INTRODUCTION.

Turkish poet Missi, whose meaning he declared to be intelligible to none save to God and to him by whom they were composed, may with equal truth be applied to the doctrine which this book inculcates." This translation also was dedicated to Henry 8th and it is curious that Linacre speaks of it as the third work published under the protection of the Royal name, though no other is known than that already mentioned, unless the allusion be to the dedication of his translation of Proclus to the King's elder brother, Prince Arthur. It is further introduced by some commendatory verses from the pen of Janus Lascaris. It was beautifully printed in folio by Desiderius Maheu, at Paris, in 1519. A presentation copy sent to Cardinal Wolsey with the complimentary letter which accompanied it is still preserved in the British Museum. Both the above-mentioned versions have been frequently reprinted at Paris and elsewhere, and, with a few alterations, have been accepted as the standard translations of those works of Galen.

The next work published by Linacre was the translation now reproduced of which we need not speak further at this point. The dedication to Pope Leo the Tenth is, as will be seen, inspired by a recollection of the writer's early friendship with the great Pontiff, when they were fellow-pupils of Politian and Chalcondylas. One passage in this letter is still obscure, that in which he refers to some recent and striking proof of the Pontiff's munificence, shared in common with others, who had been also his schoolfellows at Florence. It has been suggested that this act of kindness may have been some dispensation which facilitated Linacre's entrance into Holy Orders. If there were any such dispensation, it is more likely that it was one enabling him to hold a benefice, while still a deacon, or perhaps even a layman, since we find that Linacre's first clerical preferment was given him in the year of Henry the