are incorrectly rendered
above. A great deal has been made by a Catholic critic of the fact
that the book which checked Ignatius Loyola's "devotional emotions"
was not Erasmus's Greek Testament, but his Enchiridion Militis
Christiani, Christian Soldier's Manual. This mistake was unduly
favourable to the saint. Froude did not mean to imply that it was
the actual words of Scripture which had this effect upon Ignatius.
He was referring to the great scholar's own notes, which are
polemical, and not intended to please monks. The founder of the
Jesuits would have doubtless regarded them as most detestable
blasphemy. The Enchiridion, on the other hand, is a purely
devotional book, though written for a man of the world.

"My object," says Froude in his Preface, "has been rather to lead
historical students to a study of Erasmus's own writings than to
provide an abbreviated substitute for them." The students who took
the advice will have found that Froude was guilty of some strange
inadvertences, such as mistaking through a misprint a foster brother
for a collection of the classics, but they will not have discovered
anything which substantially impairs the value of his work. His
paraphrases were submitted to two competent scholars, who drew up a
long and rather formidable list of apparently inaccurate renderings.
These were in turn submitted to the accomplished Latinist, Mr. Allen
of Corpus, who is editing the Letters of Erasmus for the Clarendon
Press. Mr. Allen thought that in several cases Froude had given the
true meaning better than a more literal translation would give it.
There remain a number of rather trivial slips, which do not
appreciably diminish the merit of the best attempt ever made to set
Erasmus before English readers in his habit as he was. The Latin of
Erasmus is not always easy. He wrote it beautifully, but not
naturally, as an exercise in imitation of Cicero. Without a thorough
knowledge of Cicero and of Terence he is sometimes unintelligible,
in a few cases the text of his letters is corrupt, and in others his
real meaning is doubtful. One of the most glaring blunders, "idol"
for "old," is obviously due to the printer, and a more careful
comparison with the Latin would have easily removed them all. But at
seventy-six a little laxity may be pardoned, and these were the only
Oxford lectures which Froude himself prepared for the press. The
publication of English Seamen and the Council of Trent was
posthumous