[13] Ut complures allicerentur ad eorum sectam, in ferculis portabantur carnes coctae in diebus jejunii, aperte in conspec nitotius auditorii.--(Cochlœus, p. 138.) The Elector in effect had a numerous court: seven hundred persons formed his retinue. One day he gave a banquet at which twenty-six princes with their gentlemen and councillors were present. They continued playing until a very late hour--ten at night. Everything in Duke John announced the most powerful prince of the empire. The youthful Landgrave of Hesse, full of zeal and knowledge, and in the strength of a first Christian love, made a still deeper impression on those who approached him. He would frequently dispute with the bishops, and thanks to his acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures, he easily stopped their mouths.[14] [14] Annales Spalatini. This firmness in the friends of the Reformation produced fruits that surpassed their expectation. It was no longer possible to be deceived: the spirit that was manifested in these men was the spirit of the Bible. Everywhere the sceptre was falling from the hands of Rome. "The leaven of Luther," said a zealous Papist, "sets all the people of Germany in a ferment, and foreign nations themselves are agitated by formidable movements."[15] [15] Germaniae populi Lutherico fermento inescati, et in externis quoque nationibus, gravissimi erant motus.--(Cochlœus, p. 138.) It was immediately seen how great is the strength of deep convictions. The states that were well disposed towards the Reform, but which had not ventured to give their adhesion publicly, became emboldened. The neutral states, which demanded the repose of the empire, formed the resolution of opposing the edict of Worms, the execution of which would have spread trouble through all Germany, and the Papist states lost their boldness. The bow of the mighty was broken.[16] [16] 1 Samuel ii. 4. [Sidenote: PROCEEDINGS OF THE DIET.] Ferdinand did not think proper, at so critical a moment, to communicate to the diet the severe instructions he had received from Seville.[17] He substituted a proposition of a nature to satisfy both parties. [17] Some historians appear to think that these instructions were communicated in reality at the very opening of the diet. Ranke shows that this was not the case; but adds, that he sees no reason why the commissaries should have thought themselves authorized to make any other proposition. The motives that I have assigned appear to me the true ones. I shall state below why the commissaries returned afterwards to the imperial instructions.