illor of his princely grace, made good avail of
it against my father; besides this, the adversaries were rich, proud,
and powerful. So he was obliged to wander about in Denmark, going also
to Luebeck, Hamburg, and elsewhere, till he conciliated the reigning
prince by a considerable sum, which he was obliged to pay in ready
money.

"And although later, after repeated endeavours, and at the cost of much
labour and exertion on the part of my step-grandfather, my father
became reconciled with the offended party, upon the payment of
blood-money to the amount of one thousand marks, he could not remain
unmolested at Greifswald, on account of these adversaries residing
there. But it may be seen how little this blood-money prospered with
the son and heirs of the deceased, for evil and misfortune to person,
land, and property pursued both wife and children.

"Thus my mother was left in her youth without a husband, to keep house
with four uneducated children. One can well imagine how many sad and
sorrowful thoughts weighed upon her.

"Whilst my mother was dwelling in Greifswald, I went to school there,
and learnt not only to read, but also to decline, parse, and conjugate
in the Donat. On Palm-Sunday I had to sing the '_Quantus_,' having sung
the foregoing years first the lesser and then the great '_Hic
est._'[49]

"This was a great honour to the boy, and no small pleasure to his
parents, for the most courageous scholars were always selected for it,
who were not alarmed at the great multitude of ecclesiastics as well as
laymen, and could sing the _Quantus_ with a loud and clear voice.

"In the year 1528, when my parents discovered that the Hartmann party
were not to be mollified, and would not let my father return to the
town and to his business, they desired, as is becoming an honest
couple, to bear the burden of housekeeping together, and thus my mother
must needs follow my father. Therefore my father became a citizen of
Stralsund, and bought a house there; my mother in the spring quitted
Greifswald, sold her house, and settled near the Sound. About the same
time my step-grandfather, who was then chamberlain at Greifswald, took
me to his house, that I might study there. I however studied very
little, for I preferred riding and driving with my grandfather to the
neighbouring villages, so that I made little progress in my studies.

"In the year 1529, my mother being pregnant, wished to have a scouring
and washing before her