OF PAOLO GIOVIO

and finally of all is utterly obscured by London, the city called by Caesar the city of the Trinovantes, as most believe, the royal seat of all Britain, ennobled by the commerce of many nations, cultivated with houses, adorned with temples, elevated with citadels, and finally very wonderful in its abundance of all things and wealth. The Thames itself brings into it the riches of the whole world, rising and swelling at fixed hours with the tides of the Ocean, navigable for cargo ships from the sea for sixty thousand paces, always safely and in a very deep channel to the city; pleasant villas, distinguished by estates and groves, adorn its banks everywhere. On the lower side, there is the royal house of Greenwich, so called in English from its green gardens, and in the higher part the palace named Richmond. In the middle, the noble structure of Westminster rises on the western side of the city, by far the most famous for its judicial forum and the temple of Saint Peter, which is adorned with the tombs of kings. Also, at the twentieth milestone from London is the royal castle of Windsor, the very pleasant seat of the sitting King, and celebrated for the tombs of several kings and the ceremonies of the Garter companions. Swans, approaching in swarms with joyful encounter and festive songs, welcome the fleets, and nets for pike and salmon are spread everywhere. The city is joined by a stone bridge of wonderful workmanship, nor is it increased by any rains, since it swells only with the tides. The Humber, increased immensely by receiving the Trent (which was once the Abus) and the noble Severn, which is swept from the highest mountains of Wales with many torrents and pours into the Bristol bay, exceed all others in the volume of water and the length of their course along the Thames. Furthermore, many smaller islands lie near Britain, and among these three are very notable: Man, Wight, and Anglesey, which also follow the authority of their parent and mistress. Two gymnasiums also flourish, one at Oxford above the Thames, and the other at Cambridge not far from the marshes of the city of Ely. A huge number of noble youths flock to these to master the liberal disciplines; for stipends for the professors and food for the students are paid from the ancient liberality of kings and the testaments of the best bishops. Indeed, many centuries ago, they founded over twenty-seven colleges, building very large houses of stone, to which they left their surnames and insignias for the eternal praise of their beneficence. Nothing, however, is more modest, religious, and frugal than the education and institution of that youth, so it is no wonder that talents have emerged from there which have filled all Europe with admiration for their subtlety in Dialectic, Philosophy, and finally in Sacred letters, and that most especially when our ancestors, having repudiated the ancient authors of the best sciences, admired nothing more than difficult riddles and convoluted sophisms of disputants. Thomas Linacre, the most brilliant interpreter of Galen and preceptor to Prince Arthur, brought Greek letters into Britain from Italy in our age, along with his equals, two Williams, Latimer and Grocyn, who undertook the task of translating Aristotle with Linacre, though with a noble yet ineffective vow. And I have heard that Richard Pace, having fulfilled the duty of an embassy at Rome, died recently, consumed by black bile while writing excellent things after finishing his course of studies. The reputation for integrity and learning still flourishes in Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of Durham, from whom a witty little book of Arithmetic was published on a very difficult subject. He, finally struck by the slaughter of his friends More and the Bishop of Rochester, thought the angry King should be mollified by faithful obedience. But the notable praise from the best letters...