It is pleasant to see that an answer to a query can sometimes do more
than satisfy a doubt, by accidentally touching an accordant note
which awakens a responsive feeling. I am much pleased that my scanty
information was acceptable to "R.G."; and wish it was in my power
to give him more certain information respecting the portraits of
_Hutten_, who is one of my heroes, although I am no "hero-worshipper."
The earliest woodcut portrait of him with which I am acquainted, is to
be found in the very elegant volume containing the pieces relating to
the murder of his cousin John, by Ulrich of Wirtemberg (the title too
long for these pages), which, from the inscription at the end, appears
to have been printed in the Castle of Stakelberg, in 1519. It is a
half length, in a hat, under a kind of portico, with two shields at
the upper corners: the inscription beneath is in white letters on
a black ground. It occurs near the end of the volume; in which is
another spirited woodcut, representing the murder.
The other two cotemporary portraits occur in the "Expostulatio,"
before noticed. The largest of these, at the end of the volume, is
in armour, crowned with laurel, and holding a sword, looking toward
the left. This is but indifferently copied, or rather followed, in
Tobias Stimmer's rare and elegant little volume, _Imagines Viror.
Liter. Illust._, published by Reusner and Jobinus, Argent. 1587, 12mo.
I have never seen a good modern representation of this remarkable man,
who devoted the whole energies of his soul to the sacred cause of the
truth and freedom, and the liberation of his country and mankind from
the trammels of a corrupt and dissolute Church; and, be it remembered,
that he and Reuchlin were precursors of Luther in the noble work,
which entitles them to at least a share in our gratitude for the
unspeakable benefit conferred by this glorious emancipation.
Ebernburg, the fortress of his friend, the noble and heroic Franz von
Sickingen, Hutten called the _Bulwark of Righteousness_. I had long
sought for a representation of Sickingen, and at length found a medal
represented in the _Sylloge Numismatum Elegantiorum_ of Luckius, fol.
Argent, 1620, bearing the date 1522.
Hutten's life is full of romantic incident: it was one of toil and
pain, for the most part; and he may well have compared his wanderings
to those of Ulysses, as he seems to have done in the following verses,
which accompany the portrait first above mentioned:
"Desine fortunam miseris inimicaque fata
Objicere, et casus velle putare deos.
Jactatur pius Æneas, jactatur Ulysses,
Per mare, per terras, hic bonus, ille pius.
Crede mihi non sunt meritis sua præmia, casu
Volvimur, haud malus est, cui mala proveniunt.
Sis miser, et nulli miserabilis, omnia quisquis
A diis pro merito cuique venire putas."
{337}
I should like to see the German verses your correspondent mentions, if
he will be good enough to favour me, through your intervention, with
an inspection of the volume containing them.