In this German Athens a meeting was arranged between
Reuchlin and Erasmus; they were joined at Frankfort by Hermann Busch, who
brought with him the manuscript of his 'Triumph'; and perhaps it was not
difficult to predict that the cause of the old books would be safe in the
hands of Pope Leo X. They found themselves in company with that ferocious
satirist, Ulric von Hutten, memorable for his threat to the citizens of
Mainz, when they proposed to destroy his library, and he answered, 'If
you burn my books, I will burn your town.' The Grand Inquisitor was
utterly overwhelmed by his volume of Pasquinades, a work so witty that it
was constantly attributed to Erasmus, and so carefully destroyed that
Heinsius gave a hundred gold pieces for the copy which Count Hohendorf
afterwards placed among the imperial rarities at Vienna. The satirist's
volume of _Letters from Obscure Men_ completed the rout of the
Inquisition; and we are told by the way that it saved the life of
Erasmus by throwing him into a violent fit of laughter.
We do not suppose that many Germans of that day loved books for their
delicate appearance, or the damask and satin of their 'pleasant
coverture.' Reuchlin may be counted among the bibliophiles, since he
refused a large sum from the Emperor in lieu of a Hebrew Bible.
Melanchthon's books were rough volumes in stamped pigskin, made valuable
by his marginal notes. The library of Erasmus may be shown to have been
somewhat insignificant by these words in his will: 'Some time ago I sold
my library to John a Lasco of Poland, and according to the contract
between us it is to be delivered to him on his paying two hundred florins
to my heir; if he refuses to accede to this condition, or die before me,
my heir is to dispose of the books as he shall think proper.
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