Has .(preces) sacerdos olim sic pronunciabat, ut totus
populus et audiret, et intelligeret, eoque veluti pariter cum
illo oraret, tacitis dumtaxat affeetibus, demum voce clara
accineret Amen. Id tum commode fiebat, quoniam sacerdos
ea lingua sacriHcabat, quas populo erat communis. Nunc
linguis noyatis, ritus tamen vetus manet. Nee satis adhuc
constat utrum magis expediat relinquere, an novare, quod
jam inveteravit. Scio banc esse multitudinis imperitae
naturam, ut magis revereatur quod non intelligit. Sed
interim minus utilitatis redit ad pbpulum, ad quern sola vox
antistitis pervenit. Novandse consuetudinis auctor esse

nolim. Optandum autem esset, ut totus cultus divinus,

qui tribus potissimum constat, hymnis, doctrina, et pre-

catione, lingua toti populo nota perageretur. Verum

multa sunt in vita mortalium, quae magis optare liceat,
quam sperare.
Explanatio Symbolic &c.
Dedicated to lord Rochford, A. 1533.
Precatiories aliquot^ &c.
Dedicated to David Paungartner, A. 1535. \Oy^.^^^

Precatio ad Jesum*
Dedicated to Joannes Rincus, A. 1532.
Precatio Dominica^ &c.
Dedicated to Justus Ludovicus Wissenburgensis, A. 1535.
Vol, II. Z


838 REMARKS ON THB TOM- t*

Pcean Ftrgini Matri.
This was composed to oblige the marchioness of Vere.
It IS a puerile performance, in a poetical, tumid, and
idolatrous style.
Obsecratio ad Firginenii
Another piece of the same stamp.
De Contemtu Mundu

A boyish exercise, for which he himself apologizes. It
is an exhortation to a monastic state, written fot the sake,
and in the name of another, and not containing his real
sentiments. A mere declamation composed before he was
twenty years old.
This treatise De Contemtu Mundi^ and the Firginis et
Martyris Comparatio^ were translated into English by
Thomas Paynell. Wood, vol. i. p. 145. Thomas Paynd
must have been a silly fellow, who could pick out no bet-
ter flowers from the works of Erasmus.
Disputatio de Tiedio et Pavore Christi.
