ich in Augsburg, and the part that he played in the
introduction of printing there. On Lady Day, 1481, shortly after
Nicholas' birth, perhaps when he had lived just a week and seemed
likely to thrive, the father composed an address to his four living
sons--four being already dead--, and wrote it into this volume. He
adjures them to follow learning and goodness, and finally bids them
take every care of the books; and not let them be separated. This it
was which inspired Nicholas' appeal thirty years later, when Ulrich,
the son, was cut off, just as his eyes seemed about to follow his
father's up and down the pages.

Ellenbog's letters to his sister Barbara are amusing. She was four or
five years older than he, but being a woman had not had his
opportunities. He begins by trying to teach her Latin. But the
difficulties were many, and apparently she did not progress far enough
to write in the tongue. At any rate, Ellenbog copied none of her
letters into his book; a fact which is to be deplored both from her
point of view and from ours. One would like to know what reply she
made to some of his homilies. She invited him once to come and see her
at Heppach, with leave from her Abbess. He replies cautiously that, if
he comes, he hopes they will be able to talk without being overheard;
for Onofrius had been once, and when he made a rather coarse remark,
there had been giggles outside the door. In 1512 Barbara became
Prioress, and Ellenbog took the opportunity to lecture her at length
upon spiritual pride and the importance of humility; sweetening his
dose of virtue with a present of cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.

Once she let fall some regrets that she had brought nothing into her
convent, and was dependent on it for food and clothing; evidently she
would have liked some share of the patrimony which had been divided
between her married sisters and the brothers who remained in the
world. Nicholas' reply was that Heppach, like other monasteries, was
well endowed; she had given herself, and that was quite enough. In
1515 Barbara was elected Abbess; and received another discourse about
spiritual pride. John and Elizabeth wrote to Nicholas saying that they
had been invited to Heppach to salute the new Reverend Mother, and
suggesting that he should come too. But his plain speaking had had its
reward, no invitation had come for him. Under the circumstances, he
writes, he could not think of going; besides he had been there several
ti