The  popular  poetry  also  devoted  itself  in  other  ways  to  the  new  ideas
with  that  spirit  of  teachableness,  and  at  the  same  time  resistance  to
arbitrary  power,  which  characterised  it.  Hutten  published  his  bitterest
invectives  in  verse  ;  Murner  depicted  the  corruption  of  the  clergy  in  long
and  vivid  descriptions  :  to  this  feeling  of  censure  and  reprobation  was  now
added,  if  not  in  Murner  himself,  at  any  rate  in  most  others,  a  positive  con-
viction of  the  truth  of  the  new  doctrine,  and  a  profound  admiration  of  its
champion  ;  the  man  who  maintained  the  righteous  cause  among  crimson
barrets  and  velvet  caps  was  celebrated  in  verse.  The  pope  was  brought  on"
the  stage  in  carnival  farces  ;  he  congratulates  himself  that,  in  spite  of  his
knavery,  men  continue  to  ascribe  to  him  the  power  of  admitting  them  into
heaven  or  binding  them  in  hell,  which  brings  many  birds  to  his  net  to  be
plucked  ;  that  he  reaps  the  fruits  of  the  sweat  of  the  poor  man's  brow,
and  can  ride  with  a  retinue  of  a  thousand  horses — his  name  is  Entchristelo  ;
there  also  appear,  uttering  like  sentiments,  Cardinal  Highmind  (Hochmuth),
Bishop  Goldmouth  Wolfsmaw  (Goldmund  Wolfsmagen),  Vicar  Fabler
(Fabeler),  and  a  long  list  of  personages  held  up  to  ridicule  and  contempt
under  such  names  :  the  last  who  enters  is  the  Doctor,  who  expounds  the
true  doctrine  very  much  in  the  tone  of  a  sermon.1  Under  the  influence  of
these  impressions  was  educated  Burckhardt  Waldis,  who  afterwards  made
such  a  happy  application2  of  the  old  fable  of  the. beasts  to  religious  con-
troversies. The  greatest  German  poet  of  that  day  warmly  embraced
Luther's  cause.  Hans  Sachs's  poem,  the  Nightingale  of  Wittenberg,
appeared  in  1523  ;  he  compares  the  faith  which  had  prevailed  for  four
hundred  years,  to  the  moonlight  which  had  led  men  astray  in  the  wilder-
ness ;  now,  however,  the  nightingale  announces  the  rising  sun  and  the  light
of  day,  while  she  herself  soars  above  the  dark  clouds.  Thoughts  emanating
from  a  sound  understanding,  instructed  by  the  infallible  Word,  and  con-
fident of  its  own  cause,  form  the  basis  of  the  many  ingenious,  gay,  and
graceful  poems — not  the  less  attractive  for  a  slight  smack  of  the  workshop —
with  which  the  honest  master  delighted  all  classes  of  the  nation.
