Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 33.djvu/276

Rh lanchthon, no second edition appeared in this country.

Linacre's translations from Greek into Latin, on which his contemporary fame chiefly rested, must have been all made from manuscripts except No. 3, of which the Greek text was printed at Venice in 1500. They were as follows: 1. ‘Proclus de Sphæra,’ in the collection called ‘Astronomici Veteres,’ Venice, by Aldus Romanus, 1499, fol., dedicated to Prince Arthur. A letter of William Grocyn to Aldus is also prefixed. 2. ‘Galen, De Sanitate tuenda,’ Paris, by Rubeus, 1517, fol. Dedicated to Henry VIII. The British Museum has a copy on vellum presented to Cardinal Wolsey, with a manuscript dedication, which is reprinted in Johnson's life of Linacre. At the College of Physicians is a copy with manuscript dedication to Fox, bishop of Winchester, also printed by Johnson. This version was frequently reprinted abroad, and adopted in the collective Latin editions of Galen. 3. ‘Galen, Methodus Medendi,’ Paris, by Maheu, 1519, fol. Dedicated to Henry VIII, whose presentation copy on vellum is in the British Museum, along with a similar copy containing a manuscript dedicatory letter to Cardinal Wolsey. This work was revised by Budé, who prefixed an extremely eulogistic preface, and was seen through the press by Lupset. Notwithstanding, Linacre before his death made 2225 emendations in it, which were sent to Italy and incorporated in the Venice edition (Terrapeutica, &c., 4to, 1527) by the editor, Lucas Panetius. It was reprinted in Paris 1526, 8vo; 1530, fol., and many times later, as well as in the collective editions of Galen's works. Linacre dedicated the translation by special command to Henry VIII, and speaks of it as the last of three works, each comprising one of the integral parts of medicine, dedicated to the king. The second of these must have been the ‘De Sanitate;’ but what the first was is difficult to conjecture, as no other known work of Linacre's answers the description. Either the work never got beyond the stage of manuscript, or the printed edition has entirely perished. 4. ‘Galen, De Temperamentis et de Inæquali Intemperie,’ printed by Siberch, Cambridge, 1521, 4to. One of the first books printed at Cambridge, and said to be the first printed in England, in which Greek types were used. Reproduced in facsimile, Cambridge, 1881, with introduction and life of Linacre by the present writer. Dedicated to Pope Leo X, from whom Linacre had, through Richard Pace, the king's secretary, and the English envoy at the papal court, solicited some favour, which he here acknowledges (, Letters of Henry VIII, iii. 1204, 1275). (A second edition, 24mo, 1527, is in the British Museum, with no name of printer or place, but possibly printed at London.) 5. ‘Galen, De Naturalibus Facultatibus,’ Pynson, London, 1523, 4to. Dedicated to Archbishop Warham. 6. ‘Galen, De Pulsuum usu. In ædibus pinsonianis,’ London, s.a., 4to (1523?). Dedicated to Cardinal Wolsey. The last two appeared in one volume, with ‘Galen de Motû Musculorum’ translated by N. Leonicenus, and edited by Linacre. Some fragments from Paulus Ægineta, &c., are added in a later edition, Paris, 1528. 7. ‘Galen de Symptomatum Differentiis et Causis,’ Pynson, London, 1524, 4to. A posthumous publication, with a prefatory notice of Linacre. Besides these, it is known that Linacre contemplated the translation of more if not all of Galen's works, and had also planned, with his friends Grocyn and Latimer, a complete translation of the works of Aristotle. Linacre's own share, or a part of it, we know from Erasmus was actually executed, though never printed. It included several physical treatises of Aristotle. Erasmus speaks also of other completed works laid up in Linacre's desk for the benefit of future students; but they do not seem to have been published, owing to the excessive fastidiousness for which Erasmus reproached him.

A single letter of Linacre's has been preserved. It is partly in Greek, and is addressed to Budé at Paris (Gul. Budæi Epistolæ, 4to, Paris, 1520, fol. 7). An interesting manuscript catalogue of William Grocyn's library, compiled by Linacre in his own handwriting, as his friend's executor and legatee, together with his executorship accounts, is preserved at Merton College, Oxford, and has been published by the Oxford Historical Society (Collectanea, 2nd ser. 1890, edited by Professor M. Burrows). Grocyn's will was proved by Linacre on 20 July 1522.

Linacre's own will is extant, having been proved on 18 July 1525. Since the bulk of his property and his library had been assigned during his lifetime the bequests are not important, but show that the testator had a brother, sisters, and other relations. The manuscript dedications of special volumes of his works already mentioned are believed to be in his own handwriting, and his autograph occurs in volumes in the library of the College of Physicians, at New College, Oxford, and elsewhere.

A portrait presumed to be that of Linacre is an oil-painting in the possession of the queen attributed (without probability) to Quentin Matsys; a copy is at the College