Protestantism in Poland and Bohemia - James Aitken Wylie

ample, he took upon himself the expenses of
housekeeping; and in other ways he ministered,
with equal liberality and delicacy, to the wants of
his illustrious host. He purchased his library for
300 golden crowns, leaving to Erasmus the use of
it during his life-time.[4] He formed a friendship
with other eminent men then living at Basle; in
particular, with Oecolampadius and Pellicanus, the
latter of whom initiated him into the study of the
Hebrew Scriptures.
His uncle, the primate, hearing that his nephew
had fallen into "bad company," recalled him by
urgent letters to Poland. It cost Alasco a pang to
tear himself from his friends in Basle. He carried
back to his native land a heart estranged from
Rome, but he did not dissever himself from her
communion, nor as yet did he feel the necessity of
doing so; he had tested her doctrines by the
intellect only, not by the conscience, He was
received at court, where his youth, the refinement
of his manners, and the brilliance of his talents
made him a favourite. The pomps and galeties
amid which he now lived weakened, but did not
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