Page:Historical Lectures and Addresses.djvu/202

 THE EARLY RENAISSANCE IN ENGLAND.

It is sometimes worth while, even for a lecturer, to look at the rock whence he was hewn, and to content himself with explaining why he exists. This is the humble purpose which I have set before myself. Other lecturers, in their yearly courses, have celebrated the advance of science, or have unfolded the development of thought. I would ask you to go back with me and consider some of the causes which made this progress possible, some of the labours of forgotten men by whose goodwill and zeal our intellectual heritage has been slowly built up. When Sir Robert Rede founded this lectureship in 1518 he did so because he wished to enrich the University with opportunities which it had not possessed before. He wished to broaden its studies by favouring that New Learning which was changing men's views about the world and life. My object this morning is to discover the motives which probably weighed with him and explain the meaning of what he did.

The Renaissance is a familiar theme; and its history in Italy has been elaborately studied of late years. Perhaps so much has been written about it that its main features have been somewhat obscured.