Thomas More: A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation

THE present volume of the ENGLISH CATHOLIC LIBRARY introduces to modern readers a treatise by Sir Thomas More, " one of the ornaments of the English nation, one of the wisest, best, and most religious of mankind."1* We say introduce, because, with the exception of his most notable UTOPIA, the works of that eminent martyr are known, save by name, to very few of his countrymen. Whether this has arisen from the cold and depressinginfluence of a system antagonistic to that faith of which he testified; or whether, from his name being so tragi cally incorporated with the great historical events of the sixteenth century, all attention to his writings has been absorbed in the contemplation of the man; is a question on which it is needless to speculate. Let us hope that the improving spirit of the present age will repair this disgraceful neglect; and that ere long a complete and satisfactory edition of the works of Sir Thomas More will be as rife and familiar on our shelves as those of Shakspeare and Bacon.

The biography of the virtuous Chancellor requires not to be penned by us anew. The Life by his great-grand son Cresacre, so ably edited by the learned and acute Mr. Hunter, is one of the most charming compositions in that department of literature; and in point of fidelity and interest is only equalled by that of Wolsey, which

* Rev. J. Hunter, South Yorkshire, i. 374.

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the sagacity of the same editor has restored to the real author, George Cavendish. Those by Roper,* Cayley, and, more recently, by Mr. Walter, — apart from scarcer tractates within the cognizance of the erudite — comprise every particular of importance to their subject.

As the title-page bears, and as Cresacre More narrates, the Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation was com posed during its author's imprisonment in the Tower of London in 1534. " Which subject," this his descendant well observes, " he handleth so wittily as none hath come near him either in weight of grave sentences, devout considerations, or fit similitudes; seasoning always the troublesomeness of the matter with some merry jests or pleasant tales, as it were sugar, whereby we drink up the more willingly these wholesome drugs, of themselves unsavory to flesh and blood; which kind of writing he hath used in all his works, so that none can ever be weary to read them, though they be never so long."-f- And again, when speaking of his…