westward. In Greece he read Aristotle in the original, and learnt to
prefer Plato; in Egypt he sought in vain for the books of Solomon and
a mythical library of Hebrew treasures.

In 1471 his Cardinal-patron was elected Pope as Sixtus IV. The
magnificence which characterized the poor peasant's son in his
dealings with Italy, in his embellishment of Rome and the Vatican, was
not lacking in his treatment of Wessel. 'Ask what you please as a
parting gift', he said to the scholar, who was preparing to set out
for Friesland. 'Give me books from your library, Greek and Hebrew',
was the request. 'What? No benefice, no grant of office or fees? Why
not?' 'Because I don't want them', came the quiet reply. The books
were forthcoming--one, a Greek Gospels, was perhaps the parent of a
copy which reached Erasmus for the second edition of his New
Testament.

After his return to the North, Wessel was invited to Heidelberg, to
aid the Elector Palatine, Philip, in restoring the University, _c._
1477. He was without the degree in theology which would have enabled
him to teach in that faculty, and was not even in orders: indeed a
proposal that he should qualify by entering the lowest grade and
receiving the tonsure, he contemptuously rejected. So the Theological
Faculty would not hear him, but to the students in Arts he lectured on
Greek and Hebrew and philosophy. For some years, too, he was physician
to David of Burgundy, Bishop of Utrecht, whom he cured of gout by
making him take baths of warm milk. The Bishop rewarded him by
shielding him from the attacks of the Dominicans, who were incensed
by his bold criticisms of Aquinas; and when age brought the desire for
rest, the Bishop set him over a house of nuns at Groningen, and bought
him the right to visit Mount St. Agnes whenever he liked, by paying