e which can certainly
be ascribed to him; and the chief of these, an "Ecce Homo" and "Christ
in the Garden," date from 1515. The iron plate of the latter was found
two centuries later, in a blacksmith's shop, where it was about to be
made into horse-shoes. A third etching represents a frightfully
homely woman being carried off by a man on a unicorn, a wild and
incomprehensible composition, calculated to awaken an uncomfortable
impression in the beholder. Some of the etchings were on iron, and
others on pewter; but none were on copper, which was afterwards
universally used. The corrosive nitrous acid acted inefficiently on
the metals which he employed, and so his etchings fall short of
excellence.

In 1514 Jorg Vierling uttered disgraceful libels and threats against
Duerer, and finally attacked him in the street. He was imprisoned by
the authorities; but the kind-hearted artist interceded for him, and
he was released, after being bound over to keep the peace.

In the same year Duerer wrote to Herr Kress to see if the laureate
Stabius had done any thing about his delayed pension; saying also,
"But if Herr Stabius has done nothing in my matter, or my desire was
too difficult for him to attain, then I pray of you to be my favorable
lord to his Majesty.... Point out to his Majesty that I have served
his Majesty for three years, that I have suffered loss myself from
doing so, and that if I had not used my utmost diligence his
ornamental work would never have been finished in such a manner;
therefore I pray his Majesty to reward me with the 100 guilders." In
September an imperial decree was issued, giving Duerer his promised
pension of $200 a year out of the tax due from Nuremberg to the
Emperor. This annuity was paid to the artist until his death, with one
short intermission.

Duerer executed for the Emperor a series of most fantastic and
grotesque pen-drawings, on the borders of his prayer-book, now in the
Munich town-library. Alongside the solemn sentences of the breviary
are whimsical monkeys and pigs, Indians and men-at-arms, satyrs and
foxes, screeching devils and saints, hens and prophets, martyrs and
German crones, mingled in a weird wonderland, and not inappropriate
according to mediaeval ideas of taste. "The Great Column" is another
quaint and inexplicable engraving, which Duerer did for the Emperor in
1517, and is composed of four blocks 5-1/3 feet high. It shows two
naked angels holding a large turnip, from whi