Blowen bretful of breth, and as a bagge honged."

All the humour of Piers the Ploughman seems to be more or less of this
personal kind.

We must here notice the humorous though scurrilous attack made upon the
Roman clergy in the "Letters of Obscure Men," published in Germany at
the commencement of the sixteenth century. There was something novel in
the idea of a series of ironical letters, and from their appearance, the
steady progress of the Reformation may be dated. The greater part of
them seems to have been written by Ulrich von Hutten, and are addressed
to Ortuin Gratius, a professor of the University of Cologne, who had
attacked Reuchlin, a celebrated Hebraist. The original quarrel was only
about some translations of Rabbinical works, but it extended into a
contest between the Church party, represented by Gratius, and those
desirous of reformation. Doctrine is scarcely touched upon in these
letters, but accusations of immorality abound. There is great variety
in the plan upon which the irony and satire are conducted. For instance,
the writer says he has just heard from Gratius that he is sending
flowers and gifts to another man's wife. "Reuchlin has written a defence
of himself against Gratius, in which he calls him an ass. Reuchlin ought
to be burnt with his book. Some people say the monks are grossly
dishonest--it is a horrible lie. A preacher, after taking a little too
much wine, has actually said that the principals of the University are
given to drink and play. Some profane men say that the coat of our Lord
at Treves is not genuine, but only an old rag; he does not believe there
is now any hair of the Virgin in the world; and the preaching friars who
sell indulgences are only a set of buffoons who deceive old apple-women.
Another fool says that the preaching friars committed fearful
abominations at Berne, and one day put poison into the consecrated
elements. A great calamity has happened! A thief has stolen three
hundred florins, which the preachers had gained by the sale of
indulgences. The people who gave the money are in sad trouble to know
whether they still have absolution--they need not be alarmed, they have
as much as they had before they gave their money to the friars. Query.
Is it a sin to play at dice in order to buy indulgences? Gratius, in a
letter to another Father of the Church, expresses his astonishment at
hearing that he thinks so much about the ladies. Such thoughts come from
the devil; wh