tablishment, he contemplated no aggrandisement for any sect of his own. He advocated no dogmas, and allied himself to no party. He was, simply, the zealous, but often intemperate friend of learning and liberty, both civil and religious. Unfortunately, his hatred of oppression betrayed him into violence; he saw those whom he despised, leagued against all kinds of improvement, and, as a soldier, his appeal was to the sword. He would have plunged his country into war, but it would have been a war for liberty and independence, for freedom of conscience, not merely for himself, but for all mankind. He would not proselyte like Luther, nor crouch to the dastardly policy of Erasmus; he threw down the gauntlet of defiance to united spiritual and temporal tyranny; but he lived to see his error, and to confess that violence was not a Christian virtue, even in the generous cause to which he would have made it subservient.

Hutten was born in 1488, of a noble Franconian family. He was intended for the monastic profession, till Eitelwolf von Stein saved him from that spiritual bondage. "Tu ne hoc ingenium perderes?" said this his first patron and friend to the abbot, as he offered to take the promising youth under his protection, and thus commenced that friendship which Hutten was doomed to see, like all the other prospects of his short and eventful life, too quickly dissolved. He spent some time in study in Italy, whence he repaired to Cologne, and there became intimately attached to the great and accomplished Reuchlin, (the friend of Lorenzo de Medici,) to Crotus Rubianus, and other distinguished associates, who were, as far as their ability extended, faithful to him to the last. There too is the scene of his greatest work, the publication before us, for there lived the immortal Pfefferkorn and the "Gravissimus Ortuinus," whom he made the chief actors in his drama.

The next scene of his life was one of martial glory. He was introduced to the court of Maximilian, was honoured with knighthood, and followed the army to the siege of Padua, from whence are written several of his letters, remarkable for bold chivalrous feeling and ardent zeal for the independence and honour of his country. Even in the camp, and while probably suffering under the first attacks of a lingering disorder that brought him to the grave, he cultivated his literary pursuits, as he himself observes

coluit, per mille pericula, musas,

Et quanti potuit carminis auctor erat.

Once more he resumed his studies in Germany, tired of the roving life he had led, "an Ulysses," as he said, "with a whole Odyssey of adventures." Then appeared his first con

siderable work, in Latin verse, against the vices and corruptions of the times, entitled "Nemo."

arms

The base murder of his brother John, by the duke of Wirtemberg, roused all his energy, and directed the thunders of his eloquence against the lawless tyranny and injustice of the petty German princes: and now was kindled that fury and untameable spirit of defiance, which has given him the appellation of the German Demosthenes. It burst forth in bold invectives and demands for vengeance, rousing all Germany against princes, emperor, and church, and at length drove him to against the murderers of his brother, and those whom he considered the betrayers of the honour and independence of his country. He joined the Suabian league, which expelled the duke of Wirtemberg from his dominions. The friend, who might, at this critical period, have moderated his impetuous temper, his kind adviser and patron, Eitelwolf, was dead. He died in the midst of his project for establishing at Frankfort a new university, free from the scholastic dulness and sophistry which pressed so heavily on the rising spirit of the age. This spot was the first subject for the descriptive powers of the young poet, who had joined the new institution.

His next literary efforts were employed in the defence of his friend Reuchlin, and (with the aid, as is generally supposed, of Crotus Rubianus) he published the work before us, which has survived its temporary object, so as to be even at this day read with delight. The poignancy of its satire did wonders in overthrowing the authority of the monks and university pedants, in the eyes of the people; and the theologians of Cologne felt its force so keenly, as to expend large sums in procuring from Leo X. in 1517, a bull, directed solely to its condemnation.Our author, doubtless, willingly suffered the pontifical censure, when counterbalanced by the applause of Erasmus, and Sir Thomas More, who are known to have made his work their daily amusement and delight.

By the fame which the Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum brought him, Hutten was placed at the height of his popularity, and no honours were considered too great to be lavished upon the powerful protector of Reuchlin.-Luther was now occupying a prominent station in the great war against the church; but Hutten's course was not with him. He, probably, in the first instance, looked upon the controversy as a theological quarrel, which was not to his taste. He was no preacher of new doctrines, no founder of a sect, but he had imbibed an ardent love of learning and the arts, in the schools of Italy, and was always ready to lash those whose trade was ignorance, and to run a-tilt, as a soldier, against those who gave the drones the support of temporal power... Erasmus praised him as the man

whose equal had never been; and Pirkhaimer, the friend of Albert Durer, and all good men, procured him the poet's garland from the hand of Maximilian.

Thus again his prospects became bright, and we now find him enjoying the patronage of the house of Mentz. His chivalrous spirit was once more manifested in an attempt to rally Germany to the long-threatened crusade against the infidel Turks, entitled-" Ad Principes Germaniæ; ut bellum Turcis invehant, Exhortatoria." At the same time he maintained a close literary intimacy with the choicest spirits of his day -with Budæus, Ecolampadius, Pirkhaimer, Bucer, and ErasAbout this period too, appeared his "Febris Prima,” and "Secunda," ingenious and eloquent attacks on the favourite topics, the ignorance and vices of the higher orders of clergy.

mus.

But Maximilian died, and Hutten's dreams of prosperity once more vanished, for his protectors disappeared when he most needed them. The cause of Luther had become identified with that of reform, and Hutten, whose pen had long prepared the way for improvement, now appeared openly as his advocate, in his famous Trias Romana," written at the court of Mentz, whither he retreated. This work excited the mortal animosity of the church, and a furious command was issued to the princes of Germany to send the audacious author of it, and of the "Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum," in chains to Rome. The favourite of princes, on a sudden, found himself deserted; Albert of Mentz was too weak to protect him; the Archduke Ferdinand was appealed to, but in vain; the Emperor, Frederic of Saxony, all the German courts, were deaf to his voice. Heart-rending and powerful as were his appeals in the name of national honour, religion, justice, and liberty, no one stood forth to shield him from the danger which menaced him, till Francis Sickingen, one of the bravest of German patriots, sheltered him from the storm, in his castle at Ebernberg.

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From this retreat he commenced a new series of attacks; and to show the public, "qualis pastor sit Leo," he sent forth a powerful squib-" Bulla Decimi Leonis," with annotations. "Pasce nos doctrina," said he, non bullis." Here too he published a German translation of his Latin work; and those who wish to see a picture of his generous, warm-hearted spirit, should read his dedication of the version to Sickingen, his last friend. Misfortune was doomed ever to be his portion: Sickingen fell in the field; and Hutten, in his affliction, saw and confessed his error, in supposing that the emancipation of mankind from error could be accelerated by appeals to arms. this frame of mind he seems to have written to Luther-" Thy work is of God, and will endure; mine is of man, and will perish." Sickingen and Hutten's work did perish; it was so

In

ordained by Providence; but perhaps we ought not to read in its fall the total condemnation of exertions, that, if properly directed, might have given Germany a nobler, more united attitude among the nations of Europe.

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At this period we must place his beautiful Dialogue with Truth, written in a strain of enlightened zeal for the cause of freedom and learning, but in a subdued tone of charity and resignation. The Dialogue opens with a pathetic apostrophe to Truth, as the cause of all his sorrows; are these," says he, "thy rewards, these thy promises, this thy faith to thy votaries?" His companion suggests topics of alleviation for the melancholy detail of misfortune; when, in the midst of the discourse, he perceives the wounds which disfigure the form of Truth herself; and finds that though she is patient and long suffering, she also has suffered from insults and wanton injuries, which are detailed in Hutten's usual strain of irony. From such an example he learns to bear his own griefs more contentedly, trusting to Providence for the vindication of its own cause, and submits to be instructed in the duty of a real friend to truth. “Thou wilt make me a Philosopher," exclaims he: "not a Philosopher, but a Christian," is the reply of Truth, who dismisses him with the exhortation "abi, et infracto animo, Christo nitens !”

But Hutten's brief and chequered course was run a wasting disease had long preyed upon his constitution, and with a broken heart, he fled to Switzerland for shelter in his dying moments. Erasmus, that Erasmus who had extolled him to the skies in his prosperity, was now ranging himself on the strongest side, and, when his former friend sought his hospitality, he disowned him and spoke with levity of his infirmities. A spirited public remonstrance ensued, and Erasmus turned, courted a reconciliation, and was in his turn repulsed.-Hutten was not long the victim of cruel enemies and false friends; he died in poverty and obscurity, at the early age of thirty-six, and was buried at Afnau, a little island under the magistracy of Zurich, leaving behind him a name which should be dear to the friends of truth and honesty, and an honour to that country which has but lately learned to prize his memory as it deserves.

The length of these preliminary observations has left little space for comments on or extracts from the book immediately under consideration. To those who have any taste for such productions, the Epistola cannot be a new book. It has therefore been our principal object, to excite an interest for its author. We shall, however, give a short key to its contents; the full relish for it would require considerable attention to the existing state of literature and religious opinion.

About the year 1510 a dispute arose among the Theologians of Cologne, in which Reuchlin took a prominent part.

A Jew named Pfefferkorn had, as was asserted, become a convert to Christianity from interested motives, and was highly patronised by the Inquisitor, Jacob Hochstrat (in the Epistola called "Alta platea,") Doctor and Professor of Theology, and by other supporters of the Church, more especially the Monks. The Jew persuaded the Inquisitor to issue an order for seizing all the books of his late brethren, and this order, it was said, was used for the purpose of making a pecuniary advantage from the bribes given for exemption.

Reuchlin attacked this odious combination, and the dispute rose into an important controversy on the value of the Hebrew writings. His opponents were not satisfied with this mode of discussion, and appeals were made to Rome. Rome however was not then, what the breaking out of the Reformation made it. Ignorance and bigotry were not then the only passports to promotion, and it appears that the silly theologians of Co logne were treated as they deserved, and the cause of Reuchlin and of learning was triumphant. The whole affair contributed to place many of the most zealous supporters of the church in Germany, in no very respectable point of view.

At last, Hutten thought the occasion deserving of a general castigation of the confederates: with this view (assisted by Crotus, and it is said, one or two other friends,) he published the letters before us, which purport to be the correspondence of divers Monks, Priests, and Theologians, of the Pfefferkorn faction. They are principally addressed to Ortuinus Gratius, Dr. of Theology, who after all (though an opponent of Reuchlin) is said to have been a learned and respectable man, and one who hardly deserved to be placed in so ridiculous a character, as the recipient of all the nonsense of these his imaginary correspondents.

We have already mentioned the brilliant success of the work, which covered the monks and universities with everlasting ridicule. Their barbarous Latin is exquisitely imitated, their ignorance delightfully exposed; all the petty details of their schemes against Reuchlin, and the friends of learning, are communicated, in the most solemn style, to their great centre, Ortuinus; and thus almost every subject which occupied the attention of the age is successively brought forward, to the utter exposure and discomfiture of the Anti-Reform Party.

We need hardly observe, that when so much of the wit of these letters consists in their Latinity, translation must destroy their effect, and we shall only attempt it in two or three in

stances.

The following is one of the many difficult cases of conscience, submitted by his disciples to Ortuinus. Those who have read the learned disquisitions of the Sophists, and Doctors of