Page:Lives of British Physicians.djvu/17



The life of this great man is so intimately connected with the revival of learning in Europe, with the introduction of the Greek language into England, and with the first establishment of a rational practice of physic in this country, that it must be equally interesting to the general scholar, and to the student of medicine.

Thomas Linacre was born at Canterbury in the year 1460, was educated at Oxford, where he was elected Fellow of All Souls' College, and went afterwards, for his further improvement, into Italy, whither he accompanied an embassy, sent by Henry VII. to the court of Rome. At Florence he was fortunate enough to attract the attention and secure the patronage of Lorenzo de' Medici, whose princely and liberal spirit had procured for him the title of the Magnificent; and whose own vigorous imagination and elegant style entitle him almost exclusively to the appellation of the restorer of Italian literature. In patronizing learning and learned men, Lorenzo had,