Ulric von Hütten, soldier and knight, equally distinguished in letters
and in arms, and called the Demosthenes of Germany, was a zealous
friend of reform. He had been in Rome, and sharpened his darts from
what he there saw to hurl them with effect. All the powers of satire
and ridicule he brought to bear upon the pillars of the Papacy. He
helped to shake the edifice, and his plans and spirit might have
served to pull it down had he been able to bring Europe to his mind;
but it would only have been to bury society in its ruins.