252 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 63S
635. CHARLES CONTARINI TO ANZOLO GABRIEL. Brown, 1520-6, no. 872. Vienna September 18, 1524,
Yesterday, at the — hour when there were not 30 per- sons in the market-place, the Lutheran merchant^ was at length burnt, whereupon 4000 persons came instantly to rescue him, but he was already consumed; so it is thought his Maj- esty ' will thus render himself very odious to the people, and that one day or other there will be some grave tumult.
63^. ERASMUS TO DUKE GEORGE OF SAXONY.
Gess, i, 745. Basle, September 21 (1524).
A facsimile of the original appears in G. Mentz: Handschriften aus der Reformationszeit, 1912, no. i.
Greeting, most illustrious Prince. I received your High- ness' letter of May 22 on the day before St. Matthew's Day," when I had already sent you the pamphlet On the Free Will, together with my letter,* which I hope has been delivered by this time. I see that both my letters to you and yours to me have been intercepted, for a certain friend of mine in Nuremberg* has written me that the Lutherans have inter- cepted a letter of mine to you, and your letter,' a copy of which I have now received, was never delivered. I am now answering both your letters, but briefly, so that it may go by an uncertain ' messenger, who is leaving sooner than he said.
The books you sent me I received most gratefully, though they were already in common circulation here, but I regret that I know nothing of this language,* for my work has been with Greek and Latin authors. Your Highness expresses the wish that I had been minded three years ago to separate my- self from the Lutheran faction and to prove it by publishing a book ; but I did this more than five years ago, when Luther's books first came out and were still in favor with everybody,
^Caspar Taobcr, ef, infra, no. 64s.
- QueUa Moesta; it is not certain whetker tke Emperor or Ferdinand is meant.
• /.#., September ao. The letter referred to is that of liay ax (supra no. 6a6).
- 0f September 6 {supra no. 634).
■Probably Pirckheimer.
•Of January as, 15^3 (supra no. S7z)« The Duke htd endoied • copy of it with no. 6a6. ^ MS, neque; Gess, usqu0,
- Le,, German (cf. supra no. 555).
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