Above all the Bible was lauded in the new translation, and the priests continued, as before, to be the favorite butt of sarcasm.
Among the very many writers of these tracts the playwright of Nuremberg, Hans Sachs, took a prominent place.

In 1523 he published his poem on "the Nightingale of Wittenberg, whose voice sounds in the glorious dawn over hill and dale." This bird is, of course, Luther, and the fierce lion who has sought his life is Leo.

[Sidenote: Hans Sachs] The next year Hans Sachs published no less than three pamphlets favoring the reform.

They were: 1.

A Disputation between a Canon and a Shoemaker, defending the Word of God and the Christian {87} Estate.