COLET, kol'et, John, English divine, founder of Saint Paul's School, London: b. Lon don 1466; d. there, 16 Sept. 1519. His father, Sir Henry Colet, was twice lord mayor of London. About 1493 he set out to make a continental tour, and became acquainted with several of the most eminent men of the time, among them Erasmus and Budmus. While on the Continent he studied Greek, canon and civil law and the writings of the fathers. In 1496 he returned to England, and in the following year he was ordained, took up his residence in Oxford and lectured in Latin on Saint Paul's Epistle to the Romans. He was an ardent advocate of the new learning and an admirable Bible scholar. Erasmus was one of his audience at a later series of lectures on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, and from this time (1498) the two became warm personal friends. In 1505 Colet was appointed dean of Saint Paul's. With Sir Thomas More and
others he urgently advocated the reform of cer tain ecclesiastical abuses, but it is a mistake to suppose that he held anything in common with the spirit of the Protestant Reformation for which his work helped to a very considerable degree to pave the way. Saint Paul's School was founded and endowed by him in 1512, the earliest school in England in which Greek was a regular part of the curriculum. His writings are not numerous, but give good evidence of his learning and piety. In 1867-76 J. H. Lup ton produced an edition of those of Colet's works not published during the 16th and 17th centuries. The most recent biography is that by Lupton, J. H. (1887 and 1909) ; Seebohm, F.,