I am very much indebted to "S.W.S." for the information which he has
supplied (No. 15. p. 232.) relative to ancient wood-cut representations
of Luther and Erasmus. As he has mentioned Ulric von Hutten also (for
whom I have an especial veneration, on account of his having published
Valla's famous _Declamatio_ so early as 1517), perhaps he would have the
kindness to state which is supposed to be the best wood-cut likeness of
this resolute ("Jacta est alea") man. "S.W.S." speaks of a portrait of
him which belongs to the year 1523. I have before me another, which
forms the title-page of the _Huttenica_, issued "ex Ebernburgo," in
1521. This was, I believe, his place of refuge from the consequences
which resulted from his annexation of marginal notes to Pope Leo's Bull
of the preceding year. In the remarkable wood-cut with which "[Greek:
OYTIS, NEMO]" commences, the object of which is not immediately
apparent, it would seem that "VL." implied a play upon the initial
letters of _U_lysses and _U_lricus. This syllable is put over the head
of a person whose neck looks as if it were already the worse from
unfortunate proximity to the terrible rock wielded by Polyphemus. I
should be glad that "S.W.S." could see some manuscript verses in German,
whcih are at the end of my copy of De Hutten's _Conquestio ad Germanos_.
They appear to have been written by the author in 1520; and at the
conclusion, he has added, "Vale ingrata patria."