Page:The Life of Thomas Linacre.djvu/5

 PREFACE.

individual, the particulars of whose life are detailed in the following pages, was amongst the earliest of his countrymen to whom learning owed its revival and propagation in the fifteenth century. To his labours England more especially stands indebted for her knowledge of the finest language of antiquity; and medicine, its elevation to that rank amongst the liberal arts, from which it had long been estranged by the ignorance or cupidity of its professors.

Materials for the execution of a task like the present can seldom be obtained without much unprofitable labour; but in the collection of materials for this undertaking, the result has more rarely corresponded with the difficulties which attended the search. The information, which private stores promised, has not been neglected. The archives of the