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This is an annotated version of the book1.contains an updated biography of the author at the end of the book for a better understanding of the text.2.This book has been checked and corrected for spelling errorsSir Thomas More, son of Sir John More, a justice of the King's Bench, wasborn in 1478, in Milk Street, in the city of London. After his earliereducation at St. Anthony's School, in Threadneedle Street, he was placed, as a boy, in the household of Cardinal John Morton, Archbishop ofCanterbury and Lord Chancellor. It was not unusual for persons of wealthor influence and sons of good families to be so established together in arelation of patron and client. The youth wore his patron's livery, andadded to his state. The patron used, afterwards, his wealth or influencein helping his young client forward in the world. Cardinal Morton hadbeen in earlier days that Bishop of Ely whom Richard III. sent to theTower; was busy afterwards in hostility to Richard; and was a chiefadviser of Henry VII., who in 1486 made him Archbishop of Canterbury, andnine months afterwards Lord Chancellor. Cardinal Morton--of talk atwhose table there are recollections in Utopia --delighted in the quickwit of young Thomas More. He once said, Whoever shall live to try it, shall see this child here waiting at table prove a notable and rare man. At the age of about nineteen, Thomas More was sent to Canterbury College, Oxford, by his patron, where he learnt Greek of the first men who broughtGreek studies from Italy to England--William Grocyn and Thomas Linacre.Linacre, a physician, who afterwards took orders, was also the founder ofthe College of Physicians. In 1499, More left Oxford to study law inLondon, at Lincoln's Inn, and in the next year Archbishop Morton died.More's earnest character caused him while studying law to aim at thesubduing of the flesh, by wearing a hair shirt, taking a log for apillow, and whipping himself on Fridays. At the age of twenty-one heentered Parliament, and soon after he had been called to the bar he wasmade Under-Sheriff of London. In 1503 he opposed in the House of CommonsHenry VII.'s proposal for a subsidy on account of the marriage portion ofhis daughter Margaret; and he opposed with so much energy that the Houserefused to grant it. One went and told the king that a beardless boy haddisappointed all his expectations. During the last years, therefore, ofHenry VII. More was under the displeasure of the king, and had thoughtsof leaving the country.Henry VII. died in April, 1509, when More's age was a little over thirty.In the first years of the reign of Henry VIII. he rose to large practicein the law courts, where it is said he refused to plead in cases which hethought unjust, and took no fees from widows, orphans, or the poor. Hewould have preferred marrying the second daughter of John Colt, of NewHall, in Essex, but chose her elder sister, that he might not subject herto the discredit of being passed over.In 1513 Thomas More, still Under-Sheriff of London, is said to havewritten his History of the Life and Death of King Edward V., and of theUsurpation of Richard III. The book, which seems to contain theknowledge and opinions of More's patron, Morton, was not printed until1557, when its writer had been twenty-two years dead. It was thenprinted from a MS. in More's handwriting.

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