monastery of Franciscans and his superior talents, caused him to be elected general of his order in 1522. The emperor Charles V., held him in great esteem, and made him his confessor. Upon the capture of Rome by the Imperial army in 1527, and the imprisonment of pope Clement VII., in the castle of St. Angelo, his services were solicited by that pontiff in a negotiation for obtaining his liberty, and were rewarded with a cardinal's hat. Afterwards he was nominated by His Holiness Bishop of Curia, and sent in the capacity of apostolical legate into Spain, and in the kingdom of Naples. He died at Veroli in the Roman territory, in the year 1540. He was the author of a reformed Breviary, and some other works, relating to the government and privileges of his order, which may be seen in Wadingus's collection.

AUGUSTIN JUSTINIANI, bishop of Nebo, one of the most learned men of his time, was descended of a noble family, and born at Genoa in 1480. He assisted at the 5th council of Lateran, where he opposed some articles of the Concordat between France and the court of Rome. Francis I., of France made him his almoner; and he was for five years regius professor of Hebrew at Paris. He returned to Genoa in 1522, where he discharged all the duties of a good prelate; and learning and piety flourished in his diocese. He perished at sea, in his passage from Genoa to Nellio, in 1536. His principal works are-1. Psalterium Heb. Græc. Arabic. et Chald. cum tribus Latinis interpretationibus et glossis. 2. Annales de Republica Genoensi, &c.

JOHN FRYTH, a martyr to the Protestant religion, under Henry VIII. He was the son of an inn-keeper at Seven Oaks in Kent, and educated at the king's college, Cambridge, where he took the degree of B. A. Thence he removed to Oxford, and was made a junior canon of Wolsey's college. He there became acquainted with William Tyndale, a zealous Lutheran, who converted him to Lutheranism. Avowing his opinions publicly, he was apprehended, examined, and confined to his college. At length having obtained his liberty, in 1528, he went over to Germany, where he continued about two years and then returned to England. At last he was taken up at Reading as a vagrant, and set in the stocks, where he remained till he was nearly dead, for want of sustenance. He was at length relieved by the humanity of Leonard Cox, a school master, who procured his enlargement, and supplied his wants. He then set out for London, where he began to make proselytes, but was apprehended by order of Sir Thomas More, and sent prisoner to the Tower; refusing to recant, he was burnt in Smithfield, on the 4th of July, 1533. He left several works, which were printed in folio, in 1573.

JEROME ALEANDER, born in the year 1480, distinguished himself as a violent opposer of Luther and the refor

mation. Notwithstanding the assertion of Luther that he was a Jew by birth, it appears probable that he was descended from a respectable catholic family of distinction in Istria, and that the only ground for supposing him a Jew, was his perfect knowledge of the Hebrew tongue. He is said to have possessed a memory in an uncommon degree retentive, and to have been enabled, by means of this faculty, and to have made himself master, besides the Hebrew, of the Greek and Latin, and several modern languages. His splendid talents attracted the attention of the Roman court; Lewis XII. invited him into France, and appointed him, in 1508, professor of philosophy in the university of Paris. The reputation which he acquired in this situation introduced him to the court of Leo X. This pontiff, the patron of learned men, at first procured him the office of secretary to the cardinal de Medici; and afterwards, on the death of Acciaioli, appointed him librarian of the Vatican. A more important proof of his confidence in his talents and zeal was given him by the pope, when in 1519 he sent him as his nuncio into Germany, to meet the formidable storm which was then rising to threaten the safety of the church. In the diet of Worms he undertook the accusation of Luther, and spoke against him three hours. He could not, however, prevent the diet from granting Luther permission to make his defence. In 1531 he was sent a second time into Germany as nuncio, and endeavoured, though in vain, to dissuade Charles from making a truce with the Protestants in that country. Pope Paul III. raised him to the cardinalate, and sent him a third time into Germany where he remained a year in the capacity of a legate, still exerting his utmost efforts to check the progress of the Reformation. He died at Rome in 1552, at a time when he was putting his last hand to a work against the professors of the sciences, which was never published. The works which he has left, are proofs of his having been an eminent scholar; they are, "Lexicon Græco Latinum," printed in folio at Paris in 1521, and "Grammatica Græca," printed in 8vo. at Strasburg, in 1517. Luther describes Aleander as a man destitute of principle, ungovernable in his passions, choleric even to madness, of insatiable avarice, and shamefully addicted to licentious pleasures; but it must be remembered that this is the report of an adversary, who was not sparing in terms of reproach against his enemies, and who appears evidently to have given hasty credit to the story of his being a Jew. That he was a man of ill-temper, and violently passionate, is acknowledged by Gentin, this cardinal's secretary, in one of his letters to the bishop of Vienna, in which, having informed him of his death, he says, "Hitherto I have looked out for a Mæcenas at Rome, for the violent temper of my deceased patron renders me fearful, lest I should make Glaucus's

exchange with Diomed." Erasmus, who was intimate with Aleander, and speaks of him as an old friend, bears a handsome testimony to his learning. "I always," says he, "pay great respect to Aleander, especially in letters, nor am I more hurt, if he be more learned, than if he be richer or handsomer than myself." He complains however, and, as it appears, not without good reason, that he had abandoned his friendship, and become his most malignant and inveterate enemy, giving credit to every evil report against him, and not scrupling any means by which he might exasperate the pope and bishops against him. "I am informed," says Erasmus, "that a general persuasion prevails, that my writings have occasioned all this storm which has fallen upon the church; the chief author of this idle report, is Jerome Aleander, a person, to say the least, not scrupulously exact in speaking the truth." The fact seems to have been, that Aleander's zeal for the church of Rome, united with great warmth of temper, surmounted every consideration of private friendship, and determined him at any expense, to accomplish, if possible, the ruin of Lutheranism; and it cannot be doubted that Erasmus, though not an avowed reformer, gave the zealous Catholics as much offence by his indirect strokes of sarcasm, as Luther by his open and vehement assaults. How keenly Aleander felt the mortification of finding all his efforts to stem the torrent of heresy ineffectual, may be seen in the expressive epitaph which he wrote for his own tomb.

"Not unreluctant I resign my breath,

For to behold life's ills, is worse than death."

LEO JUDAH, a Protestant Reformer, was born in Alsace, in 1482. He was educated first at Slestadt, and next at Basil, where he became acquainted with Zuinglius, who converted him to the Protestant faith. He became pastor of the church of St. Peter, at Zurich, where he began to translate the Old Testament from the Hebrew into Latin, but did not live to complete it. He died in 1542, and the version was printed the year following. Judah was also the author of Annotations on Genesis and Exodus; and a Catechism.

ROGER EDGEWÖRTH, residentiary and chancellor of Wells, was born at Holt castle, on the borders of Wales. He was educated at Oxford, and became a preacher of considerable fame. During the commencement of the Reformation in the reigns of Henry VIII. and Edward VI., he conducted himself with extraordinary moderation, but when Mary ascended the throne, he openly appeared as a determined and violent Roman Catholic. He died in the beginning of 1560, and was buried in the cathedral of Wells. He published a volume of "Ser

mons, fruitful, godly, and learned," printed in London in 1557. He was author of some other works.

GASPAR CONTARENI, a learned cardinal, descended from a noble family of Venice. He was employed by the republic in various negociations of importance. Paul III. created him cardinal in 1535. He died in 1542, at Bologna, aged fifty-nine. He wrote-1. De Immortalitate Animæ. 2. De Septem Ecclesiæ Sacramentis. 3. De optimi antistitis officio. 4. Confutatio Lutheri, &c.

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EDWARD POWELL, a learned popish divine, who was educated at Oxford. He became D.D. and was considered one of the ornaments of the university. His reputation for learning induced Henry VIII. to engage him to employ his pen against Luther; he accordingly wrote a work entitled Propugnaculum summi secerdotii evangelici, ac septenarii sacramentorum numeri adversus M. Lutherum, fratrem famosum, et Wickliffe istam insignem," printed in London in 1523, 4to. This performance added much to his fame. But all this could not protect him from the wrath of the king, when he thought proper to employ his learning and zeal in the support of queen Catharine. and the supremacy of the Roman see, on which account he was brought to trial, hanged, drawn, and quartered in Smithfield, July 30, 1540, along with Dr. Thomas Abel, and Dr. Richard Fetherstone, who suffered on the same charge. Mr. Churton in his "Lives of the founders of Brasenose College," mentions Dr. Powell's preaching a Latin sermon, in a very elegant style, at the visitation of bishop Smyth at Lincoln.

THOMAS ABLE, or ABEL, chaplain to queen Catharine of Arragon, one of Henry VIII.'s unfortunate queens. He distinguished himself by his laudable zeal in opposing that tyrant's measures to obtain a divorce, in a work entitled "Tractatus de non dissolvendo Henrici et Catharinæ matrimonio ;" i. e. A treatise against dissolving the marriage of Henry and Catharine. He took the degree of A.B. at Oxford in 1513, and of A.M. in 1516. In 1534, he was accused of misprision of treason for being concerned in the affair of Elizabeth Barton an imposter suborned by the monks to pretend to the spirit of prophecy, and being also one of those who denied the king's supremacy over the church, he was imprisoned in Newgate, where he was used with great rigour, and afterwards hanged, drawn, and quartered at Smithfield, in 1540. Bouchier gives him the character of a very learned man, and says he taught the queen music and the languages.

ANTHONY FERRARI, one of the founders of the Barnabites, in 1520; the other was James Morigia. This order was confirmed by pope Paul III. in 1535, and multiplied exceedingly. Ferrari became superior of it, and died in 1544.

JOHN ECOLAMPADIUS, a very eminent German Reformer, born at Winsperg, a village in Franconia, in 1482. He studied at Heilbrun, and afterwards at Hiedelburgh, where he took his degree of bachelor in philosophy at the age of fourteen. His reputation induced the elector palatine to appoint him preceptor to his son. He completed his studies at Tubingen, under Rauchlin, after which he was invited to Basil, and made D.D. At Augsburgh, he embraced the sentiments of Luther, and published his "Confession," which containing doctrines disagreeable to the monks of his convent, he quitted it, and returned to Basil, in 1522, where the council appointed him professor of divinity and city preacher. He translated St. Chrysostom's Commentaries upon Genesis, into Latin. the dispute between Luther and Zuinglius respecting the eucharist, he defended the opinions of the latter, in a work which is reckoned well written. In 1528, he married, and completed the reformation of the churches at Basil and Ulm. In 1599, he assisted at the conference at Mapsburg; and returning to Basil, died of the plague, in 1531, aged 49. A monument is erected in the cathedral to his memory. He left a son and two daughters. His works are numerous and respectable. To the excellence of his personal character, both Catholics and Protestants have borne ample testimony.

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EDWARD LEE, archbishop of York, was born in 1482, and was the son of Richard Lee, of Lee Magna in Kent, esq. and grandson of Sir Richard Lee, Knt. twice lord mayor of London. He was partly educated in both universities. He was accounted a man of great learning and talents, which recommended him to the court of Henry VIII., in which, among others, he acquired the esteem of Sir Thomas More. The king sent him on several embassies. He was made chancellor of Sarum, and in 1531, archbishop of York, but enjoyed this high station a very short time, dying at York, Sept. 13, 1544. He was buried in the cathedral. He lived to witness the dawn of the Reformation, but adhered to the popish system in all its plenitude, except, says his popish biographer, that "he was carried away with the stream as to the article of the king's supremacy." He was a zealous He was a zealous opposer of Luther, and had a controversy with Erasmus. This somewhat displeased Sir Thomas More, who was greatly attached to Erasmus, but it did not lessen his friendship for Lee. He was a very great divine, famous for virtue as well as wisdom; a constant preacher of the gospel, liberal to the poor, and beloved by all sorts of men.

MARTIN LUTHER, the illustrious author of the Reformation in Germany, was descended from parents in humble circumstances, and born at Eisleben in Saxony, in the year 1483. Having discovered an early inclination for learning, he