flinging it
through the open casement. And now I ask you whether
it is not the same whether you enter Paradise by the door
or by the window?

There was a naive familiarity with sacred things in our ancestors that
cannot be imitated. Who would now name a ship "Jesus," as Hawkins's
buccaneering slaver was named? What serious clergyman would now
compare three of his friends to the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost,
as did Luther? The Reformer also wrote a satire on the calling of a
council, in the form of a letter from the Holy Ghost signed by Gabriel
as notary and witnessed by Michael the Provost of Paradise and Raphael,
God's Court Physician. At another time he made a lampoon on the
collection of {496} relics made by his enemy the Archbishop of Mayence,
stating that they contained such things as "a fair piece of Moses' left
horn, a whole pound of the wind that blew for Elijah in the cave on
Mount Horeb and two feathers and an egg of the Holy Ghost" as a dove.
All this, of course, not in ribald profanity, but in works intended for
edification. . . .

[Sidenote: The city]

Though beautiful, the city of our ancestors was far from admirable in
other ways. Filth was hidden under its comely garments, so that it
resembled a Cossack prince--all ermine and vermin. Its narrow streets,
huddled between strong walls, were over-run with pigs and chickens and
filled with refuse. They were often ill-paved, flooded with mud and
slush in winter. Moreover they were dark and dangerous at night,
infested with princes and young nobles on a spree and with other
criminals.

[Sidenote: The house]

Like the exterior, the interior of the house of a substantial citizen
was more pretty than clean or sweet smelling. The high wainscoting and
the furniture, in various styles, but frequently resembling what is now
known as "mission," was lovely, as were the ornaments--tapestries,
clocks, pictures and flowers. But the place of carpets was supplied by
rushes renewed from time to time without disturbing the underlying mass
of rubbish beneath. Windows were fewer than they are now, and fires
still fewer. Sometimes there was an open hearth, sometimes a huge tile
stove. Most houses had only one or two rooms heated, sometimes, as in
the case of the Augustinian friary at Wittenberg, only the bathroom,
but usually also the living room.

[Sidenote: Dress]

The dress of the people was far more various and picturesque than
nowada