“‘You say that Luther carries the devil around with him like a wizard in a little box. Well--I don’t know whether he’s in Luther’s box or under his frock, but _liebe Gott_, he is in one or the other, and I will smoke him out.’ “‘What do you mean, Magister Doctor?’ asked one of the satellites respectfully. “‘I mean this fellow from Wittenberg has played the two-faced Janus long enough. With one tongue he still cries out his personal respect and loyalty to the Pope; with the other he denounces all the props and stays of Papal prerogative. I’ll unmask his heresy. It will look like a case for faggots and fire when I am done with him.’ “Hereupon with a rustle and sweep of his gown Doctor Eck started up the stairs. An intelligent student, who sat near by cast a sidling glance at me, then asked: “‘What does your nobility think of this gentleman and his adversary?’ “‘What do you?’ I retorted, always glad to draw out another. “‘I remember Gregory von Heimburg’s saying, “Safer is it to discuss the powers of God than of the Pope”; but I will venture this: Eck will succeed in his wish. He will make Luther draw the sword and fling afar the scabbard--and then,’ he added with a laugh,--‘the war of the gods and the giants!’ “And with that he went out also: but it makes one’s heart beat quicker to know that others than oneself recognize that these are strange and marvellous times; that old things seem passing away, that church, belief, everything seem about to become new. Yet again I digress. Let me return. “On the morning of the 27th, in the great hall of the Pleissenburg, under the shadow of its tall gray turret, began the disputation. The preliminaries were solemn, important, and unspeakably tedious. An address of welcome by Professor Pistoris, a mass in the church of St. Thomas, a longer address on ‘the right way of disputing’ by Professor Mosellanus, who evidently had persuaded himself he was a master of Latin eloquence, then a threefold chanting of the ‘Veni Sancte Spiritus,’ the whole assembly kneeling. Seventy-five armed citizens stood guard, and four notaries and thirty assistants took down the discussion. The festally arrayed hall was graced by the presence of Duke George and a great company of his princely and noble guests. In the front rows sat many of the Leipzig priests, Eck’s loyal supporters; but I grieve to say they slept soundly much of the time, and it was needful to awaken them when the discussions ended, lest they should lose their dinners. Small pulpits were set, suitably facing each other, for the use of the disputants, and so you can imagine the scene.