shelves with these portly
volumes. But then German aldermen had wives, and daughters, and sons, and
what were they to read during the long winter evenings? The poetry of the
thirteenth century was no longer intelligible, and the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries had produced very little that would be to the taste of
young ladies and gentlemen. The poetry of the "Meistersaenger" was not very
exhilarating. The romances of "The Book of Heroes" had lost all their
native charms under the rough treatment they had experienced at the hand
of their latest editor, Casper von der Roen. The so-called "Misteries"
(not mysteries) might be very well as Christmas pantomimes once a year,
but they could not be read for their own sake, like the dramatic
literature of later times. The light literature of the day consisted
entirely in novels; and in spite of their miserable character, their
popularity was immense. Besides the "Gesta Romanorum," which were turned
into German verse and prose, we meet with French novels, such as "Lother
and Maler," translated by a Countess of Nassau in 1437, and printed in
1514; "Pontus and Sidonia," translated from the French by Eleanor of
Scotland, the wife of Sigismund of Austria, published 1498; "Melusina,"
equally from the French, published 1477. The old epic poems of "Tristan,"
and "Lancelot," and "Wigalois," were too long and tedious. People did not
care any longer for the deep thoughts of Wolfram von Eschenbach, and the
beautiful poetry of Gottfried von Strassburg. They wanted only the plot,
the story, the dry bones; and these were dished up in the prose novels of
the fifteenth century, and afterwards collected in the so-called "Book of
Love." There was room, therefore, at that time for a work like the "Ship
of Fools." It was the first printed book that treated of contemporaneous
events and living persons, instead of old German battles and French
knights. People are always fond of reading the history of their own times.
If the good qualities of their age are brought out, they think of
themselves or their friends; if the dark features of their contemporaries
are exhibited, they think of their neighbors and enemies. Now, the "Ship
of Fools" is just such a satire which ordinary people would read, and read
with pleasure. They might feel a slight twinge now and then, but they
would put down the book at the end, and thank God that they were not like
other men. There is a chapter on Misers,--and who would not g