and to guide their politics. It is touching to see how
he tried to strengthen Melancthon, whose unpractical nature caused him
to feel bitterly the absence of his stronger friend. "Things must go on
without me," Luther writes to him. "Only take courage and you will no
longer need me; if, when I come out, I cannot return to Wittenberg, I
must go out into the world. You are the men to maintain, without me,
the cause of the Lord against the devil." His letters are dated from
the "aerial regions," from "Patmos," from the "wilderness," "from among
the birds who sing sweetly among the branches, and praise God day and
night with all their powers." Once he endeavoured to be cunning:
writing to Spalatinus, he enclosed a crafty letter, saying, that it was
believed without foundation that he was at Wartburg. That he was living
among faithful brothers, and that it was remarkable no one thought of
Bohemia; it concluded with a not ill-natured thrust at Duke George of
Saxony, his keenest enemy. This letter, Spalatinus, with pretended
negligence, was to lose, that it might come into the hands of his
enemies; but in such diplomacy Luther was by no means consistent, for
no sooner was his lion nature roused by any intelligence, than he made
a hasty decision to burst forth to Erfurt or Wittenberg. He bore with
difficulty the tedium of his residence; he was treated with the
greatest consideration by the commander of the castle, and this care
showed itself chiefly, as was then the custom, in providing him with
the best food and drink. The good living, the absence of excitement,
the fresh air on horseback, which the theologian enjoyed, worked both
on soul and body. He had brought with him from Worms, a bodily ailment
from which arose hours of dark despondency, which made him incapable of
work.

Two days successively he went out hunting; but his heart was with the
poor hares and partridges, which were hunted by a host of men and dogs
into a net. "Innocent little creatures! thus do the papists hunt." To
preserve the life of a little hare he concealed it in the sleeve of his
coat; then came the hounds and broke the limbs of the little animal
within the protecting coat. "Thus does Satan gnash his teeth against
the souls I seek to save." Luther had enough to do to defend himself
and his from Satan; he had thrown off all the authorities of the
Church, and now stood shuddering alone, only one thing remained to him,
the Scriptures. The old Church had