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  CHAPTER XX. Worms and Ratisbon 177   CHAPTER XXI. Progress of the Reformation 194   CHAPTER XXII. The School of Tribulation 200   CHAPTER XXIII. Worms and Ratisbon again 205   CHAPTER XXIV. Luther Dies, and Melanchthon Mourns 211   CHAPTER XXV. War and the Misery of War 221   CHAPTER XXVI. Restoration of the University of Wittenberg 229   CHAPTER XXVII. The Diet of Augsburg and its Interim 236   CHAPTER XXVIII. How the Interim fared in the Electorate of Saxony 244   CHAPTER XXIX. Disputes about the Leipzig Interim 254   CHAPTER XXX. The Conflict with Osiander 263   CHAPTER XXXI. The Changed Attitude of the Elector Maurice 270   CHAPTER XXXII. Doctrinal Controversies, and Attempts to bring about a Union 278   CHAPTER XXXIII. The Religious Conference at Worms 297   CHAPTER XXXIV. The Last Years of his Life, real Years of Sorrow 307   CHAPTER XXXV. His Domestic Life 322   CHAPTER XXXVI. Something more of Melanchthon's Merits 335   CHAPTER XXXVII. He Dies 339

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Life of Melanchthon.

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CHAPTER I.

HIS YOUTH.

In a hilly part of the Kraichgau lies the city of Bretten. In former times it belonged to the Electors of the Palatinate, and in the year 1504 defended itself bravely against Duke Ulrich of Würtemberg, and also manifested a brave loyalty to its hereditary sovereign in the war of the peasants. It is now included in the Grand-Duchy of Baden. It has acquired an imperishable name, because a great man, Philip Melanchthon, was born in it. We will begin by hearing what an old account relates of his ancestors and parents, his birth and youth.

"In the days of the Count Palatine Philip, Elector on the Rhine, there lived in Heidelberg, before the mountain, a worthy, pious man, named Claus Schwartzerd. With Elizabeth, his wife, he begat two sons, Hans and George, and from their youth up trained them in the fear of God, and the practice of every virtue. The Count Palatine Philip took so great a liking to George, who was a very active and ingenious lad, and discharged every duty most diligently, that he took him to Court, and permitted him to examine a number of professions, in order by this means to satisfy himself what his inclinations were, and what might be made of him. When the boy, therefore, took delight in armor, the Elector placed him in charge of a master in Amberg. He learned the trade so rapidly that every one was astonished, and the journeymen became so hostile to him, that one of them on a certain