newly-returned scholar read for his degree in medicine is said to have attracted attention, but he does not seem to have taught publicly;—at least Grocyn and Latimer are the only names we hear of as public lecturers on Greek. It was, however, Linacre’s good fortune, at this time, to meet with a pupil whose subsequent eminence was enough to make his teacher distinguished, with whom he formed the most important literary friendship of his life, and who has left us the brightest and most life-like pictures of Linacre himself. This pupil was Erasmus, whose long-cherished plans of going to Italy to learn Greek were, as is well known, deferred, in order that he might visit England with the same object. The story of Erasmus’ stay in Oxford has often been told, though never before so fully and clearly as in Mr Seebohm’s volume already referred to. It is very likely that he may have derived from Colet some of the ideas which afterwards influenced his literary and theological activity. To Linacre he owed, undoubtedly, the foundation of his Greek scholarship, and his respect for the ability and character of his teacher are shewn in many well-known passages from his letters. In one of the best known he writes as follows: “In Colet I hear Plato himself. Who does not admire the perfect compass of science in Grocyn? What can be more acute, more profound, or more refined than the judgment of Linacre?” There are many similar passages, and, though eulogy was the fashion of the age, we feel at once that, at least in speaking of Linacre, Erasmus meant what he said. The same impression must be derived, I think, from an amusing passage in the “Encomium Moriæ,” though some of Linacre’s biographers seem to have omitted it as if derogatory to his reputation. It is, however, written in a strain of good-natured banter, which shews that there was a foundation of good feeling and mutual respect between the two scholars.

“Novi quendam πολυτεχνότατον Græcum, Latinum, Mathematicum, philosophum medicum καὶ ταῦτα βασιλικὸν jam sexagenarium qui cæteris rebus omissis annis plus viginti se torquet et discruciat in Grammaticâ, prorsus felicem se fore ratus si tamdiu licet vivere, donec certo statuat, quomodo distinguendæ sint octo partes orationis, quod hactenus nemo Græcorum aut Latinorum ad plenum præstare valuit. Proinde quasi res sit bello quoque vindicanda, si quis conjunctionem faciat dictionem ad adverbiorum jus pertinentem[8].”

There is no record of Linacre’s practice in his profession at Oxford. A new direction was given to his life by the call which he received about the year 1501 to come to court, and direct the studies of the young Prince Arthur. This mark of court favour appears to have been in some way connected with the visit of Prince Arthur to the University where he resided in Magdalen College. The appointment lasted till the prince’s death in 1503, but the only record of it which remains is the Latin translation of the treatise of Proclus _On the Sphere_, dedicated to Prince Arthur, which has been already referred to. This was Linacre’s earliest published work. After the prince’s death Linacre appears to have stayed in London, and probably to have practised medicine, but there is no satisfactory evidence as to this period of his life.

The accession of Henry VIII. must have raised the hopes of Linacre, as it did those of all the scholars and enlightened men in England at that time. The young king, known to be learned himself and a favourer of learning, was expected to give a powerful stimulus to the progress of the new studies. Erasmus was urged by his friends to return to England to share the prosperity and splendour of the new reign. A new epoch of enlightenment was to commence, and a final blow was to be given to all those evils and abuses which the scholars summed up in the word barbarism. It is well known that these hopes were not at all, or very imperfectly, realized, but Linacre himself had no reason for disappointment. He was made the royal physician, a post, in those days, of great influence and importance in other than professional matters, as is shewn by a curious letter addressed to Linacre by the University of Oxford. From this, as from other events, it is clear that Linacre did not, while at court, forget his old mistress, learning, but used his influence as far as possible for her advancement. He is described by a contemporary and friend George Lilly, as conspicuous among the chief persons of the court in a purple robe and a hood of black silk[9]. Among his other patients are mentioned the great prelates Wolsey, Warham, and Fox.

After some years of professional activity, and when he was about fifty years of age, Linacre appears to have taken holy orders; or possibly at this time merely proceeded to priest’s orders, having been previously deacon. The simplest explanation of this step is that which is given by himself in the dedication of his translation of _Galen de Naturalibus Facultatibus_ to Archbishop Warham, namely, that he hoped to get more leisure for literary work. It is supposed that he prepared himself for the sacred office by entering, in mature life, upon the study of theology, and a curious story is told in connexion with his first reading of the New Testament, which, as it has been strangely misunderstood, may be worth giving in detail. The story rests solely on the authority of Sir John Cheke, Professor of Greek at Cambridge, in his letters on the pronunciation of Greek, addressed to Bishop Gardiner, at that time Chancellor of the University. Cheke seems to have been anxious to conciliate the Bishop, and at the same time, for some reason or other, to depreciate Linacre. He speaks of him as a learned person and a good physician, but one who should not venture out of his own province, and, he says, in power of rhetoric and popular expression far inferior to the episcopal correspondent to whom Cheke’s letters were addressed[10].

He then tells the following story. Linacre when advanced in life, his health broken by study and disease, and near his end, took the New Testament in his hand for the first time, (although he was a priest,) and read the Gospel of St Matthew to the end of the 7th Chapter (that is to the end of the Sermon on the Mount). Having read it, he threw the volume away with all the strength he could muster, swearing “either this is not the Gospel or we are not Christians.” It is probable that the striking contrast between the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount and the practice of the Christian World has inspired many readers with the same feeling, and it will continue to have the same effect on many more, though they may not happen to give vent to their surprise with the same petulance. Cheke seems to argue that it shewed some scepticism in Linacre or want of respect for the Scriptures. Selden has misunderstood the story still more strangely, imagining that Linacre referred only or chiefly to the prohibition of swearing. But looked at without prejudice Linacre’s exclamation seems natural enough. It is well known that the Scholars of the _renaissance_, before the time of Erasmus at least, were very little acquainted with the Scriptures in the original text, or even in the Latin Vulgate Version, which is said to have been avoided on account of its non-classical idioms. Now Linacre was a scholar and not a theologian. A theologian by profession either passes lightly over discrepancies such as these or else has already found such an explanation of them as is possible. But the spirit of scholarship and criticism is to take words in their true meaning and to view ideas by uncoloured light. Linacre’s remark needs no other explanation than that he read the passage with the unbiassed judgment of a scholar.

Although it is clear that Linacre entered the Church under the patronage of Archbishop Warham he is said to have been ordained priest by the Bishop of London on Decʳ 22ⁿᵈ 1520. The date of his entrance into deacon’s orders is unknown. It has been conjectured that he received from Pope Leo the Tenth, his old schoolfellow, a dispensation from the necessity of passing through the inferior clerical degrees, and that this may have been the kindness for which he expresses his gratitude in the dedication of the present volume. Be this as it may, he received from Warham in 1509 his first preferment to the Rectory of Merstham in Kent, which he resigned in a little more than a month from his collation. In the same year he received the Prebend of Easton in Gardano in the Cathedral of Wells, and in the same year the living of Hawkhurst, in Kent, which he held till the year 1524. Further marks of favour were bestowed upon him in 1517, when he was made Canon and Prebendary of Westminster, and in 1518 when he acquired the Prebend of South Newbold in the Cathedral of York. He resigned the latter preferment on receiving the important appointment of Precentor in the same York Cathedral, but resigned this also in the same year. Two other benefices are recorded as having been bestowed upon him, the Rectory of Holworthy in Devonshire by the King, in 1518, and in 1520 the Rectory of Wigan, in Lancashire, on the title of which he received priest’s orders, Dec. 22, 1520, and which he held till his death[11].

There is no evidence that Linacre resided at any one of the benefices or Cathedral appointments which he received. In fact it is most probable, though not absolutely certain, that he continued to live in his London house. His biographers then have been somewhat puzzled to account for his accepting so many preferments and resigning most of them so soon. But it is probable that a physician and scholar did not hold more rigid notions respecting the evils of pluralism than his more strictly clerical contemporaries and that he saw no harm in holding a benefice of which he could not discharge the duty or only did so by deputy. The speedy resignation of a benefice is no evidence that the preferment was unprofitable. It is probable that in accordance with the common custom he resigned only in favour of a consideration paid by an aspirant who desired to be presented to the office, and was willing to pay the holder to vacate it. Such a practice has lasted in regard to secular offices almost to our own time[12]. Linacre must be judged not by the system which, whatever its faults, gave him leisure for literary work and plans of public usefulness, but by the manner in which he employed the wealth which these benefices placed at his disposal. It must have been from this source that he obtained funds for his munificent endowments.

The firstfruits of his renewed literary activity did not appear till the year 1517, eighteen years after his first work, when he published his translation into Latin of the six Books of Galen, _De Sanitate Tuendâ_. This version was printed in a fine folio by Rubeus, of Paris, and dedicated to Henry VIII. The dedication of this work shews the reverence in which the writings of Galen were held, a point of which we shall have to speak again. It is also interesting since it tells us that many scholars of Italy, France, and Germany, but especially the two great lights of the age, Erasmus and Budæus, had repeatedly urged him to publish this work. The Preface addressed to the reader contains a great many Greek words, which may perhaps be the reason why the work was not printed in England, where no Greek type probably existed at this time, as will be seen from Siberch’s introduction to the work now reprinted. A vellum copy of this book presented to Cardinal Wolsey is still preserved in the British Museum with the original letter which accompanied it. Another copy presented to Bishop Fox is now in the library of the College of Physicians, and has a dedicatory letter written at the beginning, but I cannot think it to be Linacre’s own handwriting.

Two years later appeared the translation of Galen’s _Methodus Medendi_, in bulk one of the greatest of his works, and in substance one of the most obscure. It is not now easy to understand the admiration and gratitude with which scholars received his translation. The work itself was known by name only to most, and perhaps on that account was the more respected. The judgment of Dr Johnson, Linacre’s biographer, is as follows:—“Not less formidable in its length than incomprehensible in many of the theories contained in it. The sentence pronounced by the Mufti on the verses of the Turkish poet Missi, whose meaning he declared to be intelligible to none save to God and to him by whom they were composed, may with equal truth be applied to the doctrine which this book inculcates.” This translation also was dedicated to Henry 8th and it is curious that Linacre speaks of it as the third work published under the protection of the Royal name, though no other is known than that already mentioned, unless the allusion be to the dedication of his translation of Proclus to the King’s elder brother, Prince Arthur. It is further introduced by some commendatory verses from the pen of Janus Lascaris. It was beautifully printed in folio by Desiderius Maheu, at Paris, in 1519. A presentation copy sent to Cardinal Wolsey with the complimentary letter which accompanied it is still preserved in the British Museum. Both the above-mentioned versions have been frequently reprinted at Paris and elsewhere, and, with a few alterations, have been accepted as the standard translations of those works of Galen.

The next work published by Linacre was the translation now reproduced of which we need not speak further at this point. The dedication to Pope Leo the Tenth is, as will be seen, inspired by a recollection of the writer’s early friendship with the great Pontiff, when they were fellow-pupils of Politian and Chalcondylas. One passage in this letter is still obscure, that in which he refers to some recent and striking proof of the Pontiff’s munificence, shared in common with others, who had been also his schoolfellows at Florence. It has been suggested that this act of kindness may have been some dispensation which facilitated Linacre’s entrance into Holy Orders. If there were any such dispensation, it is more likely that it was one enabling him to hold a benefice, while still a deacon, or perhaps even a layman, since we find that Linacre’s first clerical preferment was given him in the year of Henry the Eighth’s accession, which must also have been that of Linacre’s appointment as Court Physician, and it seems highly improbable that his ordination should have taken place almost simultaneously with this appointment. But there is no proof that any dispensation whatever was referred to, and it is quite possible that the Pope’s generosity may have been shewn in some other way, such as by some valuable present, since this might have been, what a dispensation could not have been, bestowed alike on his other old schoolfellows.

Two other translations from Galen, were published by Linacre during his lifetime, one the treatise _De Naturalibus Facultatibus_ in the year 1523 by Pynson, in London, and a short tract _De Pulsuum Usû_, either in the same year or in the next, which was the last year of Linacre’s life. Two other translations, _De Symptomatum Differentiis_ and _De Symptomatum Causis_, were printed by Pynson after the writer’s death.

Two grammatical works must also be mentioned as occupying some part of Linacre’s later years; the _Rudimenta Grammatices_ was composed for the use of the Princess Mary, and is in English, though its title is Latin. It was afterwards translated into Latin by George Buchanan, and in this form published at Paris.

A more elaborate work entitled _De Emendatâ structurâ_ was not printed until the year 1524, but from the history of its composition must have been written about 14 years earlier. Linacre’s old friend Dean Colet, the founder of St Paul’s School, desiring to have for the use of his school a better grammar than any which already existed, appears to have asked Linacre to compose a suitable work. The treatise of which we are now speaking resulted, but when produced it was thought to be, in bulk and difficulty, quite beyond the comprehension of young pupils. Colet accordingly thought himself obliged to decline it, and substituted a much shorter compendium written by himself, or William Lily, or by both jointly, which was afterwards revised by Erasmus and reprinted by Cardinal Wolsey for the use of Ipswich School. This was the foundation of the well-known Lily’s Grammar. Linacre appears to have been annoyed at the rejection of his Grammar, and a breach was thus made in his friendship with Colet, which never appears to have been healed. Erasmus vainly endeavoured to bring about a reconciliation. This was the best known work published by Linacre in the domain of scholarship; several editions were printed by Estienne at Paris, and many others in other European cities. To some is prefixed a laudatory preface by Melanchthon. It is not quite clear whether it was published before or immediately after the author’s death.

The works now mentioned were, in combination with medical practice, the occupation of the last 14 years of Linacre’s life. It is impossible to say exactly at what time he gave up the active practice of his profession. The only passage which might be supposed to throw any light on the subject, is one in the dedication of the translation of _De Naturalibus Facultatibus_ to Archbishop Warham, where he speaks gratefully of the leisure afforded by the assumption of the priestly office conferred on him by Warham[13]. But as the only certain instance of his receiving a benefice from the Archbishop, was that of the rectory of Merstham, in 1509, the year in which Linacre entered upon his duties as Court Physician, it seems that some later preferment or else ordination, must be referred to. It is possible therefore, that he may have only gradually given up practice.

But Linacre rendered a service to medicine far more important than any of his writings, by the foundation of the College of Physicians and it is for this that he has been and will continue to be held in grateful remembrance. In order to understand the importance and utility of Linacre’s conception we must remember that up to this time medicine could not be said to have existed as a distinct profession in England. The two classes of physicians and surgeons were very widely separated. The former were chiefly ecclesiastics and so far as any authorization was necessary to allow them to practice they received their authority from the Bishops or Archbishops. A statute passed in the 3rd year of Henry VIII. (3 Henry VIII. Cap. 11.) exhibits a first attempt to remedy this deficiency. It is there recited that “forasmuch as the science and cunning of physic and chirurgy to the perfect knowledge whereof be requisite both great learning and ready experience is daily in this realm exercised by great multitudes of ignorant persons of whom the greater part have no manner of insight in the same nor in any other kind of learning; some also can know no letters on the book, so far that common artificers as smiths, weavers, and women boldly and customarily take upon them great cures of things of great difficulty in the which they partly use sorcery and witchcraft, and partly apply such medicines unto the disease as be very noyous and are not meet therefor, to the high displeasure of God, great infamy to the faculty, and the grievous hurt, damage, and destruction of many of the King’s liege people, most especially of them that cannot discern the uncunning from the cunning.” It is then provided that no one should practise as a physician or surgeon within the City of London or seven miles from the same except he be examined and proved by the Bishop of London or by the Dean of Paul’s with the aid of doctors of Physic and experts in surgery. In other parts of the country the duty of proving medical practitioners was assigned to the Bishop of the Diocese.

We do not know whether Linacre’s influence was in any way concerned in getting this Statute passed. A few years afterwards, in the year 1518, Royal letters patent were granted for the carrying out of the scheme in which Linacre was concerned and which was in all probability framed by him. The letters were addressed to John Chambre, Thomas Linacre, and Fernandus de Victoria, together with three other physicians also named, and all men of the same faculty in London. These were to be incorporated as one perpetual commonalty or College, to have the power of electing a President, the use of a common seal, the liberty of holding lands in fee and of purchasing lands whose annual value did not exceed £12. They were permitted to make statutes for regulating the practice of physic in London and for seven miles round, and received the important privilege of punishing offenders by fine or imprisonment.

These letters were dated 23rd September in the 10th year of Henry VIII. Four years after the privileges thereby granted were confirmed and extended by a Statute (14 & 15 Henry VIII. Cap. 5). By this Statute the privileges of the College were extended over the whole of England, no person being allowed to practise physic without having been examined and licensed by the President of the College and three of the elect. The reason given for this extension of privilege was the difficulty of finding in each diocese men able to sufficiently examine those who were to be admitted physicians. The graduates of Oxford or Cambridge who had accomplished all their exercises in due form without any grace were alone allowed to practise without a licence. The privileges of the College were confirmed and enlarged by several subsequent Statutes and Letters Patent in the reign of King James the First, in the Protectorate of Cromwell, and at other times. Among other powers conferred by James the First was that of examining into the purity and goodness of all apothecaries’ wares kept in the houses of apothecaries and druggists in London. This right was exercised up till the beginning of this century and a similar inspection or visitation of drugs is still performed by Government Assessors in Germany.

Comparing the College of Physicians with the bodies which exercised the same rights in other countries in the sixteenth century we see that the chief justification for its existence was the fact that no University or Faculty of Medicine existed in London. In Paris, for instance, and in other University cities very similar privileges were given to the Faculty, that is to say, to the Doctors of Medicine of the University. It would have been a serious curtailment of University privileges to have founded in those cities any body like the College of Physicians. Linacre, who was so well acquainted with the learned bodies of Italy and France, must doubtless have felt the want in London of a learned body with the name and dignity of the University. His College was doubtless intended to take the place of the University so far as medicine was concerned. There is, however, no hint of any provision for teaching.