nt his
good uncle, who had always hoped that he would become a monk, but he
knew that he was right in refusing, and this made him strong and firm.

Hans was not always faithful, however, at this time to his good
purposes, and we must confess the acquaintanceship of some gay young
companions led him into some difficulties and dangers. He had one very
favorite friend, who, like himself, had been a scholar in the convent,
and this Conrad, for so he was called, being the son of a rich burgher
in the town, Hans was led into companionship with many gay and
thoughtless youths, who spent much of their time in feasting and
pleasure taking, and who were not like Hans accustomed to labor from
morning till night, and live on simple fare. And not only did Hans,
through the means of his friend Conrad, fall in the way of pleasure
taking, as we have said, but was also brought into a good many quarrels
and disputes, which otherwise he would not have been exposed to. At this
time it happened that there was in most towns two classes of people, who
were more distinct from each other than they are now-a-days. These were
the nobles or gentlemen, and the burghers or trades-people. Instead of
living peacefully together, and serving one another, these people were
continually quarrelling; the nobles trying to oppress the burghers, and
the burghers in their turn ever trying to resent the oppressions of the
nobles. With the youths, especially in the town of Mainz, a continual
warfare was always going on. The sons of the rich nobles being proud,
and not liking to hold companionship with the sons of the burghers; and
seeking on every occasion to vex and annoy them; and the latter, since
they were rich, thinking that they had a right to the same pleasures and
privileges as those of nobler birth, and being determined to stand up
for them; so that their disputes would not unfrequently end in fighting
and bloodshed.

It would have been easy for Hans, who was only the son of a poor and
humbler cottager, to have kept out of the way of these noble youths, and
he was far from being of a quarrelsome disposition; but it so happened
that he was often mixed up in the quarrels of his friend Conrad, who
being very generous and kind to him, Hans thought himself obliged to
take his part and defend him when any strife arose.

All this turned out very unfortunately for Hans Gensfleisch, as it was
the occasion at last of his being obliged to leave his native city, a