The costly Bruser lawsuit had deprived my parents of the means of sending us to study in foreign countries, so they bought two horses and dispatched me and my brother to Spires to watch the progress of the affair, and to do as best we could for ourselves. We started from Stralsund on June 14, 1542. Our parents accompanied us as far as Greifswald, where we stopped one day to bid good-bye to our grandmother and the rest of the family. I was in high spirits. Johannes was dull and depressed. "Dear son," said our mother, "why this sadness? Look at Bartholomäi, how gay he is." "My brother," replied Johannes, "has no care weighing on his mind; he has no thought for the future."
We made for Stettin, then for Berlin and Wittemberg; in fact, "we rode straight on," as people say. At Wittemberg, Johannes ran against Dr. Martin Luther, standing before the bookshop near the cemetery. Dr. Luther shook hands with me. Philip Melanchthon and other learned personages gave us letters of introduction to the procurators and advocates of Spires.
Half-way between Erfurt and Gotha there is a big inn where we halted for half a day to rest our horses and to mend our clothes. We settled our bill before going to bed. Next morning on reaching Gotha my brother found he had lost his purse; he had left it under his pillow. It was a great misfortune, for we were not overburdened with means, and the look of the inn left but little hope of getting our own back again. Immediately after my horse had had its feed, I retraced my steps, galloping all the way. When I reached the hotel I tied up my horse and in the twinkling of an eye ran up to the room with the servant at my heels. We both flung ourselves on the purse. I had the luck of laying hands on it first, but I fancied he was entitled to a tip. If either the girl or the young man had come near the bed after our going we should have never seen our money again.
In spite of the gathering darkness, I was in the saddle again, for it would have been unwise to spend the night alone under such a roof. Half a mile (German) farther there was a nice village, and as night had set in altogether I made up my mind to stop there. The inn was full of peasants. It happened to be Sunday, and these worthy folk, who had noticed my riding by like possessed two hours before, said to each other: "Well, we were mistaken after all. It's His Highness' messenger." Thereupon the host told the servant to look to my horse; nothing would induce him to let me do it myself. He, moreover, insisted on my sitting down to the table immediately; they brought me boiled and roast meats and excellent wine. The peasants in their turn show me all kinds of attentions, and when I mention the settlement of my bill before going to bed, the host declares that he could not hear of such a thing, and moreover swears by all his household gods that he'll not let me go in the morning without a good basin of soup, and that if I were to stay for a week he would not accept a farthing, because he could never do enough for his gracious prince. They put me into a very white and very soft bed, where I slept long and soundly.
While I was enjoying every comfort, my poor brother was bemoaning his imprudence of having sent me to look for the purse. I did not know the country, the hotel had a queer appearance. I had not returned, although it had been settled that the town gates should be opened to let me pass. My brother's anxiety may therefore be readily imagined. He dispatched an express messenger with a description of myself, and that of the horse; the messenger passed the inn at the very moment I was starting. He recognized me and informed me of my brother's anxiety.
At Spires we put up at the Arbour, and when our horses were sufficiently rested my brother sold them to the landlord of the Crown. We could not afford, though, to stay at the inn, so we rented a small room with one bed, and with this we had to be content for more than five weeks. At meal times we went to eat three or four rolls under the city walls, after which we drank half a measure of wine at the tavern. The days when Bartholomäi Sastrow led the dance, and feasted at the big wine cellars like König Arthur and the Rathskeller were over.
Philip Melanchthon had recommended us to his half-brother, Doctor Johannes Hochel, procurator, and to Doctor Jacob Schenck, advocate at the Imperial Chamber. Thanks to the latter, Johannes found bed and board, mensa splendida et delicata at the provost's of the chapter, a great personage occupying the handsomest mansion of Spires, the habitual quarters of the Emperor. This provost entertained daily a number of guests, but he himself lived upon fowl broth and apothecary's stuff prescribed by his doctor. He was fond of listening to the discussions of his guests, some of whom sided with Luther and others with the pope. If, at the end of the debate, he now and again added a few words, it was simply to admit that he had never read "St. Paul," but that, on the other hand, he had read in Terence: "Bonorum extortor, legum contortor." He was practically in the same boat with the Bishop of Wurzburg, who is reported to have said: "I thank heaven that I have never read 'St. Paul,' for I should have become a heretic just like Luther."
On August 10, Dr. Hochel obtained a place for me at Dr. Frederick Reiffstock's, one of the oldest procurators of the Imperial Chamber, a most learned lawyer and excellent practitioner, who was altogether unlike the majority of the procurators at Spires. He had spent several years of his youth at Rome as auditor of the "Rote" (ecclesiastical jurisdiction). He was very conscientious and energetic. At the issue of the sittings, he immediately wrote to the party whose case had been called; then, the moment the minutes and other documents had been copied by his principal clerk, he sealed the whole, and deposited it in a large box on the table of his office. When this or that messenger came to announce his next departure the procurator examined the box to see whether there was anything to dispatch in that direction, and he marked on the outside wrapper the vail to be given according to the condition of the roads or their distance from the main ones. His practice was made up of princes, nobles, and eminent personages. One day he replied to Duke Albrecht of Mecklenburg who had sent him a case, that, unless new facts could be adduced, he advised the withdrawal of the suit. The fees were nevertheless very considerable. The duke handed the case to Dr. Leopold Dick, who allowed himself to be directed to the juramentum calumniae and lost the whole affair.
My master had four sons, all of whom took their doctor's degree. The three elder had returned, one from France, the two others from Leipzig; hence I had three horses to take care of, and three rooms to keep heated. Doctor Reiffstock was determined I should not be idle. One day he placed before me a bundle of documents as thick as my hand but very well written. He told me to copy them, and then to collate them carefully with his second clerk. I was under the impression that it was a most important affair; when it was finished the procurator told me that he simply wished to give me something to do.
On December 14, 1542, an imposing deputation of the Protestant States repudiated as suspect the Imperial Chamber, and declared its decisions and enactments null and void until its complete reformation. The procurators immediately reduced their staff, and Dr. Reiffstock dismissed me, which grieved me very much. As I foresaw, my parents would think me guilty of some grave misconduct, but a letter from Johannes soon undeceived them.