The Praise of Folly. By Desiderius Erasmus. Translated, with an
Essay and Commentary, by H. H. Hudson. (Oxford University Press. 15s. 6d.)
THE originality and charm which made The Praise of Folly the most popular of Erasmus' works in his own time are still plain to see ; but only readers with a classical education, some acquaintance with the Renaissance background and a taste for examining the literary landmarks of the past are now likely to enjoy this odd farrago of wisdom and nonsense, wit, humour and irony, sharp satire on ecclesiastical abuses and whimsical jests at perennial human failings. This new translation by Professor Hudson, of Princeton, is of the sober end painstaking kind we are accustomed to find facing the original text in the volumes of the Loeb Classical Library; it is more accurate, no doubt, than its predecessors, but less lively and readable than the old version published in 1668 by John Wilson, and it would be better fitted to accompany Erasmus' Latin than to stand by itself. Professor Hudson's introductory essay is learned and enthusiastic, but many readers would gladly have sacrificed part of it to make room for a more generous selection from Holboin's illustrative drawings, of which only, six are reproduced.
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